Some of the stories of good customer service that we post are simply tales of good customer service executed by competent employees. These deserve praise, but don’t compare to true “Above and Beyond” consumer experiences. That’s what Jeremy’s family experienced from J. Crew after a terrible fate befell their daughter’s new dress (not pictured.) They called the store to see whether the dress was in stock so they could buy a replacement. Instead, J. Crew stunned the family by exchanging the damaged dress for a new one at no charge. [More]
kids
Toy Commercials, In Word Cloud Form
By 5.13.11
What does it look like when you take the words from toy commercial voiceovers and turn them into a tag cloud of sorts? It looks like this. One cloud is made from commercials targeting boys, and the other made from commercials targeting girls. I wonder which is which? [More]
Report: Nearly 38% Of Minors On Facebook Are Under Age Of 13
By 5.10.11
Most of the people reading this post were older than 13 years of age when Facebook was unleashed upon the world a few years back, so we never had to lie about our age just to play Frontierville or post grainy camera phone photos of ourselves. But according to a new study from our kin at Consumer Reports, more than one in three of the 20 million Facebook users under the age of 18 are also too young to actually be on the site in the first place. [More]
Toy Story 3 Bowling Set Recalled Because Kids Apparently Aren't Supposed To Play With Lead Paint Anymore
By 5.6.11
Considering the menagerie of toys that come to life in Pixar’s Toy Story movies — and considering the number of toys out there that are slathered in lead paint — it’s surprising that not one of them has exhibited any definitive symptoms of lead poisoning (well, maybe those three-eyed alien things). But that hasn’t stopped the makers of a Toy Story 3 bowling set from using lead paint. [More]
Costs To Treat Kids With Lead Poisoning Dwarfs That Of Cancer, Autism
By 5.5.11
When you picture costly, long-term ailments that kids suffer, cancer, intellectual disabilities and asthma spring to mind. But far more U.S. healthcare dollars are spent on lead poisoning than any of those maladies, according to a study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine published in Health Affairs. [More]
Turn Off In-App Purchasing On Your iPhone To Keep Your Kids From Smurfing You Into The Poor House
By 5.3.11
In the wake of that 8-year-old who racked up $1,400 in Smurfs Village purchases on her parents’ iPad, Apple recently instituted a policy that requires a user’s App Store password for making in-app purchases. But we’ve gotten some e-mails from parents who want to be able to share that password with their kids — for the purposes of downloading free content — while still preventing their children from amassing millions of useless Smurf berries. [More]
Advertisers Fire Back At Government Over Proposed Food Marketing Guidelines
By 4.29.11
Yesterday we wrote about the proposed guidelines put forth by a federal interagency working group regarding the marketing of food to children. The “principles” asked for food companies to market products with healthier ingredients and gave suggested limits on things like fat and sodium. The ad industry is less-than-pleased by the news. [More]
Capital One Gives Platinum Card To 5-Year-Old
By 4.29.11
A mom in Connecticut was concerned about the credit card applications her 5-year-old son kept receiving from Capital One, so she contacted the credit bureaus to make sure someone wasn’t stealing her kid’s personal info. She says she was told that a good way to get those applications to stop would be to actually fill one out. The boy would be rejected, obviously, and the mailings would end. But that isn’t exactly how things panned out. [More]
EECB Saves The Day When Scammer Disputes Chargeback And Wins
By 4.29.11
Lee’s teenage son has a debit card, and he didn’t sign up for any credit monitoring services or ask for mysterious entities to call his cell phone 15-20 times every day. When the mysterious credit monitoring service charge showed up on his bill, his father disputed the charge and thought that was the end. The company disputed the dispute and got their charge reinstated. What now? As a Consumerist reader, Lee knew what to do. [More]
Government Proposes New Guidelines For Marketing Food To Kids
By 4.28.11
Earlier today, an interagency working group consisting of folks from the Federal Trade Commission, Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, and the Dept. of Agriculture, issued a set of “proposed voluntary principles” it hopes the food industry will ultimately adopt in its marketing to the youth of America. [More]
Olive Garden Serves Sangria To Toddler In Sippy Cup
By 4.15.11
The past month has been a booze-fueled haze for the nation’s toddlers at chain restaurants. After a Michigan child received a cup full of alcoholic margarita mix instead of apple juice at an Applebee’s, a Florida Olive Garden filled a toddler’s cup with sangria instead of orange juice. The child was checked out at a local hospital and was unharmed. [More]
Police Pepper Spray Unruly 8 Year Old At School
By 4.7.11
Someday kids in Lakewood, Colo. will become crotchety old men who complain about how kids have it easy, saying “Why, in my day, police used to come and pepper spray second graders if they got out of line.” [More]
Crayola's Colorful Bubbles Delight Children, Stain Everything
By 4.5.11
How would you like to blow bubbles in bright colors? Sounds awesome, right? Crayola’s new washable Colorful Bubbles seem like an amazing idea, especially if their bright colors don’t stain. Except some parents are complaining online that they kind of, um, do. [More]
Why Is Abercrombie Selling Push-Up Bikinis To 7-Year Old Girls?
By 3.25.11
The Sociological Images blog has sparked an online furor over Abercrombie Kids, which markets its products to children ages 7-14, selling a line of push-up bikinis. Is this an age-appropriately targeted product, harmless dress up, or just the latest in the race to capitalize on the gross and premature sexualization of our youth? [More]
Please Stop Sending My 16-Year-Old Daughter Credit Card Solicitations
By 3.22.11
Theoretically, a 16-year-old shouldn’t be on the mailing list for unsolicited credit card offers. Neither should a 13-year-old. Yet companies just can’t stop sending solicitations to J’s teenage daughter–even after J. specifically opted her out of the offers. Permanently. Or so the family thought. Now they’ve started up again, and J. isn’t sure how to make them stop. [More]
Mash Up Gender-Targeted Toy Advertisements For Your Amusement
By 3.22.11
The average child watches thousands of television commercials every year. Ads geared to kids don’t just encourage purchases of mass-produced plastic toys and mass-produced junk food: they also enforce rigid gender stereotypes about who should be playing with which kind of toy. Girls want sparkly pink ponies that bake cupcakes and need to be fed bottles, and boys want loud, fast remote-controlled tanks that shoot lasers and green slime. But happens when you pair the audio to a “boy” ad with the video to a “girl” ad? [More]
Mom Sues Preschool For Failing To Prep Tot For Harvard
By 3.16.11
A Manhattan mother has filed a class action suit against her 4-year-old daughter’s $19,000 a year Upper East Side preschool for not properly preparing her child for a top-tier university. [More]
Get Breaking Texts About Product Recalls That Impact Kid's Lives
By 3.11.11
You could have recalled products in your home or school that put children’s lives at risk. But by texting “SAFE” to 76666, Consumer Reports will text you a daily digest of the latest breaking and relevant product recalls right to your mobile device. With it, you’ll never be the last one at the punch bowl to know about the latest salmonella-tainted peanut butter or strangulation hazard sweatshirt drawstring. The service has no charge, but message and data rates from your wireless provider may apply. [More]
