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Sign Me Up!: Antifungal Medication Makes You See Chewbacca
A new antifungal drug, voriconazole, causes patients to "develop a range of neurological side effects, including auditory and visual hallucinations," within 24 hours to 2 weeks of beginning treatment. The drug is marketed as Vfend, and is administered intraveneously to treat serious fungal infections. The National Institute of Health has been testing the toxicity of the drug and reported the neurological side effects at a recent conference.The visual hallucinations frequently consisted of seeing people or scenes. One patient reported seeing flying objects, another saw scenes of Montana and New York City, and a third patient saw a giant "Wookie" from the movie Star Wars bending over his bed. The auditory hallucinations often consisted of hearing voices and music, and one patient reported hearing TV commercials.Among the non-fun side effects: 5% of patients studied developed signs of liver damage.But back to the hallucinations: we wonder if taking large doses of vitamin C along...

Clever: Use Rust Stickers To Make Your Stuff Seem Like Junk?
Here's a clever idea: Rust stickers that you can apply to your car or bike to make it seem crappy... even though it's secretly awesome.Ha! We like it. No word on whether it really dissuades thieves, but the creator does offer this anecdote in the way of endorsement:This anti-theft device is not guaranteed to work in any way.However I have stuck them to my shiney new red bike and can confirm it hasn't been stolen yet. 13 days of not being stolen in London probably equates to 7 years of non-stealing in the friendly countryside.Anti-Theft Bike/Car Device [dominicwilcox via AutoBlog](Photo:dominicwilcox)

Sign Me Up!: Antifungal Medication Makes You See Star Wars Characters
A new antifungal drug, voriconazole, causes patients to "develop a range of neurological side effects, including auditory and visual hallucinations," within 24 hours to 2 weeks of beginning treatment. The drug is marketed as Vfend, and is administered intraveneously to treat serious fungal infections. The National Institute of Health has been testing the toxicity of the drug and reported the neurological side effects at a recent conference.The visual hallucinations frequently consisted of seeing people or scenes. One patient reported seeing flying objects, another saw scenes of Montana and New York City, and a third patient saw a giant "Wookie" from the movie Star Wars bending over his bed. The auditory hallucinations often consisted of hearing voices and music, and one patient reported hearing TV commercials.Among the non-fun side effects: 5% of patients studied developed signs of liver damage.But back to the hallucinations: we wonder if taking large doses of vitamin C along...

Our Prices Are Falli- No Wait, That's A Plane: A small plane carrying four passengers clipped ...
A small plane carrying four passengers clipped a pole, skipped across several cars—including one that had people in it—and crashed into an empty car Wednesday night in a Tennessee shopping center parking lot. All four airplane passengers survived. []

Error Not In Your Favor: Best Buy Emails To Let You Know They Won't Be Honoring A Mistake In Their Ad
Several of our readers received this email from Best Buy, explaining that they won't be honoring a mistake in the upcoming September 23, 2007 Best Buy ad.Stores aren't usually required to honor typographical errors in advertisements, but we're not sure if accidentally advertising the wrong product (rather than accidentally printing $2.00 instead of $200, for example) qualifies. It seems Best Buy might not be sure either. The solution is rebate! Praise and adulation to the first person who finds an applicable law. In the meantime, here's some information on false advertising from the FTC. And here's a guide to "bait" advertising. Learning is fun.Frequentlt Asked Advertising Questions:A Guide for Small Business [FTC]Guides Against Bait Advertising[FTC]

Sign Me Up!: New Antifungal Medication Makes You See Star Wars Characters
A new antifungal drug, voriconazole, causes patients to "develop a range of neurological side effects, including auditory and visual hallucinations," within 24 hours to 2 weeks of beginning treatment. The drug is marketed as Vfend, and is administered intraveneously to treat serious fungal infections. The National Institute of Health has been testing the toxicity of the drug and reported the neurological side effects at a recent conference.The visual hallucinations frequently consisted of seeing people or scenes. One patient reported seeing flying objects, another saw scenes of Montana and New York City, and a third patient saw a giant "Wookie" from the movie Star Wars bending over his bed. The auditory hallucinations often consisted of hearing voices and music, and one patient reported hearing TV commercials.Among the non-fun side effects: 5% of patients studied developed signs of liver damage.But back to the hallucinations: we wonder if taking large doses of vitamin C along...

