"People think when they come to court that they are going to get instant relief," said Judge Rebecca Dallet of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. "We can give what the law allows, but we have no way of getting the money for them. I don't think people realize that."

In two stories over the past few days, Ellen Gabler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has tried to track down Craig Hueffner, who has sold spas through the Wisconsin State Fair for most of the past 11 years. There's a fairground pavilion named after him, and his caricature is painted on it. His brother was even present this year selling spas. But many customers have had trouble getting Hueffner to pay contractually obligated rebates (which he offered even when he knew that the company behind the rebates was having financial problems)—and it seems no one can track him down, because he repeatedly gives incorrect addresses and contact information.

Those who've tried to sue Hueffner in small claims court say he's an expert at wriggling out of his responsibility to pay. He lists different addresses and different business names to avoid being served with court papers, they say, and he stalls in court.

After the first article appeared, some customers were given a lucky break—Hueffner's real address—but Hueffner may have frustrated and exhausted the couple to the point that they're giving up:

After Sunday's P.I. story appeared, Albert and Sally Merschdorf received a call from someone who knew Hueffner's home address. The Merschdorfs gave up trying to sue Hueffner last October after they said they spent at least $300 and many hours trying to track him down and serve him with court papers.

"At this point, I don't know if it's going to do me any good," Albert Merschdorf said of Hueffner's address. "It's frustrating getting it now, rather than when we were trying to serve him (with court papers.)"

There's not much you can do to help track down Hueffner, but you can ask Bob Lauter, the CEO of Master Spas, whether or not he's still doing business with Hueffner even after knowing what he's been doing to customers. Lauter told the paper that he'd investigate, but then fell silent and stopped returning calls:

Craig Hueffner worked as an independent dealer of Master Spas, a brand of hot tubs sold by the Fort Wayne, Ind., company.

Bob Lauter, CEO of Master Spas, said he knew Hueffner had run into trouble with the rebate program but said he didn't know about the judgments against Hueffner or customer complaints. He also said his company hadn't sold Hueffner products in six months.

"We have to look at this, re-evaluate it, and probably terminate him as a dealer," Lauter said. "I don't want our customers to be involved with that."

Three weeks later, however, Lauter wouldn't return repeated calls, so Public Investigator could not confirm whether Hueffner was terminated as a dealer.

Here's Master Spas' contact info:

Master Spas
6927 Lincoln Parkway
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
260-436-9100

"Spa dealer elusive in paying court-ordered debts" [JS Online]
"'Spa Man’ still elusive, even at home " [JS Online] (Thanks to !)
(Photo: Getty)

TransUnion
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834

Experian
P.O. Box 9530
Allen, TX 70513

Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374

(Photo: Getty)

Micah's correspondence with Electronic Arts appears below:

I preordered Warhammer: Age of Reckoning in March, but I have moved. I updated my shipping and billing address, but the invoice still reflects my old address. Will this automatically update when the game ships, or will that have to be done seperately?

Hi Micah,

Thanks for providing information. Here is the Codes for "Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition" you want to have:
Beta Code: xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Bonus Code: xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Head Start Code: xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Please let us know if there is anything else needed.

Thanks,
Razia

So just to confirm, the collector's edition, when shipped, will be mailed to my new address, correct?

Thanks for your time.

Hi Micah,
Thank you for contacting back.

I have searched your Order Id # xxxxxxxxxx and found that the Shipping address that is listed on your order is "xxxx xxxxxxx Avenue, RALEIGH NC, 27607 US " . Hence your order will be shipped on the same address as listed on your Order Invoice.

Please let us know if there is anything else needed.
Thank you,
Razia

That is the reason I started this in the first place. I no longer live at xxxx xxxxxxx Avenue. I now live at xxxx-x xxxxx Street. I need the invoice updated to ship to my current address. What do I need to do to make this happen? Thanks.

Hi Micah,

Thank you for writing back.

Unfortunately, you can not change your shipping address after your order has been submitted. The order is immediately sent to the fulfillment agency and can no longer be changed by our system.However as this game is being sold as preorder now and it is no longer available on the site so you can not place a new order on your desired address.

Please let us know if there is anything else needed.

Thank you,
Razia

So it's either cancel my order and don't receive the now sold-out collector's edition, or just let it ship to a place I don't live, hope the people living there hold onto it for me, and then reverse charges on my credit card when I never receive the item? It seems there should be some way of contacting the fulfillment agency if you're going to release a presell of a collector's edition 8 months before the game even comes out.

Hi,
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts accounts services. In order to assist you with this issue, we will need some information. Please provide us the following information:
- Order number:
- Full name used to place the order:
- Email address used to place the order:
- Last 4 digits of the Credit card used to place the order:
- Date of birth as listed on the account:
- Zip Code as listed on the account:
Once we have this information we will be able to look into your
situation further.
Thank you,
Rudra

Um... that information was provided further down in the email.

Hi Micah,

Thank you for providing the information.

We have now issued refund for the same, we request you to please wait for 3 to 5 business days and the money will be credited back to your account. If your refund issue remains, please reply to this mail with your refund request number "Refund # 80981409". Let us know if there is anything else needed.

Thank you,
Rudra

I've tried being nice, but I've had about as much of this runaround as I can take. I don't want a refund. I want my !#$%ing game. If you can cancel the order, you can update the address. If you don't want to do it, give me the phone number of someone who will. You say the fulfillment agency has the information already and you can't change it, fine. Give me their number. If you've cancelled my order, then apparently there's now one for sale. I don't care how you do it. I want my bloody game. If you can't do it, give me the number of someone higher who can.

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts Customer Support. This is the highest level of support.

Your order has been cancelled per your request. We cannot re-create your order. Please attempt to purchase your game from some other online source as we are sold out.

If you need additional assistance or have further questions please reply to this email or visit our self help knowledge base at http://support.ea.com

Thank you,
Samuel
Senior Representative
Electronic Arts Customer Support

Electronic Arts boasts that "only 60,000 units of the Collector's Edition will be available," but adds: "(We're making a couple extra, but those are for us!)" Why not send Micah one of your extra copies free of charge, Electronic Arts, as a way of saying "sorry we didn't use a half-competent processor!"

Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Attn: David Leach, CEO
15110 Dallas Pkwy, Suite 600
Dallas, TX 75248-4635

Operator with Executive Office: 214-849-8219
Bryan: 214-849-8217
Ursala: 214-849-8215
Safety Dept: 214-849-8214
Claudette: 214-849-8213
Jennell: 214-849-8211

These are the numbers that I was able to reach people, however, you can try to reach other live people by dialing 214-849-82XX

Mail customer service complaints to:
Customer Service
Greyhound Lines, Inc.
P.O. Box 660689, MS 490
Dallas, TX 75266-0689

Greyhound's parent company:
Laidlaw Inc.
Kevin Benson, CEO
55 Shulman Boulevard, Suite 400
Naperville, IL 60563
U.S.A.

Laidlaw's parent company:
First Group PLC
Attn: Moir Lockhead, CEO
Carmuirs House
300 Stirling Road
Larbert
FK5 3NJ

Greyhound Bus Call To Action
(Photo: Omar Omar)

I recently moved to a new apartment, and since I could actually get a decent speed on AT&T, I went with them instead of Comcast. I knew from the beginning that having an address of 914.5 (yes, ½) would pose problems, but I never realized how bad. Let’s go through the phases:

First phone call – I tried ordering AT&T internet, but the salesperson on the phone had a really difficult time finding my address in their system. She thought that we were listed as simply 914, and we set up the order as so with a note specifying that the address was actually 914.5, and the installation date was set for the next week. Okay, not so bad.

Second phone call – Two weeks later, still no internet. I called again, asking about service, and they told me a serviceman had been out and installed everything necessary. They offered to send another guy out to try and fix the problem, so that was the end of that.

Third phone call – I get the basic introduction letter in the mail, welcoming me to AT&T service. However, it originally went to 914, and somehow ended up in my mailbox. I tried calling AT&T again, mentioned the problem may just be the fact that they keep going to the wrong address. This time, they actually managed to get the address right in the system, and opened a new work order and dsl number for me. It would take another week for them to get a service tech out, but I waited patiently because I didn’t need internet that bad.

Fourth phone call – I got a bill in the mail for 914, the original dsl service that I never had. Call in and they say don’t worry about it, it’s just a mistake in the system and it’ll be taken care of. By this time, my internet is working on the correct dsl service, so I believe all is well.

