Consumerist
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best buy
Price Match Fraud Lawsuit Filed Against Best Buy
A class action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against Best Buy. The suit's claims? That the company has an official policy against price-matching their own web site. You don't say. That claim of a special Intranet site to prevent price-matching against the chain's Web site sounds familiar. So do most of the suit's allegations, for loyal readers of Consumerist. More » -
privatization
Lawsuit Attempts Declare Chicago's Privatized Parking Meters "Illegal and Void"
Know what people don't like? Chicago privatized parking meters. Now a public interest group is suing the city, claiming that Daley didn't have the right to lease the meters to a private company for an "excessive period," that that tax payer dollars shouldn't go towards police to enforce meters owned by a private company. They also say that the city can't force the Illinois Secretary of State to suspend licenses for failure to pay tickets issued at private meters. More » -
follow ups
Twitter Lawsuit Company Tells Its Side Of Story
Horizon Realty, the Chicago company that sued a former tenant for libel after she posted an offhand remark about them on her Twitter account, must have felt the full effects of Internet notoriety today. Jeff Michael—who was quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times saying that Horizon was a "sue first, ask questions later" sort of company—has issued a response. Click here to read it (PDF). The short version: he says the tenant in question sued them first (about a month after the tweet in question), and they're all in deep disagreement about any existence of mold in the apartment. (Thanks to Alyssa!) More » -
lawsuits
Tenant Sued After Using Twitter To Complain About Moldy Apartment
If the the puiblic didn't read Amanda Bonnen's Twitter feed before, they will now, thanks to a defamation lawsuit brought against her by Horizon Group Management in Chicago. More » -
employees must wash hands
Hepatitis Outbreak: This Is Why You Need To Wash Your Hands Before You Return To Work
Hepatitis A is an extremely contagious disease that can be passed along by food service workers who don't thoroughly wash their hands — and that may have been the case at a Milan, Illinois McDonald's according to the Quad City Times. More » -
tickets
Ticketmaster Pays $50,000 Fine, Closes More Than 100 Deceptive Site
Ticketmaster will pay a $50,000 fine and shutter more than 100 deceptive brokerage sites as part of a wide-reaching agreement with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Madigan's office accused Ticketmaster's always shady subsidy, TicketsNow, of creating sites that masqueraded as local venues selling tickets at face value. The settlement also requires TicketsNow to wait until after Ticketmaster puts non-sporting events on sale before hawking tickets at outrageously inflated prices. More » -
illinois
170 Bogus Tickets: Chicago Tests Ticketing Equipment With Your License Plate
When I read the headline for this story (it didn't mention Chicago), I bet myself a million dollars that the man had an Illinois license plate. I am now a millionaire. Or I will be as soon as I pay myself. More » -
scams
Apartment Listing Service Sells Database Of Scammy And Outdated Rentals
The Illinois attorney general's office has filed suit against a Chicago-based rental property listing service for allegedly "charging consumers a membership fee for access to a property database populated largely with fraudulent or outdated rental listings." More » -
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mortgage fraud
Treasury Announces Multi-Agency Crackdown On Mortgage Fraud
Various U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, announced a multi-agency crackdown on foreclosure relief fraud today, vowing to "redouble efforts to crack down on schemes that target distressed homeowners and also to share more information and resources across agencies and with state officials," says the WSJ. More » -
odd
KFC Wants To Fix Chicago's Pothole Problem
Will sponsored pot holes sell chicken? KFC seems to think so. They've asked the City of Chicago if they can fix potholes — in exchange for including a white stencil saying the spot was "Re-freshed by KFC." More » -
privatization
Parking Meter Revolt: Chicagoans Are Vandalizing Parking Meters In Protest!
The Chicago parking meter saga continues today with a post from theexpiredmeter.com, a blog about Chicago parking tickets and how to fight them. The post has photos of parking meters being spray painted, destroyed and otherwise defaced. Guess people aren't too thrilled with paying 28 quarters for 2 hours in the Loop... More » -
privatization
Are Chicagoans Rebelling Against The New Parking Meter Regime?
The evidence is purely anecdotal, but it seems that some unrest might be brewing in the City of Chicago. Now that the Mayor has leased the city's parking meters to a company that jacked up the rates, people might be staying home rather than feed the meters — which now take as many as 28 quarters for 2 hours. More » -
scams
Illinois Couple Swindles Best Buy Out Of $31 Million
The Chicago Tribune says that Russell Cole calls his $2.75 million Deerfield, IL home "the house that Best Buy built," but now investigators are claiming that the Best Buy money was obtained through fraud. More » -
walmart
Wal-Mart Worker Burns Self To Death Outside Store
Via Chicagobreakingnews:
A 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee who said he "couldn't take it anymore" lit himself on fire outside the Bloomingdale store where he worked late Thursday night and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said this morning.
At least 10 people witnessed the suicide and several attempted to help the man by throwing their coats on top of him in an effort to put out the flames, he said.
"He said he didn't want any help and threw the coats off," Sater said.
I wonder if we'll ever know what it was he couldn't take.
Wal-Mart worker burns self to death in parking lot [Chicagobreakingnews] (Thanks to Jason!) (Photo: kelly zen)
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crime
FBI Reopens Infamous "Tylenol Murders" Case
If you've ever wondered why medicines have tamper-proof seals — there's one reason: an group of still unsolved murders over a quarter of a century old. In September of 1982, cyanide-laced Tylenol killed seven people in the Chicagoland area. Despite a nationwide recall and investigation, no one was ever charged with the crime. Now the FBI has reopened the case. More » -
comcatastrophe
Whose Fault Is It When Comcast Breaks Your Utility Pole?
Whose fault is it when your cable installer climbs up your utility poll and breaks it? Is it yours? Is it your electric company's? One woman found out the hard way that not only was it her problem — but that ComEd was going to shut her electricity off if she didn't find a way to fix it. More » -
labor
The Window Company Sit In Is Over
The sit-in has ended in Chicago, as Bank of America, union leaders and Republic Windows & Doors have reached an agreement that will give each employee eight weeks' salary, all accrued vacation pay and two months' paid health care. [AP] -
recession watch
America's 10 Fastest Dying Towns
Here's a bleak list from Forbes — America's 10 Fastest-Dying Towns. Many of the towns have something in common — manufacturing jobs moving overseas or to cheaper, more rural, areas. More »
illinois
New York, 6:44 AM
Mon Nov 9
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