28 Of The Worst Money-Saving Ideas Ever

Earlier this week we asked you for the worst things you’ve ever tried to do in order to save money that really didn’t work out, and you bowled us over with your responses! Over 190 comments poured in, some utilitarian, some hilarious, others, poignant. My favorite is the grandma who bought two caskets and used [...]

Subway To Start Tessellating Cheese July 1?

Three years after the protests began, it seems Subway has finally listened to its customers and will start tessellating cheese on its sandwiches, according to what appears to be an internal weekly newsletter. Click to enlarge. As the image shows, and anyone who has gotten a Subway sandwich knows, most Subways layer their isosceles-cut cheese [...]

BP Oil Spill More Like 12,000-19,000 Barrels Per Day

First BP told us 1,000, then 5,000, and now a joint federal and independent research task force estimates that 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil were spewing into the Gulf since the crisis began, NYT reports. If the numbers are right, then we’re talking about as much as 30 million gallons. That would be more [...]

How Fraudsters Make Fake Credit Cards

There’s many ways your credit card can be stolen and exploited, but this is one of the more sophisticated: In this WIRED video, Detective Bob Watts of Newport Beach Police Department shows how crooks take your credit card numbers they steal off the internet and turn a blank plastic card into something they could swipe [...]

Travel: Is That Online Deal For Real?

Our inboxes and search results are filled with great-sounding travel deals, $35 airline tickets, $399 three-day all-inclusives and the like, but have you ever actually tried to snag one? Oftentimes it seems a low “landing prices” shoots up after all the fees are added, or if you try to get a date other than a [...]

Poor People Spend 9% Of Income On Lottery Tickets

A recent study found that poor folks – households earning under $13,000 per year – spend about 9% of all their income on lottery tickets. Jonah Lehrer: The study neatly illuminates the sad positive feedback loop of lotteries. The games naturally appeal to poor people, which causes them to spend disproportionate amounts of their income [...]

Get 20% Off At Coldstone Creamery

It’s been blazin’ in New York all day. I’ve got two Vornados on me, a minimal amount of clothing, and I’m wearing a coldpack on my head. So, in the spirit of temperature abatement, I am delighted to share this printable 20% off anything coupon for Cold Stone Creamery, which I would totally use if [...]

Why Paying More For Brand Name Drugs Is Folly

There are some people out there who just don’t get how much crazy money you can save with buying generic drugs. For those folks, this infographic was crafted by Mint.com. To illustrate the cost-savings possible, they took a look at Advil. For the same 200 mg of isobutylpropanoicphenolic acid, people are willing to pay over [...]

How To Use Facebook’s New Privacy Controls

Lifehacker has a handy guide to and analysis of the new, streamlined privacy controls just announced by Facebook. There’s also the full version posted on Facebook. The new controls are simpler, but fall short in some respects. For example, there is no way to make your activities and interests private, and you’re opted-in by default [...]

BP Starts Operation “Top Kill,” Watch It Live

BP has started operation “Top Kill,” and we’ve embedded here the live videostream of their latest attempt to plug the well. The maneuver involves pumping heavy drilling mud and cement into the well. While routine on surface wells, it’s never been attempted at 5,000 ft underwater. And if it goes south and the blowout preventer [...]

BillShrink Shows You How To Save On Cable Bills

This morning, BillShrink delivered a karate chop to the cable cabal with a new service, currently in beta, that shows you how to get the best cable/tv/satellite/dish package for the best price. How it works is that you enter your info, they run the the numbers, and then deliver you the deals from different providers [...]

Man Spends 24 Hours Inside A Starbucks As A Sick Experiment

Zug.com’s Bayan Rabbani is a glutton for punishment. Having spent 24 hours inside a Walmart in the name of comedy journalism, he thought he was ready to spend 24 hours inside a Starbucks. He was wrong. Largely his story is one of a man who staves off boredom through constant sugar-laden caffeine beverages, tweets, and [...]

Man Spends 24 Hours Inside A Starbucks As A Sick Experiment

Zug.com’s Bayan Rabbani is a glutton for punishment. Having spent 24 hours inside a Walmart in the name of comedy journalism, he thought he was ready to spend 24 hours inside a Starbucks. He was wrong. Largely his story is one of a man who staves off boredom through constant sugar-laden caffeine beverages, tweets, and [...]

