Update: company co-founder Matt addresses some of the accusations in a comment below. Why are there so many complaints online about Silicon Solar? One customer, Dennis, told us how he was lied to by a salesman, then strung along by a woman in customer support until the 14-day return period had expired. A quick Google search turns up dozens of similar stories about being treated badly by customer service, receiving products that don’t work as advertised, and never being given the RMAs necessary to send items back. Writes one reviewer on DavesGarden.com, “I can’t express the anger and frustration I felt when dealing with this company.”
ripoffs
Gift Card Settlement Refunds Quarter Million Dollars In Inactivity Fees
By 1.6.09
A Connecticut mall has to pay $259,000 in settlement fees to consumers who bought gift cards that had monthly inactivity fees.
Watch Out For Firmware Shenanigans At Best Buy
By 1.2.09
Reader Erin writes in to warn readers that Best Buy is offering a thirty-dollar firmware update to certain Blu-Ray players, and warning that without the update, some newer titles might not work. Erin checked the manufacturer’s website and found no announced firmware updates, and the newer titles play just fine.
Another Gap Markup Story, Higher Price Rung Up At The Register
By 12.28.08
After seeing our story about Gap selling pants at an elevated sale price, reader Neff told us the same thing happened to him in Texas, with the higher price ringing up at checkout.
These Gap Pants Are On Sale For Ten Dollars More Than The Original Price
By 12.27.08
Reader Ryan caught his local Gap offering a great deal on some snazzy pants: only ten dollars more than the original price!
NYT Investigates TV Shrink Ray
By 12.26.08
Is nothing sacred? The New York Times is reporting that the grocery shrink ray, that scourge of the savvy supermarket shopper, has now been turned to televisions.
Remember: You Don't Need To Buy Expensive Cables For That New TV
By 12.26.08
Adam writes in with a reminder for those of you who got a new TV, Blu-Ray player, or video game system this holiday season: you don’t need to spend a fortune on fancy HDMI cables.
Reporter Pays Double MSRP For G1 Phone, Uses Flashmob To Get Revenge
By 12.4.08
A Time Out New York reporter paid nearly double MSRP for a new G1 phone she bought off Times Square from Cellular Stop. After she realized she’d been had (internet access and texting were sold to her as “add-ons”), she went back to the store asking for an explanation. Instead, she says, six clerks began circling her and her friends, screaming and cursing and threatening to “break” their “fucking faces.” Her friend was tossed against a wall and another clerk tried to smash her camera.
Not Even Money Saves You From Foreclosure
By 12.4.08
Eric lost his home to foreclosure, but unlike other homeowners, he had actually been trying for the past month-and-a-half to buy it back from the mortgage company for more than the mortgage. The law firm that was handling it, however, wanted an extra $20k in fees to make that happen. He told the realtor that he would buy it for more than it was going to be listed for. The realtor told him that he couldn’t make a bid until it was “active,” which would happen on 11-29. On Sunday he tells the broker he;ll give an offer on Monday. Monday rolls around and they’ve already sold the house to someone else, for less than Eric was willing to pay. They said they “forgot” that he was going to make a bid. Eric is livid. His story, inside…
Busted: Linen's N Things Liquidation Prices Actually Higher Than Original
By 11.25.08
A Good Morning America hidden camera investigation found that if you peel back the label on the “sale” items at Linen’s N Things, you’ll find the old label underneath, with a cheaper price. How do they get away with saying “10-20% off sale” then?
3M Steals Viral Image Idea To Avoid Licensing It
By 9.16.08
There is probably nothing more pathetic in the world of marketing than watching a big corporation try to do something “viral”—usually they end up looking like Elaine dancing. But sometimes, they’re so cynical and soulless about it that they don’t just come across as incompetent, but as exploitative cheapskates as well. In 3M’s case, they wouldn’t pay $2,000 to license a well-known photo with its own viral history, and instead recreated a fake version of it to save a grand. We guess they’re just hoping none of the sites and communities that made the photo popular in the first place will notice. Oh wait, this is supposed to be viral or something…
Chairman Of Advantage Rent-A-Car Investigates 49-Day Repair Claim, Waives It
By 9.11.08
Earlier this summer, we wrote about how Paul was being gouged by Advantage Rent-A-Car on repairs that had to be made after his rental was damaged in a hit and run. Paul was willing to pay the repairs on the vehicle, but Advantage wanted almost double the amount. After we posted his story, Paul was able to get in touch with a higher-up at Advantage who passed him along directly to the Chairman. Here’s what happened.
Guitar Center Adds $100 Premium To iPods
By 9.11.08
Update: Guitar Center has fixed the pricing error and offered refunds.
Quick, get out your throw-away cash and head to Guitar Center! Their website sells the iPod Classic and both sizes of the iPod Touch for $100 more than what you’ll find pretty much everywhere else. (We guess there’s extra rock-n-roll in them.) You know what makes us crazy? We bet people still buy them.
BBB Warns Consumers: Stay Away From TicketsMyWay
By 9.9.08
[Parent company] Event Tickets LLC has an unsatisfactory rating from BBB due to its performance, which includes nearly 100 instances of non-delivery of tickets, nearly another 100 complaints involving refunds and exchanges, and on about 200 occasions, the company has failed to even respond to BBB or consumers to resolve issues.
FreeTripleScore.com Will Cost You $30 Per Month
By 9.2.08
The rip-off site “freecreditreport.com” has a new competitor, and it’s running fear-mongering spots on the “we’ll air any commercial” cable nets (by which we mean G4). Freetriplescore.com warns you that your credit score can keep you from getting a job! But they’ll give you you “free” scores from the big three credit reporting agencies if you sign up for their $30 per month membership plan. Remember, the only “free” credit report website you should ever use is AnnualCreditReport.com. For free credit scores, on the other hand, check out Ben’s post.
United Makes You Pay To Move To Upgrade Area They Would Have Moved You To Anyway
By 8.7.08
Joe may have uncovered a deceptive policy at United Airlines that’s screwing over customers. Here’s how it works. If you’ve got an economy ticket and the only seats available are in Economy Plus, but you didn’t spring for the extra Economy Plus fee, you’re asked if you would like to pay the upgrade fee for economy plus seating. If you decline to upgrade, they seat you there anyway. Sounds pretty sketchy to me. Here’s Joe’s story:
Spirit Airlines Stealing Your Money Is "Nonrefundable"
By 7.25.08
Our network of spies and informants have penetrated every major American corporation. The following is dialog from a recent Spirit Airlines board meeting, as imagined by reader David, whom they screwed over. The first sentence of this post is therefore a non sequitor, but that’s ok. What’s not ok is Spirit’s policy making its various fees and upgrades non-refundable. So if they screw up your ticket and then have to issue you a new one, you don’t get to keep the upgrades you bought. They just take your money, because of their ironclad policy against refunds. Now let’s join that imagined Spirit Airlines board meeting, already in progress…
