These large screen kiosks at the front of each store allow a shopper to simply scan their loyalty card or enter their phone number and then all that week’s advertised digital coupons from their circular are automatically loaded onto their account.

Since 2022, Consumer World and other leading consumer organizations have been calling on top grocery executives to end the digital discrimination of seniors, low income folks, and others who don’t have smartphones or the internet or who are not tech-savvy enough to use supermarket apps to gain access to the grocery savings offered by digital coupons.

To date, Ahold-Delhaize (parent company of Stop & Shop, Giant Food, and Food Lion) and Kroger have heeded the call among others. It is now time for all the various Albertsons supermarket banners like Safeway, Vons, Star Market, Jewel-Osco, etc. to do the same thing and end digital discrimination.

With grocery prices as high as they are now because of inflation and tariffs, every shopper should be able to easily access all supermarket discounts whether they are tech-savvy or not.

Then a CGM — a continuous glucose meter — which attaches to your upper arm was invented. It transmits your reading to a cellphone app. It still has to slightly puncture the skin when first applied.

Now, miracle of miracles (if you believe their ad) comes the Pryxo non-invasive blood glucose monitor. You simply stick your finger in it, and five seconds later the digital display shows your reading.

If you saw this ad or one like it while watching other videos online and clicked it, you might well have seen this next:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Our advice, save your money. You will probably receive a pulse oximeter to give you your oxygen saturation level and heart rate, not a device to measure your blood glucose. No consumer device has yet been invented and made widely available that doesn’t involve some penetration of the skin.

Adding insult to injury, however, also on the bill was a service fee from FedEx. While the tariff itself was only $2.19, FedEx charged him a total of $17.19.

*MOUSE PRINT:

*MOUSE PRINT:

The tariff bill was so much higher than the actual tax because they added their own junk fee — a “disbursement fee”.

Thanks for nothing, FedEx.

The temporary 10% tariff that was imposed after the Supreme Court struck down the president’s wide-ranging tariffs expired on July 24 but was quickly replaced with new tariffs.

So beware, purchasing goods directly from overseas may come with a costly surprise … or two.

Last August, she bought a Frigidaire side-by-side refrigerator at Best Buy in Massachusetts for almost $1,000. Last month it stopped cooling properly. Apparently, the seal around the door was faulty so the refrigerator was running constantly, failing to keep food at a safe temperature while wearing out the compressor. The refrigerator got so warm inside that black mold started growing.

Contacting Best Buy was a dead end according to our consumer because they told her the return period was long over. When calling the manufacturer for repair, they provided her with contact information for a service company. But Amanda told us:

The company has cancelled the appointment multiple times, asked to reschedule, etc. after I had to rearrange my work schedule and life to accommodate the scheduling. After the 5th or 6th cancellation, I called Fridgidaire and filed a complaint.

The consumer contacted us asking for some guidance. We provided some executive level contacts at Electrolux (the maker of Frigidaire) and urged her to create a written record of the issue before the warranty expired. We suggested she follow some of the complaint resolution suggestions and contacts at Elliott.org .

She sent emails to key people at both Electrolux and Best Buy. Miracle of miracles, an Electrolux supervisor agreed to give her a replacement. But less than 12 hours later they told her they can’t replace it because that model has been discontinued.

Hope seemed to be lost at that moment. But then an executive resolution specialist at Best Buy reached out to our consumer and said they would pick up the old fridge and deliver a new one. Yeah!

*MOUSE PRINT:

Amanda was put through the wringer despite the law being on her side. In Massachusetts, a seller is just as responsible as the manufacturer in the case of defective goods. And here, when goods are defective, it is also the consumer’s choice of one of the three “R’s” — repair, replacement, or refund. Unfortunately, too many retailers simply point the finger at the manufacturer and brush the customer off.

We applaud Best Buy for finally stepping up.

Should you face a similar issue, our suggestion is to document the problem and climb the corporate ladder when a retailer or manufacturer tries to weasel out of its obligations. Find corporate contacts at Elliott.org . Should that fail, file a complaint with your state consumer office or attorney general, consider small claims court, and if the issue is newsworthy, contact a consumer reporter.

In fact, the federal law called Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”) has been on the books since 2010. It says for negative option plans, like subscriptions that continue from month to month until canceled provides:

*MOUSE PRINT:

…simple mechanisms for a consumer to stop recurring charges from being placed on the consumer’s credit card, debit card, bank account, or other financial account.

The New York Attorney General decided to go after SiriusXM for making it difficult for customers to cancel. They alleged that subscribers had to speak to a live agent, who, working from a prepared script, presented ever-more-enticing retention offers to discourage the member from cancelling. Basically, they were instructed not to take no as an answer.

The New York Supreme Court took up the matter and ruled. While finding in favor of SiriusXM on various of the state’s legal theories of state law violations, they found that Sirius’ actions violated ROSCA. Specifically, the court pointed to a 2021 interpretive statement from the FTC that said in part that cancellation methods have to be as easy as their sign-up method, and that the companies should not subject consumers to new offers or similar attempts that unreasonably delay the consumer’s cancellation efforts.

Given those requirements, the court found in favor of New York and ordered that (monetary) damages be assessed.

(This story comes from the Mouse Print* archive of unpublished stories of consumer interest.)