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cancellations
cancellations
Despite No Service, AT&T Refuses To Waive ETF
By Ben Popken on May 17, 2011 11:00 AM
53 Comments
Last week we brought you the story of Ross who had no AT&T service after the nearby cellphone tower went down and the other towers weren't working. Even still, AT&T wouldn't let him leave service without paying an early termination fee, despite the fact that it could be 4 months before the towers were repaired. That means 4 months more without service while still getting a monthly bill. I counseled Ross on how he might fight the power by going through the retentions department, and he wrote back with an update on his progress. More »
(Ninja M.)
I Have No Bars But AT&T Won't Let Me Leave
By Ben Popken on May 10, 2011 11:00 AM
83 Comments
Ross and his neighbors have had to drive a few miles down the road to get any bars on their cellphone after a nearby AT&T tower went down and the other two nearby weren't working well either. Despite the fact that he has no service and there is no fix in sight for several months, AT&T won't let him leave his contract. More »
Well, At Least Netflix Is Being Realistic
More »
By Laura Northrup on May 4, 2011 9:32 AM
72 Comments
Say what you will about this exit survey for unsubscribing Netflix customers, but at least it's realistic about why people cancel Netflix. It's especially thoughtful of Netflix to include the addresses of still-functioning torrent sites for those users who aren't yet familiar with them. (Thanks, MedicallyNeedy!)More »
TV Continues To Cleanse Itself Of Soap Operas
By Phil Villarreal on April 15, 2011 8:15 AM
64 Comments
Soap operas were once advertising vehicles for cleaning product manufacturers to promote their goods to homemakers, but their time is now slipping away like sands through the hourglass. More »
(tedeytan)
Kaiser Permanente Makes Cancelling Hard, Then Sends Me To Collections
By Ben Popken on January 24, 2011 4:00 PM
53 Comments
Tim has been stuck in a 7-month limbo with his ex-health insurer Kaiser Permanente that he is trying to break it off with. First he was told to write in a fax that said "I [name here] no longer want health care coverage by KP." Then it turned out they gave him the wrong fax number, which he found out after he got a bill for missing payment. He called back and got the right fax number, was promised a refund and prorated payment, and sent in all his info. Instead, he got back a letter from the collections department. More »
Gym Guards Beat Man To Pulp When He Tried To Cancel
By Ben Popken on January 12, 2011 4:00 PM
109 Comments
A computer programmer who has been trying to cancel his gym membership since August says two gym security guards jumped him and pulverized his face when he wouldn't back down from his cancellation request. More »
Leaving AT&T For A Verizon iPhone Ain't Cheap
By Ben Popken on January 11, 2011 11:42 AM
112 Comments
iPhone users sick of AT&T's network and hoping that Verizon's will be better will have to pay a hefty price if they want to try and switch. More »
(penner42)
JetBlue Takes Forever To Give Me Near-Useless Travel Voucher
By Phil Villarreal on December 20, 2010 5:00 PM
45 Comments
Several months ago, Matthew booked a flight to take his family and in-laws from Rochester to Disney World. Then he discovered JetBlue was canceling the flight he had planned. The airline offered him a voucher but made him drive 75 miles to another airport to get a direct flight. It took too much back-and-forth to actually claim that voucher, and Matthew feels mistreated. More »
Procter & Gamble Washes Hands Of Soap Operas To Focus On Social Media
By Phil Villarreal on December 14, 2010 9:15 AM
26 Comments
After pioneering soap operas as ad vehicles for its cleaning products, Procter & Gamble — which cranks out Gain detergent, Head & Shoulders shampoo and Old Spice deodorant, among other products — has stopped producing long-running daytime serials to focus on social media. P&G-produced Guiding Light went dim last year, and As the World Turns stopped turning in September. More »
Webloyalty Settles With NY AG For $5.2 Mil
By Ben Popken on September 24, 2010 10:00 AM
21 Comments
Online "marketing" company Webloyalty has settled with the New York AG for $5.2 mil. You know how when you buy movie tickets and at the end it says, "You won a free $10 gift certificate!" And then if you read the small print it says that if you accept the gift certificate you get signed up for a discount club that charges a monthly fee? Yeah, that was their game. More »
