As you might have noticed, a number of companies have shut their doors over the last few years. Making matters worse for the former employees of some of those businesses is that they still have to file their tax returns — but no one wants to give them a W-2. More »
Back in the wild and crazy mid-2000s, when we were all taking out adjustable-rate mortgages on vacation properties in Nunavut, Consumerist reader Matt decided to take advantage of the attractive interest rates on HSBC's high-yield online savings accounts. More »
All David wanted to do was be a good Samaritan. When he and his family came upon a credit card in the parking lot of a rest stop, he wanted to make sure he helped out its owner as best he could. But he isn't sure if what he did to remedy the situation was the right decision. Let's all chime in, shall we? More »
This isn't the most seasonally appropriate question to ask, at least here in the Northeastern U.S. And in the Northern Hemisphere. Perhaps it's important (yet disgusting) enough that we can argue about it until springtime.
Simply put: if a bird relieves itself in your food while you're dining outside, should the restaurant comp your meal?More »
In all the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, we're surprised we don't hear more about shoppers accidentally losing a bag of items they just purchased. But when that happens, is the store responsible for the shopper's forgetfulness? More »
Reader S. wrote in with a complaint about the food at the country club where she held her wedding. It would be easy to write her off as a hysterical Bridezilla, but the problem goes deeper than just "crappy food." Both S. and her husband told the venue during the ten-month planning process that his husband's family are Muslims who don't eat pork. The caterers served up rice with pork sausage, potatoes with ham, salad with bacon, and ham sandwiches for the cocktail hour. When called on their error, their response was to take some of the offending dishes away and not replace them. Management has offered S. a $3,000 refund on her $17,000 tab for the event. Is that enough compensation for a mishap that makes S. look this bad to her new in-laws? More »
Tomorrow afternoon, bestselling personal finance author and host of her own show on CNBC Suze Orman will be popping by Consumer Reports HQ, and it looks like Consumerist might get the chance to ask her some questions. More »
We often hear stories about beleaguered parents who continually dip into their bank accounts to keep their fiscally foolish offspring from ending up on Skid Row. But what about when the shoe is on the younger generation's foot? More »
The workers who came to Matt's house and installed new gutters did a great job, but they damaged the siding. He doesn't want to pay their bill until the (very minor) damage to his house has been fixed. But he also doesn't want the company to sic a collection agency on him. What would the consumerists do? More »
You get into the seats, place your hands on the wheel and sniff. That's not new car smell you're getting, but the faint notes of incinerated tobacco leaves. Perhaps they're peaking out from a cloying cloud of freshener, like a bra strap from a tank top. Dangit. You thought you found a good contender and wasted all this time to come out and check the car out, and now it turns out someone used to smoke in it. Reader Ethan wonders if this isn't something that dealers should have to disclose, or at least something that should show up on CarFax. More »
Emily isn't sure what to do. Last summer, she and her fiancé hired a photographer for their wedding in August. Earlier this month, about six weeks before the wedding, she tried to contact the photographer so she would be aware of some last-minute changes to the start time of the wedding. The photographer didn't respond, no matter how they tried to contact her. More than two weeks went by, and they prepared to hire another photographer with a month to go before the wedding. Finally, they heard back from the photographer, who promised their "non-refundable" deposit of $700 back. Then changed her mind. More »
Susan and her husband recently made a decent-sized purchase from Raymour & Flanigan, a chain in the Northeast that sells nice quality furniture. On a return visit to make some changes to their order, they learned that the original person who helped them had to split his commission on the sale with another saleswoman who happened to key in Susan's order while the original salesman was on a lunch break. Susan thinks this is unfair, and wants to defend the original salesman's right to the entire commission. But is it her fight, or is that just the nature of commission sales? More »
Laura wants to get the opinion of the Consumerist hive mind. She recently got involved in a situation where a customer refused to pay for a relatively inexpensive service and was curious how others would have handled it. More »
Although the prevalence of online account access makes financial software tracking less crucial now than it was, say, a decade ago, a detailed record of your spending is still key to maintaining a budget. More »
D. hates her current apartment, and is looking for a new place to live. The catch? She works as a temp, and has had some credit problems. She has a steady work history, and also a decade-long history of on-time rent payments to the management company she currently rents from. She wonders: what advice does the Consumerist Hive Mind have for her as she looks for a new home? More »
Has anyone ever given you great customer service advice? You know, the kind that you have to rush out and tell all your friends so they won't get ripped off (or that you send to our tipline immediately)? Here's one we like: "Pretend you are the supervisor. Remain calm and walk the customer service person through the process of solving your problem." More »
Anyone who's worked on a wait staff looks at their dining out experiences in a totally different way than the uninitiated. Understanding the pressures and perspective of servers can give you a deeper understanding of how to handle disappointments. For starters, you realize that customers have just as significant a role as servers in making it a pleasant dining experience. That's what I'm told, at least. Full disclosure: My food industry working experience is restricted to one hellish day working at a student union Chick-fil-A. More »
What do you do when you've received a product or service, but were never charged for it? Legally, in most cases you're not required to do anything, but what about those pesky ethics? Rebecca was traveling to Europe for business, and the hotel had trouble processing the transaction on either her business or personal credit cards. The hotel clerk hauled an old-school carbon copy device out of, we assume, some kind of Museum of Antiquated But Still Functional Financial Devices and took an impression of Rebecca's personal credit card. The bill was settled. Rebecca's company reimbursed her for the hotel stay. But six weeks later, the hotel still hasn't charged her card, and she isn't sure what to do. More »
The diamond industry wants men to believe they should spend three months' salary on engagement rings, but that's just silly. Still, it's tough to find a more reasonable measuring stick as to the appropriate amount to spend on such a bauble. More »
Mrgrammarperson has an upcoming airline trip planned, and he's nervous that one of his flights will be canceled and throw his entire travel itinerary off. He asks the seasoned travelers of the Consumerist Hive Mind: what should he do if his flights are canceled to reach his destination on time? More »
No matter how old their children get, some parents feel responsible for doing everything they can to help them succeed. This can lead to parents treating their grown kids as though they are teenagers, and it's tough to discern whether they're helping or holding their children back. More »
T. ordered a replacement power adapter for his MacBook from an Amazon Marketplace seller. He was under the impression that it was a genuine Apple product, but the $35 price tag probably should have been an indication that it wasn't. The item arrived, worked okay, and then T. accidentally broke it. Two months after he left a tepidly negative review, he heard from the seller, offering a refund to encourage him to remove his negative feedback. Coincidentally, the seller had received a huge increase in negative feedback in the period since T's purchase. What would you do? More »
Tomorrow, Consumerist Executive Editor Meghann Marco will be sitting down for a chat with Jon Leibowitz, chair of the Federal Trade Commission. And after the two are done discussing the NBA playoffs, they'll get around to more relevant issues. That's where we're seeking your guidance. More »
S. rents a house in Florida, and the refrigerator needs repair. Her dilemma is that her landlord wants to use a specific repairman, who is only available when S. and the rest of her household aren't available to wait around. The landlord has offered to let the repairman in, but S. isn't comfortable with having anyone in her home when she's not around. What would you do? More »
Here's a conundrum. Reader Jim bought a new 12-pack of Quilted Northern Three-Ply and noticed that the diameter of the cardboard tube inside was about a quarter of an inch larger than his old roll. Both packages said they contained 266.6 square feet of booty-wiping tissue and the total thickness of the rolls was the same. So what's going on? Are these simply a more efficient — however you wish to definite it — version of TP? Inquiring minds want to know.
