Consumerist
emergencies
Posts Tagged “
Emergencies
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emergencies
travel
Hotel Monaco Denver Doesn't Care What Happened, They're Locking You Out Of Your Room, Enjoy Your Business Trip
Rebecca is—as this story is being posted—locked out of her room at the Hotel Monaco in Denver, Colorado, where she's attending a work related conference. She accidentally left her wallet and cell phone in her husband's car on the way to the airport, so she's trying to make do with a passport and debit card that she had on her when she realized what had happened. Hotel Monaco told her she had to have the room paid for by 5pm today, but while she was attending the conference this morning they changed their minds and locked her out at 12 noon. More »
airlines
Woman Dies On AA Flight After Being Refused Help, Then Given Empty Oxygen Tanks
A 44-year-old Brooklyn woman was returning from vacation in Haiti when she began to have trouble breathing. According to her cousin who was on the flight with her, she was refused help twice by the flight attendant, then she was brought two oxygen tanks with masks—but both were empty. Her cousin requested an emergency landing, but before they could touch down in Miami she was dead, so the plane continued to JFK. The airline isn't commenting on why the emergency tanks were empty in the first place. "After the flight attendant refused to administer oxygen to Ms. Desir, she became distressed, pleading, 'Don't let me die,' Mr. Oliver recalled." More »
travel
United Flight Attendant Says Call Button Is For Emergencies Only
Christine learned an interesting bit of in-flight trivia on her recent United flight: those little call buttons are for emergencies only. What's more, the flight attendants can psychically sense when it's an emergency and when you're just foolin' with them, and they'll ignore you if they suspect you're just going to ask for water. And no, needing to take sinus medicine to prevent clusters of needle-explosions going off in your skull during descent is not an emergency, so go back to your seat. More »
ambulance chasers
Receptionist Holds Up Ambulance To Collect $5 Co-Pay From Heart Attack Victim
Barabara Antonelli was strapped onto a gurney and breathing through an oxygen mask when her doctor's receptionist bounded up to her ambulance and said: "I hate to bother you, but could you give me the $5 co-pay?" More »
disputed
A Comcast insider warns us that Comcast does no checks to make sure 911 is working on your Comcast digital phone:
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Does Comast Check To See If 911 Works On Your Digital Phone?
A Comcast insider warns us that Comcast does no checks to make sure 911 is working on your Comcast digital phone:
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complaints
American Airlines Doesn't Care If You Were Rushed To The ER With Appendicitis. You Are A No Show, And Will Receive No Refund.
"What is ya'lls experience with dealing with AA when the passenger has a case of appendicitis? My sister is going under the knife in London right now, and was admitted to the ER 6hrs before her scheduled flight back to Seattle. We've called AA and they say no chance of getting any sort of re-booking, rebate, coupon, or whatever because she was listed as a "No Show" for the flight. We called the airline before the flight to inform them of the situation." More »
emergency planning
Everybody needs emergency cash reserves for the unpleasant day when your expenses unexpectedly exceed your income. By stashing your reserves in the right place, you should ideally be able to fund your life - rent, food, transportation, utilities, and any other fixed expenses - for at least three months. The Washington Post has a few tips to keep inflation from eroding the value of your pot of emergency cash.
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Where To Stash Your Rainy Day Fund
Everybody needs emergency cash reserves for the unpleasant day when your expenses unexpectedly exceed your income. By stashing your reserves in the right place, you should ideally be able to fund your life - rent, food, transportation, utilities, and any other fixed expenses - for at least three months. The Washington Post has a few tips to keep inflation from eroding the value of your pot of emergency cash.
More »
emergencies
Don't Dial 911 In Missouri
Dialing 911 in Missouri is like a game of Russian Roulette. The state's public safety director recently warned that most Missouri counties can't track a caller's location and that 16% of counties can't access 911 from any landline. The solution? Higher cellphone taxes: More »
voip
Vonage Changes Your E911 Information To A Different Address, City
Each time Andru updates his address for his Vonage E911 profile, Vonage responds with a confirmation email listing the wrong address in the wrong city. Andru updated his address for the fifth time just days before needing an ambulance for his 3-year old. Thankfully, the 911 operator had the correct address, but Andru had an email waiting for him when he returned from the hospital.Yup, confirmation from Vonage that they accepted our E-911 address settings, again, set to the wrong address. Basically, this means that if we had to dial 911 one day later, paramedics would have had to have been rerouted from the address they were provided when we called in, which is over 10 minutes away, to our home - all thanks to Vonage and their incompetence in designing a fool-proof E-911 system.VOIP still has a long way to go before it can be relied on for 911 service. In an emergency, the best way to get ahold of 911 is through an old fashioned landline. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER More »
emergencies
Increased Call Volume Following Virginia Tech Tragedy Caused Wireless Outage
Wireless companies have not yet found a system to deal with outages caused by the inevitable dramatic increase in cell phone calls placed during an emergency. From Eweek:The inability of students and others at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., to make cell phone calls during the April 16 shooting tragedy added to the chaos surrounding the events of the day, students and others have reported in media interviews.According to the article, Verizon is the only wireless carrier admitting to call blocking during the emergency. Cingular claims to have experienced higher volumes but no service interruptions. More »
