Back in June Ben Popken over at The Consumerist pointed out that while reading the New York City 2006 Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report he spotted the following item from the FAQ:

Should I buy bottled water?
You do not need to buy bottled water for health reasons in New York City since our water meets all federal and State health-based drinking water standards. Also, bottled water costs up to 1,000 times more than the City’s drinking water.

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A couple of weeks ago I came across this article on The Consumerist written by an anonymous former Circuit City employee. Having had a friend who did time at CC, I will say that this seems like a very real article and I recommend that everyone give it a read.

It sheds light into the sales tactics employed by Circuit City, and you should also keep in mind that many of these are similar to all other consumer electronics (and other) stores. The moral of the story… information will set you free.

One other little note. Instead of simply asking you to take this anonymous guy’s word for it, I’ve provided substantiating links within the various points where available for more background reading. Hope it helps.
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There are a few curse words in this one, but it’s exceedingly amusing anyway! This clip comes from a UK TV show called Balls of Steel.

There is a guy in the UK who’s invented his own game called “Urban Sprinting”. Basically the deal is that he’s got a device that I’m assuming he can turn on which will set off the alarms at retail stores that are designed to catch shoplifters.

Do you see where I’m going with this yet? Yep, he doesn’t steal anything, but he sets off the alarms and then runs to get the security guards to chase him! As far as he’s concerned the game doesn’t end until he’s able to get to a hamburger joint and order a burger.
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I routinely get Best Buy coupons sent to me and since these are valid for the next few days I figured I’d post them in case anyone could use em.

Essentially it’s 12% off just about anything as long as you sign up for the free membership, or 10% off if you don’t.

So if you’re about to go get a new digital camera or camcorder to photograph the Fourth of July festivities print these out and take them with you when you go! Hope they are of use to someone…
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The attached recording demonstrates one method of negotiating lower rates with Sprint PCS - even while you are under a contract. I’ve heard anecdotal stories from others that similar tactics work with the other major US cellular carriers as well as cable providers, but I’m not aware of anyone else having actually recorded and supplied a methodology.

The reason for my call is obvious if you listen, but basically we were paying around $135 per month on average for two phones and we aren’t even heavy users. I saw lower cost rates online that include even more, so I called just to get my rates reduced.

There are a few general things to note and listen for during this recording (which has been slightly edited from the original to remove personal details and blank space). Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever had difficulty trying to cancel an account with a service provider? Well Vincent Ferrari sure did, and frankly you aren’t going to believe what he went through.

Luckily he taped the call so he could share it with the rest of us!
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Sometimes it can be difficult to decide whether or not to go ahead and book that air travel. Prices could go down, or they could go up, so what’s a boy to do? Well here are two sites to help you solve this dilemma.

When you are in the early planning stages, pop on over to Farecast and tell them your destination. Within seconds you’ll get a prediction as to whether the prices are expected to rise or fall for that particular route and you can make your decision accordingly.
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My wife and I were planning on accompanying my brother and soon to be sister-in-law to the Big Island of Hawaii in June, and as a result I did quite a bit of planning for the trip. Being cost efficient is important to all of us, but making sure we end up with decent accommodations at a good value is possibly even more important.

I thought I would document my search methodology in case it helped others to find and book their travel online. Please note that I am very meticulous when it comes to travel planning. I’m picky about where I stay, how I get there, and want to know what I’m going to do while I’m there. I even make printouts and carry a small binder with me. Anal, I know… but it works for me.
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I got a call today from Abe’s of Maine that was quite disappointing. But let me start with a little background info…

At 1:30am on Tuesday morning (4/10/2007) I ordered a new $3,379 Canon XH A1 Prosumer Camcorder from Abes for two reasons.

1. First, I’ve purchased from them in the past (about 2.5 years ago) and things went OK, although the extremely high end Sony Receiver I bought from them ended up having problems and needing service I felt I couldn’t hold that against Abe’s.
2. Secondly they were offering the Camcorder for about $100 less than Amazon or NewEgg.

Now, the problem started today around 6:30pm CST when I’m shopping at a retail store and I get a call on my cell phone from a “customer service” (732-225-1777) representative from Abe’s “…just wanting to verify my shipping address”. He asks me if I’ve ever purchased from them before and when I say yes, he is surprised and “can’t find me in their system”. After he “verifies my address” he begins pressuring me to purchase all sorts of add ons. And remember, this is a three and a half THOUSAND dollar purchase.
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Lists are funny things. Often they are interesting enough to catch your attention, but without any real meat in them they aren’t enough to hold it. Take for example, The American Film Institute’s Top 100 Movie list. They actually published it on the Web without so much as a single link to external reference material!

Well, I wanted to check out the movies, and searched everywhere for a modified version of the list, but came up empty. So, I sat down and built one myself. After about 20 hours of adding 300 links, I now present the list in an actually useful format. I hope someone other than me gets some enjoyment from it too.
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Ever had a minor little problem with your car that annoyed you, but wasn’t worth actually taking it in to the shop to fix? Well, you need to get on over to Car-Part.com and search junkyards for replacement/used parts!

This site will actually search for both new and used car parts anywhere in North America and let you know where you can get it, how much it will cost, and even how far away it is from you. The junkyard enters the digital age…

Virtually every retailer now days offers “price match guarantees” and purchase protection after the sale in case you find a lower price within 30 days. But when was the last time you actually kept an eye out on the prices for something after you bought it?

Yeah, that’s what I thought… and the retailers are counting on people making the purchase and never looking back. Well now there is a great little service called Price Protectr that allows you to specify the Web site of the item you purchased as well as the date and price, and it will watch that product for 30 days and notify you via e-mail if it finds a lower price.
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