(SL_SD)
Got Until 9/27 To Cancel Sprint Without Fee
By Ben Popken on September 23, 2010 1:00 PM
23 Comments
You have until September 27th to cancel your Sprint contract without early termination fee. Sprint recently made it so employer discounts don't apply beyond the first two lines on the account. Because this is a material change in the service contract, you can cancel the contract without penalty. More »
Tarmac Delays Down Drastically From Last Year, Cancellations Unchanged
By Chris Morran on August 11, 2010 11:15 AM
13 Comments
In the second month of the recently enacted laws limiting the amount of time a plane can sit on the tarmac without taking off, the Dept. of Transportation says only three flights went over the 3-hour limit; that's down from 268 flights for the same month in 2009. Meanwhile, the rate of canceled flights remained exactly the same as last year. More »
Urban Active Gym Appears Lets You Cancel, Then Charges You More
By Ben Popken on August 6, 2010 11:00 AM
30 Comments
Gyms are notorious for being difficult to cancel your membership at, so at first Heather thought hers was different. They even backdated the cancellation date so she wouldn't pay for the full month. So nice! A month later, collections called her. More »
(CBS)
Verizon Retreats From Charging Marine Widow $350 Early Termination Fee
By Ben Popken on June 30, 2010 12:00 PM
109 Comments
After achieving "clarity," Verizon has decided to not charge the widow of a Marine who died in Afghanistan a $350 early termination fee. The woman had moved back home following her husband's death so as to be closer to family, and in the new area she had no cellphone reception. In announcing the situation's resolution, Verizon Wireless also took the opportunity to take a jab at the media for sensationalizing their incompetence. More »
Verizon: Die Fighting In Afghanistan, Pay $350 Early Termination Fee
By Ben Popken on June 25, 2010 3:00 PM
120 Comments
After a woman's husband died in Afghanistan, a marine felled by an IED, she moved back to her home town to be closer to her family and grieve. In the smaller town, she couldn't get any reception from Verizon, so she called them up to cancel. Despite being a widow and Verizon not living up to its contractual obligations to provide actual cellphone coverage, they slapped her with a $350 early termination fee. UPDATE: Verizon Retreats From Charging Marine Widow $350 Early Termination Fee More »
(Ninja M.)
Sprint Wouldn't Let Me Get My Money Back Because My Warranty Expired 2 Hours Ago
By Phil Villarreal on June 25, 2010 1:30 PM
45 Comments
"Darth" bought a Sprint phone with a two-year contract, both of which have given him nothing but trouble. He tried to bail out of the deal under Sprint's 30-day money-back guarantee, but was told he was two hours too late. He stuck it out and his phone continued to torment him, and when he tried to use the warranty he was told — incorrectly, in his view — that the device had water damage. More »
Delta Gets Creative, Fakes Out Passenger With Reverse Cancellation Trick
By Chris Walters on February 11, 2010 5:20 PM
66 Comments
Nelson is a Silver Medallion frequent flyer on Delta, so clearly he's got some experience with the airline's usual bag of tricks. This time Delta out-smarted him, though, by cancelling an 8:30 flight and then re-confirming it after he'd seen that it was cancelled. As far as Delta is concerned, it's not their problem—the weather made them do it, and he should have kept checking in all morning yesterday. More »
ING Cancels Debit Card, Repeats 'There's Nothing We Can Do' Refrain
By Phil Villarreal on February 4, 2010 10:15 AM
63 Comments
UPDATE: ING Got Noah a new debit card. More »
A Priceline Email Address That Humans Sometimes Read
By Ben Popken on January 15, 2010 12:00 PM
13 Comments
Priceline hates hates hates giving refunds. But if you need one, or some other aspect of their non-existent customer service fixed, you can email executive.services@priceline.com or OriginatesES@service.priceline.com. You will probably end up going to your bank to get the refund, but at least you know where to shove the cc. This information is also useful in case your 2-year old daughter is in the burn ward and you need to cancel a trip.
(Photo: J Dailey)
Sprint Crawls To Let Guy Cancel Account
By Phil Villarreal on January 14, 2010 8:03 AM
25 Comments
Chase had a problem with Sprint — the company wouldn't acknowledge the fact that he canceled his account. More »
