Erin writes, “I was searching for an iPod Nano on Google Products and this link came up!” That’s one hell of a markup there, anonymous web store with no branding and an empty “Contact Us” page. Our favorite part: “NOT FOR RESALE”—don’t even think about buying this and marking it up for your own store.
mistakes
Barnes & Noble Error Leaves Gift Card Unused, Doubles Charges On Credit Card
By 2.21.08
It’s bad enough when a glitch on a retailer’s side screws up your method of payment, but Barnes & Noble took so long to investigate and respond to one customer’s emails that by the time they acknowledged they’d made a mistake, they said it was too late to do anything about it.
Commerce Bank Accidentally Gives You $5 Million
By 2.21.08
Commerce Bank accidentally deposited $5 million into Benjamin Lovell’s account. He spent $2 million of it and now he’s being charged with grand larceny.
TigerDirect Screws Up Order, Then Screws Up Customer Service Response
By 2.18.08
Matt bought a camera from TigerDirect. He monitored the status of the order online, and saw that it was marked “shipped” a few days after he placed the order, so he returned the other, more expensive, camera he’d bought at Best Buy. Unfortunately, the TigerDirect camera never arrived.
Sprint Invents New "Concerned Department"
By 2.6.08
It’s good to know Sprint is taking your concern very seriously these days. When Peter tried to get a corporate discount for his company, Sprint told him sure, then told him no because he already had a discount with them. He wrote back and pointed out that he was told the corporate discount would be in addition to the existing one, at which point he received the following helpful email.
Coffee Shop Installs Fake Security Camera In Bathroom
By 2.5.08
A coffee shop in Montreal has removed a “dud” security camera from its bathroom after news of it hit the local papers. Corporate headquarters asked the franchise owner to take it down, and apologized/avoided blame in a press release that said they were “not consulted in advance.” The franchise owner had installed it as a sort of junkie scarecrow, to frighten away heroin users who were leaving dirty needles in the bathroom stall.
British Store Stops Selling "Lolita" Beds For Little Girls
By 2.4.08
Woolworths in London has pulled its Lolita bed from its online store after complaints from parents. A Woolworths spokesman said, “What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either. We had to look it up on Wikipedia.
This Spindle Of Memorex Burnable DVDs Is Full Of CDs
By 2.3.08
Stewart spent $105 on what he thought was a spindle of Memorex burnable DVDs. What he actually received was one burnable DVD sitting proudly atop a stack of CDs.
CompUSA Sign Maker: Funny Or Just Dumb?
By 2.1.08
Tyson from New Hampshire writes,
On my way to pick up a replacement hard drive I swung into CompUSA first to see if I could get a lucky deal (that wasn’t marked up right before going on sale) from their going out of business sale…
Amazon Tells Customers, "Surprise, You're Pregnant!"
By 1.31.08
Amazon sent out some unexpected bundles of email joy earlier this week, when it let unsuspecting couples know that not only did they have a baby gift registry, but that someone had bought them something off of it. Julee writes, “I was shocked to find out we were expecting a child. So was my husband. And that someone had been stalking us online early enough in the process to know to buy us a gift!” She asked her married friends and found out that they, too, had received similar good news. Babies for everyone! Hooray!
$100 iPhone Credit Mysteriously Evaporates
By 1.31.08
Dawn writes to tell us that she and her husband both received the $100 iPhone credits last fall, but when she tried to use them on December 4th she discovered one of the credits had a zero balance. An Apple CSR told her to go ahead and make her purchase without it, and the $100 would be credited immediately to her Visa. Unfortunately, she took his advice.
Bank Says It Has Lost $7 Billion, Blames "Rogue Trader"
By 1.24.08
The French bank Societe Generale has announced that a trader “concealed massive trading positions built up over 2007 and 2008 through ‘a scheme of elaborate fictitious transactions,'” which ended up losing the bank 7.1 billion dollars. That’s as much damage by a single employee as the subprime-related losses the bank reported in the past two months. Oops.
Mann Free Movie Tickets Settlement Requires Your Credit Card Number
By 1.22.08
Between December 2006 and January 2007, Mann Theatres in Southern California printed the expiration dates of credit cards on receipts. If you were one of the lucky suckers who saw a movie there during this period and paid via credit card, Mann’s lawyers want to make things right by giving you two free movie tickets and some free popcorn. However, to qualify for the free tickets, you have to provide your credit card number. This is like the end of “The Lion King” where the new cub is held aloft—the circle of life continues.
Activision Accidentally Introduces 860 Customers To Each Other
By 1.22.08
Consumerist reader chrismar was one of the Guitar Hero customers who requested a Wii replacement disc from Activision last month. On January 18th, the company sent out an email to its customers with an update on the disc replacement program. The problem is, they copied 859 other customers on the email. “As a result, my email address is in 859 unknown hands, and I have 859 email addresses I don’t want.”
"We Do Not State That The Wood For This Chair Is Black"
By 1.16.08
One problem with ordering furniture online: you may not get what you saw on the website. Then, when you contact the store to explain that the light wood sitting in your living room is nothing remotely like what you ordered, you might get this response: “I would like to inform you though that we do not state that the wood for this chair is black, although the photo we do have shows that the wood is dark we do not state that it is black.”
2 More Stupid Financial Mistakes Sasha Made In 2007
By 1.11.08
Here they are, the final two mistakes in Sasha’s top-five screw-ups over at Consumerism Commentary. Mistake #4, “Failing to Balance Rental Property Income with Deductible Expenses,” is a bit specialized, although it contains a good lesson that can be applied to other situations. It’s the final entry, however, that applies to pretty much everyone (we’ve suffered from it ourselves in the past): “Failing to Remain Competitive Within My Field.”
3 Stupid Financial Mistakes Sasha Made In 2007
By 1.8.08
Sasha over at Consumerism Commentary is actually working on a list of five stupid mistakes from last year, but she’s uploading them one at a time and we’re getting tired of waiting. We’ll post a quicklink or something to the remaining two in a few days. Anyway, here are mistakes one through three, another person’s financial self-flogging in public for your edification, or grim enjoyment.
