“The Camera Professionals” are not actually that professional, nor do they have cameras to sell you. That’s what ZDNet reporter Josh Taylor discovered when he decided to take their Google AdWord bait and buy a camcorder they were offering for nearly $300 less than other stores. He didn’t expect much success, and he was richly rewarded:
websites
By 5.20.08
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Wal-Mart has launched a personal finance website at walmart.com/savemore. It offers tips and saving advice, while also pushing Wal-Mart’s own money services and weekly specials. [Wal-Mart]
Use FeedFlix To Monitor Your Netflix Usage Patterns
By 5.20.08
If you’re the type of Netflix user who enjoys maximizing the value of your membership, you might find the new website FeedFlix interesting. The service scrapes data from your personal Netflix rss feeds and generates interesting graphs about how long you keep rentals, how many you rent per week, and your cost-per-rental. Sure, you could do this all yourself with a spreadsheet, or maybe Yahoo! Pipes, but FeedFlix is free and works instantly.
Merchant Tries To Forbid Chargebacks
By 5.5.08
A reader wrote in to ask us if we’ve ever seen anything like the “Chargeback Abuse Policy” that Luxury Car Tuning in Las Vegas includes in their terms—”You agree not to file a credit card or debit card chargeback with regard to any purchase,” and if you do anyway, you have to pay any fees that normally the merchant must pay when dealing with a chargeback. The reader wants to know, “Is this allowed by any merchant agreement that you know of? Sounds pretty ridiculous to me. How likely would it be that they could get away with this?”
Toys"R"Us Pretends To Have Wiis In Stock, Disappoints Customers
By 5.3.08
Toys”R”Us’ website may claim to have Wiis in stock, but as reader Nick discovered yesterday, they don’t. Nick ordered the elusive console first thing yesterday morning, but Toys”R”Us quickly sent an email explaining that the Wii was backordered and unavailable. As of this morning, Toys”R”Us’ website still inexplicably lists the Wiis as “In Stock.”
Dell's Website Prices Are Based On Caprice And Whimsy
By 4.11.08
Reader Tom noticed something weird as he was checking out Dell’s online store: Dell’s website can’t seem to get its facts straight and keeps spitting out different prices for the same computer. So Tom ran a test in which he accessed Dell’s website with two separate computers, using the same browser, login info, and navigation process. He checked the prices for Dell’s Vostro system on their Small Business Desktops Dell Deals page, as well as their Vostro page. As you can see, there were some anomalies.
KidsStuff.com Silently Charges $18 Subscription Fee To Grandparent Who Shopped There Two Years Ago
By 3.24.08
C writes in with another lesson on why you should check your statements frequently:Two years ago I purchased items for my grandchildren at KidsStuff.com. This month (March 2008) I found an $18.00 charge from them on my American Express card.
Amazon Offers Mail-In "Instant Rebate"
By 3.21.08
Two days ago, Shawn bought a video card from Amazon and was surprised when the advertised “Instant Rebate” 
wasn’t applied to his shopping cart. Turns out, it’s a mail-in rebate, sorry for the confusion. Unfortunately Amazon still hasn’t corrected the error as of the timestamp on this post, despite assuring him two days ago that they’d remove the icon. Remember to always click the “Rebate” link to see the actual details of the offer—it’s not listed on the main product page, and mistakes happen.
Pizza Hut Forces You To Opt-In To Spam Marketing When Ordering Online
By 3.14.08
When you place an order on Pizza Hut’s website, you have to create an account, and to create an account, you have to check the box that says you agree to their privacy policy and terms of use. It also says, “I agree to receive information about Pizza Hut®/WingStreet® couons, promotions, announcements, events and specials.” This e-commerce blogger is amazed that Pizza Hut would resort to such a sneaky tactic, which ultimately ruins the customer experience and probably costs them online orders.
Go Daddy Refutes Censorship Claim
By 3.12.08
The reader who sent Go Daddy an email asking why they shut down RateMyCop.com received a response in which they emphatically denied any censorship—this was all about a customer exceeding his contracted server usage limits and nothing else, they say. Read their full response after the jump.
Go Daddy Shuts Down RateMyCop Watchdog Site
By 3.12.08
Yesterday, Go Daddy pulled the plug on RateMyCop.com, which has been criticized by law enforcement officials for allegedly putting police officers in danger by listing their names and in some cases badge numbers. Visitors can then add comments and post critiques or praise about specific cops in their area. The website collected its officer data via public information requests, and no personal information is used, nor are undercover agents revealed. Still, law enforcement officials are upset at the exposure. When the site’s owner, Gino Sesto, called Go Daddy, he was first told it was removed due to “suspicious activity,” but then the reason was changed by a supervisor to an exceeded bandwidth cap, which Sesto disputes. Update: Go Daddy responded to our reader’s email and said taking the site offline had nothing to do with censorship.
Network Solutions Sued For Front-Running Domain Names
By 2.28.08
Earlier this year we noted that Network Solutions is “front running” domain names—that is, automatically purchasing domain names that customers search for and holding them for four days before releasing them again. During that period, the only way customers can buy the domain names is through Network Solutions for 3 to 5 times more than what you can pay elsewhere. Now “search engine expert” Chris McElroy has filed suit against them, named ICANN as a defendant, and is seeking class action status.
All Saints Apparel Plagiarizes Shirt Design From Gaming Site 4 Color Rebellion
By 2.23.08
Posh London retailer All Saints Apparel plagiarized a shirt design from the gaming site 4 color rebellion. The site originally unveiled the ‘You Complete Me’ tetris-heart figure for Valentine’s Day in 2006. Designer Mitch was surprised to find that All Saints had plastered the exact same design on a shirt selling for £40—that’s like, $90! Mitch asked All Saints for an explanation, which was enough to prompt a decent resolution.
Red Card! MLSGear.com Shoppers Exposed To Identity Theft
By 2.12.08
Computerworld is reporting that “a series of SQL injection attacks” on a third-party e-commerce company’s servers has compromised the personal data of customers who shopped at Major League Soccer’s MLSgear.com website. One affected customer told us he received a letter from MLSgear.com letting him know what had happened and offering him free credit monitoring services for a year, which is apparently the standing corporate response to personal data theft.
Tell The Best Personal Finance Horror Story To Mint, Have Your Credit Card Balance Paid Off
By 2.5.08
Do you enjoy confessing embarrassing details? Mint, the personal finance new kid on the Internet block, is offering up to $5,000 (paid directly to your credit card bill) to two people with the most horrifying personal finance disasters. The winners get free financial counseling as well. You can submit text—”sob stories”—up to 1000 words, or a video—”trainwrecks”—up to four minutes or 20 MB, whichever comes first. If you were paid to do any writing over the past year, you’re ineligible (we already checked).
Pick Up Some Haggling Tips At HowToHaggle.com
By 2.4.08
HowToHaggle.com is a short, easy-to-skim website devoted exclusively to the concept of haggling. It’s not the world’s most extensive resource, but the tips page lists 15 very good things to keep in mind the next time you want to score a better deal on a product.