Lady Enters Security With $24,000 Rolex, Leaves Without, Suit Alleges

A woman is suing the TSA after she says she was forced to take off her $24,000 Rolex to pass through security, and when she went to retrieve it, it had mysteriously vanished. The Florida Times-Union reports: …[she] said she was preparing to board a return flight to Jacksonville last February when she was ordered [...]

Lady Enters Security With $24,000 Rolex, Leaves Without, Suit Alleges

A woman is suing the TSA after she says she was forced to take off her $24,000 Rolex to pass through security, and when she went to retrieve it, it had mysteriously vanished. The Florida Times-Union reports: …[she] said she was preparing to board a return flight to Jacksonville last February when she was ordered [...]

Lady Enters Security With $24,000 Rolex, Leaves Without, Suit Alleges

A woman is suing the TSA after she says she was forced to take off her $24,000 Rolex to pass through security, and when she went to retrieve it, it had mysteriously vanished. The Florida Times-Union reports: …[she] said she was preparing to board a return flight to Jacksonville last February when she was ordered [...]

Clip Of Ben Popken On NPR Talking About Mail-In Gold

If you didn’t catch Consumerist on NPR last Friday, here’s the clip of me on All Things Considered chatting about mail-in gold buyers: Did you know that if you melted all the gold that’s been mined in the world you would just barely fill up two Olympic swimming pools? Maybe the rarity is part of [...]

Clark And Dawes Comedy Team Skewer European Debt Crisis

Making poor lending decisions is by no means uniquely American. In case you haven’t heard, the Europeans are going through a debt crisis of their own right now, and it’s bound to have an impact on America’s economy. Seems that several broke countries have lent massive amounts to other broke countries and nobody can pay [...]

Satirical BP Twitter Account Has More Followers Than Real One

A fake BP PR twitter account, BPGlobalPR, has started posted satirical tweets about the company’s response and attitude to the oil spill, and it has more followers than of the real BP Twitter accounts combined. And why not? Would you rather read, “BP Pledges $500 Million for Independent Research into Impact of Spill on Marine [...]

Reach HSBC Executive Customer Service

This number goes to the customer care division of HSBC Bank USA. It’s good for when you have a Sisphysian customer service issue that you’d rather have the sneakers of Mercury. 813-571-8998 Don’t forget your CCP’s – always be concise, clear, and polite.

Get Your Complaints Solved With One Simple Question

It’s like “The Secret” for CSRs: by asking reps reps this one question, you can get many of your customer issues resolved faster and go on to live a life with less stress and more laughter. NYT’s “The Haggler” polled his readers for their best customer service hacks. One that captured my eye with its [...]

Cut Debt Faster By Sending In Your Payments Sooner

One little trick you can do to get out of debt faster is to send in your credit card payments as soon as you can, says No Credit Needed. Don’t just pay the bills when they’re due. By sending in your payments sooner, you can reduce your average daily balance and thereby reduce your total [...]

VIDEO: Angry Homeowners Rally Outside BofA Exec’s House

Embittered homeowners and activists packed the yard of a Bank of America executive on a recent weekend, and they brought their bullhorn. Members of the National People’s Action community group and the SEIU came to the porch steps to tell their stories of foreclosure and bureaucratic indifference, and advocate for financial reform. In this video, [...]

Does Your City Spend A Lot On Eating?

When it comes to spending on munching and swigging, how do you think your city stacks up? Bundle crunched the numbers and turned it into a plump and juicy infographic, served up piping hot inside… Everything is bigger in Texas, so perhaps it’s no surprise that Austin came out on top, with $12,447 spent per [...]

Consumerists Raise $6,318.17

Muchos gracias everyone who chipped in during our Consumerist $10 for $10,000 donation drive. We only got to $6,318.17, but hey, for a recession, that’s still pretty great. You can donate at any time throughout the year, just hit the “donate” button at the top of the page, or visit Donatetoconsumerist.com (FAQ). Thanks again! Now [...]

