Ordinarily, it would be a good thing if Priceline upgraded your bid for a 3.5-star hotel to a 4-star bid. This sometimes happens when a classier hotel accepts your bid. It wasn’t much of a bonus for Lissa, though. She wanted to avoid a certain 4-star hotel because user reviews in various places complained of bedbug infestations, so she bid only on 3.5-star establishments. Of course, this bid landed her at the allegedly infested hotel. It took her several hours of customer service hell to get out of the situation, which is still better than being chomped on by bedbugs. [More]
upgrades
That Standard & Poor's Google Downgrade Sure Didn't Last Long
By 8.23.11
Last week Standard & Poor’s took Google down a peg after it announced a $12.5 billion acquisition with Motorola Mobility by downgrading Google’s stock from “buy” to “sell” and lowering its target price from $700 to $500. When Google’s price dipped below that Target, S&P reversed course. [More]
Replace A Damaged Cellphone For Cheap
By 6.3.11
Rats. You just threw your phone across the room in a rage and now it’s broken. Once you regain control of your temper you decide to see about getting it repaired and find out it will almost cost as much as the phone to get it fixed. Either that, or you have to pay the full unsubsidized price to replace it because you’re not eligible for an upgrade. Turns out, as pointed out by the company insiders posting over at Insidr.net, a better idea is to call up customer customer service and ask them nicely to move your upgrade forward. [More]
A Sprint Phone Upgrade Is Immutable, Never To Be Undone
By 5.19.11
If you upgrade your mobile phone, then return the new phone because software problems render it unusable, does this mean that you’ve used up your upgrade and cannot receive a new subsidized phone again for the term of your current contract? Based on reader Jason’s experience…yeah, that’s pretty much it. [More]
Sorry, Joining Your Fiancé's Verizon Plan Voids Your Phone's Warranty
By 5.12.11
David and his fiancée decided that it was finally time to take their commitment to the next level: joining their mobile phone plans together. Unfortunately, they were both already Verizon customers and wanted to upgrade their phones. If can’t imagine why this would be a problem, you’ve never upgraded phones and then joined plans at Verizon. The process seems to be specifically designed to keep customers from doing this. [More]
Amex's Platinum Business Card Promises Are Less Than Golden
By 2.15.11
Lois is a longtime American Express customer. She’s had an AmEx card in her wallet for longer than most Consumerist readers have been alive. When she received a mailing offering 50,000 bonus reward points and extra privileges for upgrading her account to a Platinum Business card, she went for it. Except she never received the reward points. Or the airport lounge privileges. Or, apparently, the upgrade to a Platinum Business card. [More]
Best Buy Officially Announces It Will Buy Back Your Old Gadgets
By 2.4.11
Like we told you in a Consumerist exclusive back in December, Best Buy is launching a new program that lets customers trade in their old gadgets for a gift card for a fraction of their value, good towards another Best Buy purchase. They say it “future-proofs” your technology. The announcement was emailed to customers last night and will also be publicized during the Super Bowl. [More]
Verizon Confirms "New Every Two" Is Ending
By 1.19.11
Verizon has confirmed the information in the leaked slide we reported on two weeks ago. They’re ending their “New Every Two” policy. New customers after Jan 16 won’t get the credit, and current customers won’t get the credit after their next contract renewal. [More]
Man Turns Water-Damaged iPhone 3GS Into New iPhone 4
By 12.3.10
Matt was able to turn his water-damage iPhone 3GS into a new iPhone 4 for only $200, even though he hadn’t reached his upgrade time yet, thanks to a lot of persistence, and a little bit of mercy. [More]
Upgrade Your Outfits Without Downgrading Your Net Worth
By 11.21.10
With a little creativity, those ragged clothes that fill your closet don’t have to define the way you look. You can class up your wardrobe if you’re willing to put in enough work to shop for steals at the right places [More]
RadioShack Employee Buys Customer An Accessory In Order To Get System To Approve Phone Upgrade
By 9.27.10
Has RadioShack gone too far with its sales quotas? Allison wrote us to say that when she tried to upgrade her phone recently, the employee had to add accessories to the transaction before the system would approve it. She said he canceled some, and she ended up paying $2 for “two plastic covers for phones I don’t own.” But she says her mom had an even more bizarre experience at a RadioShack, where the assistant actually paid for the accessories herself. [More]
Hey AT&T, Can I Upgrade From An EDGE Data Plan And Still Get The Unlimited Option?
By 6.8.10
Say you’ve got one of the 1st gen iPhones that operates on the EDGE network, and you want to upgrade to that fancy new model that was just announced. Can your unlimited data plan be grandfathered even though it was never 3G? That’s what Consumerist reader and 1st gen iPhone owner thecrazypnut wanted to know, so he contacted AT&T for an answer. [More]
AT&T To Let Nearly All Buy New iPhone At Subsidized Price
By 6.7.10
AT&T customers Many AT&T customers who weren’t eligible for iPhone upgrades until later this year, and would have had to pay the full, non-subsidized price, or an early termination fee, have now had their dates bumped up to June. [More]
Microsoft Won't Offer Upgrade Discount On Office 2010
By 5.12.10
The bad news: Confirming rumors that circulated earlier this year, Microsoft won’t offer existing Office owners a discount if they want to upgrade to the latest version, Office 2010. The even worse news: The new version hasn’t done away with the Ribbon. The good news: According to PC Magazine, There really isn’t any reason to upgrade if you’re happy with your current version of Office (or OpenOffice or Google Docs). [More]
Revolutionary New Apple Service Bills Your AMEX Card For Nearly $50,000 In Music
By 2.9.10
I think we can all agree that Jobs and his crew at Apple are a bunch of visionaries when it comes to gadgets, online stores, and now getting really, really screwed by an iTunes purchase. Joel writes, “I just got a call from American Express stating that my recent purchase for iTunes plus for my entire library (cost $146) has been charged to my account over 300 times and is currently still being charged. I have called Apple to have them stop charging me and they told me the only thing I can do is cancel my card. There is no number for iTunes and I have sent multiple messages to them without response via email.” [More]
T-Mobile Offers $100 Refund To Customers Who Weren't Offered Original Nexus One Upgrade Price
By 1.15.10
If you’re already a T-Mobile customer and you bought the new Google Nexus One phone recently, you know firsthand that you had to pay $100 more than new customers. Today T-Mobile announced that they’re dropping that heavily criticized price, and will be refunding $100 to customers who paid $379 for the phone before January 14th. [More]
Sony Replaces Customer's Broken Reader
By 12.30.09
Earlier this week, I posted about Kate’s bad experience getting her Sony Reader upgraded. She hadn’t asked for an update, but was told by Sony to send it in, she says. What she got back was a busted Reader that wouldn’t work, and a demand from Sony to pay for any repairs.
Happily, over the past two days Sony reps have been in contact with Kate and made things whole again.
AT&T Took Me Offline For Nearly A Week When I Upgraded Internet Service
By 12.25.09
Since you’re reading this on Christmas Day, there’s a reasonable chance you’d agree that losing internet access for a week is tantamount to going without food or showering. [More]
