uPay Tolls Directly When Renting A Car, Or Face Modest Yet Annoying Feesr

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  Last year, I rented a car while mine was off having damage fixed. The danger in renting a car and then going about your normal routine is that you may forget that the rental car doesn’t have a toll transponder, and breeze through the EZPass lane as you normally would. I knew what was coming: a $25 bill for my 60¢ toll. Reader Allen didn’t know, and had to pay $35 for a $1 toll. Let these experiences serve as cautionary tales.

  The good news is that you aren’t going to be hit with a substantial fine for zooming through an automated toll gate without paying. The booths instead charge the toll to the registered owner of the vehicle, or some rental companies will rent you the necessary local transponder. Either way, you’re going to pay an “administrative fee” for the service.

  Allen, for example, drove through a toll gate, but didn’t know that by using this toll service he would then activate PlatePass for his entire Hertz rental period. “I learned, much to my dismay, that Hertz now uses a service called PlatePass that will charge you a fee for each day in which you rent a car, even if you only use the service once,” he grumbled to Consumerist.

  Yes, even though he only used toll roads on one day of his rental, the daily service fee applied to each day that he had the car.

  Compared to the total bill when you rent a car, being charged $4.95 per day plus actual tolls isn’t so bad. Yet it’s frustrating to receive a bill for something that could have been prevented if you only had a dollar handy, or hadn’t chosen the automated lane out of habit.

  SEE ALSO:
  Watch Out For Car Rental Companies’ Convenient Service To Pay Tolls
  Hertz Alienates Longtime Customer With $10 Convenience Fee For 75 Cent Toll

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uSamsung Debuts Fridge With A Larger Screen Than Most Laptops, Washing Machine With Forgotten Sock Doorr

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• Remember the refrigerators of your youth? Far from sleek, shiny, or Internet-connected, they were at least magnetic, which meant they doubled as the home’s bulletin board for reminders, calendars, and shopping lists. Now that everything is stainless steel, Samsung thinks it has a substitution for those old fridge magnets, by way of a 21.5″ touchscreen on the front of its newest refrigerators.

  With a touchscreen that’s larger than most of your average laptops, Samsung’s Family Hub fridge isn’t just a place’s not just a spot for calendars, to-do lists and notes you might’ve slapped on the fridge with the magnets Great Aunt Sally always brings you from her cruises, but includes three built-in cameras that take photos from inside the fridge every time it’s closed. A companion app will also alert users when they’re running low on things like eggs, milk, or whathaveyou.

  

  Which, for people who might forget to check what they’re out of before going to the store, or maybe just want to think about what they’re going to eat before they actually make the move to go get it, could be a handy thing.

  Or, if you’re the type that doesn’t actually want to go anywhere to buy groceries, Samsung has partnered with MasterCard for a new “grocery shopping experience” that lets you order food online from either Fresh Direct or Rite Aid, for now, with plans to expand with MyWeb Grocer in the future.

  All items end up in one common cart no matter which grocer you use, so shoppers can check out all at once. The fridge accepts all U.S. credit and debit cards, though of course, noted Betty DeVita, chief commercial officer of MasterCard Labs during today’s presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show, MasterCard would love it if you use one of their cards.

  On top of those food bells and whistles, there’s also a built-in speaker for playing music that includes Bluetooth so you can play it on other connected speakers in your home, and a TV mirroring capability so you can see what everyone in the living room is watching on the Samsung Smart TV while you’re cooking.

  Elsewhere in the world of smart appliances, Samsung introduced a new feature for its front-loading washing machines called AddWash, which, aptly enough, allows users to add something to the washing machine that they’ve forgot by pressing a button. I’m calling it a sock door, because that’s what it is — you left a sock out of the load, and cannot bear to complete the rest of the load knowing that its mate will be clean while it, alas, is not.

  And lest you’re worried your child might decide they also need to get into the wash after it’s started going, the feature comes with a child lock.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uNew Dish DVR Lets You Record Up To 16 Shows At Once, Watch 4 Channels Simultaneously In HDr

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• Do you feel the need to watch everything on TV all at once? Then Dish might be the TV provider for you. The satellite company is coming out with a new DVR that features 16 different tuners for people who just can’t get enough TV.