265,000 Homeowners Stuck In “3 Month” Trial Loan Period For 6+ Months

Newly released data shows 265,000 homeowners are trapped in loan mod limbo, stuck in “3 month” trial loan periods for over 6 months, reports ProPublica. That’s up from 100,000 in January. The lagging in decision-making by loan servicers damages homeowners credit, increases their mortgage balance, and prevent homeowners from saving up for a potential foreclosure. [...]

AT&T Raising iPhone Early Termination Fee To $325

Having cold feet with your iPhone will cost you $325 starting June 1. AT&T is increasing the fee for breaking early two-year smartphone contracts from $199. The carrier is also decreasing the early termination fee for “dumb” phones by $25 to $150. [AP] (Thanks to Jim!)

Consumerists Raise $5,113.30

You guys have opened up your hearts and wallets to us mightily, raising $5,113.30. Thanks! Every donation makes you a stakeholder in the future of Consumerist. Every dollar is a vote for independent, non-profit, ad-free blogging, for your right to get what you deserve from in the marketplace, and to mock those who don’t live [...]

Reach HTC Executives

If you need to reach upper management at handheld manufacturer HTC because of some intractable issue with their device that regular customer service can’t or won’t solve, consider lofting a well-crafted letter over to some of these folks: Mark_Baker@htc.com Senior Director Enterprise Business Unit Americas Cher_Wang@htc.com Chairman John_Wang@htc.com Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation Keith_Nowak@htc.com Senior [...]

Rent-A-Center Responds To Predatory Lending Infographic

Sonia, Rent-a-Center’s Public & Community Affairs person, popular post, “How Predatory Lending Works, From Payday Loans To Rent-To-Own” and has a rebuttal that shows how they do math. I showed it to Jess, the creator of the infographic, and he has a rebuttal to the rebuttal. Let the chips fall where they may: Sonia writes: [...]

Gulf Oil Spill Oil Reaches Loop Current

The NOAA announced that a “small” amount of oil from the BP oil spill has reached the Loop Current, a warm Gulf current that passes through east to the Florida Straits and could spread any oil up the East Coast. In 10 days time it could start hitting Florida shores, probably in the form of [...]

Amazon Coupon Codes For May

ProBargainHunter has got the entire list of Amazon’s official coupon codes for May. Here’s some of the deepest discounts: 35% off Java Juice JAVAJ555 35% off Taco Bell TACOBEL5 mmm! 40% off Plum Tots baby foods PLUMTOT5 Whenever you use a coupon code, a frugal fairy gets its wings. Amazon Coupon Codes for May 2010 [...]

Save $100/Year By Retrofitting Your Toilet To Dual-Flush

You know, not everything that goes into your toilet requires the same amount of water to push it down the pipes. Wouldn’t it be better to use more water on the denser stuff, and vice versa? Well, with no tools and just $20, you can trick out your toilet so that it’s “dual flush” (a [...]

Harper’s Magazine: Insider Reveals How You Get Jacked When Selling Jewelry

Struggling to make next month’s rent, you might be tempted to dig out some jewelry you don’t wear and try to sell it to your friendly neighborhood jeweler. You might actually be buying a ticket to a sick magic show. The jeweler performs a blistering series of slight of hand tricks, whipping out calculators, spouting [...]

VIDEO: New Kin Ad Creeps Consumer Reports Out

Theresa over at Consumer Reports Ad Watch took a gander at the latest Kin ad and is kinda skeeved out. In the ad for Microsoft’s new social networking phone targeted at teens, protagonist “Rosa” goes out to confront in person “Matty Goldberb” who’s been hitting on her on Facebook, despite their never meeting before and [...]

Ex-Jeweler Dissects “Buying Roadshow” Ads

The ads are cheesy as all get out: “Buying Roadshow” “Instant Cash For All” “Will pay up to 1100%” in giant block letters and starbursts. And the crazy thing is that they’re really good at packing in suckers eager to sell their “scrap jewelry,” dreaming of riches, but eventually convinced to be happy walking away [...]

New Google Phone Whispers Targeted Ads In Your Ears

So this is how Google is going to make the Nexus One work: Advanced voice-recognition technnology will whisper targeted ads directly into your ears, reports The Onion. Another win for Google, continuing to leverage their tried and true strategy of really smart robots, contextual results, advertising and zero human interface. New Google Phone Service Whispers [...]

