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Thanks for Nothing – Spring 2026

Every few months we spotlight offers from companies that are real head-scratchers, are actually less generous than they appear, are just plain outrageous, or may simply elicit a chuckle. Here’s the latest crop.

CapitalOne Shopping Rebates

We recently wrote about CapitalOne Shopping rebates (see story) that left out a whole bunch of important information. But, we saved the best for last.

Capital One Shopping Stop & Shop offer

If this were your regular supermarket, getting two-percent back up to $1,000 in rebates might be a somewhat attractive offer on first blush. But think about it for a minute.

*MOUSE PRINT:

This offer is for a one-time purchase only. So to get back the maximum advertised rebate of $1,000, one would have to spend $50,000 at Stop & Shop, and gift cards are excluded. How disingenuous can this company be? Thanks for nothing, CapitalOne Shopping.


Degree Deodorant

Over the years, deodorant brands have made various dryness and long-lasting claims. It was quite a milestone when some claimed 24-hour protection. Then it morphed into 48 hours. And 48 hours of protection soon became 72 hours. And now, the latest — 96 hours of protection.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Degree 96 hours of protection

This suggests if you put on this deodorant/antiperspirant on Monday, you don’t have to apply it again until Friday. So no showers for you Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Come on, how disingenuous.

And one more thing. Their old claim was “5 in 1” referring to five benefits it conferred like wetness protection, odor control, fast absorption, etc. They have now changed the claim to “5X” which most people would interpret as providing five times the strength or protection. What they really mean is that it (still) provides five types of protection. Thanks for nothing, Unilever.


Crazy High Prices

For many products and brands, prices have just gotten completely out of control. Here are three examples where the sellers must think high prices don’t matter.

Gillette Labs

Almost $28 for four razor blades? Thanks for nothing, Gillette, I don’t care how good those blades are.


$6.99 per pound turkey

They are charging $6.99 a pound for turkey and it is frozen? I don’t care where it was raised and even if it was spoon-fed all-natural grain every day. Who in their right mind is going to pay over $100 for a frozen turkey, when most supermarkets sell conventionally raised birds for 69 cents a pound at Thanksgiving time? Thanks for nothing.


Lastly, will anyone buying a $130,000 Rolex watch really be interested in using a coupon code to save money? Thanks for nothing, Rolex.

Rolex coupon code

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Homeaglow’s TrustPilot Ratings Not As Represented

You’ve probably seen the ads for Homeaglow — the home cleaning service that claims to charge just $19 for the first cleaning.

To add credibility to their company, their tout a very high 4.8 star rating from TrustPilot.

Homeaglow 4.8 stars

However, when eagle-eyed reader David B. checked the TrustPilot website, the real rating was revealed.

*Mouse Print:

Homeaglow's real trustpilot rating

It got only 1.3 stars, not the almost five stars claimed on the company’s website.

And a synopsis of those almost two thousand reviews (not the over six thousand that Homeaglow touted) suggests the company is not delivering what it promised.

Most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Customers express significant dissatisfaction with the service, frequently citing issues with pricing, subscriptions, and cancellations. Many consumers feel misled by hidden fees and unexpected charges, particularly concerning a recurring membership they were not aware of upon initial sign-up.

We asked the company for an explanation of how they could be claiming a near-perfect 4.8 rating from TrustPilot when the actual TrustPilot site gives them a failing grade. They did not respond.

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GoodRx Prices Can Vary Using Their Cards vs Their Website

A funny thing happened when picking up a prescription at my local Stop & Shop pharmacy. I asked the pharmacist to compare the price using my health insurance prescription drug plan versus the GoodRx price. GoodRx is a free discount drug service.

He said that GoodRx was less than my insurance. (This has happened before and it raises a whole other issue of how in the world when paying for prescription coverage can their price wind up being more expensive than the price with a free discount card?)

With the GoodRx number I had given the pharmacy years ago, the price came to $8.68.

GoodRx price old card

I was a bit shocked because I had checked the price at the GoodRx website for this particular pharmacy, and it was almost double what the pharmacy actually charged using my old card.

*MOUSE PRINT:

GoodRx website price

The pharmacist said there was no rhyme or reason for the various prices charged or how it is possible that discount cards can offer better prices than real insurance coverage.

We asked GoodRx how a price using one of their old cards could differ so dramatically from their current website price at the same particular pharmacy. Here is what a spokesperson told us, in relevant part:

There are a few things that may have led to the discrepancy between the price with your prior, physical card and the price you see on our website:

Contracted reimbursement: Some of the prior pricing we distributed under our ‘PBM marketplace’ model, particularly via direct mail, were individually contracted between PBMs and pharmacies. While some of these legacy PBM cards may be accepted at point of sale based on their legacy agreements, and could have lower pricing and margins to retail, we want to make sure both our consumers and retail pharmacies have a sustainable and reliable experience at the counter.

We also checked with NeedyMeds.org, a nonprofit that connects consumers to affordable medication programs. Their president echoed GoodRx’s comments suggesting that the old card may have had a better pricing structure, and that reimbursement rates change online quickly and can vary among processors.

Whatever the reason for the difference, it pays to double-check the price if you have an old GoodRx card laying around or on file at your pharmacy. You could save money.

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