2013 – Page 2 – Mouse Print*

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Sprint Student Free (?) for All

December 2, 2013 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Best Buy recently sent out an email making an astonishing offer on cell service for students:

They are providing a year of free service. That means free unlimited calls, texts, and 1 gig of data ($10 extra for unlimited data). What a deal!

It says however, “with purchase of phone at Student Activated price.” What’s that?

*MOUSE PRINT:

The prices being charged by Best Buy for the phones appear to be full price, the same as what Sprint itself would charge. In some cases, the price appears to be $50 higher than buying from Sprint directly. The benefit for the student, however, is a free year of service, without having to sign a two-year contract.

So is this a good deal? The less expensive of the two Sprint plans that the student is required to sign up for is $70 a month (plus fees and taxes) if he/she had to pay for it. So that is $840 saved for the year, but the student is paying full price or slightly more for the phone. On the other hand, if the student were to get a fancy phone free from Sprint during a promotion, he or she would have to pay that $840 for service. So it appears that the student could save a little by taking advantage of the student offer, but not hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Presumably in year two, the phone might be able to be added onto a family plan at discounted monthly rates, and then the savings would increase (or maybe just get onto a family plan to start with to save).

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TSA Pre-Check: A Pleasant Surprise in the Fine Print

November 25, 2013November 25, 2013 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

On the way back from Washington, DC a couple of weeks ago, MrConsumer was stopped by a TSA official before entering the waiting line for security. He scrutinized my boarding pass and diverted me to the TSA Pre-Check line. Thinking he made some mistake because perish the thought would MrConsumer pay extra for a pre-screening program to expedite his trip through security, the TSA official said it was a random choice that I was being directed there.

Okay, I thought, maybe this is a heightened security check for random passengers. But how much more could they ask me to remove?

Turns out that pre-check is an expedited process to go through security. No removing of shoes or belts. No taking out your plastic bag of toiletries. No laptop in a separate bin. And no going through the full body scanner. All I had to do was remove metal from my pockets and go through the old-fashioned metal detector.

A check of the TSA website reveals that the TSA Pre-Check program is indeed a system being rolled out across the country. It is currently available at seven airlines, including American, Delta, United, and US Airways in selected cities. They have a secret formula to figure out who is harmless enough to let through security with only minimal screening (and clearly the system isn’t working too well if they let MrConsumer through ).

How do you know if you have been selected to cut the long line, and go express through security?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Look right on your boarding pass in most cases for that designation.

Based on the details found at the TSA Pre-Check program website you do have to pay $85 for a five year expedited “pass” through security. So maybe the TSA is taking a page from product manufacturers and offering a free sample to random passengers in the hope that they will buy into the program.

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Kleargear.com: Complain About Them, Get Dinged $3500

November 18, 2013 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

An Internet seller of novelties, gadgets, and toys found a unique way to discourage customers from writing negative reviews about the company. It threatened to bill customers $3,500 for taking any action that negatively impacted the company’s reputation or products.

Jen Palmer and her husband found out about this policy the hard way when she posted a complaint about the company online after waiting over 30 days for her order:

Watch KUTV TV news video

Three years after she posted the complaint, her husband received a bill for $3,500 as a penalty for his wife having posted the complaint online, and his nonpayment of the “fine” was reported to the credit bureau.

How did the company make known to customers they could suffer these consequences for exercising their constitutional right to free, truthful speech? The provision was tucked in the “terms of use” section of the website.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The company defended its practice to the TV station, but curiously that penalty clause has now disappeared from the company’s website.

Nothing like a little media attention to an outrageous practice to bring people to their senses.