Tarballs Hit Key West

Key West park rangers found 20 3 to 8-inch tarballs Monday that had washed up onto the shores. Tarballs are blobs of oil that become weathered after travelling through the ocean. The samples will be analyzed to figure out where they came from, but if they’re from the BP spill, it would heighten concerns that [...]

BP Sucking Off 1,000 Barrels/Day From Spill, Only Thousands More To Go

By attaching a mile-long pipe to its leaking well, BP is now able to slurp off 1,000 barrels of oil daily. The Gulf of Mexico spill currently emits about 5,000 barrels of oil per day, according to BP/Coast Guard/NOAA estimates, which have been challenged by independent scientists who put the figure more at 70,000 barrels [...]

1.8 Million Toy Dart Guns Recalled

After two boys died from choking on the darts, Family Dollar Stores recalled 1.8 million toy dart gun sets. If the soft plastic darts are placed in one’s mouth, it’s possible they can be inhaled and prevent breathing. The toys were imported by Henry Gordy International. They were only sold at Family Dollar Stores from [...]

Woman Sues Cellphone Company For $600,000 For “Exposing” Her Adultery

A woman has sued her wireless provider for $600,000 for outing her as a cheater to her husband. After the they added internet and TV services to the woman’s previously single-user cellphone bill, the wireless company began sending the husband a unified bill, which included several hours long conversations to an unknown number. The husband [...]

$4,675.44 Raised – Mountain Of Candy Explodes

We know why you read Consumerist and why you donate. For one thing, it’s for our gripping reports from the front-lines of candy stores across America. Don’t forget, Consumerist is a non-profit. You can give us money and then deduct it. Smart! Donatetoconsumerist.com (FAQ)

Demon Dogs Enjoy Coffee Mate, Owners Too

Someone San Franciscan decided to interpret this Coffee Mate ad’s suggestion of “add your style/flavor” as an invitation to do just that to the billboard itself. Unfortunately for the powdered liquid non-dairy creamer, this person’s personal style seems to be something involving the forces of Satan. Our headline is a little misleading, though. To be [...]

Make Your Own Pop Tarts!

Here’s a cool recipe for making your own Pop Tarts at home from SmittenKitchen. Sturdy crust, not soggy filling – the secret is a lil’ thickener – and, according to the author, “the buttery, flaky, no-toaster-required-to-soften-it transcendence the grocery store aisle version can only dream about.” It’s fun, it’s tasty, it’s HFCS-free. homemade pop tarts [...]

Google Kills Nexus One For Verizon, Says Get An HTC Incredible Instead

If you’ve been waiting for the Nexus One to hit Verizon, you can stop waiting. The HTC Droid will take the place of the Nexus One on the Verizon network, Google announced via a blog post Monday. It’s supposed to support better multi-touch sensors, so, win? Perhaps given the customer service issues that arose after [...]

10 Coolest Secret Safes

Safes are handy for safekeeping stuff you don’t want other people to get, like money. The only problem is most look so “safey.” Given enough time, any of them can be broken open. The best solution is if the robbers can never find it in the first place. No, that fake-bottomed can of Campbell’s Soup [...]

Coffee Shop Reopens After Entire Staff Quit, Business Is Tepid

Gorilla Coffee, closed for 16 days after its entire staff quit simultaneously, has reopened, to decidedly decaf customer response. There were just three patrons when I visited this morning at 8:35, a time when it wouldn’t be uncommon for the line to be out the door. An all-new staff worked behind the counter. I don’t [...]

Hilton Hotel Tells You To “Just Wait It Out” While Other Guests Prank Call Your Room

Staying at the Hilton for his first-year wedding anniversary, Brian and his wife had to suffer through two different groups of fellow guests prank-calling his room, excessive noise, and a non-working air-conditioner. They did give him one free night for his troubles, but that didn’t make his experience any less unpleasant. Here’s the letter he [...]

Walmart Manager Hates It When You Donate Loss Leaders To Homeless Shelter

At Walmart, no good deed goes unpunished. Lisa said she tried to buy up a bunch of health and beauty supplies at Walmart to donate to local homeless shelters, and instead got a lecture in economics from the shift supervisor. Lisa writes, At the beginning of the month I picked up some great deals at [...]

