Consumerist
crime
Posts Tagged “
Police
”
crime
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 »
best buy
Best Buy Calls Cops On You For Telling Fellow Customer Jawbone Headset Is Overpriced, Sucks
Best Buy called the cops on Alex because he told another shopper that the Jawbone headset he was considering was poor quality and marked up $30 from the manufacturer's price. Alex went to Best Buy to purchase a new Bluetooth headset because the Jawbone he recently purchased from Verizon wasn't cutting it. While browsing the headsets, he struck up a conversation with another customer who was checking out the Jawbone. Alex told his fellow customer that he had been disappointed in the quality of the Jawbone, and that Best Buy was charging $30 more than the manufacturer or Verizon. A sales associate overheard this and told the manager, who asked Alex to leave the store, then threatened to call the police, then did. More »
thieves
Recover Stolen Purchases Without Breaking A Sweat
Lars writes:Something pretty bad happened to me the other week that ended up being pretty cool, and speaks well to the quality of customer service at my local Burlington Coat Factory.More »
censorship
Go Daddy Refutes Censorship Claim
The reader who sent Go Daddy an email asking why they shut down RateMyCop.com received a response in which they emphatically denied any censorship—this was all about a customer exceeding his contracted server usage limits and nothing else, they say. Read their full response after the jump.More »
censorship
Go Daddy Shuts Down RateMyCop Watchdog Site
Yesterday, Go Daddy pulled the plug on RateMyCop.com, which has been criticized by law enforcement officials for allegedly putting police officers in danger by listing their names and in some cases badge numbers. Visitors can then add comments and post critiques or praise about specific cops in their area. The website collected its officer data via public information requests, and no personal information is used, nor are undercover agents revealed. Still, law enforcement officials are upset at the exposure. When the site's owner, Gino Sesto, called Go Daddy, he was first told it was removed due to "suspicious activity," but then the reason was changed by a supervisor to an exceeded bandwidth cap, which Sesto disputes. Update: Go Daddy responded to our reader's email and said taking the site offline had nothing to do with censorship. More »
receipt controversy
Unlawfully Detained At Home Depot For Not Showing Receipt
Reader Matt has launched the dreaded EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) on Home Depot—attaching a copy of a formal complaint that he filed with the Metropolitan Police in Washington, D.C.. More »
excessive force
On November 26th, a 35-year-old woman was shopping at Best Buy in Daytona Beach, Florida when there was some sort of communication breakdown, and a police officer who was at the store tasered her. We wrote about it here, and it turns out there's a video of the event here. At the time there were few details, but the full story has since been pieced together and resolved, and last week the Florida state attorney said "charges won't be pursued because there is no evidence that Beeland committed a crime."
More »
Follow Up: Woman Tasered Last November At Best Buy Will Not Have Charges Filed Against Her
On November 26th, a 35-year-old woman was shopping at Best Buy in Daytona Beach, Florida when there was some sort of communication breakdown, and a police officer who was at the store tasered her. We wrote about it here, and it turns out there's a video of the event here. At the time there were few details, but the full story has since been pieced together and resolved, and last week the Florida state attorney said "charges won't be pursued because there is no evidence that Beeland committed a crime."
More »
brighthouse
BrightHouse Cable Disconnects Your Service After Too Many "Unsubstantiated Complaints"
Reader Jeffrey used to be a customer of Bright House cable. Not anymore. The company disconnected his cable today for "unsubstantiated complaints." For 15 months, Jeffrey had been trying to get Bright House to fix whatever was wrong with his internet connection. At first they were apologetic, but when tech after tech couldn't figure out what was wrong, things got tense.
Finally, after about 50 attempts, they just gave up. First they sent him a legal letter, alleging that his complaints are unsubstantiated and that he was hosting a commercial website, to which he responded with his own letter. Then, magically, for the past month or so, his internet has worked fine. He doesn't want to cancel. Finally, today, the cable company arrived at Jeff's house with a police escort and disconnected his cable:
Update 02-01-08 - Well, holy crap. They just came and disconnected my cable. They sent a uniformed officer from the Altamonte Springs PD with them. It's unbelievable. I never threatened them. Not once. I was never violent, what did they think I'd do? I hope they paid for the protection, because it was unwarranted by all imagination.More »
fast food
Grandmother Arrested At McDonald's For Refusing To Pull Car Forward
75-year-old Jean Merola was arrested by Clearwater, Florida police after refusing to pull her car forward at a McDonald's drive-thru, despite being ordered to do so by a police officer. She had ordered decaf coffee and "salt-free" french fries and was waiting for them.Merola said the McDonald's employees told her to wait there for her food. Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser. Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail .More »
victory
Filing A Police Report On Craigslist Scammer Leads To His Arrest
Reader Chris writes:Awhile back, I sold a ton of video games on Craigslist here in San Francisco. A buyer contacted me and agreed to purchase them and I was delighted. I didn't have the time to post everything on eBay separately and I wanted to get the transaction over as quickly as possible. A week later, I received a Wal-mart money order in the mail and shipped off the packages.More »
starbucks
Police Pulling Over Good Drivers And Giving Them $5 Starbucks Gift Cards
Out of a misguided sense of goodwill, Rancho Cordova police officers will be pulling over citizens who aren't doing anything wrong and reward their good driving with $5 Starbucks. While nice in theory, it would be a pain in the butt if you were running late for work. I wonder if, just like when you get pulled over for speeding, they're going to make you wait in your car for 10 minutes first. I also wonder why they couldn't just take people's license numbers down and mail them the gift cards. I also also wonder if it's legal for a police officer to detain someone who isn't breaking the law. N doubt such irritating questions will disappear the moment the free Mocha Frappacino hits your brain nerves.
Police Reward Good Drivers With Coffee [AP] (Thanks To Moss Media!)
(Photo: Tengaport)
security
Keep A Police-Accessible Record Of Your Serial Numbers With JustStolen
JustStolen offers a free online database where you can store information about your personal property—"Any descriptive information can be entered into the database including make, model, color, serial number and any thing else you can think of. You can even upload photographs of your items." The company makes its data available for free to police departments everywhere, so they can locate the owners of recovered items by (for example) typing in a serial number. It's based in Boston but, since it's an Internet company, it can be used by consumers and police departments no matter where they're located. More »
advice
Minimize Your Risk Of Theft While Shopping
The Seattle PI has a report on car prowls at malls while victims are inside shopping, and some advice on how to minimize your risk. Never leave anything of value in your car, and don't assume that by throwing a coat over it you'll disguise it. Instead, put it in the trunk. More »
identity theft
Crafty identity thieves attached a credit card skimming device to a DVD kiosk at a Colorado Safeway. The 2-inch skimming device was discovered only after a customer asked a Safeway employee for help after his card wouldn't scan.
More »
Safeway DVD Kiosk Comes With Credit Card Skimming Device
Crafty identity thieves attached a credit card skimming device to a DVD kiosk at a Colorado Safeway. The 2-inch skimming device was discovered only after a customer asked a Safeway employee for help after his card wouldn't scan.
More »
bad consumer
LoJack Foils Customer's Car Theft Scam
If you're going to report your vehicle has been stolen and then hide it in a friend's backyard with license plates you grabbed from your boyfriend's house, then make sure it doesn't have a LoJack system installed first. A woman in San Diego did just that in an attempt to prevent it from being repossessed, but as soon as she filed the report with the police, they activated the system and traced the vehicle. More »
cheese
California Police Seize 375 Pounds Of Bathtub Cheese
Meet Floribel Hernandez Cuenca and Manuel Martin. California police arrested the pair on "felony cheese making charges" after they tried to sell 375 pounds of bathtub cheese at an open-air market in San Bernardino. Bathtub cheese, otherwise known as "illegal soft cheese," can cause a range of maladies including listeria, salmonella, and everybody's favorite gut goblin, E. coli.The 375 pounds of seized illegal cheese included panela, queso fresco and queso oxaca varieties, the [California Department of Food and Agriculture] says. It was a significant find, the department says.More »
This past Saturday, police spent four hours booking 210 people for trespassing at a shopping center in York, Pennsylvania, where they've been gathering for over a year to engage in illegal drag racing after-hours. One of the drag racers got away in his car. [York Daily Record]
