uStarbucks Wants You To Buy Mom A $200 Gift Card Worth $50 Because It’s Your Momr

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• If you missed your chance to buy Starbucks’ $200 silver keychain that acted as a $50 gift card during the 2014 holiday season, you have another shot at stainless steel glory.

  CNN reports that Starbucks has once again rolled out a gift card that comes with a 400% markup, this time in the name of motherly love.

  The latest limited-time Mother’s Day novelty gift card comes with “laser-etched floral details and a satin ceramic finish,” a matching gift box and built-in Gold status in the Starbucks Rewards program.

  The 1,500 reloadable stainless steel gift cards are only available online and are limited to one per customer. For those of you without a calendar, that means you have until May 12 to make your purchase.

  Over the past several years, Starbucks has routinely rolled out the fanciful gift cards during the holiday season.

  Back in December 2012, the coffee chain introduced a $450 steel gift card. Unlike the latest version, that gift card had a smaller mark-up, actually coming equipped with $400 to use toward purchases at the coffee shop and built-in Gold status in the Starbucks Rewards program.

  The company repeated the sales ploy the following year, creating a rose-colored metal gift card for purchase. During the 2014 holiday season, the company switched things up by introducing the $200 silver keychain with just $50 in credit to use at the store.

  While Starbucks said the cards sold out all three times, many of the cards popped-up on eBay for more than twice the original costs.

  If a gift card that isn’t actually worth the total cost you’re paying for it really isn’t the way you want to say “I love you, mom,” Starbucks is also offering a Gold Swarovski Tumbler for $100 in its online store.

  This $50 Starbucks gift card costs $200 [CNN]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uWhy Do I Still Have To Write A Check To Pay My Rent?r

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  (catastrophegirl)

  Carrying around a checkbook all of the time seems outdated even by the standards of America’s grandmas. Why is it, then, that 70% of people who rent their homes write a check every month to pay the bill? That trend is changing, but very slowly.

  Why is that? First, people who don’t have bank accounts are likely to be renters, and they can’t use electronic transfers to pay rent, but could use cash or money orders. The bigger barrier, though, is that landlords aren’t like the banks that hold mortgages: they range from massive property management companies to some dude who rents out his second floor. While it makes sense to collect thousands of rents using an electronic system, that’s a lot less efficient when you only collect rent from a handful of people. A system to receive electronic payments makes less sense for people who are landlords on a micro-scale. On the other hand, there’s no way to pretend that you totally mailed that check and the delay is all the post office’s fault.

  Eventually, check-writing will die out as a method of payment. Bloomberg News cites startups like RadPad, which let people who aren’t interested in having a checkbook make an electronic payment, and the company cuts a check to their landlord. It’s quite similar to the services that take online food orders and generate faxes to small restaurants. While person-to-person credit card transactions services like PayPal or Square could work, the transaction fees of, at best, 3% make accepting payments that way an expensive burden.

  Why We Still Use Checkbooks to Pay the Rent [Bloomberg News]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uAmazon Launches Hotel Booking Business With Local Getaways In Mindr

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• For those looking to escape the daily grind but perhaps still stick close to home, Amazon is launching a new hotel booking service called Destinations, which seeks to pair locals up with a getaway nearby at select hotels.

  The service allows hoteliers at about 150 properties in the Northeast, southern California and the Pacific Northwest the choice to offer lodgings through Amazon at either their published rates or for discounts and packaged deals, reports the Wall Street Journal, with only select days available at most.

  Most of those hotels listing rooms on Amazon Destinations are independent hotels, but there are also some large brands in the mix, insiders tells the WSJ.

  The goal is to entice locals looking for quick getaways, an Amazon spokesman told the WSJ.

  “These are all handpicked properties that have been visited by someone at Amazon to make sure they meet our quality,” he said.

  Though it’s unclear if Amazon is charging hotels for rooms booked through the service, the spokesman says the service would be “competitive” with booking sites like Expedia.com and Booking.com, both of which charge a commission between 10% and 25%.

  Amazon’s New Travel Service Enters Lucrative Online Travel Market [Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uBlue Bell Creameries Recalls All Products After More Ice Cream Samples Test Positive For Listeriar

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  (Kusine)

  It has not been a great couple of weeks for Blue Bell Creameries, and it’s just gotten worse: A month after the company issued a recall of certain ice cream treats believed to be linked to an outbreak of listeriosis — a recall that kept expanding — the company is now pulling all products off the shelves after two more ice cream samples tested positive for listeria.

  The company issued a voluntary recall Monday night for all of its products on the market after two chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream samples tested positive for the potentially deadly bacteria.

  Again, it’s not just ice cream that is being recalled — it includes frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks distributed in 23 states as well as internationally, because those items “have the potential to be contaminated,” the company says.

  In a video statement, Blue Bell’s CEO Paul Kruse said the company “cannot say with certainty” how the listeria was introduced to its facilities.

  “We are heartbroken over the situation and apologize to all our loyal Blue Bell fans and customers,” Kruse said, adding later, “We’re committed to doing the 100% right thing, and the best way to do that is to take all of our products off the market until we can be confident that they are all safe.”

  Retailers like Sam’s Club, Walmart, H-E-B, Kroger and other grocers decided to remove Blue Bell products in recent weeks. Soon after, Blue Bell issued the third expansion of the recall after further tests found listeria in more products.

  So far, three deaths in Kansas have been linked to ice cream contaminated with listeria, while five other sin Kansas and Texas fell ill with listeriosis.

  The products being recalled are distributed to retail outlets, including food service accounts, convenience stores and supermarkets in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming and international locations.

  Consumers should not eat any Blue Bell products — if you have them in your freezer, throw them out or return them to the store where you purchased them for a full refund, even if no one has gotten ill from eating them.

