Blockbuster’s not doing so well, closing another 500 locations in an attempt to straighten its ship. The latest tactic? Bringing back late fees , which they ditched back in 2005 in order to compete with Netflix. Slashfilm says that the late fees will work on a $1-per-day basis up to 10 days, so the most you’ll ever have to pay is an extra $10.

The New York Times ‘ David Pogue has a great story condemning Congress for trying to outlaw exclusivity contracts instead of implementing changes in the cellphone industry that would actually benefit consumers. Down with those outlandish, unfair fees! Pogue’s mainly concerned with the silly fees levied on consumers for certain actions despite said actions not costing carriers hardly any money at all (text messaging, we’re looking at you). One that we didn’t even realize is the sneaky tactic of keeping users on the line for extra time to hear inane instructions like “When you’re done recording your message, you may hang up.” If you’re out of minutes, your carrier is actually going to charge you to listen to those! That’s worthy of a good fist-shake, or better yet, some Congressional intervention. [ New York Times ]

AOL tried to squeeze a little over $100 in fees from a customer for upgrades he hadn’t asked for, hadn’t approved, hadn’t used and of which he hadn’t even been notified. Unluckily for AOL, that customer is a professional writer. Current Wall Street Journal writer Jason Zweig used to work for a Time-Warner-owned magazine, and when Time Warner merged with AOL, he and his colleagues all received free AOL email accounts. Zweig gave his to his wife, who used it up until last year. But recently, Zweig started receiving phone calls from AOL’s customer service reps in India, saying he owed $103.60 for an upgrade he knew nothing about. Turns out the terms of agreement he signed years ago may (or may not) have included a section allowing AOL to upgrade his service and charge him for it