What’s The Best Card For International Travel?

When hitting the shops overseas, many credit cards will charge you additional international transaction fees. The savvy traveler needs to equip themselves with a credit card that charges low or no fees at all. Here’s the current rates for the seven credit cards with the lowest international transaction fees: Capital One 0% PenFed 0% Discover [...]

What State Uses The Most Gas?

Is your state the gassiest? This graph over at Infrastructurist compares how much each gas each state uses per person. Green is low use, blue is moderate, and red is high. What’s interesting is when you look at each state’s fuel use per capita, “High-use states like New York actually have low per-capita usage, while [...]

Cellphone: Go Prepaid Or Contract?

When shopping around for a new cellphone plan, or simply a cheaper one, consumers have more choices besides the standard 2-year contract wireless companies try to cram down your throat. But do you go prepaid or with a contract? Which company delivers the best value? It all depends on your usage and what you’re looking [...]

VIDEO: Store Clerk Learns He’s $258.5 Million Powerball Winner

If you’ve ever played the lottery, here’s your chance to vicariously live through the moment of realizing you’re the winner. Store clerk Chris Shaw recently became a $258.5 million Powerball winner of the Missouri lottery, and here’s the footage of him arriving at the gas station where he bought it and learning he gets all [...]

New Dry Max Pampers Causing Rash, Burns, Sores, Boils?

Pampers new brand of Dry Max diapers causes rashes, burns, sores, and boils on their babies, some parents are alleging in a growing online backlash. But is it really Dry Max, or just typical diaper rash that the parents are incorrectly correlating with the new diaper? One parent posts, “We were using Pampers diapers with [...]

The Cardboard Box That Fits Everything

Hey Amazon, et. al., I think we just figured out how you can solve your Stupid Shipping Gang problem: switch over to this kind of box that fits every item, no matter what size, perfectly. It’s called the “Universal Packaging System” and it’s amazing. Designed by Patrick Sung, the “UPS” is a piece of corrugated [...]

KFC “Pink Buckets” Not Best Way To Fight Breast Cancer

KFC is urging customers to buy “pink buckets” to help fight breast cancer. However, you could buy a dozen KFC buckets and it wouldn’t put an extra dime towards breast cancer research, reports The Washington Post. The fine print on KFC’s “buckets for the cure” website speaks for itself: “KFC restaurant operators have contributed 50 [...]

Blippy Revealing Users’ Credit Card Numbers To Internet

UPDATE: Blippy is taking this seriously. Social networking site Blippy.com is exposing reams 4 of its users’ credit card numbers to anyone who can use Google. Simply by typing a phrase into Google and specifying the results come from Blippy, page after page of results like DEBIT CARD PURCHASE AT DOMINO’S PIZZA #01, [redacted] MI [...]

NPR Exposes Documentary Hucksters Preying On Non-Profs

NPR just wiped the floor with Vision Media, the company that demands big bucks from non-profits and startups to pay for what they say will be a retired and beloved anchorman Hugh Downs-hosted public TV show about them. Invariably, NPR found, the shows never broadcast and the limited few that do air as paid commercials. [...]

Loads More Data In A Tweet Than Just 140 Characters, & More To Come

A tweet. A seemingly innocuous 140-character piece of data shared over Twitter. That’s what you see as a user, but inside, there’s much more. Raffi Krikorian has cracked open a tweet to show you all the data that can be inside, like your geolocation, bio, name, etc. And last week, along with their advertising initiatives, [...]

“Dirty Dozen” Cheat Sheet Reminds You Which Foods To Always Buy Organic

To help you remember the “Dirty Dozen” foods to always buy organic, Heidi Kenney has designed this fun free cheat sheet to keep in your moneypurse (organic farming doesn’t use synthetic pesticides). Flip it over and you’ve got the “Clean 15,” which had the lowest pesticide count.. One time I was eating lots of fruits [...]

Get Sprint Billing Issues Fixed Fast With This Number

The person who sent in this escalated Sprint contact says, “If you enjoy Sprint’s excellent phones, wireless service, and call clarity you almost certainly have MAJOR headaches with your account/bill. So don’t wait in line with their f’d up offshore billing department. Go bug Celina the account manager.” Celina the account manager! 254-295-8072 Don’t forget [...]

