The Inquisitr » consumerist

Fake McDonalds Australia memo discussing fraud sucks in Consumerist, others

Duncan Riley — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:20:11 +0000

American blogs, including leading consumer blog The Consumerist have published a memo (above) that allegedly shows that McDonalds Australia has a policy of short changing customers at drive thru’s, or what the Consumerist calls “New Profit Center For Australian McDonald’s: Fraud.”

At first glance the content of the letter does look like McDonald’s is commiting fraud, but even the most basic bit of testing shows that the only fraud is the letter itself.

Lets look past the fact that the memo is signed by Robert Trugabe, and the signature clearly shows that it’s a spoof on Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. Lets look past a perfectly public page available on the McDonald’s Australia website that lists their entire executive team, including zero mention of a Robert Trugabe.

No, the easier parts to prove come with the address and alleged company name. First, the address is a suburban McDonald’s in Adelaide, as confirmed by Google Maps Street View here, no McDonald’s corporate headquarters (which for the record is in Sydney.) Then there’s the alleged name: McDonald’s Australia Pty Ltd. Anyone with a basic understanding of Australian company structures knows that a Pty Ltd company is a designation for a company restricted by a small number of share holders, and is not typically used for big multinational corporations (it’s usually just a Ltd company). All registered companies in Australia can be searched via the website of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), and the ASIC records show that there is NO company in Australia registered under the name of McDonald’s Australia Pty Ltd, only McDonald’s Australia Ltd.

My guess: someone got their hands on some letterhead from the Frewview store and decided to have some online fun, end of story. I wouldn’t want to be on the end of the lawyers that will shortly descend on the likes of the Consumerist and other sites claiming the letter is proof of fraud.

Consumers Union Acquires The Consumerist

Duncan Riley — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:33:12 +0000

The Consumers Union, the US based independent, nonprofit testing and information service for consumers has acquired Gawker Media blog The Consumerist.

The Consumerist, a blog dedicated to exposing consumer scams and bad company practices went up for sale in November, as part of broadsweeping cuts Gawker Media’s Nick Denton announced in front of his prediction of a 40% decline in online advertising in 2009. Rumors in early December had the site being sold to The Deal.

The deal is a win for Consumerist readers, with the editorial team remaining in place, and a new owner that respects the job the team does, one that doesn’t win many friends in the corporate world. The only change will be in advertising, the site will now exclusively advertise products from The Consumers Union. The NY Times notes that Consumers Union is seeking to attract younger readers with the buy, with the hope of eventually selling them online or print subscriptions to Consumer Reports.

The Times also reports that Defamer is close to being to being sold.

Report: Gawker’s “Consumerist” Closing In On Sale

JR — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:39:11 +0000

Gawker Media’s The Consumerist site is close to finalizing a sale, according to a recently published report.

The Consumerist, which was put on the auction block as part of Gawker’s overall cuts last month, is currently in “preliminary negotiations,” site editor Ben Popken told NetworkWorld.

NetworkWorld first noticed a tweet from Popken stating: “The deal closes in…” Upon further inquiry, he reports the following dialogue with Popken:

NWW: “Just saw your tweet. By ‘the deal’ do you mean ‘The Deal?’ Have you been sold? Are you close to being sold? Hope you find a nice home.”

BP: “Yep, The Deal. Preliminary negotiations, but things look good. The prospect is a good name everyone will be happy with.”

The Consumerist is averaging just under 300,000 page views a day, according to Sitemeter.

Gawker-owned Valleywag also got slashed in the same set of consolidations. It, however, is hanging onto its name and becoming a single column within Gawker.com.

Gawker Media