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Thanks for Nothing – Year-End 2020

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Edgar Dworsky For 25 years, Consumer World, the creator of Mouse Print*, has served readers with the latest consumer news, money-saving tips, and independent investigations. It is your generosity (and not advertising nor corporate contributions) that keeps Mouse Print* and Consumer World available as free consumer resources. So MrConsumer turns to you and humbly asks for your support again this year. Your gift will be most appreciated.

In this series, we look at ads or products that just make you shake your head and maybe even chuckle.

Natrol 3 a.m. Melatonin

MrConsumer has a sleep disorder of sorts where he often wakes up in the middle of the night and has a hard time falling back to sleep. So when he saw this product called Natrol 3 a.m. Melatonin he got all excited. “For middle of the night wakeups” the package said.

Yeah, finally someone was making a product to keep me from waking up at 3 a.m. Presumably the product had some type of heavy-duty delay-release coating on it so it could deliver a big punch of melatonin in the middle of the night. I grabbed a coupon and was about to head out to Walmart, but then I read the instructions on the package.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Natrol 3 a.m.

Oh, so I have to get out of bed at 3 a.m. to take this pill and then it will help me get back to sleep. Thanks for nothing, Natrol.

 

Amazon – Frequently Bought Together

Amazon and other sellers always like to encourage people to buy more things during their shopping trip. One way is to group things together, such as showing a particular toy along with the batteries that it requires. That can be very helpful. But this recent example from Amazon is a head-scratcher.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Bought together

Yes, I am sure that many people buy a bidet, washing machine cleaning tablets, and a cast iron skillet so they can be used together. Thanks for nothing, Amazon.

 

From the Installment Sales Department…

Has it really gotten to the point where people have to buy everyday products like underwear on the installment plan?

*MOUSE PRINT:

2xist installment payments

If anything had to be offered on installments it would be this Dyson hair dryer.

Dyson hair dryer

Good news… the price has now dropped to a mere $400.

Thanks for nothing, 2(x)ist and Dyson.

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No, Amazon is Not Sending You a $100 Gift Card

Last week, MrConsumer received an email seemingly from Amazon saying it was sending along a $100 gift card as a thank you. How nice of them. But on closer inspection, this was a scam.

 

*MOUSE PRINT:

Amazon gift card scam

First, the email was addressed to “abuse@consumerworld.org” which is not a personal email. Secondly, when hovering over the “view details” button with the mouse, you see that clicking it would take you to “woo-brands.com” and not to Amazon. Visiting that site could well have infected my computer with malware, trigger whatever trap the sender intended.

And checking the IP addresses in the header information of this email (under source in most email programs), you see that the email appears to have originated in China and had a lovely journey through Italy on the way to Boston.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Amazon gift card scam source

So, the lesson here is that no matter how legitimate an email looks, double-check any links or buttons, no matter what they say, before clicking on them.

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Lowe’s Extended Protection Plans Called Deceptive

A Washington consumer who bought a barbecue grill last year from Lowe’s is suing the company for deceptive practices after his grill went on the fritz and Lowe’s refused to fix it.

Like many shoppers who buy more expensive products, this customer was asked at the checkout if he would like to buy a four-year extended warranty “Protection Plan.” He was told it would cover everything and even included on-site repairs. After he agreed to buy the $79.99 plan, the cashier put a brochure about it in his bag.

Fast forward about 10 months, and sure enough his barbecue developed a problem so the consumer asked Lowe’s for someone to come out and pick it up for repair. Lowe’s refused saying the grill was covered by a five-year manufacturer’s warranty and according to the customer’s lawsuit, while the Lowe’s extended warranty plans start on the day of purchase, they only provide benefits after the manufacturer’s warranty expires. [Thanks to Truth in Advertising for the case.]

The extended warranty contract used by Lowe’s is not clearly worded to explicitly warn purchasers about this:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Parts and services covered during the manufacturer’s warranty period are the responsibility of the manufacturer. Your Product(s) may have a labor and/or parts warranty from the manufacturer that may provide additional or overlapping coverage with this Plan. Review Your manufacturer’s warranty. Nothing in the Plan will limit or discharge any manufacturer’s obligations.

To add insult to injury in this case, since the barbecue had a five-year warranty and the Lowe’s plan was only four years, it completely overlapped what the manufacturer was providing. That made the Lowe’s plan a complete waste of money for the customer.

Lowe’s has not publicly commented on the allegations made in this lawsuit.

Whenever buying a warrantied product, try to purchase it with a credit card that doubles the manufacturer’s warranty up to an additional year for free. Many card issuers have dropped this benefit, so double-check which of your cards still offer it.