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If pumpkin spice, pumpkin spice latte, and caramel apple are the flavors of fall, red velvet is the flavor of Valentine’s Day, and key lime pie and s’mores are the flavor of summer, what is the flavor of winter? Is there one? M&Ms have traditionally sold bags of cherry or mint flavored candies near Christmas, but now they’ve moved on to hot beverages. The flavor for Christmas is… café mocha. It’s good that we’ve straightened out this mystery. What seasonal and holiday flavors will marketers come up with next? We thought that the holiday flavor phenomenon had peaked after Peeps milk, but apparently not. Personally, I’m holding out for carrot-flavored Easter treats. SPOTTED ON SHELVES: Milk Chocolate Cafe Mocha M&M’s [The Impulsive Buy] by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Any company with millions of customers will have some customer service problems and complaints: where a company succeeds or fails is in how they respond to and resolve those problems. JustFab is a controversial company with roots in sketchy diet supplement and wrinkle-cream businesses , and JustFab representatives claim that they’re working really hard to resolve consumer complaints that they blame on rapid growth. Can their way of making sales ever become consumer-friendly? We’re not sure whether that’s the case. How the sites in the JustFab family work is that every month there’s an item of the month––an outfit or a pair of shoes––that their “VIP” members will be billed for if they don’t log in and opt out of receiving it during the first five days of the month. A customer might be drawn in with a single item that looks interesting, and end up signing up for a VIP membership (note: there is no less important tier of membership) when the price and terms aren’t disclosed until well ...

A federal agency entrusted with protecting the health of Americans has finally gotten around to doing the job it’s paid to do by taxpayers. And once again, the only reason this agency is doing anything is because a court has ordered it to. Back in 2000, and not without some pressure from outside organizations, the Environmental Protection Agency banned the in-home use of chlorpyrifos (also known by the brand name Dursban), one the most widely used pesticides, because it has been shown to have neurotoxic effects in humans, especially children . Even though the EPA acknowledged at the time that the prohibition was necessary for the protection of America’s youth, the ban not only allowed Dow — the maker of Dursban and Lorsban — and others to continue selling home-use products containing chlorpyrifos for two additional years , it permitted the continued use of chlorpyrifos in crops for food production. Then in 2007, concerned groups — the Natural Resources Defense Council and Pesticid...

Now that there’s a finalized settlement between the Department of Justice and BP that puts an end to the legal debacle related to the 2010 explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico — which left eleven dead and released millions of gallons of oil into the water — officials are taking a close look at the claims made against BP… including one filed by a dog named Lucy for $36,000. In a recently unsealed indictment against one particularly noteworthy alleged fraudster, U.S. Prosecutors say a lawyer for plaintiffs has filed around 40,000 bogus claims, reports Bloomberg . BP has maintained that many of those claims have no connection to the 2010 catastrophe, and sued the San Antonio lawyer in December 2013. The company accused him of falsely claiming tens of thousands of “phantom” victims of the spill. The case was put on hold while federal criminal investigators poked around a bit more, and it seems they’ve come up with some fodder: officials in Mississippi unsea...

As the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a former senior vice president of sales and affiliate marketing at a premium cable TV network. A recently dismissed Starz exec is now alleging that his former employer had been up to no good, manipulating the (since-failed) swap of markets between Comcast and Charter, and asking executives to inflate the network’s subscriber numbers. This is all found in a lawsuit [ PDF , via Deadline.com ] filed yesterday in a California court by former Starz SVP Keno Thomas against the network, its top brass. Liberty Media — the former parent company of Starz, and part-owner of Charter Communications — is also named. The lawsuit accuses the network of, among other things, firing Thomas after he repeatedly brought up concerns about allegedly questionable business practices at Starz. First, after a former DirecTV executive was added to the Starz board of directors in 2013, Thomas says he raised questions about potential conflicts of interests and access to...

Reader Rob is a longtime reader and very familiar with our “ Target Math ” series of posts, so he knows to check the actual price per ounce on items he plans to buy. Especially, he notes, at Target. This recent promotion for laundry detergent demonstrates why. That’s a nice deal, right? It makes each bottle cost $9.49 as long as you eventually remember to use that gift card. Under normal circumstances, though, the larger bottle of the same product would be a better deal per ounce. It’s not. “That’s 18.7 cents/oz for the medium-sized bottle, and 19.9 cents/oz for the larger one,” Rob observes. At least the amount of detergent in a load is consistent across the sizes: 1.56 ounces. However, he points out, you don’t even need that gift card as an inducement to buy two smaller bottles instead. You don’t have to buy two bottles to get the gift cards at all, because the smaller bottle is a better deal. “Even without the $5 gift card with purchase of 2 bottles, the smaller package was stil...

Peet’s Coffee & Tea is on quite the caffeine kick lately, and it seems it’s not ready to leave the coffee roasters aisle just yet: a few weeks after snapping up Stumptown Roasters , Peet’s says it’s bought a majority stake in Intelligentsia Coffee. Peet’s didn’t disclose the terms of the deal in a news release , but Intelligentsia will continue to run independent of its new parent. The Chicago-based company has roasting operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as 10 coffee bars across Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Co-founders Doug Zell and Emily Mange and co-owner Geoff Watts will maintain “significant” stakes in the business, Peet’s says. “We’re excited to welcome Intelligentsia to the Peet’s family as the growth of the super-premium coffee market continues to explode in the U.S.,” Dave Burwick, president and CEO of Peet’s Coffee & Tea said. As long as it isn’t actual super-premium coffee exploding in the U.S., because that sounds dangerous. by...

If you’ve ever tried to insist to Facebook that you really do go by the name Her Magnificence The Empress Of Catland and been frustrated at your efforts, things are about to change: the company announced it’s tweaking its so-called “real name” policy to make it easier for users to verify that they really do answer to a name other than their legal one. Facebook has long held onto its anti-pseudonym stance , one that it isn’t abandoning altogether. Instead, it’s offering easier recourse for those who lose access to their accounts over their name, allowing users to provide more context about their chosen name. It’ll also require others flagging those profiles for fake names to hand over more information. “We want to reduce the number of people who are asked to verify their name on Facebook, when they are already using the name people know them by,” wrote Facebook VP of Growth Alex Schultz in a letter the company released today (via Buzzfeed News ). “We want to make it easier for people...

Walmart and its website have a spotted history when it comes to questionable Halloween costumes, like the “Naughty Leopard” outfit for toddlers , or the entire section of Walmart.com dedicated to “Fat Girl Costumes.” In an effort to pre-empt this sort of embarrassment, the retailer now has an internal team tasked with heading off offensive costumes at the pass. Bloomberg reports that a “swat team” of around a dozen Walmart staffers in San Bruno, CA, are responsible for keeping Walmart’s costume selection out of the news headlines this season. Thus far, the team has apparently stopped a handful of potential embarrassments — like a costume mocking Caitlin Jenner; or a decapitated Cecil the Lion head, complete with dentist’s smock; or costumes targeting presidential candidates — from being sold in stores or on Walmart.com. The notion is to be proactive, explains Walmart. They read through the news each day and keep an eye out for attempts to cash in on controversy by selling risque ...

Spider webs are more than cute Halloween decorations: usually they’re nets that catch pesky insects and maybe something to knock out of place when dusting. Yet there’s a species of spider that loves to build in the fuel lines of cars , affecting fuel pressure and the life and performance of cars. One automaker now has an actual solution meant to keep the creatures out. Yellow sac spiders ar always looking for new hunting grounds, and there’s something about the fuel lines of certain cars, especially sedans from Japanese carmakers, that they find irresistable. The webs affect fuel pressure and can lead the lines to crack, causing leaks and even fires. The good news is that Ford has been including spider-proofing screens on the vulnerable parts of their cars, since they have apparently also faced gas tank infestations. For the 2016 model year, CBS Philadelphia reports, Ford says that they’ve improved the spider-proofing device. You’re still on your own with spiders in the cabin of the...

Every day, millions of people manage to board airplanes, sit quietly for the duration of the flight, make it to their destination with relative ease. We don’t usually hear about those folks, however. Instead, the unruly, disruptive passengers are the ones who keep making it into our news cycle. To wit: an American Airlines flight had to be diverted recently when a passenger allegedly made “alarming statements” and refused to take his seat. The flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia made an unexpected landing in Phoenix, where the passenger in question was escorted off the plane, reports KPNX News 12 . Phoenix police told ABC 15 that the passenger made “alarming statements” and refused to take his seat shortly after takeoff. The passenger started swearing and saying the government was after him, witnesses said, ranting about 9/11, and promising he’d be famous that very day. “I thought, ‘This is weird,’ ” a fellow traveler told KPNX. “I looked at him and he looked angry and he wasn’...

Should you be forced to be required to pay your cable company extra money for a set-top box in order to get cable TV service you’re already paying for? According to a federal jury in Oklahoma, which recently returned a $6.31 million verdict against Cox Communications, the answer is no. The jury verdict is the conclusion (for now) of a class action suit alleging that Cox violated state and federal antitrust laws by making set-top box rental a condition of getting full access to premium cable service from the company. According to court documents [ PDF ], the plaintiff contends that Cox was able to make the rented boxes a requirement “because it has substantial market power with respect to the provision of Premium Cable in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.” But Cox countered that customers in the area could get pay-TV service from DirecTV or Dish. Additionally, the cable operator said boxes from TiVo and others could be purchased at retail and would have provided access to most of...

Though Microsoft has been very eager to get PC users to upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10, it’s also been a bit restrained in its efforts so far, luring customers with a reservation system that allowed them to upgrade for free. But next year, Microsoft is going to get a little bit pushier. In early 2016, Microsoft will try to add even more devices to the 110 million already running Windows 10 by re-categorizing it as a “recommended update,” reports The Verge . It won’t automatically install Windows 10 without your permission, but the upgrade process will download and start all on its own. “A user will be presented with a choice to install Windows 10,” Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s head of Windows and devices, told The Verge. “They’ll come back to their PC and there will be a dialog where they can choose to upgrade to Windows 10 or choose not to upgrade to Windows 10.” The plan right now is to have that happen only once, so you won’t see multiple reminders to update after you’...

When it comes to peanut butter, the great war wages on between chunky-lovers and smooth-o-philes, but one thing both sides of that battle can agree on is that peanut butter should not contain metal shavings of any sort. That’s why Hormel has announced a recall of 153 cases (1,871 total pounds) of Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread. The company says it discovered the possibility of “small metal shavings” in some of its product thanks to a magnet check during routine cleaning at one of its facilities. It claims to know of no injuries to, or complaints from, customers. Hormel says the recall is limited to 16.3 ounce jars with a “Best If Used By” date of DEC1416LR1 (found on top of the lid) and a package UPC code of 37600-10500 (found on the label that wraps around the jar). The company doesn’t know many of these jars were sold, but says they were shipped to distribution centers for Publix, Target and Walmart located in Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Caro...

Hampton Creek, the company behind an eggless product called “Just Mayo,” has responded to the Food and Drug Administration’s warning that its product isn’t mayonnaise , and thus, shouldn’t be called “mayo.” That seems just fine by Hampton Creek, which recently responded to the FDA by agreeing with it. The company acknowledges in a response obtained by Business Insider through a Freedom of Information Act request that the FDA is right — its product isn’t mayonnaise, it’s mayo. And “mayo” is not a regulated term, so its label is completely correct. “The term ‘mayo’ should not now be held to the regulatory standard for ‘mayonnaise,'” wrote the company’s lawyer, Josh Schiller. See, mayonnaise is defined by the FDA as a mixture of vegetable oil, vinegar, egg yolk, and lemon juice. Which means if you’re going to put a product on the shelf with the word “mayonnaise” on the label, it had better contain those ingredients. But Hampton Creek argues that there’s no definition for mayo, b...

Earlier this week, General Motors issued a recall of 1.4 million vehicles over concerns about a potential fire risk . Today, the beleaguered carmaker is telling owners of those cars to not park them in garages until the problem is repaired. The problem with these vehicles — Pontiac Grand Prix (1997-2004), Chevrolet Impala (2000-04), Chevrolet Lumina (1998-99), Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1998-2004), Oldsmobile Intrigue (1998-99), and Buick Regal (1997-2004) — is that hard braking may cause drops of oil to be deposited on the hot exhaust manifold, potentially resulting in engine compartment fires.” The car company knows of 19 injuries and more than 1,300 fires believed to be related to the problem, which has been the subject of three previous recalls. GM says that most of the fires have occurred in unoccupied vehicles. That’s why, in an “urgent” memo [ PDF ] to dealers released to the public this morning, GM recommends that owners of affected vehicles should not park in a garage “or oth...

Competing big-box stores like Target and Best Buy are trying to attract shoppers this holiday season by offering free shipping on all online purchases, no matter how small. This strategy doesn’t interest Walmart, because their plans this year for holiday domination don’t include free online shipping: they include using in-store pickup to get shoppers into their stores. Walmart is keeping their threshold for free shipping on most online orders at $50, which was also their online strategy last year. They’ve probably stuck with it because it works. Online customers either build carts worth $50 or more “The vast majority of our orders today are free shipping or free pickup,” the head of Walmart.com explained to reporters. As long as customers don’t go elsewhere, not offering free shipping makes sense. Walmart is also growing its own subscription-based free shipping program for customers, but they have to pay a subscription fee to join it, making up for their savings later and giving Wa...

For several years, wireless companies have been selling data plans that were dubiously described as “unlimited” because users’ connections were slowed after passing some sort of arbitrary monthly threshold (usually around 3-5 gigabytes). But Sprint’s new plan — selling for only $20/month — lowers the limbo bar so close to the ground that the term “unlimited” might not be flexible enough to slip underneath. Sprint announced the new plan yesterday, promising “no data overages” but also revealing that once the customer has used more than 1GB of data in a month, their connection goes from speedy 4G LTE to achingly slow 2G. That doesn’t mean the Sprint plan is necessarily a bad bottom-dollar plan for consumers who need a smartphone but barely use it for anything more than checking e-mail. As Sprint’s chart above shows, at $40/month it is less expensive than comparable 1GB plans from T-Mobile and Verizon. Our issue is with the use of the term “unlimited.” Those T-Mo and Verizon plans don’...

Another day, another major car company announcing a recall: this time it’s Fiat Chrysler, which is calling back around 900,000 SUVs around the world to address problems with anti-lock brakes and how the airbags deploy. In this case, the company said it’s recalling 284,089 model-year 2003 Jeep Liberty and 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees SUVs in the United States to replace some components linked to the deployment of airbags. In addition to the U.S. vehicles, the car maker is recalling about 13,411 vehicles in Canada, 6,277 in Mexico and 48,212 elsewhere in the world to fix the same problem. Thus far, there have been seven injuries related to the problem that Fiat Chrysler is aware of, but the airbags haven’t caused any crashes or accidents. We know — the word “airbags” comes up and you automatically think of Takata airbags shooting shrapnel at drivers. But Fiat Chrysler really wants to make sure you know that is not the case with this recall, emphasizing that the airbags involved are no...

As predicted , Target has gone ahead and confirmed an that it retailer would offer free shipping for all online orders during the holiday season, announcing on Thursday that it’d drop all shipping fees for the second year in a row. Along with free holiday shipping, Target said it’s partnered with a company called Borderfree to ship products to 200 countries and territories outside the United States during the holiday season (for a fee), reports Reuters . “Traffic is very important for us during the holidays and … free shipping was very well received last year,” Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said. Online orders placed between Nov. 1 and Dec. 25 will include free shipping, instead of Target’s current policy of only offering free shipping for a minimum online order of $25. Rival Walmart has said it’s keeping a minimum online order size for free shipping at $50 for the holiday season, but Best Buy will also send online orders on their way fee-free through early January. Targe...

Here are nine of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, 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