Consumerist
-
Resolutions
Gibson Awards Prize To Artist As Promised!
Yay Internets! Tonedeff—the artist who won Lollapalooza's Last Band Standing over a year ago but never received the 10k prize package from Gibson—has received his prize. He emailed us today and wrote, "Thanks for covering the story and your support. Your blog made a HELL of a difference. Expect a shout out on my next project." We can't imagine how he's going to work "consumerist" into a rhyme, but okay. After the story went Digg-public last Friday, Tonedeff got a call from a Gibson rep Saturday morning—and a few days later he received an apology from Gibson's CEO personally. More » -
damage
Time Warner: A Tornado Destroyed
Ann Beam's Wheatland, WI home was destroyed by a tornado earlier this month. Then a snow storm hit and made clean up difficult. To top it off, she opened her Time Warner Cable bill and saw a $2,000 charge for the 5 (9-year-old) cable boxes and remotes that were destroyed in the tornado. More »Your HouseOur Cable Boxes? That'll Be $2,000 -
Most Popular Stories
Today's most popular stories are
-
CUSTOMER SERVICE
(7,402 views)
-
SCAMS
(6,652 views)
-
CASE CLOSED
(6,491 views)
Apple Store Manager Calls Autistic Guy A "Freak" (90 comments), "Family Friendly" Movie Censors Were Running Porn Business (80) and Happy Ending To Best Buy Refuses To Honor 2 for $25 DVD Sale Story (71).
-
CUSTOMER SERVICE
-
Money
Personal Finance Roundup
The Super Bowl Economy [Business Week] "Super Sunday generates major bucks for all involved, from its host network to snackmakers, HDTV sellers, and especially the game's host city."
Make the Most of Falling Rates [Kiplinger] "Borrowers with good credit can get deals on loans now."
Do You Boycott Companies that Don't Line Up with Your Values? [Free Money Finance] "Are there any companies you refuse to do business with because of their stance/actions?"
Seven Strategies for a Tumbling Market [Wall Street Journal] "Here are seven smart strategies for a sinking market."
Must-See Investing TV: 20 Free Online TV Channels for Finance Junkies [Currency Trading] "Here are the top 20 free online TV channels for finance junkies."
— FREE MONEY FINANCE
(Photo: michael.kinne) -
Complaints
Repeated Comcast Outages Nearly Cost Reader His Job
One reader's Comcast outages have gotten so bad that they could get him fired from his job at Adobe. Here's his letter of complaint:
Mr. Brian Roberts
More »
Chief Executive Officer
Comcast Corporation
1500 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102Mr. Roberts,
I have never taken my valuable time to write a letter like this before and to further use snail mail to send a letter of complaint. I have been through hell and back with Comcast trying to set up my internet for the last 3 months from the time I moved into my new house at [redacted], Princeton, NJ 08540. I have had at least 8 technicians come out for a total of 10 to 12 visits to my house over the last 3 months attempting to fix my internet issues. I have taken time off of work in order to meet these technicians at my home each time, as has my wife....
-
depressing
Consumers Are "Unaware" That Lenders Can Help Them Avoid Foreclosure
A new survey from Freddie Mac says that 57% of delinquent homeowners are unaware of so-called "workout" options that could help them avoid foreclosure. More » -
Recycling
City Sues Man For Not Having Any Trash
You would think city would be giving a guy a special bonus for not producing any trash, but San Carlos, CA is suing 53-year-old Eddie House for canceling his garbage service. House says he recycles most about everything by driving to the recycling center himself, gives food scraps to his dog, sells larger items or gives them away on craigslist, and burns his backyard clippings. Reports The Examiner: "House says he stopped his service with Allied Waste about a year ago after realizing that his garbage cans were nearly always empty. "It's just me and my dog, so I don't have a whole lot of garbage to begin with and I recycle everything," he said." Town ordinance requires that everyone contract with Allied Waste for at least once a week pickup. The city says they were alerted to the situation after neighbors complained he was burning garbage (a not-so-very green move). House says he was only burning firewood. "I don't understand a city ordinance that requires you to fill up a can. That's downright foolishness," said Mr. House.
City sues man for canceling trash service [The Examiner] (Thanks to Nathan!)
-
In the UK, you can now buy an IKEA house. No, you do not build it with an Allen wrench. [BoKlok]
-
-
Scams
IRS Warns Consumers Not To Fall For Rebate Scams
The IRS would like you to know that its not planning on emailing you about your tax rebate. "The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters to individual, business, tax-exempt or other taxpayers," the agency warned yesterday. More » -
TSA can haz blog. [Evolution of Security]
-
The Great Wireless Auction
FCC Auction: Bidding Tops $4.7 Billion! We Have A Winner!
