Watch Out For Oil Spill Cleanup Investment Scams

In a joint statement from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission, investors have been warned today about the possibility of investment scams being operated by companies claiming to be involved in the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Reads the statement: “While some of the companies touting [...]

United Leaves Sleeping Passenger On Plane For 4 Hours

It’s been a rough few weeks for United Airlines. First, they try to incinerate an Olsen Twin, then they left a blind passenger on board after they’d let everyone else off the plane. Now, Continental’s betrothed is having to explain how they managed to not notice a sleeping passenger who remained on board her plane [...]

Telephone Company Cuts Off Greek Prime Minister’s Phone Service

While his government wallows in massive debt, the Prime Minister of Greece has his own problem — the telephone company turned off service to his home phone earlier this week. Turns out it was all an error, as Prime Minister George Papandreou’s home phone number was nearly identical (all but one digit) to that of [...]

Passengers Stiff Cabbie For $1,427 Fare

Usually when we write about taxi-related horror stories, it’s cab drivers trying to scam passengers out of cash. But this time the tables have been turned in big way, after a driver in Ohio was stiffed on a $1,427 fare. According to the driver’s complaint filed with the police, he picked up a couple in [...]

2,010 Calorie Cold Stone Shake Named Worst Drink In America

Only days after the Center for Science in the Public Interest ruined everyone’s dinner plans with their list of the worst meals available at U.S. restaurants, the muscle-bound dudes over at Men’s Health Magazine have released their own list of the worst drinks in America. Topping the list is the PB&C shake from Cold Stone [...]

Taco Bell To Begin Plaguing The Bowels Of England This Summer

The people of England may need to upgrade their plumbing — Taco Bell is coming to the UK later this summer. As part of parent company Yum Brands’ plan to increase their foothold in Jolly Ol’ England, it is attempting to slowly insinuate the not-exactly-Mexican taco chain into the fast food fabric there. Yum has [...]

How To Score A Free Thong From American Apparel

Are you in the need for some butt floss but don’t have the extra cash to buy a new thong? You’re in luck, because American Apparel is now handing out thongs for free! All you have to do is A) be over the age of 13 (and isn’t that a bit young to be thonging [...]

Mobile Devices Push Apple To Front Of Tech Stock Pack

After decades playing second (and often times third or fourth) fiddle to Microsoft, Apple finally moved to the head of the class yesterday, passing the software behemoth to become the most valuable tech company in the world. Yesterday, the value of Apple on Wall Street stood at $222.12 billion, a few billion more than Microsoft [...]

Now You Can Have Your NBA Logo… And Eat It Too

Despite the NBA postseason being in its 13th month, basketball fans are still hungry to see their favorite teams. And now they can feed that hunger, literally, as the NBA has licensed the use of team logos on everything from pizzas to toast. With the recession causing a crimp in $150 official jersey sales, the [...]

New Home Sales Hit 2-Year High; Prices At Lowest Since 2003

In not-so-depressing news about the economy, the Commerce Dept. announced this morning that sales of new homes in April had jumped up 14.8% from March — the highest level in nearly two years. But before you break out the trombone to start playing “Happy Days Are Here Again,” it’s believed that the bump in new [...]

Someone Paid $250 Million For Some PBR

After nearly a decade on the market, someone has finally gotten beer-goggled enough to plunk down the cash to purchase Pabst Brewing Co. According to reports, the deal went down for an ice-cold $250 million, though for only a dollar more they could have gotten a shot of Jameson to go along with it. Pabst, [...]

No Color Kindles In Near Future, Says Amazon

Even though the company that manufactures the Kindle e-reader for Amazon has already developed color screens that still utilize the Kindle’s E Ink technology, the e-tailer’s CEO says a full-color Kindle isn’t on the immediate horizon. Talking to shareholders at a meeting in Seattle yesterday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos commented that the technology needed for [...]

The 8 Worst Meals (And 1 Dessert) In America For 2010

Every year, the Center for Science In the Public Interest releases their Xtreme Eating Awards list, where they single out the most carb-heavy, fat-saturated, salt-laden calorie bombs available on the market. This year’s round-up of gut-busters covers everything from breakfast through dessert and contains some items that may surprise you. In no particular order… 1. [...]