Theoretically, a 16-year-old shouldn't be on the mailing list for unsolicited credit card offers. Neither should a 13-year-old. Yet companies just can't stop sending solicitations to J's teenage daughter—even after J. specifically opted her out of the offers. Permanently. Or so the family thought. Now they've started up again, and J. isn't sure how to make them stop. More »
While everyone should have their financial and legal affairs in order in case of sudden and untimely death, reader Charlie has to worry about this much too early in his life. He's been told that he has only a few years to live, and wants to begin planning now to make his passing easier on his family and to provide for them. More »
If you have a regular 9-5 job, one way to be sure that you receive your personal deliveries safely is to have them sent to the office. Unless you're reader A. and her husband. They work for two different small companies, and have discovered that any items mailed to them at work end up in someone else's hands. Both A. and Mr. A have been told that all mail addressed to the office is company property, and belongs to either whoever finds it first, or management. This seems wrong to them. More »
Arguably, the most important fact in this story is that there's a grocery chain called "Schnucks." It's located in the Midwest, and Brandon and his fiancee shop there, employing a complicated credit-card-tab-splitting procedure that normally causes no problems. This time, it did, resulting in a double charge. Brandon wonders whether he's justified in pursuing a chargeback, since he still doesn't have his money back. Short answer: Yes. More »
When you're late for your restaurant reservation, it's well within the establishment's rights not to seat you at all, or to make you wait until after customers who actually showed up on time are settled at their tables. Steven writes that he showed up late for his reservation on Valentine's Day, but restaurant staff initially seated him and his companion. When they were about to order, a restaurant employee came and asked them to leave the table, since they had really forfeited their reservation and the restaurant had seated them by mistake. Steven didn't just leave the table, he left the restaurant and dined elsewhere—and now isn't sure how to follow up on the experience. More »
Some time ago, on an unknown farm, a worm crawled inside a soybean pod to eat the delicious bean within. The pod was harvested with the worm inside, cooked, and served to reader Sarah as an edamame appetizer at a local Japanese restaurant. Sarah was disgusted and wants a refund of the $3 or so she paid for the appetizer. The restaurant's manager claims that business is slow and they can't afford to give her a refund. More »
As Groupon continues to expand across the country into more and more markets, consumers are finding they're not quite sure how to deal with this new beast when it comes to state laws governing coupons and gift certificates. More »
Julie's eyes probably bugged when she spotted the way-too-cheap PS3 deal she captured in the accompanying screenshot. She placed an order and checked out with a $50.02 charge after tax and shipping were added, but received a cancellation email the next day. More »
Nathan wonders: if a company makes repeated errors, then attempts to make things right, should you still warn others against patronizing them? He tells Consumerist that a chain pizza place failed to apply his coupon on four separate orders. He failed to notice at the time, and the restaurant manager offered a refund and free pizza once he called them on it. But should he recommend the place to others? What would you do? More »
Robert says his friend, Y, believes she was robbed of $50 and an iPad on a JetBlue flight, and that the airline and authorities haven't much helped her in her quest to recover the property. Neither Robert nor Y knows what to do. More »
Reader A, who lives in South Carolina, has been stuck in a leaky apartment for six months, enduring a management change and endless broken promises that one day a repair would come. She's given up on the leak ever being fixed, but is irritated that the landlord won't pay for her to move to a different apartment. More »
Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, odds are you're a gift card or three richer than you were before. Perhaps your employer blanket-gifted the office with them in lieu of a year-end bonus, or maybe a friend or work contact slipped you one as a show of appreciation. More »
Steve absent-mindedly stuffed a pickle in his pocket while shopping. A glass pickle. No one noticed him take it...including Steve. He'd be happy to go back to the store and pay for it, but the ornament is now broken. More »
Terry has a story that illustrates why it's not a good idea to have a too-trusting person — say, your mom or your kids — answer your door. If the answerer has the tendency to offer up unsolicited information about when you'll be away, he could give an unsavory caller an indication of when to rob you. More »
Anna booked a Christmas flight, and perhaps feeling a little guilty, she wants to show the flight attendants some love by providing some token gifts. More »
Flamethrowing pitcher Cliff Lee spurned the New York Yankees and their bottomless bankroll for his less wealthy former team, the Philadelphia Phillies. More »
Steve received an early, accidental Christmas present from Macy's, which mistakenly issued a refund for a jacket he ordered online. Being paragons of moral virtue, Consumerist readers will no doubt tell him to let the retailer know about the goof and offer to pay for the jacket. But the question isn't so much whether or not to tell Macy's, but how much effort he's morally obligated to exert in order to give Macy's the chance to correct the error. Is an email to customer service enough? Does he need to follow it up until he receives a response? More »
It's bad enough to be stuck with a parking ticket when you deserved to get dinged, but much worse when you were obeying the rules and still got hammered due to a glitch. More »
Rick woke up in his hotel bed to find he'd been joined by several unwanted strangers for some dirty exchanging of bodily fluids. That's right, he's got bedbugs. He's freaked out and doesn't know what to do. More »
Darren says a woman working at Kohl's grabbed his rowdy 2-year-old, making him cry. He's angry and wants to take action but isn't sure what to do. More »
What's wrong with Arif's water meter? He and his fiancée use a modest amount of water, but the local water authority claims that the two of them are somehow using 200 gallons per day. If this seems like it should be a straightforward problem to fix...well, you've never had to deal with a local water authority. More »
What's more precious: money or memories? A bad wedding videographer can leave you with with neither. Autumn writes that she and her husband hired a videographer for their wedding, assuming that when you pay $1,000 for a videographer, you receive a video of highlights of the wedding and reception in a timely manner. Instead, Autumn had to hound the company to actually get her video, finally receiving it in August 2010 after a July 2009 wedding. Oh, and the video is also missing most of the moments from the reception that people actually want to remember. Maybe the company assumed that after a year passed, the couple would forget that there had been a father-daughter dance. And speeches. More »
Shannon in Alabama recently got engaged, and she'll be moving into the house her fiancé owns after the wedding in December. The problem is her current place, which she just leased in April. She wrote to Consumerist for help figuring out what to do, since her landlord doesn't seem too clear on the procedures, either. More »
C, who is in the military, says a Taser-happy security guard hunted him down in the parking lot of a North Carolina nightclub, giving him a 50,000 volt "move along" message, and now he's weighing his options as to how to proceed. More »
It's nearly the weekend, which means at least some of you will be going out on dates, a handful of which will be first date. And in spite of all talk of gender equality, many people still think it's the man's job to foot the bill. More »
Terri writes that when the homes in her neighborhood were built more than 60 years ago, they were built with septic tanks instead of being part of a municipal sewer system. Instead of maintaining their own tanks, some residents want to be part of the sewer system, and the neighborhood is about to become one with the sewer system. Terri wonders: what can she do to stop this? She'd welcome input from any readers who have had similar experiences. More »
Grant tells Consumerist that his next-door neighbor disappeared...maybe because of an impending foreclosure, maybe not. No one knows where she has gone. They do know that the house is unoccupied, and Grant worries that the ravages of a Midwestern winter might burst a pipe or cause other damage to the empty home. Why does he care? They're townhouses, and whatever happens to the house next door could affect him. More »
Eric suffered a traumatic experience at a smoothie bar that left him contemplating the very meaning of life. Or, at least, the proper protocol for customers asked to tip before any service is rendered. More »
