Mouse Print* – Page 162 – Exposing the strings and catches buried in the fine print.

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Thanks for Nothing: United Airlines Intros “Last Class” Service

November 21, 2016 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

We all know what first class air travel means — priority boarding, bigger seats, fancy food, quick exiting, etc. Now United Airlines is introducing what we have nicknamed “last class” service. As our moniker implies, this is at the opposite end of the spectrum of fares.

According to United’s website, “basic economy” as they call it will be their least expensive fare (with unspecified extra savings, if any), but will come with some new and severe limitations:

*MOUSE PRINT:

You will not be able to reserve a particular seat.

Seats will be assigned automatically at check-in, and presumably you will have no choices offered.

If you buy multiple seats for your family, sitting together is not guaranteed.

You can make no voluntary changes to your ticket.

You will earn miles, but not earn “segments.”

You will not be allowed to upgrade.

You will be automatically placed in the last group to board the plane.

And the biggest (and nastiest) new restriction:

You cannot carry on any luggage except a small personal item like a laptop that fits under the seat in front of you.

So… during this Thanksgiving week, we say to United Airlines, thanks for nothing.

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Is It a Story or Is It an Ad in the LA Times?

November 14, 2016November 14, 2016 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

Every week, MrConsumer searches through thousands of consumer stories trying to find the most interesting and useful ones to present to Consumer World readers.

In a Google news search last week, this story about store brands came up and I thought it might be a candidate as a “Consumer Quickie.”

Google story

Clicking through, here is the story that came up.

Use scrollbar above on right to view.

The L.A. Times story was actually kind of boring and was not put in Consumer World. But, upon closer inspection, another reason for rejecting it became apparent (yellow highlighting below added).

*MOUSE PRINT:

This is not a real story but rather an advertisement made to look like a news story. It is called “native advertising.” Under the recently adopted Native Advertising Guidelines of the FTC, this content had to be clearly labeled as a “paid advertisement” or “sponsor paid content” or similar wording. Indeed, it is so marked but is it really conspicuous enough? The “story” is so designed to look exactly like an LA Times story that one has to wonder whether two small disclosures can overcome the overall impression created by the webpage.

And why is Google indexing advertising and listing it as a news story?

We raised this exact issue two years ago with the LA Times (see original story), which at the time said:

“…the advertisement in question is clearly labeled as such and the only path for readers to find that content was intended to be via an latimes.com panel that is also clearly labeled as advertising. However, your inquiry brought our attention to the fact that although this ad and others of the same ilk is not included in our News SiteMap and the page has “noindex nofollow” directives, there appears to be a technical glitch with Google News. We are working with Google to find out why the content is indexed incorrectly and have the issue fixed as soon as possible. In the meantime, we have removed the advertisement from our site to eradicate potential for further confusion.” — V.P. Communications, Los Angeles Times

We did not recontact the LA Times, but clearly, two years later the problem still exists.

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With 100s of Exclusions, Kohl’s Coupons Questioned

November 11, 2016November 7, 2016 by Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

For years, Macy’s coupons were the laughing stock of the retail industry because so many brands were excluded from the discounts offered. Well, it is time for Macy’s to step aside because they are being displaced by a new coupon exclusion leader, Kohl’s.

It certainly looks like a good deal to get $10 off a $30 purchase at Kohl’s with this grand opening coupon:

But then you read the fine print, and learn there are exclusions:

*MOUSE PRINT:

In fact, there are so many exclusions that Kohl’s had to create a web page to list them all!

*MOUSE PRINT:

Use scrollbar above on right to view.

Good going, Kohl’s, you’ve seemingly excluded hundreds of brands. That even challenges the six foot long disclaimer by Sears last year excluding things from its big “Friends & Family” sale.

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