Having the ability to make calls all over the world is a pretty amazing communications milestone, but that doesn’t mean it’s cheap and easy. The Consumerist is filled with stories of poor fools who come back from parts unknown with thousand-dollar roaming bills—and it doesn’t just happen to clueless iPhone users. Here’s our attempt to help make some sense out of the mess.
how-to
Junk Mail Revenge: Taping Pre-Paid Business Reply Envelopes To Packages Works?
By 10.31.07
This Instructable covers the time-honored art of sending refuse back to junk mailers in their own pre-paid business reply envelopes. What’s interesting, though, is in the comments on the Instructable one guy says that you can take the business reply envelopes and tape them to boxes and the post office will accept it! This greatly increases the scope, range, and weight of the objects that you can send back to junk mailers. Broken lightbulbs, bricks, this week’s trash, your imagination is the limit. (Don’t forget to visit optoutprescreen.com first to get yourself permanently off 95% of junk mail lists). [More]
The Ultimate Consumerist Guide To Fighting Back (Revised Edition)
By 10.30.07 — Updated: 8.14.13
[protected-iframe id="14eedff4c1ed081d42f5a75be4931995-40783744-40309798" info="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.php?u=http://digg.com/business_finance/The_Ultimate_Consumerist_Guide_To_Fighting_Back_2" width="55" height="82" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"] We’ve posted recently about how to fight back when a business screws you over, and we’ve posted a lot of executive contact info over the years. Now we’re packaging the two together into one big mega-post of usefulness: a one-stop-stop for figuring out what you need to do to start a customer complaint, or how to escalate a stalled one so that it can be resolved.
How To Extend Your Battery Life
By 10.30.07
Reader Don felt compelled to share this tips about proper love and care of your electronic items’ batteries so they last longer and you don’t have to buy more unnecessarily…
Live Without Credit Cards
By 10.27.07
The best way to escape from our mindless purchase economy is to ignore your credit cards in favor of pure, reliable cash. Credit cards undoubtedly have value – purchase protection, rewards, convenience – but only for consumers who use credit responsibly. No Credit Needed wrote a useful guide for anyone willing to live the credit-free life.
How To Make Prank Signs Look Like They're Corporate
By 10.25.07
This nifty Instructable teaches you how to mimic the look and feel of corporate branding so you can create signs and images that blend in better. With a a digital camera and some photo editing software and skills and your creative brain you’ll be keeping “on message” like the pros. Even if your message is that we should all quit our jobs and run naked through fields of broccoli.
How To Spot Fake Craigslist And eBay Listings
By 10.12.07
Planning on doing some buying or selling online? Wired offers some tips on how to spot scammers when you’re on eBay or Craigslist.
Painlessly Divorce Outlook And Your Crackberry
By 10.12.07
Mike Elgan describes how he was able to dump outlook, move all his data to online services, and can now use any phone he wants:
Fight Foreclosure Roundup
By 10.2.07
October is here, which can only mean one thing: $50 billion in option-ARM mortgages ratcheting up to higher interest rates. Here’s four posts of ours that can help affected homeowners see their way clear:
What To Do When Your Flight Is Cancelled
By 10.1.07
Itenarant IT consultant James Brockman was sitting outside gate 44 at Reagan airport, and after seeing a gaggle of travelers flip out over their canceled flight, decided to put together a flight cancellation primer based on his eight years of heavy air travel experience. One piece of advice, after getting in line for the gate ticket agent with a pen and paper in hand…
Online Guide To Home Energy Savings
By 10.1.07
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has just updated its Consumer Guide to Home Energy, which “draws on the latest research on home performance and energy use, translating research findings into the practical steps consumers can take to cut their energy consumption.” The guide is offered for purchase, but you can also access highlights from it fro free online.
How To Fill A 120-Day Prescription For 1/5th Of The Regular Price
By 9.26.07
Here’s a potential way to get certain drug prescriptions filled cheaply—as in, a several-month supply for less than $15—from our own Consumerist reader and commenter Hambriq. He posted it last week and we thought it was worth bringing to the foreground for more readers to see.
How To Apologize
By 9.26.07
Some companies just don’t know how to say they’re sorry when they flub up customer service. Since we know many of them read our blog, here’s a primer from wikiHow on how to go about your next mea culpa.
How To Request Your Homeland Security Travel Dosiier
By 9.26.07
In its efforts to combat terrorism, fight human trafficking, and bust drug dealers, the Department of Homeland Security compiles a large database of where you go, who you travel with, what you read and more. If you’re curious about what this record contains, you can request a copy of your file under the Freedom Of Information Act. Unsecure Flight hosts two form letters for submitting this request, along with instructions for doing so.
How To Find Lower Priced Generic Drugs
By 9.21.07
Here’s two sites which will help you find cheaper generic alternatives to brand-name prescriptions:
By 9.20.07
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Motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles may be too small to trigger green lights at many intersections, but not if you attach some powerful Neodymium magnets. Save time and gas. [Instructables]
Make Credit Card Companies Your Bitch
By 9.16.07
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity reminds us that savvy consumers can take advantage of credit card companies hellbent on turning a profit. Most credit card companies will go to great lengths to keep their customers happily spending away. Use these tips to make them cater to your every financial desire:
9 Ways To Break Your Shopping Addiction
By 9.14.07
If you compulsively shop, shop to cheer yourself up, experience regret after spending money you don’t have, run up high credit card bills, and generally behave like a freshman college student at your first beer blast, then… well, we don’t want to go all Dr. Phil on you, but you might have a little bit of a problem. Sharon Epperson, author of “The Big Payoff,” offers 9 tips on how to curb your addiction.