Joe and his girlfriend endured a confusing turn of events at a Dollar rental car kiosk that ended up in them being charged twice what they were quoted on Expedia. Stuck in a corner without other realistic options, they paid the inflated price and are now looking for a way to get their money back. More »
Replacing the flooring in his house, Scott authorized the contractor to charge 30 percent of the estimated cost as a down payment. To his dismay, the contractor rang up the card for the full amount before the work was done, then continued to charge the card when he needed more materials. More »
One of our readers just tried to take advantage of a $50 teeth cleaning offer from a local dentist, but once he got there he was quoted a new price of $1,136 for what they described as a "deep cleaning." Was their revised offer legit? More »
Melissa tells Consumerist that she had an irritating recent visit to her optometrist's office. The experience led her to find a new provider (hooray, free market!) but she wonders whether the offending office's tactics are becoming more common in other places. She wants to know: have any of your health care providers started photographing patients, claiming that the snapshots are to prevent insurance fraud? More »
G. writes that she learned something during a recent shopping trip to Gilly Hicks that shocked her. While customers can't try underwear on in the store fitting rooms, they can try it on at home and return it. However, once the underwear is returned to the store, it's destroyed. G. finds this shocking and wasteful, but it's no big secret. It's a common retail practice for returned underwear to be "damaged out," or put aside for later destruction, when it's been returned. More »
Jason was stuck with a massive electric bill due to a meter-reading snafu and worked out a payment plan with the company. Now the utility has disregarded the plan, rendering Jason's automatic payments insufficient, and tacked on finance charges. He has no idea how to maneuver out of this debt hell and wants some advice. More »
Todd writes that after he paid for his sub at a local pizza/sandwich shop, the helpful counter person asked him, "Would you like a drink while you wait?" Assuming that she was offering him a beverage while he waited for his sub to be made, Todd accepted. Except the drink wasn't complimentary. More »
Credit cards mean different things to different people. For some they're a lifeline to get by from month to month, while others use them to streamline their cash flow and reap rewards. More »
If you've applied for a job with a company and been turned down, how does that affect how you feel about that company? What if you feel that the company treated you poorly as a job applicant? Joe writes that he wonders just that. He feels that a company of which he was a customer treated his girlfriend unprofessionally after interviewing for a job there, and wonders whether he's justified in taking his business away from them. More »
A tipster sent us a link to this short advice column on gardening at PennLive.com, where the author says upside-down planters in general aren't that great, and in dry hot summers are particularly bad for your tomatoes. More »
William is stuck in a bottomless Chuck E. Cheese's ball pit of student loan debt and Mommy isn't there to pull him out. A decision to pay interest only on his three loans has backfired and now he can't afford his payments and is in danger of defaulting. He'd like you, wise Consumerists, to survey his story and share your advice. More »
Sarah seems partly jubilant and partly terrified that a travel website failed to make her pay for a round trip flight to Alaska. She wants to protect herself and know whether or not she has to do anything more. More »
Bobby is positive a 7-Eleven clerk mistook his $20 bill for a $10 and shafted him on change. He brought the issue up to the clerk, who shut him down and sent him on his way. Since Bobby is a regular at the convenience store, it made the situation more awkward and rendered him more inclined to accept defeat. More »
We hear the same exhortation everywhere: cut the cable! Save money! Ditch your cable company and live free! But if you had cable TV during the great DTV switch back in 2009, you probably didn't think to send away for any government-subsidized converter boxes. If you've recently dropped your cable subscription out of rage or frugality, what are your options? Karen wants to know, and hopes that Consumerist readers have some ideas. More »
R would like to press HP to fix his broken 3-year-old laptop because he's found forums on which several other users have experienced the same breakdown, but feels skittish about fighting because his computer is long out of warranty. He'd like to test the Consumerist waters to see which way he should go. More »
A reader emailed us to ask what he should do about an accounting mistake he discovered with some gift cards. He suspects the different parts of the hotel don't update the card balance in real time, but it could also be that the hotel's employees aren't processing the card correctly. Now he's wondering whether he should have said something. More »
The second half of summer is "complain about textbook prices" season, and last week the New York Times put together a special section on the topic and asked experts to weigh in. Too many of the contributors just provide an overview of the situation but no solutions; a publishing industry representative actually defends textbook prices as trivial compared to other educational costs. Fortunately Anya Kamenetz, who writes for Fast Company, suggests Flat World Knowledge. And to be fair, the guy who defended textbooks prices suggests CourseSmart for ebook rentals. The Times also asked students, professors and parents to weigh in with advice. More »
Trance has a question for the Consumerist hive mind: Are you receiving more promotional e-mails than you were, say, a year ago? Not spam, but actual retailers that you want to hear from when they have a sale. Trance doesn't have statistics for this, but thinks that she's receiving more messages this year than last year, and has had to unsubscribe. More »
Katie says he friend has been attacked on Facebook. Someone has copied her profile, befriended her contacts and sent them terrible messages in a frame job. She says Facebook has been unresponsive and wants your advice on how to handle the situation. More »
It's an unnerving experience as an adult. You're going along, being a good savvy consumer just like you always thought was the right way, only to discover in a flash that you've been doing it wrong all along. Has this happened to you recently? More »
Joe paid for his restaurant meal, except he apparently didn't. Two weeks after he paid his check by debit card, the charge has yet to show up on his account. The thing is, he wasn't happy with the meal or the service, so he's not all that motivated to call management and tell them they probably forgot to charge him. More »
Cassandra is looking out for her fiance's grandmother, who is savvy enough to know the people who call her and say she's won a bunch money are liars. More »
The New York Herald Tribune hasn't been published since the late '60s and it would likely not be remembered by most were it not for the now-iconic image of original manic pixie dream girl Jean Seberg attempting to sell copies of the paper on the streets of Paris in the 1960 film Breathless (or À bout de souffle for those who insist on such things). Regardless, the New York Times company apparently has a pending trademark on the logo and will sue you if you try to use it. More »
Customer service representatives on the phone can be rude, brusque, and just plain useless. But what happens when their phone demeanor is so polite and full of thanks and apologies that it's excessive and a waste of everyone's time? It's part of the script, but is it productive? That's what John wondered during a recent call to his insurance company, Geico. More »
Christopher plans to upgrade to the iPhone 4 and get rid of the deadweight that is his current phone. His requirement is that he not be murdered, attacked or fleeced during this transfer of property, so he's asking for your tips on how to protect himself during the process. More »
Isaac signed up for Time Warner Cable internet at the beginning of the month. And he waited. And waited. And the company pushed his start date back again and again and now tells him he'll have to wait nearly two weeks from when he signed up for a tech to visit him. More »
There are programs that provide government-subsidized cell phones to low-income people. This is all very useful and lovely...unless you're Laurin, who is stuck with a subsidized phone that no one in her household ordered, and the company doesn't seem to want back. More »
Mike ruined his credit in his teens but now is tempted to get back in on the plastic parade by accepting a not-so-hot pre-approved credit card deal with a colossal annual fee and interest rate. More »
Some money-saving hacks you think up are awesome, but others can be categorized under "foolish frugality." While they sound good at first, these hassle of these pyrites of personal finance can just end up not being worth the small savings. They can even cost you more in the long run, or even be hazardous. Here's a few bad ideas gleaned from FatWallet: More »
