For anyone considering getting rid of their second mortgage in the manner described in yesterday’s post, bear in mind that it is by no means a painless process. One of our readers is a staff attorney for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee, and he writes in with more details about what this process entails. [More]
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M&M's Is Really Nice After Accidentally Triggering Your Mint Allergy
By 5.10.11
How do you win over a customer after you’ve just accidentally triggered their mint allergy? M&M’s have figured the answer: lots of apologies and lots of free coupons. [More]
A Tearful Breakup Letter To The Credit Card Company
By 5.10.11
Jon Acuff cut up all his credit cards and cancelled all his accounts. He thought was enough to end his relationship with his credit card company. But one of them wasn’t quite ready to move on. They sent him a letter that was oddly close to something a spurned lover begging for another chance might send. “They hadn’t heard from us in a while and just wanted to see how we were doing, writes Jon. “They promised that they’d change if we took them back. Things would be different this time.” That got Jon thinking that he should write a letter back in the same vein to give their relationship total closure. [More]
I Have No Bars But AT&T Won't Let Me Leave
By 5.10.11
Ross and his neighbors have had to drive a few miles down the road to get any bars on their cellphone after a nearby AT&T tower went down and the other two nearby weren’t working well either. Despite the fact that he has no service and there is no fix in sight for several months, AT&T won’t let him leave his contract. [More]
Honda Spokesman Gets Screwed By Honda Dealer
By 5.9.11
An actor who pitches Honda cars in their ads says he got screwed over by a Honda dealership when he tried to get the very same deal he helps sell on TV. [More]
Lightning Fan Outsmarts HOA's No Sign Rule
By 5.9.11
A Tampa Bay Lightning fan showed his support over his team getting into the Eastern Conference finals by putting a sign on his lawn that said “Go Bolts!” which was unfortunately in violation of his Homeowner Association’s “no signs” rule. They informed him of this violation via a letter with a picture of his house, a letter that also revealed a caveat. Security signs were allowed. So at the top of the sign he wrote in small letters, “Protected by:” and at the bottom he wrote “security.” Nice deke! [More]
Bank Of America Testing Letting You Choose To Overdraft Via Text Message
By 5.9.11
Bank of America currently rejects debit card items that would make your balance go below zero, but Finextra reports they’re going to test out a new system that sends you a text message when you’re about to overdraft. The message will give you the option to let the transaction go through and incur an overdraft fee. [More]
Gym Makes Navy Family With Moving Orders Pay Cancellation Fee
By 5.6.11
A Navy family with government orders to move from California to Virginia was surprised when their gym wanted to charge them a $200 early termination fee. [More]
Bank Of America Adds New Checking Account Fees
By 5.5.11
Now that the regulatory heat is off on overdrafts, Bank of America is jumping back in with overdraft-related fees. They are also increasing the monthly fee and changing their requirements for avoiding it. [More]
P&G Invents 48-Hour Day
By 5.5.11
This bottle of Crest Pro-Health says that it gives you 24-hour protection. Then it says that you should use it twice a day. So one swish protects you for a whole day, but just to be sure, you should swish twice. (Thanks to aweirdguy!) [More]
White Castle Now Taking Online Orders
By 5.4.11
Ever in the technological vanguard — witness the science behind their square burgers and those drop-down ketchup hose thingies — White Castle yesterday announced they are taking online orders. Call it the iCrave? [More]
Do You Live Near A Food Desert?
By 5.4.11
If you’ve ever wanted to find out if you live in a wasteland with a dearth of access to fresh and nutritious food, boy have we got the government-sponsored data mashup for you! The USDA just launched the “Food Desert Locator” which lets you see where it’s hard to get a decent bite to eat in America. A “food desert” (remember: not dessert, that has two s’s because you want more of it) is a low-income area where a most of the people live more than one mile from the nearest grocery store/supermarket. Thanks to this map, now we know why North Dakotans are so sad: no one will make them a sandwich! [More]
US Bank Replaces "Free Checking" With "Easy" Checking (Hint: It's Not Free)
By 5.4.11
US Bank was one of the last large banks to keep offering free checking but that will be no more after May 15. All customers will migrated over from “Free Checking” to “Easy Checking.” While it’s not certain how it might be any easier, like a US Bank truck drives to your house and picks up your deposits and gives you a free lollipop, it is certain that the checking accounts will have monthly maintenance fees. But you can avoid those fees if you sign up for the right level package and abide by certain behaviors. [More]
Cafe Press Sends You Free Shirt After You Ordered Wrong Size
By 5.3.11
Shelley is really happy with Cafe Press! She recently lost a lot of weight and ordered what she thought was the right sized shirt, but when she got it, it didn’t fit. Hey, she’s still getting used to her new thinner size, so cut her some slack. That’s exactly what Cafe Press decided to do. [More]
Stop Junk Mail For Someone Who Is Dead
By 5.3.11
In this world where even dogs and toddlers can be pre-approved for credit cards, it’s important to register the names of loved ones who have passed on in order to get junk mail in their name to stop arriving. The Direct Marketer’s Association maintains a free “Deceased Do Not Contact List” that friends, family members and caregivers can used to stop the name of someone who has passed on from being passed around by junk mailers. [More]
Ways To Avoid Hitting AT&T's New Bandwidth Caps
By 5.3.11
Like suddenly cool again hypercolor shirts, AT&T has brought back another retro trend back from the dead – metered bandwidth with charges for overages. The ISP yesterday imposed a 150 GB a month cap on all DSL customers. If you go over it more than three times in your account lifetime, you will get a $10 charge for every 50 GB in excess. U-verse customers will have a 250 GB cap. Ah, nostalgia, it feels just like Compuserve all over again! So how do you go on a bandwidth diet? [More]
Twitter Company Reps Who Talk Big But Can't Actually Do Anything
By 5.2.11
After a few bad experiences by their writers, TechCrunch is calling out this “scandal of toothless social media representatives” and demanding that it ends “now.” Seems some companies have figured out that rather than use Twitter to solve people’s customer service complaints, they can just use it to get you to shut up. Here’s how it works. [More]
Pickpockets Target Starbucks Customers
By 5.2.11
While you’re taking a break with a relaxing Trenta of Pike’s Peak Roast coffee at Starbucks, a thief could be silently snagging your wallet, reports the New York Times. [More]