The 8 Worst Meals (And 1 Dessert) In America For 2010

Every year, the Center for Science In the Public Interest releases their Xtreme Eating Awards list, where they single out the most carb-heavy, fat-saturated, salt-laden calorie bombs available on the market. This year’s round-up of gut-busters covers everything from breakfast through dessert and contains some items that may surprise you. In no particular order… 1. [...]

Postal Worker Pleads Guilty To Stealing Netflix Discs

Being a Netflix customer requires a certain amount of trust in the US Postal Service — that they’ll deliver your movie promptly and without stomping on it and that they’ll return it in the same condition. But a former postal worker in Texas violated that trust, and has admitted to swiping Netflix discs before they [...]

Postal Worker Pleads Guilty To Stealing Netflix Discs

Being a Netflix customer requires a certain amount of trust in the US Postal Service — that they’ll deliver your movie promptly and without stomping on it and that they’ll return it in the same condition. But a former postal worker in Texas violated that trust, and has admitted to swiping Netflix discs before they [...]

I Have $132 In Overdraft Fees After Bank Cashes Post-Dated Check

A Consumerist reader wrote into us today to tell us how he ended up with $132 in overdraft fees, not because he went on a spending spree and didn’t manage his finances correctly, but because his eager beaver roommate went ahead and deposited his post-dated rent check almost a full week early. Here it is [...]

I Have $132 In Overdraft Fees After Bank Cashes Post-Dated Check

A Consumerist reader wrote into us today to tell us how he ended up with $132 in overdraft fees, not because he went on a spending spree and didn’t manage his finances correctly, but because his eager beaver roommate went ahead and deposited his post-dated rent check almost a full week early. Here it is [...]

I Have $132 In Overdraft Fees After Bank Cashes Post-Dated Check

A Consumerist reader wrote into us today to tell us how he ended up with $132 in overdraft fees, not because he went on a spending spree and didn’t manage his finances correctly, but because his eager beaver roommate went ahead and deposited his post-dated rent check almost a full week early. Here it is [...]

Which TV Ad Spokesperson Needs To Be Retired Next?

With the recent announcement that Apple has taken mercy on all TV watchers and finally put a bullet in the head of the “I’m a Mac” ad campaign, along with with McDonald’s’ decision to keep longtime front man Ronald McDonald, in spite of a push to have him put out to pasture, we want to [...]

Towing Co. Loses Half Its Accounts After Suing Over Facebook Page

Surely some of you remember the item we posted last month about a towing company in Michigan that had filed a $750,000 slander and libel lawsuit against a college student because he’d created a Facebook page for people to voice their complaints about the company. Well, that move appears to have backfired for the towing [...]

Hide The Children: The KFC Double Down Is Here To Stay

This Sunday, May 23, was to have been the final day for grease and salt lovers everywhere to get their hands on the KFC Double Down, which for the two of you just waking from comas is a bacon and cheese sandwich that uses fried chicken as the bread. But before you go and unclog [...]

What Do You Think Of A Continental/United Merger?

It’s being widely reported that Continental Airlines and United Airlines, who have flirted with the idea in the past, could announce merger plans as early as Monday. If so, the deal would make the combined entity the largest airline in the world. But is that a good thing for travelers? Writes Reuters: Analysts have trumpeted [...]

Calling BS On GM’s “We Paid The Government Back” TV Ad

Unless you don’t have a TV, you’ve probably seen the new ads for General Motors where GM CEO Ed Whitacre touts the amazing rebound of the car manufacturer, and how they repaid their “government loan in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule.” Yeah, well that might not be exactly true. Points [...]

Microsoft Teaches Us All To Laugh Again

Having a sense of humor is important to survival. It helps you cope with the down times and to appreciate the good times. Just ask those yucksters at Microsoft, who have put together a very helpful guide on how to gauge your level of humor competency. According to those wild and crazy Softies, someone who [...]