Brendan has a question for the Consumerist hive mind. He wants to buy a large-ish HDTV, but isn't sure that his usual method of buying technology—buy the cheapest thing he can get his hands on, and count on it not to break for a year or two—will work at these price points. More »
Here's a moral dilemma. If you are undercharged for an item and you only notice later... are you under any obligation to go back and tell the store? Or should you just let it go. Reader M wants to know what you think: More »
S. writes that in 2008, she owed a lot of money—about $8,000—to her dentist. She worked out a payment plan with the office, and asked them to auto-bill her credit card every month. They frequently forgot to bill her, but she wasn't too concerned about the situation. At least, until a debt collector called her, saying that the dentist had sold her balance to them. The dentist's office claims that this is a mistake. Now both entities want S.'s money, and she's not sure who she should pay. More »
Just because you live in a small space doesn't mean you can't wiggle your greenthumb. WikiHow has some great suggestion on how people living in less spacious quarters, like students and urbanites, can still let their garden grow. To create the illusion of depth and space, put more eye-grabbing plants closer to where they'll be veiwed, and put more muted plants farther away. Go vertical! Use an open structure with lots of shelves to stack lots of plants on top of each other. Start a Window Farm! Gardens are pretty, give you oxygen, and sometimes even low-cost fresh food. Do you garden in a shoebox? Leave your tips for maximizing your space in the comments. [WikiHow]
Jesse has turned to Consumerist for help because he is being haunted by a relic from his past. Specifically, he writes that a debt collector has contacted him, claiming that he owes them for having a gas service account that he never used—in an apartment where he thought all utilities were included. What should he do? More »
Believe it or not, there are people out there who want your money and will do sneaky things to get it. Crazy, right? There are some new and super tricky ways these scammers have come up with to separate you from your hard-earned cash, so let’s read up with a How Not To list from the Chicago Tribune and get prepared. More »
Is that tip cup on the counter at Starbucks staring accusingly at you? Do you feel pressure to pony up 15 percent or more even if your massage was barely adequate? How about that automatic gratuity tacked on? The New York Post is taking a look at "tip-jar madness" — a phenomenon particularly relevant in New York City, where the average tip is 18 percent. More »
Yesterday we wrote about someone who downloaded a pirated copy of a game after he couldn't gain access to the copy he'd already paid for. In that case, which most of our commenters supported, it was clear that the consumer was trying to resolve a problem created by the DRM. But what about if you own a printed copy of a book and you simply want to read the ebook version? Should you have to pay for a second copy? Randy Cohen, who writes the The Ethicist column for the New York Times, says downloading a copy you find online is ethical. More »
We get a lot of readers writing in to ask us whether or not a product containing High Fructose Corn Syrup can be labeled as "natural" or "all natural." The latest was from Kirby, who questioned whether HFCS-containing "All Natural" sodas are indeed "all natural." And, at least according to the FDA, the answer is "yes." More »
Daniel recently had an interesting tipping dilemma. He ordered a smoked brisket from a locally owned barbecue place, and had it delivered. Unexpectedly, the restaurant owner himself showed up to deliver the brisket. So, he asks: should he have tipped the restaurant owner?More »
Usually when we reprint a customer complaint, it's because the complaint itself deserves public attention. But the reason we're posting Consumerist reader Sarah's letter to the USPS isn't because the world needs to know about her smashed up shipment, but because the USPS' website won't let her file the complaint. More »
Tom is moving here from New Zealand in a few weeks and he needs to find a bank. He writes, "I've checked out the major players, but the number one thing that's turning me off is their online banking systems are horrible! I use online banking A LOT, so this is important to me. In terms of services I'd want, I need a debit card, and that's about it. Maybe I've been spoiled, but this is what I'm used to." He sent us a screen grab of his current bank's online presence, and it's quite attractive (see bigger screenshot below). More »
Consumerist reader Chris (no, it wasn't me) wrote to us hoping to get a resolution to a pizza delivery dilemma he recently faced. Because he's outside their delivery area, he went to pick up his order from his favorite pizzeria. But when he got home, he found out they'd given him the wrong pizza. More »
What do you do when Subway has prepared your delicious sandwich, and then the only credit card you're carrying with you doesn't work in the machine? Do you leave the poor, innocent sandwich behind? Do you leave your poor, innocent credit card number behind? Or do you take this as a cautionary tale about always carrying emergency cash? More »
It's Soda Bottle Complaint Week here at The Consumerist. Today's complaint is against Pepsi two-liter bottles and Mott's apple juice bottles, which Anthony thinks are far too difficult to open. He has to use pliers. Is he the only one? More »
Our sister publication ShopSmart asked their readers today what they think of grocery store self-checkout systems. Would you rather stand and watch someone else scan and bag your groceries, or do you prefer to buy your Oreos and hemorrhoid cream without another soul knowing? More »
If you order food, should you be able to take the uneaten portion home with you? Sure, you can't take home a box full of roast beef and shrimp from an all-you-can eat buffet, but can you take home half of a cheeseburger from a chain restaurant? Jennifer writes that the staff at the McCormick and Schmick's that she visited recently don't seem to think so. Her boyfriend wasn't allowed to take the uneaten portion of his burger and fries home because it was purchased during happy hour, at happy hour prices. More »
We get a lot of readers asking us about the rights and wrongs of when you should and shouldn't show your ID when making a purchase. But it's a rare occasion when someone writes in to share a story of having an online retailer asking to see ID. More »
Harry's got a problem: the Bank of America card he's had for years is paid off, but now it's been set to explode in Harry's wallet if he ever uses it again because the variable APR will jump to 29.99 percent. What's worse, his other card has been canceled. Now Harry doesn't know if he should start using the BofA card or back away quietly from it. More »
Here at Consumerist, we're constantly writing about online frauds, scams and misleading deals. But for all our writing, we're not a federal agency. That's where the Federal Trade Commission comes in. The good folks over at the FTC have just put together a short video demonstrating how easy it is for you to file a complaint with them on their site or over the phone. More »
Personal finance blogger Debt Ninja writes that he has $22,000 in savings, and isn't sure whether to use the majority of that to blast away his $15,000 debt. On top of that, he's got a wedding and honeymoon to save up for. More »
The menu of a restaurant in Winston-Salem, NC, says a gratuity of 15% will be added to parties of six or more. A former customer says she was in a party of three and saw that an 18% gratuity had been added, which she complained about but paid. She said the next time she showed up, she was met at the door by staff and told that she had to agree up front to pay 18% or she couldn't eat there. More »
Zachery says when he goes to buy a dozen eggs, he wants to make sure he's not paying for any bad ones, so he opens the cartons and switches them out. He says a fellow shopper told him this was illegal. Obviously this fellow shopper is an idiot, but I thought I'd post Zachary's question anyway just so readers can share their own supermarket QA methods. More »
Greg wrote to us and said that he's in the market for a new credit card: "I canceled my Chase card because they raised my interest rate to 29.99% + prime. What credit card companies should I be looking at for a replacement card? What are their perks, their drawbacks?"
I spoke with Samir Kothari, the co-founder and vice president of products at BillShrink.com, to see what he thinks about the CARD Act and how it will change the credit card marketplace. More »
Going from strip poles to iron bars in one night, a Consumerist reader says he got tossed in jail when he refused to give a strip club his thumbprint. Their ATM was broken so he had to pay his tab using a credit card cash advance. The club demanded a thumbprint and he refused, so cops that were already there threw him in jail. Was this legal? More »
Store brand is the new black. Nielesen says that buying of generic brands has increased 8% since 2007. Name brand purchases have dropped ~4%. But here's a question: what's what's never okay to get as a store brand? For me, it's tomato sauce. It's like pouring ketchup on your spaghetti. [Boston Globe via NYT Bucks Blog] (Thanks to James!)
