Today, I tried to sign up for the Tonik insurance plan through Blue Cross in California. I answered all their questions and based on my answers was quoted a certain price for health insurance. I then gave them my CC information. Upon completion of this transaction I received the following email:

Congratulations! Your application has been approved for DN15 with a 20% increase in premium. This decision was based on the information you submitted.

I could send you the full text of the email, but you get my issue. Nowhere did I have the ability to deny this coverage. I then had to argue with them for an hour to get them to cancel. I had to send a screenshot of the total page which did not say anywhere that they could just randomly raise the price. After an hour of throwing a hissy fit and getting them to let me email the cancellation instead of faxing it they finally sent me a cancellation email. I still don't feel safe though.

I think people should know about this. It can't be legal. I'm also sending you the screenshot I took of the total page. I should have known better than to sign up for insurance called the "thrill seeker" but I was desperate and they tried to take advantage of me.

Is there any place to report these deceptive and evil insurance selling practices? You can't just quote someone a price, take their money and then raise the price, can you? I would also like to add that I am an attorney and I did read the fine print.

Aasma, you may want to try contacting the California Department of Insurance to ask them where to complain about what happened. You should also check out the Health Insurers page on the California Attorney General's website for more information.

I have been battling with a silly preconception the federal government has concerning my status as a deceased person, that causes them to routinely shut down credit cards that I am using, and stresses my ability to build credit. (All this despite being actively enlisted in the US Navy)...

I have managed to track this anomaly down to TranUnion, Equifax, and Experian having records of my death, and that these originated from Best Buy of all places, with whom I held an account with, and subsequently canceled. (Who knew the penalty was doom?) I do not know which exactly of the three I should contact, or all three, and more importantly I was wondering if you knew of the proper format, or a template I could fill out and mass/mail to these three companies, before the damage to my credit keeps me from getting a home?

Hi John,

You need to contact all three of them. You can do this online for free by going through annualcreditreport.com. There's links at each of the bureaus for disputing items on your credit report. Follow them and the instructions and let them know that reports of your death are greatly exaggerated.

The cancellation seems legit—the plane simply won't be there when it's scheduled—but because United is calling it weather-related, they don't have to compensate Jonathan or find him a seat on another carrier.

I bought tickets on United for my friend to fly from Boston (BOS) to Chicago (ORD) leaving last Friday and returning today. On the way out she was delayed nearly four hours due to mechanical and paperwork problems. At this point I was already expecting some form of compensation as a loyal United customer for years.

Yesterday United calls to say her returning flight has been canceled. She was supposed to leave at 8am to get a half day of work in, but apparently the next available United flight leaves at 1pm. That won't work, I explain, and ask for the ticket to be endorsed to another carrier that can meet our schedule. The customer service rep responds that the cancellation is weather-related and therefore not eligible for endorsement.

This sounded pretty fishy - a flight canceled a day in advance due to weather? I first check other United flights in the morning and hers is the only one canceled. How could that be if there’s bad weather? The rep explains the weather's earlier in the morning; the plane couldn't make it to Chicago for her flight. Same problem - only the one flight in from Boston was canceled. In addition, flights on other major carriers were all still scheduled. So at this point it's not weather in the early morning either.

I finally get a supervisor who explains that the bad weather was yesterday night, and United canceled a flight to Boston which would have positioned the plane to head to Chicago early today and finally back to Boston for our flight. To verify this new story I checked the FAA's airport status site, which said there were only delays of up to 45 minutes in Boston because of thunderstorms. And again, other United flights and carriers were making it into Boston, albeit with substantial delays. Doesn't sound like a forced cancellation to me.

United's claim to weather isn't the usual and understandable problem, then - storms between the endpoints during the flight. Nor is it even weather for the flight inbound, which is a bit of a stretch for me; if the skies are clear I feel it's up to the airline to find a plane. If other carriers can fly the route, it's not weather. United’s claim is bad weather the day before that seems to have selectively impacted them. No way does weather - which may not even have been cancellation-worthy - the day before, two flights before, justify this cancellation. I’ve heard stories of airlines stretching what counts as a weather-related delay / cancellation before, but this is a whopper.

Jonathan asks, "How would you suggest approaching an airline in future when they claim weather is a factor when you feel it isn’t? How would you frame a request to United for compensation? And what compensation do you feel it would be appropriate to ask for?"

Jonathan, you might want to try calling the FAA's hotline to ask them if there's any sort of regulation about this. You should also escalate this up to the executive level and demand some clarification about United's official "weather cancellation" policy. Finally, you may want to try contacting the travel writer/advocate Christopher Elliott at www.elliott.org—this is the kind of topic he might know more about, or he might be able to ask an airline representative on your behalf.

Readers, any suggestions? Do any of you know whether there's a statute of limitations on blaming weather for canceled flights?

(Photo: Getty)

One passenger describes the incident, "...and then they closed them behind glass doors, and they kind of threatened us that they weren't going to fly with the way people were acting. Some people got very agitated."

Another passenger says that a few people were using harsh language and acting like a mob. That's when two American Airlines crew members refused to work in a "hostile" environment. American was unable to find another crew.

"They gave us a hotel and all that, but the hotel we stayed at had barbed-wire all around it. Nice place. Nice hotel, but barbed-wire around it," another passenger told Fox 5.

The passengers may have been rude, but American certainly got the last laugh. When the passengers finally arrived at LaGuardia the following evening—they found out that their bags had been sent to JFK.

American Airlines Cancels Flight Due to Hostile Passengers [MYFoxNY]

Aaron writes to United Airlines:

On August 5th, 2007, I had a flight from Dulles Airport to Zurich. I was meeting my family there for an once-in-a-lifetime hiking trip. I boarded the plane without difficulties, when the plane experienced a series of mechanical difficulties. We were kept on the plane, during an especially hot D.C. summer day, without power, without air-conditioning for two hours. We were then told to de-board the plane. We sat at the airport for a while, then re-boarded the plane, sat on the plane for another two hours, then de-boarded again. We then waited again at the airport for an hour, when it became impossible to make the flight to Zurich without violating your union policies. So the flight was canceled six miserable hours after it was supposed to take-off. I completely understand how this could happen. I can only imagine how complicated those airplanes are and I certainly appreciate safety precautions taking precedence. Though I would have appreciated some more communication and coordination from the customer service agents, I understand that they had limited information.

When the flight was canceled though, that is when the proverbial shit hit the fan. All the customers on the August 5th flight became to clamor to reschedule their flight for the next day. There were only two agents to handle the entire flight. I waited in line for another two hours and they had barely made a dent in the line. So I called a travel agent and had her book me on the next flight. I consider myself lucky to get that one.

