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Like barbecues and weddings, colds have a season. When you’re in the business of selling zinc lozenges and over-the-counter medicine to help people deal with colds, what do you do when cold season is over? ProPhase Labs, the company that makes the terribly-named Cold-Eeze line of supplements and drugs, wants to get into the sex supplement business. Supplements are a loosely-regulated business . Even when the substance that’s supposed to be inside actually is what’s claimed on the package , supplements just have to make promises to “promote” things like better digestion or hair growth or blood flow to the genitals. Theodore Karkus, the CEO of the company that makes this product, ProPhase Labs, will not admit whether he has tried the supplement and found it effective , but the company marketing it, “TK Labs,” does happen to have his initials. I don’t know what that means. Whatever is in it, it’s better than selling illegal generic Viagra and claiming that it’s ground-up ants . What we...

Even though it’s incredibly easy to slap a government agency’s logo on your website, that doesn’t make it okay. Just ask the two debt relief companies that have been ordered to stop using Department of Education logos to mislead student loan borrowers. In letters seen by Consumerist, lawyers for the Dept. of Education ordered two different debt relief operations to cease and desist using the agency’s name and image without authorization. Both Atlanta-based Perfect Privacy LLC — operator of a debt relief business at SLprograms.org and other URLs — and San Diego’s The Student Loan Project run programs that promise relief — for a fee –to borrowers of federal student loans. They also both used official Education logos without permission, an apparent violation of the Lanham Act’s prohibition against false endorsement . The letters warn both companies that they are under investigation for possible violation of a second federal law involving the misuse of government seals , which could res...

The news that 154 Walmart stores would be closing in the United States was devastating to employees and to the communities left without grocery stores or pharmacies , but there’s one group of people who were delighted at the news. Bargain-hunters, sure, but especially the subset of bargain-hunters who resell their purchases online at a profit. Yes, resellers engaging in retail arbitrage showed up at the clearance sales. Arbitrage is a very simple concept: it’s buying something in a retail store and selling it for more money elsewhere. Mobile apps and online venues like Amazon Marketplace have made it much easier, and now there’s a surprising number of people who make their living or a few extra bucks this way. Usually they scoop up items on sale or on clearance, or that are in demand somewhere, but the Walmart closings are a unique opportunity. They stores where everything was first 50% off, then 75% off. While this means you could finally get a WebTV for fifty bucks , it also mean...

With the state officials in Nevada , New York , Illinois , and now Texas all saying they believe that daily fantasy sports [DFS] sites DraftKings and FanDuel are unlicensed gambling operations, a company that had processed payments for both of these sites has reported severed ties with the industry. The New York Times reports that payment processor Vantiv has notified its DFS clients — which include both of the aforementioned sites — that, starting Feb. 29 it will “suspend all processing for payment transactions” with these companies. A letter obtained by the Times cites the recent conclusions of various attorneys general that DraftKings and FanDuel violate their states’ anti-gambling laws. “Although in recent weeks DFS operators have raised numerous arguments to the contrary, to date those arguments have been unsuccessful and/or rejected,” reads the letter. Like a lot of online businesses, DraftKings and FanDuel use third-party payment processors to handle transactions with its ...

The cage-free eggs bandwagon is so crowded right about now, we might as well call it a “bandsemitruck.” Joining its restaurant pals and other food companies in promising to use only eggs from hens that aren’t caged is White Castle, which says it’ll make the transition by 2025. The company announced Friday that any eggs it sources for its 400 restaurants in 13 states will come from cage-free hens by 2025. The 95-year-old chain also owns and operates its own meat-processing plants, bakeries, and frozen-food processing plants. White Castle says it’s been reviewing the issue for months with the Humane Society. “Switching to cage-free eggs is something we’ve seriously considered since we began looking at the issue, and today’s announcement represents us being responsive to customer preferences,” said White Castle VP Jamie Richardson. “We’re proud to serve our guests food that both comes at a value and aligns with their values.” Recently, Subway , Dunkin’ Donuts , McDonald’s , Taco Be...

After decades of sticking with its organization system in stores, Kroger has a new plan for how it decides which booze brands go on which shelf, how prominently each one is displayed. Instead of relying on “category captains” from big names like Anheuser-Busch InBev and Diageo to suggest how wine, liquor, and beer are organized in stores, Kroger wants alcohol companies to pay a privately held distributor to make those display decisions. Kroger introduced the plan last year, which would have a company called Southern Wine & Spirits doing the job beer, wine, and liquor companies used to do: overseeing how much display brands get in the aisle of the chain’s more than 2,600 stores in 29 states, reports The Wall Street Journal . It asks for alcohol companies to pay Southern for the service, voluntarily, instead of Kroger footing the bill. Kroger likes the idea because it can rearrange store shelves more frequently, depending on what trend consumers have landed on or what kinds of se...

Earlier today, work at cargo ports in the New York and New Jersey area abruptly stopped, and dockworkers walked off the job. While trucks line up outside of the ports to deliver and pick up cargo containers, no one is there to move them around. The dispute involves “hiring practices,” specifically, control of the licenses that allow dockworkers and their employers to work on the ports. According to the New York Times , workers have apparently walked off to protest the actions of Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, which performs background checks on new dockworkers and companies. A representative of their union explained to a local radio station that the actions of the Waterfront Commission and its requirements for those licenses were preventing new workers from being hired, and the port from being run efficiently. The port of Red Hook in Brooklyn remains open, but others shut down. “…Both sides [the union and the cargo companies] have been fighting the Waterfront Commission, ...

Less than a month after Uber slashed its prices in 100 cities around the country, the ride-hailing service implemented similar cuts in New York City.  The New York Post reports that riders in NYC can now expect to spend about 15% less on their trips starting Friday. The cuts, which apply to the UberX and XL services, are Uber’s attempt to increase ridership, while undercutting competition from Lyft and city cab services. Under the plan, UberX base fares will go from $3 to $2.55, and the minimum fare for the service will drop from $8 to $7. Additionally, the price per mile rate will drop to $1.75 from $2.15, and the per minute rate for these rides will go from $0.40 to $0.35. As with Uber’s previously announced price slashing, the discounts aren’t expected to be longterm. Still, the company expects ridership to jump during the discount period, citing a similar program in 2014 that resulted in the time drivers spend in cars without a fare dropping by 42%. Some drivers tell ...

<img src="http://ift.tt/1QxDecn; alt="This image has nothing to do with the lawsuit, but it does help us maintain the rogue spirit of the short-lived Walmart.horse .” width=”680″ height=”503″ class=”size-full wp-image-10198042″ /> This image has nothing to do with the lawsuit, but it does help us maintain the rogue spirit of the short-lived Walmart.horse.A federal jury in New Hampshire has slapped the nation’s largest retailer with more than $31 million in penalties for unlawful retaliation and gender bias against a former pharmacist who blew the whistle on safety concerns involving her co-workers. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2014, claimed that Walmart “negligently trained and supervised the pharmacy staff” at the plaintiff’s store in the New Hampshire town of Seabrook. The former pharmacist alleged that she was fired in Nov. 2012 — after 18 years on the job — not just for blowing the whistle on potentially unsafe practices and privacy violations, but because of ...

Whenever there’s a widely publicized event bringing in people from all over like the Super Bowl, you better believe there will be scammers lurking in the shadows, waiting to prey on those unfortunate souls who desperately want to score a ticket to join the fun. This year’s big game is no different, but there are some things football fans can do to avoid becoming a victim to a scam. California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris’ office issued a warning to residents trying to get tickets to Super Bowl 50, which will take place on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara. Because demand for the championship game between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers far exceeds the supply, shucksters will undoubtedly try to take advantage of people by selling fake or stolen tickets. Here’s what you should for so your dreams aren’t dashed on the big day (and you aren’t suddenly on the hook for that hotel and airfare you bought): • Try to buy your tickets from official sources like NFL.com or other ticket prov...

A federal court has ordered the makers of Chobani Greek yogurt to stop running a series of new ads that claim similar products from Dannon and Yoplait contain insecticides and chlorine. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune , U.S. District Court judge ruled today that General Mills’ Yoplait brand could be “irreparably harmed” by a Chobani ad which refers to the common preservative potassium sorbate as “bug spray.” Judge David Hurd found that General Mills demonstrated that it could be “irreparably harmed” by Chobani’s ads and that the company would have a “substantial likelihood of success on the merits of its false advertising campaign.” In his decision, Hurd wrote that, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture, “few substances have the kind of extensive, rigorous long-term testing that sorbic acid and its salts (like potassium sorbate) have had. It has been found to be nontoxic even in large quantities.” General Mills sued [ PDF ] Chobani for false advertising earlier this...

Do you have a hole in the heart that’s shaped like artisanal drinks made from a kola nut and peddled by a soda company that knows how to use all the coolest corporate buzzwords? You’re in luck! Pepsi is opening the country’s first “experimental kola bar, restaurant, lounge, and event space” in New York City. From the sound of the company’s press release, it’s where buzzwords go to die. Even though we never knew our lives were missing an experimental kola bar, we can’t wait for immersive experiences as meticulously crafted as this press release quote: “We wanted to create a modern hub for consumers to share social and immersive experiences that were anchored in the exploration of our cola’s artisanal craft and flavor,” shared Seth Kaufman, Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo North America Beverages. “The Kola House represents a new space for us to support our consumer-first approach to drive authenticity and innovation around our beverage offerings and ideals.” So what does this all...

If you’re one of the approximately 1/3 of American Internet users who employ an ad-blocker in your web browser, we don’t mind, because Consumerist doesn’t accept advertising. Other websites that do depend on ads for their income definitely do mind that customers are using ad-blockers, but they don’t really do anything to stop users. Why is that? There are some notable exceptions to this. Sites’ strategies differ: on the mild end, there’s the gentle and unobtrusive nagging of the Guardian and Fark. Other sites, like GQ , Forbes , and Yahoo Mail , are experimenting with locking content away until users turn off their ad-blocking extension. Representatives of the Interactive Advertising Board, advertisers’ trade group, make compelling cases for why publishers should keep the users of ad-blockers from seeing their content , with the head of the IAB saying in a speech at an industry conference last week that users of ad-blockers are “stealing from publishers” and “operating a busin...

Last fall, T-Mobile introduced Binge On, an optional program that lets users stream certain video streams without counting the data against their monthly allotments. YouTube and others have accused the company of throttling data in order to make this happen, and a new report from Stanford University claims that T-Mo’s actions are in violation of federal “net neutrality” rules. The FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order includes the so-called net neutrality guidelines, which prohibit broadband providers (wireline and wireless) from either throttling or prioritizing data based on its source or the type of content. In a report [ PDF ] released this morning, Prof. Barbara van Schewick of Stanford Law School argues that Binge On violates this core neutrality tenet. “By exempting Binge On video from using customers’ data plans, T-Mobile is favoring video from the providers it adds to Binge On over other video,” writes van Schewick. T-Mobile has maintained that Binge On does not violate the neu...

The things that work in the movies, don’t always – or almost never – result in the same outcome in real life. Just ask a would-be thief in Oregon who tried to pull a Home Alone 2 ploy to rob a local department store.  Prosecutors in Portland say the 39-year-old man attempted to hide inside a Macy’s store until after closing when he planned to make off with an assortment of goods, NBC4 reports. A similar stunt was employed in Home Alone 2 , when one of the titular “wet bandits” hid inside a toy store and waited for closing to steal cash from a charity drive. According to authorities, the wannabe burglar hid under the skirt of a Macy’s display table on the evening of Jan. 26. Around 11 p.m. , after the store had closed, he set off a motion detector on the sales floor. When security guards responded, they spotted the intruder running through the store, pulling a rolling suitcase behind him. Authorities later found $40,000 worth of merchandise inside. According to an af...

As of today, Apple’s free iTunes Radio is dead. Long live Apple Music — or at least that’s apparently the company’s plan as it officially shut down the ad-supported service today. Apple warned iTunes Radio users earlier this month that it would be cutting off access to free stations on the service, and now it’s happening: the only way to listen to those stations now is with an Apple Music subscription, which costs $10 a month after a free three-month trial. Now, when iOS Music app users tap on a radio station, they’re sent to a screen prompting them to join Apple Music instead. There’s still hope for you folks out there unwilling to part with your money just to listen to music, as Apple still has one free radio station left — Beats 1, which is an ad-supported, live online radio station. Beats 1 is available worldwide with no Apple Music membership required. “We are making Beats 1 the premier free broadcast from Apple and phasing out the ad-supported stations at the end of January,...

When you’ve gone and repainted your planes with a new logo, we can understand the desire to show it off to everyone. But maybe consider running your new ad slogan by a few people before it goes public. KTUU reports that the carrier apologized and made a tweak to its recent announcement after it came under fire for using the phrase “Meet our Eskimo” in its rebranding campaign earlier this week. “We apologize and take full responsibility for this insensitive reference,” Alaska Airlines chief executive Brad Tilden said. “We are immediately taking down this reference, and pledge that we will work to be both respectful and fully cognizant of the importance of this symbol to the Native people of Alaska.” Tilden said the airline is committed to working with the Alaska Native community to ensure its future actions reflect the company’s “profound respect and admiration for the Native people.” The airline took hits on social media shortly after revealing subtle changes to the Eskimo photo...