Sue recently purchased a new home. She writes that she closed on the house...and then learned that the previous owner had committed suicide somewhere inside it. She wouldn't have bought the house had she known. The real estate agents claim that they weren't aware of the situation, but if they had, did they have any moral obligation to tell her? More »
BN's mom was doing great at work until a reorg gave her a new boss between her and her old boss. While she did stellar under the old arrangement, the new boss is constantly rude and belittling via email, and the old boss has backed up the new boss to choose whatever management style they like, even after a failed HR mediation. What should BN's mom do? Her story, inside: More »
Amy's neighbors won't stop parking in front of her house. They say that parking in front of their own house "spoils their view." Problem is, they live on the corner and there's shrubs so the cars also spoil Amy and her husband's view of oncoming traffic when they pull out. They've tried various tactics ranging from the passive aggressive to accidentally knocking the neighbor's bumper off, but they still plop their cars park in front of Amy's abode. Dear readers, what can she do to get them to stop? More »
Scott says his company is misusing customers' phone numbers to subject them to unwanted promotions. He wants to tell the company honchos and would like some advice for how to proceed. He writes: More »
Darin and his wife tell Consumerist that they recently bought a house that included an already-installed home alarm system. Neat! They would like to get the code to this alarm system. Unfortunately, the previous owners are unreachable, and the company that installed the alarm will only reset the code if the couple signs up for monitoring service. More »
Tayler's cat and Tayler's MacBook Pro just had an unfortunate run-in. Does anyone have any advice on cheap ways to repair this laptop, or at least how to get the content off of it without paying hundreds of dollars? More »
We post plenty of wedding registry horror stories here at Consumerist. Knowing this, reader Elizabeth would like to know: where are the best places to register? More »
In a timely coincidence to the New York Times' story on employee theft, the following story arrived in our tipline about a day ago. The tipster wants to know who he should report this to: the store or the police? More »
Reader and admitted Geek Squad employee Mike says he and his girlfriend rented and returned The Ugly Truth at Blockbuster, but the floundering rental chain insists it can't find the movie so his girlfriend is stuck with late fees that Blockbuster supposedly did away with years ago. More »
Ross has a small business that routinely ships 10-pound packages, but says he was horrified to find out that FedEx has charged his account with a 95-pound package shipment. More »
—>What do you do when you're unhappy with a transaction and the merchant wants to make things right, but you think their terms are unreasonable? That's what Raymond wants to know. He tells us that Aldo is willing to price match after sending him a marked down item that he paid full price for online, but thinks they want him to go too far to prove it. More »
—>Learning about how money works is important for children. But today, when all of our transactions seem to take with the mysterious swipe of a card, or inside a computer. So how to teach children about money when nobody uses cash anymore? More »
—>If you faced a shortage of trick-or-treaters Saturday night, or are overwhelmed by the stash your own offspring brought home, you may be asking yourself, what the heck am I going to do with all this crap? You could always teach the kids a valuable life lesson by letting them chow down on candy until they get sick, but there are some better — and easier to clean up — solutions. More »
—>Richard says his wife's Hotmail account was hacked, and now she can't get into her email or fix the problem via Microsoft's customers service online or over the phone. He writes: More »
—>UPDATE: The gift-giver's identity has been discovered! Perhaps this is a better question for Miss Manners than Consumerist, but Chris needs help. See, a beautiful red KitchenAid mixer, an item on his Target wedding registry, arrived via FedEx with no clues as to who sent it. Adding to the confusion, the item doesn't appear to have come off the registry. Which seems to us to be the entire point of registries. More »
—>You reach for an item at your local grocery store, and notice that on the shelf next to it is a coupon thoughtfully left behind by another shopper. But wait, is this a thoughtful way to keep clipped coupons from going to waste? Or just a way for shoppers to feel good about themselves, but create more litter for grocery store employees to clean up? More »
—>TD Bank customers, particularily former Commerce Bank ones, are still complaining about their paychecks and other transactions not posting. Other customers said they were being limited to $250 withdrawals. The problems arose Monday after they tried to combine their bank system with Commerce Bank's, which TD recently bought. More »
—>Jeff has a quandary. He spotted his neighborhood mail carrier delivering his package in a way he didn't like. Jeff wants to know whether he should report his friendly, package-tossing mailman to the post office, or whether he should expect retribution. More »
—>We mentioned last week that some companies have pulled their ads off Fox News host Glenn Beck's show in response to comments Beck made and the controversy that followed. Now there are reports that even more companies are pulling their ads from the show. We're curious whether any of this actually affects consumer opinion of a company, so we made a poll. Take it! More »
—>A recent Huffington Post article wondered if talking about personal finance was "the final taboo." Talking about money can feel as revealing as a strip-tease with none of the fun, but for something as complex and individual as your financial future, a one-way conversation with the internet or personal finance columnists isn't enough. More »
—>New Jersey resident Daniel had a checking account he used for eBay, but he forgot about it and sure enough his bank had to go an empty out the account because his money spoiled and had to be tossed out like sour milk. You know, due to inactivity fees. More »
—>Amy and her husband are drowning in high-interest credit card debt. When she asked Chase to lower her nasty 28-percent APR, they offered her an indecent proposal. She doesn't know what to do. More »
—>The party is over. In advance of credit card reform that was supposed to make credit better for consumers, the banks are making terms tougher and policies less lenient. The result can be very expense for some customers. Have any of these adverse actions happened to your credit card lately? Take our poll. Multiple answers accepted. More »
—>We're working on an iPhone app for The Consumerist, along with finally getting a mobile version, mobile.consumerist.com, for the site. Our first iPhone app will be extremely basic. This 1.0 will have iPhone-optimized version of the latest posts, and you'll have a few drill-down categories to choose from (top stories, features, personal finance.... something else? You tell us). That's about it. You will not be able to make comments. 1.5 will have comments. 2.0 will be a from the ground up rewrite with all the bells and whistles. So, questions: What categories should be in the 1.0? What dream features do you want to see in the 2.0? Leave your thoughts in the comments. More »
After weeks of trying to get our floral cooler fixed, it has been fixed as of 2:00pm today! The issue was with the dryer valve and not the compressor. The valve was completely clogged and we had a new one soldiered on. It went from 85 degrees to 44 degrees in 15 minutes. It is the best $324.45 I have ever spent! More »
—>Our ex-stepbrothers at Gizmodo found a craigslist ad for a barely used iPhone, selling for significantly below list price. There's just one problem. More »
—>Jan bought a keyboard from Circuit City last year. Since then, the company filed Chapter 11, the stores liquidated and closed, and another company bought the name. But last week, Jan finally-FINALLY-received her rebate check. Now she wants to know: is cashing this thing a good idea? More »
—>As numerous commenters on our "50 Restaurants Where Kids Eat Free Or Cheap" pointed out, it's easier to get good food at a good price with a nice home-cooked meal with fresh ingredients. Then we have the perpetual dilemma, what to make, and how to make it? More »
—>Consumerist is going to the White House this week, and we need your help! Ben and Meg are hitting Washington to do an on-camera interview of a senior policy official in the Obama administration about the new credit card reforms and consumer protections getting pushed through Congress and what they mean for you. Besides our questions, we want to ask your questions about credit card reform, credit card companies, and present tales of credit card woe. Leave your queries in the comments, or send them to tips@consumerist.com, subject line "credit card reform." If you want to submit your question by uploading a video to YouTube and sending in the link, that'd be swell because then we can splice them into our video. More »
—>George's outgoing Skype calls properly display his SkypeIn number, but if anyone tries to call him back, they're connected the number's rightful owner, a nice old woman in Raleigh, NC. George wants to know why Skype sold him someone else's number, but the internet telecom apparently doesn't pay anyone to answer their phones. More »
—>"Never buy the most expensive home in a neighborhood." "Your age is the percent of your portfolio you should have invested in bonds." "You can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings every year." Many of these sort of short, quick personal finance rules-of-thumb have become so generally accepted that most people don't even question their validity. In many cases, the guidance these sayings offer are quite good. Yet some of them have morphed from solid money advice to almost zen-like statements that are just as likely to be untrue as true. For example, here's one that sparks a lot of debate: More »
—>Reader Travis recently found out that one of his oldest cards had been canceled due to inactivity. This caused quite a dent in his FICO score and he's about to go shopping for student loans— so he's understandably freaking out. More »
