Consumerist
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dunkin' donuts
Parents Sue Dunkin' Donuts After Rogue Hash Brown Burns Toddler
Continuing this weekend's unintentional theme of "toddlers and food service," today we bring you the sad tale of a Quincy, Mass. 23-month-old whose parents are suing Dunkin' Donuts after he was burned by a hash brown. A hash brown that fell out of his mouth and onto his neck. More » -
fast
Massachusetts Fast Food Chains Must Now Display Calorie Counts
Massachusetts has approved a new regulation to list calorie counts at fast food eateries and other chain restaurants throughout the state. More » -
taxes
Cigarettes Just Got Fiscally Irresponsible In Addition To The Whole "Health" Thing
Smokers around the country are freaking out as a huge federal cigarette tax increase goes into effect. More » -
fast food
Dunkin Donuts Guy Slashes Your Tires Because You Didn't Wait For Your Coffee
Here's something that you don't often see — a Dunkin Donuts employee got so mad at a guy who decided not to wait for his coffee (because it was taking too long) that he left the store, pulled out a folding knife, and slashed the customer's tires. All. Four. Of. Them. More » -
scams
Fake Repairman Preys On Powerless Worcesterians
After ice storms slammed Boston and left thousands without power, one opportunist saw a chance to make a buck in the dark. -
tweeter
Inside The Mind Of A Liquidator
Interesting facts from a Boston Globe article profiling a member of the Tweeter liquidation team, David "The Junkyard Dog" Spehar: More » -
best buy
Best Buy Cancels Your Order As You Stand There Shouting "Stop!"
Best Buy didn't want to honor the sale price of the 2GB flash drive Matt ordered through their website, so when Matt arrived to pick-up his purchase, the store's assistant manager called customer service and, pretending to be Matt, asked to cancel the order. Let's read Matt's story and see how it violates Massachusetts law, inside...
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united airlines
United Makes You Pay To Move To Upgrade Area They Would Have Moved You To Anyway
Joe may have uncovered a deceptive policy at United Airlines that's screwing over customers. Here's how it works. If you've got an economy ticket and the only seats available are in Economy Plus, but you didn't spring for the extra Economy Plus fee, you're asked if you would like to pay the upgrade fee for economy plus seating. If you decline to upgrade, they seat you there anyway. Sounds pretty sketchy to me. Here's Joe's story: More » -
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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
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.
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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]
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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. More »
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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...
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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]
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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.
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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]
massachusetts
New York, 1:48 PM
Tue Nov 10
18 posts in the last 24 hours
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