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Posts Tagged “
Minnesota
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wal-mart
customer service
Circuit City Calls The Cops On Customer Who Requests A Price Match
Emmett writes: Dear Mr. Schoonover:
I would like to make you aware of an incident that occurred in your Burnsville, MN Circuit City yesterday. I read about your Unbeatable Price Guarantee on your website. I had an ad from Costco for a Magellan GPS that was significantly less than the Circuit City price. Before driving 20 miles in a snow storm, I called your Burnsville store and spoke with Tom. Tom told me that because Costco is a local retailer, I would be eligible for the Unbeatable Price Guarantee...
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paranoia
CenterPoint Energy Thinks Your Fish Tank Is A Meth Lab, So Police Kick In Your Door
You'd think between the reactionary CenterPoint Energy subcontractor who smelled vinegar and got worried, the police officer who asked for a search warrant, and the new-to-the-bench judge who signed the warrant, someone would have stopped to say, "Wait, what exactly did you smell? Something vinegary, huh? Yeah, that's not a meth lab." (After all, we were able to find two decent descriptions of what a meth lab smells like in less than a minute.) Instead, a 54-year-old former nurse and her 49-year-old husband were handcuffed and told to sit in their living room and not speak to each other while the warrant was executed. More »
subprime meltdown
Real Estate Speculation: From A Trailer Park To Foreclosure On 4 Homes
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a fascinating article about real estate speculation in Minnesota. The article focuses on Bradley and Sarah Collin, a couple with three children who were living in a trailer park when they were suckered by a local "property management company" that (illegally) paid the couple $20,000 cash to buy 4 houses in a new subdivision. More »
The Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force has given up on investigating mortgage fraud. "We don't have the staff or funding to address it," said Mike Siitari, Edina police chief and oversight council chairman. "We have hundreds of cases of backlog." [Pioneer Press via Caveat Emptor]
billing
Qwest: The Phone Line We Installed In Your Father's Nursing Home Never Worked, But Pay Us Anyway
My father grew up in Ottawa, a small Midwest town in Illinois. For the majority of his life, he had 2 full-time jobs. He was the receiving clerk for a hardware store and he was also a house painter. He went to work between 3 to 5 AM and rarely got home until after dark, 6 days a week. He was very active and self-sufficient so when in 1992 he was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive case of multiple sclerosis, he was devastated as was my entire family. His MS never went into regression and within 5 years he was wheelchair bound, in a nursing home, and very reliant on others.More »
Some Minnesota bars are getting around smoking bans by holding "theater nights" and proclaiming everyone in the bar an "actor." State law allows performers to smoke during theatrical performances. [Star-Tribune via BoingBoing]
outage
Alltel Service Down For All Of Minnesota?
According to two frustrating calls to Alltel I made yesterday and today, service is down for all Minnesotans. When I called yesterday and spoke to technical support, the representative was unable to tell me if I would receive any compensation for the time their service was down (she suggested I call customer service and ask them. "Aren't I speaking to customer service?" I asked. "No, this is technical support." Helpful.) More »
laws
Minnesota Bans Mercury In Cosmetics
We weren't really aware that there was a need for a law banning the use of mercury in cosmetics, but apparently Minnesota thinks there is. More »
sad
Taco Bell Fires 64 Year Old Grandmother Who Once Took A Bullet In A Robbery
Winnie Shilson has worked for Taco Bell for 30 years. She has been robbed at gun point twice, and 9 years ago she took a bullet in the leg when a robber started shooting the Taco Bell's safe. Winnie was fired recently, after two negative performance reviews. She's convinced that Taco Bell wanted to rid themselves of her $45,000 a year salary."I bawled for three days after I got fired," she says. "I was the most loyal, dedicated employee they could have. In 30 years, I never called in sick or was late to work. Not once! And I was good at my job. Damn good."More »
badvertising
This Free Coffee Is Surprisingly Expensive
Dunce Dunn Bros Coffee is celebrating their newest location at the University of Minnesota by offering a coupon for a free medium coffee. For the price of a small.
What? No, it's either free, or it's the price of a small. Not difficult. Patrons attempting to redeem the offer need to bring in the coupon, and possibly a dictionary.
worst company in america
RIAA 1, Single Mom 0: RIAA Defendant Loses, Must Pay $222,000 For Allegedly Sharing 24 Songs
The first RIAA jury trial has ended and the single mom accused of sharing 24 songs has been ordered to pay $222,000 by a jury of her peers. More »
baby free for less
Target Matches Walmart's $9 Birth Control Pill Program
Attention women who like the idea of $9 birth control: Target has announced that they will be matching Walmart's program. Target will also be matching the additions to the $4 generic program. More »
identity theft
New Law Requires Minnesota Retailers To Purge Personal Information After Two Days
Minnesota retailers will soon be required by law to purge PIN numbers and credit card information after 48 hours. The new law, the the Plastic Card Safety Act, takes effect on Wednesday; beginning next year, the act will empower banks to sue retailers whose data-retention practices lead to a security breach. From the Star-Tribune: More »
media whoring
Big Story In This Sunday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune...
Read this coming Sunday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune. There's gonna be a big story in there. About a company we've talked a lot about. We've been in close contact with the reporter. Some of it is following up and looking deeper into information you read here first. Pretty neat. Who said bloggers and journalists can't be friends?
whoops
