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Going along with all the recent posts about reciept checking, I’ve been thinking about tricky ways stores could make reciept checking mandatory. My favorite theory (which I hope never comes to fruition) is the following:
This last evening I was hungry and decided that I wanted Jack In the Box. So I went to the Manhattan Beach, CA store on Sepulveda Ave. When I pulled up and was beginning to determine what I wanted for dinner I noticed a sign on the order board. It stated that in order to use a credit card it required a 30 dollar purchase, ID and a signature. While I have seen minimum payment requirements before at various liquor stores and restaurants I have never seen one so high especially for a drive thru window…
Reader Dan writes in to tell us that the incense peddlers over at Keyherb.com are too chill to do business. All he wanted to do was de-stress with some of their lovely, organic aromatherapy products, but instead of shipping his order, they sent him a fake tracking number then ignored him.
David C. Richardson, the owner of Rhode Island Refrigeration in Providence, Rhode Island, overheard two customers speaking Spanish to each other, so he asked them to produce proof of citizenship. According to them, he then threatened to call Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and make a citizen’s arrest, although Richardson denies he picked up the phone, but not that he made the threats. In fact, he says he’s done this “fifteen or twenty times” in the past and refuses to do business with those who won’t show their Social Security cards.
Jon saved up a bunch of PepsiStuff points and decided to redeem them for an item PepsiStuff is promoting on its website. That’s how these point redemption programs usually work, you see. PepsiStuff.com apparently thinks otherwise—they’ll let you redeem the points for a COBY player (ha ha ha ha), but the Sony alarm clock is just redemption bait. You’re not supposed to actually pick that.
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A TSA screener contaminated a 14-year-old boy’s sterile backup feeding tube in the name of national security: “If I can’t open it, I can’t let you on the plane.” [WFTV via BoingBoing]
These receipt checking stories keep coming in and they just keep getting weirder. Reader Patrick was shopping at a Memphis, TN Walmart to buy a firearm, some ammunition and some groceries. First, Walmart refused to sell the groceries and the ammunition because Patrick was buying a firearm.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) did not protect consumers from the hazardous stoves because existing agency regulations require a prolonged dialogue with manufacturers of hazardous products, the consumer groups said.
Over at Wise Bread they’re not too happy about Papa Murphy’s (a “take-and-bake” pizza place) and their ordering system. The main complaint? People who walk in off the street are served before people who phone in ahead of time. Phoning your order in results in endless waiting and watching as walk-ins order and get their (uncooked) pizzas. Frustrating.
M: “No, it’s not. I just got it today.”
“I wonder if other readers have experienced the wasteful excessive packaging used by Amazon.com. I recently ordered a Gel Wrist Rest and a hardcover book (to qualify for free shipping). The two items were shipped to me separately, probably because they were coming from different warehouses. Though that itself is wasteful, I can understand why it may be necessary. But when the Wrist Rest arrived, it came in a GIANT box filled with paper stuffing (see photo). The box measured 24″ x 12″ x 18″. The wrist rest is about 20″ long, but flat. Is it possible that a company that sells all of its various products by mail doesn’t have a long flat box that could have been used instead?”
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.”
This is just madness, I tell you:I would like to add another story to companies using boxes to send small items or in this case, boxes to send a catalog. I recently ordered a free catalog from NFLShop.com.
Look, Wisconsin. We weren’t kidding around last time. We really did mean it when we said that it wasn’t cool to print people’s Social Security Numbers where anyone can see them. How can people who are smart enough to sell sausage shaped like beer (above) not able to figure out that the SSN is a secret?
No doubt “taking” the backlash “seriously,” the Maryland power company that sent customers unsolicited CFL lightbulbs, and then silently charged them $.96/month for it, has apologized. The company will appear before the Maryland Public Service Commission tomorrow for a hearing. “We stand ready to take whatever corrective actions are deemed necessary by the commission,” Allegheny Power President said. Yes, they’re probably going to tell you to refund people’s money, you jackasses.
Lt. William Farr, the head of the D.C. police bank robbery unit, told the Washington Post that investigators are playing catchup.
An electric company in Maryland, Allegheny Power, sent its customers some CFL light bulbs as part of a consumer education program. Sounds nice until you find out that they customers were charged $0.96 a month (about $12 a year) for the two light bulbs.
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