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Massachusetts
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united airlines
wamu
WaMu Tells You To Stop Paying Your Mortgage And Apply For Help, Then Forecloses On You
WaMu, despite all their big talk about helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, is apparently too overwhelmed with a tsunami of defaulted loans to call their customers back, let alone help them stay in their homes. Meet Lori and Mark Pestana. They have a $275,000 fixed rate mortgage with WaMu as their servicer. In August 2007, the Pestanas could not make a payment on their loan. They considered dipping into their retirement savings, but WaMu's website offered an alternative: More »
glitches
Lauren was shocked to find five charges for a total of $200 on her account from a pizza place she hadn't been to in months. They were all levied from one Uno Chicago Grill during a day she wasn't even in town. What she found out about why they happened in the first place was even more disturbing, and annoying.
More »
Uno Chicago Grill Charges You $200 When You're Not Even There
Lauren was shocked to find five charges for a total of $200 on her account from a pizza place she hadn't been to in months. They were all levied from one Uno Chicago Grill during a day she wasn't even in town. What she found out about why they happened in the first place was even more disturbing, and annoying.
More »
In Mass. a new law has gone into effect requiring all children under 8 years old or shorter than 4' 9" use a booster seat when riding in a car. Picturing our parents trying to make us do this when we were 7 is hilarious. [Boston Herald]
supermarkets
Massachusetts Supermarkets Want To Remove Price Tags From Items
A bill is advancing through the Massachusetts legislature that will allow supermarkets to leave off item price tags and instead force customers to rely on electronic scanners spaced throughout the store. Although prices will still need to be displayed on store shelves for most items, you'll have to rely on your memory and your faith in the store's scanner system at checkout. John Hurst, the president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, "said consumers will benefit in the form of lower prices and shortened lines once stores no longer need to devote resources to item-by-item pricing." But kjd aa- [thump]
—sorry, we just fell out of our chairs laughing at the idea of a supermarket out there that will heroically pass the savings downstream to consumers instead of profiting directly from it.
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abuse
Meet The Coupon-Throwing Papa John's Owner From Hell
Papa John's wouldn't let reader Adi redeem her coupon for a $9.99 extra-large pizza online, so she trekked over to the nearest store in Weymouth, Massachusetts, where she met the franchise owner from hell. The owner insisted that the coupon didn't apply to online orders, so Adi asked to cancel her online order and re-order her pizza in person to get the discount. This prompted the owner to angrily throw the coupon at Adi, before throwing away her ready-made pizza. And was just the start of the fun... More »
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 »
success stories
Man Gets $35 Service Credit From Comcast By Doing Math In His Head
Shaw writes:
I am one of the early adopters of Comcast's new TiVo service that is being rolled (see: rushed before ready) out in Massachusetts.So far, not once but TWICE, the box in my room has crashed on me with the TiVo OS installed. The first time, they couldn't send out a tech until nearly 2 weeks later. Got it fixed...and two weeks later, just like last time, the box crashed (stops showing any programming...and selecting "Restart The DVR" restarts it, over and over and over again. A death-spin of sorts).
So we get the bill today. A nice chunky $195 (3 boxes, two of which are TiVo DVRs, one that crashes, one thats a lil buggy). Enough is enough. Time to get credited for these boxes...
More »
The Boston Globe profiles the last remaining shoe and boot maker in New England, Alden Shoes. The company's classic footwear has been worn by the likes of John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Indiana Jones... and the Massachusetts state troopers. The shoes will set you back about $350-$500 a pair, but they seem like awfully nice people. "Our shoes don't wear out," says Robert Clark, Alden's vice president. [Boston Globe]
government
Mass. Residents Face Monthly Fines For Going Without Health Insurance
Residents in Mass., who refuse to get health insurance will soon face monthly fines of up to $76 , says the AP:The fines are part of an increasingly aggressive approach written into the health care law designed to pressure Massachusetts residents into getting insurance. The law, intended to create near-universal coverage in the state, was approved by lawmakers and signed by former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006.More »
A customer says his complaints were met with indifference after reporting that mice had infested the bird seed at a Mass. Home Depot, leaving torn and spilling bags in their wake. Not only that, the store wasn't clean up the dead mice. Seems the store employees don't know which aisle contains the pest control products (or dustpans), nor do they care to. If they want to be "green" about it, they could just go over to PetSmart and get a few cats. Felines have been killing mice for us humans since the dawn of grain storage, so maybe it's time to kick it old-school. [Wicked Local]
customer service
AMC Plays "SAW IV" Instead Of "Bee Movie"
"I went to the AMC Theater in Framingham MA Sunday night with my wife, 27 year old daughter & 12 year old son to see Bee Movie. After sitting through the 10 minutes previews for coming attractions, it's on to the Feature Presentation. Well, to everyones shock & awe what is the opening scene? There on the big screen in front of the mostly "G" audience what do we see? A naked male corpse on a slab being autopsied..............yes we were watching SAW IV!" More »
subprime meltdown
Massachusetts Mortgages To Become Safer, Fairer
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley last week unveiled aggressive regulations designed to curb the orgy of irresponsible lending that led to the subprime meltdown. The measures, among the strictest in the nation, enjoin lenders from profiteering or ignoring a prospective borrower's financial situation. More »
suburban menace
Are Leaf Blowers Disturbing The Peace? Should They Be Banned?
NPR has an extremely funny news piece about Newton, Mass., a pleasant suburban town in which the residents enjoy their neatly manicured laws... but at what cost to their sanity?Some residents of a leafy suburb of Boston are fighting over what to do with all the leaves. Residents of Newton, Mass., say they are being tormented by the noise coming from the gas-powered leaf blowers that are now everywhere.Oh no! More »
consumer action
77-Year-Old Man Sues Bank Of America Over $10,000 In Undisclosed Fees - Wins
77-year old Peter Gossels won his 8-year lawsuit against Bank Of America for $10,000 in undisclosed fees the bank assessed when he deposited a large check drawn on a German bank. The elderly lawyer argued that the bank failed to disclose the exchange rate when he conducted the transaction.
He might not have won had the bank not accidentally stapled to a deposition a "secret rate sheet" that was handed out to tellers daily and told not to show to customers.
The case cost Gossels well over the disputed value, but he said, "This is the only way banks will learn not to cheat its customers."
Man beats bank [Boston Globe via Bloggingstocks]
(Photo: meghannmarco)
security
Airports On High Alert After TSA Seizes Block Cheese
The Associated Press reported that the alert came after curious seizures since last September at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston, and Baltimore. Items seized, according to the bulletin, included "wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cellphone components, and dense claylike substances," including block cheese.Cheese is a catalyst for fondue, an explosion of flavor and fun in your mouth.
Logan security remains high as terror concerns are raised [Boston Globe] (Thanks to Dork Esquire!)
massachusetts regulators
Milk Is Too Cheap
Regulators from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources zealously enforce a 1941 law that prohibits retailers from selling milk below cost. The law was originally intended to help level the playing the field between small stores and large chains, but now serves to keep the price of milk artificially high. Just last week, state regulators asked the Market Basket supermarket chain why they were selling milk for only $2.59 per gallon. From the Boston Globe:David McLean, operations manager for the Tewksbury-based chain, said the company would be adjusting its price upward to $2.89 a gallon and may go even higher this week when wholesale prices are scheduled to rise.More »
government
Massachusetts Makes Health Insurance Mandatory
Massachusetts is "experimenting" with mandatory health insurance, according to the Dr. Judy Ann Bigby, the commonwealth's secretary of Health and Human Services. Under a new law that went into effect July 1, Massachusetts citizens are required to obtain health insurance or face a penalty. NPR has an interview with Dr. Bigby where she explains the experimental nature of the project and its stated goals. More »
