With the price of emergency allergy treatment EpiPen jumping nearly 600% in less than a decade, bringing the out-of-pocket cost for some patients to $600 for a two-pack, it’s perhaps not surprising that sketchy eBay sellers are claiming to offer the prescription medication at a discount, even though it’s against eBay policy, illegal, and just a really, really, really awful idea. [More]
legal
Costco Shrimp Lawsuit Dismissed Because Plaintiff Didn’t Buy Affected Shrimp At Costco
By 1.19.16
Disgusted at reports that some shrimp sold in the United States may have been caught by people working under slavery-like conditions, a woman in California filed a class-action lawsuit against Costco, the store where she purchased her shrimp. The problem: Costco, as a members-only warehouse, knows exactly what she has purchased, and says she didn’t actually buy any of the affected shrimp. [More]
Fox News Anchor Sues Hasbro Over Toy Hamster With Her Name
By 9.2.15 — Updated: 10.6.16
Harris Faulkner, an anchor on the Fox News cable network, is a human and has been on TV for decades. Yet the toy company Hasbro sells a tiny plastic hamster as part of its Littlest Pet Shop line which is named Harris Faulkner. How did the hamster get its name? Is it intended to insult or honor Ms. Faulkner, or just a very strange coincidence? She has sued the company for $5 million, either way. [More]
American Apparel Outlines Graphic Allegations Against Founder Dov Charney In Recent Court Filings
By 6.23.15
After getting fired from American Apparel in December for “alleged misconduct and violations of company policy,” former CEO and founder Dov Charney is not going down without a fight. The company is now responding to a recent slew of defamations lawsuits he’s filed against it, outlining some pretty graphic allegations in recent court filings. [More]
eBay Seller Who Sued Customer Claims He’s Sorry, Has Filed Dozens Of Feedback Suits
By 4.19.13
The owner of an eBay business who sued an unhappy customer over a negative feedback item is contrite. Mostly, he’s very sorry that he (allegedly) never read the lawsuit filed on his behalf accusing his customer of defamation. He should probably also be sorry that the customer has a relative who works in the litigation department of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. The seller has used lawsuits to bully customers into retracting feedback before, and may have done it again if not for Public Citizen. [More]
eBay Seller Freaks Out And Sues Customer Over Bad Feedback That’s Actually True
By 4.16.13
An eBay vendor shipped their customer’s package with insufficient postage by mistake. That’s not ideal, but it happens. The customer, upset that she owed extra postage, left negative feedback on eBay. That may have been an overreaction, as she could have asked for a refund instead. Again, not ideal, but that happens. What doesn’t usually happen is the seller filing a lawsuit seeking damages from the customer and eBay. [More]
Why Some Best Buy Stores Need Two Forms Of ID To Give You $5 For A Junk Cell Phone
By 1.17.13
You may remember the adventures of S., who wanted to turn a drawer full of junky cell phones into Best Buy gift cards, but ran up against a baffling store policy that requires two forms of photo ID to do so. He complained, then flounced to another store that didn’t have this inexplicable policy. Turns out that this policy is pretty explicable: it involves local laws regulating pawn transactions. [More]
Congressman: Maybe The Government Shouldn’t Propose New Internet Regulations For 2 Years
By 11.29.12
Remember SOPA? PIPA? Maybe even CISPA? Of course you do — the Internet community, Consumerist included, rallied en masse earlier this year to stop those attempts to regulate the Interwebs we love so dearly. Now a Congressman is lobbing up a proposal to prevent that from happening again for at least two years with a bill that would temporarily ban the government from trying to regulate the Internet. [More]
Pennsylvania Man Headed To Trial Might Regret Swiping $1.50 From Church Collection Jar
By 11.29.12
There’s apparently no crime too small for a court of law, as a 31-year-old Pennsylvania man is finding out. He allegedly swiped a whopping $1.50 from a a church collection jar and now could be headed to trial. His arrest and subsequent charges of felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass were a result of the church installing security cameras to catch thieves. [More]
DirectBuy Refunds Membership After Customer Obtains Levy, Plans To Sell Store Contents
By 6.29.12 — Updated: 11.3.16
A customer has gone to battle against pushy members-only shopping club DirectBuy, and won. How did they do it? The Pennsylvania couple enlisted the help of the legal system, a local consumer reporter, and the police. When the company wouldn’t pay the judgment filed against it in court, they showed up with cops and a levy against the company, so they could start hauling off office furniture and anything else in the store if they so desired. Instead, they found that the local DirectBuy outpost had moved, and a new store opened with different management. A coincidence, surely. [More]
Bill Introduced To Let You Keep Your Account Number When You Switch Banks
By 10.21.11
When you switch phone companies, you’re allowed to keep your phone number. So why isn’t there this “number portability” for bank accounts? Well, a bill has been introduced in Washington to let you do exactly that. [More]
ATM Council Sues Visa And Mastercard For Forcing Them To Charge Consumers Set Fees
By 10.14.11
Visa and Mastercard have been accused of price fixing in a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the the National ATM Council. The suit alleges that nonbank ATM operators could charge customers lower ATM fees when they use other, cheaper payment networks, but are prevented from this by the set access fees Visa and MasterCard charge. [More]
Woman Sues "Drive" For Not Having Enough Driving
By 10.11.11
A woman has filed a lawsuit against the movie Drive because she felt the moving didn’t have enough driving in it relative to what was promised in the movie trailer. [More]
Couple Sues Cox After Cable Guy Kills Their Son
By 10.5.11
An Arizona family is suing Cox cable company after one of the cable companies’ outsourced technicians executed their son in a botched break-in. That ex-contractor is now sitting on death row. [More]
Obama's Debt Reduction Plan Includes Letting Debt Collectors Robo-Call Cellphones To Collect On Federal Student Loans
By 10.4.11
One part of the debt-reduction bill Obama sent to Congress is a provision that would let debt collectors robo-call cellphones to collect on what’s owed to the government, like federal student loans. [More]
Senators Introduce Bill To Ban Mandatory Binding Arbitration Clauses In Cellphone Contracts
By 10.4.11
When you buy a new cellphone you have to sign a contract where you give up your right to sue. You agree to what’s called, “mandatory binding arbitration.” This is a bad thing to give to an industry that has high levels of complaints about hidden fees and abusive anti-consumer practices. Because if their crummy customer service fails to remedy an issue, your last resort option is to participate in a kangaroo court system that is paid for out of fees paid by the cellphone companies themselves. So Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Al Franken (D-MN) have today introduced The Consumer Mobile Fairness Act that would ban mandatory arbitration clauses in cellphone contracts. [More]
"Guess The Next Cashier To Be Fired!" Contest Not Good Morale Booster For Cashiers
By 10.3.11
A judge has ruled that the “guess the next cashier who will be fired” “contest” concocted by a convenience store manager created a hostile work environment. Several of the employees left after it and the judge ruled that their unemployment claims could not be dismissed on the basis of the workers leaving voluntarily. Here is the text of the kooky contest memo: [More]
Bill Introduced To Let Robots Call Your Cellphone
By 9.29.11
Since ’91, it’s been illegal for telemarketers to use autodialers and other robot-like devices to call your cellphone. Last week, a bill was introduced to change that. While in the past email hoaxes have gone around saying that your cellphone could be opened up to telemarketers, HR 3035 seeks to let businesses contact your cellphone “for informational purposes.” [More]
