Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Store: Wal-Mart
Accusation: Overcharging California customers by marking items at one price, but scanning them at a
higher price at the register.
Result: After the California Attorney General's office filed suit,
Wal-Mart settled, agreeing to give customers $3 back every time it happened, unless the item cost less than that, in which case it would be free.
Lisa Poole, AP
Getty Images North America
BlackVoices.com
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Store: Midas
Accusation:California filed a $222 million lawsuit against the owner of 22 Midas Muffler shops after uncover agents discovered in which consumers were charged for unneeded repairs, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced. Click through to see more stores that got caught cheating.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Store: CVS
Accusation:California caught the chain with expired merchandise on the shelf. The result? CVS must give $2 coupons to anyone finding more expired items. This isn't the first store caught doing something shady (or even the first time CVS was caught doing the same thing). See more Gotcha Moments by clicking through.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Store: Kmart
Accusation:Marketed paper products as biodegradable that aren't actually biodegradable. The result? Kmart settled the case with the Federal Trade commission. This isn't the first time KMart was caught.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
KMart's Previous Gotcha:Kmart, Ashley, and World Market< were accused of deceptive furniture labeling -- wood that wasn"t wood and leather that wasn"t leather -- in an on-camera investigation by Good Morning America The result? Kmart said full product descriptions were available online, Ashley defended its wording as a description of color only, and World Market acknowledged that a quarter of its supposedly leather chairs were actually synthetic, and it pulled them from sale.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Sears Holdings Management Corp., the parent company of Sears and Kmart, settled a case to stop enticing customers to sign up for a software that spies on them. It must also instruct customers how to uninstall the software that monitored their spending across the web, even on sites that are supposed to be secure, and destroy the data that was collected. The Federal Trade Commission brought the case against the Sears Holdings.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Quizno's Sub Shop has an online video ad showing two girls simulating a porn video by sharing a sub sandwich. The online ad, "2 Girls, 1 Sub," takes its name from a notoriously heinous movie trailer, for a fetish film, which shows women eating their own feces. Critics have pointed out that the Quiznos video, starring Playboy Playmate Hiromi Oshima, is basically comparing the sandwiches to "poop."
This is Quizno's second porn-themed ad to come out in recent months.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
If you are dining out -- and many of us still are these days, despite the economy -- make sure to check your bill carefully for extra charges that might creep on there.
Call it the airline a la carte approach, as many restaurants are apparently sneaking in charges for bread, tap water, takeout boxes and mandatory tips. The New York Post found all of these items added to bills on an investigative mission that the paper undertook recently.
For more on advertisers caught misleading consumers, click through our gallery of Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Blockbuster was found guilty of charging customers higher than the advertised prices on scanned items by district attorneys of Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Blockbuster owes $237,750 in penalties, and $62,250 in costs, and is further prohibited from charging amounts greater than the advertised price.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
A regulatory organization for the advertising industry demanded that Wrigley change its misleading packaging and advertising for Eclipse gum. The ads for Eclipse say that the gum's natural ingredient - magnolia bark extract - kills germs that cause bad breath. This has not been proven and the National Advertising Division Council of Better Business Bureaus asks that Wrigley clarify this in its ads.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Store:Chase Bank
Accusation: In late March, the bank rescinded a $10 monthly fee it had imposed for several months on hundreds of thousands of credit card accounts, after New York's attorney general decried the practice as a bait-and-switch for customers seeking low interest rates.
Results:The settlement could save customers $22 million over the next year.
Gotcha Moments of Retail Shame
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book 'Black American Money.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. 
Comments: (26)
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By: wayne on 6/06/2010 1:58PM
WHEN JESSE JACKSON AND FARRAHKHAN TALKS I LISTEN AND ACT
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By: Evelyn on 6/06/2010 7:08PM
Are you serious? FARRAHKHAN a man that practices a cult started by a pedophile?
