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identity theft
Vacations
U.S. Airways Boots 274 Stranded Passengers From Caribbean Airport, Refuses To Pay For Hotels
Armed guards ordered 274 stranded passengers out of the Punta Cana airport with no place to go after bad weather forced U.S. Airways to cancel its flight from the Dominican Republic to Philadelphia. Several passengers ended up sleeping in a bus after the airline responded to Tropical Storm Fay by asking passengers to pick up their luggage and get lost. More »
funny
Curse-Drenched Masterpiece Gets Cable Fixed
This NSFW recording is an expletive-drenched masterpiece. It's a series of messages a customer left on a cable company's answering machine after his cable went out and every number they had listed in the phonebook was busy... More »
early termination fees
Video Tutorial For Escaping Cellphone Without ETF
Who needs a bunch of words to tell you how to get out of your cellphone contract without early termination fee when a nice boy will tell you how do to it? You just sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch Ely Rosentock's video tutorial. 9 minutes later, you'll know how to break your cellphone contract without ETF, or moving to California. Video inside... More »Ben Popken On "To The Point" (And A Debate Over Personal Finance Advice)
Here's the clip of the To The Point radio program I was on yesterday. There was a bunch of people on, you can hear me at 23:30 talking about the Grocery Shrink Ray and 37:30 talking about the customer service hotline Sprint set up for Consumerist readers. It's a great show and I love Warren Onley's voice, but I have some issues with the advice some of the other guests gave on the show that I need to address. Here's what I would have said had I been asked some of their questions... More »
6:14 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Ben Popken
3,563 views,
18 comments
Latest by JustThatGuy3: @Ben Popken: Ben, you're not understanding the note. The note shows that, if you have $15,000 today, you should just more »
TV stations looking to save money can do so by interviewing guests remotely over Skype, as WTVT in Tampa did, live, with me this morning. No more paying for car service or bottled water!
iphone
VIDEO: Activist Bum Rushes iPhone Line With Flag Pony
The first person in line at the 5th Ave Apple store in Manhattan was
4th of july
Video: Fireworks Are Fun Until They Blow Up In Your Pants
Enjoy yourselves out there this 4th, folks, but do remember to be careful with those fireworks, as seen in this edited version of the CPSC fireworks safety video set to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. It's funny when mannequins blow up. Your hands, jeans, or the desk in front of your face, not so much. More »
confessions
Ex Countrywide Manager Exposes Its Lies
A former regional manager for Countrywide Home Loans, the mega mortgage company whose shady mortgage mill came to epitomize the subprime meltdown, went on The Today Show camera to detail some of the company's questionable practices. Here's some of the tricks he warned upper management about during his 6-month stint before he was fired for refusing to give loans to unqualified buyers: More »
maggots
VIDEO: Maggots Found Squirming In Box Of Goobers
Chomp, chomp, chomp, smoosh! Blogger Savannah Red's wife was enjoying a freshly opened box of Goobers when she bit into something not sweet or chocolatey, but squishy: a maggot. More »
great moments in commercial history
PedEgg Ads Scam, Suit Alleges
Who would have ever thought that a low-budget infomercial touting an egg-shaped device home pedicure device with "100 precision microfiles" might be deceptive in some way? Not, apparently, its actors, two of whom are suing the makers of "PedEgg." The thespians say they PedEgg told them the commercial would be internets-only. Instead, it's on the national airways. We don't care about that part. Rather, we chuckle over the suit's revelation that PedEgg hired a horror-makeup guy to apply "artificial bumps and discoloration" to their feet to increase the contrast between the "before" and "after" shots. Quelle horreru! Besides their dishonest advertising tactics, someone should also sue PedEgg for the gross-out shot when they dump all the foot shavings in the trash. See the full commercial inside. More »
media whoring
Ben Popken On TV Talking 'Bout Shrinking Packages
Here's the clip of yours truly, Ben Popken, on FOX 13 Tampa yesterday talking about the Grocery Shrink Ray that all the writers on the site have been doing a great job of covering. The interview was done over Skype webcam and I think it came out pretty well. "Shrinkage" and "downsizing" may be nothing new, but I think we're going to see more goods shrinking and by greater degrees in the coming months. It's practically a secret inflation. At the end of the story they say that some manufacturers are considering doing away with gallons of milk and instead selling 3/4 of a gallon, for the same price. If that happens, I think a lot more messages like the recording of the good ol' boy upset over the downsized Jimmy Dean's sausage are going to be left on customer complaint lines across America. As the guy in the New York Daily News shrinking package article (which I was also quoted in, whoo), said, "Soon people will be buying empty bags and empty boxes."
