CBS 5 spoke with a man who had uploaded his resume to CalJOBS, the state jobs website where residents must register in order to receive unemployment benefits. The man bookmarked the URL where his data was, but each subsequent time he viewed the link, he saw different users' information, including addresses, employment history, and other information that could easily be used by identity thieves.

After CBS 5 showed the glitch to a computer security expert, they discovered that it was possible to modify other people's resumes.

California says they've since fixed the glitch and are going through the site to make sure there aren't any more giant security liabilities. We're glad it's back up, as there are probably a few former state IT workers who need unemployment benefits.

Security Flaws Discovered in California EDD Website [CBS 5]
(Photo: Amazon)
Thanks, Matt!

"100th Bank Failure of the Year" [CNBC]
(Photo: naught_facility)

Most inventions have quietly faded from society. But several have been resurrected and repurposed, with similarly poor results: The portable sauna (Snuggie Sauna), venetian blind sunglasses (Kanye West), TV goggles (Virtual Boy), and Honegar (Vic and Honey Realty).

30 Dumb Inventions [LIFE]
RELATED: Stupid Inventions and There, I Fixed It
(Photo: Paxton Holley)
Thanks, Zachary!

Can you spot the package?

DeVoss Auto Repair in Richmond says they were contacted twice this month by the scam artist,s but didn't fall prey to their tricks.

[...]

Here's how it works: the hearing impaired customer types in their question and they dial into the relay operator who then contacts the business and acts as an intermediary.

In this scam, using a phone relay system, the scam artist called DeVoss Auto stating that he wanted to buy a used car in Florida and he wanted it delivered to Richmond to make any necessary repairs.

But the caller said the person delivering the car would not accept credit cards and asked DeVoss to write a check and mail it to the tow service, money that the caller said he would reimburse DeVoss with his own credit card.

With a transparently ridiculous advance check fraud angle like that, we can understand why the scammer would want to find something to make his case more appealing. We'll never understand why he though going through an anonymous third party via the telephone was a good idea, though.

Update: It turns out, this is not as wacky or uncommon as I thought. Our own Laura Northrup posted a very informative piece related to Nigeria-based telephone relay service scams earlier this summer: "Wells Fargo Keeps Hanging Up On Your Deaf Grandmother"

"Better Business Bureau Warns of Scam Artists Posing as Deaf People" [WTVR via BBB]
(Photo: Sam Ruaat)

From CNN:

Guaranty was the third largest bank to fail in 2009. It tied for the title of 11th largest bank failure in U.S. history with First City Bancorporation, which failed in 1988.

The estimated cost of Guaranty's failure to the FDIC is $3 billion.

And what was Guaranty Bank's downfall? Option adjustable rate mortgages. The bank also financed home builders in, gulp, California.

Third largest bank failure of 2009 announced [USAToday]

The poster who received this free pallet notes:

I am kind of annoyed with HP as I had to drag this pellet from my apartment lobby, into the lift, out of the lift, into my home, cut it open, remove the contents and discard all the junk packaging.

We would be kind of annoyed too. We don't even know how to go about disposing of a pallet; can you just put it out on the curb on recycling day or do you need to break it down or what?

HP's Ridiculous Shipment Packaging [Notebook Review]

Apparently, New York is having trouble finding a "sticker vendor" that makes stickers that do not immediately peel off of your car. This probably wouldn't be a big deal — except that not having the sticker will get you a ticket.

From the Albany Times-Union:

State Department of Motor Vehicles officials apologized for the failure of many inspection stickers applied in 2005, which were coming loose before they were due for replacement in 2006. The problem, which affected "safety only" certifications, was blamed on a faulty batch of glue, and the supplier changed the adhesive.

Now, stickers are failing again. One fuming motorist contacted The Advocate to say he was pulled over by police because his sticker had peeled off.

Meanwhile, Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola said, his county-operated state DMV satellite office is hearing from plenty of drivers whose registration stickers are peeling and falling off as well. "We get 'em all the time. I think we had three today," Merola said Wednesday.

This sounds like a whole lot of fun.

Faulty DMV stickers leaving frustrated motorists glueless [Times-Union] (Thanks, Anthony!)
(Photo:WNYT)

The clip never caught on, though, with only about 2,000 hits, and the movie crashed and burned. The officials at the high school had no idea there was a business transaction involved in the ceremony, and they weren't too happy to learn of it from the WSJ:

The stunt did succeed in outraging officials at Hamilton High and the Los Angeles Unified School District, who were horrified when informed by a reporter that a movie company had essentially planted a paid advertisement in the midst of a graduation ceremony.

Hamilton High Assistant Principal Roberta Mailman says neither she nor anyone from the school was contacted for permission — either for the stunt itself or for filming it. Before learning of the payment, she says, "I thought it was a great speech."

School District spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry says she is unsure whether the episode violated any policy, but adds that Ms. Mejia's diploma is safe. In a statement, Local District Superintendent Michelle King wrote: "Obviously, this is not condoned by the District. It's unfortunate."

Hey, $1800 isn't too bad for a college freshman starting her first year at MIT, so we don't begrudge the student her money. But what's next, o Intelligence Group? How about you wire a baby to deliver an E-Trade pitch at his baptism? Or maybe bribe some pallbearers to "drop" a casket during a funeral! We think you were on the right track with hijacking a big life event ceremony to sell crap; we just don't think you were aiming low enough.

"Fellow Graduates, Before We Greet The Future, a Word From My Sponsor " [Wall Street Journal]

The bottom line is not promising:

For much less than what you'd pay at a dentist's office, at-home kits can brighten teeth somewhat, but don't expect extreme results. And it's hard to say how long the whitening effects last.

By the way, Crest Whitestrips Supreme was the winner. It costs $46 and is only available online at places such as Dentist.com.

The Price of a Whiter, Brighter Smile [Washington Post]
At-home tooth whitener Ratings [Consumer Reports] (Subscribers Only)

(Photo: Lisa Brewster)

It's not that Target is dangerously insane. It just has a bit of a reality problem. Here is more evidence, sent in by alert Consumerist readers and Target shoppers from across our great nation.

Thanks to Jill in Illinois, Geoff, joyosity, shakerdesigns, FAIL Blog, Scott in Rochester (NY), Mike, and Adam.

Previous installments in the "Target Is Crazy" series:
Target Saves You Money In Ways You Can Only Imagine
Do Not Fall Into Target's Evil Sunscreen Trap!
Target's Continuing Descent Into Madness Affects Courtesy Phones, TVs
Target Is Losing Its Mind
Target Shelf Tag: This Is Not A Sign

This is from the BBB in Buffalo, NY, so all four businesses are New York Based. Two of them, AC Design & Construction and Black Tie Catering, will probably only matter to locals.

FFEMAX.com, also doing business as ElectronicsAvenue.com, has a couple of web presences, but they're both down as of this post and the company may be out of business (which may explain partly why they earned the F rating to begin with).

FireplaceEssentials.com is still up and running though, so watch out. The "F" in "fireplace" stands for BBB FAIL in this case.

BBB page for FireplaceEssentials.com

From the Daily News:

"We're not going to let people just sit there. This is a transition thing. We want to move them out," Bloomberg said Friday. "And if they say, 'Oh, I love this here, I don't want to try something else,' I'm sorry, that's not the whole intent here."

He went on to say that the fact that the condos ended up as a shelter says something about the market in NYC.

It tells you about the market," he said.

"Somebody built the building. They couldn't rent it. So they rented it to us for our standard thing."

The condos were originally supposed to fetch $350,000 a piece, and feature marble baths, granite countertops, etc.

Mayor Bloomberg to homeless: Don't get too comfy in luxury condos ... you gotta get out soon [Daily News]
(Photo:afagen)

Since then we (and by "we" I mean "our grandmothers, bosses and homeless folk") have been all a-tweet over this magical social networking innovation. And yet that spoilsport Nielsen Research has come along, analyzed the numbers and proven that while Twitter may be all that, it is not also a bag of chips. Despite triple-digit percentage growth month over month, the majority of users just aren't sticking around.

It seems 60 percent of Twitter users in one month are gone the next. And things were even worse before Oprah came along, with 70 percent of Twitter users deciding to no longer be one of the millions of cute little birds that help lift the giant Twitter whale aloft.

Currently, more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month, or in other words, Twitter's audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month's users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent. For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30 percent retention.

To understand why this poses a problem for Twitter, check out the chart below. By plotting the minimum retention rates for different Internet audience sizes, it is clear that a retention rate of 40 percent will limit a site's growth to about a 10 percent reach figure. To be clear, a high retention rate doesn't guarantee a massive audience, but it is a prerequisite. There simply aren't enough new users to make up for defecting ones after a certain point.

The article also says Facebook and MySpace had retention rates that were twice as high when they were the same age as Twitter, and both services currently keep about 70 percent of their users from month to month.

What the research doesn't take into account is that Oprah herself counts as more than 1 billion people (and no, that's not a crack about her weight). So as long as she keeps those all-caps overshares flowing, Twitter is fine.