Energy: Walmart Launches House Brand CFLs
Walmart seems really serious about this whole environmental thing. They'd really appreciate it if you'd buy their new house brand "Great Value" CFL light bulbs. "The introduction of our Great Value bulbs make CFLs a more accessible option for our shoppers as we strive to sell 100 million CFLs by the end of 2007," said Wal-Mart General Merchandise Manager Andy Barron in a statement.The world's largest retailer said the bulbs, which use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and last longer, will save consumers money and protect the environment. The Great Value bulbs will be cheaper than brand name CFLs and have less mercury, according to Reuters. Anyone thinking of switching?Wal-Mart selling own brand of energy efficient CFLs [Reuters](Photo:AZAdam)

Lost In Translation: Zara, a Spanish fashion chain, pulled a ...
Zara, a Spanish fashion chain, pulled a $79 bicycle-and-flowers themed handbag from shelves because of a customer complaint that it also had four green swastikas embroidered on it. The bags were made in India and the swastika is a commonly used Hindu symbol. Zara claims the design it originally approved did not have the swastikas. [Reuters]

Medicine: Is The "Wal-Mart Effect" Slowing Drug Inflation?
The inflation rate for prescription drugs—currently at 1 percent for the past 12 months—is at its lowest ever recorded in the past three decades, and some are speculating that Wal-Mart's popular $4 generic drugs program is helping drive the costs down across the market.It's the only area of health care that hasn't risen sharply, says the New York Times, and it's at least in part because more consumers are turning to generic drugs, and because new generic versions of popular drugs are coming out. But there's also speculation that Wal-Mart's $4 generic drug program, which it launched last year, has helped. For one thing, it's prompted competitors like Target and Kmart to offer or expand their own discount programs. But it may have also helped drive market prices down. One Labor Department economist said he noticed a dramatic drop in generic drug prices after the $4 plan was launched.Earlier this month, Wal-Mart announced that they'd offer their employees 2,400...

Finances: Borrowing From—And Loaning To—Friends And Family
Ah, what an awkward situation—over the phone, or whispered at your desk, or asked face to face over beers at your weekly hangout. What's the best way to respond when someone you love (or at least like to some degree) wants to borrow money? And what if you're the one in need? Betterbudgeting.com offers some advice on when to loan and when to figure out that you're just enabling a bad habit.To begin with, says the tough-love Larry Wiener (or simply "Tough Wiener" as he will now be called), when you're asked to loan money you should ask yourself whether you're funding a continuation of a lifestyle or a change, and whether the change is one you want to fund. If you're helping someone recover from a mistake he makes repeatedly, it might be better to let him learn his lesson the hard way; on the other hand, if your assistance can help increase the odds that he'll improve his life—and if you're confident he will be able to pay you back—then it's a wise...

Advice: 8 Tips For Fish Shopping
If you grew up in a landlocked area like this author did—or you're just not a foodie at heart—odds are you're a bit clueless when it comes to fish shopping. Alton Brown of the Food Network offers some quick advice on how to find the best fish the next time you go to the market.Smell the air - "Under no circumstances should there be a fishy smell in the air," says Brown. "Smelly fish means fish that are going bad!" But he also says that a "nice marine smell" coming off the crustaceans is okay. Look for ice - If there isn't any, leave. The fish (especially cut fish) should be well-iced at all times.Look for whole fish - That means the shop is doing its own cutting on-premises, not shipping already cut fish in from who-knows-where.Smell the fish - Like the shop itself, any "fishy" smell is a sign that it's already started to go bad. Brown says he smells "cucumbers and watermelon" when he smells a fresh fish, which is probably why we don't watch him on The Food...