Shrinking packaging costing you more [Fox 13]
pepsi
Get Your Drink On With Pepsi Blue Hawaii
If Ice Cucumber Pepsi only left you nauseous for more, Pepsi has unveiled its "Blue Hawaii" flavor available only in Japan. The antifreeze-blue concoction delivers hints of pineapple and lemon which if consumed, will make you feel as if you have sailed into a heavenly island paradise, or something. Having fully recovered from his Ice Cucumber Pepsi review last year, reader Peter sacrifices himself for a video review of Pepsi Blue Hawaii. The video, inside... More »
Nintendo Wii Fit
Is Youtube's "Wii Fit Underwear Girl" Actually A Marketing Campaign?
Nintendo is facing accusations that a popular Youtube video is nothing more than a viral-video marketing campaign for the Wii Fit, reports The Telegraph. The video, quite simply, features a young woman using a virtual hula-hoop in her underwear. What separates it from other videos is that the 2 people in the video have both been identified as employees of the same advertising company. Nintendo denies the allegations. The video and details, inside... More »
videos
The Envelope System: The Spreadsheet-Free Way To Manage Your Cash
Want to get some kind of money plan in place but spreadsheets cause hives to burst all over your face? Then you might like The Envelope System, and No Credit Needed's video explaining how it works. Basically, you cash your entire paycheck each pay period and then put every dollar in a series of envelopes in different categories, with set limits for each category. Once you've spent the envelope for that category, no more spending in that category. Change goes into a piggy bank. Excess left over at the end of the pay period goes into savings or to paying off more debt. As a very "analog" "lo-fi" "old-school" method of budgeting, the envelope system is hard to beat. More »
satire
Yum! Brands Introduces New Wearable Feedbags
Whether you're trying to get as much of your Yum! Brand food into your mouth as humanly possible or just not in the mood to raise those heavy old arms to feed yourself, new wearable feed bags are functional, fashionable and sweeping the nation. Foods from Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut work the best, but we've found that wearable feedbags work on almost any kind of food, and they look great too. See The Onion video, inside... More »
funny
Greg's Office Max Freakout
This guy on San Fran's "Woody Show" goes into Office Max, twice, and loses his shit after every item he brings up to the counter rings up higher than its shelf-price. Not only does no one seem to care, one employee even insinuates that the complainant might be partially at fault for Office Max's inability to shelve things in the right place. Neither disc jockey, producer, crazed customer, Office Max employees number 1 and 2, nor Office Max Manager seem to realize that if the item is found on the store shelves under a certain price, as long as the description matches the product, the store has to honor the price. It's the law. In addition to a an amusing radio clip and animation, The Woody Show also has material here for a complaint to their state's Attorney General. Video, inside... More »
subliminal messages
Subliminal messages in advertising has been a controversial topic for years. Is it underhanded? Does it even work? Reader "umlaut75" sent us a video of a KFC Snacker television commercial that shows a mysterious tiny picture of a dollar bill mixed in with the lettuce. As far as intrigue is concerned, it's not exactly the Zapruder film but it does make us wonder. The video, inside...
More »
Subliminal Advertising: KFC Wants You To Think There's Money In Your Sandwich
Subliminal messages in advertising has been a controversial topic for years. Is it underhanded? Does it even work? Reader "umlaut75" sent us a video of a KFC Snacker television commercial that shows a mysterious tiny picture of a dollar bill mixed in with the lettuce. As far as intrigue is concerned, it's not exactly the Zapruder film but it does make us wonder. The video, inside...
More »