Fifth phone call – I get an overdue notice, and a letter from collections from the original service. Now they told me to not worry about it, but a letter from collections just slightly bugs me. I call in, attempt to explain my story about having a new service number, and get treated like a liar and a criminal. She was the rudest person I have ever talked to in my life, and I don’t think she even looked at my file on their computer, just demanded payment. I asked to be transferred to someone else, and actually talked to someone helpful. She took a look at it, noticed the countless notes saying my service had been cancelled due to the wrong address, and corrected the bill. She also offered me a $50 gift card because of everything I went through, which I thought was good retribution. But yeah, I also think they lied about that because it’s been a couple months and that has never shown up.

Moral of the story – Get a good address. The ½ detail can really throw a company off for two months, and don’t trust any telecom company, they’re all a bunch of liars.

Michael

Hey, AT&T, where's this guy's gift card?

Do all companies freak out when your address has fractions? Or did AT&T never get past integers in grade school?

(Photo: jetsetpress )

Richard writes:

I went and purchased me an iPhone, then went home to activate my service. I was then advised that I needed to go to one of the retail locations to pay a deposit. So I drive 15 miles to the nearest retail store to have my services activated. I was told that I had to pay a $750.00 deposit....wow did not know that deposits could be that high. Anyway I paid it because I wanted the service. I took the activation receipt back home and attempted to activate the service. The registry kept rejecting me stating the my information was wrong and the address did not match. I contacted ATT customer service and spoke with Tasha who told me that the representative at the ATT store ran my credit in the wrong market because the address was not matching the activation code that was given after the deposit was made.

I returned to the store that same day and spent 2 hours while the two representatives were trying to figure out the problem. I felt like I worked there after being there for so long. The store closed and I was still trying to get the problem resolved. After 3 days of problem solving, phone call to customer service and making the same 15 mile drive back and forth to the ATT store and the problem not being resolved, I lost interest in having the service.

I asked the store for a refund of my 750.00. I was told that the money they demanded on the same day that I was supposed to get service, I was going to have to wait 7-10 business days to get in the mail. This was on February 12, here it is March 5 and I still have not received any refund. I was then told by store managers Karen and Joe that the check was in the mail and the hold up was address information, which was how all this started because someone was not doing there job and making sure information was entered in correctly. I was not even notified that there was an address error. I gave them a contact number for that reason. I called again today March 5 and was told the check was in the mail and I should receive it in 7 days. Are you serious! Why should I be required to wait for something that was taken, yes taken and nothing was bought. As far as I'm concerned that's stealing. So now I don't have a iPhone because I could not get service and I don't have my 750.00.

Yes, I know. Trust me thats the same thing that I said. I know my credit is not great. I believe it is somewhere around 560 - 580. My thing was that as all this was going on I could not even get an explanation as to why the deposit was so high. Most are 500.00 tops. But I just want people to know that this kind of service should not go on. I have reported them to the BBB and the Attorney Generals Office as well.

After another 2-3 weeks I received my monies back but no compensation for time off work and inconveince that all that has caused me. ATT stated that they have no control over the deposit and cant offer me any service because I dont have an account with them. Well thats obvious, the reason that I dont have an account is because they were screwing things up when I gave them the money to set it up.

PREVIOUSLY: Contact AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson
Reach AT&T Wireless Executive Customer Service
(Photo: afagen)

Working
stephanie.comfort@qwest.net - Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy
teresa.taylor@qwest.net - Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer
john.richardson@qwest.net - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President

Bounced back
edward.mueller@qwest.net - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
richard.baer@qwest.net - Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
william.johnston@qwest.net - Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, Controller
frank.popoff@qwest.net - Found a press release referring to him, I believe he's on the Board.

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"Qwest Sells Woman "Cheaper" Package That Costs More, Has Unmentioned 2-Year Commitment, And Requires New Modem"

It's amazing, really, that someone didn't think to aggregate "public personal" data like this before. Flock sort of does it, but it's an entire web browser, and it only uses your own accounts' buddy lists in a very unsneaky way.
 
If you're like Matthew and want zero visibility on your accounts, you're going to have to do some low-tech account manipulation, like using custom addresses for each service so that no two accounts share the same address.
 
Identifight.org
 
RELATED
"Spokeo, the Big Brother of social networking" [Pandia]
"Spokeo" [Ask.com]
Spokeo.com
Flock.com

On January 17th, my colleague Matthew Newton poked his head into my office. He'd also donated, and was also impatiently waiting for his XO. He told me that he'd just spent an hour on the phone with OLPC customer service, and had been told that they didn't have his shipping address, as a result of some glitch relating to the fact he'd paid via PayPal.

I too had paid with PayPal...but I didn't have an hour to spare. So I checked the "Track Your Order" link and entered my e-mail address and tracking number. That sent me to a page saying I'd probably received my XO, with...confusingly...a link to a page that it said would let me track my order. I clicked on that link, and got a page not found error.

Today, I happened to be in the office early, so I called OLPC support and turned on my speakerphone. Thirty-five minutes later, the call rang through to a rep. Who told me that they didn't have a mailing address for me. (Like Matthew, I paid via PayPal.)

I gave him the address and asked when I might expect the laptop. He told me that OLPC doesn't tell them when machines are going out...but that I might have good news in February. I'll believe it when I see it.

Where the Heck is my OLPC XO Laptop? [PC World]
(Photo: fumi)

My wife and I signed up for Dish Network service last summer '06 and were fairly happy with it. Come this August we moved into a new house where another service was available and decided to switch. I called and canceled our service approximately 2-3 weeks before we were set to move (paying a prorated disconnect fee in the process), scheduling the last day of service to be the last day of the month. I was told by the Customer Service rep that I would receive pre-paid 'courtesy' UPS boxes to return the equipment. We expected the boxes to arrive before we moved, considering we'd given ample notice.

However, come moving day, no boxes had arrived. "No problem" we thought. After all, we had a forwarding address set up and if junk mail can find its way from the old address to the new, surely something as large as this will too.

Come next month I happen to look at my bank account and there's a $300 charge to Dish Network. I received no bill, no phone call, my bank account is simply $300 poorer. I immediately called them back and requested an explanation. It seems that the boxes were sent to our old address and not forwarded. They'll resend the boxes which should arrive in 3-5 business daysand as soon as we have a UPS tracking number, the money will be refunded. Case closed. Or so I thought.

Fast forward two weeks and the boxes haven't arrived. I called customer service again. Guess what? They sent the boxes to our old apartment address... again. I asked if there was a location near where I lived so that I could drop the equipment off myself and get my money back. I'm given a number to a local distributer. I'm told to leave a message and they'll get back to me. While waiting to hear back from the distributer I received a bill for $24.75 from none other than Dish Network. But I canceled the service! Ah, but I owe $25 in sales tax for the $300 worth of equipment I don't want. And here's the kicker: it's addressed correctly at our new house.

I, for a fourth time, call up customer service on Monday Nov 5th. In a rather irritated tone I skip the niceties and ask for the boxes to be sent to the address that I now know is quite firmly in their computer system. I'm assured that they'll be resent and that I'd have them by Friday. That was yesterday. Calling again this morning I'm told that the boxes have been mailed to my old apartment complex for a THIRD TIME. Supposedly they've sent a fourth set to my house this time, (which apparently will take 7-10 business days to arrive, contrary to the 3-5 it's always taken before) and I can finally get my money back.

I'm hoping that the inept CS reps can connect the addresses long enough to get these mailed correctly, but I expect in about 2 weeks I'll call back and yet again be told that they were sent swiftly to my old address along with a $24.75 charge going to collections (assuming it isn't withdrawn from my account without my permission again). Any advice (and publicity) is appreciated.

(Photo: diaper)

"The primary objective of both lawsuits is to get TTP out of Missouri," said Gregory Leyh of Gladstone, the attorney for both class-action lawsuits. "TTP cheats by pretending to be a local florist so it can fool consumers and steal the legitimate business of Missouri florists. At least for now, TTP is no longer in the floral business in Missouri."

TTP's president, Thomas Meola, said the company could no longer afford the cost of defending the lawsuits.

"This is a victory for us," said Debbie Fulton, owner of Gladstone Florist on North Oak Trafficway. "We noticed our business began to pick up this summer, when it is normally down. Then we found out that the telemarketer had disconnected the phone."

Local florists score victory over telemarketing scheme [KCCommunityNews]
(AP Photo/Greg Baker)