Relive The Summer Of 2016 With The Consumerist Mega-Quiz!

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To quote James Douglas Morrison, “summer’s almost gone,” though not really, depending on how you define the term summer. For fans of all things equinox-based, there are three weeks to go. For many school kids and college students, summer has been dead for days. For Consumerist readers south of the Equator, it’s months away from even beginning. So what the heck was Jim Morrison on about? Lizard King, my butt.

Anyway, it’s a three-day weekend for most people, but folks still go online, because what else are you going to do? So here’s something fun to do… though again, “fun” is a very relative term. Making this quiz was fun for us, but we can’t guarantee you’ll enjoy it. At the same time, you might enjoy it more than we did. Only way to tell is to take the darn thing already.

In honor of the extended weekend and the sorta-end of summer, we present a 25-question “mega-quiz” (we’d trademark that, but people have probably beaten us to it, which is a stupid idea because it’s incredibly corny).

Anyway…

1-2-3-QUIZ!

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Samsung Announces “Product Exchange Program” For Galaxy Note 7 — But Don’t Call It A Recall

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Despite confirming to media outlets earlier today that the Galaxy Note 7 would be “recalled” — implying that the company would soon go through official regulatory channels — Samsung has gone ahead and announced details of a “product exchange program” that is not, in actuality, an official recall.

The program, outlined in a press release from Samsung, will offer Note 7 owners the following choices:

1. Exchange current Galaxy Note 7 device with a new Galaxy Note 7 (as early as next week)

2. Exchange current Galaxy Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge and replacement of any Note7 specific accessories with a refund of the price difference between devices.

Note 7 owners will also receive a $25 gift card or bill credit from “select carrier retail outlets” when choosing a Galaxy S7 family device or the Galaxy Note 7 within the exchange program. The select outlets were not listed in the announcement.

Samsung’s action is ahead of an official recall, which will require the involvement of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and will have important legal consequences. For example, after the CPSC has announced an official recall, it makes it illegal for anyone to sell a recalled product, even a used one. The CSPC has confirmed to Consumerist that no official recall is yet in place.

The product exchange program will likely only serve to ruffle regulatory feathers further. As we reported earlier, a federal safety official who asked not to be identified told Consumerist that “companies should not be putting out unilateral recall announcements. It doesn’t matter if it’s a global product or a solely U.S.-based company. Consumers should be appropriately informed, and that takes time and planning. It does not serve consumers well to simply say a product will be recalled without coordination regarding the scope and remedies.”

Samsung isn’t the first company in recent years to try to “recall” its own products without the necessary involvement of the CPSC. Following Consumerist’s reporting of rashes among Fitbit users, Fitbit “recalled” the Fitbit Force wristband on it’s own, with an official government recall following almost three weeks later.

More recently, McDonald’s did its own unofficial recall when it pulled millions of Step-It kids’ fitness trackers from Happy Meals after hearing complaints of burns and irritation. An official recall announcement didn’t come until nearly a week later.

To take advantage of the “product exchange program” consumers can contact or visit the retail outlet where they purchased their device or call 1-800-SAMSUNG. When an official recall is announced, we will update this post.

Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have called on Samsung to protect consumers by making the recall official.

“Samsung should immediately initiate an official recall with the Consumer Product Safety Commission given the serious nature of the safety problem it identified with the Galaxy Note 7,” said Maria Rerecich, Consumer Reports director of electronics testing. “We are particularly concerned that phones continue to be available for sale today.”

by Meg Marco via Consumerist

2 Men Accused Of Using ATM Skimmer To Take $500K From US Bank Customers

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If you’re hitting the road this holiday weekend, you might find yourself visiting some unfamiliar gas stations, ATMs, or kiosks that accept credit cards. The recent arrest in California of two men who are accused of draining $500,000 from US Bank customers’ accounts should remind people across the country and all over the world: be careful where you swipe your debit card, and be protective of your PIN.

KCAL reports that the two men are suspected of multiple skimmer thefts, and they were caught in a sting by police. In these incidents, the suspects used a super-thin device about as wide as a credit card that captures the information on a card’s magnetic strip, and a pinhole camera fitted inside a device that blends in with the rest of the ATM.

Here’s how to protect yourself from skimmer crimes:

Use a credit card instead of a debit card, if you have one: you’ll have a chance to dispute the charges and won’t have to fight to get the cash back after it’s removed from your account.

Cover your hand when entering your PIN: this is a tricky maneuver when using a drive-up ATM, but will keep a pinhole camera from capturing your digits. This keeps scammers from taking cash or cash advances out from your account.

Jiggle any pieces of the ATM or kiosk that don’t seem to fit: if something looks like it isn’t part of the machine, it might be an extra card reader or a container for a pinhole camera.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

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If you’re a retail business, and you want to sell your merchandise, you should go where the shoppers are, right? Lands’ End, the retailer of preppy clothing and canvas tote bags that is not L.L. Bean, is doing just that. While maintaining its own website and stores, most of which are inside the department stores of former parent company Sears, the company will begin selling some of its merchandise through Amazon’s new fashion section.