For Your Inner Homer Simpson: Vosges makes a chocolate bar with actual ...
Vosges makes a chocolate bar with actual bacon in it, while a mom & pop company offers powdered peanut butter that you can add to anything you like (and has 75% less fat than regular peanut butter). [Washington Post]

The Store Of Tomorrow: German Department Store Launches RFID-Enhanced Men's Department
A German department store is trying a new RFID system in its men's department, where it's tagged 30,000 pieces with Smart Chip labels. When shoppers take garments into the dressing room, an integrated display shows the customer price, materials, and care instructions, as well as sizes and colors available. Later this year, the screens will also show complimentary pieces, a great help if you're not good at matching clothes or are color blind.The parent company, METRO Group, already uses RFID along its supply chain and to improve warehouse management, and plans to use the front-of-store RFID tags to speed up inventory replenishment and to help employees locate products faster. Their press release says that "If the customer desires, the Smart Chip will be removed by employees once the product has been paid for." (Why would you ever leave an RFID tag on once you've bought the item?)We're not among the anti-RFID crowd in retail applications like this, where it's used to better track...

Complaints: DirecTV Calls Customer On Do-Not-Call List To Ask If They Want To Hear A Sales Pitch Anyway
My phone just rang. Caller ID reads: Out Of Area... do I pick up? I did.It was an automated DirecTv call. "You have asked us not to call you. Because you are on our Do Not Call List, we can't call you with all of our super-awesome special promotions..." The recording goes on to ask me to hit a button to opt-out of their Do Not Call List.Dear sir. I say what the fuck? I specifically told them not to call so they call to see if its okay to call. They can contact me. They have my email/physical address. And what's up with the "Out Of Area" bullshit on Caller ID instead of "DirecTv Marketing".Yeah, this isn't a huge ordeal but it is really annoying.Couldn't this also be considered telemarketing? They're pitching the pitch. Do the Federal rules enforcing the Do-Not-Call list not apply to robots? Nina says she then called DirecTV and gave them a thorough tongue-lashing. Unfortunately, this may have no effect on whether she gets one of these calls again, as robots have no shame.DirecTV...

Clean Fill: New mulch for daycare playground found to ...
New mulch for daycare playground found to contain thousands of nails. Company says they informed school of the possibility of nails, school Director of Maintenance says he didn't find out about the nails until a maintenance worker brought him a fistful from the freshly laid mulch. [Northwest Herald]

Money: 82 Personal Finance Myths Debunked
Grad Money Matters debunks 82 of the head games we play with ourself that keep us from handling our money the way we should. We like this one, under the "Attitudes" category: "Myth: "I don't make enough money, so I can't save""If you are a victim of the circumstances, strive hard to get above them - instead of feeling sad for your situation or blaming someone for your problems, strive to get out by looking for opportunities or creating them for yourself.The items are presented in gloss on the front page. Be sure to hit "detailed article" under each subsection for the full explanation. Oftentimes our biggest personal finance problems are "cognitive thinking" and prodding from a list like this can help get your mind right.Campaign Against Financial Myths: 82 Myths Busted! [Grad Money Matters](Photo: Getty)

Recalls: Simplicity Cribs (failures resulting in deaths), ...
Simplicity Cribs (failures resulting in deaths), select Bravo! Poultry Products for Dogs and Cats (Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes), Quong Hop Tofu (Listeria monocytogenes)

Readers: Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds
Every week, Consumerist readers fill our Flickr pool with sweet snaps for possible use as post photos. Here's five of our favorites from this week's submissions:(Photo: !!!! scogle)(Photo: the c-side)(Photo: christythephotog)(Photo: katbert)(Photo: KateMonkey)Be sure to check out other great pictures in our Flickr pool and add a few of your own.