Guy “Regrets” Selling iPhone Prototype To Gizmodo

The 21-year-old California man who found a prototype iPhone and then sold it to gadget site Gizmodo.com says he now regrets not attempting to return the phone to its rightful owner. Talking through his lawyer yesterday, he admitted to Wired.com that he was paid by Gizmodo for what he believed was exclusive access to review [...]

10 Things To Keep In Mind When Buying A House

Buying a home is a trying and complicated process. It often strains relationships and puts an enormous amount of stress on buyers physically, mentally and financially. That’s why the folks at the Boston Globe have put together this list of 10 things to keep in mind as you weather the home-buying storm. 1. Get your [...]

Which Are You More Loyal To: Your Employer Or Your Soda?

Reuters recently conducted a new poll in an attempt to understand those things that Americans are most loyal to. Not surprisingly, the top of the loyalty list was country. But of some interest is that more respondents said they were loyal to their favorite brand of soda than said they were loyal to the company [...]

How Often Will The New Tarmac Delay Rule Come Into Play?

Today, the FAA’s new rule that will penalize airlines for planes stranded on the tarmac for three or more hours goes into effect. While the regulation has some up in arms, the big question is: How big of a hassle is this going to be for the airlines? Here’s how the AP puts it into [...]

What Do Doctors Really Do All Day?

Ever wondered what your primary care physician is doing when they’re not seeing patients. Quite a lot, says a new study that breaks down the daily tasks faced by doctors at a small family practice. Dr. Richard Baron and his colleagues at their Philadelphia practice studied the data in their electronic health record and recently [...]

Why Does Amtrak Charge Me Extra To Use My Student Discount?

Consumerist reader Rachel was recently trying to book a train trip from Washington, D.C., to Newark, NJ, on Amtrak’s website and ran across a bit of a snag — When she attempted to claim the Student Advantage discount, her ticket was suddenly $13.90 more expensive. Here’s how Rachel tells it: Tonight I went online to [...]

The 13 Best Cars For Teen Drivers

It’s almost graduation time, which means that lots of parents and recent graduates will be in the market for a dependable car for heading off to college or full-time work. Our cousins with the cool test track at Consumer Reports have come up with their annual list of Best Cars for Teens. According to the [...]

Comcast Wants Me To Return Modem They Never Owned

Meet Consumerist reader Jerry. He’s in the middle of moving and has shut off his Comcast internet service as he prepares to vacate his current abode. And while Comcast has made the nice offer of coming out to pick up his modem free of charge, there’s a hitch — It’s his modem, not theirs. Take [...]

AriZona Iced Tea: Don’t Hate Us, We’re From New York

While there’s much heated discussion about Arizona’s controversial new immigration laws, the folks at AriZona Iced Tea have somehow found themselves caught in the crossfire, with some even calling for a boycott on the beverage brand. That’s why one of the founders of the company wants everyone to know that, just like inauthentic picante sauce, [...]

Man Sells $50,000 In Raffle Tickets For House, Doesn’t Hold Raffle

Last August, a homeowner in Massapequa, NY — the town that gave us the Baldwin brothers, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Guttenberg, Marvin Hamlisch and Joey Buttafuoco — began selling raffle tickets at $50 a pop for a chance to win his 5-bedroom, 4-bath house. Eight months and 10,000 raffle tickets later, he still hasn’t given the [...]

Hewlett-Packard To Buy Palm For $1.2 Billion

After months of rumor and speculation, Hewlett-Packard announced today that it will indeed purchase Palm Inc. for a grand total of $1.2 billion. HP had been one of several companies rumored to be interested in acquiring Palm, whose smartphone sales have been lackluster in recent months. The acquisition of Palm gives HP an inroad into [...]

How Real Is That Olive Garden Cooking School?

We’ve all seen the Olive Garden ads where the popular chain of Italian eateries touts the Olive Garden Culinary Institute of Tuscany, a picturesque cooking school in Italy where they claim to educate chefs and develop new products. But, like many others, the folks at Jaunted.com wanted to know just how reality stacks up against [...]

These Are The Top 10 Brands In The Whole Wide World

For five years, the people at BrandZ (you know they’re in branding because of the “Z”) have been evaluating customer opinion and awareness of various global brands, and then putting a dollar value on that evaluation for their annual Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report. Here are the top 10 brands on the BrandZ [...]

