The Consumerist: Shoppers Bite Back

Prepaid

AT&T; Won't Sell Man GoPhone Because It Can't Verify His Credit History

Nathan's been having trouble this week buying a prepaid GoPhone from AT&T; Mobility's website. He finally found out the reason: they couldn't verify his credit history. This is confusing because it's a prepaid GoPhone and because his credit history is superb. "Cheryl refused to transfer me. I asked her if she was in any way motivated to find out what was wrong with their system and help me, and, to her credit, she answered honestly with a simple 'no.'"
More »

8:58 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Chris Walters
27 views, Comment

Credit Reports

Got $250 Video Store Debt Deleted From Credit Report

I had a weird unpaid debt listed on my credit reports, some video store I used to go to in college. I guess they thought I had an overdue video? Anyway, they never sent me any notice about it but yet on my credit report it was listed that I never paid Integral Recovers Inc, who also have never contacted me, some $250. So, about three months ago, I filed a dispute notice with TransUnion, the one credit bureaus report it was listed on, and today I got a nice letter saying they deleted the item. It was all very easy, I just went to annualcreditreport.com, checked my credit report, went to the dispute item area, printed out the one-page form, filled it in saying that I was disputing because I never got any notice about the debt, and mailed it all off. Took less than 10 minutes, tops. Be sure to check your credit report from all three credit bureaus at least once a year for errors and file disputes when information is incorrect. Otherwise, your ability to get credit might be unfairly affected. It's easier and faster than you might think!

8:56 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Ben Popken
13 views, Comment

Spin

Geek Squad Feels "Unfairly Targeted" By Consumerist Expose

When personal finance magazine Kiplinger asked the Geek Squad about our video that ">caught one of their technicians stealing porn from our harddrive (peeping tomism, hardly limited to Geek Squad, is just as rampant in the computer repair industry as the photo developing industry), an unidentified Geek Squad spokeswoman ingenuously responded, "We have been the target of a blog that prefers to focus on the exceptions to our service and not the overall, vast majority of successful services we provide to clients." That's like saying dirt is unfairly targeted by a broom. Where there's a valid complaint, we'll post. Where there's a consumer whose rights aren't respected, we will defend. We don't have a vendetta against the Geek Squad, or any other company. We have a vendetta against bad customer service. That's our bottom line. After the jump, for old time's sake, the original undercover video. More »

7:47 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Ben Popken
936 views, 14 comments

Latest by Bourque77: Yes shitty companies with even shittier service are unfairly target by the consumerist. Shame on you for pointing out the faults here. Companies will admit the mistakes they make if given fair time (10-15 years down the road) more »

Technology

Citigroup Developing Citi-Branded Phone That Can Make Contactless Payments

Do you wish you had a way to spend your money more easily, without all that opening-the-wallet or punching-the-pin-number manual labor? The trade publication Cards & Payments (registration required) says that it's received a copy of a report filed with the FCC that indicates Citigroup is developing a Near Field Communication, or NFC, mobile phone that would allow its customers to make contactless payments at participating retailers. More »

6:53 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Chris Walters
314 views, 5 comments

Credit Reports

This Is Why You Don't Use FreeCreditReport.com

Jesus from South Texas signed up for credit monitoring at the notoriously scammy FreeCreditReport.com. He never received the confirmation email and wasn't able to access his account, so he never used it, but forgot to call to cancel it. After three months he realized he was being charged $15 a month as per their terms of service, so he went to their site to retrieve his login credentials and was told the account didn't exist. After that, it took him 4 calls to get the account canceled, and they would only refund him for one month of service. One of their CSRs tried to scare Jesus into keeping the account open because there had been some "suspicious activity" in his credit history that he'd be wise to monitor. Then they told him there is no phone number or email for their "customer satisfaction department"—it can only be reached through snail mail. More »

5:58 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Chris Walters
2,546 views, 30 comments

Latest by pinkpuppet: @landsnark: Was there really any reason to be rude, honestly? You'll note that another individual politely explained the situation. Not everyone is aware of common names from other cultures, it does not make them an idiot nor does it mean more »

Readers

Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds

Here are five special photos that readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, chosen because they're both neat and could possibly be used in a Consumerist post. Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers go and upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click "Join Group?" up on the top right, and start hitting "send to group" on your individual photos you want to add to the pool.