Health: How To Find Lower Priced Generic Drugs
Here's two sites which will help you find cheaper generic alternatives to brand-name prescriptions:crbestbuydrugs.orgMore detailed, run by Consumer Reports, and includes information about effectiveness. No registration required.rxaminer.comJust enter the pricier drug or your condition and it returns possible matches. Requires free registration.These sites are for research purposes only. Before making any switch, present the findings to your doctor for approval.[via Kiplinger](Photo: MegElizabeth)

Lawsuits: Agassi Sues Target Over Unauthorized Flip-Flops
Andre Agassi is suing Target for slapping his name on a pair of brown men's flip-flops without his permission, says the AP. Agassi Enterprises Inc. says it told Target the shoes violated its trademark, but continued to see them on store shelves and on-line—even after Target said it would pull the item. Target says it is trying to relabel the flip-flops and that it never marketed the shoes under Agassi's name. "It may have been missed in a few stores, which prompted this lawsuit," Target said. The lawsuit alleges that Target sold over $600,000 worth of fake Agassi sandals and is seeking triple that amount in damages because the infringement was "was of an intentional, willful and wanton nature." Scandalous. Hey, Target, look at it this way— at least the flip-flops didn't scar anyone's feet.Return shot [Sports Illustrated](Photo:TigerPuppala)

Little Old Ladies: FedEx Package Signed For By Mysterious "LOLDLADY"
Reader Nick sent us the tracking info on his FedEx package. He's not home right now, but he knows that a mysterious stranger has signed for his package. The tracking info shows the person's name as "LOLDLADY." Nick writes:I've been waiting for a FedEx package and apparently it was delivered today while I wasn't home and signed for by "LOLDLADY" (an abbreviation for little old lady maybe?). Either way, I just thought this was funny considering FedEx will usually enter the name of the person who signed for the package and not just a description like this. Now I get to deal with the fun part of getting home from work and figuring out which of the many old ladies that live in my building signed for my package. Nick, that's hilarious. Good luck finding her.

Travel: Top 10 Worst, Hidden, Airline Fees
Airfarewatchdog released a list of the Top Ten Most Obnoxious Hidden Airline Fees. We love:6. Getting a refund when a fare goes downFee: $25 to $200 or more.If you bought a TV from Costco or BestBuy and they lowered the price the following week, chances are you could get a refund no questions asked....But most airlines either will refund nothing...or they'll charge an "administrative fee" of up to $100 on a domestic ticket, and even more on an international one. What justifies this? Does it actually cost them $100 to spend a few minutes to rewrite your electronic ticket?Wanna pricemath? Yeah, that'll cost ya. What's your favorite hidden airline fee?Top Ten Most Obnoxious Hidden Airline Fees [The Airfarewatchdog Blog](Photo: frozenchipmunk)

News From The Swamp: Head Of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Didn't Know How To Properly Install A Car Seat
A Detroit News article about Nicole Nasson, head of the National High Traffic Safety Adminsitration, which oversees, among other things, child safety seat standards, reveals that until this summer, she didn't know how to properly install a child safety seat.In July, Nason took a three-day class on how to professionally install child safety seats...She had her "eureka moment" when she learned she wasn't installing her own child's device correctly in her own car."I almost put it in right," Nason said, after the instructor pointed out a latch she wasn't using in the seat in her Honda Pilot. "Is that what that's for? I have never used it. I have learned my lesson on child passenger safety."File under frightening or ironic? With tags, you can do both!NHTSA pledges some safety actions by year-end [Detroit News via Kicking Tires]

Baby Steps: Northwest Airlines Employees Will Undergo Customer Service Training
Northwest Airlines says its employees are going to be taking customer service classes. "It's the largest training initiative in over a decade with a focus on customer experience," CEO Doug Steenland said during a speech to industry insiders at the New York Wings Club.'Supposedly, the training will help employees see the travel experience from their customer's point of view. Flight attendants and gate agents will participate.We are troubled that we were not asked to design the curriculum. Perhaps the Flyer's Rights group could have lent us their tent and smelly portable toilets. It could have been awesome. Such a waste.Northwest to give workers customer-service training[USAToday](Photo:Drewski2112)

