[Former La-Z-Boy factory employee] Christensen and his former colleagues are facing a central irony of the U.S. market. Unable to afford American goods, they end up buying foreign — in effect, paying the very workers who took over their jobs.

In a 2004 Associated Press poll, 93 percent said they prefer to buy American if the prices are the same; 54 percent said they'd prefer to buy American even if it cost more. How much more was not specified.

ABC had the best results shopping for tools at Lowe's, finding most of the items on their list made in the U.S. - though often from foreign components.

Made in the U.S.A.; Sold ... Nowhere? [ABC News]

(Photo: fauxpress)

We thought one of the perks of being famous was getting good/free service, but DirecTV and Time Warner don't care who you are—you must be punished. That's why this morning on "The View" (or "I Don't Hang OUt With My Mom And Her Friends For Just This Reason"), Whoopi Goldberg complained that she can't get anyone from DirecTV to come repair her broken service. Sherri Shephard chimed in and said she can't get Time Warner to show up to install her TV, cable, or phone.

We're locating the video now, but in the meantime here's a recap from a member of the DBSTalk.com forums:

Whoopi said she's been waiting 3 weeks for them to come out, and they kept telling her that they went out there to some red building and she had to tell them each time she doesn't even live in a red building. So who knows if anyone will ever get to her home since all the repair people seem to think she lives in a red building...

Then Sherri said she's been waiting 2 weeks to get her Phone, Internet, and TV connected by Time Warner, that they didn't show up the day they scheduled her for; and then when she called they told her it had been rescheduled but they didn't know by who. So Sherri has no home phone, internet, or TV...

"As I type this: Whoopi is going off on Directv" [DBSTalk.com] (Thanks to Don!)

Two More Extreme Makeover Home Edition Homes in Trouble [FreeMoneyFinance] (Photo: Newtownia)

Have you been ripped off recently by a store, hotel, airline, repair service or other retailer? ABC 20/20 would like to help you get satisfaction. If you feel you were cheated, please let us know BRIEFLY what happened to you and what you've done so far to get a refund. If selected, you'll be asked to come our Manhattan studio where you'll tell your story on camera and we'll try to help you get your money back. Please send your name, city, email address, and daytime phone and note that you saw this post on consumerist.com

Contact forms are here.

I'm a little pissed off right now. I missed the last 30 seconds of Game 3 of the NBA finals because the local ABC affiliate (KAKE in Wichita, KS) decided to run a test of the emergency alert system. That's right, a TEST! On what proved to be Boston's last shot at closing the gap, I was treated to a series of bleeps and bloops accompanying a gray screen, and was reunited with game coverage in time to see the players walking to the locker room. I soon found out that there was no miracle, and that the Celtics did indeed lose. But that's besides the point.
I called KAKE, politely explained what happened, and asked if anyone else had called in to report this. She said no, and also added this: "It's a required monthly test, and I'm not sure that we can do anything about the timing of it." I find that very hard to believe. Is FOX helpless to stop the EAS test from popping up during the last 30 seconds of the Super Bowl? Will they simply shrug their shoulders and say that there was nothing they could do about it? Unlikely.
I asked if she could bring it to someone's attention, and said that I was very disappointed that this happened. She said that she would "look into it", and made no apologies.
...Unbelievable.

Wikipedia says that EAS tests aren't supposed to be scheduled during important live events such as the Oscars, or the Superbowl, but we weren't able to find anything on the FCC's website that confirmed that rule. Anyone work in TV? Want to enlighten us?

After Bono expressed his opinion that winning a Golden Globe was "really, really fucking brilliant," the FCC tried to amend the obscenity rules to include "fleeting references," such as Bono's. The rule was tossed out by a court.

Last year's court decision that threw out the FCC's policy on "fleeting references" complicates any action the commission might want to take against the stations or the network, chairman Kevin Martin told reporters.

When asked whether the FCC would take action, Martin appeared flummoxed by the court's decision and the most recent incident of celebrity potty mouth.

"Obviously the commission's pending litigation has impacted a whole host of issues, but I don't know enough about the details of this to see how it would be impacted," he said.

Diane Keaton swears on TV, FCC stammers [a wire service]
( AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

We think the online video can be effective escalation tool, as it were, as long as you've made reasonable efforts to contact the company and exhausted normal channels. The guidelines for making a good complaint still apply. That said, everytime you make a consumer complaint video, a new kitten is born.

