I have been a Consumerist reader for quite awhile. A lot of the information posted on the site is very helpful. They frequently post tips to help people save money or avoid scams that are going around. However, there is a lot of bad content that overpowers the legitimate posts on the site.
Here are a few examples of Consumerist whining about businesses that violate their Merchant Agreements with credit card companies:
- “How dare a store ask to see my ID when I use a credit card to buy something? Don’t they know that their Merchant Agreement prevents them from asking to see my ID?”
- Seriously, is Consumerist complaining that the Apple Store is asking to see people’s ID when they make a purchase? Yes, they are. Apparently Consumerist doesn’t realize that Apple sells computers which often cost several thousand dollars.
- “Some store has a minimum purchase in order to use a credit card! Ahhhh!”
- Again, what Consumerist fails to recognize here is that the only businesses that generally require minimum purchases on credit cards are small mom-and-pop shops of some sort. For example, one local coffee shop I visit requires a $5 minimum purchase in order to use a credit card. Consumerist never mentions that small stores are often charged a flat fee plus a percentage of the transaction for accepting credit cards. Therefore, these stores may actually lose money if they accept a credit card on a transaction less than a few dollars. If you like these businesses and you shop there, why would you want them to go out of business?
I’m not saying that Consumerist is wrong, only that many of their posts come across as whiny and they rarely consider the counterargument. For example, many Consumerist readers have commented that they do not sign the back of their credit cards and instead write “See ID” as a personal protection. Little do they realize that this is a violation of their terms with the credit card companies. If it isn’t signed, the card isn’t valid. Period.
They also ignore the obvious solution: If you don’t like their policy, don’t shop there! If you are emotionally scarred because you bought a $2000 laptop from Apple and they — gasp — asked to see your driver’s license, don’t shop there! If you are all shaken up becuase the corner store wouldn’t let you charge a 99¢ bag of marshmallows to your Visa, don’t shop there! You don’t have to take it to the Internet and try to organize a worldwide shakedown.
One again, let me say that Consumerist does actually have a decent amount of good content. If they stopped complaining about trivialities such as the grocery shrink ray (and now, the TV shrink ray), they might have a good thing going.