The New York Times is reporting that the auction for the C-block of wireless spectrum (Read: the Google part)hasmay have been won by someone... but we don't know who. Oh, the suspense! More » -
Cellphones
Death By Cellphone Taxes, And Cheating It
For products that don't kill you, we usually pay 6.9%, but for some states have seen fit to tax cellphones at exorbitant rates, like Illinois' 21.05% or New York's 21.71%. Why? Probably because people don't notice or complain very much and so the states get tidy chunk of extra revenue. One Forbes writer who moved from New York to L.A. was still stuck paying New York taxes, the highest in the country. When he complained, Verizon said they couldn't do anything because they link area of primary usage to your area code. If he wanted to pay L.A. rates, he would have to get an L.A. number, and give up his New York number. Instead, he went and bought a phone in Idaho, provided an Idaho address, and switched to paperless billing. Now he enjoys the small potatoes rate of 7.71%. He admits that this "probably crosses the line." One must also admit that cellphone taxes have crossed the line, as have cellphone companies that shortcut the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act by determining the "area of primary usage" based on your area code or billing address, instead of detecting where you actually use the phone the most. Inside, a list of cellphone taxes by state. More » -
Scary
Do Safety Inspectors And Airlines Have A Dangerous Conflict Of Interest?
BusinessWeek has an article that shines some light on a conflict of interest between the airlines and the FAA safety inspectors. It's the inspector's job to make sure the airlines are operating safely—but inspectors who blow the whistle may face pressure from the airlines and retaliation from the FAA's upper managementThe inspectors are the on-the-ground cops who ensure that engines fire up properly, that the wing flaps function, and that all of the other complex machinery in an aircraft is in good working order. They have broad discretion to halt and delay flights—power that often rankles the thinly stretched, financially strapped carriers. When an inspector launches a formal investigation into an apparent safety violation at a passenger airline, something that happened more than 200 times last year, it often triggers costly repairs. And when the bill exceeds $50,000, the FAA must issue a press release alerting the world to the problem.
More » -
success stories
Reader Saves $950 By Ridding Life Of Fees, Overpayments
Moriconi writes in to tell us how he was able to save $950 this week by uprooting the hidden fees and renegotiating the things in his life he was paying too much for. Awesome! Here's his true story: More » -
Outages
AT&T Data Outages Hit Midwest, AT&T Says Nothing
Rick in Chicago wrote to us this morning to let us know that he hasn't been able to access AT&T's 3G network all day. So far, AT&T has told him nothing, nor have they made an announcement: "text messaging still seems to work, so they could send out a text message to let people know ," he IMs us. He got confirmation that it was the network and not his company-issued phone from his company's tech department. This blog says it's 3G and Edge, while this blog says its UMTS that's down and disabling Treos and Blackberries. More » -
Funny
Amazon Tells Customers, "Surprise, You're Pregnant!"
Amazon sent out some unexpected bundles of email joy earlier this week, when it let unsuspecting couples know that not only did they have a baby gift registry, but that someone had bought them something off of it. Julee writes, "I was shocked to find out we were expecting a child. So was my husband. And that someone had been stalking us online early enough in the process to know to buy us a gift!" She asked her married friends and found out that they, too, had received similar good news. Babies for everyone! Hooray! More » -
Debt
Burger King Lets You Charge Your Whopper
We know that technically it's a great thing that you have multiple options to pay for your food at Burger King, but this is just a little too sign-of-the-times, and it makes us sad. Somewhere out there is a guy who's still paying off the Whopper he ate in June. More » -
Sad
No More "Rule 240" For American Airlines
Reader Tom writes in to let us know that American Airlines will no longer rebook you on another airline in the event of a delay or cancellation. He attempted to lay the old "Rule 240" on them and was told that Rule 240 had been changed to "Rule 18"... whatever that is. More »
New York, 4:33 AM
Wed Nov 11
22 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@consumerist.com
tipline: 347-42C-ON95
Co-Managing Editor:
Ben Popken
Email | AIM | Twitter
Co-Managing Editor:
Meghann Marco
Email | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Chris Walters
Email | Twitter
Weekend Editor:
Laura Northrup
Email | AIM | Twitter
Associate Editor:
Alex Chasick | Email
Associate Editor:
Phil Villarreal
Email