An e-commerce deal with Lands’ End has already come and gone for Amazon: back in 2002, centuries ago in e-commerce time, the clothing company was owned by Sears and teamed up with Amazon to sell items onlinea before branching out and starting its own sales site once that strange “buying things on-line” concept caught on.

We don’t know when that deal ended, but Lands’ End as a merchant still has feedback on Amazon for transactions that took place in 2011.

Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company’s plan is to sell some of its items on Amazon, but not all of them. The company’s new, more fashionable Canvas collection for women will be available on Amazon, along with shoes and athletic clothing.

“This provides an additional channel for us to introduce consumers to our new brand and expanded category,” CEO Federica Marchionni told investment analysts earlier this week when explaining the partnership.

Amazon is making a big push into fashion, and the WSJ reports that the company is changing how it discounts merchandise for the new fashion department, dealing with fashion labels both high and low end worried about damaging their brands.

The second zombie iteration of Circuit City has opened an Amazon storefront,

Lands’ End to Start Selling Items on Amazon.com [Wall Street Journal]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

ITT-Owned Daniel Webster College Also In Peril Of Losing Accreditation

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Only days after beleaguered ITT Tech ceased enrolling new students over financial concerns and the possible loss of accreditation, another for-profit educator owned by ITT’s parent company has also revealed that its future may be in peril.

ITT Educational Services purchased small, New Hampshire-based Daniel Webster College in 2009, and today the company disclosed in a filing [PDF] with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the school of around 650 students faces the risk of being unaccredited.

According to the filing the school’s accrediting body, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges told Daniel Webster administrators that NEASC has reason to believe that the college may not meet the organization’s standards. The school has until Sept. 14 to explain why it believes NEASC should not withdraw its accreditation for DWC.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education barred ITT Tech from enrolling new students using federal financial aid. Since so many prospective ITT students would need this taxpayer-funded support to pay the school’s tuition, ITT Tech subsequently announced it had ceased enrolling any new students.

The federal ban was made after ITT Tech’s accrediting body, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools determined that ITT was “not in compliance” and is “unlikely to become in compliance” with accreditation criteria.

Even though the Dept. of Education prohibition does not extend to Daniel Webster College, the school says that NEASC board is nevertheless concerned that ITT’s peculiar situation “may put the finances and the continuation of DWC at risk.”

The school contends that it does meet NEASC standards.

In Related News…

Meanwhile, Gizmodo reports that it’s heard from ITT Tech employees who are concerned about possible signs of an imminent collapse.

One tipster says that employees were paid this week — a non-pay week — and that their pay appeared to include additional wages for unused time off, money that would not be paid out at this point of the year.

A rep for the school would only tell Gizmodo that it does not comment on rumors.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

11-Year-Old Finds Bag Of Meth Inside Video Game He Bought At GameStop

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Unexpected freebies that come with a purchase are one thing, but bags filled with meth stashed in a video game case, well, that’s a case for law enforcement.

Police in Lake Charles, LA are investigating after an 11-year-old bought a video game from his local GameStop this week, KPLC-TV reports (warning: link contains video that autoplays). Upon opening it, a baggie of meth fell out, so his dad called the police and returned the video game to the store.

A detective with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the substance was indeed meth, and not just something innocent like the contents of a few Pixy Sticks.

A spokesman for GameStop told the news station that any games that are returned or traded in by customers are opened and checked for quality before being placed back on store shelves, and that games shipped from other store locations are checked before they’re sent elsewhere.

“Any games traded in with us are checked for quality, then could be shipped to another store,” he said.

However once the games reach those stores, they are not rechecked, which means someone could have ostensibly slipped the drugs in the video game case anytime after it was shipped from the previous location. When KPLC-TV asked the GameStop spokesman if that scenario was possible, he said he couldn’t comment.

Police said that GameStop told them there was no way to track where the game came from, however.

Meth found inside video game case in Lake Charles [KPLC-TV]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Makers Of E-Cigarettes And Pricey Cigars Want To Avoid FDA Approval And Regulation

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Until earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration didn’t have authority to regulate some new or unusual smokeable products that have been growing in popularity, like premium cigars, hookah tobacco, vaping products, and e-cigarettes. However, the industries behind these products are fighting regulation with lobbyists, hoping to do away with the new rule.

While the lobbying effort is self-serving for Big and Medium Tobacco, the New York Times reports, it also can wrap itself in two noble-seeming goals. Lobbyists argue that they’re protecting current tobacco smokers who want to quit using e-cigarettes or vaping products with or without nicotine, and protecting smaller businesses that may not survive if they must wait for FDA approval before putting new products on the market.

States generally already ban the sale of smokeable products to minors, but introducing FDA approval and regulation in general is something that the industry is fighting. Tobacco company Altria, for example, helpfully drafted some legislation that would change the new rule so that products already on the market now wouldn’t need to be retroactively approved to stay on the market.

Companies have two years to submit products put on the market after Feb. 15, 2007 for FDA approval, while products can remain on the market for another year to wait for approval.

This will put smaller companies and those that don’t already sell FDA-regulated products at a disadvantage, since they will have to submit every flavor and variation separately before putting it on the market.

Tobacco Industry Works to Block Rules on E-Cigarettes [New York Times]
Tobacco Watchdog Expands Its Reach: A Primer [New York Times]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

12 Fictional Products And Companies That Exist In Real Life

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When inspiration strikes, it might not come from some magical, creative place deep down inside a person. Sometimes it’s tied to an idea that already exists, albeit in a fictional universe. Life has a way of imitating art, especially when there’s money to be made, so it’s not surprising that some products and companies beloved in movies, TV, literature, and other places would eventually cross over into real life.

Some of these connections are deliberate, to be sure — turning a fictional shrimp boating business into a restaurant that caters to tourists is no accident — but some of them are entirely coincidental.

Behold: a few of our favorite fictional brands, products, and companies that have made the jump to reality for more than just a promotional fling.

1. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

In fiction: If you don’t remember the part in Forrest Gump where a guy named Bubba recites all the ways you can cook shrimp, you must have been unborn or under a rock. That speech prompted Tom Hanks’ titular character to (SPOILER ALERT) become a shrimp boat cap’n and eventually open Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

IRL: Shortly after the success of Forrest Gump in 1995, the marketing division of Paramount, which is in turn owned by Viacom, partnered with another Viacom property, Rusty Pelican, to bring the restaurant to life. The first location opened in 1996 in Monterey, CA. Today there are 44 restaurants worldwide.

Connection: Intentional

2. Holiday Inn

In fiction: Holiday Inn, the 1942 musical starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. Introduced the world — and won an Oscar for — the now-classic Irving Berlin holiday tune “White Christmas.” (It’s important to note that some broadcasts of the film have since omitted the musical number “Abraham” because of its depiction of a blackface minstrel show that is considered offensive by modern standards.)

IRL: Ten years after the movie debuted, Kemmon Wilson opened his first Holiday Inn hotel in Memphis. According to Wilson’s obituary in the L.A. Times, the name for the chain was indeed taken from the movie musical.

Connection: Intentional, but not directly connected

3. Cyberdyne

In fiction: The evil company behind Skynet in the Terminator franchise, Cyberdyne created the Skynet system, which eventually became self aware and tried to exterminate the human race.IRL: Cyberdyne Inc. is a multi-national tech corporation that makes exoskeleton suits. More specifically, it’s a company started by Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba, “in order to materialize his idea to utilize Robot Suit HAL® for the benefits of humankind in the field of medicine, caregiving, welfare, labor, heavy works, entertainment and so on,” according to Google’s English translation of the Cyberdyne Inc. website. If that doesn’t sound like a problem for John Connor, I don’t know what is. In any case, the company was founded in 2004 and decided to use the name Cyberdyne — a combination of the word “cbyernics” (a fusion of human, machine and information systems) with the suffix “dyne,” in a reference to power.

Connection: Unclear, but someone had to have realized the reference

4. Talkboy

In fiction: Kevin McAllister was already the coolest kid ever left home alone, and his shenanigans in Home Alone 2: Lost In New York only solidified his early ‘90s cachet. Everyone wanted the awesome tape recorder he used to tape snippets and use them to fool adults into doing what he wanted.IRL: Rumors abound that a letter-writing campaign from tweens eager to get their hands on the gadget prompted Tiger Toys to start selling a real life version for $29.99 in 1993. It was a hit: the Seattle Times reported back then that Tiger had trouble meeting demand for the toys. After the success of the first Talkboy, Tiger went on to release several other iterations, including a TalkGirl that was — what else? — pink.

Connection: Intentional

5. Soylent

In fiction: Soylent Green is a 1973 sci-fi movie about a dystopian future where people survive on processed food rations made by the Soylent Corporation, including soylent green, a green wafer made of “high-energy plankton.” Except really, [SPOILER ALERT] it’s made out of humans, which is super gross.
IRL: In 2013, a software engineer created and tested a meal replacement drink as a personal experiment, decided to call it Soylent, and started selling it in 2014 with a Kickstarter campaign. But no, it is not made of humans. It does share roots with the movie, however, as the company says they chose the name from Harry Harrison’s 1966 sci-fi novel Make Room! Make Room!, the same source material used for the sci-fi flick. The story “explores the impact massive population growth could have on world resources. In the book, ‘soylent’ is made of soy and lentils and is a new food source used to accommodate overpopulation,” the company site says.

Connection: Intentional

6. Stay Puft Marshmallows

In fiction: If your city is gonna get wrecked, a rampaging giant made of marshmallows is a pretty delicious choice. Thus, the popularity of the Stay Puft marshmallow man that clomps around New York City in the 1984 movie Ghostbusters . So menacing, and yet so yummy!IRL: Though the Stay Puft Marshmallow Corporation doesn’t exist outside the Ghostbusters universe, in 2010 and 2012, Stay Puft Quality brand of gourmet marshmallows were available online and in Urban Outfitters as official Ghostbusters merchandise, first by a company called FMCG Manufacturing, and later through a licensing deal between Columbia Pictures and FMCG’s sister company, The Parallax Corporation (which itself is a nod to the 1974 Warren Beatty thriller, The Parallax View).
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Connection: Intentional

7. Willy Wonka Candy

In fiction: In Roald Dahl’s book Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, candyman Willy Wonka invites a few lucky children in to witness firsthand all of his fantastical creations, like candy that changed flavors and never, ever ran out. The 1971 movie based on the book starring the inimitable Gene Wilder, had its name tweaked slightly and was released as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

IRL: Real Wonka-branded candy products were originally the result of a licensing deal between Quaker Oats and an Illinois company called Breaker Confections. Quaker had provided some financing for the movie in exchange for a candy bar tie-in, according to Pure Imagination: The Story of ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, a 2001 documentary about the movie detailed by Moviefone.com. The company went on to have success with the brand after the movie disappeared from theaters, and Breaker changed its name to Willy Wonka Brands before selling itself to a British company in 1986. In 1988, Nestle purchased the brand and renamed it the Willy Wonka Candy Company.