Toyota Recalls 50,000 Sequoia SUVs

It seems like it’s almost been two weeks since the last Toyota recall, meaning… yep, it’s time to announce another Toyota recall. This time, the car giant has issued a voluntary safety recall on around 50,000 early-2003 Model-Year Toyota Sequoia SUVs to upgrade program logic in its Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system. According to Toyota: [...]

VIDEO: Watch Bankzilla Devour An Innocent Passerby In D.C.

Don’t say we didn’t try to warn people. We posted yesterday that our benevolent benefactors at Consumers Union would be unleashing Bankzilla upon the innocent people of Washington, D.C., and we were not kidding. Just check out the video for the evidence. By no coincidence, Bankzilla is rampaging through the streets of D.C. at the [...]

Scientist Says He’s Found The Secret To Breeding Nicer Chickens

Among the problems faced by chicken breeders who pack their chickens into close quarters is that the territorial birds will often henpeck each other, often to the point of cannibalism. One way to cut down on chicken-on-chicken crime is to trim the beaks of the birds. But a professor at Purdue University thinks he’s found [...]

Continental Flight Diverted Over Threatening Message

A flight from Houston to Washington, D.C., was diverted to an airport in North Carolina earlier today after what is being described as a threatening message was discovered on the jet’s bathroom mirror. According to the TSA, Continental ExpressJet flight 3006 was supposed to have landed at Washington Dulles International Airport but instead touched down [...]

California County Wants To Take The Toy Out Of Your Happy Meal

If your kids pester you into purchasing McDonald’s Happy Meals, they could be severely disappointed the next time they visit Santa Clara County in California, where the county supervisors have voted to pass a law forbidding toys in Happy Meals and other fast food kids meals that don’t meet the county’s nutritional guidelines. Among the [...]

Toxic Fumes At McDonald’s That Didn’t Come From Kitchen

A prank involving some sort of smoke bomb recently sent four employees of a Maryland McDonald’s to the hospital and has authorities on the hunt for suspects. According to police, around 8 p.m. on Friday night someone left a plastic bottle on one of the tables inside the McD’s. Inside the bottle was what is [...]

Study: Depressed People Eat 50% More Chocolate

Having a bit of chocolate when you’re down is something just about everyone has done at some point in their life. But a new study shows that those people who demonstrate signs of depression tend to eat 50% more chocolate than those who don’t. The study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine looked at [...]

Texas Woman’s House Demolished By Mistake

A 69-year-old woman in Frisco, Texas, now has a pile of rubble to call home after a bulldozer operator screwed up and leveled her house instead of the one across the street that was supposed to be demolished. The house across the street had been slated for demo after repeated violations including high grass and [...]

IHOP Wants To Make You Fat With Cheesecake-Stuffed Pancakes

Apparently jealous of the attention KFC was getting with the Double Down, IHOP (or International House of Pancakes if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) has rolled out Pancake Stackers — a five-layer calorie bomb that dares to sandwich cheesecake between two pancakes. So yeah, it’s a pancake, then cheesecake (with the crusts cut [...]

Brazil’s Cure For High Blood Pressure? More Sex

Brazilians are a passionate people. Unfortunately, they are also a people with high blood pressure. But the country’s health minister is telling Brazilians that a good place to fight heart problems is between the sheets. Speaking yesterday in Brasilia to announce a new national campaign against high blood pressure, minister Jose Temporao ran down the [...]

FAA To Airlines: No More Minesweeper Or Solitaire In Cockpit

Tiring of pilots overshooting their destination by over 100 miles because they were busy fiddling with their laptop, the FAA has asked all airlines to create and enforce policies to minimize distractions in the cockpit. “There is no room for distraction when your job is to get people safely to their destinations,” said DOT Secretary [...]

A&W Owner Takes Full Advantage Of Detour Signs

Where some people just see a detour sign and say “argh,” the owner of a California A&W franchise sees an opportunity to grow his customer base. Taking advantage of some free space on the detour signs placed in the vicinity of his eatery, Peter Knight placed signs pointing hungry drivers in his direction. “We’re trying [...]