Think of us as your new, daily, consumer action handbook. We give you tips for becoming a smarter shopper, as well as tools for fighting back when a company screws you over.

Here are some of our stories on videos mentioned in the broadcast:
Macbook Smasher
Beware of Brad Benson
Robert Mckee taped his Delta flight being stuck for 7 hours on the runway
Mattel's online video apology

Here's a bit about us:
How can I send you a video? You can upload it to a site like YouTube, Revver, or Vimeo, and email the link to tips@consumerist.com
How do I send you a story/tips/question? Email us at tips@consumerist.com. We can't promise a post, but we will read.
What's the deal here?
How can I become a commenter?
How do you decide what stories to run?

The segment is called, "Consumers Use Web Vids to Fight Back." Looking at the advance version of the story online, the MacBook smasher will feature prominently, and our Meghann Marco should have a lot of good quotes in there.

With falling consumer electronic prices, computers coming bundled with simple video editing software, cellphones having video recording capabilities, and the growth of YouTube, it's increasingly easier and easier to make a video voicing your consumer complaint.

Consumers Use Web Vids to Fight Back [ABC]

The report was "Credit Card Wars" and discussed some of the pitfalls credit card users face. Meghann chimed in about how retailer's zero-percent finance offers are often like credit cards and how consumers need to be wary.

Good advice at 3:30, the Wall Street Journal guy says how when you do 0%-interest balance transfers, you need to make sure you're paying all your other bills on time too. If your credit score gets riskier, the credit card company sometimes reserves the right to jack up your rates. — BEN POPKEN

UPDATE: Transcript added inside.

Blonde Woman: But first we look at America's ongoing battle with debt. The average American household now owes more than $8000 dollars, on average, to a credit card company. Are we swiping those cards too much or are we just not making smart decisions about what cards to use? The answer may be a little bit of both, when we take a look in this morning's "Credit Card Wars".

Voiceover: Americans love credit.

Man 1: I have 15 credit cards.

V.O.: Americans have six hundred ninety-two million credit cards. If you stretch them end-to-end you could stretch them around the world at the equator, then draw a line from New York to Perth and still have 300 miles of cards leftover. And all those cards carry a big bill! Americans have a grand total of $711 billion dollars of credit debt. That's nearly equal to the gross domestic product of India. But that isn't keeping the credit card companies from luring more customers with attractive perks and talk of low rates.

Commercial V.O.: Choose any airline with no blackout dates.

Ralph Andretta: Our points never expire, there's no earnings cap, and you can use them for almost anything. You can download iTunes, you can dine in a great restaurant, go to a Broadway premiere, you can walk between the ropes at a golf tournament, you can even fly in space.

V.O.: As credit card companies try harder and harder to find new customers, the junk mail solicitations have even started landing in e-mail inboxes. Consumer watchdogs, especially wary of retail stores who offer credit cards, say the math just doesn't add up.

Meghann: What you don't realize is that you're getting into a credit card. You know, this is an incentive for you to sign up with a credit card to incur some debt.

V.O.: But with discounts on clothing and free vacations on the line, shoppers are finding it hard to stop swiping.
Blonde woman: As part of our partnership with the Wall Street Journal, we turn now to Ron Lieber, he writes the financial column called "The Green Thumb" in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Good morning to you.

Ron: Good morning.

Blonde woman: So give us some advice. If you're not going to just cut up all the cards, which would probably be the best thing for some of us to do, realistically, should you have a couple cards, should you have a lot of cards? Everybody's going to have some credit debt, right?

Ron: Sure, well you should have the right cards for the right job, I mean these things are, they're essentially power tools. I mean they could do a lot of damage if you don't know how to use them correctly, and they can help you manage your finances and keep track of your expenses and earn a lot of rewards if you use them properly.
Blonde woman: Alright, so if you're going to just have a couple, how do you find, first of all, the best interest rates?
Ron: Well the problem with trying to find the best interest rate is that the interest rate that you're going to be offered is totally going to depend on your credit report and credit score. So it's important to know what that is. And then, you know, what you get in the mail, may well depend on what the score is, what other kinds of activity you have. So you can't necessarily say, "This company's going to offer you the best interest rate," you just have to see.

Blonde woman: When you get an offer of a low rate, is it good to transfer the balance of what you had over to the new card? Is that a good idea?

Ron: Balance transfers can be a terrific tool. Often there are a lot of companies that'll offer you 0% for as much as twelve months or longer, but there's a couple things that you have to watch out for.

Blonde woman: Which are?

Ron: Well you start, first of all, with paying very close attention to the fees. They may charge you a flat fee of $50-

Blonde woman: A one time fee that has nothing to do with the interest rate-

Ron: A one time fee, has nothing to do with the interest rate, called a balance transfer fee, and, you know that may be a flat fee or a percentage of the balance that you're transferring over.

Blonde woman: And you also told us something interesting, that I had no idea, you have to watch during that first year of the 0% rate that you don't miss a payment or you're not late on a payment, not only to the credit card company but other bills you pay?

Ron: It's crucial to pay on time, it's crucial to pay everyone on time. You want to read the fine print, you want to see the rules, you want to pay your car company on time, you want to pay your electric bill on time.
Blonde woman: The card company kind find out if you paid your electric bill late? And then raise your credit card rate?

Ron: Right, because they're checking your credit score and your credit report, and if it looks like you're paying everybody else late, then all of a sudden you're a higher credit risk so they reserve the right to jack up your rate.

Blonde woman: The fine print. Tell me about rewards and perks. 'Cause everybody's going for these cards now that have rewards. Start with the miles, frequent flier miles. Is that a good way to go and what card?

Ron: Sure, miles is a great way to go. You've got to decide, you know, whether you want miles or merchandise or cash. If you want miles, one good card is the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card. Now that's a hotel card, right? But you can turn those hotel points into frequent flier miles and the effective yield is 1.25 miles per dollar spent on the card.

Blonde woman: What about cash back?

Ron: Cash back, there are a couple good ways to go. There's a card from Chase that's only available in their branches now, but that earns 5% back at gas stations, drug stores, and grocery stores, 1% everywhere else. There's a card from American Express, the Blue cash card, that does something similar. And a couple cards from Fidelity that are 1.5% back.

Blonde Woman: And for merchandise, real quick, you say American Express is the best?

Ron: Membership rewards has a good program with Amex, a lot of merchandise, you know fancy things do, that you can't necessarily get from other cards.

Blonde woman: Excellent, great advice. Thanks so much.

The actual soundbite clocks in at around 9 seconds, so don't hiccup or you'll miss it. We've already registered "Consumerist Website" as our new URL to take advantage of the traffic flow. — BEN POPKEN

UPDATE: Full segment added inside.

Took a couple cellphone shots and uploaded them here. No shots of Ben during the interview because Meghann couldn't figure out how to use the cameraphone because Ben smashed the cellphone screen. — BEN POPKEN

"Collector: You're so ignorant. Ignorant. You need to go back to Mexico. Consumer: OK, ma'am. Collector: Haha! Watch me big boy. Watch me. "

Listen to this heinous call (part 1, part 2) and read the transcript inside.

This is why consumers need to be aware of their rights under the Fair Debt Collection Act. Some debt collectors will use illegal and abusive tactics if they think you don't know what parts of the law are on your side.

Collector: Are you ashamed of your name? Your parents gave it to you. Are you ashamed of it?

Consumer: Mmm, maybe so, but...

Collector: Probably so, probably so, probably so.

Consumer: OK. Yeah. Well, when he gets home, I will give him the message.

Collector: Hmm, hmm. Yeah. Just let him know I need him to call me now. What part of this don't you understand? Call him now!

Consumer: OK. Like I said, as soon as he gets home, I will give it to him.

Collector: Call him now.

Consumer: Do you understand what I just said?

Collector: Do you not understand?

Consumer: Uh, like I said, when he gets home, I'll...

Collector: OK. Gues what you just caused to happen? Good luck to you, good luck to you. Good luck to him. And next time, stay off the phone. Put an adult on there. Put an adult on the telephone. Babies shouldn't play with the phone; it's against the policy.

Collector: Are you too dense to understand what I'm saying to you?

Consumer: No, it's just...

Collector: Do you not understand? Is there someone else there that's got some intelligence that I can talk to?

Consumer: No, not right now.

Collector: You need to go get the next-door neighbor and put him on the phone with somebody I can talk to, someone that understands.

Consumer: Well, he comes back at about 7.

Collector: No, you need to understand what you're saying. Go get the next-door neighbor and let me explain to them. Obviously you don't have a head for business.