Connection: Intentional

8. Duff Beer

In fiction: If you’ve seen even five minutes of The Simpsons, you know that Duff is Homer’s preferred swill of choice. It also may secretly be the fuel that keeps him alive and unchanging for 30 years.
IRL: After shutting down various efforts by other brewers to sell Duff Beer, 21st Century Fox announced in January 2015 that it would roll out an official version of the brew starting in Chile, before launching the product in other parts of South America and Europethe Wall Street Journal reported at the time. The company chose Chile as its kickoff point because it was “a case of, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” the WSJ noted: Fox had been trying to beat back the rising tide of unauthorized versions of Duff beer in the Chilean market, with some success. An intellectual property complaint filed by 21st Century Fox led Chilean police to seize contraband bottles by the tens of thousands. American Duff fans were disappointed though, as the company never sold it stateside, with the exception of The Simpsons section of Universal’s theme parks in Orlando and Los Angeles.

Connection: Intentional

9. Scooby Snacks

In fiction: Anyone who’s watched Scooby-Doo knows that the only way to motivate the titular pooch into action is by rewarding him with treats appropriately dubbed Scooby Snax.IRL: Pet owners can now convince their dogs to go solve ghostly crime sprees in real life with actual dog treats under the Snausages brand, made by Del Monte Foods. Human friends with the munchies might not want to partake, but we won’t judge.

Connection: Intentional

10. Soma

In fiction: Characters in Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World regularly ingested the “ideal pleasure drug” — soma. The book describes the euphoric effects of the fictional soma: “Eyes shone, cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy, friendly smiles.”IRL: Soma is a brand name drug of muscle relaxant carisprodol that’s often prescribed for back pain, and has been marketed since 1959.

Connection: Unknown, but likely coincidental.

11. Red Swingline stapler

In fiction: “Excuse me? I believe you have my stapler?” You may recognize that simple plea as the plaintive refrain of Milton Waddams from Office Space, begging for his favorite office equipment back.IRL: Swingline didn’t actually make red staplers — the stapler in the movie was spray painted red, Time reported. Fan demand is a strong thing, however, and the company eventually released a red Swingline stapler in April 2002.

Connection: Intentional

12. Omni Consumer Products

In fiction: There’s always gotta be a megacorporation in the sci-fi world, and in the RoboCop franchise, it’s Omni Consumer Products, the company that manufactures RoboCop himself. Itself?IRL: Not only is Omni Consumer Products real, but it’s dedicated to peddling movie spinoff products (why do you think we saved this one for last?), including its current offering, Sex Panther cologne (Anchorman), as well as past products Fight Club soap (Fight Club, natch), Brawndo Thirst Mutilator Energy Drink (Idiocracy), Stay Puft Caffeinated Gourmet Marshmallows (different than the previous Stay Puft product we mentioned above), and a Tru Blood beverage (from TV show True Blood).

Connection: Intentional

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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Delta’s Recent System Outage Cost The Airline $100M In Lost Revenue

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Remember that major systems outage that hit Delta last month, prompting the airline to ground all flights worldwide? In addition to majorly ticking off customers who had their travel plans disrupted and grabbing the attention of lawmakers who have since demanded an explanation for these kinds of outages, Delta lost a whole lot of money.

Four days of canceled and delayed flights comes out to a $100 million loss of revenue, Delta said on Friday, or about 1% of its quarterly revenue, notes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. All told, Delta had to cancel about 2,300 flights after a power failure brought down the company’s systems.

The financial impact of the outage doesn’t just affect revenue: Delta will likely had to shell out big chunk of change to cover travel vouchers, hotel accommodations for stranded travelers, worker overtime pay, and other things. Those expenses will probably be reported during Delta’s third-quarter results in October.

On a brighter note, at least where Delta is concerned, the airline completed 98% of its scheduled flights last month (not including regional affiliates).

“We are grateful to our customers for continuing to rely on Delta for the superior customer service and operational performance you’ve come to expect from us,” said Ed Bastian, chief executive of Delta, in a statement. “Our recovery effort exemplified the hard work and determination of Delta people worldwide, and all 80,000 remain dedicated to regaining your trust.”

System outage at Delta cost the airline $100 million in revenue [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Online Payday Lender Can’t Hide Behind Western Sky’s Tribal Affiliation

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While operating a business on tribal lands may protect you from certain federal laws, an online payday lender can’t just prop up a storefront on tribal lands in order to offer high-interest loans that are illegal in many states.

Back in 2009, the operators of California-based payday lender CashCall met with Martin Webb, a businessman and member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe to cook up a scheme to sell payday loans all around the country without having to worry about each state’s licensing requirements or restrictions on interest rates.