At the front of the line they were handing out taxi and hotel vouchers. I live in DC, but it is about a $70 taxi to the airport. I approached the front of the line to ask for my taxi voucher and was told, quite rudely, to stay in line. So I called United Customer Service. They told me that if I took a taxi and saved a receipt I would be refunded the next day when I returned. So I paid for the taxi out of pocket, returned home, and then returned to Dulles the next day. Upon arrival, I checked in, and tried to turn in my receipts. The agent at the counter told me that they would not reimburse me. After explaining what happened the day before, she eventually agreed to give me $200 voucher. I thought this was more than fair. I had only spent $140 on the taxis so this seemed more than fair.

I got on my flight and made it to Zurich. My family was waiting for me in Zurich, and because of the schedule we ended up having to cancel a major portion of our trip. I flew home without incident.

I know that airlines are required by law to compensate their customers when flights are canceled for mechanical problems. Upon returning home, I stopped at the United desk at the airport to ask how we were being compensated for the previous day's fiasco. At first I was told that I had received a $200 voucher, and that was my compensation. With much ado, I finally spoke to a manager who gave me a Systemwide Upgrade and another $100 voucher. I was thrilled with this deal. I was planning on a major international flight the next year and I couldn't wait to fly business class on the flight.

In September I had to fly to Chicago. I went online to buy my flight and found a great deal. Having never used a voucher before, I was surprised to find there was no place on the website to enter the voucher code. I called United Airlines once again. They told me that vouchers could only be redeemed at the time of purchase at the airport.

Let me just take a minute to explain to you how idiotic this is. No one buys paper tickets anymore. No one. The only reason to have paper vouchers that must be redeemed at the airport is to make them impossible to use. But the whole point of vouchers is to make unhappy customers happy. By making the vouchers impossible to redeem you only frustrate the unhappy customer more. This stirs up all the reasons they were unhappy in the first place. This is the internet age. There is NO logical reason not to offer vouchers that can be redeemed online.

Anyway, I went to the airport to buy my ticket. The ticket at the airport was $125 more than online, and then they had the nerve to charge $25 for booking in person. So my $200 (reimbursement) voucher became a $50 pain in my ass.

Fast-forward to early May 2008. As I said before, I've been planning a major trip to Kathmandu, Nepal in early August 2008. I was excited to use my upgrade and voucher on this flight. I started looking at tickets. The cheapest flight from another carrier was $2000. United's cheapest flight was $3000. But I was excited to use my upgrade and at the time I considered the $1000 premium worth it. I called United to book, and was told once again that I needed to go to the airport to redeem both vouchers and upgrades. Fine. So I traveled to the airport to book the flight. At the airport, I'm told that I actually have to mail in my upgrade. I argued for a while, but they were unsympathetic. I asked how long it would take to upload my upgrade to my account and they say a week.

I go home and mail the upgrade immediately to a P.O. Box in South Dakota. FedEX doesn't deliver to P.O. Boxes so I send it Priority Mail. A couple days later it arrives. I still have the tracking receipt. But the upgrade never posts. Meanwhile the cost of the flight keeps inching upward.

Three weeks later, I call Customer Service. I need to book this flight. I spend three hours being routed to different people at different agencies and different people. Much of the time is spent on hold. Your music is awful by the way. The answer I finally get from a manager is that they have no record that I was ever issued an upgrade, and that there is nothing they can do. I ask to be reissued the upgrade, but they refuse.

The only conclusion I can come to from this ordeal is that you have designed your customer service to piss off your customers. Rather than make travel bearable, you antagonize them at every step of the way. Agents lie in order to pass the buck to someone else in the hope that the customer eventually tires and goes somewhere else. Well that's exactly what I'm doing. I am tired of arguing with your agents. I'm tired of being passed from agent to agent. I would rather spend another six hours waiting on a hot tarmac in dark plane with no air-conditioning than deal with another minute of your customer service. That is why I am leaving United, and never coming back.

As a final note, I would like to remind you that I have yet to receive any compensation as required by law for the canceled flight on August 5, 2007. I expect this compensation to the address I have included below promptly. I will not accept vouchers or upgrades. Only cash or check will be accepted. Also, remember that I am concurrently filing this letter with various government agencies, so this letter should serve as notice.

Hopefully this letter will prompt some changes with customer service, but as you can imagine, I'm not holding my breath.

Sincerely,

Aaron

You probably are already aware of this, but because you were flying to Zurich, it's likely that you are entitled to more compensation that your typical hapless domestic traveler. The EU (of which Switzerland is not a member, but does participate in occasionally) has much better traveler's rights laws than we do. Check them out.

Be prepared, however, for airlines to try to weasel out of it.

(Photo: Zonaphoto )

Last year, I worked for Walmart.com as an inbound frontline agent, and was promoted to a resolutions agent several months later...so I know my stuff. This is my advice to the person with the issues with walmart.com.

I used to work for one of the walmart.com call centers a few months ago and have heard stories like this way too many times, especially with the Nintendo Wii bundles. That is part of the reason that they have removed the number from their website and require customers to send in emails now, that a good bit of the agents that are in the US instead of the Philippines barely read...which explains the reply you received. That experience is why I don't even shop at walmart now.

In Walmart.com world, the charge "supposedly" does not clear until the order ships. Until then, it is placed as a hold on your account. If the item has not shipped by the date promised, it can be marked as "lost in transit", even though it really isn't lost, it can be placed in this category according to walmart.com policies told to us agents. Some company documents specify a time period of a week after the estimated arrival date to be considered lost in transit. Because of the price, a supervisor will have to mark the customers account so that they can be refunded. After this happens, the funds will take around a week to be credited (even though a supervisor will tell you 2-3 business days).

Another way to get refunded is to have your credit card/bank card issuer to contact walmart.com and verify that the order is technically "lost in transit". This will verify to the bank that this item is not going to be shipped. By doing this, the bank can then lift the hold. Walmart.com agents can also contact your bank to have the hold removed.

These are the only two ways that I know of that walmart.com will be able to refund the money. Mind you, I did work there until late last year, so some policies may have changed. I hope that you will be able to resolve this soon. I know how hard it is dealing with walmart.com.

Sincerely,
A former Walmart.com Call Center Resolutions Agent

Update - 06/27/08: The Unicorn says Wal-Mart called her today and offered to cancel the order!

Update - 06/26/08: The Unicorn posted a slight correction after we published this story: "hey, just to clarify — after Chris (I think) responded to my email re: the Terms of Service issue, I doublechecked my bank account & the funds haven't actually been withdrawn yet." However, she notes that since she can't cancel the order, those funds remain unavailable.