  For more information consumers with questions may call 1-866-608-3940 Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. CST or go to bluebell.com.

  FDA Investigates Listeria monocytogenes in Ice Cream Products from Blue Bell Creameries [FDA.gov]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uFranken: Net Neutrality Win Means “We Might Just Be Able To Stop” Comcast/TWC Dealr

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  (Mike Mozart)

  The Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger is not going as smoothly as either company had hoped. With each passing day, the FCC seems less likely to rubber-stamp their approval, and rumor has it that the Justice Department is leaning against the corporate marriage. With momentum building, merger opponents are taking the chance to push back even harder, and that includes U.S. Senator Al Franken.

  In an op-ed this week for TechCrunch, Senator Franken — who has been an outspoken opponent of the merger since it was first announced last year — outlined the ways in which Comcast is basically terrible and should not be permitted to buy Time Warner Cable.

  The arguments will be familiar to Consumerist readers, and Franken has pointed to some of them before.

  A post-merger Comcast, Franken reminds readers, would control 57% of the nation’s broadband connections. That would give them unprecedented gatekeeper power, both to content companies and to consumers. Additionally, Comcast agreed to a whole bunch of mitigating concessions when they were permitted to buy NBCUniversal in 2011, and they didn’t exactly make good on all of those.

  Franken also pointed to Comcast’s supposed devotion to net neutrality — that devotion that was mandated for them in the NBCU merger, and that disappeared in the light of actual, stringent regulations.

  “This colossus of a company,” Franken writes, “would have unmatched power to destroy its competition, abuse its customers, and bully the government agencies charged with regulating it. Consumers would face even higher prices, even fewer choices, and, if you can believe such a thing is possible, even worse service.”

  But net neutrality is also where Franken gets his hope. A year ago, it looked inevitable that the FCC would approve a plan with fast lanes intact and yet after continued opposition from lawmakers, advocates, and millions of individual citizens, the FCC committed fully to protecting the open internet and reclassified broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act.

  “The FCC’s decision on net neutrality has given me new hope,” Franken concludes. “With a loud enough movement –- with enough people like you organizing online, calling your members of Congress, and writing to the FCC and DOJ -– we might just be able to win another uphill battle. We might just be able to stop this deal before Comcast gains even more power to pad their profits at consumers’ expense.”

  The Tide Is Turning Against Comcast’s Proposal To Buy Time Warner Cable [TechCrunch]

  
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by Kate Cox via Consumerist

uWedding Company Contract Tries To Ban Bride & Groom From “Encouraging” Negative Feedbackr

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  The non-disparagement clause in this wedding vendor’s contract forbids customers from making disparaging remarks or encouraging others to make them.

  Wedding and party rental companies often rely on positive word of mouth to find new customers, and negative feedback can do real damage to a small business. But one Florida wedding vendor is trying to preempt customers from saying bad things by including a clause in its contract that prohibits the bride and groom not just from making disparaging remarks, but from also encouraging others to make disparaging remarks.

  Consumerist reader J. and his wife recently hired an Orlando-based company to supply seating, tables, and other items for their wedding. It wasn’t until after they signed the contract that they noticed the last sentence.

  It reads:

  “By signing this contract, you are agreeing that you will not make or encourage any disparaging comments about OWPR ever in any form verbal or written.”

  We’ve seen non-disparagement clauses before — like the Kleargear.com terms of use that customers could be fined $3,500 for negative comments, or the cellphone accessory company that levied $250 penalties against customers who even threatened to complain.

  There was also the apartment complex that claimed copyright on all tenants’ comments and images and dangled the threat of $10,000 for violating that alleged copyright.

  What sets the wedding vendor’s contract apart from these other clauses is that there is no mention of a penalty, financial or otherwise. It merely says “you will not make or encourage any disparaging comments.”

  Lawyers we talked to said that the company would have a difficult time trying to enforce this clause with such a vague consequence.

  “To me, it just looks like a company trying to frighten the customer into not saying anything bad on social media,” says one attorney who has experience fighting non-disparagement cases. “I can’t imagine this would stand up in any court, but the company is probably hoping to keep the customer from even making a negative comment.”

  Interestingly, J. tells Consumerist that the wedding went off without a hitch.

  “I don’t really have anything bad to say about that company,” admits J., “which makes it even stranger to have something like that in the contract.”

  In 2014, the state of California passed a law outlawing non-disparagement clauses. There was also an unsuccessful attempt to pass a similar law on the federal level.

  We’ve reached out to the wedding vendor to ask what it hopes to gain by including this particular clause in the contract, but have yet to hear back. If we get a response, we will update this story.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uHome Depot Expands Spring Black Friday To Spring Cyber Weekr

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  (The Searcher)

  For a store that sells supplies for improving homes and planting gardens, it’s true that spring is kind of like Christmas. That’s why it makes sense that Home Depot is expanding their “Spring Black Friday” event out to a Spring Cyber Week. However, while it makes sense, it’s still stupid.

  It’s fine for a seasonal business to think of its top season as “like Christmas,” but I’m not sure that trying to harness our association of the week after Thanksgiving as a time of sales magic and frenzied shopping. They just want us to transfer that impulse to bags of mulch and flats of petunias now that it’s time to buy garden supplies.

  Home Depot had a great Christmas season this year, using the whole “Cyber Week” concept to drive online sales. If it worked then, why couldn’t they just translate the concept to the peak time in the home-improvement business? “Thanksgiving time isn’t the only time customers want a deal, so let’s extend it into our peak selling season,” the company’s president of online operations told Bloomberg News.

  How Home Depot Plans to Turn Spring Into Christmas [Bloomberg News]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist