A lot of people say they only barely tolerate their jobs. But not all these people take to an incredibly public forum to vent their frustrations about how what seemed like a dream gig has since sucked the life force out of them. Then again, not everyone works in phone support for Comcast. More »
If you could read only one blog, which one would it be? Go ahead, Tell the truth. If the answer isn't "The Consumerist," we can take it. When Samsung asked a similar question on their Facebook, though, they may not have anticipated the current extent of iPhone fever. When asked which electronic device they would take with them to a deserted island, the Internet answered, "the iPhone 5." More »
Reader GC owns an Android tablet purchased from Verizon Wireless. Customers were promised that the device would receive an update to the latest version of the Android operating system, called Ice Cream Sandwich, by now. The promised update has come for the larger version of the tablet, the Droid Droid xyboard, but not for its little brother. Sure, GC could jailbreak the device, but why do that and void the warranty when the update was supposed to be here by now? More »
"Imported Chinese jerky?" you might be saying. "Who would buy their pet any food from a country whose safety standards would shock Upton Sinclair?" Lots of well-meaning Americans are feeding their dogs and cats imported treats. Every year, the United States imports 86 million pounds of pet food products from China. Some of that food is jerky that's packaged and sold under brand names you may recognize: Waggin' Train (Purina), Canyon Creek (Purina), and Milo's Kitchen (Del Monte) are the most common. Now thousands of pet owners claim that these products may have sickened or even killed their animals, and demand recalls and justice. The only problem is that the FDA can't find any proof of harmful chemicals or pathogens in the meat. More »
Rice is one flexible little grain. It's found in cereal (hot and cold), baby food, rice cakes, crackers, pasta, vinegar, syrup, flour and beverages. But a new Consumer Reports study of 60 rice products found varying levels of no one's favorite ingredient: Arsenic. More »
Like most of you, we've never seen -- nor have any intention of ever seeing -- this Innocence of Muslims movie. (Gawker claims to have the full-length script, if you're more interested than we are.) Regardless, the short film that apparently mocks Islam is upsetting people around the world, some of whom claim to have launched denial of service attacks against Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange. More »
In today's Best of Comments, someone claiming to be an AT&T employee explains why their iPhone upgrade pricing is really supposed to be pro-consumer, and another commenter tries some armchair psychology on the management of large corporations. More »
A Texas widow already had to deal with saying goodbye to her beloved husband of 56 years and now? She doesn't even have the comfort of knowing where exactly his final resting place is. She's suing the cemetery that buried him in order to get confirmation of his location, because at first the cemetery told the family they'd have to pay up if they wanted that information. More »
With most airlines going the nickel-and-dime route for amenities that had long been included in the price of a ticket, it's nice to hear about a carrier offering something new for free... even if it may only be free in the very beginning. More »
Usually, when someone whips out a camera during a dispute, the other party is reluctant to be filmed. But a man in California who claims to have been ticketed for an expired parking meter -- even though there was still time left -- found a willing subject in the parking enforcement officer who wrote the ticket. More »
A soy-fueled storm is brewing in the Internets today, as we've heard from Consumerist readers who received an email update about changes to their Starbucks Gold Cards. Sure, Starbucks loyalists will now get a free drink or food item after every 12 purchases instead of 15, but if those card-carriers happen to be lactose intolerant or otherwise indisposed toward dairy, they'll have to start paying for their soy, as well as syrups. More »
(u2acro)
Like that roommate who constantly tries to spoil your romantic mood with your significant other -- and then swoops in to flirt the second you have your back turned -- Comcast put one Consumerist reader in a bad position with his client and then had the gall to try to lure that same client away. More »
(mrbill)
We occasionally have the TV turned on in the background here at the Consumerist Batcave, so we know that anyone in the market for a sketchy debt-relief firm has many, many options to avoid calling. But now there are a few fewer questionable companies littering the daytime airwaves because the Federal Trade Commission has halted the operations of four services that allegedly made false claims about being lawyers, debited money from people who did not actually order the services -- oh, and failed to get any significant debt relief for the customers that actually signed up. More »
(efjkr)
In case you hadn't heard, college is like, really really expensive these days. Some students have their parents to help out, and many take out loans (even if they don't know it). And then there are those willing to go to unconventional lengths to scrape up enough cash to cover the costs of their educations — things liked donating eggs and sperm, connecting with a sugar daddy or turning their bodies over to science. More »
Once upon a time, it might have been a good -- but not sure -- bet that someone with the title of "Dr." was probably a man. But apparently no one told that to the reservations system at Singapore-based Tiger Airways, which has stuck one traveler with a ticket that bestowed a Y chromosome upon her -- and which she's going to have to pay to fix. More »
(balmes)
That time you were sitting on the tarmac for hours upon hours, hating life and cursing the sky gods for keeping you earthbound? You weren't alone in July, as the government said it was worse than the previous eight months combined for planes stuck on the ground. More »
Last month, AT&T confirmed that iPhone customers who want to use the iPhone's FaceTime video chat app over a cellular connection would need to belong to one of the company's new shared data plans. At the time, several advocates raised concerns about whether or not this requirement violated the FCC's Open Internet rules, and now these same groups have moved to file an actual complaint with regulators. More »
The tale of the reclusive neighbor hunkered down in the house down the street, surrounded by a lifetime of clutter is a familiar one. But in the case of one elderly man who recently passed away in California, along with all that detritus was a collection of gold that's estimated to be worth about $7 million. He must've been one of those 10 million Americans eschewing bank accounts. More »
