NEW YORK, 5:32 AM, SAT JUL 19 | 19 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@consumerist.com | RSS
Posts Tagged “

claims

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ripoffs

Travel Agency Charges For Airline Tickets, Cancel Tickets, Can't Be Reached For Refund

Dhanushka is having some trouble getting money back from his travel agent. He writes,

Last January I purchased two tickets from Kansas to Sri Lanka from a travel agent to go on a vacation in May to June. When I went to the airport with two paper tickets in hand I was informed that my tickets were canceled by the Travel Agent. This was due to the negligence of the travel agent. So I had to spend two nights in a hotel while they book me on another flight which was a much difficult route than the route that I was intended to fly.

More »

2:19 PM on Mon Jul 14 2008
By Ben Popken
8,614 views, 46 comments

small claims court

Man Threatens To Sue Extortionist HVAC Company In Small Claims, Wins

Last winter, David's old furnace broke down. But things got really heated up when the incompetent HVAC repairmen he hired threatened to report him to collection agencies and put a lien on his condo when they wanted him to pay up for a repair they never finished. Just to give a little atmosphere, this takes place in Chicago, famed for its merciless winters. David's story, and how fought back, inside... More »

10:18 AM on Mon Jul 14 2008
By Ben Popken
12,267 views, 32 comments

executive email carpet bombs

BCBS Of Florida Only Sends Reader 12% Of What They Owe Him

The good news is that Ander has gotten checks from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. The bad news is that they're $6265 off the mark of what he should be getting. He has worked with BCBS and the Florida Insurance Commissioner, but neither has been able to successfully make BCBS' check-sending system match the reality of their financial obligations to Ander... More »

6:11 PM on Thu May 22 2008
By Ben Popken
4,167 views, 27 comments

badvertising

Court: Tyson Can No Longer Claim Chickens Are "Raised Without Antibiotics"

Tyson Foods has 14 days to stop claiming that their chickens are "raised without antibiotics." The deceptive nationwide campaign was brought to an end after rivals Sanderson Farms and Purdue filed suit claiming that all three poultry processors use antibiotics, and that Tyson was trying to steal an undeserved appearance of health. More »

12:40 PM on Sat May 3 2008
By Carey
7,435 views, 41 comments

ignored

Warranties: "It's Been 3 Weeks. I Don't Have Hot Water, And Sears Doesn't Care"

Reader Christina has a (broken) water heater from Sears. It's covered under a warranty, but Sears isn't willing to replace it. She's been without hot water for 3 weeks and Sears just doesn't care. More »

2:24 PM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Meg Marco
10,098 views, 66 comments

shipping

UPS Breaks, Steals Computer

Nick paid the UPS store in Woburn, Massachusetts $600 to ship his computer with insurance to and from England. UPS smashed the computer somewhere along the way and insisted that Nick would need to wait 4-6 weeks for a decision on his claim. After a month, Nick called the UPS store and was told that they needed additional documentation. Another month later, Nick decided to get a new computer and asked for the damaged computer back so he could use it for parts, only to find out that the UPS store had inexplicably shipped it to headquarters, which then delivered it to a stranger in New York named Ken. More »

3:05 PM on Sat Apr 12 2008
By Carey
19,396 views, 93 comments

Latest by n/a: @DikembeMeiztombo: I just received a new custom computer from a person I did some work for as a gift. When I opened the box, the side panel was off and packing peanuts were all inside. My friend has assured more »

false advertising

Apple Sued: New 20" iMac Screens Display 260k Colors, Not Millions

Anyone who has been on the receiving end of an Apple ad campaign in the past 10 years knows that they tend to play fast and loose with the truth in their ad copy. Their towers are the fastest, their laptop is the thinnest, their phone is the most advanced. With so many unchecked exaggerations, Apple sometimes comes across as the consumer electronics version of Donald Trump, augmented by killer industrial and UI designers. Now a law firm in California has filed a class-action suit against the company for misrepresenting its new 20-inch iMac models as being capable of producing millions of colors, when in fact they use a substandard el-cheapo screen that is nowhere near as capable as what's in the 24-inch models. More »

6:00 AM on Wed Apr 2 2008
By Chris Walters
9,287 views, 58 comments

Latest by bmwloco: 20 inch Imac on my desk at work. Millions of colors. Windows XP runs rock solid on it with Parallels. Linux too. I don't need any stinking beige box. My Mac does it all. more »

complaints

Mugger Used Our Credit Card, Now CapitalOne Sued Us Without Us Knowing For $1200 And Won

Andrew's wife got mugged, the thief rand up purchases on her credit card, and now CapitalOne has sued them for $1200 and won. How can this be? Andrew writes:
In May of 2005 my wife was mugged at one of the elevated train stations in Chicago. After calling the police and filing a police report, she started calling each credit card company to cancel each account. Except she forgot about one card, her CapitalOne card. A card hardly ever used and only had a $500.00 limit...
More »

9:26 AM on Thu Mar 20 2008
By Ben Popken
30,174 views, 135 comments

Latest by n/a: @ADismalScience: No point in paying up if the damage to their credit has already occurred. Of course this seems to make the credit card company's actions pointless, "The mugger even signed my wife's last name wrong and the clerk who checked more »

bad salesmen

Nissan Dealership Won't Refund Deposit

Jay writes in with a question: how do you get back your deposit from a car dealership when a deal goes sour? The salesman jacked up the price after an initial negotiation, and now won't refund the deposit: "He said we'd be surprised at what he can make up to keep the deposit."
More »

