The Consumer Memo, 11/6: DVD price wars

DVD dealsWal-Mart Stores Inc. is upping the ante heading into the holiday season, trimming the online preorder prices of some upcoming DVDs following last month’s price cut on books. The move led rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Target Corp. to reduce the prices of some online preorder DVDs, which pushed Wal-Mart to take a few more cents off its offerings.

The world’s biggest retailer said late Thursday that it would lower the online prices of new DVDs such as “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” and “Star Trek” to $10. But when Amazon reduced some of its DVD prices to $9.99, Wal-Mart shot back by lowering its DVDs to $9.98 as of Friday morning.

Verizon fees
Verizon Wireless plans to double the fee customers must pay for terminating a smart-phone contract early. Termination fees for Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerrys, new Droid devices and other smart phones will rise to $350 from $175 on Nov. 15, Verizon spokesman Jim Gerace said. Charges for ending contracts early on regular mobile phones will stay at $175.

Verizon is trying to make the termination fees correspond more closely with the actual prices of the phones, which the company subsidizes, Gerace said. The cost of early termination for a smart-phone contract will decline by $10 for every month of service.

Flavored cigarette warning
The Food and Drug Administration is warning several companies it says are still selling banned flavored cigarettes to U.S. consumers online.

The agency sent letters to more than a dozen Web-based companies directing them to stop selling the products and asking the companies to describe in writing what action they have taken.

The FDA banned candy-, fruit- and clove-flavored cigarettes in September. Federal health authorities and regulators say those products appeal especially to young people and are intended to attract new smokers.

The FDA won authority over some aspects of the tobacco industry in June. It can now ban certain products, limit nicotine allowed in others and regulate their marketing.

Hotel rates to keep falling
Hotel guests may like this news. Hotel rates will fall in 2010 for the second straight year as owners discount rooms to attract visitors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said. Average daily rates are likely to drop 8.8 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2010.

“Signs of recovery in hotel pricing are not yet evident,” PricewaterhouseCoopers said.

Retailers pay fines
Three major retailers have agreed to pay nearly half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit stemming from the companies’ sale of toys containing excessive amounts of lead, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday.

Under the agreement, Target Corp., Toys “R” Us Inc. and Kmart will pay a total of $454,000 in civil penalties and other fines.

The retailers, along with several manufacturers, including Mattel Inc., were sued by the California attorney general’s office and the Los Angeles city attorney’s office in November 2007 after the companies were found to have sold or made toys with unsafe levels of lead paint.

The products violated federal toy safety standards and Proposition 65, a California law dealing with toxic substances, and led to a spate of recalls.

Recalls
The following recalls have been announced:

-- About 275,000 Adventure Playsets wooden playsets, manufactured in the United States and distributed by Adventure Playsets of Amarillo, Texas, because the materials in the horizontal ladder that forms the monkey bars and swing beam can weaken over time. The company has received more than 1,400 reports of rotting ladders and 16 reports of injuries, including nine emergency room visits.
Some of the sets were also recalled in 2006 for defective bolts.

The sets in Thursday’s recall were sold at Walmart, Toys “R” Us, Academy Sports, Menards and Mill stores nationwide, as well online at Walmart.com, ToyRUs.com, Willygoat.com and through the DMSI catalog. They were available between January 2004 and December 2007.
Details: 877-840-9068; on the Web.

--About 15,000 Fall 2009 Newbury travel mugs, manufactured in China and imported by The S Group of Portland, Ore., because they can pose a burn hazard if filled with hot liquids. The company has received three reports of excessively hot mugs, including one minor hand burn. The recalled mugs were sold at Life is Good and independent stores around the country, as well as online at lifeisgood.com, between July 2009 and September 2009.

Details: 888-339-2987; on the Web.

--About 43,000 Samsung over-the-range microwave ovens, manufactured in Malaysia and imported by Samsung Electronics America Inc. of Ridgefield Park, N.J., because of a potential shock hazard.

Details: 888-402-6974; on the Web.

--About 10,000 Young Artist easels, manufactured in China by MacPherson’s of Emeryville, Calif., because the surface coating on the chalkboard contains high levels of lead. The easels were sold online and at art supply stores around the country between July 2004 and June 2009. Details: 866-319-5335; on the Web.