Over a year ago, we wrote about Lifestyle Lift and its attempts to astroturf a customer review website (while simultaneously suing that website for trademark infringement, naturally). But then they caught the attention of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office, and now they’ve agreed to pay $300,000 and will stop publishing fake reviews online.
misleading
Don't Put Too Much Faith In Select Comfort's 20-Year Warranty
By 7.13.09
If you’re thinking of buying a Select Comfort mattress, you might want to budget in an extra $200+ every couple of years to replace the controllers that let you adjust the bed. That’s the commitment Henry seems to be stuck with. Although Select Mattress keeps telling him it’s a rare occurrence, it’s happened twice now with him with both controllers, and he’s not the only one.
Beware Buying Advice From Bloggers On The Take
By 7.13.09
As review blogs have emerged, seizing marketshare and mindshare away from traditional publications, it’s become the Wild West out there as far as journalistic ethics are concerned.
Is The NRA Trying To Trick Its Members Into Paying For This DVD?
By 7.7.09
Arthur, a member of the NRA, received a promotional DVD out of the blue about six months ago. As we’ve discussed before and as Arthur points out, if you’re sent something that you never ordered, you don’t have to pay for it, return it, or acknowledge it. The NRA said as much in their letter to Arthur.
Not-So Accurate Free Toys 'R' Us Shipping Promise Makes Reader Shoot Self In Foot
By 6.25.09
Toys “R” Us has a clever little “free shipping” trap going on with its Nerf guns, reader Chi writes. The site offers a couple of compelling deals that, when combined together, cancel one another out and pretty much screw you over.
This Subway Shop In Virginia Promotes Timeshares
By 6.17.09
Tim thought he was entering an innocent giveaway at his local Subway in Warrenton, Virginia earlier this month. Nope. It was just timeshare bait. We wish the Subway would have known better than to allow the dropbox in their store to begin with, but after reading Tim’s story you’ll know what to watch out for should you run into a similar contest.
These Light Blocking Curtains Are Surprisingly Easy To Locate In The Daytime
By 6.16.09
Dustin bought a set of Eclipse light blocking curtains at Kmart, but woke up the next day to a well-lit room and some gently glowing windows. The picture Dustin took of the curtains looks an awful lot like the “normal” ones in the official product shot.
Hotwire Partially Refunds Cost Of Non-Suite Hotel Room
By 6.5.09
Yesterday we mentioned that you might not want to take the “S” icon—it stands for “suite”—too seriously on a Hotwire hotel room listing, because Jeff did and ended up in a room that was definitely not a suite. When he called Hotwire, they told him that the icons only show what’s offered at the hotel, not what he’s actually getting.
Using Hotwire To Find A Hotel Room? Take Those Little Icons With A Grain Of Salt
By 6.5.09
Update: Hotwire has partially refunded the cost of the room and clarified that if it said it was a suite, it should have been a suite. They’ve removed the “S” icon from the listing.
Alert: Crunchberries Are Not Real Berries
By 6.4.09
Late last month, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she’d been buying Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries cereal for four years under the assumption that crunchberries are a real berry. “The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said ‘berries’ were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls.”
Gamer Tricked Into Buying Lame DS Dolphin Title By Erroneous Ad, Publisher Dragging Its Fins
By 5.29.09
All Jess wanted was a Nintendogs-style DS game that would let her frolic with an imaginary pet dolphin, teach it a few tricks and perform routines in front of an adoring virtual crowd. Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery seemed to fit the bill because its site, as well as the box it comes in, says the game lets you do just that.
IKEA's Memorial Day Deals Sound Nice If You Can Find Them
By 5.22.09
One thing we’ve always hated about shopping at IKEA is how their inventory varies so much from website to store to store, making it hard to track down something you wanted to purchase. Their big Memorial Day sale is no better. Tracy was checking out the website and flyers for the sale and noticed some fine print at the bottom.
Massachusetts CVS Stores Regularly Overcharge Customers
By 5.7.09
The number of overcharging violations – defined as charging more at the register than the price in an advertisement, on a shelf sign, or on the item itself – soared to 711, from 425.
Meritline Using Misleading "Free HDMI" Cable To Sell Digital TV Converter With No HDMI Output?
By 4.22.09
Matthew emailed us with an interesting link to a Meritline offer that he says is making the rounds on deal sites. The Airlink digital-to-analog converter box is a fairly generic offer, but Meritline is offering a free HDMI cable with it. The only problem is, there’s no place on the box to use the cable. If you just see “free HDMI cable” and don’t read the specs closely, you’ll be in for a rotten surprise when the box arrives. But hey, free cable.
Kellogg Agrees To Tone Down "Frosted Mini-Wheats Are Brain Food" Nonsense
By 4.21.09
What? It turns out that giving your kid a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats will not guarantee a nearly 20% uptick in classroom attentiveness, despite what Kellogg claims on packaging and TV? I probably should have figured that out on my own, but I rarely eat Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast, so I am quite likely retarded. Luckily for all of us, the cereal company just reached an agreement with the FTC to stop misleading consumers with its faux-scientific claims.
Monster Cable Misuses Engadget Quote To Sell Its Crap
By 4.17.09
If there’s any blog more anti-Monster Cable than us, it’s Engadget—they refuse to review any Monster Cable products because of the company’s dishonest sales tactics and legal bullying. Monster either doesn’t realize that (doubtful) or doesn’t care, because they pulled a quote from Engadget out of context and slapped it on the home page of the Beats By Dre site in a way that implies Engadget has reviewed and approved of Monster headphones.
Brookstone Clerk Tries To Sneak Warranty Into Sale
By 4.16.09
Clearly Brookstone doesn’t spend enough time training its employees to be dishonest, because this airport Brookstone clerk did a terrible job at trying to sneak a $4 warranty onto Nadav’s father’s purchase. She even admitted to the act when confronted.
