In recent years, a spate of retailers have been accused by customers of advertising “false” original prices on discounted or outlet merchandise in order to make consumers believe they are getting a steal of a deal. Now, the city of Los Angeles is joining the fray, suing JCPenney, Kohl’s, Sears, and Macy’s, alleging that in order to increase sales the companies used so-called “false reference pricing.” [More]
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Lawsuit: Sears, JCPenney, Kohl’s & Macy’s Misled Consumers On Sale Prices
By 12.8.16 — Updated: 12.9.16
DOJ Sues DirecTV Over Blackout Of SportsNet LA
By 11.2.16
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against DirecTV, alleging that the nation’s largest satellite TV provider illegally shared non-public information with other pay-TV companies about their negotiations to carry SportsNet LA, the only cable channel in Los Angeles to air most Dodgers games. [More]
Woman Who Received $16K Water And Power Bill Insists There’s No Leak
By 10.5.16
It’s pretty much impossible for one person and one dog to rack up a water and power bill of $16,988.62, but that’s what the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power says one condo owner has done. While she received a shutoff warning, employees didn’t actually believe her when she called to complain about the bill she received. The DWP blames a leak on her property that may or may not actually exist. [More]
Uber “Local Rewards” Program Offers Free Rides For Shopping, Dining Out
By 8.30.16
Two months ago, Uber launched a rewards program that offered free rides to users who used a Capital One credit card. Today, the company unveiled a separate reward program with Visa, providing free rides based on how much customers spend at local businesses. [More]
Hollywood Tour Buses Not Just Lying To Customers, They Could Be Putting Their Lives At Risk
By 8.15.16
Last week we told you about the undercover report that found numerous Hollywood tour bus drivers charging top dollar to just point to random houses and pretend that celebrities live in them. But even if those vans and buses were telling the truth, a follow-up report shows that some drivers and vehicles are not fit to be on the road. [More]
Bad Hollywood Tour Guides Charge $50 To Tell Lies, Put Homeowners At Risk For Stalkers
By 8.12.16
You’d like to think that if you’re forking over a sizable amount of cash to be shown the sites of Hollywood, your tour guide would at least have some idea what they’re talking about. Yet a new report shows that not only are some of these tour buses apparently fleecing passengers; they’re also putting innocent homeowners in the crosshairs of potentially dangerous stalkers. [More]
Airbnb Agrees To Start Collecting Millions In Taxes From Los Angeles Hosts
By 7.18.16
Two years after Los Angeles warned Airbnb hosts of their tax-collecting obligations, the city and the short-term rental company have reached a deal in which the business will start collecting millions of dollars in lodging taxes from hosts. [More]
Uber To Pay $25M To Settle Allegations It Misled Passengers On Drivers’ Safety, Fees
By 4.8.16
Less than two months after Uber agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of misleading consumers about its “industry leading” safety procedures, the ride-hailing company is ready to put another case behind it. The company will pay $25 million to settle a civil lawsuit with the district attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco over nearly identical allegations. [More]
Whole Foods’ First 365 Store Opening May 25 In California
By 4.7.16
Nearly a year after Whole Foods announced the five cities that would become home to its new line of lower-cost stores, the company has revealed just when the first of those stores will open: next month. [More]
Why Is My House Listed For Rent On Craigslist?
By 3.24.16
It must be an awkward conversation when you call up a friend to let her know that the house she owns is up for sale on Craigslist, but protecting us from scams is just one of the many purposes that friends serve in our lives. In California, a woman was surprised to learn that her house was listed as a rental on Craigslist, when she had no plans to rent it out. [More]
Motorists Love Waze; People Who Live On Side Streets Not So Much
By 2.17.16
The app Waze, which Google acquired back in 2013, is a navigational aid that’s sometimes useful, and sometimes leads to a car full of Consumerist editors driving in circles for a solid twenty minutes. You don’t have to use the app to be annoyed with it, though: some people are annoyed that the app sends people through their neighborhoods in the name of finding the fastest and most efficient route. [More]
14 More Tiny Urban Target Stores Will Open In 2016-2017
By 12.29.15
Yes, Target is a chain of big-box stores, but the company sees its future in considerably smaller boxes. Instead of suburban stores of more than 100,000 square feet in the suburbs, all but one of the stores that Target has planned in 2016 and 2017 are small-format stores in urban areas across the country. [More]
California Car Donation Charities Misrepresented Charitable Programs, Misdirected Donations
By 12.1.15
From time to time you may hear of a charity that accepts the donation of older, used vehicles that owners simply no longer have use for, promising to donate the profit of the future sale to a charitable program. While it might seem like a fairly straightforward operation, the state of California claims two such groups weren’t keeping their promises, instead using the funds to pay for their own expenses. [More]
L.A. City Council Wants To Know How Resident Uses 11.8M Gallons Of Water In Middle Of Drought
By 10.15.15
Someone in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel Air has been using about a million gallons of water a month — enough for 90 houses in the area. That’s a lot of water in any part of the world, let alone in a state and city in the middle of a drought. Yesterday, the L.A. City Council voted to crack down on this “Wet Prince of Bel Air” and other hydration hogs. [More]
San Francisco & L.A. Block App That Helped Drivers Dispute Parking Tickets
By 10.13.15
Fixed is a smartphone app that tried to help drivers dispute parking tickets, but that aspect of the service is no longer usable in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Oakland after those cities blocked the company’s access to their parking enforcement websites. [More]
City Sues Resident Who Used City Council Footage In YouTube Videos
By 8.3.15
Section 107 of the Copyright Act permits “fair use” of copyrighted materials “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching…, scholarship, or research.” But the leaders of one California city don’t think this applies to critical videos made using footage from its city council meetings. [More]
Supreme Court: L.A. Hotel Owners Can’t Be Forced To Turn Over Guest Info Without A Warrant
By 6.22.15
Should the police, without a warrant, be able to walk into a hotel and get the names, addresses, license plate numbers, and other information about any guest who stayed there in the last three months? And should hotel owners face criminal charges if they fail to comply? The City of Los Angeles thinks so, but this morning the Supreme Court disagreed. [More]
Los Angeles One Step Closer To Raising Minimum Wage To $15/Hour By 2020
By 6.4.15
The Los Angeles City Council took another step on Wednesday in its mission to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020, but the finalization of the ordinance will have to wait for a second vote next week. [More]