(Photo: groovnick)

5:45 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Ben Popken
903 views, Comment

Offbeat News

Infiniti G35X Practicing Bait And Switch Pricing?

FROM JALOPNIK.COM: Looks like Nissan's Infiniti brand has some splainin' to do with regard to their online pricing. Tipster Steve D pointed us to a bit of pricing which we agree seems a bit odd. More »

5:00 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Ben Wojdyla
2,789 views, 24 comments

Buy It Later is a cool Firefox extension that monitors specific products for you for price drops or for them to come back in stock. [BuyLater via Lifehacker]

3 comments

Consumer Rights

38.6% Of Reported Debt Collectors Demand More Money Than Is Legal

Debtors have rights, and sometimes they get violated. The FTC released its annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report, part of which documents the number of complaints they get about debt collectors violating consumers rates. FTC received 70,951 DCPA violation complaints in 2007. Of them:

38.6% demanded more money than allowed by law
19.7% harassed consumers with repeated calls
9.2% used obscene, profane, and abusive language
2% called before 8am or after 9pm
.3% threatened violence
6.5% falsely threatened lawsuits
13.2% called third parties repeatedly to get information about the consumer

Here's more information about the FDCPA. You can lodge complaints with the FTC about FDCPA violations by calling filling out this online form or calling 1-877-FTC-HELP.

3:20 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Ben Popken
1,492 views, 31 comments

New trend: organized bus tours of foreclosed properties for potential buyers. [AP]

4 comments

Bank of America Corp said it has agreed to pay $28 million to Countrywide Financial Corp Chief Operating Officer David Sambol to run the company's mortgage operations. That's 37% more than Bank of America's CEO makes. [Reuters]

12 comments

Suburban Chicago-based Sears Holding has named John W. Froman as president of tools and lawn operations. This makes Mr. Froman the "Tool and Lawn King of Chicago." [BusinessWeek]

8 comments

JC Penney slashed its forecast today. The retailer blamed the economic slowdown for its poor sales performance.

"J.C. Penney counts half of American families as its customers, and they are feeling macroeconomic pressures from many areas ... [and] the sharp decline in sales is reflective of these trends. While the economic stimulus package may provide some temporary benefit, we expect the continuation of a difficult environment over the course of 2008."

[Wall Street Journal]

6 comments

sephora spy

Mineral Makeup! Lip Plumpers! Oil Cleansers! Colonics? Sephora Spy Spills All, And More!

FROM JEZEBEL.COM: How did humanity even survive without some of the things we now regularly buy at Sephora? Yes, I am kidding. More »

2:00 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Moe
12,931 views, 266 comments

Consumer Confidence is now at a 16 year low, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. [Reuters]

1 comment

Lawsuits

Starbucks CEO Thinks Pesky "Laws" Don't Apply To His Company

In the state of California it is illegal for supervisors to share in employee tips. Starbucks recently lost a lawsuit brought by an employee who said he was forced to share a portion of his tips with his supervisor. The judgment awarded over $100 million in back tips and interest to the Starbucks baristas of California, and now several similar lawsuits are pending in other states. More »

1:57 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Meg Marco
5,413 views, 73 comments

Economy

What Should We Do With 125,000 Out Of Work Mortgage Bankers?

Today CNNMoney profiles an out of work mortgage banker who has been sending out 10 resumes a day since he was laid off in Feburary. He just got his first interview. More »

1:34 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Meg Marco
6,435 views, 108 comments

Identity Theft

CareFirst Dental HMO Exposes SSNs, Says You Should "Take It Seriously"

Last month, The Dental Network—a dental HMO owned by CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield—discovered it had accidentally revealed personal data and Social Security numbers online for about 75,000 of its customers. It told the members about the screw-up three weeks later. "The company says that to its knowledge, no one has misused the information. But it says 'the risk ... should be taken seriously,'" and it's offering affected members one year of credit monitoring. After that, as you know, the thread of identity theft plummets. Wait, what? More »

1:21 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Chris Walters
1,575 views, 8 comments

Latest by Grrrrrrrrr: Geez, when the local hospital left my information (including my SS #) unprotected for 4 months in an online accessible database, all I got was an "Ooops...you should probably get a credit report and freeze your credit. Good luck." more »