Cars: 10 Things Your Auto Insurer Won't Tell You
Is a toad hiding in your engine? Here's 10 little car insurance dirty secrets from SmartMoney:10. "You're paying too much."9. "Forget your driving record. We want your credit rating."8. "We're pocketing your deductible."7. "We can dump you on a whim."6. "We'll stiff you if your car is totaled..."5. "...and even if it isn't."4. "You need a lawyer."3. "Our body shops work for us, not you."2. "We make money by sitting on your claims."1. "We own your state insurance commission."Hit the link for the full explanation, but we thought the last one was notable. According to a WSJ article, which we can't find, at the time this was written, 9 of the last 11 heads of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners left for private-sector insurance jobs afterwards.10 Things Your Insurer Won't Tell You [Steelelaw](Photo: the c-side)

Friendly Reminders: Mark Your Calendars: Do Not Call List Numbers Start Expiring In June 2008
The "Do Not Call List" comes with a built in expiration date, and the date is coming soon for people who signed up for the list when it first started. If you signed up in June 2003, your name will drop off of the list in June 2008 if you don't renew it. The good news is that it's not exactly difficult to do:"It is incredibly quick and easy to do," Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection, said in an interview with The Associated Press this week. "It was so easy for people to sign up in the first instance. It will be just as easy for them to re-up." So remember, kids. Re-up your Do Not Call subscription! Remind your parents! Tell a friend!Telemarketers: they have your number [CNNMoney](Thanks, B N!)

New And Exciting Products: NBC Announces Free "Downloads" Of TV Shows
NBC has announced that it will "permit" customers to download its shows for free. The downloads will expire after a week and become unplayable, according to the NYT.The service, which is set to start in November after a test period in October, comes less than three weeks after NBC Universal said it was pulling its programs out of the highly successful iTunes service of Apple Inc. That partnership fell apart because of a dispute over Apple's iTunes pricing policies and what NBC executives said were concerns about lack of piracy protection....NBC makes many of its popular shows available online in streaming media, which means that fans can watch episodes on their computers. Under the new NBC service, called NBC Direct, consumers will be able to download, for no fee, NBC programs like "Heroes," "The Office" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on the night that they are broadcast and keep them for seven days. They would also be able to subscribe to shows, guaranteeing delivery...

Anti-trust: Food Stamp Users Subsidize Your Credit Card Rewards Programs
Food stamp users are helping pay for your credit card rewards programs, according to "Priceless? The Social Costs Of Credit Card Merchant Restraints" (PDF), a paper by Gerogetown professor Adam Levitin published in the Harvard Journal on Legislation.Merchants have to pay credit card companies a fee for every credit card transaction. Merchants are forbidden from passing this surchage directly to the customer incurring it and so raises all his prices (see pages 37-46). These fees are used to pay for credit card reward programs. The result is that customers who don't enjoy the benefit of rewards programs, like food stamp users, are paying for them.Priceless? The Social Costs of Credit Card Merchant Restraints [SSRN]

Chinese Poison Train: In a gesture to assuage China's injured pride ...
In a gesture to assuage China's injured pride in advance of an on-site visit by the CEO, Mattel apologized to China for the "design flaws" responsible for most of this summer's toy recalls. [AP]

Creative: Flyer's Rights Protest Involves Airplane Themed Tent, Smelly Portable Toilets
The Coalition For A Passenger's Bill of Rights cracks us up. They went to D.C. and erected an airplane-themed tent complete with smelly portable toilets in an attempt to recreate the feel of a real-life tarmac imprisonment.Too funny. Pictures from an (airline strand-in) exhibition [US PIRG](1st Photo:US PIRG)(2nd Photo:AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivai / September 19, 2007)

Chinese Poison Train: The state of California recalled 56,000 children's ...
The state of California recalled 56,000 children's lunchboxes over lead concerns. The lunchboxes had been distributed by the Health Department to promote healthy eating. [AP]

Sad: Apple Urges You To "Take At Least Some Responsibility" For Your Defective iBook
Awhile back we posted a letter from a guy whose claim on a defective iBook G3 Logic Board repair was "9 months too late" and was denied by Apple. He wrote Steve Jobs and the Apple Executive Support team agreed to repair the defective unit under the "Extended iBook Logic Board Repair Program." Our reader was really happy and so were we. Sadly, it turns out that Apple has stopped repairing these defective computers—even if you write Steve Jobs. Reader Mark has the same problem as our previous reader, but was told by Apple Executive Customer Support that they would not fix his defective computer because: "It was covered, but now is not covered, because at some point, the consumer has to take at least some responsibility." We were under the impression that Apple was repairing these defective computers because people were resorting to lighting them on fire to fix them. Yes, really. Mark writes:Hello! My name is Mark, and I've been an avid Consumerist reader for quite some...

