Consumerist

AT&T Sends Bills To Collections Ten Days After They're Mailed Out

Any Of These Phrases Should Have Alerted Staples That There Is A Problem Here. None Did.

I bought a small but overpriced postal scale at Staples ($22). When I took it home and opened the box, there was a broken, not-for-sale scale in it. I took it back and exchanged it for another one without any problem. But it's a crappy scale even when it's functional: it's not set at 0 and I don't see a way to resetit.

Maryland's Dental HMO Security Breach Was One Of Nearly 40 In The State Since January

Thirty-nine businesses or groups have reported losses of sensitive information involving about 87,500 Maryland residents in the three months since a state law took effect requiring that people be informed of such incidents, records show.

Executive Email Addresses For Guardian Life Insurance

Within 24 hours of our reader emailing the addresses after the jup about a bill Guardian Life Insurance Company was supposed to pay but never did, a charge our reader had been fighting for 2 years and had been sent to collections for, Guardian sent a $850 check to the hospital... More »

T-Mobile C And D's Blog For Using Magenta

Citing trademark infringement concern, T-mobile is demanding that gadget blog site Engadget Mobile stop using magenta in its logo. In a letter posted sent to Engadget, T-Mobile pronounced, "Based on the different character of the goods and services offered by the Deusche Telekom Group and Weblogs, we assume that it is in the best interest of both of our entities to ensure that the particular services can be clearly separated and that consumers are not confused..." And it's not an early April Fool's joke, they say. It's not totally unreasonable, there is precedent for this sort of thing. Like the time T-Mobile sued a small a book-on-demand-publisher for having magenta in its logo.

Deutsche Telekom / T-Mobile demands Engadget Mobile discontinue using the color magenta [Engadget] (Thanks to Tristan!)

Round 14: eBay/Paypal vs COX

This is Round 14 in our Worst Company in America contest, eBay/Paypal vs COX cable.

eBay has become a hothive of international scams. Coupled with its faceless transaction processor Paypal, a number of our readers report having disputes unfairly judged against them, victims of scammers who know how to manipulate eBay/Paypal's myriad policies.

We don't receive many complaints about Cox but some of the people who nominated them took issue with paying $30 just to get 12 local channels, and another complained about his in-state long distance rate being doubled without explanation.
More »

Arkansas Attorney General To Payday Lenders: Shut Down Or I'll See You In Court

Dear Wachovia, My 78¢ Balance Is Not Your Take A Penny Tray

Costco Recalls 10,368 Pounds Of Listeria-Contaminated Chicken

Confessions Of A Debt Settlement Company Worker

TSA Freaks Over Speakers, Lets Knife Pass Through. Twice.

TSA throws away passenger's toothpaste, freaks out over his JBL On Tour speaker system, and lets him pass through with a lock-knife keychain, twice. Couple this with that story a few weeks ago about the Apple Air trying to go through security (it doesn't have a hard drive! there's no ports!) and it seems that the TSA's main concern is that the next terroristic attack will have incredibly attractive design.

The TSA is a complete joke...and not a funny one [thank gilligan it's safe for work] (Thanks to Chris!)

Sprint Twiddles Thumbs While 12-Year Customers Get Scammed For $2,500

Someone hacked this couple's Sprint account, and bought four new phones on it, leaving these 12-year customers to pay over $2,500. Every time they called Sprint, the fraud department said not to worry and that the charges would be off the bill next month, but the disconnect notices kept arriving until Sprint shut off their phone. Only after a local consumer reporter got involved was the problem solved. When asked why it took so long, Sprint said, "it takes a while to complete a thorough investigation." If you're a legacy Nextel customer now with Sprint, you may want to ask about getting a PIN set up on your account. The account seemed to have been targeted (the fraud department said probably by someone inside Sprint) because it was an old Nextel account that didn't have a PIN.

Sprint charges customer $2,500 [Journal Inquirer] (Thanks to Brian!)

$753 Airline Tickets End Up Costing Two Seniors Nearly $10,000

Two seniors who bought $753 roundtrip tickets to Rome ended up paying nearly $10,000, thanks to flight delays and airlines reneging on their promises. The Lopilatos had a flight on American Airlines from LAX to JFK, then continuing on to Rome on Alitalia. The flight was scheduled to arrive in New York three hours before their flight to Rome, but it didn't and they missed the flight to Rome. At first, American got them seats on a plane to London and then on to Rome on British Airways, for free. But then all of a sudden the seats were gone and now the tickets were $2,065 each. Not wanting to miss their tour group, the couple agreed. Then when they went to come back from Rome, Alitalia canceled their return flight because they missed the outbound, another $2,000+ in return tickets. When they tried to get refunds, each airline blamed the other and denied liability. How to avoid the same thing happening to you? Fly nonstop.

A $10,000 lesson in airline policies and missed connections [LAT] (Thanks to David!)
(Photo: Getty)