Consumer Reports puts out naughty & nice list out for shopping

AirTran, RadioShack and American Apparel made this year's Consumer Reports naughty list for bad shopping policies.

Consumer Reports compiled a Naughty & Nice Holiday List of the good and not-so-good shopping policies in the fields of air travel, electronics, apparel retailing, credit-card lending and concert ticketing.

Naughty list

AirTran:  Discounted coach and sale-fare tickets don't include the price of a seat, which costs an extra $6- $20 each way at the time of booking.

RadioShack: Sometimes charges different prices for some items depending on whether it was bought online or at the store, including one instance where the cost of an HDMI cable in-store was nearly twice the cost of the online price.

American Apparel: Offers two different return policies with no explanation — online customers get full refunds while store shoppers only receive merchandise credit.

Nice

American Express: Can refund the full purchase price of covered items, up to $300, when cardholders are unsuccessful in returning them to a merchant within 90 days.

REI: Accepts returns or exchanges at any time for any reason in-person or by mail, whether you bought it online, in the store or at an REI Outlet.

Live Nation: Gives fans 72 hours to cancel their ticket order and get a refund at many venues, up to one week before the event.

Consumer Reports editors say the Naughty & Nice Holiday List is based on specific policies and is not reflective of a company as a whole.

“We're not giving the thumbs-up or thumbs-down to these companies for everything they do,” said Tod Marks, senior editor and resident shopping expert at Consumer Reports. “We're really just shining a spotlight on some of the specific policies and practices that we believe help or hurt consumers. Hopefully, we'll encourage shoppers to be more savvy around the holiday season.”

The full Naughty & Nice Holiday List, comprised of 9 naughty and 10 nice policies, is available at ConsumerReports.org.