uWalmart Shoppers Will Soon Be Able To Pay For Their Stuff In Stores Using Retailer’s Smartphone Appr

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  In a sign that Walmart might be giving up on CurrentC — a mobile payment system that a consortium led by the retailer dreamed up a few years ago that has yet to become a reality — the chain has announced that shoppers in its stores will soon be able to pay for their stuff with the Walmart smartphone app.

  As its fellow retailers have started to offer Apple Pay and other mobile payment systems as options for shoppers, it seems Walmart doesn’t want to be left out in the cold when it comes to mobile payments: the Bentonville, AR company says it will offer the service starting Thursday at some stores near its headquarters, while the feature will be available nationwide in the first half of next year.

  Walmart has 22 million people regularly using its app for discounts and help finding items in stores, the company says, so it’s no surprise it wants some of those to come over to the mobile payment side. But because it refused to accept Apple Pay, while CurrentC is still in development(?), it needed another option.

  Originally, Walmart left its payment app’s design open so it could work with other mobile payment types in the future, the company said, but for the time being, this proprietary app will be the only way to pay with your phone in stores.

  Shoppers will have to add payment information to the app (once it’s downloaded, of course). For those who already have a Walmart.com account, credit card information connected to that account will transfer to the app.

  Once it’s time to check out, customers will use their phone’s camera to scan a QR code that will pop up on the credit card reader’s screen, which will then process the payment with the credit card on file.

  Walmart says the system will work with almost any payment card or mobile device.

  “We made a strategic decision to design Walmart Pay to work with almost any smartphone and accept almost any payment type – even allowing for the integration of other mobile wallets in the future,” Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart said. “The result is an innovation that will make the ease of mobile payments a reality for millions of Americans.”

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uReport: Fiat Chrysler To Pay $70M For Failure To Disclose Crash Deaths & Injuriesr

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  A “significant” discrepancy in the number of deaths, injuries and other information related to crashes reported by Fiat Chrysler will cost the carmaker $70 million, marking the second million-dollar fine levied against the company in five months. 

  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to hand down the new fine against Fiat Chrysler as soon as Thursday, following the company’s admission in September that it failed to disclose an unspecified number of deaths and injuries, Reuters reports.

  Car manufacturers are required under law to report death and injury claims to NHTSA. Those figures allow the regulatory agency to identify potentially fatal and dangerous defects.

  NHTSA announced in September that Fiat Chrysler wasn’t following that rule, noting that preliminary information suggested that the “under-reporting is the result of a number of problems with FCA’s systems for gathering and reporting data.”

  The agency said at the time that it had notified Fiat Chrysler of the issue and the carmaker reportedly investigated, discovering “significant under-reported notices and claims of death, injuries and other information” that is legally required to be reported.

  The manufacturer then pledged “complete remediation” of the issue, noting that the company “takes this issue extremely seriously and will continue to cooperate with NHTSA to resolve this matter and ensure these issues do not re-occur.”

  The potential $70 million fine would be the second for Fiat Chrysler this year. In July, the company was fined $105 million for its leisurely pace in fixing more than 11 million vehicles connected to 23 safety recalls.

  Exclusive: Fiat Chrysler to pay $70 million auto safety fine [Reuters]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uT-Mobile To Verizon Customers: Switch And Get A Full Year Of Hulu For Freer

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• A week after trying to lure away AT&T customers by offering them a $200 discount on a new iPhone, T-Mobile is going after Verizon customers. But instead of dangling cash back on a fancy phone, this time T-Mo is hoping that a year of free streaming video might do the trick.

  It works like this, according to T-Mobile: Starting tomorrow, and through Dec. 17, any current Verizon customer who switches to a T-Mobile Simple Choice postpaid plan — either at a T-Mo store or over the phone — will receive a text message with a $100 gift code for Hulu.

  Interestingly, unlike a lot of company-switching promos, T-Mobile is not requiring that Verizon customers trade in their current phones to get this offer.

  Hulu is also part of T-Mobile’s “Binge On” program, which doesn’t charge users for data from certain streaming content services (including Verizon’s own Go90). The Binge On video isn’t the full-quality HD you’d get on your TV, but it may be sufficient for casual mobile users.

  Of course, the one caveat worth considering with the “free Hulu” offer is the fact that you will have to sign up with Hulu and give them your payment info. The “12 months” part of the offer is also assuming that you subscribe to the lower-tier Hulu service, complete with ads and no premium channels. If you want the more-expensive ad-free version of Hulu, or you want to add Showtime on top of your base Hulu package, the $100 gift from T-Mo won’t go as far.

  And once that $100 gift code is exhausted, you’ll continue to be charged each month. The good thing is that Hulu, like most streaming sites, works on a month-to-month basis so you can leave whenever you feel like it.

