Need to remind your husband that you have wine night with the girls tonight, but don’t have time to text him? Yahoo’s new text message bot does. [More]
reminders
Verizon, Sprint Customers Have Until Dec. 31 To Claim A Piece Of The $158M Cramming Settlement Pie
By 12.28.15
The holidays can be a tiring, stressful time, full of never-ending checklists. While you might have checked off plenty of your to-do items, if you’re a Verizon or Sprint customer, you’ll want to make sure you add “check to see if I’m eligible for a bill-cramming refund,” to the top of your list. [More]
T-Mobile Customers Have 14 Days To Claim A Piece Of $112.5M Cramming Settlement
By 6.16.15
If your to-do list currently has a spot marked “apply for cramming refund from T-Mobile,” then you’d better hop to it. Individuals who currently have or had wireless service with the “Uncarrier” in the last five years have just 14 more days (the deadline is June 30) to apply for a refund as part of the mobile company’s $112.5 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for tacking-on third-party charges to customers’ bills – a practice known as cramming. You can visit the settlement website to see if you’re eligible or to submit a claim. [WTNH-TV] [More]
Time For Your 7 A.M. Reminder Of Your Nonexistent Time Warner Cable Appointment
By 3.5.13
It’s 8 A.M on the East Coast as this post goes up, and James’ wife has been up for an hour. That’s because she’s getting a 7 A.M. wakeup call on her mobile phone every day from Time Warner Cable. No, this isn’t an exciting new Digital Phone service they’re offering: for some people, a wakeup call would actually be useful. No, their cable has already been installed and everything is fine. Everything is fine except for the 7 A.M. phone call that comes to remind Mrs. James of an appointment with the cable guy that doesn’t exist. [More]
Maybe Staples Knows Something About This Safe That We Don't
By 4.13.11
Staples’ marketing reminder emails are very useful for some products that people buy frequently and regularly: say, printer ink or dry-erase markers. We’re not sure how sophisticated their marketing reminder software is, though, because they contacted Matthew to let him know that it’s time to buy a new fireproof safe. [More]
The Census Is Getting Weird With Its Marketing
By 3.30.10
“Nobody expects the U.S. Census! Our chief weapon is surprise!” A Seattle blogger posted a photograph of a fortune she received in her fortune cookie recently, and it looks like the Census is using surprise fear and surprise surprise, fear, and a ruthless efficiency to remind people to send back their forms. Oh, and they’re ruining fortune cookies. I fully expect to be forced into a comfy chair soon, which all in all isn’t a bad way to be tortured, so meh. [More]
Track Free And Cheap Games For Your iPhone Or Touch
By 3.15.10
There are several apps on the Apple app store that help consumers track sales and free offers from developers, but you have to launch them and check in regularly. The website App Spy offers an automated price tracker for games (just games, unfortunately) that will send you an email whenever a price threshhold is reached. If you tend to be an app junkie, it can help save you money by letting you get your fix on the cheap good stuff. [More]
Friday Is The Cutoff To Pay Estimated '09 Taxes Without Penalty
By 1.13.10
January 15th is the last day you can pay estimated taxes for 2009 without worrying about the IRS’s 4% interest penalty. For most people, you need to have paid 90% of what you owe for 2009 or have a good reason why you didn’t (e.g. casualty, retirement). Kiplinger notes that even if you can’t pay the full amount, pay whatever you can by January 15th to reduce the amount that’s penalized. [More]
First Consumerist Meetup 11/4!
By 10.21.09
I just got done setting up our equipment rental to show the Internets Celebrities movies from Rooftop Films, which means that our first Consumerist meetup must be very close indeed…
Check For Unredeemed, Matured Government Bonds
By 6.3.09
A PR person just contacted us on behalf of the U.S. Treasury Department to point out that there are $16 billion in unredeemed bonds that are no longer earning interest. “Specifically, there are 40 million Series E savings bonds purchased between 1941 and 1978 that are over 30 years old and therefore have fully matured. They can be cashed out today for at least four times their face value.”
Don't Forget To Vote In Round 2 Of WCIA '09
By 4.19.09
If you haven’t done so yet, visit our posts for the round two competitors for Worst Company in America—we’ve got 7 face-offs ready for your vote, and the final one will go up next week (Circuit City vs. BoA, if you’re following the bracket.) Is Ticketmaster’s stranglehold on the live event industry worse than United Health Care’s capacity for denying valid insurance claims? Does bailout-tainted AIG deserve the title more than regular-tainted Peanut Corp? Only you can decide!
New Withholding Rules Mean You Might Owe The IRS Next Year
By 4.17.09
New tax laws designed to boost the economy by giving you a bit more cash in your pocket might lead to problems for you next year if you’re in a dual-income household. The new payroll tax tables mean you could end up withholding too little without even knowing it and, though you’re welcome to take that long-awaited trip up the Zambezi, you probably won’t enjoy writing a check to the IRS come April 2010.
Daylight Saving Time Ends November 2nd
By 10.31.08
We just wanted to remind you, in case your electronics didn’t get the message, that Daylight Saving Time ends this Sunday, November 2nd at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time.
'Rudder' Provides Your Daily Financial Status Via Email
By 9.12.08
Rudder is a new personal finance service that differs from the dozens of other ones now available in two key ways: it presents a simplified overview of your available funds, which it calls “What’s Left,” and it delivers it (along with bill reminders and balance notifications) to your email inbox instead of requiring you to visit a website. Think of it as a highly customized “Very Short List” or “Daily Candy,” only the topic is always your current financial health.
Dear T-Mobile: Please Stop Sending 5 Text Messages At 5 AM Every Month To Say That My Billing Cycle Has Started
By 4.11.08
Students And Parents, It's Time To Fill Out Your FAFSA
By 4.7.08
Tax time is also FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) time for students and their parents. While the federal due date is June 30th, in some states, the FAFSA is due even before your taxes, so make sure to remember this important piece of paperwork.
IRS Reminds You To File Your Tax Return In Order To Receive Stimulus Payment
By 3.3.08
“These special letters remind people that they won’t need to do anything more than file a 2007 tax return in order to put the stimulus payment process in motion,” Acting IRS Commissioner Linda Stiff said.
