news from the swamp
The FDA is set to receive $3.2 billion next year but they don't yet have a plan to make our food any safer. That doesn't sit well with Congressional appropriator
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who at a recent hearing told Acting FDA Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein: "A lot sounds to me like buzzwords from a past administration."
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travel
Evan's on the large side and wants to buy two adjoining seats, but
Delta doesn't seem to care whether or not he inconveniences other passengers. The airline won't assign two seats to the same passenger name, and if he buys a second seat under a different name, it won't necessarily adjoin the first. Delta also warned that "they will give [his] second seat away if they need it, even if [he] paid for it." One agent thought he had a solution, but it was going to cost Evan $200 more than Delta's online fares.
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t-mobile
Taylor just noticed that T-Mobile has been billing him $19.99 for a data package he asked them to cancel seven months ago. Yes, Taylor should've caught the mistake sooner, but now that he's found it, he wants T-Mobile to refund the $140 in unauthorized charges. T-Mobile, citing policy, is only willing to credit him $60.
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united
Starting today, United Airlines has a new policy. If you can't fit into a single seat, you need to buy another one or stay behind.
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gaming
Teresa, the reader who was banned from
XBOX Live for self-identifying as a lesbian, caused quite a stir on the internet. Joystiq managed to get a statement out of Microsoft regarding the issue. Microsoft says they do not allow expressions of sexuality of any kind in GamerTags or in profiles, and that they take harassment "very seriously."
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american airlines
Let's say you are in the military and have to undergo some training before you are deployed to Iraq to fight in a war. Let's also say that this training requires to you bring 3 bags of equipment. If the airline you're flying charges a $100 "excess
baggage" fee, but waives the $15 first checked bag fee, and the $25 second checked bag fee... is that "generous?"
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target wedding registry
Reader Jon writes in to let us know that your complaining has had a positive effect on
Target's return policy. They will now allow you to return duplicate wedding registry gifts without asking your friends and relatives for a receipt.
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target
Ronald was in a hurry and wondered if he could delay returning a camera to Target until a few days after the 90 day deadline. He called them up and they told him it wouldn't be a problem. Guess what? It was a problem.
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six flags
Reader Aaron says that his trip to Six Flags was ruined by their new
policy of making riders check even very small bags before each ride — at the cost of $1 a ride.
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leaks
Like shopping at
Best Buy but don't like their lack of customer service and crappy return policy? They've got an offer for you. Spend $2,500 per calendar year and you'll be considered a "Reward Zone Program Premier Silver Member." The benefits of this membership are immediately apparent. You'll get your own dedicated customer service line that's only for Premier Silver Members, and a more generous return policy as well. Why should good customer service be available to bad customers? We've got the text of a Best Buy Reward Zone Silver Training Document, inside.
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returns and exchanges
Consumer Reports tells us that
Target's strict "No receipt, No return" policy has an "unadvertised" loophole — you can return items of less than $20 for store credit. The catch? You can only do this
twice a year.
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best buy
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.
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open box
The
Best Buy in Champaign, Illinois wants Andrew to pay $2 extra for a used mouse covered with someone else's hand gunk. We see plenty of these open-box pricing bloopers and Best Buy employees are always fast to rush to the comments screaming "
But it's policy!" We understand, but it's a stupid policy that has a simple, albeit symbolic and ineffective solution.
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