  According to Dish, the Hopper 3 — the latest DVR in Dish’s Sling-powered Hopper series — is seven times more powerful than its current DVR, resulting in a faster and improved interface.

  It can also be connected to up to six different “Joey” receivers around your house, meaning a total of seven TV sets can be pulling from the same DVR at the same time.

  That’s one of the reasons that the Hopper 3 has the 16 tuners. If each of those TVs has an owner who wants to record something, it never hurts to have a ridiculous number of tuners.

  The other big reason for the 16 tuners is a feature that Dish informally dubs “sports bar mode,” which allows users to view up to four programs simultaneously on the same screen.

  Where this multi-channel viewing option is a big deal is on 4K ultra-HD sets. The Hopper 3 supports 4K video, which is four times the resolution of current HD TVs. So when you split your 4K screen into four smaller screens, each one will still be showing in full HD.

  

  Speaking of 4K video, Dish is upgrading the Netflix app on the Hopper 3 so that it can access the streaming service’s 4K content. Some of those videos will be broadcast via satellite; some will stream over the Internet.

  As an adjunct to the Hopper 3, Dish will also be releasing a small device called the Hopper Go. It’s a portable device that lets you carry around up to 100 hours of recorded content for playing anywhere, even in places where there is no Internet connection.

  The Go creates its own WiFi cloud that can be accessed by up to five devices simultaneously. So if your whole family is taking a long train ride, you can each wirelessly stream recorded content to your phones and computers without using anyone else’s WiFi or a cellular connection.

  The Hopper 3 is coming out this month. Dish says that eligible new and current customer won’t have to pay an upgrade but it will cost you $15/month.

  The Go is coming later in the spring, says Dish. It will sell for a one-time charge of $99.

  

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uAdvances In Candy Technology Mean More Edible Conversation Heartsr

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• Never underestimate human ingenuity. It was just a few short years ago that if you wanted to eat conversation hearts, your only choice was to crunch or suck on some chalky, hard candies. Today, there are even more alternatives available for people who enjoy word-laden sweets, and the latest is conversation kisses from Hershey.

  

  Really, the maker of a candy called “kisses” should have thought of this decades ago, but people who like to communicate using candy have it now, and that’s what’s important.

  Last year, Brach’s introduced conversation jelly beans and gummy hearts, which was an amazing way to diversify Valentine’s Day candy offerings while also extending the jelly bean season. (That’s not to imply that that jelly beans aren’t on stores shelves in January to begin with, but these are seasonal.)

  Last year, red velvet was the Unofficial Flavor of Valentine’s Day. This year, it’s strawberry shortcake. So far, the flavor has showed up in M&Ms, Dove Promises, and Oreos will probably be next. If not, someone over at Nabisco is probably running to the flavor lab right now to plan for 2017.

  I’ve always associated strawberry shortcake with early summer, when strawberries are in season where I live, but what do I know?

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uTwo Payday Lenders Agree To Pay $4.4M In Fines, Release Borrowers From $68M In Loans, Feesr

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  Federal regulators continued an ongoing crackdown on deceptive payday loan players by reaching a multimillion-dollar agreement with two lenders to settle accusations they illegally charged consumers with undisclosed and inflated fees. 

  The Federal Trade Commission today announced that Red Cedar Services Inc. and SFS Inc. — operating as 500 Fast Cash and One Click Cash — would each pay $2.2 million and waive a total $68 million in customer fees to settle a years-long investigation into the operation.

  The settlement with Red Cedar and SFS stems from the FTC’s April 2012 complaint against a multi-company payday loan scheme.

  According to that complaint, SFS, Red Cedar and other lenders — including AMG Services and MNE Services –engaged in a plethora of deceptive tactics in order to entice borrowers to take out payday loans.

  Among the deceptive practices employed, the companies misrepresented how much loans would cost customers.

  For example, a contract used by Red Cedar, AMG Services and MNE Services (both of which previously settled FTC charges) stated that a $300 loans would cost $390 to repay. However, in reality, the companies charged consumers $975.