Here's her full story:

So, the Monday before last (6/16), my husband & I came to the unfortunate realization that the 80GB Playstation 3 we'd been saving up to buy was only available through a limited-edition bundle, & that the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundles were basically unavailable in any store near us. After contacting every Game Stop, Circuit City, Best Buy, Target, etc. in the Chicagoland region, we reluctantly expanded our search to the Walmart website, & after checking back several times, all of a sudden an "add to cart" option appeared next to the listing for the MGS4 PS3 bundle. And rationalizing that patronizing Walmart was worth it in order to get a rare piece of game equipment, we placed an order for the system, which the site said would arrive between Friday 6/20 & Tuesday 6/24. After the order was placed, it showed up as "processing" in Walmart's order tracking system, & I was told I'd receive a second email whenever the system shipped. I figured that was good news, but I was a little worried, because the MGS4 bundle showed up as "out of stock" immediately after the order was placed, & it seemed like a crazy coincidence that I would've gotten the last one.

Here's the thing: don't ever buy anything from Walmart, ever. I knew this, & ignored it, & now I'm paying the price.

Coincidentally, that same Monday night, my husband & I rented a movie from Blockbuster, & in the course of some chitchat the clerk randomly told us that they were the only Chicago store to have the MGS4 bundle in stock. (This was the one in Uptown, for any fellow Chicagoans, although I don't know if they'd have any more.) Since the order from Walmart hadn't shipped yet, we decided a PS3 in-hand was better than the promise of one from a retailer we hated, we took the Blockbuster clerk up on his offer & went home with our new toy.

Our plan was to cancel the Walmart.com order, but as it turns out, it's not possible to cancel online orders once they're placed. Fair enough; we figured we'd just sell the second system at cost on eBay or Craigslist whenever it arrived, or else return it to the store & eat the shipping charges.

...Except, the order is still listed as "processing" in Walmart's order tracking system. It hasn't shipped, & it certainly hasn't arrived by this past Tuesday like it was supposed to. But Walmart was certainly happy to take $550.00 out of my debit account as soon as the order was put through back on the 16th! I've emailed them through their website three times now, explaining that I need the funds freed from my account so that I can patronize a brick-&-mortar store that has the systems in stock. (I figured it would needlessly complicate things to say I already bought another system; the only reason that was even an option is that we're currently flush with wedding-present money, & usually having $550.00 missing from my checking account would automatically preclude any other purchases of similar magnitude.) My last response from Walmart came on June 21st, & it was just a scripted message explaining that they can't cancel online orders in progress because their distributors usually ship things so quickly that it's impossible blah blah blah — clearly not the case here, when the order in question has been languishing unshipped for over a week & Walmart still doesn't have the item in stock. All of this makes me really glad that I actually bought a real-live PS3 when I had the chance, but given that I don't know if Walmart's even going to be getting any additional MGS4 bundles, I'm starting to get worried this order will be stuck in "processing" for the rest of time.

Do you guys have any ideas as to how I can get them to refund the money they're holding hostage? I saw your list of executive numbers, but I don't know that any of those would necessarily be appropriate for an online purchase, & as much as I dislike Walmart, I'm hesitant to call up random people in their corporate office who probably have no recourse to help me with this issue.

We say it's time to go corporate. Don't worry about bothering them—it's why they get paid, to make things happen. In particular, they need to be made aware that they're not honoring their terms of service as listed on their website.

Update!: A former Wal-Mart call center employee has shared some tips on how to resolve outstanding orders like this one.

Terms and Conditions [Wal-Mart]
(Photo: Clean Wal-mart)

Days left | fee

180: $200
180-91: $100
90-30: $50
29-1: $50 or monthly rate, whichever is less.

Glad to see another carrier joining in with declining ETFs. It's that much closer to doing away with them entirely. No word yet on whether this will only apply to new customers.

Here's the text of Tmobile's email announcement.

Beginning on June 28, 2008, the ETF for customers who choose a one-year or two-year service agreement with T-Mobile will decline during the course their contract. The ETF decreases from $200 to $100 if customers terminate service with 91 to 180 days remaining on their agreement; and decreases again to $50 with fewer than 91 days remaining. If customers terminate in the last 30 days of their term, the ETF is $50 or their standard monthly charge, whichever is less.

T-Mobile Eases Early Termination Fees [Washington Post]

(Thanks to Spencer!)

(Photo: shlomp-a-plompa)

I don't know if this qualifies as news or not, but I was getting tired of paying $160/month for cable an internet (one TV). My wife and I decided that now that the Wire, Sopranos, Rome, etc. have gone bye-bye, sacrificing HBO was no big loss. I was then informed that I could cancel HBO for the low, low price of $1.99. But it's free to cancel my Comcast account entirely! Customer service at its finest. Here's the transcript. Enjoy, and please let me know if you decide to print.

user Jonathon_ has entered room

Jonathon: Cancel HBO

analyst Adam has entered room

Adam: Hello Jonathon_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Adam. Please give me one moment to review your information.

Adam: Jonathon, I will be happy to help you with this.

Adam: One moment please while I access your account information.

Adam: Protecting your privacy is a priority to us, before we can provide you with the requested information, we must confirm your identity as the authorized account holder. To do so, we request that you provide Comcast account number or the amount of your last payment.

Jonathon: I don't have either on me at the moment

Jonathon: Hold on and let me see if I can get the amount from my bank account

Adam:Sure

Jonathon: $158.91

Adam: Excellent. Thank you

Adam: Ther is a one time charge of $1.99 to make this change

Jonathon: Pardon me, are you telling me that you are going to charge me a fee to cancel a service?

Adam: Ther is a $1.99 to make a change to the acocunt that is correct

Adam: Either add or remove a package

Jonathon: That's absurd. I'm already unhappy with the service I get and Comcast wants to charge me for the privilege of canceling? That's a terrible policy.

Adam: How do you want me to proceed?

Jonathon: Without charging me $1.99

Adam: I do apologize but I amnot able to waive that fee

Jonathon: My I speak with somebody who can?

Adam: We do not have a supervisor on shift at the moment however, you can call us at 1-800-COMCAST and request to speak to a supervisor that way

Jonathon: To be frank, if I have to pick up a phone to handle this matter at this point it will be my entire $158.91/month service that I am canceling, and not just HBO. Would there be a charge for that as well?

Adam: NO charge to cancel

Adam: Jonathon Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Jonathon: So I'll be treated with greater decency if I decide to leave all together? No, I don't believe that you can help me with anything else today.

Adam: Have a good day :)

Adam: Thank you for making Comcast part of your day. If you need assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us through Live Chat or E-mail (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). Thank you again for choosing Comcast we appreciate your business. To visit our local support page including links to contact us via Email, as well as many downloadable forms,and FAQ pages, please visit: http://www.comcast.com/nesupport/

Did you know that Comcast offers its customers a variety of free benefits? These include McAfee Antivirus, Firewall and Privacy software as well the Comcast tool bar that lets you take Comcast.net with you while you surf, and the Desktop Doctor to help you restore lost settings...plus much more, please visit http://www.comcast.net/downloads/ to see all of the extras that we provide.

Analyst has closed chat and left the room

It's almost as if Comcast is begging you to cancel your service. Some may consider such a decision akin to throwing the baby away with the bathwater, although, if you have a fugly Comcast baby the decision seems clear. Which would you choose?

(Photo: Getty)

Some people think the BBB doesn't work. They do, but only if the company cares about keeping a clean record. See when you look up a company in the BBB database it shows you how many complaints have been filed against the company, how many were answered, how many did the consumer report as being satisfactorily resolved, etc. So if you have a valid complaint, file it with the BBB, and the company cares about its BBB record, you have a decent chance of getting a solution. You might not believe it, but it turns out Sprint is one of those companies. Here's Kevin's story of how the BBB got his erroneous text message charges refunded and let him leave contract early without early termination fee...

Kevin writes:

I've filed two complaints with them so far in 2008. Here is the text of the one I filed in January...

"Double charged my debit card and refuses to credit the duplicate charge back to my account.
I called to make and a payment yesterday through Sprint/Nextel's automatic payment attendant. The pre-recorded service told me the payment "cannot be processed at this time, please hold for an operator." So a person gets on the phone and takes my payment manually. Then this morning when I checked my bank account online I saw that two payments had gone through. When I called to request the duplicate payment be reversed they refused. This comes after several battles with their customers service department over services ordered which were incorrectly authorized.

For instance, I have two phone lines and there have been 3 or 4 times now when I've had a service such as text messaging or insurance added to one of the lines. The customer service people have added the service to the wrong phone, thereby incurring extra charges and it takes forever to get a credit. These are small inconveniences and nothing I'd normally report to the BBB. But after refusing to issue a credit I've had enough with them. My contract with them is up in August after 3 years of being a customer. I've explained why I am unhappy with service and they will not let me out of a contract. I've talked with many acquaintances who've had similar issues and I feel it's time for someone to do something about this company. The problems with service began after the merger with Nextel."

After this I was contacted within 48 hours and the dispute was resolved where Sprint/Nextel issued me a credit for a free month of service.

Then in April I went over my text message limit. I beefed up the limit to 1,000 texts per month, but they added it to the 2nd line. This caused another huge bill in May. When I called to tell them they added the text plan to the wrong phone they refused to credit me or fix the problem.

At that point I filed the 2nd complaint with the BBB briefly describing what happened. It basically stated what I just did and less than 24 hours this time a Sprint/Nextel representative called me to resolve the issue...apologizing for the treatment I received and they resolved the issue VERY generously and told me they realize their customer service is lacking and they're "taking steps to rectify the situation." In addition to free unlimited text messaging they've offer to wave the penalty for severing my contract early. That says a lot and the fact that they acknowledged their customer service dept sucks.

To my satisfaction, I was told I can dissolve my contract with them before it's up in August without any additional penalties. I got a follow up email from the BBB today asking if I am satisfied.

Kevin is now a happy Verizon customer. Here's where to go to get started filing a BBB complaint online.

(Photo: mod_complex)

Reader Austin and his fiance will be married on May 22, and their honeymoon cruise leaves May 29... without them. Holland America says that Austin (23), and his bride to be, Kelly (20) are too young to sail. Austin says he wasn't told about this restriction when he booked and paid for the cruise.

Austin writes:

I don't know if you can answer or can help in anyway, but I'm desperate.

I booked a 20 day Mediterranean Cruise with Holland America back in February for my Honeymoon. My wedding is May 22 and the ship leaves May 29. I am 23 and my new bride to be is 20. I have paid for everything already, the airlines, hotel in Rome, and cruise.

However, they have just informed me that they are not going to let us sail because Kelly, my wife, is too young. We are 2 weeks away from our wedding!!! They didn't inform me of this before, nor do they say anything on their website. Because I am not over 25, they are denying us. On other websites, age requirements are waived for married couples if they are both over 18 and can show proof of marriage.

What should I do???

Well, Austin. We contacted Holland America for a comment on your situation but our requests for information were ignored.

We then took a look at their policy on passengers under 21 (which is on their website, but it's buried):

Guests under 21 years of age must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or chaperone who is at least 25 years old; one adult chaperone is required for every five people under the age of 21.

It seems that, unlike other cruise lines, they do not make an exception for young married couples. This is something they really should have told you when you booked the cruise.

We then took a look at their cancellation policy and have some more bad news, unless you paid for a "Cancellation Protection Plan" you may be in trouble. Holland America's website doesn't disclose how large the cancellation fee will be, but they do say: " Cancellation fees apply regardless of the reason for cancellation, including medical and family matters. "

We're not travel experts, so we're going to toss this one out to the crowd. Anyone know how to get Holland America to make an exception? Anyone want to be Austin and Kelly's chaperone?

(Photo: Todd Stewart )

UPDATE: It seems Austin and Kelly have a heroic travel agent:

WE ARE GOING ON OUR CRUISE!!!!!

My travel agent drove over to tell me the news, because she was so excited and couldn’t do it over the phone. She had got a call from her HAL rep at 8AM, 6AM Seattle time, who had been pushing this case with Holland America.

The HAL rep’s name was Alicia and I want to give a big thanks to her for really sticking it out for us. I know she had to reopen our case and go above and beyond to find someone who would listen. She said she got a call at 1AM from her director who was told that we would be allowed to board. I am so excited!!!

I can’t thank all of you enough, who kept posting all day yesterday and last night. There was so little hope because HAL had faxed over our cancellation notice yesterday afternoon and were only going to refund $400. But you guys kept talking and spurring debate on this arbitrary age requirement rule of being 25. I know they were listening to all of us, even if they didn’t say so.

If we had gotten no response by this afternoon, I had planned to start using all of your great ideas out there. I’m just so happy it didn’t have to make it to that stage. I’ve been on three HAL cruises with my family and always considered there service the best. That is why I selected them for my honeymoon. I’m so glad they didn’t let me down.

Alicia said it had made her day being able to come in to work early and make that call. It is her birthday too, so an extra Happy Birthday to you and a big thanks from us Alicia. Enjoy the flowers!

And thanks again everyone for your support, ideas, and help in this matter!!!

(Thanks, jamesdenver!)