Expert: Gulf Oil Spill Won’t Ruin Your Shrimp Dinner

The idea of eating a platter of shrimp pulled from the same water where a sunken oil rig continues to leak 42,000 gallons of oil each day may not be appetizing to some, but some guy who claims to know a lot about the topic says you need not fret. Says Mike Voisin, past president [...]

Verizon Rubs Comcast’s Face In Worst Company Win

For anyone who thought that mammoth megacorporations behaved anything like adults, they should just check out the Twitter account for Verizon, who saw fit tonight to have a little fun at the expense of Worst Company In America winner Comcast. Verizon, who managed to bow out of the tournament gracefully by losing to AT&T in [...]

Comcast: We Don’t Want To Be Worst Company In America Again

After two years as a bridesmaid in Consumerist’s Worst Company In America tournament, it was finally the cable company’s time to walk down the aisle when it was handed the WCIA crown this morning. And now that Comcast has tasted victory, it’s not asking for seconds. In a statement released after hearing this morning’s news, [...]

Over 1 Million Potential Plaintiffs In Walmart Gender Bias Lawsuit

It was a bad day for Walmart in the courtroom, as a California appeals court granted class-action status to a gender bias lawsuit against the retail giant. That means that over 1 million current and former female employees are now able to join their names to the largest case of its kind in U.S. history. [...]

Which Of These Is The Worst Business Decision Ever?

There have been a lot of boneheaded business decisions over the years, but the folks over at MSN seem to think they’ve distilled it down to an elite 8 of nearsighted, addle-brained, wrong-minded missteps. See if you agree. Herewith, the list according to MSN: 1. Former $35 billion search engine company Excite, who spent billions [...]

Hertz Gobbles Up Dollar Thrifty

Consolidation continues to hit the rental car market as Hertz announced today that it has agreed to a $1.2 billion purchase of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group. When completed, it should make Hertz the second-largest rental car company in the country in terms of market share. Currently, Enterprise dominates the market with a 53% market share, [...]

Bank Of America Alerts Me To ATM Fraud, Then Decides I Did It Myself

Consumerist reader Frank recently wrote to Bank of America — copying us — on behalf of his girlfriend. Seems that BofA was conscientious enough to not only notify her of suspicious activity on her debit card, but also to credit her account for the fraudulent ATM withdrawals… Only to take it all back a week [...]

Police In Oakland Issue Warning About Craigslist Robberies

Just buying something from an anonymous seller on Craigslist — or any number of other sites — can be a risky proposition in its own right. But police in Oakland say there’s been a rash of recent incidents where victims purchased items off Craigslist only to be robbed at gunpoint when they show up to [...]

Walmart Trying Again To Break Into New York City

While Walmart has managed to install outlets in just about every major city in the country, the retail behemoth has never been able to crack the shell of New York City’s five boroughs, though it has tried on two recent occasions. A new report claims that Walmart is hoping the third time is the charm, [...]

Krispy Kreme + KFC Double Down = You Don’t Wanna Know

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were to take a KFC Double Down — the bacon sandwich that uses two pieces of fried chicken as the “bread” — and you were to sandwich it in between two halves of a Krispy Kreme donut? Of course you haven’t. Luckily, someone has. Over at [...]

Famed Fake Newspaper Columnist Sides With Receipt Checkers

As any dedicated Consumerist follower knows, our readers generally fall down pretty squarely on the side of not having to show your receipt when you exit a store. That being said, we should always welcome the dissenting view, especially from a respected journalist. Thus, we’d like to draw attention to a recent column written by [...]

One Of The “Blippy Four” Speaks Out On Credit Card Leak

It’s been a bad day for Blippy.com, the site lots of people hadn’t heard of until it managed to leak the whole credit card numbers of four users to the entire internet. Now, one of the four people whose digits are in the public domain has come forward to talk. The Blippy user, a 38-year [...]

Meet The Plane Small Enough For Your Garage

Have you always wanted a plane but didn’t want the hassle of the whole hangar thing? Well, the folks at Icon are showing off their Icon A5, which has wings that fold up for convenient storage right next to the Bowflex you never use. The travel-writin’ peeps at Jaunted.com snapped some pics of the A5, [...]