Twitter Quitters Post Roadblock to Long-Term Growth [Nielsen Wire, via Hollywood Elsewhere]
(Photo: lauterhaus)

But all is not lost in the Eye Empire, thanks to NBC's ill-advised move to bring Jay Leno to prime time this Fall. On her Deadline Hollywood Daily blog, Nikki Finke reported that Moonves said, in so many words, that things will get better for CBS not because the network will generate better shows, but because NBC is settling for Leno rather than scripted dramas or comedies.

(Moonves) attributed that to developments like NBC's decision to strip Jay Leno's show at 10 PM weekdays. He noted that CBS ratings are up strongly among key audiences, and advertising dollars and rates will follow that growth. "In addition, we think we can increase the shift of dollars to CBS, because of NBC's decision to exit scripted programming at 10 PM. Even if total volume is down at the upfront, we're confident that we will take share and maintain or increase our revenue."

Them are fighting words. Now watch Leno upstage Moonves by suddenly becoming funny for the first time ever and stealing all of CBS's ad revenue.

CBS Posts Big 1st-Q Loss But Moonves Upbeat About 2nd Half Of 2009; Predicts CBS Scripted Will Benefit From NBC/Leno [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

(Photo: moeberg)

(Thanks to Michelle!)

"Contact Us" [Yum] (Thanks to JB!)

Brian's first email to Sears (we reprinted it earlier today) triggered a meaningless auto-response, so he tried calling. Here's what happened, according to a second email he sent to Sears and copied to us:

I doubt this will do any good, considering the last detailed email I sent was replied to with what looks like an auto-reply message, but here goes. I called the number you provided, and spoke to a charming girl in India or Pakistan or somewhere, who did not understand my concern. I was then transfered to another girl from the same country who once again didn't understand. She just kept repeating that they would not replace a tool with rust on it. She even went on to tell me that I should just throw away the sockets in question. I have a problem throwing away anything that came with a lifetime warranty, so I'm pretty sure I won't be doing that. She finally gave me a number to a different customer service line (800-549-4505) and told me to try them. I called and spoke to Judy who was very friendly and knowledgeable. She reiterated that Craftsman excludes all tools that have rust on them. Alright, fine. I give up. What about my Craftsman tool box which leaked causing my tools to rust? She stated that it wouldn't be covered under the lifetime warranty either. It appears Craftsman just won't budge on this issue.

I averaged out my tool purchases and came to the conclusion that I have spent about about $300 on Sears tools, per year, since I was 15. That means that thus far I have spent $3,000 on Craftsman products int he last 10 years. If you figure that I will live until I'm 80, that would mean future purchases of approximately $16,500. A new car in other words. Now with the economy the way it is, customer loyalty is very important to companies, but by treating your loyal customers this way, you won't make it through the next 5 years. I'm just one voice and I know that the decision makers and CEO of Sears will probably never hear my story, but I have to try. I was a customer who was buying Craftsman partly because of tradition, and partly because of a lifetime warranty. Little did I know that "unlimited lifetime warranty" had exceptions. It is sad that I am now one of the exceptions. This process has left me with a feeling of alienation by a company and brand I trusted. By replacing 9 sockets that would probably cost you $5 to make, you would have kept a lifetime customer. Now I'm afraid that the warranty on my lawnmower won't be good because it has grass clippings on it.

My next emails will be going to every other tool company that offers a lifetime warranty. Perhaps one of them will value their customers more.

Thank you for the last 10 years, and good luck surviving in this economy.

Now here's our problem: in March 2007, our own Ben Popken contacted Sears about this exact issue, and he received the following response:

Craftsman hand tools come with a life-time warranty against product defects. If a Craftsman hand tool ever fail due to a defect in the product, simply return the item to the nearest Sears store. Some exclusions does apply which would void or do not apply to the life-time warranty, which include but is not limited to:

• The item being altered in any way.
• Lost, stolen or damaged by an act of God (such as fire, flood, etc.)
• If the item is used for any other reason than its intended purpose, including neglect.
• Rust that does not prohibits the performance of the item (most rust is strictly cosmetic and does not justify being classified as broken)
• Precision hand tools that includes a mechanism (such as calipers, micrometers, most torque wrenches, etc).

Clearly, then, Sears means that you cannot simply trade in an otherwise functional tool with rust on it and receive a rust-free one. Rust is not grounds for replacement.

Again, just so we're all clear (please let some Sears C-level type be reading this): Brian, a lifelong Craftsman customer, tried to replace sockets that were no longer functional. The rust is a non issue. He is not trying to return sockets because they are rusty.

So when did you change your policy, Sears? We're having a hell of a time tracking down the official lifetime guarantee wording anywhere on the Craftsman or Sears site, but we'd love to get a look at the official language, and find out from Sears exactly when the policy changed for the worse.

What's sad (for Sears/Craftsman) is that once again an overzealous employee has ruined the brand experience for a good customer—someone who actually connects Craftsman to his family history. Check out the letter he sent to Sears after being turned away:

Hello. My name is Brian and I have been an avid proponent of Craftsman tools since my teenage years. My grandfather was a mill worker who used only Craftsman. My father was an electrical engineer who swore by Craftsman. I am an IT professional who prefers Craftsman over any other tool brand. When my grandfather passed away, the one thing I wanted was his Craftsman tools. I have a vast collection of your tools, from sockets to Allen wrenches. Ratchets and wrenches. Screwdrivers and power tools. All said, I own more than 1000 individual Craftsman pieces. There are three reasons for this:

• It is a family tradition to use Craftsman tools. It was instilled into me at an early age.
• Craftsman (for the most part) is made in the USA.
• Craftsman has a lifetime warranty on their hand tools, or so I thought.

My dilemma begins a few months ago when I relocated to San Antonio Texas from Huntsville Alabama. When I moved, I took all of my Craftsman tools, placed them into my Craftsman tool box, and loaded them into my U-Haul. I drove 16 hours straight to San Antonio, and unloaded my U-Haul the day after arriving. During my trip, it rained and the U-Haul leaked. Fast forward to last week. I had a problem with my Jeep Wrangler and decided to take an afternoon and repair it. I found my Craftsman Tool box, pulled it out, opened it up, and found that my tools, mainly the sockets, had rusted. No problem. I simply brought out some rust remover and a wire brush, and set about cleaning my tools.

Through the last 10 years of using Craftsman, I have always had a special box for damaged Craftsman tools. If a socket slips or is rounded, I place it in the box. If a ratchet breaks, I place it in the box. So on and so forth. Now, I kept that box in the Craftsman tool box that I kept my other products in. So when my Craftsman tool box leaked, the damaged tools rusted right along with all the others.

Today I was organizing my tools in preparation for a new project on the Jeep, and ran across my box of damaged Craftsman products. I decided that today was the day I would take them to my closest Sears store and get them replaced. I searched Google and found the closest store, and then also searched to find a copy of the warranty. I couldn't find a copy of the warranty, but I ran across an article on Consumerist.com about rust and Craftsman tools. I am an avid reader of The Consumerist, and put a lot of credence into what they say. They advised that rust was considered a cosmetic defect, and therefore rust was not grounds to have a tool replaced. Fair enough, as long as the tool works, who cares what it looks like. With that in mind, I went through the entire batch of damaged tools, and pulled out the ones I felt didn't meet this criteria. I was left with about 9 12pt sockets that were rounded, a screwdriver with a broken tip, and a pair of vice grips that wouldn't stay gripped. I placed those items into a bag and drove to Sears.

When I approached the counter, I explained to the girl that I had some Craftsman products I needed replaced. She took a look and paged a Tool Associate to the counter. She went and got my replacement screwdriver and we waited for the Tool Associate to show up. When he did, he took a look at my damaged tools and told me that they did not replace sockets because of rust. [This is true. -Ed.] I explained to him that this was fine, as that there were mechanical defects with the sockets. They were rounded and therefore were not usable. He then proceeded to tell me that they could only replace 3 tools per day per customer. That seemed a little odd to me, but once again, I understood. Next he told me that he wouldn't replace the sockets because it was "obvious" that I "didn't take care of them". I felt that came off as borderline offensive. I explained to him that the sockets were in a Craftsman tool box that leaked. He again reiterated that he couldn't replace the sockets because of rust. Tired of arguing, I said that was fine and asked if I could just get the screwdriver and vice grips replaced. He said yes and went and got the vice grips, rang me out, and sent me on my way.

When I left the store, I noticed that above the entrance, in large letters, was written "Satisfaction Guaranteed or your Money Back!" I had myself a snickering laugh and headed home to write this email. I am writing you to ask what I should do? Does my toolbox qualify for replacement under the lifetime warranty because it leaks? What should I do with the 9 sockets which are rounded and of no use to me?

I am a reasonable man. I've worked in retail and I understand the reasons you have your "Rust" policy. But I find it a bit misleading to offer a "Full Unlimited Warranty" or to say "If any Craftsman Hand Tool ever fails to provide complete satisfaction, return it to any Sears store," if doing just what your package says, only results in a denial and an insult. Is there anyway you can help me with my dilemma? Or if not, can you recommend a company for me to buy my tools from in the future?

We like Brian's approach: if Sears doesn't want to treat its customers like, you know, customers, then just tell us where to shop and we'll go there instead. That way everyone is happy, especially the Gollum-like Tool Associate ("Mine! MINE!") and his horde of Craftsman products.

Update: Brian was able to speak to three CSRs at Sears and has been told something quite different than what Sears told us regarding Craftsman warranties.

(Photo: Diego Cupolo)

Now, I am no biologist, but that does not seem heart-shaped to me. It looks like a moon just on the beginning of the cycle, or a cuddly, passive-aggressive demon. What about you, readers? What does the Papa John's FailPizza look like to you, and what oddly themed holiday is it really celebrating? Leave your best below.

[Thanks, Ryan!]

Apparently, the package had a Dallas address. It wasn't valid, so UPS assumed the shipper meant Denton, 40 miles away (come on, they both start with a D, whatever), and dropped it off there. The police are investigating.

Meanwhile, no word on whether the man ever got his tools. Somewhere in Dallas, a stoner is building a loft.

(Photo: dooleymtv)

Brandon writes,

After seeing your post on the Free Shipping Day promotion, and found myself interested, but wary that I would not receive my order in time for Christmas. Ultimately, I decided to give it a shot anyway, comforted by the fact that all orders were guaranteed to be delivered my December 24. So, I waited until 12:01 AM December 18th to place an order with Circuit City, one of the partners for this promotion, and later received a confirmation e-mail stating that my order would arrive on December 24 at the latest.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. While I did receive one item from my order a few days before Christmas, the other three items did not arrive until December 28th. Normally, a delay like this wouldn't bother me, but seeing as these items were supposed to be gifts for my friends and family, I got to endure the embarrassment of not having gifts for three people, while they got shorted on presents.

After e-mailing Circuit City, I was offered a paltry $5 gift card, which I refused on the basis of being insufficient. Instead, I asked for two $15 gift cards which I could provide to my two young nieces (who were two of the present-less people) on behalf of myself and Circuit City to help us both save face. Circuit City refused.

We'll leave the negotiations over appropriate compensation between Brandon and Circuit City. What bothers us, and this is why we're posting this, is that the company failed to honor its shipping guarantee—a guarantee they made in an attempt to lure shoppers to their online store. Here's what "Daschelle" from Circuit City wrote to Brandon when he pointed out the freeshippingday guarantee:

Thank you for your reply. While we certainly understand how this must have been frustrating for you, the shipping timeframes were listed on our website and in order to receive your items by Christmas you would have needed to order on or before 12/12/08. We can not honor your request for two $15 gift cards. The $5 offer is still available if you would like to take advantage of it.

Brandon also contacted the man behind the freeshippingday.com website to ask for his help, but he said he could do nothing, adding, "There doesn't seem to be much you can do other than return your item and get your money back. I do know that they were advertising free shipping with delivery by December 24th for orders placed up to December 19."

Brandon, you might want to try escalating the matter past the frontline CSRs (NB: skip Schoonover's address) since they don't seem to be aware of their own freeshippingday guarantee. We also think if they won't budge on the $5 offer, you should seriously consider asking for a full refund and find another place to buy your gifts if at all possible. Why give your business to a company that doesn't stand behind its promises?

We also think behavior like this should earn them a big ban from next year's freeshippingday.com group, but c'mon, it's Circuit City—does anyone really think they'll still be here next December anyway?

(Photo: qnr)

Adam writes:

So I ordered an iPhone from AT&T last week. I ordered it even though I was going to be away from my apartment for New Year's because orders made before December 31st got an additional $50 off. I knew I would be away during New Year's and AT&T would only ship to my billing address, so I could not have them ship it to where I was spending New Year's, which was fine because I was told I could call and have them hold it at the local UPS facility.

I called and they said no problem. I got a call back from the local facility confirming that they would hold the package until Monday morning. Great, I thought.

Then I checked the tracking number again tonight...and got this information:

01/02/2009 7:19 P.M. THE RECEIVER DID NOT WANT THE ORDER AND REFUSED THIS DELIVERY / RETURNED TO SHIPPER
01/02/2009 1:29 P.M. THE RECEIVER WAS UNAVAILABLE TO SIGN ON THE 1ST DELIVERY ATTEMPT. A 2ND DELIVERY ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE
01/02/2009 12:09 P.M. A DELIVERY CHANGE REQUEST FOR THIS PACKAGE WILL BE PROCESSED / AS REQUESTED, THE RECEIVER WILL PICKUP AT A UPS FACILITY AT THEIR CONVENIENCE. THIS MUST BE WITHIN 5 BUSINESS DAYS

So my request to hold the package (note it says for 5 business days) was entered at 12:09pm. Then, less than two hours later they decide to try to deliver it anyway and then around 7pm say I actually have refused the package...

Then when I call and say what is going on they say sorry there is nothing they can do right now. That it has been returned and I will have to call AT&T. But they will have the local facility call me Monday morning to explain the mistake (I don't care why, I just want my package).

So, now UPS has sent the package back without my request, admitting they made an error. Yet, telling me there is nothing they can do tostop the package even though they are a shipping company with tracking
numbers...and I have to call AT&T and deal with them. Keep in mind this is the company with ads with some dude in a mullet in front of a whiteboard explaining how awesome UPS is — that they can even reroute a package mid-transit. I guess this is reserved for people who pay extra, not for when UPS themselves returns a package in error.

(Photo: So Cal Metro)

Parental Testimonial Fail [Fail Blog]

That thing is brutally efficient. We wonder how many fish they had to go through to get those shots.

Commercial Fail [Fail Blog]

We and our sister both asked for, and received, this lovely Old Stone Oven pizza stone for Christmas. They were bought through Amazon. Ours arrived on the the twenty-third, in several pieces, as the above picture shows. Probably because Amazon took the box that contained the stone, which was marked "FRAGILE," and stuck it in another box not marked "FRAGILE," and used a piece of paper as padding. Like this:

Putting a fragile package in another box in such a way that it isn't surrounded by padding probably means that it will break, which it did. Whatever, we called Amazon as soon as we unpacked it, told them what happened, and they assured us that a new one would arrive the next day, Christmas Eve.

It never came.

When we spoke to our sister, we found out Amazon sent her the same stone, packaged the same way, and it broke. We're currently on the phone with Amazon, asking where our replacement stone is, and they've told us that UPS has returned it to them because it broke. That's the third broken pizza stone, and we're sure they packaged it in the same careless, ineffective way that they packaged the first two. Amazon is now out of stock on pizza stones for at least a month, and although we suggested they overnight us one from a Marketplace seller, they've demurred, instead offering to mail us a gift card for the amount sometime next week. No thanks.

Shopping Cart Fail [Fail Blog via Buzzfeed]

There is now a dedicated website, and your better check it often if you want to beat out the 150,000 strong mob to win a snazzy hotel room. At least that is what Leading Hotels apologizer-in-chief Ted Tang said in what he promises will be the final update:

Dear Internets,

I would like to once again express my gratitude for your continued support, understanding, and patience with The Leading Hotels of the World. Since October 1, we have explored and evaluated many solutions to the technological failures encountered during the online USD 19.28 Sale.

I am delighted to inform you that today we selected Akamai Technologies, Inc., the world premier web content delivery network, with clients such as Yahoo, Travelocity, and Amazon. Together we are working diligently to finalize a new procedure whereby you, as well as the other 150,000 registrants, will have a chance to secure one of the originally allotted 6,000 room nights that are available at the rate of USD 19.28.

In developing a fair and foolproof platform, we have been faced with various considerations. Timing - both on the developmental front as well as for your trip-planning purposes - has proven to be our major and foremost concern. We chose to preserve the hotel availability dates, which in most cases began on November 1, as to not delay the promotion by several months. We also opted to maintain the promotion on a first-come, first-served basis. To make the offer a random selection or lottery would significantly delay the re-launch due to complicated international regulations. Lastly, we wanted to ensure successful communication to registrants in a prompt manner. We are now confident that, with Akamai, we have found a solution that addresses all of these challenges.

Please note that you will not be receiving any further emails, rather, we have decided to post all future updates and details on a dedicated website at www.lhw.com/1928status, which will go live on Monday, October 13. This will allow all registrants, throughout the various parts of the globe, simultaneous and equal access to the USD 19.28 updates around the clock. All updates will indicate the date and time of posting. Please know that we have intentionally communicated this website address only to registrants in order not to dilute your chances of securing a reservation at the promotional rate. We will announce the details of the new USD 19.28 promotion, no later than Friday, October 17, which will occur the following week. The sale details will be posted at least 48 hours before the promotion begins.

With thanks,

Ted Teng
President & CEO
The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd.

Sorry, Ted, for posting the link to the super-secret website. We didn't mean to dilute the contest or anything, but since it's out there now, how about an RSS feed?

Keep checking this site, and by Friday at the latest (maybe sooner! surprise!) we'll find out when the mob gathers next.

1928 Status Page [Leading Hotels of the World]
PREVIOUSLY: Leading Hotels Do-Over Postponed
Do-Over Announced By Leading Hotels Of The World
$19.28 5-Star Hotel Room Promo Ends In Fiasco
Book A World-Class Hotel Room For Only $19.28 Per Night
(Photo: Getty)

Here's the situation: Reader Bryan ordered an item from Adorama's Amazon store. After the item shipped, he decided to change the shipping instructions so he could pick up his package at the UPS store. Amazon's policies kept Adorama from changing the instructions on a shipped item, so, after apologizing, Adorama gave Bryan two options: a full refund, or once the item returned undelivered, they could re-ship the item with the right instructions.

Bryan didn't send us his original request, so we'll start with Adorama's response. The writing isn't the clearest, but the content speaks for itself:

hi!

unfurtunaly this is an Amazon order and we wont be able to have you pick it up. I apologized for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

Brian responded:

I don't see why it being an amazon order changes anything. It's MY package that I paid for, and paid shipping for. UPS is not able to deliver to my location, all I want is to be able to pick up the package THAT I PAID FOR.

Make it happen, or I'm just returning all of it, and then you'll be refunding my money.

Right off the bat you can tell Bryan is trouble. "Make it happen?" Tell that to a waitress and you'll rightly end up with a drink down your shirt. Let's see how Paola responds:

I apologized for the inconvenience but our contract with Amazon is like that we cant make any changes to the order or have ups hold it for you , if you are unable to be at the address you provide with your order for shipping the order will come back to us and we will give you the money back for the item.

have a nice day!!

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

Paola provided a direct explanation to Bryan's question. Adorama's contract with Amazon prevents them from changing the shipping address. Simple enough, but Bryan kept pushing:

Well, I guess you just lost some money. I have NEVER had any issues with getting UPS to hold a package that I have bought from Amazon.

I'm so sorry for the inconvenience maybe you place the order through Amazon and it was ship by another company. I don't want you to feel like if we don't appreciated your business but unfurtunaly we can not hold the pack. if the order was place directly from us we wouldn't have this problem.

again I apologies.

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

Another fairly direct response from Paola, and a way to avoid the problem in the future. Fine.

How Bryan choose to advance his case?

Please learn proper grammar and english. It would make your messages much easier to understand.

At this point, Paola could have stopped responding. The substantive interaction was over. If we were in Paola's place, we wouldn't have been able to respond with anything approximating a polite response. And as we'll see, advancing the conversation doesn't help anyone, even if the intent is to help an unreasonable customer.

Oh thank you.... For the compliment... am just trying to give you good customer service. at least someone is paying attention to your problem.

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

See, this is what I'm talking about. Re-read your last 2 messages. They are written poorly. "unfurtunaly" is spelled "unfortunately".

All this poor grammar and spelling lets me know is that the employees at this place are incompetent, and that I would never order anything from you again. No one is paying attention to my problem and I am NOT receiving "good customer service". If I was receiving "good customer service", my problem would have already been taken care of when I called yesterday. I can't believe all this hassle is being put into this situation. All I want to do is pick up my package; this should not be an impossible task.

You fail. I will never order anything from adorama again.

Are you a teacher? All I m trying to do is help you and "unfortunately" you don't see that you are just looking for mistakes in the grammar. I hope you have a very nice day!

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

Yes. I am a teacher. I teach 4th grade, and they spell better than you

and can complete sentences using proper punctuation. It reflects poorly on you and the company you work for. If you can't do this, maybe this is the wrong job for you. You are doing NOTHING to help me. If you want to help me, offer to overnight me another camera with no restrictions on the package, so that I can pick it up at the UPS office. Sitting here and arguing with me does nothing to fix the problem.

Today, I will be contacting any management/owners that I can get ahold of and informing them of the awful customer service I've received. If you can't solve the problem and just type gibberish to me, then you are of no use in your current place of employment.

With the respect you deserve let me explain you something. I was trying to assist you since the first time that you call , but you just say that you wanted your money back and started complaining about my grammar instead of telling me that you wanted the item expedited, is very frustrating for me as a customer service representative that is doing her best to assist you, to only get this kind of email in response like if I was one of your students . Am really sorry this is going the way is going, you are the first customer I get that is a "teacher" and act like a student.

If you want the item I will be more than happy to place a new order for you, I will need to charge you for the item again and am supposed to charge you for shipping as well because I don't see where we mess up with your order we send it to the address that you provide Amazon for shipping. if you will like I can ask my manager as a first time courtesy to give you free shipping. And if you want fell free to contact my manager to complaint about my customer service skills her ext# is 2219 her name is Leah, I am sure she will be happy to listen to you and read our emails....thank you and have a nice day!!!!!!

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

Can we all agree this is a reasonable solution? Paola offered to resend the item, possibly even waive the shipping. And she volunteered her manager's number and rightly suggested that any third party might find Bryan's behavior offensive.

So how does Bryan respond to the olive branch?

Wow. I have no clue what any of that says since your sentences are all run-ons and really really long. Go back to school.

The situation deteriorates from there.

I just feel sorry for the kids you teach ... You are very disrespectful, maybe my problem can be solve going back to school but in your case you will have to be born again.. Respect others is easy and make others life easier too. Here at Adorama we treat our customers with respect because that's how they treat us. but that's not you case. Have a good life.

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

Spend less time telling me to be 'born again' and more time studying an English book. Religion is just a crutch for the weak.
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) smartphone with SprintSpeed

Be happy!! Have a nice day!! "teacher"

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

I was happy today until I had to deal with you. And for some reason you decide to bring religion into this. I'm making phone calls right now, doing my best to make sure that you don't have a job by the end of the day.
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) smartphone with SprintSpeed

Ok she is waiting for your call ext#2219 leah .. bye

PAOLA
Adorama customer service

Okay.... Here's an awesome email exchange between an adorama.com camera customer service rep and myself. Yeah, I'm an asshole, but this ignorant woman actually suggested that I become "born again".

All this because they put all kinds of restrictions on MY package which won't allow me to pick up my package at the UPS office.

Enjoy!

You sure got one thing right, Bryan.

Clearly the exchange could have been handled better by everyone. The telecoms and other large companies use rigid customer service manuals to limit similar debacles. Their customer service is like Plinko: your complaint's destiny is governed by its fall down a maddening decision tree. Bryan would have been dismissed with a simple: "We cannot accommodate your request at this time. Please be assured, your business is important to us." We prefer companies where employees can treat us not just as consumers, but as people.

When dealing with any company, always treat customer service representatives as you would want to be treated yourself. The whole Golden Rule thing and all. Not only is it common decency, but it's the single best way to get exactly you want.

(Photo: paolo màrgari)

Consumer Reports posted a list of 7 common online security mistakes that you might be making — and assuming you were protected was #1. Now, we know our readers aren't making these mistakes because they are so responsible and awesome, but maybe you have a family member who keeps sending money to Nigeria and wondering why Bank of America keeps emailing when they don't have an account. Maybe you could send this their way?

7. Shopping online like you do in stores. Avoid using a debit card and always look for the "https" in the website's address. You can get a virtual account number from your credit-card company. It’s good for only one purchase from a specific vendor.

6. Clicking on a pop-up that tells you your PC is secure. CR's survey showed "that 13 percent of respondents who saw such a pop-up tried to close it but launched it instead; 3 percent clicked on a pop-up and got a malware infection." Block pop-ups and/or be very careful to click the X, not the ad.

5. Thinking your Mac protects you from everything. Mac users fall prey to phishing scams at about the same rate as Windows users, says CR.

4. Downloading Free Software. "Fish-tank screen savers and smiley faces" are the enemy of everything good in the world. Download software from reputable sites (Download.com), and check out our sister site Lifehacker to see if they have any recommendations.

3. Using one password for everything. Dumb! Here's some advice for creating and managing good passwords.

2. Accessing your account through email links. Don't do this. Don't. Please stop. Stop! CR says: No matter how official an e-mail message looks, trying to access a financial account by clicking on embedded Web links is risky. If the e-mail message is fraudulent, a cybercriminal could use the account number and password you enter to steal your identity or empty your bank account.

1. Assuming your security software is working. CR says: "Renew the subscription when the software prompts you. Make sure your security software is active when you’re online and that it has been updated within the past week or so."

Read the full article here.

7 online blunders
[Consumer Reports]
(Photo: Getty)

Here's a head's up - Continental has canceled dozens of flights going into and out of Houston (IAH)...but they haven't told anyone. They canceled my outbound flight to California through Houston (which, fine, understandable), but didn't send me so much as an email or phone call, like most carriers do. It wasn't until I tried to check this morning that I was met with their proposed new flight plan (see attached.) It's sad and hilarious at the same time. Needless to say, I've rebooked since then.

I'd have been in trouble at the airport if I hadn't tried to check in this morning, so just a warning to anyone trying to fly across the country today - the airlines, particularly Continental, are doing their usual awesome job at handling the situation. I'm not so much upset about changing my plans, it's the total lack of communication from Continental and the completely useless "solution" they tried to offer.

(Photo: FlyGuy92586)