Earlier this week, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler proposed new rules intended to increase competition in the pay-TV set-top box market. Rather than paying hundreds of dollars a year to your cable company for a device you can’t get anywhere else, the idea is that you would be able to buy your own box and save money in the long run. Amazing, Comcast — which stands to potentially lose billions of dollars if this happens — is crying foul. In a blog post yesterday , Mark Hess — a Comcast executive with a title too long for a business card — painted Wheeler’s proposal as unnecessary government intervention in a situation he thinks is just fine. He claims that the proposed rule — which would only require that pay-TV companies provide set-top box manufacturers with enough information to make devices that will work properly on their networks — will instead “require satellite and cable TV providers to disaggregate or separate their services so that a few companies could repackage them as their own wit...

There’s perhaps nothing better than hearing you won’t have to pay a parking ticket. Thousands of Washington, D.C. residents will be filled with that happy feeling after the mayor said she’ll void more than half the citations issued last Friday during the winter storm that pummeled the East Coast with snow. Mayor Muriel Bowser will wipe away 2,800 parking tickets issued to residents and visitors who parked on snow-emergency routes before last week’s blizzard, her office announced. The Washington Post reports that Bowser will toss fees for all tickets handed out on Friday, because some drivers might not have been aware they’d be subject to the $250 fine. “I understand that some who received citations that Friday may not have known about the parking restriction, or may have been running errands in preparation for the storm,” Bowser said in a statement. “This ticket dismissal is one small way that we can continue to help each other recover from the storm.” D.C. issued a total of arou...

One of the nice things about Justin’s brand nut butters is that they come in a jar that’s a full 16 ounces. Except, reader EC learned recently, at Walmart. Since his last purchase of a nut butter jar last year, the packaging has changed… and so has the volume of almond butter in the jar. EC crunched the numbers for us. Last year, the 16-ounce jar cost $9.98, or 62¢ per pound. This year, the 12-ounce jar is nominally cheaper at $8.97, or 75¢ per pound. The almond butter seems cheaper if you aren’t really paying attention. Here’s the curious thing, though: the 16-ounce jar hasn’t been discontinued in favor of the smaller jar. That 12-ounce jar is only available from Walmart. Other retailers that carry Justin’s products don’t have it, and that company only sells 16-ounce jars on its own website. by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Since Volkswagen admitted last year to using “defeat devices” in certain cars to cheat on emissions tests, some owners and consumer advocates have pushed for the carmaker to buy back affected vehicles from customers. VW had resisted this idea, but without any other resolution in the offing, a mass buyback offer is beginning to look possible. The New York Times reports that a lawyer for the carmaker made statements during a court hearing last week that suggest a buyback campaign may be inevitable. While Robert Giuffra, a lawyer defending Volkswagen against class-action suits by owners of tainted diesel vehicles, noted that the company could find a solution to the defeat devices eventually, the buyback would be implemented because of timing. “And for some of the vehicles it may well be that the timing is too far into the future,” he said during the hearing. “So we might have to do a buyback or some sort of solution like that for some subset of the vehicles, but that hasn’t been det...

We can all rest easy tonight, safe in the knowledge that cheese that was once ripped from the arms of its rightful owner has been safely returned. Wisconsin police say they’ve found a second load of stolen cheese, worth $90,000, that was pilfered last week. The state was gripped by the harrowing tale of the two recent cheese heists , which involved $160,000 worth of missing dairy products from two different cities, hundreds of miles apart. One batch of cheese worth $70,000 was recovered already, police announced Monday . And now, law enforcement officials in Marshfield, WI say they received a tip on Thursday about that 41,000 pounds of Parmesan cheese worth $90,000 that went missing Jan. 15, reports the Associated Press . A semi had picked up the cheese load from a distributor, but it never made it to its intended destination in Illinois. Police heard that the cheese was probably hanging out in Grand Chute, and lo and behold — police in that city found the entire shipment intact (w...

For the third time in the past year and a half, Nissan is recalling hundreds of thousands of Altima vehicles because of fears the cars’ hoods will fly open while on the move.  Nissan announced this week that it would recall approximately 846,000 model year 2013 to 2015 Altima sedans. According to a filing [ PDF ] with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall was initiated because the vehicles may contain a secondary hood latch – which is supposed to keep the hood down if the primary latch is not engaged – that can bend and remain in the unlatched position when the hood is closed. As a result, if the primary latch inadvertently releases and the secondary latch is not engaged, the hood could unexpectedly open while driving, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash. The vehicles were previously tied to two recalls in October 2014 and March 2015. However, Nissan says the remedy in those situations may not have been performed consistently to remove the safety ...

Here are six 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