  Just like with the AT&T deal, T-Mobile is also throwing in a half-off promo for accessories. And folks who trade in their Verizon phones can be eligible for having up to $650 of the remainder of their Verizon obligation bought out, or having whatever they’ve got left to pay on their old phone paid off.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uYes, Amazon Will Adjust Prices They’ve Raised If You Ask Nicelyr

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• Amazon is always adjusting their prices, and sometimes those adjustments aren’t in your favor. When you throw an item in your cart and the price suddenly rises by five or ten bucks, that’s enough to make you look for it elsewhere, or maybe not buy the item at all if it wasn’t something that you needed. Yet there is a way to get Amazon to bring the price back down: ask nicely.

  This isn’t a super-secret strategy, but you may not have thought to try it. The founding couple of Rather Be Shopping did, and they employed the strategy with a robot kitty that’s a popular toy this holiday season. You know the drill: they put the toy in their cart, and the price went up before they went to purchase. That’s when they logged on customer service chat.

  

  The agent checked the price history and found that yes, the price had indeed risen in the last 24 hours. She offered an adjustment after the order was placed.

  Like all tools in the consumer toolkit, we warn you not to abuse this one, especially as December continues and customer service lines get busier. Amazon calls it a “one-time exception” in this example, and even if they allow you to use it multiple times, save it for major price increases on big-ticket items.

  Amazon Hack: How To Get the Lower Price After a Price Change [Rather-Be-Shopping]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uNo One Asked For Oreo Churros Available At Home, Yet Here They Arer

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  Just over a year ago, we learned that Oreo churros came into existence for some reason that no one fully understands. That version was for the convenience-store market: stores would serve the choco-churros with cups of “creme.” Now the product that you never asked for is available: Oreo churros have found their way to store shelves.

  Yes, someone actually saw these for sale in the frozen-food aisle at Safeway. Unlike their hot-lamp siblings, they come with Oreo creme in the middle, and are presumably heated in the microwave.

  Well, it could be worse: Doritos Loaded could have made their way from 7-Eleven and Burger King to supermarket freezer cases. Wait… they did?

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uGoogle Play Music Now Offering Six-Person Family Plan, Free YouTube Red Servicer

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• After two months of testing a family plan for its streaming music service, Google announced that it would make the six-person program a permanent option for Google Play Music users.

  The Google Play Music family plan is similar to Apple’s multi-person music subscription offer, it costs $14.99/month and allows up to six people access to the service.

  Through the plan, customers will receive all the same perks as a single membership: individual profiles, their own music libraries, tailored recommendations and playlists, and listening history.

  In addition to all the music available through the family plan, subscribers (in the U.S.) will also receive access to YouTube Red, the company’s ad-free video subscription service.

  Google’s family service is available to users in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, France and Germany starting Wednesday. Other countries are expected to be added to the roster in coming months, Google says.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uBoston College Now Reports 120 Students Sick, Possibly From Chipotle (But Not E. Coli)r

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  After another day of student health center admissions and disease incubation, Boston College now reports that 120 of their students are sick with vomiting and nausea. The majority report that they had recently eaten at a Chipotle restaurant near the campus over the weekend, proving either that they contracted the illness there, or that college students are very fond of Chipotle and norovirus happens is very contagious.

  While the number of ill students is climbing, the good news for Chipotle is that the outbreak appears to have nothing to do with the E. coli outbreak that reached restaurants in nine states, now they have a new outbreak of norovirus, the pathogen that causes the most outbreaks from contaminated food in this country.

  Norovirus is probably best known for its insidious presence on cruise ships, but most cases occur elsewhere. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, 70% of outbreaks originate when a sick person serves food. The virus can also spread to people who happen to be in a room where someone with the virus vomits, and is also impervious to many cleaning products and hand sanitizers.

  While requiring employees who are sick to stay home is an important step, it’s not perfect, since people with norovirus can be contagious before and after they show any symptoms.

  AdAge reports that an unnamed executive outlined the company’s post-outbreak marketing strategy. The campaign won’t begin until after the CDC officially declares the outbreak to be “over,” and it will include direct-mail coupons inviting customers back, making executives available for interviews, and running open letters to customers in newspapers.(They should probably also publish those on, say, Instagram or Facebook to reach their younger customers.)

  The executive also explained some changes made to their cooking processes: lettuce, cilantro, and tomatoes are now processed in regional facilities, then sanitized and sealed for delivery to restaurants. That’s dicing that used to be done in restaurants.

  Chipotle: CDC and Media Tactics Have Added to E. Coli Hype [AdAge]
  Boston Students Afflicted by Chipotle-Linked Outbreak Top 120

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist