There’s a big scorch mark on Hannah’s floor. It appeared last week after her Dell Mini 9 began suddenly sizzling and smoking and melting. We have pictures, and questions. [More]
malfunctions
ThinkGeek Embraces Accidental Giveaway, Lets People Keep Freebies
By 8.9.09
What do you do when your server suddenly contracts swine flu and starts giving away free merchandise? If you’re ThinkGeek, nothing! The geek toy store celebrated a server glitch by announcing that anyone who picked up free schwag would get to keep it, no questions asked. Why? Read on for the awesome explanation…
EECB Over Xbox 360 Keeps Getting Bounced Back As Spam
By 2.2.09
Those wily Xbox 360 gremlins are at it again, and this time they’re cracking Michael’s game discs in little spokes along the inner ring of each disc. His customer service call went nowhere, naturally, so someone on the Penny Arcade forum where he posted his story suggested an Executive Email Carpet Bomb. The only problem is, it keeps getting sent back as spam.
Casio Stops Claiming Fingerprint Found Inside New Camera, Repairs Fully
By 10.30.08
Update on “Casio Voids Warranty, Claims There’s A Fingerprint Inside New Camera“: After Sam’s story went live on Consumerist and he got escalated at Casio, they repaired his camera fully under warranty, acknowledged their mistake, and gave him a free 8 Gig Class III SD card. Sam writes, “Once the right people found out things moved around quickly.”
Chase Refuses To Shut Down Broken ATM Until You Threaten To Report Them To The FDIC
By 5.14.08
Reader Keith tried to get $120 from a downtown NYC Chase ATM, but the money door never opened. When he went inside to report the malfunction, the teller told him to go outside and wait. Keith thought he was waiting for someone to come fix the ATM or take his personal information. It turns out that he was just being ignored.
By 4.2.08
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Citibank’s online banking site was down all day yesterday for some readers. Some folks were told a server went down, others were told it was a system upgrade. The site is supposed to be back up today.
Toshiba: "Don't Delete Bloatware If You Know What's Good For You"
By 12.11.07
A reader writes in to report that when he bought a new laptop direct from Toshiba in November, he triggered a blue screen of death as he was uninstalling the always-useful bloatware that came pre-loaded. He called a Service Rep, got the usual “reinstall everything” run-around, and then finally got escalated to a level-two tech, which is when things got ridiculous.
