Consumerist
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Follow-ups
Kieffe & Sons Takes Back Apology For "Sit Down And Shut Up" Ad, Attacks "Blog-Lo-Dites"
Another update to the Kieffe & Sons "Sit Down and Shut Up" ad fiasco: The quasi-apology issued by the California Ford dealer on Wednesday was mandated by Ford Headquarters. Kieffe & Sons remains unrepentant, so to speak, and blames the imbroglio on "Blog-lo-dites." More » -
Overdrafts
Bank Of America: Let's Charge Three Overdraft Fees To The Account Flush With Cash!
Bank of America charged Jason three overdraft fees for the hell of it, even though his account balance never approached $0. Jason called the bank for an explanation, and was told that due to some mathematical wormhole controlled exclusively by Bank of America, he now owed $105. Tired of the bank's nonsensical jibber-jabber, Jason printed out his statement and headed to the local branch...
More »
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Identity Theft
5 Ways To Avoid Check Fraud And Thwart Identity Thieves
Check-altering criminal mastermind Frank Abagnale has five ways to lockdown your checking account and secure your identity. Check fraud isn't an anachronistic threat like Communism. Determined thieves can easily use your checks to steal your cash and your identity. Here's how to stop them... More » -
Travel
Dear Greyhound: Thanks For Ditching Me In Philadelphia. May I Please Have My Bags Back Now?
Greyhound ditched reader Austin at a Philadelphia rest stop on the way from Chicago to New York. During the previous stops, the driver clearly announced that the bus was about to depart. This apparently wasn't necessary in Philadelphia, even though Greyhound ordered off all the passengers so the bus could be cleaned and refueled. After thirty minutes, Austin quickly dashed into the bathroom. When he returned, the bus had disappeared with his bag. Now, Greyhound's executive office is refusing to talk to Austin, or provide any compensation for his missing bag. More » -
verdicts
Throwing $4 Drinks At Unfriendly Starbucks Managers Is Not Misdemeanor Harassment
A Portland jury recently found Latasha Curry not guilty of misdemeanor harassment for throwing a $4 venti iced mocha at a Starbucks manager who accused her of running a free drink scam. Curry was initially offered a free drink after she complained that her iced tea was too bitter. When she tried to redeem her freebie two days later, store manager Ryan Smith decided that Curry looked suspiciously like a woman who redeemed a free drink from a different store 11 months earlier. Smith accused Curry of running some elaborate drink scam, prompting Curry to serve Smith a free venti shower. More » -
Ghoulish
NYC 'Bodies' Exhibit Must Refund Tickets For Using Undocumented Corpses
If you've seen the "Bodies" exhibit at the South Street Seaport in New York City, you're entitled to a refund (click here for info) according to a new agreement between New York's Attorney General's office and Premier Exhibitions, Inc. When "Bodies" first opened here over two years ago, some opponents questioned whether the Chinese cadavers were legally obtained—or whether they were Chinese political prisoners who hadn't consented to being plastinated, flayed, and displayed by a private for-profit company. At the time, Premier Exhibitions' president said all the bodies were documented: "Although he said he was not allowed to keep copies of documents, officials at Dalian University in northern China showed him papers attesting to the origin of the remains," wrote the New York Times in 2005. Then ABC's news show "20/20" aired an investigative report this past February that showed otherwise. More » -
phone numbers
Reach Tier 2 And 3 Support At Verizon Wireless
One more number to add to the Verizon Wireless Executive Rolodex: 866-237-9122. More » -
bad customer service
AOL Tops MSN Money's Customer Service Hall Of Shame
Earlier this week, MSN Money published the results of a national Zogby poll they commissioned on who delivers the worst customer service. The winner was AOL, ranked "poor" by 47% of respondents, while Comcast came in second with 42% suckage. Sprint ranked third at 39%.
"We've seen a fall in customer service as we've gone into a recession," says a customer service consultant in the article. "As the cost cutting occurs . . . they start to cut the wrong things." But that implies that AOL had good customer service before the recession, doesn't it? Wait, what? More »
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interesting
Someone Is Listening To You Swear At The Customer Service Robot
The New York Times recently published an article about those interactive voice response systems that we all hate so much, and in it we were introduced to Walter Rolandi. He designs these systems and it's his great privilege to be able to listen to you swearing at them. More » -
Settlements
Today Is The Last Day To File A Claim In The Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fee Class Action
If you were planning on filing a claim in the credit card foreign transaction fee class action, today is the last day to do it. More » -
Crime
18-Year-Old Says He Hacked Comcast Because He's "Tired Of Their Shitty Service"
Here's a technique we'll not be adding to our list of fun ways to escalate your complaint: The 18-year-old who recently hacked Comcast and took down the company's homepage and webmail told Wired that it was Comcast's own fault... The hacker, known as EBK, called Comcast to let them know they'd been hacked. The manager scoffed and hung up: More » -
Scams
Wu Yi Tea, The New Diet Scam
Doris wanted to start 2008 off on the right foot, so she made the resolution to lose weight. She ordered a free trail of Wu Yi Tea, "Hollywood's Hottest Diet", and decided well before her two weeks were up to cancel her order and stick to old fashioned eating right and exercise. That was in January. Four months later, Wu-Yi's parent company Living Lean in Las Vegas is giving Doris the run around about canceling her order. Oddly, Wu Yi has this to say about fad diets on their website, "all the diet formulas have been, at best, disappointing, at worst, outright frauds." Pot, this is kettle. You're black. Hear more from Doris, inside. More » -
Bait and Switch
Dell Reduces Instant Discount By $200 Somewhere Between Shopping Cart And Order Confirmation
Before we get to the typical bad-company shenanigans—in this case, Dell's $599 discount mysteriously shrank to $400 between when he placed it in his shopping cart and when he reached the confirmation screen—we want to share this bit of ridiculousness. Dell's CSR Vanessa gives us the scoop on Dell's sophisticated order fulfillment system:
More »Jack: Can you look at sales history today and verify whether you sold this system at $599 off today? This was to be my third dell purchase, now I will not purchase again!
ATG Vanessa: There isn't a cart history unfortunately.
Jack: Sales history! Actual people who purchased this system today!
ATG Vanessa: We don't keep record of that.
Jack: You're telling me dell does not know what it has sold today?
ATG Vanessa: Remember this is done online and there's some confidential information we usually erase to protect customers.
Jack: Like what computers you have to build?
ATG Vanessa: So no, there isn't a record where you can see how much have been sold.
Jack: How do you know what you have to ship?
ATG Vanessa: It depends on what we have available at the moment. -
Travel
POLL: Are You Fed Up With Flying?
The Austin Business Journal says that a new survey shows Americans are fed up with flying and have been avoiding it — and hotels and restaurants are suffering. More » -
success stories
Emailing The CEO Of DirecTV Solves All Your Installation Problems
Reader Mark ordered DirecTV and waited patently for the installer. And waited. And rescheduled. And waited. Luckily, Mark knew that he might want to order DirecTV in the future, and he'd made a note of CEO Chase Carey's email address when we posted it. More » -
Hotel ratings
Hotwire Facing Possible Class Action Lawsuit For Selling 2-Star Rooms As 3-Star
A reader forwarded us an email that indicates a class action motion is being prepared against Hotwire, the discount travel company, for promoting hotel rooms at artifically high ratings. On Hotwire, you can't preview the hotel before booking, so the star rating is really all you have to go on—and there's at least anecdotal evidence online that Hotwire has been known to be more lenient in its rating system. Though Ryan says he's gotten some good deals through Hotwire, he adds, "I do recall booking a room around Christmas in the 2.5 to 3 star range and getting La Quinta (which as we all know is spanish for 'near a Denny's'), which is listed as a two star hotel." More » -
overreaction
Manager Photographs Teenagers And Says They Are Banned From The Apple Store For Life
Whatever you do, don't download any fun 3rd party programs to the iPhones at the University Avenue Apple store in Palo Alto, California. You may be detained for 2 1/2 hours, then photographed and told that other Apple stores will be " on the lookout" for you. More »
As if you needed a reason not to wear 
New York, 11:47 AM
Sat Nov 14
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