—>What are your money-saving secrets? One Consumer Reports staffer recommends cutting open tubes of toothpaste to get at the last bit. I've heard that one before, but another new one was to "step on your toilet paper rolls." That way it doesn't dispense as fast thanks to its ovular shape and you save on sheets. I think you guys can top that and so does Consumer Reports, so submit your money-saving secrets in the comments or to tips@consumerist.com, subject line: "shhmoney." Besides getting featured here, the best ones might end up in a future Consumer Reports magazine article! "No idea is too small, wacko, or miserly," says the Consumer Reports editor-in-chief. More »
—>Of course you'll be watching Ben liveblog the commercials tonight, but from where will you be watching? The L.A. Times tells us that Super Bowl parties are the latest victim of the financial godzilla angrily stomping down our spendthrift ways. Take a minute tonight between Ben's updates to look around and ask yourself if there was more guacamole to spread around last year. More »
—>Reader David said he called Discover Card to cancel his account — but was advised against it because canceling credit cards can hurt your credit score. He wants to know if it's true. More »
—>People are cutting back from outsourced services and opting to do things themselves, like cleaning the house, walking the dog, making their own coffee, cutting their hair, or packing their lunch. Those who do say it saves money and gives a feeling of self-reliance. What have you started doing yourself lately that you used to pay people to do? More »
—>Reader Brandon wants to know if those freecreditreport.com commercials are being misleading when they tell you that your credit report can affect where you get a job. More »
—>Considering the price of buying or renting video games, GameFly, a Netflix-style program for video games, seems like a useful service. According to our inbox, not so much. More »
—>Reader Jennifer reports that Target doesn't seem to be automatically printing gift receipts at the bottom of the receipts. Clever way of discouraging holiday returns? Target's official policy is no returns without a receipt... More »
I am going to meet with him after work today, but was wondering, what sort of things do I need to look out for, and know, going into this? This is my first mortgage ever (I'm 21) and don't know too much about what's normal and what's not. If you could give me any hints or suggestions, that'd be awesome! Thanks so much, and have a great day! More »
—>One interesting fact coming out this week is that Barack Obama appears headed for severe technology withdrawal as he gives up his Blackberry and email communication in general. Poor guy. As if having to deal with the economic crisis and the Iraq war aren't enough — now he's got this! Anyway, the fallout has sparked a debate over that the Wall Street Journal blog The Juggle. The key question: is the Crackberry a useful device that helps you save time and money or is it a life-disrupting distraction that should be limited dramatically at worst, and eliminated altogether at best? More »
—>Reader Zack was curious why three different kinds of Tide detergent on the shelf had the same price and same volume, but the label said they delivered different amounts of loads. Consumer Reports investigated, and they have the answer. More »
—>Shaun says his 80+-year old grandfather, Steve, is being scammed out of over $10,000 a month. It seems Steve recently hired a female gardener who introduced him to a "wealthy friend," and now he's loaning them money to pay for groceries, cable, home upkeep, and, get this, bodyguards to protect her from an ex-husband and son who to want to kill her. When the family tries to intervene, Steve says the family is trying to put him in a nursing home and steal his money. Shaun is at a loss. How can he help his grandfather, who doesn't want to be helped? Shaun's story, inside... More »
—>Sarah has $40k+ in student debt that went into default after she got sick and had to spend a lot of money on medical care. She's been paying it off, but one of the companies that owns one of her loans, NCO Financial, has told her that unless she signs a legal document that says she can pay $260 a month, they're going to place her account back in collections and start harassing her even more than they are now (they're already calling her daily at home and work)... More »
—>Reader Rebekah has a question about credit cards. She and her husband pay off their cards every month, but like to charge most of their expenses because they enjoy the reward points. She's wondering if this is a good idea and how it affects her credit. More »
—>Last week, Woot asked Consumerist readers what it should do about a customer who was irate that their black iPod came with white headphones, despite the fact that Apple does not make them. The post was notable for several reasons. One, I think it might have been the fist time we posted a complaint from a company. Two, with over 477 comments, I think we broke a new comment record on a single post. After carefully evaluating your responses, Woot has said they'll offer Millard a full refund and send a box with a pre-paid shipping label to send the iPod back in. This is acceptable to me. As I've said in the past, it's all about the money. Once you have your money back as a customer, there's nothing to complain about. More »
Has a "debt collector" from "US National Bank" called you up and tried to railroad you into repaying an online payday loan you payed off years ago? Have they harassed you at work, threatened you will jail time, said they're sending the sheriff after you, or used other illegal and intimidating tactics? I'm working on a story for Reader's Digest about scams, and this is one of them I want to blow out the water. Email your story to ben@consumerist.com with "USNB Scam" in the subject line. My deadline is very short, this Friday, October 17th, 2008. Digging deeper into this particularly nasty form of illegal debt collecting, it seems what they're doing is... More »
—>In what is probably the second-worst consumer complaint we've received, Millard is mad at deal-a-day site Woot because he bought a black iPod from them and it came with white headphones. He demands black headphones. Woot needs your help in solving this consumer crisis. More »
—>I'll be reporting from the Finovate 2008 personal finance tool conference on October 14. There's 24 presenters from places like Mint, Yodlee, Quicken and Wesabe. Here's the complete list. Some of these services you've heard about or may use yourself. What questions would you have me ask them? What improvements can be made? What would you love to see in a personal finance tool? Let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to do your requests justice. More »
—>For several years and in different forms, Citi has had an interesting idea to get you/help you to pay off your credit card called the Citi Payment Partner Program. How it works is if you enroll and make above the minimum payment due for four months, on-time, at the end they will match 10% of the amount you paid off above your minimum payment. The max cap is $550. But there are two important caveats: More »
—>A repeal of a tax on wooden arrows is but one of the many pork provisions getting tacked onto the bailout bill in order to win support from recalcitrant Congress Critters. So while the world watches and waits for us to rescue the financial system, our elected representatives are holding things up until they can grab their piece of the action. Awesome. This one is even better than the $0.10 Michigan recycling refund. I've been trying to crunch the numbers on my wooden arrow business for ages. Finally the margins will work. Full text of the passage, inside. What other fun special-interest pork projects can you find tacked onto this bill? Let us know in the comments. More »
—>Lawmakers are hashing out the details of a huge taxpayer-funded bailout of Wall Street in an attempt to keep afloat the system of banks whose willingness to lend drives this economy's growth. Constituents have flooded their representatives phone lines and inboxes with with their heated reactions. What do you think?(Photo: Getty) More »
—>I was in IKEA last night to replace a file cabinet. They didn't have the right one but I picked out a close approximation. While I was waiting in line I thought, what the hell am I doing dropping $160 on a stupid box just to hold my hanging folders? So I got out of line and abandoned my flat-packed box and resolved to see what the nearby STAPLES has to offer tomorrow. Have you found yourself abandoning stuff in the checkout line more often? Or otherwise reevaluating and cutting back on certain kinds of purchases lately that in the past you might have made without thinking? More »
Inquiring readers named Kurt want to know: If a buyer from Canada buys something from someone in America on eBay, pays for it, including shipping, and then it shows up with a $50 C.O.D. charge for imports and customs, is that kosher? Discuss... More »
—>What do you think of Bank of America's "Keep The Change" program? How it works is every purchase you make with your BoA debit card you make gets rounded up to the next dollar. The difference between that and the actual price gets moved from your checking to your savings account. The idea is to help people save. Good idea, but there's some potential downsides I can see: More »
I'm thinking about hosting a Consumerist meetup where readers get up and slam their funniest, craziest, most cringe-inducing customer service stories, sort of a Moth meets Consumerist event. We'll stick with our hometown of New York, but now, the age-old question, which borough? More »
—>Reader Brittney is tired of waiting for Crate & Barrel to deliver her couch, but she thinks it may be her fault that she's got nothing to sit on because she was too nice. Now she's wondering what she should do: More »
—>There are few companies that we love more than Netflix. Usually their service and support are top-notch among DVD renters. However, Consumerist Forums reader "muffinman" has a concern. He has been receiving what he believes are counterfeit DVDs and has some compelling photo evidence. Please help us crack the case and tell us what you think. His letter and pictures inside... More »
I live in a 750 square foot apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Per the lease agreement, my roommate and I signed to pay the heat separate from the rent. The first gas bill we received was $750, and the following gas bill was roughly the same amount. We knew that the price of gas was expensive, but for two people who make great pains to use the heat only when absolutely necessary, and occasionally use the stove to boil a pot of water, this seemed ridiculous. For all of 2007, we owe roughly $2000 in gas costs.