Fox No Longer Has Anything Against This Woman’s Boobs

Remember yesterday, when we wrote about some major TV networks balking over whether or not to air a sexy Lane Bryant lingerie ad? Well, it looks like Fox — the arbiter of good taste in prime time — has decided to not be so prim and proper, and will actually air the commercial. According to [...]

Blippy: “We Take Security Seriously”

After this morning’s revelation that Blippy.com — the site for people who think foursquare isn’t enough oversharing — had somehow leaked users’ credit card numbers to anyone with Google, the company wants everyone to know that the problem is not as big as it seems and, yes, they are taking it seriously. From the NY [...]

Lawsuit: Hotel Obliged Guest’s Requests For Whites-Only Service

Are you a racist looking for a luxury hotel in Florida? Then the Ritz Carlton in Naples might just be the place for you. A lawsuit filed this week claims that when guests of the hotel asked to not be served by “people of color” or with “foreign accents,” the management agreed to their demands. [...]

Woman Takes Clothes Into Walmart Changing Room To Pee On Them

If there’s any lesson to be learned from this story it’s this: When you decide to take a bunch of clothes into a store’s changing room with the intention of voiding your bladder all over them, do not leave your wallet behind. That’s what police in Cape Coral, FL, allege a 22-year-old woman did at [...]

Is The Vegan Double Down Worse For You Than The Real Thing?

A few weeks back, before KFC had even unleashed their bacon, fried chicken and salt concoction known as the Double Down, vegan website Vegansaurus had already come up with their own animal-friendly version. But while it might not harm any of your furry, feathered, scaly or insecty friends, the vegan Double Down certainly isn’t a [...]

Massachusetts Appliance Rebate Program Lasts 145 Minutes

When Massachusetts announced their cash-for-clunker appliance rebate program, Consumerist bet it would last one day before the rebate cash ran dry. We were wrong — it took less than three hours. The program, which launched this morning at 10 a.m. and was supposed to go until May 5, got a mammoth response from consumers, who [...]

DOT: No Exemptions For New Tarmac Rules

Remember a few weeks back when a bunch of airlines asked the FAA for a temporary exemption to the new rules about how long planes can wait on a tarmac? Earlier today DOT secretary Ray LaHood told them to go take a flying leap. “Passengers on flights delayed on the tarmac have a right to [...]

Report: WellPoint Targeted Then Dropped Breast Cancer Patients

Is it too late for WellPoint to get into the Worst Company In America competition? A new report says the insurance giant and its subsidiaries have been deliberately targeting policyholders recently diagnosed with breast cancer and going to great lengths to have their policies nullified. According to Reuters, WellPoint, who cover 33.7 million Americans through [...]

Man Sentenced To 12 Months For Stealing Buns From Burger King

A fellow in the UK was recently sentenced to 12 months in the clink after using a broom handle to heist a bag of burger buns from his local Burger King. With a deadly broom handle at the ready, the master criminal talked his way into a then-closed BK and, say the local police, threatened [...]

What Do Fox & ABC Have Against This Woman’s Boobs?

For some reason, the ad sales peeps at ABC and Fox don’t think this TV ad for some sort of new lingerie from Lane Bryant is appropriate for airing in prime time. According to a post on the Lane Bryant blog, they had tried to get this ad played during the ratings bonanza that is [...]

Now You Can Watch Baseball Live On Your PS3

Starting as early as this week, baseball-loving PlayStation 3 owners will be able to watch live streams of almost every Major League Baseball game through MLB.tv… for a price, of course. For either $99.95 or $119.95 per year (depending on the package), users can subscribe to MLB.tv and get access to out of market games [...]

Would You Pay $9.95/Month For Hulu?

After two years of offering free streaming video to its users, a new report says that Hulu is ready to move forward with their plan for charging a subscription fee to access much of the site’s content. According to the L.A. Times: Under the proposal, Hulu would continue to provide for free the five most [...]