  Red Cedar and SFS also allegedly failed to accurately disclose annual percentage rates and other loan terms, and made preauthorized debits from consumers’ bank accounts a condition of the loans.

  Under the final court orders, Red Cedar [PDF] and SFS [PDF] are prohibited from misrepresenting the terms of any loan product, including the payment schedule and interest rate, the total amount the consumer will owe, annual percentage rates or finance charges, and any other material facts.

  Tuesday’s settlement makes the FTC’s case against Red Cedar, SFS, AMG Services, MNE Services, and other entities the agency’s largest recovered related to deceptive payday lending.

  In all, the FTC has collected $25.5 million in fines and required the operators to waive $353 million in debt.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uMonopoly Games Omit Star Wars’ Lead Female, Relocate Des Moines To Ohio Inr

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  It’s not a good week for Hasbro’s long-running (and apparently inexhaustible) Monopoly franchise. First, the company has to explain why its new Star Wars-themed game leaves out the new film’s female lead character, and now comes news that Hasbro has decided that Iowa’s capital city is actually located hundreds of miles away in Ohio.

  The Monopoly Star Wars game includes four characters from fictional galaxy far, far away: Two good guys and two bad guys. And we do mean “guys” — all four of the characters are dudes. No Leia from the original trilogy, no Padmé from the prequels, and no Rey from the new series.

  In response to fan’s concerns about Hasbro and Disney pushing only the male stars of the series, the company told EW.com yesterday that Rey was left out to avoid [spoiler alert for the one person who hasn’t seen the movie but felt compelled to read this story anyway] “revealing a key plot line that she takes on Kylo Ren and joins the Rebel Alliance.”

  Um. I don’t think anyone watching even the very first trailers were of the mind that Rey was not going to be a Rebel. But given how mad some people were about the fact that early photos of Rey’s action figure showed her [spoiler alert #2… seriously, just go see the movie or stop reading stories about it] brandishing a lightsaber, maybe there’s something to keeping this rather obvious plot point a secret.

  While we don’t fully understand Hasbro’s decision to omit a buttkicking female character from its Monopoly game, we do understand that Des Moines is a city in Iowa… not Ohio.

  KCCI-TV in, where else, Des Moines reports that the Monopoly: Here & Now game describes the Iowa capital as full of “Fairs and farmers’ markets, miles of trails,” and even mentions the city’s world-famous cow sculpture made from butter.

  All of that seems reasonable enough, except for the part about Des Moines being located in a time zone (and around 600 miles) away in Ohio.

  “I’m used to people pronouncing Des Moines incorrectly, but it’s not often you hear them placing the city in the wrong state,” an anonymous Iowan who may or may not also be a Consumerist staffer explains. “Does the Ohio state fair even have deep fried butter on the menu?”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uAirline Temporarily Bans Checked Bags To Prevent Jets From Running Out Of Fuelr

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  Checked bags are often heavier and larger than carry-ons, which is one of the reasons why many airlines now charge travelers for the luxury of having their luggage stowed in the cargo hold. But one airline is telling some long-haul passengers to not check their bags because of safety concerns.

  In an alert on its website, Malaysia Airlines advised passengers flying from Kuala Lumpur to Paris and Amsterdam today and tomorrow that they should try to not fly with checked bags.

  The concern is that the extra weight, combined with unusually strong headwinds and longer flightpaths, could put the carrier’s planes at risk for running low on fuel before they reach their destinations.

  Bloomberg reports that even carry-on bags are being limited to one piece weighing no more than 15 pounds. Travelers who do check luggage will have to wait for it to eventually arrive at their destination via other means.

  Affected passengers are being the given the option of rebooking travel at a slightly later date. If they can neither reschedule nor fly without checked bags, the airline is offering to let them cancel their reservations and apply the value of that ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket at some point within one year of whenever that original ticket was first issued.

  In 2014, two Malaysia Airlines flights tragically never made it to their destinations. Flight MH370 disappeared over the South China Sea en route to Beijing in March 2014. Four months later, flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine.

  In Sept. 2014, the carrier had to apologize for its misguided “bucket list” promotion that many thought was in bad taste, given these two incidents that killed hundreds and left no survivors.

  [via Bloomberg]

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist