<![CDATA[Consumerist: On Time]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/consumerist.com.png <![CDATA[Consumerist: On Time]]> http://consumerist.com/tag/on time http://consumerist.com/tag/on time <![CDATA[ Miss A Payment And Gadget Disables Car ]]> Auto loan lenders are using an annoying beeping box to make sure sub-prime borrowers pay on time. Cars are fitted with a device such as the "On Time" gadget. When the monthly payment gets near due, it starts blinking. On the due date, it starts beeping. If the payment isn't made, then the device prevents the car from starting. After the borrower makes a payment, the lender gives them a code that resets the box and stops the blinking and beeping. Lenders love the device and say it's reduced default rates by 30%. Maybe they should invent something like these for houses.

High-tech gear disables car if borrower misses payment [USAToday] (Thanks to Luis!)

]]> Consumerist-5007907 Mon, 05 May 2008 20:26:43 EDT Ben Popken http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5007907&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Delta Partner "Atlantic Southeast Airlines" On-Time Only 54.2% Of The Time ]]> US Airways managed to hold on to something as the floor dropped out of a few other airlines' on-time percentages... so let us introduce our new punching bag: Atlantic Southeast Airlines!

Atlantic Southeast is part of Delta and operates regional flights with ATL as its hub. And it's not on time that often.

During the month of July ASA was dead last with only 54.2% of flights arriving on-time. Other airlines hanging around the bottom of the list were: Comair with 62.4%, American Airlines with 63.4%, and American Eagle with 65.1%.

July was the second month of trouble for ASA. As recently as May, ASA's on-time percentage was near the middle of the pack at 78.8%. We'd love to blame the whole thing on the drunk stewardess, but we're thinking there might be deeper problems going on here.

The news only gets worse: Not only do you not want to fly with this airline if you value arriving on time, you can't trust them with your suitcases either. ASA lead the pack in mishandled baggage reports with 15.45 mishandled bags for every 1,000 passengers.

ASA is also near the top of the list for most complaints per passenger served... but the top honor of "most complained about" still belongs to good old US Airways. Some things never change.

Air Travel Consumer Report [DOT]
(Photo:Franco Folini)

]]> Consumerist-296957 Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:41:51 EDT Meg Marco http://consumerist.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=296957&view=rss&microfeed=true