The idea was that Webb would operate Western Sky Financial, which in a series of memorable TV commercials pushed the high-interest loans and the company’s purported connection to the tribal community, referring to it as a “100% Native American-owned business”:

In truth, every loan that Western Sky made was almost immediately resold to CashCall, which also reimbursed Western Sky for the costs of its web servers and maintenance, marketing expenses and bank fees, and some office and personnel costs. The deal also indemnified Western Sky from the costs associated with any and all “civil, criminal or administrative claims or actions… [and] all reasonable attorneys fees and legal costs associated with a defense of such claim or action.”

CashCall also agreed to provide Western Sky with customer support, marketing, website hosting and support, a toll-free phone number, and to handle electronic communications with customers.

With so much of Western Sky’s costs and business being handled by CashCall, it became clear to regulators that this was not a purely tribal operation. Even if it were, the government contends that tribal affiliation doesn’t protect an online lender from having to follow the laws of the states in which it lends money.

In Dec. 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued CashCall, accusing the company of collecting on loans in states where payday loans are either barred outright or effectively outlawed by restrictions on interest rates.

Both CashCall and the CFPB recently asked the court to grant summary judgment for their respective sides, with the CFPB seeking to have CashCall — and not Western Sky — deemed the “true lender” of the loans in question. The government also wanted the court to confirm that the laws of a borrower’s home state — as opposed to tribal law — applies to CashCall/Western Sky loan agreement. Thus, contended the Bureau, these loan agreements should be considered void or uncollectible under the laws of 16 states. Finally, the CFPB sought a summary judgment that CashCall had violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act by servicing and collecting on loans that it had no legal right to offer.

CashCall countered that the CFPB has exceeded the authority and was trying, in alleged violation of the law, to establish a usury limit. The company also asked the court to rule that the loans are not void and that the relevant tribal law does apply. It accused the CFPB of violating CashCall’s due process rights by seeking to penalize them for allegedly unfair practices without providing CashCall with fair notice that this particular behavior was prohibited. Finally, the lender sought to have the court rule that the CFPB’s very structure is unconstitutional.

This week, District Court judge John Walter ruled [PDF] in favor of the CFPB, noting that CashCall was indeed the true lender of these loans.

“CashCall, and not Western Sky, placed its money at risk,” writes Walter, noting that CashCall funded the actual loans by depositing money in Western Sky’s account, and that Western Sky faced no risk as CashCall not only purchased every loan made by Western Sky, but paid a premium on top of the loan value. “CashCall assumed all economic risks and benefits of the loans immediately upon assignment. CashCall bore the risk of default as well as the regulatory risk.”

Since Western Sky was not the true lender of these payday loans, and neither CashCall nor its borrowers had any substantial relationship with the tribe, then state lending laws apply.

Even if CashCall were more substantially connected to the tribe, the court says the lender would still not be able to enforce the tribal choice-of-law provision in its loan contracts. That’s because the 16 states where CashCall made loans in violation of local usury laws would have a materially greater interest.

Because CashCall was making loans in states where it either had no license to lend money or where those loans exceeded state usury limits, the court agreed that the company can not collect loans in most of the 16 states listed in the CFPB’s lawsuit.

Judge Walter also concluded that CashCall deceived consumers by leading them to believe that these loans were enforceable and that tribal law applied.

“Indeed, the intentionally complicated and sham structure of the Western Sky loan program would have made it impossible for reasonable consumers to know that [tribal] law did not govern the loan agreements, and thus that their loans were void and/or not payable under the laws of their home states,” writes the judge.

Regarding CashCall’s counter claims, Judge Walter denied all of them, explaining that the CFPB was not trying to set usury limits, but merely enforce a prohibition against collecting on loans that are not owed.

Western Sky stopped funding new loans in 2013.

Just a few weeks ago, CashCall made a deal with the Minnesota attorney general to refund around $4 million to customers and forgive more than $5 million in loans.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Reminder: Your iPhone’s Wifi Assist May Get You Data Overage Charges Galore

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If you need a reminder to turn off the WiFi assist feature included in iOS 9, now’s the time, after yet another report of folks getting hit with data overages because they weren’t of what their phones were doing without their knowledge.

In a piece over at The Plain Dealer, Teresa Dixon Murray details how her family’s data usage increased significantly over the course of a few months. Her family shares a 15 GB/month plan, and usually only uses about 10 GB of that allotment. Until recently, when she noticed data usage creeping upward, and their bill took a $30 hit for going over by 1.057 GB.

When she took a closer look at the time stamps for when that data was used, she noticed that in many instances, the family’s phones were getting pinged in the middle of the night, when they were not in use and connected to the home WiFi. Her son’s phone in particular would seek out the cellular network at approximately 12-hour intervals:

Her son went to Verizon to inquire about the weird patterns and was told it could be due to WiFi Assist, a feature that’s turned on by default in iPhones running iOS 9. If it’s on, your phone will automatically use cellular data if WiFi connectivity.

We’ve seen this before, starting in September 2015 upon the release of iOS 9. Shortly after, we heard of an AT&T customer who was charged more than $2,000 in data overages because he didn’t realize WiFi Assist was turned on. Every time his WiFi signal was weak, his phone would turn to the cellular network.

Again, if you don’t want this to happen to you, you can disable the feature by going to Settings –> Cellular and scroll all the way down. The WiFi Assist toggle is at the bottom.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Cops Disappointed That We Just Can’t Put Down Phones While Driving

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For about as long as mobile phones have existed, traffic authorities have been on a campaign to get drivers to stop using them in our cars. The rise of texting over talking has made the problem even more hazardous, as communication requires at least one hand free and one eye on the screen. Cops are resorting to new tactics to catch and ticket texters, and they still aren’t deterring us.

According to the Associated Press, cops in Tennessee patrol in a tractor-trailer hoping to spot people who think they’re hiding their phones successfully, and state troopers in New York state use elevated SUVs for the same purpose.

Bicycle and motorcycle officers are also able to spot what motorists are up to. In Maryland, an officer went undercover as a homeless person and alerted colleagues in a patrol car to phone users spotted from that angle.

While a few hundred people are known to be killed in crashes involving drivers using their phones every year, experts think that the numbers might actually be higher: the problem is that police can’t compel people to hand over their phones without a warrant. The “textalyzer” has not yet been invented.

How bad is the problem? In New York, tickets issued for texting (as opposed to talking on a phone without a hands free device, which is also illegal) increased almost tenfold from 2011 to 2015.

You don’t get a more severe ticket for using two phones at once, but one VA state trooper told the AP that he caught a driver double-texting and driving. The driver had “one in his left hand and one in his right hand, with his wrist on the steering wheel,” the trooper recounted. Hey, maybe that was the guy whose photo we use in texting while driving stories sometimes!

One problem is that officers can’t always prove that a driver was using the phone to type a message or scrolling social media, if the state allows motorists to use their phones to talk.

Meanwhile, the same experts at Harvard’s School of Public Health who helped develop norms that now condemn driving while intoxicated are working to find the right message that will convince Americans to put our phones down.

Police losing battle to get drivers to put down their phones [AP]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

FDA Rules: You Can’t Sell “Anti-Bacterial” Hand Soap With Triclosan Anymore

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After more than half a decade of various proposals, investigations, and dithering, the FDA today has announced that it’s changing the rules. 19 active ingredients in your hand soap — most notably including triclosan, until recently very common — are going to be heading off the market.

Starting next Tuesday, a whole bunch of stuff is losing its designation of Generally Recognized As Safe and Effective (sound familiar?) and can no longer be marketed to you, the FDA announced today.

The rule specifically pertains to soap — products “intended for use with water, and rinsed off after use.” That means it doesn’t apply to hand sanitizers, wipes, or other products (like toothpaste). It also doesn’t apply to industrial-strength, commercial products used in health care settings.

“Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water,” said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). “In fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long-term.”

The wheels on this one have been turning for many years, but not exactly quickly.

It’s been six years since the FDA’s 2010 determination that there was no actual evidence proving triclosan actually made your bathroom hand soap any more effective.

After that it was another three years before the FDA announced in 2013 that it was going to review triclosan and find out if it was at all safe or effective.

When the FDA first started actually looking into it back in 2013, the agency gave the manufacturers of antibacterial hand soaps one year to provide data on both the safety and effectiveness of the ingredients they were using. And for all 19 ingredients now nixed after today’s rule, the data just… wasn’t there. Either it wasn’t submitted at all or what did come in wasn’t sufficient to show that the ingredients were useful.

Meanwhile, evidence pointing the other way continued to mount. For example: while the FDA review was underway, one study found that triclosan — increasingly associated with risks to fetal development — was found in 100% of the pregnant women who participated in the study. Yes, literally all of them.

Manufacturers have, meanwhile, been moving much faster than the feds. Perhaps sensing the writing on the wall, many have long since taken action to cut triclosan from their products. A sampling of recent anti-triclosan moves includes:

• Avon phased it out of all its products starting in 2014
• Bath and Body Works quietly phased out triclosan from its line of soaps with a 2014 relaunch
• Also in 2014, Minnesota passed a law banning triclosan as of 01/01/2017
• In July of this year, Walmart asked all its suppliers to stop using it
• Procter & Gamble has removed triclosan from more than 99% of its products

The full list of active ingredients no longer considered safe and effective, and therefore no longer allowed in your soap, include:

• Triclosan
• Triclocarban
• Fluorosalan
• Hexachlorophene
• Hexylresorcinol
• Iodophors (Iodine-containing ingredients)
• • Iodine complex (ammonium ether sulfate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate)
  • Iodine complex (phosphate ester of alkylaryloxy polyethylene glycol)
  • Nonylphenoxypoly (ethyleneoxy) ethanoliodine
  • Poloxamer–iodine complex
  • Povidone-iodine 5 to 10 percent
  • Undecoylium chloride iodine complex
• Methylbenzethonium chloride
• Phenol (greater than 1.5 percent)
• Phenol (less than 1.5 percent)
• Secondary amyltricresols
• Sodium oxychlorosene
• Tribromsalan
• Triple dye

The rule will become effective when it is officially published in the Federal Register after Labor Day weekend.

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Got $3.8M To Spare? You Can Buy The House Chipotle’s Founder Built With Burrito Money

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It took a whole lot of burritos and guacamole (which costs extra) to build Chipotle founder Steve Ells’ house, but if you’ve got about $4 million just collecting dust in your bank account, his former Denver home can be yours.

Ells had the 5,321-square-foot home built in 2001 in Denver’s historic Country Club neighborhood, the Denver Post reports, and it sounds very fancy. It’s designed by architect Thomas Briner and features four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a property that abuts the Denver Country Club. Ells sold the home in 2008 for $3.5 million and it’s now back on the market for $3.8 million.

“What makes it so special is the architecture. It’s like nothing else,” LIV Sotheby’s International Realty listing agent Ian Wolfe told the Post. “This home is at the level of a home you’d see in Los Angeles. There truly is nothing like this in Denver.”

No word on whether there’s a burrito stand, but the home does feature an outdoor kitchen that has a pizza oven and charcoal grill. Ells, it turns out, was very particular about his kitchen equipment.

“These materials were the absolute best at the time the house was built,” Wolfe said. “He paid premium prices for everything. No corner was cut.”

You can buy Chipotle founder Steve Ells’ house [The Denver Post]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Report: Google Scrapping Modular Smartphone Project

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Remember that fancy-pants, fully modular, user-customizable smartphone Google was working on? Well, if you do, you may as well go ahead and forget it now, because the project has been cancelled.

Project Ara — Google’s long-promised modular smartphone — is now scrapped, as Reuters reports.

It’s a little bit of a surprise because as recently as May, Google was announcing a whole bunch of partners for the components, and had said it would be shipping the developer version of the phone this fall. The ever-popular “person with knowledge of the matter” told Reuters that some of the tech may still see the light of day through licensing agreements.

That means that modular phones still remain something of a pipe dream. When it comes to smart phones, we’re usually buying products that are as uncustomizable as it is possible for a computer to be, at least on the hardware side. In many models you can’t even so much as swap out a failing battery anymore without specialized help, let alone anything more advanced.

But there’s a good reason for that: it’s a lot easier to produce a single-model phone than a whole bunch of parts that can be hot-swapped in and out. So in that sense, Google learned what a lot of other companies already guessed: some things aren’t quite worth the effort.

Exclusive: Google shelves plan for phone with interchangeable parts – sources [Reuters]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Guy Says He Was Charged $573 For A 45-Hour Uber Ride He Didn’t Take

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If you took a 45-hour car ride, you’d probably remember it. Which is why a man in Chicago was confused to find he’d been charged a bucketload of money for a very long Uber trip that he never took.

A Chicago man says he requested an Uber ride in the city a few weeks ago, but the ride was canceled by the driver, CBS 2 Chicago reports. So instead, he hailed a cab, and got an email from Uber in the meantime explaining that his ride had been canceled and he wouldn’t be charged.

That was that — or so he believed until he got his credit card statement and noticed a $573.85 charge from Uber, for a ride that supposedly covered only 23 miles and yet took 45 hours and 46 minutes to complete.

“That’s a really long time to sit in an Uber and go 23 miles,” he told CBS Local.

He emailed Uber — because he couldn’t find a phone number to call, since there isn’t one — looking for help, but said he only received a minimal response, followed by several followup emails with different people replying each time.

The company apologized to the customer after being contacted by CBS 2, and promised a full refund.

“This is an isolated incident and we are working on our end to under what may have happened here,” an Uber spokesperson said.

Hey, it could’ve been worse: he could’ve been charged more than $1,500 for an imaginary six-day trip.

Uber Charged Man $500 For A Ride He Never Took [CBS 2 Chicago]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Town Wants To Ban Pokémon Go After People Actually Use Public Parks

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Businesses, museums, and homeowners have asked to be removed from the augmented, monster-filled reality of the game Pokémon Go. The city of Des Moines in Washington State is taking it even further, though: the government is tired of sending police to manage the swarms of Pokémon trainers in its waterfront park, and wants to ban the game.

Des Moines is following the lead of a small French village where the mayor wanted to stop the critters from spawning without permission. What’s this city’s problem with the game, though? The problem isn’t the game itself, but its players, who officials claim are drinking, smoking pot, making noise, and leaving behind litter in the city’s waterfront park.

“We’re talking 150, 200 people down at the marina, and we’re talking at night,” a police sergeant explained to the Seattle Times. The city simply isn’t used to dealing with that number of people at its parks after hours, and has tried hiring security guards for the park as well as sending extra police patrols through.

The problem, the harbormaster pointed out, is that the the game is only the first of what will probably be many augmented-reality games that could send people to wander around outside of their houses.

Niantic, the company behind the game, does have a process available to remove inconvenient stops and gyms that are intruding on real life. The town has applied to have its public spaces removed from the game, and is waiting for a response. Businesses can keep any stops that they happen to have.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Gap Shoppers Buying Online May Wait Longer For Orders After Warehouse Fire In NY

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A rough year for Gap Inc and some of its brands — Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic — just got rougher: A fire that tore through a major distribution warehouse for the retailer earlier this week means that customers in a busy region are going to have to wait longer than usual to get their hands on the stuff they paid for.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, a massive fire burned through a Gap Inc. distribution center in Fishkill, NY, on Monday night.