The Sharky Tea Infuser

Me wanty this tea device, the Sharky tea infuser. You put your tea in the bottom compartment, attach the dorsal fin top, and set it afloat in your (preferably glass) cup. The effect of the tea infusing into the water from the shark appears both beautiful and exciting. In the words of the Argentinian designer [...]

iPhone Hacked To Run Android

This guy has hacked his iPhone so it runs Android. In fact, he can choose to run either the iPhone OS or Android. It only works on the original 2G iPhone and it’s a little buggy, and not recommended that casual users try it, but the future could hold implementations on the 3G and 3Gs. [...]

Star Of Microsoft Kin’s Sexty Ads Has Sext Parody Video History

Last week, Microsoft pulled some ads for the new Kin social media device after our prurient pals over at Consumer Reports pointed out that they seemed to promote sexting (In one of the shots, a teenager puts the gadget under his shirt and takes a picture). “Microsoft takes the issue of sexting very seriously,” said [...]

Facebook Used To Make Partners Delete Your Data After 24 Hrs. No Longer.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced this morning that Facebook will toss a policy that made developers and partners with access your data to delete it after 24 hours. Now they can just keep it. Turns out the privacy policy hindered growth: Zuckerberg told Inside Facebook: Zynga [makers of Mafia Wars and Farmville] has had to [...]

Buncha Peoples’ Droids Randomly Deleting All Their Text Messages

Maybe they are sentient after all, just like the commercials suggest, and they’ve decided it’s time for you to move on. A slew of Droid owners are reporting that their cellphones will sometimes randomly delete all of their text messages. That’s every picture of your baby your wife sent you, every hilarious exchange between you [...]

Recall Recall!

Tropical Bedding Mattress Sets (fire) Le Hing Baby Walkers (falling) Mares Dive Computers (drowning) Hammary Furniture Chests and Tables (lead) Oriental Furniture Roman Shades and Roll-Up Blinds (strangulation)

Reach Logitech Executive Customer Service

If you have a Logitech customer service issue, warranty repair request or otherwise just need to kick your issue to the top because regular customer service isn’t doing it for you, here is a gal to contact: Nancy Morrison, VP of Corporate Communications, United States and Worldwide 510-713-4948 nancy_morrison@logitech.com

The $7,865.84 Verizon Bill

Yowza! David’s eyes popped out his head when he saw his $7,865.84 bill from Verizon. The charges stemmed from a recent trip to Tel Aviv where he used 350,000 kb of data on his Mifi connection. As we’ve extensively documented, Verizon charges 2 cents per kilobyte. Before leaving the states, a Verizon rep told him [...]

Delete Your Facebook Account Forever

Whether you’re trying to get a job and worried about snoopy new bosses, sick of maintaining a virtual profile constantly bombarded with increasingly useless updates and pings from people that you decreasingly actually know, fed up with Facebook’s attitude towards their users, disgusted with your addiction to it, or just want you, your personal details [...]

Build Your Own Home Theater

Hi-fi curious? PC Perspective has posted the second of 6-part series that walks you through every detail of setting up your own ideal home theater setup, from the planning to stage to source materials to speaker configuration. Future installments will cover setting up a home media server as well. And if you need help picking [...]

British Airspace Squeaks Open, But More Disruptions Loom

After five days of closure, British airspace has been partially reopened. However, the threat of yet another spume of volcanic ash heading for the isles could set off a new wave of disruptions. Millions of passengers have already had their flights delayed or canceled, or been flat-out stranded and left with little recourse but to [...]

Starbucks To Introduce Vegan Frappuccinos

Starbucks is going to introduce vegan frappuccinos starting May 5. The soy-based confections contain zero dairy and are already available in a few Los Angeles locations. They, unfortunately, do not taste like vegans, nor are they made from them. Here’s an email from a Starbucks manager quarrygirl.com snagged with more details: “you can now get [...]

Coupon: 2nd DQ Blizzard For $.25

DQ something the same: get a second DQ Blizzard for $.25 when you buy one with this printable official coupon (PDF). Be a pal or be a glutton, the choice is yours. [via Ben's Bargains]

Facebook Kills More Of Your Privacy For Cash

Yesterday, Facebook announced an awesome new feature that lets anyone see your current city, hometown, education, work, likes, and interests, even if you’ve set your profile to private. Will this benefit individual users and their friends? Not unless the only thing you remember about your dear friend is that they enjoy leather-play and you’re willing [...]

It Has Arrived

It’s here.

Eat Organic For Cheap

Organic food is pesticide-free and saves baby unicorns from exploitation, but darnit if Whole Foods ain’t a pricey pack of provisioners. But there are ways to buy organic and still be frugal. You can buy your foods raw, not processed, cook from scratch, and friend a farmer. Check out more at WikiHow, with 8 ways [...]

Cookbook Called For “Ground Black People”

The “Pasta Bible” is getting pulped because a recipe for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto called for “salt and freshly ground black people.” “We’re mortified that this has become an issue of any kind and why anyone would be offended, we don’t know,” Penguin Group Australia’s head of publishing, Bob Sessions, told The Sydney [...]

Augmented Driving iPhone App Gives Your Car A HUD

The Augmented Driving iPhone app turns your car into a fighter jet. Mount your iPhone on the dash and launch the program and it starts tracking the cars around you, warning with an annoying voice if you get too close and showing you your lane so you don’t drift. Could come in handy for long [...]

Calling Card Bills In 5-Minute Increments

Have you ever read the back of a calling card? This one takes the cake. I’ve seen, one and three, but this card billing calls in 5-minute increments. So if your call is five minutes and one second long, they’re going to deduct 10 minutes worth from the card. Yeeks. Better talk fast. The way [...]

Chase To 15% Of Cardholders: Drop Dead

15% of current Chase credit card users are going to get the axe, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon announced in a shareholder letter this week. “In light of new regulations,” that forbid sucking in customers with zero-interest introductory rates and then ratcheting up lunatic penalty rates, “we deem them too risky.” Other highlights from the letter [...]

Reach Toshiba Executive Customer Service

Your laptop is a craptop, the hold music won’t stop and the call center won’t talk, so you’re looking for a guy at the Toshiba top to get you back on top. Guy Lugo is that guy: Guy Lugo 949-461-4153

Wells Fargo Holds Your ATM Card Hostage In Portland. You Live In Bolivia.

John is in Bolivia. His money is not, thanks to Wells Fargo incompetence that has him making $10 phone calls to executive customer service and his friend wiring him thousands of dollars. John writes: I live in Bolivia, S America. I had to close an old Wells Fargo checking account and then open a new [...]

5 Secrets To Get Better Verizon Wireless Customer Service

Here’s 5 things you might not know about Verizon Wireless that could also help you be more successful when dealing with customer service and customer service issues: 5. Each region owns and manages their own call centers and sets their own policies. 4. The Northeast is more liberal upgrading within contract. 3. Mid-west is more [...]

How To EECB Sirius XM Radio

If you have an issue with your Sirius XM Radio service or a billing problem, and vanilla customer service behind the 1-800 number just can’t seem to get it right, no matter how hard you try, you might try emailing the people running the company. Here are their email addresses: hugh.panero@xmradio.com, nate.davis@xmradio.com, gary.parson@xmradio.com, dara.altman@xmradio.com, steve.cook@xmradio.com, [...]

eBay Scammers Evolve, Use Live Chat “Customer Service Reps”

Grace almost got scammed on eBay. A fraudster cracked a high-value seller’s account and posted a fake listing for a camera and tried to make Grace pay for it using Western Union, a huge warning sign of a scam. That’s typical, but these criminals went the extra mile. “Above and beyond,” if you will. When [...]

North Face Reaches Settlement With South Butt

Clothier North Face has settled out-of-court with parody vestment maker “South Butt.” Once again, comedy wins! The second company sells a variety of tshirts and hoodies and so forth that say “South Butt” in a font similar to North Face’s, and sports an upside-down North Face logo. The trademark infrigement suit contended that consumers might [...]

VIDEO: Hey Streets, What’s The Worst Company In America?