9:57 AM on Mon Mar 3 2008
By Chris Walters
14,896 views, 65 comments

lawsuits

Reader Sues Best Buy In Small Claims Court And Wins

Should it take several months and a small claims lawsuit to get Best Buy to take back their defective washing machine? No, but that's what it did take for reader Keith. More »

9:37 AM on Fri Feb 29 2008
By Meg Marco
15,826 views, 99 comments

justice

Librarian Takes Sprint Nextel & Wells-Fargo To Small Claims Court And Wins

Last December, Theodore Karantsalis received a letter from Sprint, where he was a customer, telling him that someone who banks with Wells-Fargo—where he's not a customer—was presented with his invoice and personal data when they logged into their Wells-Fargo Checkfree account. The customer contacted Sprint, and Sprint contacted Karantsalis. Karantsalis decided that he'd deal with the issue on his own instead of bringing a lawyer into it or throwing his hands up in frustration, so he took both companies to small claims court. More »

8:46 PM on Thu Feb 21 2008
By Chris Walters
10,598 views, 23 comments

Latest by n/a: He's cute!!! [www.flickr.com] more »

success stories

Reader Sues Subcontractor In Small Claims Court, Wins Settlement

Companies routinely take advantage of customers because they think they can get away with it. But the small claims court offers an avenue of recourse that gives you a relatively swift and easy way of settling disputes, and getting the money you deserve. Here's reader Jason's true story, from start to finish, of how he was able to get a subcontractor to live up to their agreement to fix a receiver the subcontractor's work had shorted out:

"In February of 2007 my wife and I moved into our newly built home. We had issues with one of the subcontractors. The issue is really a moot point here but if you really want to know the low-voltage company messed up the wiring of our in-the-ceiling speakers and it shorted out my surround sound receiver."

More »

12:30 PM on Wed Jan 30 2008
By Ben Popken
8,052 views, 34 comments

Latest by FilthyHarry: My uncle had a house built in a rural area recently and when it was done there were some problems that were blatantly due to the contractor not living up to contractual obligations. I asked my uncle (who is a more »

false advertising

Dannon Sued Over Probiotic Yogurt Claims

A proposed class action lawsuit was filed yesterday in California against Dannon over the company's unsubstantiated claims that its Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive "probiotic" yogurts were healthier than regular yogurt. A Dannon spokesperson told Reuters he knew nothing about the lawsuit, and that Dannon stood by its studies. But as the lawsuit points out, the studies Dannon knew about did not support any claims that the special yogurt was more beneficial than regular yogurt. So what are you trying to tell us, Dannon? Or are you just stalling for time while your lawyers get that settlement proposal ready?
More »

8:41 PM on Thu Jan 24 2008
By Chris Walters
5,170 views, 60 comments

Latest by n/a: Mr. Gunn, sorry for the very delayed reply to your question. The health benefit of Activia for regularity (if you have slow transit) is specific to Activia because Activia has a unique probiotic called Bifidus Regularis. The benefits of probiotics more »

small claims court

Suing Big Companies In Small Claims Court Is Fun And Easy

Taking a big company to small claims court sounds like a big hassle but reader Bill has done it successfully three times. He says the time and effort spent on taking a company to small claims court is far less then how it long it takes to get companies to fix above-average in complexity problems.

Here's his typical expenditure for a small claims suit: $24 and 45 minutes. The $24 is the cost to file a claim. The 45 minutes includes his total time of driving to and from court to file, as well as the time spent on the phone with the company when they call to settle.

See, in all cases, he hasn't even had to go to court: the company calls him up the day before the court date and gives him a settlement. It seems they prefer to do that then pay to fly a company representative who isn't fully versed on all the facts to court. Here's his true story of how he got what he deserved from Tmobile and Washington Mutual, without breaking a sweat.

More »

10:32 AM on Mon Jan 21 2008
By Ben Popken
37,837 views, 84 comments

lawsuits

Yankees Fan Sues: Steriods Are Almost "Consumer Fraud"

Baseball fans all over the country feel betrayed by the steroids scandal that is rocking Major League Baseball, but one fan is irked enough to actually sue the New York Yankees in small claims court:
A longtime fan is suing the New York Yankees over some players' reported use of performance-enhancing drugs, saying he wants repayment for $221 in tickets and a public response from his once beloved team.
More »

5:49 PM on Mon Jan 14 2008
By Meg Marco
1,695 views, 30 comments

tv

Judge Judy's TV Court Isn't Real

We were operating under the misunderstanding that Judge Judy was a broadcast of an actual small claims court somewhere, but then our legal beagle intern Alex informed us that it's really just arbitration dressed up to look like small claims court. More »

1:46 PM on Mon Dec 17 2007
By Ben Popken
18,370 views, 80 comments

small claims court

What People On Judge Judy Don't Know

Recently I've become intrigued by Judge Judy type small claims court TV shows. They offer a fascinating look at how little some people know about the legal system. Here's what America learned in the past week or so: More »

6:32 PM on Tue Dec 11 2007
By Ben Popken
21,580 views, 79 comments

insurance

It's Your Responsibility To Get Properly Valued Homeowner's Insurance

Speaking of disasters, our resident claims adjuster wants to remind everyone,

....the insurance company is not at fault if someone doesn't obtain the full value of their home from insurance. Knowing the value of owned property, and properly insuring that for the correct value is the responsibility of nobody but the insured.

Many states... have what's called a 'Value Policy Law', which means that in the case of a total loss, the insurance company MUST pay the full value of the POLICY. Remember, this is the policy. Not the full value of the property (if the policy is less than the property.) And if you overinsured your property for just this matter, you might be in for a surprise too (because you are not supposed to profit from insurance!)

9:45 PM on Fri Oct 26 2007
By Ben Popken
1,760 views, 15 comments

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