Consumer: No I can't do that, ma'am.

Collector: Then I'm gonna call the neighbor and go knock on the door and ask for them. I'll get in touch with your neighbor to come knock on the door and see if they can't get him up. If you don't want to do what's right, then guess what? You just got him sued in the court of law.

Consumer: OK, ma'am.

Collector: You're so ignorant. Ignorant. You need to go back to Mexico.

Consumer: OK, ma'am.

Collector: Haha! Watch me big boy. Watch me.

— BEN POPKEN

Debt Collectors Gone Wild [ABC News]

What does this mean to you? Well, that "dark cherry accent table," with the shelf tag that mentioned solid wood legs, might be made of fiberboard.

"After a few seconds with a power sander, we uncovered something else.
"This is clearly not cherry. This is fiberboard. And then here's the finish."

The story goes on to describe wood names used in furniture lacking that type of wood.

"We discovered the surface wasn't maple — or any other kind of wood.
It was more like contact paper over a core of particle board and fiberboard."

It used to be against the rules for manufacturers to use a type of wood in their product description if it didn't contain that wood."

They also discovered fake leather being marketed as ""100 percent split grain cow hide," by World Market.

Whoops. ABC recommends asking for a written warranty (not paying for one), a signed letter detailing what materials the furniture contains and guaranteeing a full refund should you discover any fakes, and, of course, don't assume that table is maple just because the tag says so.—MEGHANN MARCO

When Buying Furniture, Don't Always Trust the Tags [ABC]
World Market Fake Chair [World Market]

UPDATE: Here's the show transcript.

UPDATE: Video fixed and running

20/20's John Stossel interviews Consumerist editor Ben Popken. Subject is consumers recording their customer service experiences with audio and video and sharing them on the internet. They include several examples in the piece, so it's a bit of a fun one.

Go here to see our collection of video clips. Here is where you can find our audio content.

A little bit about our site and how it works.

First off, we're a blog. We write at least 18 stories a day. They appear from top to bottom, newest to oldest. You can tell you're reading a different story because there's a new big bolded headline.

Our FAQ is a good place to start for general info.

All our posts can be commented on, but to be a commentor, you must be approved. Read here for more info about how commenting works.

Here are most of the videos and audio mentioned in tonight's show:

Sleepy Comcast Guy
Vincent's AOL Call
Soldier vs. HP printer
QVC Ladder Falls Down
911 Fix My Burger King Order
911, "Do you want us to shoot her?"
iPod's Dirty Secret
GE Water Cooler Stinks

Many of the stories we write are generated by reader feedback. You can mail in your complaints or tips to tips at consumerist.com. If we like it, it might show up on the blog! Here's a sort of primer on what we look for in a story. Here are some reader letters that made it to our complaints section.

Be sure to check out the stories in our "Consumerist Kit." They're chock-full of money-saving, time-saving tips and definitive ways to fight back against companies screwing us over.

Click around, have fun, let us know what you think, and thanks for stopping by.

Apparently, at one point we describe this blog by saying, "It's a party. A consumer party!"

We'll leave it to you to make up an appropriate drinking game in the comments.

Rather, we spent this afternoon shooting a bit for 20/20. Entitled, "Your Call Is Very Important To Us," the piece is us chatting with John Stossel about the phenomenon of consumers recording their customer service experiences and sharing them on the internet.

Produced by Polly Kreisman, the session was fun, and providing a sympathetic editor, should be our best TV appearance yet. Set your DVR's for Friday, October 13th, 10pm, ABC. We got to say "j-school dropouts" and "flat chested hipster douchebags."

Fun pix inside.

Pimp car service. Note gold embossed clock.

ABC, establishing shot.

This is the same room where we shot the Nightline piece, just without so many fake bookshelves. The techs referred to this as as a "movable feast."

Us with the venerable Polly Kreisman. The white balance comes out better in post.

Blog lit all aglow.

We forgot to get a picture of us and Stossel. In its stead, one of the newscaster photos decorating a stretch of hall on the 9th floor, entitled, "Stossel at play."

NYU interns valiantly attempt to get us timely car service.

As we waited, we snapped this photo of their required reading material "Who's pulling your strings? How to break the cycle of manipulation and regain control of your life." Poor souls.

According to ABC's movie, one of the September 11th terrorists — Mohammed Atta — as having been flagged as a security risk at Boston's Logan Airport by American Airlines personnel. According to The Path to 9/11, the personnel then shrugged and chipperly let him on the plane anyway.

Even if that were true, it likely wouldn't have made any difference: there were other terrorists on that flight. It wasn't manpower that allowed Al Qaeda to fly the planes into the World Trade Center: it was a couple decades worth of indoctrination into a mindset that if your plane was hijacked, you just sat back and enjoyed your free side trip to Cuba. Terrorists would not be able to take over a plane with the same tactics anymore.

But, of course, it wasn't true. It wasn't American Airlines personnel at all that allowed Mohammed Atta on the plane; it was US Airways personnel. And it didn't happen in Boston, it happened in Maine. This is all clearly documented in the 9/11 Commission's report.

American Airlines are so pissed, they're threatening to withdraw all advertising from the ABC network, and are also murmuring ominously about lawsuits.

AA Prepared to Pull Ads From ABC [Mediaweek]

Vincent Ferrari cancelling AOL
Brian Finklestein's sleepy Comcast tech
David Berlind getting a refund from T-Mobile hotspot

What are we leaving out? What are your faves?

Here's the video of us on Nightline along with Vincent Ferrari this past Friday, July 14th. People seem to enjoy the part where we say "So?" We like it when Vincent says "Vent their spleen!" Though we really wished they included our metaphor about crack rocks. Nightline definitely nails the best rendering of the cancel call we've seen. They re-edited the recording to leave in the juicy bits, then present the transcript with snazzy bubbles.

Here's direct links to the stories mentioned in the piece:

• Vincent's AOL Call
• Tropicana Suckage
• Circuit City Executive Phone Numbers
• Dell Laptop Burning
• Starbucks Rant
• Sleepy Comcast Tech Videoed
• Trying to Provoke Comcast Tech
• Agents of Walmart

What's next? You tell us.

UPDATE: Here's what's next. We got our hands on an AOL retention manual and found some very creepy bits...

UPDATE: Comcast censored the Nightline piece in its rebroadcast, deletting the part showing aninfamous YouTube of a Comcast tech sleeping on a customer's couch. Watch the cut here.

UPDATE: Full copy of the AOL manual here.

Vicky Mabrey asked us what we thought about the Sleepy Comcast Guy and John losing their jobs. We told her that we thought it was great, they should have been fired. But John was just doing his job, Vicky said. No one should be paid to humiliate and manipulate another person, we responded. But John was just trying to make his six bucks (the supposed fee retention consultants get for every member they save), she said. Sure, we said, and we can go around the corner and make six bucks off selling a rock of crack, but that doesn't make it a good job to be doing.

We were also asked if we thought it was fair that one consumer could complain and cause so much damage. Fair? It's beyond fair, we said. It's the definition of fairness. We wish we had added that it's more than fair, it's justice. Might not making right. Holding an entity accountable for its actions. It's called the freedom of speech, as well capitalism in fine fiddle.

We stumbled several times when they asked about the philosophy of The Consumerist. Philosophy? We're just looking for material! Maybe in the post cranking, we haven't taken the time to think on the matter. What do you think? What's our raison d'etre? What do you get out of it all? This way, we'll know better what to say next time...

Until then, the Nightline piece airs this Friday, July 14th at 11:35 PM ET on ABC. We smiled and cracked some jokes and got some good material in there. The piece is supposed to be pretty chunky, about 7-9 minutes long. Check your local listings.

Good times!

There will be no moustache men to cut us off this time, and we'll try not to bang our watch to punctuate our sentences.

We're taping this Tuesday, July 11th, so if you've got any special requests, that's your due date.

When major corporations suddenly find that their business model is slaloming down the technological curve into obsolescence, they almost always do one thing: bully, strong-arm, lobby and sue anyone they can get their hands on to artificially preserve themselves. You saw it with the RIAA; you saw it with the MPAA. And now network television is getting in on the act, because Tivos kill ad revenue.

It's a tough pickle for the networks, alright. They require people to view ads to pay for their shows, but technology means people don't have to watch them anymore. We're a little unclear how DVRs are any different than VCRs in their capability to skip ads, but whatever: one thing's for sure, we can probably expect a lot of obnoxious moves to try to trick us into watching ads before the battle's inevitably lost by ABC.

Oh, hey! Here's the first one!

ABC wants to kill DVR ad-skipping [Ad Jab]