—>Microsoft hasn't returned Tiffany's XBox 360 for four months because they think she is a thief, even though she has her original receipt and a credit card statement proving that she is the console's rightful owner. Microsoft repaired the XBox back in January and tried to return it via FedEx, but a shipping snafu landed the box back at Microsoft's service center. Tiffany has called repeatedly. She even sent a letter to Microsoft's legal department, after sending her receipt and statement, asking how else she could prove ownership. That was 22 days ago. She has yet to receive a response. More »
A reporter for a major national newspaper is looking for people to talk to for a story about new government guidelines that were supposed to make it easier for people to get or refinance jumbo loans (mortgage loans traditionally greater than $417,000). Under the new guidelines, some loans that are greater than $417,000 have been re-classified as "conforming" loans. This was supposed to make it easier for borrowers to qualify, but the reality, mortgage brokers say, is that very few people are. The reporter is looking to speak with consumers who have looked into the new guidelines, had hoped they would help, but discovered they are not helping after all. Email ben@consumerist.com with "jumbo" in the subject line and I'll put you in touch. More »
—>I'm working on a 20-minute presentation to be delivered before a bunch of marketing dudes and dudettes and I've been tasked with delivering my attempt at insights about The Consumerist and marketing in general. I've come up with a general framework of "The 5 Things Your Customers Aren't Telling You" and wanted to throw them out to see what you all think and see whether they're a good representation of our overarching themes and beliefs. Here's what I've got so far: More »
—>We spill a lot of pixels on The Consumerist about good and bad telephone customer service reps (ok, mainly bad), but what really is the nitty gritty of each experience? How do we dissect the exact aspects of what make for a good and for a bad customer service call? To that end, we've devised two polls that hope to get to the heart of this issue (with thanks to Peter Leppik at Vocal Labs for letting us borrow the methodology from their own survey about the same). Vent your heart and spleen, in our two polls, after the jump... More »
—>One of our readers is an enterprising psych major and he would really like to recreate the Monster Cable vs Coat Hanger test with laboratory-grade methodology, controls, and statistical measures. However, Adam needs your help. What is the minimum equipment he should buy, both audio equipment and coat-hanger-wise? More »
Quickly, I'm going through some final rounds of edits on an article I'm writing for Reader's Digest and they want some tales (by the end of today!) of consumers making unreasonable and crazy requests (We need to round out a little counterbalance to the otherwise ass-kicking stories and tips about getting great customer service). Can you think of any? Either stories from our site or news stories you've seen or stories from your life.. So far we've got the judge who sued the Korean dry-cleaner for $54 million for losing his pants, the bride who sued a florist for $400,000 for using the wrong shade of flower, and a traveler who was kicked off a plane for refusing to remove her meter-long stuffed crocodile from the emergency exit aisle. Can you think of any others? Since we usually focus on good consumers and bad companies, it's a little hard for me to come up with good examples! Leave your thoughts in the comments. More »
—>Reader Steve's little sister has a problem. She keeps getting attacked by her roommate. She called the police and now there are charges against the roommate. The psycho roommate's parents say that they will only pay the "lease break" fee if she finds a way to get the charges against the roommate dropped. More »
—>We just saw a piece on CNN about how to choose a doctor in which they suggested that people make a bunch of appointments for "a hangnail" and shop around. More »
About 3 weeks ago I had a job interview in California- I currently live in Philadelphia. The employer reserved a rental car for me with enterprise so I could get around town, with his credit card. I had a long flight with a lay over, and didn't arrive at Enterprise until about 2 o clock Philadelphia time. There was a long line, and after about a half hour I was taken back and shown a Chevy Aveo. She handed me papers to sign saying there was no damage to the car, and that I would pay an additional 10$ a day for being 23 years old. I walked around the car, and didn't see anything. I was eager to get to my hotel and go to bed, so I signed the papers and left. More »
—>Ken writes: "In February of 2007, we purchased a Whirlpool Duet Sport Washer, model XWWFW8410SW. The washer worked very well, and we noticed a savings in our water and electric bill. A few months later, we noticed it was leaking water. Fortunately, the washer is in the garage. We called our local appliance dealer, and they sent out a service technician. He "fixed" the leak. A couple of days later, it began leaking again. And it was fixed again. The door was replaced. The lock was replaced. The ring was replaced. Everything was caulked, adjusted, tweaked, etc. Again it leaked."More »
—>Andrew writes: I've been having a huge problem with Visa. On November 28th, my wife ordered a $150 giftcard for me as a Christmas present, and we were told it would take up to a week to be delivered. Since we hadn't received it by the 7th of the December, We called and asked a support representative about the card. The rep was nice and reordered another card for us that day, and agreed to have it sent to us via Fedex NextDay Air. On the 15th of December, we received the first card. We contacted Visa support again to see if we would be able to use the initial card, however it had been deactivated. More »
—>Reader Marshall writes in to ask if we think he's going to get his Office Depot (technically, Ativa) refund by the end of the month. Currently, the company's excuse for not sending him his money is that they're "out of gift cards." More »
—>I'm thinking about shooting lasers into my eyes. I know, I know, usually people want to shoot lasers out of one's eyes, but I've always been a contrarian. No really, I want to get laser eye surgery, any suggestions for doctors in New York City? So far the only lead I have to go on are the fine doctors associated with the New York Eye and Ear Hospital, reputed to be a great place with great doctors. When I called a bunch of the doctors' offices, the price ranged from $4,000 to $6,000, which includes zapping both eyes, all drops, medication and followup visits. I can afford that but it seems a smidge high. More »
—>"What is ya'lls experience with dealing with AA when the passenger has a case of appendicitis? My sister is going under the knife in London right now, and was admitted to the ER 6hrs before her scheduled flight back to Seattle. We've called AA and they say no chance of getting any sort of re-booking, rebate, coupon, or whatever because she was listed as a "No Show" for the flight. We called the airline before the flight to inform them of the situation."More »
—>Products don't advertise their drawbacks leaving shoppers to rely on online reviews as one of the only ways to determine a product's true worth. Salon argues in an article heavy on fluff and light on content that reviews are just a meaningless muddle of questionable opinions. We disagree, but the article does raise one good question: how do you judge the value online reviews? More »
I lost my 30 day unlimited MetroCard over the holiday weekend. Happily, a friend told me the MTA will replace it if it was purchased with a credit or debit card, which it was. However, since calling the handy replacement number on the MTA's web site for THREE DAYS IN A ROW and holding anywhere from 100-150 minutes each time, I'm not so sure. Have other people in New York dealt with this? I understand the MTA is probably like your average DMV when it comes to efficiency, but this is just plain ridiculous. My lunch money is dwindling with each $2.00 trip to—and from—work.