Joseph would like to cancel his Verizon contract without early termination fee by arguing that the recent monthly administrative fee increase is materially adverse, but unfortunately for Joseph, Verizon's lawyers have filled their customer service reps brains with a bunch of hooey about what materially adverse means. In fact, when Joseph was reading the very clause in the Verizon contract that allows him to what he wants, the call center supervisor laughed at him. According to his account, when he criticized the poor customer service, she started screaming at him. The text of Joe's attempted EECB, inside...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to inform you of an issue I am having with your customer service department. Today, 5/7/08, I tried to contact customer service around 5 PM. Unfortunately, every time I was transferred to the department I requested, I received the message "We cannot process your call at this time. . ." and then was disconnected.

I finally reached customer retention nearly an hour later. Among my many calls, of note, I spoke with Stephanie (ext. 7476) and Trish (ext. 7129) at the Cranberry, PA call center. When I informed these CSR's that I wanted my ETF waived due to the increase in the monthly administration fee being materially adverse, I was put on hold between 5-10 minutes EACH call, presumably so that the CSR could find a way to reject my request. (Although I want to close my account, I want to port my number to another carrier, so I cannot have my account closed before the number is ported).

Both calls escalated to the floor supervisor (once at my request, the other to "confirm that [she] could complete my request." Both calls were escalated to Danielle (ext. 4075, also at Cranberry, PA). This "Danielle" denied my request to have my ETF waived. During the first call, she was relatively professional, granting my request for an escalation contact number/address. However, when I criticized the poor customer service, she began screaming at me. During the second call, she laughed at me when I read the following clause from the contract:

Our Rights to Make Changes

Your service is subject to our business policies, practices and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.

She then said that the 15c per month charge wasn't materially adverse. I explained to her that the phrase "material(ly) adverse" has no quantifiable limit; one definition is: "of such a nature that knowledge of the item would affect a person's decision-making process." In the canon of law, (any) price is considered as having this nature.

I am hoping that one of you fine people may be able to assist me with this issue. My account information is:

Name: Joseph XXXXX
Phone#: XXXXXXXXXX
Account#: XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Please contact me to discuss this further. I would greatly welcome an effort to restore my opinion of your company. Thank you for your time in consideration in getting this matter resolved.

Sincerely,

Joseph C. Tkocs

If the EECB doesn't work out, Joe, you can also try some of these phone numbers.

Dear Consumerist,

I signed up for DirecTV in September of last year and have, until today, loved the service. Unfortunately, my girlfriend and I are moving to an apartment without a balcony or access to the roof and are prohibited from bringing our dish with us. Consequently, I'm forced to leave DirecTV's best-of-breed HDTV for Comcast's worst-of-breed YouTube-quality mush.

When I first spoke with a representative (ID #410930) about the service and its two year commitment, I was told that if I eventually moved to a place where I was unable to use the service the early termination fee (ETF) would be waived. About two months ago I again called DirecTV and, while making a minor change to my account, verbally confirmed with a service representative (ID #413117) that the ETF would be waived if that happened to be the case.

Yesterday, after double checking with my landlord that there was no chance I could install the dish, I reluctantly called DirecTV to cancel... only to find out that they won't waive the ETF. "Robby" (ID #402875) claimed to be the account supervisor despite being a first line representative and insisted that his own supervisor (ID #U2985) "doesn't get on the phones." He claimed that he could find no record in either of the previous call logs that I been offered a waived ETF. Another call this morning to DirecTV customer service found them in agreement: my ETF would not be waived. And, sure enough, the DirecTV Service Agreement makes no mention of moving to an apartment or area incapable of properly positioning the dish.

However, since I had already been lied to twice by DirecTV representatives I figured that I should call their sales department. So, this morning I called their sales number pretending to order new service and inquired as to whether or not there would be an ETF if I eventually moved to an area without service. Essentially, I replicated my initial sales call with DirecTV from seven months ago, but this time with a recording device.

Sure enough, the sales representative I spoke with repeatedly assured me that the fee would be waived if I were to move to a home that I could not get service at. So, at least DirecTV sales is consistent about giving false information. It should be noted that this representative was the rule, not the exception: all four times I have asked DirecTV sales people about the ETF waiver and all four times I have received the same incorrect response.

When I called retentions back and pointed out that I'd been told this repeatedly and had a recording, I was told that there was nothing that could be done except that a note would be made in my account and a higher up emailed.

If DirecTV's customer service representatives had simply been honest with me I wouldn't really have anything to complain about— I'd just pay my ETF without complaint. But the fact that sales and retention tell customers starkly different things about the service commitment is troubling, to say the least. I would have switched back to DirecTV the moment that I moved to an accommodating home, but why would I choose to do further business with a company whose representatives are apparently coached to lie?

Hopefully your readers won't make the same mistake I made: make sure anything that any DirecTV representative tells you is backed up in writing. Because even if you record them promising something they won't honor it. And if you do post anything about this, please remove my personal information.

Sincerely,

Ian
DirecTV Account #[redacted]

P.S. Neither representative could tell me exactly how much my final bill would be, even after I gave them a firm cancellation date. I was told "around $200", but at this point I have no reason to believe that this is the actual amount I'll be charged.

P.P.S. The ID numbers were given to me over the phone by "Robby".

Also, my service appears to have just been turned off— five days early (termination date was April 29). I confirmed that it was set for the 29th with two representatives. I can't even access my recorded shows on my DVR since they are dependent upon an active service. I'm calling DirecTV again now.

Bobby's brother canceled an order the day after placing it, and everyone he's spoken with at Circuit City seems to agree that they owe him a prompt refund on his cash. But that all happened on March 7th and 8th, so why is Circuit City still saying the check is in the mail? Are they waiting to get their stimulus check first?

My brother and father have been having many difficulties with getting a refund from our local Spring Hill Circuit City.
 
On March 7th, 2008 my brother went up to your store to purchase a Sony Camcorder. A sales associate helped him locate a model that he liked. The sales associate went into the back after writing down the model number and whatnot. He came back and said that they were out of stock but could order it today and have it overnighted to my parents house the next day. My brother agreed and placed the order.
 
Later that night, my brother got curious and went on the Circuit City website to investigate the specs on the camcorder he just ordered. To his surprise, what he ordered was not a camcorder but a regular digital camera. He woke up early and canceled the order. The person on the phone said that it would take a week for the refund to come in the mail and refunded $25.00 to his debit card.
 
A week went by and no check. My brother proceeded to call Circuit city and few times and it was the same store. About 2 weeks after the original order, my brother went up the the local Spring Hill store. He talked to a sales associate and was assured the problems would be fixed. About a week after this, which brings us into April. My brother ran into the original sale associate that had placed the mistaken order. She tried to fix what was going on what was unable to so she called over the store manager, Casey Warner.
 
She was very nice and would look into it. She even offered to take it out of a draw and give the refund right there but needed to talk to corporate first. About a week later, she called my father and said the check would be in the mail soon. That was three weeks ago. My father and brother have talked to Casey a few times since and steadily she have gotten an attitude and has become hostile to us.
 
Circuit City owes my brother $338.00
Bobby

In 4 1/2 minutes I had both my phone numbers canceled and ready to port to ATT with the ETF waived on both lines. No escalation, no deep explaining, no pain really! I told the CSR that she was very pleasant to work with and thanked her for her help with this matter. She proceeded to thank me as well and told me that I was pleasant as well, and that most that have called that she has talked to, were "Abrubt and sometimes rude" when calling about the "Opt-Out".

The moral of the story. No matter what you're dealing with, treat others the way you want to be treated. If you're nice to a CSR, they will be nice back and work hard to help you. I've been with Verizon 6 years and have had only one problem with their customer service. But even then, it doesn't matter what Customer Service department I talk to, no matter how rude "they" may be, I still can get good service by being friendly, personable, and kind to them.

Alicia wants to escape her Verizon contract without paying an early termination fee, but she's having some trouble. She writes:

Just today, I was informed that Verizon is now increasing their monthly administration charge. I have a right to cancel with having the early termination fee waived because of this increase. The Verizon supervisors I spoke to (total of 4 people) refused to follow this clause and would not waive the early termination fee even though Verizon changed the fees. They said they would give me a credit for this increase, so then it would not adversely affect me, so I can't have the ETF waived. I made it clear that I had a right to cancel and have the ETF waived regardless of what credit they would be willing to give me. They said that having the ETF waived is not an option and they can not do that. Am I in the wrong?

Hi Alicia,

You just keep on refusing that fee waiver. The fee increase still has a material adverse effect, even if they give you a credit to cover it. If someone breaks your arm and puts it in a cast for you, they still broke your arm.

I could not find a way to contact AOL to stop my service. So I took a yellow marker, drew a line though that line item on my credit card bill, and wrote on the bill...."Do not pay, account in dispute". I paid all the other items on the CC bill that month. It took AOL about 2 weeks to call me.....I told them what I thought of their service, and instructed them to terminate my account, while I was still on the phone. It worked. They seem to understand when you tell them you are not going to pay.

I purchased Portishead's album Third on Monday morning. It was an international purchase, so WorldPay.com enabled the credit card transaction. After I entered my credit card and billing info, I was redirected to a Web page hosted at arcot.com. To my surprise, a second form once again requesting my credit card info was presented to me.
 
Since I already entered my information once, I read this new page carefully. The page was a sign-up form for a fraud protection service called SecureCode. A small link indicating terms and conditions opened a pop-up page with two paragraphs, the second of which was entitled "Terms and Conditions" but the entire body of the paragraph was just the sentence, "Your financial institution will provide the terms and conditions for this service." repeated 6 times.
 
It is sufficient to say that I did not want this service, but wound up being forced to re-enter my credit card info because WorldPay.com would not let me complete the transaction until I completed the enrollment form. I got my receipt for the purchase, and immediately began to investigate how to cancel my enrollment with this service.
 
Searching high and low for a contact e-mail address on mastercard.com, I found only a 1-800 number. Calling that number, I spoke with a support rep who knew nothing about WorldPay.com or the SecureCode service, so I demanded to speak with someone who did. I was eventually informed that SecureCode is a voluntary free service provided by Arcot Systems, and that I would have to cancel my enrollment at the financial-institution-specific portal on arcot.com. Going to http://www.mastercard.com/securecode, I was able to search for my financial institution's portal and found this site:
 
https://secure2.arcot.com/vpas/usaa_sc/enroll/index.jsp?locale=en_US&bankid=1461
 
This page simply did not allow me to cancel my enrollment. So, I decided to try to get someone at Arcot Systems to help me. I called their contact numbers that I found on their Web site and for the next 5 hours I spoke with several people, including a tech on his BlackBerry who was on-call for their Web systems on his way into work in Sunnyvale, California, and a sales person who claimed that he was "the top of the food-chain" at Arcot Systems and who eventually hung up on me. After explaining my situation 8 times, and asking each person to cancel my enrollment with SecureCode, I was told flat out, "we can't do that" 6 times, and hung up on twice.
 
All in all, I spoke with 8 people, left 3 voice-mails, sent 5 e-mails, received 3 e-mails, and also spoke with the secretary of the CEO of Arcot Systems, Ram Varadarajan, and asked her to set up an appointment to have Mr. Varadarajan call me to discuss why I am unable to cancel my enrollment with SecureCode. He never called me back.
 
What can I do? Do you have any advice for me? Can I file a civil suit and demand that Arcot Systems eliminate my information from their records? Can I file a restraining order? I need help.

I've been a regular personage at a Blockbuster in Mishawaka, IN for some time. Just recently I moved into a new house, so I was rather excited to know that your store was within walking distance to rent movies. Not having a car, this meant plenty of rentals of video game software for my 360 and Wii.
 
However, just recently I rented Halo 3, and when I brought it home, it was cracked. They graciously replaced it with a "free rental", so I went to another one of your stores and rented Halo 3 there. I returned it on time, and proceeded to rent Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and Oblivion, both for the 360 again. When I got it home, neither worked. When I opened my 360 Oblivion had a scratch on it, which 360's are known to do. Rainbow Six's disc looked just fine. It however wouldn't load. When I called your store that night because it was already too late to head back over, they told me they'd grant me a "free rental" and return the games for replacements. Now here's where the problem begins.
 
I went over just a few minutes ago, and brought the games in, and told them what was going on. When I couldn't find anything else to rent and asked for my money back, even though I'd rented the games on my debit card, the manager (Adrian I believe) told me "It's not store policy." I asked if I could put the money toward purchasing a product (a used copy of Halo 3, for 39.99), and she told me she couldn't allow that either because it wasn't store policy. I had my receipt from the rentals, that clearly said debit card, and she still wouldn't put the $17.10 toward the purchase.
 
She finally refunded the money, however, she terminated my ability to rent games from the store.
 
They also tried selling me on their "Game plan" which means you get unlimited replacements for ONE game for 20 some odd dollars and said "Five bucks additional wouldn't have killed you, with what you spent on the games previously."

Here's Ashoka's story:

On January 2007, I moved back to my residence in Daytona Beach,FL from Boca Raton, FL. In finishing up my loose ends, I needed to cancel my Bally's Membership as there is not a Bally's within a 25 mile radius to where I live. I made it a priority to take care of the gym membership issue as I had troubles with Bally's before. [We cut this backstory for length, but it involved a billing issue between Bally's and Crunch. -Ed.]
 
On January 5, 2007, I sent in a cancellation payment and proof of relocation in the form of a telephone bill to Bally Total Fitness as I moved back to Daytona. I never received a confirmation of cancellation by mail. However, Bally Total Fitness did cash my check on January 10, 2007. I assumed that my account was canceled. However, I made a serious mistake in believing that and I should have known better.
 
Bally's has been billing my credit card for over 15 months now for a service that I have not utilized since January 2007. They have been billing me without my knowledge. I should have looked at my statement closer - shocking to me. I was notified about this situation by Bally's as they called me in regards to payment as I changed credit cards.
 
When I discussed the situation with the Bally's Rep, I was told that the cancellation bill I sent did not have a date on it. I find this very absurd as I was able to print a copy of the bill from ATT and the date is in the top right corner of the bill.
 
What really infuriates me about this situation is that Bally's still cashed my cancellation check and kept billing my credit card at the same time. They stated they notified me by mail about the cancellation not taking effect, but I have never received any correspondence about cancellation from Bally's. I find it appalling that they can easily make a call and contact me about payment, but not about the cancellation of my membership.
 
When I asked for a refund from Bally's for a service that I have clearly not used and canceled that totals over $950.00, I was told that they will have to investigate it. The Rep continued on with the path that I owe past due payments and they will continue to collect these payments until the issue has been investigated. The rep told me to put together a letter about the issue and proof of bill from Dates of cancellation. I immediately faxed this over to Bally's. When I then called to confirm they received the fax, I was told that I would need to check back in 2 WEEKS and that the process will take an additional 30 days from the date they have logged receipt of the fax.
 
I find this very absurd and infuriating because it is a total scam in Bally's trying to charge for additional months of service and rip off their customers. I feel totally victimized over this situation and really have no idea of what course of action that I have other than waiting on Bally's to first confirm they received my fax and then on the decision of weather they cancel my membership and refund me my money all the while I am continually been billed by Bally Total Fitness. What happens if I need to correspond further about how they respond to my proof, will that be another 30 days?....I HATE BALLY TOTAL FITNESS! This is by far the worst company I have ever done business with.
 
Is there anything else I can do?

American Airlines says the "disruptions" will continue at least through tomorrow, and American's CEO says he's taking "personal responsibility" for the mess.

"I run the company," Mr. Arpey told reporters at an afternoon news conference, "so if there's any blame to be had, it is my fault, and I take full responsibility for this."

We hope that tactic works out better for Mr. Arpey than it did for David Neeleman of JetBlue.

Meanwhile, Flickr Pool member kevinq2000 sent in the above shot of unused American MD-80s being stored on a runway.

American Airlines Cancels Another 570 Flights [NY1]
American Airlines CEO takes blame for maintenance errors, disrupted flights [Dallas Morning News]
(Photo:kevinq2000)

American says:

Customers who were scheduled on a flight that was cancelled may request a full refund or may apply the value of their ticket towards future travel on American Airlines. Additionally, customers scheduled to travel on any MD-80 flight from April 8 - 11, even if their flight has not been cancelled, may rebook without a change fee to any AA flight with availability in the same cabin as long as their travel begins by April 17 if:

If you are traveling to, from or through cities served by MD-80 aircraft from April 8-11, 2008, and your ticket was issued no later than April 8, 2008. You may change your reservation to begin travel as late as April 17, 2008.

One ticketed change is allowed, and no change fee will apply.

Aircraft Inspections Affect Some AA Travel [AA]

That alone was enough to shake out a full refund. William writes:

My wife recently reserved a vacation rental from ResortQuest in Panama City beach for our family vacation. She called back less than 24 hours later to cancel as we found a better rental at another location. ResortQuest informed her that they would not refund any portion of the 330 dollar deposit. She was sent a "cancellation statement" that listed 95.70 in reservation fees and 190.92 dollars in "taxes".

I performed as an effective EECB that I could though the addresses were very hard to find and not all of them got replies.

I made mention in all of my emails that I wanted to know who assessed and collected these taxes on canceled reservations.

Before I got any reply emails I got a rep on the phone and went through the motions of requesting the refund and when told no I started asking the taxes questions and let the representative know that I had sent all of the emails. She went and "discussed this with her manager" then returned and informed me she would be issuing a full refund. However she could not give me any paperwork confirming the refund and that it might take as many as three weeks to refund.

Later in the day after talking to a nice lady from corporate who assured me that the matter would be taken care of. Later in the day the manager of the Panama City office did contact me via email and provide me an "email confirmation" of the refund.

As of 14 days later the refund had been credited.

Notes:

We reserved the condo on a website www.vrbo.com which is supposed to be by owners only and not commercial outfits.

Nowhere on the ad or during the reservation phone call was it mentioned they would keep the reservation fee if canceled.

I would understand if you canceled the week or month before, but the next morning, three months in advance.

I still did not find out who was getting the 190 dollars in "taxes."

(Photo: fotografar)

United Cancels 31 Flights for Inspections [NYT]
Records: Southwest Airlines flew 'unsafe' planes [CNN]
(Photo: zonaphoto)

Delta (DAL, Fortune 500) is inspecting the wiring of 117 MD-88 and 16 MD-90 aircraft. The airline says the checks are voluntary and are expected to be completed by week's end. American Airlines, meanwhile, is examining wiring secured to the MD-80 aircraft.

At 3:30 a.m. [recently], my husband and I called Verizon Wireless to reactivate our phones, as we are returning home [from Iraq] soon and wanted to catch the company during its business hours. Upon speaking with a customer service representative, it became apparent that Verizon not only suspended our contracts, it disconnected our phones and gave our numbers away to other customers.

What is truly amazing is that the company took the letters our commanding officers signed regarding our deployment dates, and deemed the letters not worthy of suspending our contracts. It continued to charge us for those months without notifying us and when we did not pay, it disconnected the lines.

Long story short, when we called to reactivate our phones they told us our numbers no longer existed and that we owed them nearly $500!

When we asked to speak to a manager, we were told nothing could be done. When we did actually speak to a manager we were told it was our fault that we owed the money. The manager then proceeded to say "We're sorry but nothing can be done for you. Goodbye."

We were hung up on ... in Iraq ... at 3:30 in the morning. Real professional.

We spoke to another manager who was courteous enough to recredit our accounts and cut all remaining ties with their service. We are no longer with Verizon Wireless.

For all of the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen out there, make sure you are checking up on the status of your accounts. Apparently, a letter from your command stating you are deploying is not enough these days. And aside from seeing servicemembers off at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (N.C.), I am not sure what else they are looking for.

Marine 2nd Lt. Haley Katz
Camp Fallujah, Iraq

(Thanks to Casey!)

