Category: Consumer Advice

Consumers ignoring ‘green’ products

Posted by Nexus – 26/02/2010

[via bit-tech.net]

While our investigation into energy efficient hardware might have confirmed that choosing lower-power hardware can make a difference to your running costs if you’re willing to sacrifice performance – or buy Intel processors – it seems that the public isn’t yet switched on to the benefits of ‘green’ technology.

In a report released this week by consumer electronics site Retrevo – via CNet – a full 42 percent of those queried about their buying habits stated that they were unconcerned if “a gadget I buy is not green.”

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Theater VP: Go F*** Yourself, Here are Directions To Another Theater

Posted by Nexus – 23/02/2010

[via consumerist.com]

Sarah had an unpleasant experience at her local movie theater, and sent a complaint e-mail to the company that runs it. We don’t know what response she expected, but it probably wasn’t a letter from a company vice president that began, “Drive to [a competing theater] and also go f*** yourself. If you don’t have money for entertainment, get a better job, and don’t pay for everything on your credit or check card.”

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Why you will never pay off your credit card

Posted by Nexus – 21/02/2010

[via cracked.com]

For decades, credit cards have been a means by which large banks have loaned money to poor people at interest rates approaching infinity.

Click on image for full-size (600x1936)

A Brief History of Credit Cards

Incredibly, the above isn’t an exaggeration. There are people in this situation right now where each payment to their credit card company leaves them owing more. Only in the last few years has the government moved to stop banks from putting people in this cycle of infinite repayment (where the interest and fees are more than the monthly payments).

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HP EECB Leads To Complete Refund For Defective 2-Year-Old Laptop

Posted by Nexus – 09/02/2010

[consumerist.com]

Photo: cag2012

When Rick’s 2-year-old laptop failed for the second time due, he did not roll over and buy a new laptop or pay $400 for the repairs. This particular model of laptop had been recalled due to this very flaw, and that was not acceptable to Rick. He fought back, and shares his tale of triumph.

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Downloadable Album Costs More Than CD On Amazon

Posted by Nexus – 09/02/2010

[via consumerist.com]

Rob points out a pricing quirk on an album he’s after, noting that the physical CD is considerably cheaper than the digital download.

A little freaked out, he writes:

Forget about Target… Amazon is even worse with their pricing (note: I LOVE Amazon and I’m sure this has to do with licensing but still…wtf!?!). I was looking to get the new OAR CD, “Rain or Shine.” I was going to buy the CD when I thought to myself, “Wait…I’ll just get the download instead,” since I’m impatient. Well the PHYSICAL CD is $13.99 but the digital (NOT PHYSICAL) album is $20.99! Less work for them and yet they charge more! Ahhh! Amazon…please don’t turn evil like everyone else!

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Oh Snap: NY AG Sues EX-Bank Of America CEO For Fraud

Posted by Nexus – 05/02/2010

[via consumerist.com]

Andrew Cuomo has announced a lawsuit against Bank of America’s former CEO Kenneth D. Lewis, its former CFO Joseph L. Price, and the company itself, for “duping shareholders and the federal government in order to complete a merger with Merrill Lynch.” Uh oh!

According to the lawsuit, the AG alleges that Bank of America intentionally didn’t disclose massive losses at Merrill Lynch so that its shareholders would approve the merger. Once it was approved, the lawsuit alleges that the management tricked the government into “saving the deal with billions in taxpayer funds by falsely claiming that they would back out of the deal without bailout funds.”

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HTC Says They’re Shipping My New Nexus One: I Don’t Believe Them Anymore

Posted by Nexus – 05/02/2010

[via consumerist.com]

The launch and early customer support of the Google’s Nexus One phone, manufactured by HTC, has been a bit problematic. But let’s try some optimism! Maybe now that the early hype has died down and HTC has had some time to get used to the situation, warranty replacements will take place in a timely fashion! Or…well, as reader Michael writes, evidently not.

Update: Thanks to this post, Michael’s new phone is on its way.

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America’s Biggest Rip-offs

Posted by Nexus – 05/02/2010

[via cnn.com]

Are you infuriated every time you open your cell phone bill? Livid when you buy a snack at the movies? These are nine of the rawest deals around.

Text messages – 6,500% markup

Text messages are short, quick and cheap to transmit. So why are they adding so much to your wireless bill?

The messages are such a tiny piece of data that they cost carriers only about one-third of a cent to deliver, according to computer scientist Srinivasan Keshav, who testified before U.S. senators on the issue last summer.

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Save Serious Money On Your Cell Phone Bill By Making One Phone Call

Posted by Nexus – 05/02/2010

[via consumerist.com]

Theresa had a contract with Helio/Virgin Mobile that ended this month, putting her in a position to negotiate. She writes that by comparison shopping and politely asking for the customer retention department, she and her girlfriend were able to knock $35 per month off the bill for their family plan. Here’s how she did it.

Just thought I’d share a success story about the power of being a smart, polite, well-informed consumer!

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Secret copyright treaty leaks. It’s bad. Very bad.

Posted by Nexus – 04/02/2010

[via boingboing.net]

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad. It says:

  • That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn’t infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
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