bbb
—>Freescore.com is one of those online companies that offers a free trial, and then attempts to enroll its customers in a $30/month subscription service. Now they're suing Yahoo in an attempt to reveal an anonymous blogger who quoted a Reuters article when criticizing the service, and who pointed out that Freescore is owned by a company with a reputation for billing customers without permission. More »
—>Jon wants us to recommend a good lawyer to sue HP for screwing him over on laptop repairs. We do not offer legal advice like that. We do, however, believe strongly in the power of small claims court. More »
—>Remember Kelly, the one who couldn't get her money back from Classmates after she canceled her automatically renewed gold membership? More »
—>A funny story from KSDK in St. Louis looks at the bridal store "I Do I Do"—now under new management—and some of the more colorful complaints received by the Better Business Bureau over the past few years. (The store has an F rating with the BBB.) It's quite likely, based on these complaints, that "I Do I Do" was employing a chimpanzee to make alterations. More »
—>Buried in the controversy surrounding the exit of consumer reporter George Gombossy from the Hartford Courant was his article that looks at complaints against mattress company Sleepy's. We though this bit of wisdom from Sleepy's COO was worth repeating: More »
—>What can you do if you're too small to have a shot in our Worst Company In America contest, but too awful to not earn some sort of notoriety? Well, you can get your BBB membership revoked and earn a big fat F ranking. It's no golden poo, but it's a start. More »
—>The Better Business Bureau warns job-hunters and other money-seekers that no, you can't earn massive amounts of money through secretive Twitter tricks. More »
—>If you bought cameras or electronics from any of these stores recently you were probably scammed: Best Price Camera, Foto Connection, 1 Way Photo, 86th Street Photo, Broadway Photo, Camera Whiz, and Sonic Photo. Or perhaps you bought something online from one of their astonishing array of alter egos and websites (see full list). More »
—>We know how it is. As soon as a big star dies, you feel the immediate urge to buy his old stage-used sweat rag on Craigslist. More »
—>U.S. Fidelis, the auto warranty company that's currently being investigated by 40 state attorneys general for questionable business practices, has hired the law firm headed by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. The firm won't represent the company in litigation, but is supposed to provide an internal review of their practices. They'll also provide draping cloths for any immodest statuary, and wiretap kits for employees of interest. Hey, it's hard to do topical humor on someone who's been out of office for 4 years. More »
—>A couple of years ago, the New York Times did a piece on the poor treatment of teens hired to travel the country and sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door, but they're not the only ones getting the raw end of the deal. More »
—>Call your grandma: the BBB reports a big mailing of Publisher's Clearing house scam letters went out on March 6th and March 20th, promising people big bucks in exchange for a hefty up-front fee. The fraudulent letters use the name Publisher's Clearing House and Reader's Digest but are sent by flim-flammers, not these organizations.The prize never materializes and the scammers dematerialize after you stop forking over bogus processing fees. One grandma, thinking she won $1 million, got taken for over $4,000. The fraudsters sent her a "downpayment" check of $6,000 and told to deposit it and send $3,700 of it elsewhere to claim her million-dollar-prize. Inside, what the scam letter and check look like so you know what to call your grandma and tell her to watch out for. More »
—>Rob bought a monitor from Dell. Not just any monitor, a defective one. Ok, he didn't specifically request it to come defective, but that's how it did. So did its replacement. "The backlight was flickering constantly and it made me feel nauseous just looking at it," writes Rob. He's returned the monitors but Dell has yet to give him back his money. Every time he calls, they tell him it will be just 7-10 days more and that he paid with two credit cards is complicating things. So far it's been 45 days. More »
—>Matt at SteadFastFinances tipped me off to a possible loan-modification scam running ads on network TV. More »
—>Gone are the days of "unsatisfactory" ratings by the BBB — they've switched over to a letter grading system designed to provide consumers with "more detailed insight into a business’s track record." More »
—>The BBB has given us a heads up about a new scam that targets holiday shoppers — pop-up internet electronics stores that only accept payments via wire transfer. More »