(Photo: nukeit1)

• I was not told anything about a "standard policy" to sign me up for the protection plan upon having warranty work done.
• I specifically declined to sign up when pitched on the idea.
• I was signed up anyways.
• I received the letter stating that there would be no charge.
• They attempted to charge a cancellation fee for canceling a plan I never agreed to.
• I had to waste time and energy to haggle to get the charges off, when it really should have been a simple fix.

I am writing to let you know about some shady behaviors by DirecTV concerning their "protection plan" in the hopes that you might be able to warn other DirecTV subscribers of their practices and save them the cost of charges that should not be assessed to their account.

I recently signed up for DirecTV service at the end of November 2007. Later in December my area suffered from a severe storm, which blew my dish out of alignment. I called DirecTV about having this fixed. At that time, I was told that they warranty dish alignment for the first 3 months (90 days) of use, which my dish fell under. I was pleased, but out of curiousity asked what would it would cost if this happened again outside of my warranty period. I was told the charge would be ~$75, but if I were willing to sign up for the "Protection Plan" at $5.99/mo it would not cost me anything. I declined to sign up reasoning that it was unlikely my dish would be affected more than once a year, so signing up would provide me no cost savings. In about a week, a service person came out, realigned my dish, all was well.

About a week later, I received what looked like some junk mail from DirecTV. Nine times out of ten I would not have even opened it since it was not in an envelope, but by random chance I did. Inside was the letter thanking me for signing up for the DirecTV protection plan, which as noted I never agreed to sign up for. Upon further reading I noticed, as can be seen in the pictures, the plan purchase price was listed at $0.00/mo. At first I was annoyed and a bit angry at being signed up for this crap without my consent, but if they weren't going to charge me (as evidenced by the letter) then whatever. However, I was now on notice to check out my bill to make sure no charges were appearing.

Upon examining my bill, I was charged for a prorated portion for one month, and a full amount for the next month. ($.60 and $5.99). Of course, I called DirecTV to get this charge removed from my bill, which took a frustratingly long time. The customer service representative told me that it was DirecTV's standard policy to sign up any subscriber to the protection plan at the time they have warranty work done, which of course was not relayed to me when I ordered the warranty work. After haggling with the CSR for a bit, he finally agreed that I should have the cost credited back onto my bill. However, I was then informed that there was a $10 cancellation of the protection plan fee that would be assessed on this plan that I never signed up for in the first place. More haggling ensued, at which point, the CSR offered me a $5 credit for 3 months (totalling $15) to make up for the mistake, actually making me come out a little "ahead."

Really, that was not the point though. First, I was not told anything about a "standard policy" to sign me up for the protection plan upon having warranty work done. Second, I specifically declined to sign up when pitched on the idea. Third, I was signed up anyways. Fourth, I received the letter stating that there would be no charge. Fifth, they attempted to charge a cancellation fee for canceling a plan I never agreed to. Sixth, I had to waste time and energy to haggle to get the charges off, when it really should have been a simple fix.

Many consumers may have never opened the sign up letter in the first place given that it looks like junk mail, and therefore would never be tipped off to the fact that these charges would appear on the bill. They might also be lulled to sleep by the fact that their letter says the plan will come at no charge. I imagine DirecTV is charging a lot of people for these plans without their knowledge, and many of these people will never take advantage of the protection. $5.99 might not be that much per month, but if you charge enough people this amount every month it adds up. Also, if someone attempts to cancel farther down the road, they might not be willing to raise a stink about the $10 cancellation fee so long as they are getting most of their money back. This also lines DirecTV's pockets with money they should not be getting.

My work out experience was fine, as I didn't mind the bad smell, chipping paint, or inattentive staff. The problem came when I tried to cancel my membership. I moved to London in April 2007 (less than 2 months after joining), but they refused to cancel my membership and continued to charge my credit card each month. Under my two year contract is a section entitling me to a no fee cancellation if I move outside of the Lucille Roberts catchments area. They demanded proof of my move, which I supplied. Apparently, 3,000 miles away isn't far enough to be considered outside the catchment area!

On a technicality, they rejected the first set of paperwork: a copy of my London lease and a utility bill (the lease was not admissiable). So I did what they said and sent two utility bills instead. Still I was charged. They didn't accept one of my utility bills! Apparently "British Gas" is not an acceptable utility company!!!

I have called them several times (long distance, mind you), and mailed them and to absolutely no satisfaction. The staff is unprofessional and rude. I have jumped through every hoop they have set for me and still I am left with a monthly charge.

Sadly I am left to conclude that my little 'cheap' gym in Brooklyn was in fact a con. They clearly have no intention of stopping charging me when they satisfy themselves that I have moved to London. Their aim is nothing short than to drag the process out as long as possible and to extort as much money from me as possible.

Yes, sadly I am left to conclude that Lucille Roberts are robbers.

Jules Polonetsky, the Consumer Affairs Commissioner, said yesterday that the chain, which has branches throughout the city, would face an administrative law judge on Jan. 28 to answer 19 complaints, half of all the agency's current complaints against health clubs in New York City.

One member, Melissa Boyle, a 19-year-old dental assistant from Brooklyn, said she mailed 10 letters to Lucille Roberts, asking the gym to cancel her membership and stop billing her credit card a membership fee of $31.49 a month because she suffered from a condition that causes the dislocation of her kneecaps. In addition, two of Ms. Boyle's doctors sent notes informing the health club that they had advised her to stop exercising. It wasn't until the Department of Consumer Affairs stepped in that the gym stopped charging her, she said.

Under state law, Mr. Polonetsky said, ''if there is a physical disability that keeps you from using the gym for six months, then you're entitled to a refund'' for that period.

The law also says that members who move 25 miles from the gym's nearest location are entitled to void the contract. Similarly, members can void the contract if they change their minds about joining within three days of signing the contract.

''Lucille Roberts violated the law in their contracts, which state that the contract can be canceled only if there is a permanent disability,'' Mr. Polonetsky said at a news conference in the 92d Street Y. He said complaints were also filed against Lucille Roberts by the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General's office.

LucilleRobbers (Thanks, Doree!)
Fines Sought Against Health Club Over Refusals to Cancel [NYT]

RELATED: How To Negotiate Your Gym Membership Like A Diva

Tracey's husband expected Sprint to show a scintilla of compassion.

"They said his contract wasn't up and to pay the fee or keep it activated," he said.

"He came in and said my father had upgraded his phone, so we can't cancel unless we pay the early termination fee or give the phone to somebody else," Stewart said.

They didn't have someone else, and they said that the suggestion offended them.

Family Stuck Paying For Deceased Father's Cell [WCVB]
RELATED: Sprint Refuses To Cancel Dead Brother's Cellphone

United's pilots union blamed management for the poor operational p