I hit the streets of New York with a video camera, asking taxi drivers, youths, store owners and chicks eating donuts, “What’s the worst company in America?” Most people laughed and said, “Worst company?” — and then thought real hard and gave us some answers, answers which may shock you! This video has subtitles so [...]

Is Your Parking Garage Ripping You Off?

Next time you get your ticket from the parking garage dispenser, better grab a clock. A New Haven parking garage got busted after an investigation showed that the entry clock was set four minutes slow, while the exit clock was set five minutes fast, resulting in patron after patron getting overcharged. After investigators alerted the [...]

Tell Your Senator To Rollback Unfair Interest Rate Hikes

Before a new law went into effect in February to clamp down on their abusive tactics, credit card companies jacked up interest rates, putting the squeeze on already strapped consumers. But that same law can still help as. In it, Congress told the banks to review those spiked rates, and, for responsible cardholders, bring them [...]

Judge Forces Comcast To Pay Customer $5,087

“I have researched his issues and based on our records the case is without merit,” wrote a Comcast spokesperson to local news investigator Amy Davis. She was looking into the case of Wayne, whose credit was damaged by Comcast just before he was going to refinance his house. This meant that on top of what [...]

What? An Ad Agency Is Hiring 230 People? In This Economy?

Need a job? One green shoot of the economic recovery is the hiring glut going on over at the R/GA digital advertising agency, with 230 jobs open. That’s on top of the 130 they’ve already hired this year. But I thought advertising was dead, or at least severely atrophied? An R/GA source says that while [...]

Video: Too Weak To Move Your Arms? The Food Lift Feeds You!

We’ve all experienced the the age-old quandary, “I’m hungry, but I’m too weak/lazy to move my arms, whatever shall I do?” Enter the Food Lift! It’s a revolutionary new product that takes the work out of eating! Simply place the food in the trough and then the dynamo-screw lifts the meal through the tube into [...]

Kid Racks Up $1,400 In Farmville After Stealing Mom’s Credit Card

A 12-year-old kid is probably getting his crops slashed and burned by his mum after he racked up $1,400 in Farmville purchases, draining his own savings and running up charges on her credit card. Farmville is free to play but using real dollars, players can purchase items that give them in-game advantages, like barns, tools, [...]

iPad Is A Total Babe Magnet

The iPad has replaced the borrowed puppy as the lure of choice for bachelors on the make. Jim Colgan from The Takeaway took the latest Apple gadget out for some field testing and found himself besieged with admirers. Ok, really they were admiring the new tablet, but some of that adoration washed over on to [...]

If You Were Broke, You Don’t Need To Pay Taxes On Forgiven Debt

Here’s an important caveat to our “You Need To Pay Taxes On Forgiven Credit Card Debt,” post: you don’t need to pay the taxes if you were insolvent at the time the debt was discharged. The IRS defines a taxpayer as insolvent, “when his or her total liabilities exceed his or her total assets.” In [...]

Facts Replaced By Asterisks In Sprint Chat Transcripts

Sprint has an interesting new strategy: after you do an online chat with one of their customer service reps, they provide you with a transcript of the chat, but it’s missing a few important things. Namely, any specific numeric details like dollar amounts, dates, minutes, or months cited by the rep have been replaced with [...]

WCIA Media Coverage Coming Fast And Furious

The competition for this year’s Worst Company in America contest is heating up, and so is the media coverage of our reader-driven bracket. We were on the early morning show on ABC on Monday and other outlets are taking notice of WCIA as well: Reuters Huffington Post Marketplace, on American Public Media TIME BoingBoing WIVB [...]

Reach Super 8 Executive Customer Service

Got a Super 8 customer service issue they’re not being so super about, and regular customer service leaves you with a dull metallic taste in your mouth? Try one of these escalated points of contact. John Valetta’s (President) at 973-753-8302 or Jim Darby (VP Operations) office at 973-753-8310. John’s secretary’s name is Ellen. She’ll call [...]

Spot Fake Online Reviews

Here are some warning signs that an online review is being left by a shill, or shills: The reviews: * Have zero caveats, and are full of empty adjectives and pure glowing praise with no downsides. * Are all left within a short period of time of each other. * Mainly tally off product features. [...]