"Hi, I've experienced a electrical failure on my property last week resulting in the loss of use of my home as well as many electric devices (appliances, heat, water pump). The day I filed the claim I was told by two people at Liberty Mutual that a person from their emergency department would contact me the same day because of my situation (having an elderly person in the household) and my claim handler would call me the next day. More »
Are you a Comcast user? Try visiting torrentfreak.com. Let us know if you're allowed to see the page or if you get an error. A reader told us Comcast is blocking it but we want to check it out first. Update: looks like this is an isolated incident. Carry on.More »
A friend of ours bought a Sharp Aquos LC-32D40U last year. Its warranty expired in August. Naturally, this month, it developed a strange liberation. There's a thin black line on the right side of the screen. It sorta looks like it's not completely hiding the letter boxes when you go to full screen format. When he called Sharp, they didn't want to help him because his warranty was over. Best Buy, where he bought it, will charge $100 to come out and look and it. More »
I know that you guys have already covered the "format war" to some extent in the past. As I recall your site stated that the "format war" is indeed anti-consumer, which I agree with wholeheartedly. However, I do think that it would be incredibly helpful if you guys would revisit the story, and determine for yourselves which format is the most "consumer friendly." More »
—>Reader Melissa is shopping for pest control services. She has termites and needs to get rid of them. She got three estimates and, while Orkin wasn't the cheapest, she was afraid the cheapest was too low. More »
—>Here's a question that never gets any easier to answer. When a company's customer service drives you into a blinding rage or otherwise severely inconveniences you but doesn't actually cost you any money... what, if anything, should you expect as compensation? More »
—>"I just got off of the phone with the insurance company [VPI Pet Insurance] that covers our puppy. They advertise a broad range of protections for pets and make lots of promises about the great coverage that they offer. They were recommended to us by our vet as one of the most reliable in the field. It seems, though, that they are just as shady and unreliable as so many other insurance companies that we hear horror stories about."More »
—>Cratin ordered a micro-fiber living room set from Rooms To Go after being taken by an all-encompassing warranty. Five months later, Cratin began to notice stains on the fabric. Rooms To Go attempted to remove the stains on three separate visits, and then offered to re-upholster the marred piece. Cratin also noticed that the velcro attaching his couch cushion to the couch was coming undone. Rooms To Go again dispatched three technicians who could not resolve the problem, and then offered to reimburse Cratin if he decided to purchase additional velcro from a hardware store. Cratin is furious and wants to raise bloody hell, but to us, it looks like the Rooms To Go is doing their best. We ask you, The Consumerists, to decide who is right, after the jump: More »
I just got some taped voicemail message from the company that installed my DirecTV last year.. Something about having to install some sort of converter by Sept. 1 in order to keep receiving HD signals... have you heard anything about this?
...In which a reader learns, through the power of IM, the definition of the contractual clause "As-Is," and how it applies to the damaged apartment he subleased...More »
I've tried twice before, and I know the general idea is to keep calling/chatting back and get a new person. This time, however, it seems as if they are all sticking to their reading points. More »
About two years ago when I moved away from home I got a credit card with X limit from Chase whom I bank with. The first year I used the card for some things, made payments on it regularly and all was good until last November, they sent me a letter saying they were going to raise my interest rates. Taking some advice from consumerist.com I called and asked them to lower my rates and they did (afterward I e-mailed consumerist to say you guy's rock). In February of this year I got a notice from Chase saying they were raising my limit by 50% and in March I paid my balance way down. Just a few weeks ago I used the card again for tires for my wife's car and immediately after I got a notice saying they were going to double my interest rates again. Naturally I called, answered a question or two and they agreed not to change my rates and send me a letter saying this just like before. More »
—>Throwing off all the debt shackles remains an illusory proposition for many. But after the initial exhilaration wears off, the financially manumitted can find themselves feeling like they're standing alone in a trackless prairie, asking themselves, what do I do now? More »
Hi Meghann, nice work on Consumerist. You all do a great job, and I enjoy the blog, read it a lot, and learn a lot from it. I thought I would run a situation/question by you and see if you all have any answers or know where to find them. More »
I have a friend that moved to NYC a little while ago from Iowa. She hadn't switched to a NYS Photo ID yet, as she isn't sure if this is going to be a permanent move, so she has been using her Iowa State Photo ID (non-Driver's License, which is important as you'll see) around town. More »
—>Hey kids, let's make a tshirt! You write the slogans, you pick the good ones. The winning slogan gets made into a tshirt. If we pick your slogan, you get 3 free shirts and everlasting fame and glory. More »
—>What do you want a deal on? On Monday March 5th, Consumerist readers will have the chance to get up to 80% off on select products by playing in a special Jellyfish Smack Deal of the Day. More »
—>The "Snowball" method for paying off debt is very popular, but what about one offered by Suze Orman? Which one results in paying the least money and getting out of debt the fastest? First, take a peek at JLP's description of both. More »
—>An Illinois PayDay lender revealed sets the dates on their loans so they're not governed under state payday law, a Credit Slips blog student discovered after interviewing the company. More »
—>Here are your 16 finalists for the 2007 Worst Company in America contest. We narrowed down this list based on the results of the preliminary voting round, keeping only the "sweet sixteen." More »
—>Marc's top-of-the-line DeLonghi Combination Coffee/Espresso Machine was felled by a five-cent piece of plastic. Marc called DeLonghi for a replacement part, but was directed to their accessories website. More »
—>We're looking to purchase a button-hole video camera, but need some help. This type of camera has a lens that can be disguised behind a button and the rest of the apparatus worn on the body. There's so many to choose from on the web and we're not sure where to start. More »
We want to get our intern a job as a door to door salesman with IDT Energy, the energy reseller that's scamming New Yorkers into switching over from ConEd. More »
—>Reader S. got a call this morning from Citibank. They said her card had been compromised and she needed a new card. When she asked for details, Citibank could only say that an unspecified business had their system compromised, affecting "millions" of Visa and MasterCards More »
What would you like to see us add to The Consumerist in 2007? It's year-end-review time so we're gathering together a big wishlist of services, fixes and whatzits we would like to see implemented. Plus, there's a site redesign around the corner... More »
Reader Miss_smartypants bought a new PEBL cellphone from T-mobile, free after $50 rebate. After she sent in the rebate forms, she saw a notice on T-mobile's site for the phone free, straight up, with no rebate business. She called to request a pricematch so she wouldn't have to wait for the rebate. More »
And I'm wondering what percentage of people with checking accounts actually carry or write checks anymore (I myself have gotten to the point where I pay all my bills online and use cash or plastic in stores). More »
—>For secret reasons, we're coming up with a list of Consumerist preferred service providers. These are companies that provide a better or cheaper or simply less lame alternative to the "name brands." More »
—>You're chewing your nails to the quick, possessed by a nameless anxiety destroying all your motivation. A trip to the hypnotist reveals you have deep, unresolved issues stemming from a horrible customer service experience you've since suppressed. The soothsayer advises you to visit a public place and scream it out at the top of your lungs. More »
That got Homerjay thinking. We all know to avoid these in-store warranties, but which manufacturer warranties are up to snuff? Apple is famous for their level of service (as long as it's not an iPod). Who else's warranty wins it for you? More »
—>In an ideal world, the salesman is a doctor diagnosing your problems and needs and prescribing remedies. But let's talk about the real world and the need to keep your timeline for buying a secret. More »
—>Every so often, the plane doesn't leave on time, a wrong part gets shipped or a bank teller sniggers at your hat. If you're disappointed and want to tell the company, these tips will help your complaint see real results. More »
Submit your company of choice in the comments or on the tipline. Include *why* you're recommending a specific business. Even better if you have a personal story to tell. More »
—>We're on a quest. We want to interview the Oozinator. We want to find out what was going on in Hasbro's minds when they created this product and its advertising. More »
—>Grant had the misfortune to get into a snowboarding accident. Then he had the further misfortune of living in America where it's nigh impossible to get a bruise removed from your credit report. More »
—>T'is a pity for the flower of youth to be wrinkled by the radioactive belch of credit card debt. Yesterday, we asked the readers about how college boy L.S. should get out of his $2150 in credit card debt set at exorbitant rates and here's what we think he should do. More »