Local media described the fire as immense, with flames “towering high above a building.” The blaze was first reported around 10:30 p.m. Monday, and wasn’t considered fully under control until 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. The emergency response came from more than 20 fire departments in three counties, and the investigation into its cause is continuing.

The chief of the Fishkill fire department told the WSJ that about 25% of the building that caught fire is damaged beyond repair, and that the remainder has significant smoke and water damage. The facility will have to remain shut for weeks while inspections are carried out.

The out-of-commission facility is about 10% of the company’s entire nationwide warehouse capacity, serving customers in the Northeast region.

And that is a real problem for Gap, because it’s back-to-school season and customers are shopping. And after back-to-school season comes that retail behemoth, the holiday season.

Meanwhile, Gap is using facilities in Ohio and Tennessee to fulfill orders as best it can.

Fire at Gap New York Distribution Center Slows Online Orders [Wall Street Journal]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Court Throws Out Lindsay Lohan’s Lawsuit Against Makers Of ‘Grand Theft Auto V’

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She might have seen herself as a character in a video game, but Lindsay Lohan is just like us — in other words, not a video game character: a New York appeals court has chucked the actress’ lawsuit against the makers of Grand Theft Auto V that claimed her image had been used without her permission in the game.

Lohan’s lawyers accused GTA V developer Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two Interactive Software of running afoul of New York’s right-of-publiclity law, The Wall Street Journal reports. That law forbids the use of a person’s portrait, picture, or voice for advertising or trade purposes without written consent from the subject.

The actress had a beef with two images:
• The “red bikini girl” on the GTA V box cover and intro to the game, which the complaint alleges looks a whole lot like Lohan, what with her hair, bikini style, and the “peace sign” symbol she’s flashing.

“The Plaintiff has been using the peace sign hand gesture for years before and after its use in the video game,” the lawsuit claimed.

• An image on the game disc of a woman being frisked by a cop (as seen at the top of this page) “capitalized on the use of [Lohan’s] clothes style…by using plaintiff’s fedora, sunglasses, jeans, white shirt, and jewelry.” What’s more, she’s wearing a shirt with the letter “L” “prominently displayed” on it, as well as a skull-shaped letter “O,” which, you know, Lohan.

The lawsuit also alleged that there was a Lohan avatar included in a player mission that revolves around a character trying to help a celebrity actress escape from paparazzi, a plot that that “contains identical events to the Plaintiffs life,” the complaint claimed. The side mission also includes a “voice impersonation” of Lohan.

A judge in Manhattan denied a motion to dismiss the complaint in March, but an appellate panel in the city disagreed and dismissed the lawsuit Thursday, ruling that the video game images in question aren’t advertising or trade.

“Even if we accept plaintiffs’ contentions that the video game depictions are close enough to be considered representations of the respective plaintiffs, plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed because this video game does not fall under the statutory definitions of ‘advertising’ or ‘trade,’” the decision reads. “This video game’s unique story, characters, dialogue, and environment, combined with the player’s ability to choose how to proceed in the game, render it a work of fiction and satire.”

Even those images used in GTA V advertising are “not of Lohan herself, but merely the avatar in the game that Lohan claims is a depiction of her,” the panel wrote.

In the same decision, the court dismissed a similar lawsuit brought by Mob Wives star and daughter of imprisoned mobster Salvatore “Sammy The Bull Gravano,” Karen Gravano, claiming that a GTA character named “Andrea Bottino” was based on her without her consent.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Samsung Will Recall Galaxy 7 Note After Reports Of Battery Explosions, Fires

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Earlier this week, Samsung confirmed it was delaying shipments of the recently released Galaxy Note 7 phone following a handful of reports from customers about the battery exploding or catching fire while charging. Now the tech giant says an official recall of the Note 7 is coming.

“It has been confirmed that it was a battery cell problem,” the head of Samsung’s handset division, told the Wall Street Journal.

When Samsung canceled shipments of the Note 7 on Wednesday, it said the delay was “due to additional tests being conducted for product quality,” while South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the company knew of at least five claims of the phone, which was only released in some markets a few weeks ago, exploding or catching fire while plugged in for charging.

Now Samsung tells the Wall Street Journal that it has thus far heard of 35 cases of this battery problem. It estimates that around 24 phones out of every million units is faulty.

Though the exact details and timeline for the recall have not been announced, Samsung says customers will receive a full refund for their device. The company estimates it will take around two weeks to replace the phones. The company will offer the replacement program in all 10 countries where the Note 7 is sold.

While it’s never good for business to have to recall a high-profile product, the timing is particularly bad for Samsung. Its main competitor in the smartphone market, Apple, is set to announce the latest iPhones next week on Sept. 7. Meanwhile, Hanjin, Korea’s largest shipping company, has filed for bankruptcy, leaving ships full of products destined for holiday sales stranded or seized while Samsung, LG and many others scramble to find new shipping partners in time.

Samsung to Recall Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Over Reports of Fires [WSJ]

Samsung Stops Galaxy Note7 Sales, Will Replace Phones on Market [Consumer Reports]

by Meg Marco via Consumerist

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds

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Here are six of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last two weeks, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist