WASHINGTON — While you’re deciding where to spend your holiday shopping dollars, Consumer Reports (CR) thinks you should be aware of this year’s Naughty & Nice List of companies providing common goods and services.
Consumer Reports wants to make clear that it isn’t rating the firms themselves, but is praising or condemning specific policies or practices that might impact consumers.
Some companies on the Nice List include:
- Target, for expanding its price-match policy to allow adjustments within 14 days based on prices found at dozens of additional in-store and online retailers, including even Amazon, Walmart and warehouse clubs.
- Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread, for helping to create a healthier food system by supporting the elimination of unnecessary use of antibiotics. A majority of the meat and poultry used at the chains is raised without the routine use of antibiotics.
- CVS, in part for providing professional optical services to include exams, contacts, and glasses at select locations in the D.C. and Baltimore areas. There’s a one-year guarantee of free replacements for glasses that are lost, damaged or broken for kids 14 and younger.
- Southwest Airlines, for having an unusually friendly frequent-flier award program with few restrictions. Even the last available seat on the day before Thanksgiving can be booked using frequent-flier miles.
Other companies praised by CR for having specific policies or practices friendly to consumers are Dish Network, Dr. Martens, the California Health Insurance exchange, JetBlue, Nomorobo, Procter & Gamble, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Brinkmann and Home Depot.
Some companies on the Naughty List include:
- Whole Foods, for getting caught routinely overcharging customers by misstating weights of prepackaged foods and for failing to deduct the weight of containers for purchases of self-serve foods at the salad bar and hot bar.
- Verizon and Sprint, for predatory practices allowing third-party charges for text messaging services while keeping 30 percent or more of each unauthorized third-party charge billed, typically $9.99 a month.
- FedEx and UPS, for imposing fuel surcharges despite relatively low diesel prices while also charging residential home delivery surcharges.
- Citibank, for charging customers for benefits they never received, enrolling customers in services without their knowledge and misrepresenting costs, fees and benefits of some products.
Other companies castigated by CR for specific policies or practices unfriendly to consumers are Allegiant Air, Citizens Bank, Costco, LifeLock, Tom’s of Maine, Turing Pharmaceuticals and Volkswagen.
“Whether we’re flying or buying, banking or borrowing, there’s no more important time than the high-octane holiday season to be vigilant about how and with whom we spend our shopping dollars,” Consumer Reports senior projects editor Tod Marks said in a news release.