Complaints: Lowes Resorts To LEgal Bullying Instead Fixing Their Horrible $3500 Fence Job
Allen ordered a fence from Lowes. It cost $3500. It sucks. If you lean onit, it becomes dislodged and loose. His dogs were able to escape just by pushing on the gate. There's a two-foot gap underneath the bottom of the fence. Allen refused to pay until Lowes fixed it.Lowes didn't feel like fixing it, sending Allen to deal with the installer, who pingponged him back to Lowes. Lowes doesn't care they didn't do the job. They just want their money. So they sent Allen's bill to collections. Allen is enraged and starts a website, Lowes-Sucks.com. Correspondence, history, more pictures, and phone recordings are up on the site.Now Lowe's is sending him cease and desist letters for infringing their trademark. So let's see, Lowe's is paying enough attention to pay lawyers to shoot off some letters, but not enough to actually fix their crappy install. Real classy, guys. Real classy.LOWE'S Home Improvement Sucks

Media Whoring: Listen to NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell ...
Listen to NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" this Saturday to hear the mellifluous sound of Ben Popken's voice. One of the quizzes will be to hear three customer service stories and you have to guess which one is false. Ben will reveal the answer.

Roundups: Top Posts Of The Week
Applebee's Bruschetta Burger Menu Picture Vs Reality"he fries, however, were a different story. In the menu photo, "garlic parmesan fries" are served in a ramekin and look quite tasty. Instead, I was served a cylinder of slimy, greasy fries with a couple pieces of parmesan cheese on top."CellHut Can't Understand That You Didn't Order The iPhone, Thieves Did"Last Friday, I arrived home from work to discover a mysterious package waiting for me. Upon opening it, I found... trash bags. Lots of them. Puzzled, I rifled through the box and discovered, to my amazement, that they had been used as packing material for a brand new 4 Gb Apple iPhone!"Best Buy Sends The Police After You For Taking Your Loan Application Home""But the security guard must have taken down my license plate number because when I got home, my wife tells me the police are waiting for me," he said."Your Bill Looks Fraudulent. Pay It Anyway"Reader Motoko was shocked to find $1,000 worth of charges from an unknown...

Civil Rights: All Charges Dropped Against Circuit City Receipt Refuser
Legal charges have been dropped against Michael Righi (pictured), the guy arrested after refusing to show his receipt to Circuit City, and his driver's license to a police officer, in exchange for Righi's pledge to not sue the city. On his blog, Righi writes that he was willing to fight the city to the end without forfeiting any rights whatsoever, but he wanted to spare his family, who would have been principal witnesses, from a protracted legal battle.Circuit City shopper, city of Brooklyn resolve dispute over arrest [The Plain Dealer]Success [Michael Righi]PREVIOUSLY: Circuit City Customer Arrested After Refusing To Show Receipt

Shopping: Morning Deals
Marshalls: Wii for $199 YMMVWoot: Microsoft Zune 30GB Digital Media Player for $129.99BestBuy: Samsung 50" DLP HDTV + Xbox 360 + Halo 3 + 1600 XBL points + $100 NFLShop.com Certificate for $1085 [via BoingBoing Gadgets]Highlights From DealhackApple Store: Refurb iPod nanos: 2GB $99, 4GB $129, & 8GB $169 & Free ShippingBuy.com: Canon Pixma iP4500 Photo Inkjet Printer $90 ShippedBuy.com: Belkin TuneSync Dock & 5-Port USB Hub $25 Shipped