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By: what? on 6/06/2010 2:25PM
Bill W-
I don't know where you're getting your stats, but I doubt you'd be intelligent enough to actually understand them, given your inability to spell basic second-grade words. If you don't like what Dr. Watkins (YES!! DOCTOR Watkins) has to say, then saunter on over to a blog tied to Fox News. I am writing this as a black member of Mensa, and because I'm a Christian, I will let you in on a little secret:
Writting, as you call it, is spelled "WRITING"
Your self is actually one word; it's "YOURSELF"
Words that begin a sentence should be capitalized.
Dont, as you call it, is actually a contraction and should read "Don't". If you cannot remember that, simply type "do not" in its place (yes, "its" is possessive where "it's" is a verb, so I'm not missing the same apostrophe that you were when writing-not WRITTING-the word "don't")
Just trying to help you out, as it's clear you never made it past the second grade. I apologize for using "saunter" earlier-I forgot my audience and should've spoken simpler; I meant to say you should go over to Fox News.
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By: Angela Harvey on 6/06/2010 2:26PM
1 in 3 negroes have an IQ of 75 or less? You're the one who can't spell "writing," don't know when to use "your" or "you're," and clearly have a shift key that doesn't work except when totally inappropriate. You might want to turn off Fox News and Rush Limbaugh long enough to read a grammar book.
As for the herpes thing, that's a remarkable piece of untrue information to have at your fingertips. One can only imagine where you might've picked that up.
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By: Angela Harvey on 6/06/2010 2:48PM
Regarding the BP boycott, how exactly would that work? From what I understand, BP stations are independently owned by local entrepreneurs who use BP as the source for their gasoline. Boycotting these stations would serve to put those families out of work long before we actually had an impact on BP's bottom line. I'm for a boycott in principle, but would love to hear ideas on how to make it effective without bankrupting local families.
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By: what? on 6/06/2010 3:25PM
I'm with you, Angela. It's not just those independent gas station owners-it's also all of BP's subsidiaries as well. BP isn't just an oil company-their money is everywhere. That's what makes big business so hard to take down (which they're aware of).
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By: Tina on 6/06/2010 4:02PM
Absolutely right. Over 95% of all industries use oil and oil products. It is the foundation of our economy. These pundits are overreacting as if the oil companies want these accidents to happen. Let's be honest too, the only real alternative to petroleum is nuclear (I'm sure the author has a problem with that). But the same anti-oil people are against the only clear substitute. The self-righteousness in this piece is laughable. Is he driving a solar car or traveling in solar-powered planes. I think not!
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By: Duffy on 6/08/2010 8:58AM
Hell, do you think The REV. Ja-hack-son gives a rats arse about local families. He's a publicity whore. It's no wonder The REV. Al and him are so tight. Race hustlers one and all. When you have nothing useful to add to the situation, step in and call for a boycott...oh and money fo my pocket.
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By: Bernie30338 on 6/11/2010 11:39PM
Im with you Angela,too. Jesse J always has these ideas with no real effective plan.If you want 2 boycott,sell your car,take only "clean fuel burning buses,bike or walk to your destinations. Going across the street to Shell Gas station is not going to make a big statement.
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By: oooozzzzz on 6/06/2010 4:02PM
Rev. Jesse Jackson needs to rethink his stragety because besides gas being sold at BP gas stations, BP also owns Castrol Motor Oil which is sold in almost every auto parts store, Wal-Mart, grocery store etc and oil change businesses like Jiffy Lube or automotive repair shops like Goodyear and Sears.
BP also provides LPG (propane) gas for homes heating & cooking and they provide asphalt for the thousands of highway/interstate road construction jobs that we drive by every day as a part of the government's Stimulus Plan so Jesse need to broaden his scope & awareness in regards to his BP protests and what they own.
You don't buy gas or purchase from those convinient stores they own but buy/use something else BP owns still puts money in their pockets.
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