Kindles To Be Sold At Some Target Stores Starting April 25

Now that the iPad is upon them, Amazon has finally made a deal to unleash their popular Kindle e-reader to the bricks-and-mortar retail market. Amazon has made a deal with Target that will have Kindles in some of their stores as early as this Sunday. The first stores to get the Kindle will be in [...]

Chinese Hack Government Twitter Block To Read Porn Star Tweets

As with many great technological advances, at the forefront of people’s desire for unfettered access to the Internet lies… in porn. Just ask the thousands of Chinese web users who have networked together and shared their collective ingenuity in recent weeks, all in the name of accessing the Twitter page of a Japanese porn star. [...]

Fake IRS Agent Racks Up $55K In Hotel Bills

A woman in California lived for free in a hotel room for two years — a $55,000 bill — by pretending to be an IRS agent. Of course, now she’s been caught and has to pay it all back. According to reports, the woman actually began living in the hotel in Novato, CA, about 40 [...]

Can You Become Addicted To Tanning?

A few weeks back, Consumerist readers voted overwhelming in favor of requiring parental consent for children using tanning beds, and a new study linking regular tanning to addictive behavior may back up your sense of caution on the matter. In a study published in Archives of Dermatology, researchers say that, much like with other addicts, [...]

White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen: Comcast Sucks

For anyone who has ever thought that they were being singled out by Comcast’s cruddy customer service, or that wealthy and famous people somehow managed to get non-cruddy service from the Kabletown folks, World Series-winning manager of the Chicago White Sox wants you to know that just isn’t so. According to his Tweets, the outspoken [...]

10 Most Irritating Types Of Restaurant Patrons

Eating out is supposed to be a good thing, whether it’s romance, business, family, friends or just enjoying a nice al fresco meal on your own. But how many times has your pleasant evening been tainted or even ruined by a fellow restaurant patron who does something that just gets under your skin? That’s why [...]

Spirit Airlines Introduces “Pre-Reclined” Seats

While everyone’s been raising a hoot and a holler about Spirit Airlines’ recent decision to begin charging for carry-on bags, the budget carrier has quietly been rolling out planes with “pre-reclined” seats. At least you don’t have to worry about being chided by a flight attendant to sit up while the plane prepares to land. [...]

Worst Company In America Final Four: Bank Of America VS. Ticketmaster

Two of last year’s WCIA Final Four return to square off as Bank of America, who thumped Time Warner Cable in the Elite 8, goes up against Ticketmaster, fresh off its victory over Anthem BCBS. Which of these companies has earned a spot in the finals? Which Company Is Worse?Market Research This is a post [...]

Miami Businessman Charged With Running $900 Million Ponzi Scheme

It’s not exactly Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion, but the Securities And Exchange Commission has charged a Florida businessman with operating a $900 million Ponzi scheme, telling people they were investing — risk-free and at interest rates upward of 26% — in his grocery business, when in fact he was just using the money to fund [...]

I E-Mailed The Verizon CEO And Got A Free Month Of FiOS

Mike was having trouble getting Verizon to actually show up and install his FiOS. He wasted two Saturdays and a Sunday waiting and fruitlessly calling Verizon customer service. But after a nice e-mail to the CEO, Mike says his FiOS was installed immediately. In a concise but detailed e-mail, Mike wrote CEO Ivan Seidenberg (ivan.g.seidenberg@one.verizon.com) [...]

Man Spends 24 Hours In A Walmart, Lives To Tell The Tale

Over at Zug.com, Bayan Rabbani shares all the details — good, bad, and ugly — of the 24 consecutive hours he spent wandering around — making friends, eating food, getting a manicure — in a Super Walmart in Texas “with absolutely no regard for my hygiene or sanity.” Bayan began his Jack Bauer-like experiment at [...]

Why Won’t Verizon Show Me My DSL Bill?

Consumerist reader David recently made the switch from Comcast internet to Verizon DSL because he figured if he was going to get slow web access, he might as well pay less for it. David also works for a company that will reimburse him for a portion of his internet cost, so long as he provides [...]

Prom Night Spoiled When Limo Is Repossessed In Front Of Teens

So many things can go wrong on prom night — ill-fitting tuxes, zits, wilted flowers, your date running off with someone else — but a group of high school students in Oklahoma had their evening spoiled in a way that is all too indicative of the times we live in: They watched as the limo [...]

Toyota Recalls 9,400 2010 Lexus GX 460 Vehicles

Less than one week after our lab coat-wearing brethren at Consumer Reports issued a “Don’t Buy” rating on the 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV because of potential rollover issues, Toyota has announced a voluntary recall of approximately 9,400 GX 460s worldwide. CR initially issued the “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” designation after testing on the vehicle [...]

JetBlue Pilot Says Someone Aimed Laser Into His Cockpit

The pilot of a JetBlue flight heading from Portland, Maine, to JFK Airport in NYC on Saturday night says that a yet-unexplained green laser penetrated the window of the plane’s cockpit as he prepared to land. It was around 7:45 p.m. on Saturday when the pilot says he noticed a bright green beam coming through [...]

Duo Busted For $80,000 Target Gift Card Scam

We at Consumerist have always warned of the downside to buying gift cards, but we never thought to tell you not to buy gift cards with stolen credit cards and then use those gift cards to buy $80,000 worth of electronics at Target. Because that’s exactly what a pair of gentlemen stand accused of doing [...]

PHOTO: Walmart Sells Diabetes… For $24.88

For anyone who ever thought that shopping at Walmart could make you sick… Here’s the photographic evidence you’ve been waiting for. Consumerist reader James sent in this receipt after a diabetic co-worker went to Walmart to pick up his insulin at the pharmacy. And while one insulin purchase shows up correctly, the second merely says [...]

Analyst: Blockbuster Losing Customers At Unprecedented Rate

In spite of its recent moves to remain competitive, video rental dinosaur Blockbuster continues to lose ground to newer services like Netflix and Redbox. And a new report from analyst Michael Pachter with Wedbush Morgan Securities makes the scenario look even more bleak. “Blockbuster is losing customers to Netflix and Redbox at an unprecedented rate, [...]

Toyota Recalls 600,000 Sienna Minivans

Because 8 million recalled vehicles worldwide was apparently not enough for Toyota, the car giant has gone and recalled 600,000 of their Sienna minivans because of possible rust damage to the cable holding the spare tire. The recall covers two-wheel drive Siennas, model years 1998 to 2010, that were sold or are currently registered in [...]

How Do I Get Banned From Every Bar In England?

What does it take to get yourself barred, not just from your local after-work watering hole, but from every bar in your entire country? There’s a 20-year-old woman in England who can answer that question, having just become the first person to ever be legally banned from buying or drinking booze anywhere in the UK. [...]

Apple Gives Cartoonist’s App Second Chance After Public Outcry

Four months after Apple said no to an iPhone app from Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore, the computer company is feeling the blowback from negative publicity and has asked him to resubmit his application. In its decision to deny the original app application, Apple said Fiore’s work violated their rules against mocking public figures. Of [...]

At Least One Honest Person Exists On eBay

While most sellers on eBay are busy talking up the historic and/or kitsch value of the moldy t-shirts and sun-damaged movie posters they salvaged from their parents’ crawlspace, Consumerist reader Daniel has pointed us in the direction of one item where the seller has decided to be honest about the product, for better or worse. [...]

Should Insurance Companies Be Investing In Fast Food?

A new study in the American Journal of Public Health states that several of the biggest U.S. health insurers are heavily invested in fast food companies, to the tune of $2 billion. This news has caused some to ask whether or not the insurance companies’ vested interest in the growth of fast food stands in [...]

10 Common Mistakes Made When Booking Airline Tickets

Long gone is the era of the all-powerful travel agent, in whom you could trust to get you the best deal on your travel plans and to make sure nothing huge was overlooked. Now we’re almost all booking our own flights, and the manifold options for booking can cause even the most fastidious among us [...]

Why Did Toyota Wait 6 Weeks To Recall Venzas In The U.S.?

While we in the U.S. have become accustomed to getting things before the rest of the world, that doesn’t seem to hold true for Toyota recalls. Documents show that the car maker issued a recall for their Venza vehicle in December, but decided to wait six weeks to make the same decision stateside. Toyota opted [...]