Rebecca got one of those calls from her mother that everybody dreads. "Is there anything you think you should tell me?" her mother wanted to know. Rebecca's mom got a piece of junk mail with Rebecca's first name and her boyfriend's last name and was under the impression Rebecca had snuck off for a Vegas wedding. She hadn't. After Rebecca calmed her mother down, she tried to figure out how Rite-Aid, where both had worked for a time, had merged her name and her boyfriend's. When Rite-Aid gave her the run around, we advised Rebecca to try an EECB to get some answers. Read her email, inside.

To The Board of Directors:

Good Morning. I am sure you can help me with a little problem that I am having with your company.

Last Friday, my mother received a piece of mail from your company's current promotion regarding the "gas giveaway" if I switched my prescriptions to you. Annoying as any other piece of junk mail is, this one was particularly disturbing. It was addressed as:

Rebecca J*****
[redacted]
[redacted] CT

My mother called me where I live, in Vermont, and told me of the mail that I had gotten. It turns out, my last name isn't J*******, it's F*******. My boyfriend's last name is J*****, though. When she called me, she was extremely agitated and excited (and not in a good way), over the fact that I had gotten married behind their backs. My mother had just gotten out of the hospital with congestive heart failure and a massive infection, and the last thing that she needed was to be excited.

I spoke with one of your customer service representatives on Monday, and she assured me that I would get a call with someone from "corporate" yesterday. I waited all day without a call. She told me that the marketing comes from the pharmacy division. My boyfriend hasn't had a prescription filled at a Rite-Aid in two and a half years, the time we've been together.

We both worked together at Rite-Aid, but never once marked myself as being "connected" to him, except by address.

I cannot figure out how my first name got linked with my boyfriend's last name. Simply what I am asking for help with is to find out where this came from.

If you could help me, it would be greatly appreciated. I simply want to know where this name came from, so I can get it removed, and make sure it doesn't happen again.

And about the piece of mail? If your pharmacy can't even get my name right, and is linking me to other people I'm not even related to (yet), how can I trust them to get my prescriptions right? More than likely, I will never do anything personally identifiable with Rite-Aid again. I was once a loyal shopper, but if this problem cannot be solved, I may never shop there again.

Thank you for your time, and for reading my email.

Looking forward to your response,

Rebecca

It's one thing if a customer loyalty program gets confused about your name. Irritating, but unlikely to actually hurt you. It's another thing completely if the pharmacy decides you'd be better off married and starts sending junk mail to your mother's house in another state. If the pharmacy makes such an appalling, counter-intuitive mistake about what name to use on annoying junk mail, how badly are they going to screw up your prescription? If you're having trouble with Rite-Aid, the link with tips for sleuthing corporate contact information is here.

(photo: Clean Wal-Mart)

Caption: "Outtake from 5/17/2008 Photoshoot for the DC area punk band So Damn Thirsty"

(Photo: rsplatpc)

Title: "Refrigerate After Opening"
(Photo: Meggito)

Caption: "Canal Street, NYC"
(Photo: Breslow)

Caption: "Testing a lighting set up in preparation for a Product shoot I am going to be doing tomorrow. A few color adjustments in LR.580EX Under the bottle, and 580EXII pointing at the wall and zoomed in a little."
(Photo: beautifoto)

(Photo: gongus)

Add your shots to The Consumerist Flickr pool, and perhaps they'll get featured in a future story, or even highlighted in a Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds post.

Hello,

So, I went to the Chipotle around the corner from my house yesterday to find that it was closed. As I stepped out of my car, some lady asked if I was headed to Chipotle and told me that it was closed today due to "operational issues." She gave me a card for a free burrito and sent me on my way. Later that day, my roommate told me he saw Health Inspectors in there the day before snapping photos of the workers and the establishment.

Today, I come to find out it was closed because it had suffered a Hepatitis A outbreak. 6 people have contracted the disease between March 1 and April 22 with the only thing connecting them is the fact that they ate at this particular La Mesa location.

I have also eaten there many, many times and now I have to go get checked to make sure I Chipotle didn't give me Hepatitis A.

Just thought I'd let you guys know.

Here is a link with more information: http://foodpoisoning.pritzkerlaw.com/archives/hepatitis-a-6-people-with-hepatitis-a-ate-at-chipotle-in-la-mesa-california.html

Hope to find out more information on this, please help.

Thanks.

(photo:tubbynj)

Hi Consumerist,

So two things happened in January. One: I started leasing a dedicated server from Sago Networks, and two: I asked for paperless credit card statements from Capital One. Little did I realize this would cause me
headaches for the next 4 (going on 5) months.

Sometime in February I received an email from Blockbuster Total Access that my card was refused. I thought that was strange, so I tried to login to capitalone.com (as I did every month to pay my bill) to check it out. So one of two things happened here: right after logging in I was either sent to http://www.capitalone.com/?state=timeout or I received a standard 404 message. I thought that was even stranger so I decided to call and see what was up.

Over the next month or two I'd call about twice per week, stay on hold for about an hour, then hang up. As a good Consumerist, I'd call the collect number on the back of my card and try to blast my way through to a human by repeatedly dialing "0". This did little good. Every time I called I was on the phone for a minimum of an hour, at which point I had to hang up because I was calling during my lunch breaks.

Once I finally got a hold of an actual human, I was told I needed the fraud department, which added to my hold time. When talking to the fraud department, I asked several times why my card was marked as fraudulent. They wouldn't answer. I was asked some simple questions, like my mother's maiden name, city of birth, then, "Did you charge $69 with Sago Networks in January?" (Gee, I wonder who was responsible for my card getting stopped.) I said yes, and then they supposedly reactivated my online account and sent me a new credit card.

Next time I logged in to Capital One I could navigate the website without errors, but when I clicked "Pay My Bill," I got an EMPTY SELECT BOX when choosing which account to pay! Over the next TWO MONTHS I ended up playing phone tag with a mysterious "special division of the fraud department." Every person I talked to told me I needed the fraud department. When I was connected to the fraud department, they told me I needed some "special division." They wouldn't give me any names, but they did tell me that this special division is only open M-F 9-5 EST (very inconvenient for me on the west coast). After holding for my entire lunch break, I had to hang up.

HOWEVER: This did not stop them from calling me on Saturdays. I turn my ringer off at night, but when checking my phone later on I'd see up to 3 missed calls from Capital One. Apparently their collections
department works all weekend but the fraud department is only available M-F.

So one day earlier this month I took a personal day and called Capital One again. This time I decided to take notes during my call:

Began phone call - 10:52
Talked to Ashley - put on hold at 11:04
Talked to Evelyn from 11:15-11:29
Talked to Marian (Collections department) 11:35
Talked to Kam (Fraud department) 11:45-12:07
Talked to Michelle (Account Manager) at 12:10
Hung up 12:35

Not one of these representatives explained why I was being transferred or told me I was being put on hold before they did so. Michelle finally helped me. She claimed she removed the 3 late charges attached
to my account and accepted a payment via check right there on the phone. Thing is, I checked recently: no payments have been made. They don't want me to pay them! I also asked Michelle to reactivate snail mail bills so maybe I'll start getting those...

They refuse to let me pay! Anyway, thought this might be interesting...

Keep up the great work Consumerist!

Satisfaction Guaranteed: The guerrilla guide to getting what you paid for (without getting arrested) [Reader's Digest]

Until, that is, he posted negative comment about them on their website.

I've been threatened with legal action by a company for complaining about not getting my order! Hey guys,

This story is just too funny not to share, it's a bit long but I'll try to summarize. I placed an order on keyherb.com on Feb 5th using Google checkout. I received a shipping confirmation on Feb 6th with USPS tracking number. Time goes by and nothing shows up so I check the status on USPS and the number provided is not a valid number.

So I contact them on the 18th and ask about the status. I receive no response. I then contacted them again on the 20th and ask for a valid tracking number, and again get no response.

I then contacted Google checkout to ask how to handle the situation. They said to give them 5 days to find out what happened. 5 days goes by and Google follows up to see if I've heard from them or received any goods, which was no to both questions. They then told me they have been trying to contact the company as well and they have not responded to Google either, so they will escalate to one of their specialists and I can expect a refund from Google with 7 days.

Today, I decide to check out the site to see if anyone else has commented on not receiving their order and there was another person commenting they had the same thing happen to them.(they have a comments section to talk about their mysterious products that they don't ship) So I decided to warn any future users and posted the following on their comments section (they've since deleted it so I've copied it here, so everyone can see my "threats")

"Warning! Do not buy from this company! I purchased an item on Feb 5th and received an email on the 6th stating it shipped with a USPS tracking number that is invalid. They ignored my emails and also those of the Google checkout team, Google is currently refunding my money since they refuse to respond even to them."

Within 30 minutes of posting this on their site (let me remind you, I've contacted them numerous times through email and Google checkout and they have never once responded) I received the following email:

KeyHerb Mystic Garden to me
Subject:warning

you have been refunded

stop making threats or we'll take legal actions against you

we have you name address and IP

you have been banned from using our services

Wow is all I can say, your company takes my money and then ignores any inquiry about why they haven't shipped my order both (after sending me a false tracking number) from myself and Google and then they have the nerve to send me an email like this? I'm so concerned about being banned from their services, what, I can't give you guys anymore of my money in exchange for nothing. What a loss! So I responded:

"What threats? Please feel free to take any legal action you want, I am simply commenting on my experience with your company, you may want to consult with your legal department before making ridiculous statements that have no basis in law. This is the first email you have ever sent me after numerous requests about my order. Here let me help you out, here is my name and address,

[Redacted]

By the way, according to both Google Checkout team and my credit card company, I have not been refunded so please provide me with a confirmation of my refund."

About thirty minutes later, I received an email saying they just processed they return through Google checkout. I guess it finally took my "threat" to get them to respond to my inquiries and to get my money back. There response on the cancellation was:

Comments from KeyHerb - Mystic Garden Inc.: "Google's fault...Google messing up this account for 2 weeks causing many orders to be delayed."

Interesting, because Google had been very responsive and followed up with me every step of the process and never once mentioned any issues/delays with this account. I guess Google was stealing my emails to them as well so they couldn't respond to those either!

I'm sure I'm going to get another scary warning from them if you post this, so I'll be sure to follow up and let you know how it goes. Also, I'd be happy to send you copies of all my emails to them and from Google so you can verify that at no time was I making threats, I was polite and asked what the status of my order was. The only thing I can thing of that they could have perceived as a "threat" was the fact I said I would be requesting a charge back on my credit card if I didn't receive my item or a valid tracking number within two days (I stated this in my second email to them after being ignored)

I love your site, keep up the good work!

Dan

(Photo: emilybean)

For those that had been using Google Reader's shared feature with the expectation of privacy, the realization that they'd either have to delete every single item they'd ever shared, or delete everyone who they didn't want to see their shared items from their contact list was less fun. To make matters worse, the feature had been implemented without warning, so for some users it was too late to delete "shared" items that they didn't want to send to Mom or Aunt Betty.

Reader ALP writes:

Google recently, with no advance notice to users of either GoogleTalk or GoogleReader, made a change in the privacy settings of the "shared items" feature in GoogleReader:

Google Reader makes it easy to find and read items that your friends have shared. If any of your friends on Google Talk are using Reader and sharing items, they'll automatically show up in the Google Reader sidebar under Friends' shared items. You can read these items in a combined list, or click the "+" icon to expand the list and see the shared items from each of your friends. Your friends will also be able to see that you're using Reader. If you're sharing items, they'll be able to see those in their Reader sidebars as well.

Previously, I could "share" items with selected friends by sending them the URL of my shared items page. That URL contains a random 20 digit number that gave me privacy by obscurity. Now, my shared items appear automatically on the Reader and iGoogle homepages of any Google users with whom I have ever chatted on Google talk and many people with whom I have emailed in the past, whether I know them well or not. That means that many friends, family, coworkers, and near-strangers now have access to parts of my RSS feeds that I meant to share with only a select group of people. There is no way to remove my shared items from a contact's GoogleReader feed other than by deleting that contact from my GMail contacts list entirely. Contacts can see both new shared items and all of the items I shared prior to the change.

Users are reporting a number of serious privacy-related problems, including work and personal problems, but Google staff are ignoring the problems, (see this thread in the Google forums:
) calling users who care about their privacy "only a small subset of the people using this feature." They say that they may consider making changes to the way contacts are handled after the holidays, but for now, users will have to live with the unexpected violations of their privacy. So much for "don't be evil."

This is going to sound like hyperbole, but this new feature has actually RUINED CHRISTMAS for my family! I sent a share a few days ago that I thought would only go to a few politically-like-minded friends. I didn't realize that because I had chatted with him in GChat, it would also go to my brother, who is of a different political persuasion. When he received it, he sent a snide, angry email about it to a large group of our family members. I sent him an email (I'll admit, not the nicest one I've ever sent) asking him not to talk about me behind my back and recommending that he stop reading my feed if the posts were going to make him so angry. He called me a nasty name and told me that if I can't take a little ribbing, maybe we shouldn't talk anymore at all, including at Christmas Eve dinner. My whole family has taken sides over this divisive political issue, and several of them are not speaking. I kid you not, this is threatening to break up my family at Christmas.

Google, you can set up whatever features you want and make whatever rules you want to. But you have to give us fair warning so that we can make decisions about how to use your products. You can't change the rules without telling anyone. People have integrated your products into their everyday lives, so the changes you make have real effects on our lives, including our relationships with the people we contact. You have to keep that in mind when you make these sorts of major decisions

Please, please give me the option to choose who to share with and who not to share with. And tell us in advance before you make changes of this magnitude so that people can alter their behavior before the changes occur.

Here's Google's response:

All of us on the Reader team are paying attention and are aware of the feedback from this group. However, we do need to balance all these concerns with keeping the feature useful for those who like it and use it. (There aren't many of those on this thread, granted, but this is only a small subset of the people using this feature.) The incremental changes we've been making this week have been aimed at finding the most reasonable compromise.

Let me reiterate: If you're uncomfortable sharing items, you can unshare everything in a single click. With just a few more clicks, you can move all those items to a new tag, to preserve your organization. After unsharing, any privacy concerns you had about sharing your shared items should be taken care of.

We are aware that friends management is still very basic at this stage. Your Google Talk contact list is taken as an approximation of the set of people you're interested in communicating with, but you can remove people from that list as necessary if you don't wish to see their items. The update I mentioned today was intended to help in that, since various folks have expressed confusion about who's who in their lists.

We do intend to keep iterating and improving this feature, though we'll necessarily slow down a bit over the holidays. Thanks for your patience, and we do hope you'll end up enjoying the sharing functionality of Reader.

Happy Holidays to All,
Graham

Google Reader Shared Feature Thread

UPDATE: Cascade Toboggan responds.

Dana! If you read this, please understand that no sane person will mistake Michal's custom email address—"cascadetoboggan@mydomain.com"—with yours, which ends with cascadetoboggan.com. We know that being a small business owner is a challenge, but going after legit customers isn't going to help. You could have asked Michal to use some other unique identifier in his shipping and email addresses, so that you'd sleep better and he'd still be able to track spam leaks. (And this is what we suggest to Michal and other readers in the future too, if only to avoid raising any red flags at companies that do sell their info.)

The only other reasons we can see for canceling the order, even after talking to the customer about it, is you're just a hot-headed guy who doesn't like to be confronted by an angry customer, or you indeed sell your database to other companies and don't like the idea of someone tagging your data to track it later.

In our previous incarnation as a web developer, we were consistently amazed by the willful ignorance of clients regarding the web. It's certainly okay to not know about a new(ish) technology—but wouldn't you want to ask questions and try to learn more about how everything works? ("No," said our clients 90% of the time.) Having a Ted Stevens-like understanding of the Internet is only amusing when it's a national lawmaker.

An account of the experience (Thanks to Michal!)
(Photo: Getty)

CASCADE TOBOGGAN'S RESPONSE:

To Whom It May Concern: I can certainly appreciate your role as consumer advocate. So many times consumers are treated unfairly by companies (usually large ones) and have no recourse. However, I believe it benefits all to get both sides of the story before making judgments or decisions concerning correct behavior.

First and foremost, we sent Mr. Bryc an e-mail immediately after he placed his order that was both cordial and requested he stop the practice of using our company name as both a ship to address and as an e-mail handle. I understand the rational for this, but there are certainly better methods of tracking the sale of information. I cannot say why Mr. Bryce did not receive our e-mail, everyone else does.

We do not sell any of our customers information, or give it away. We state this in our privacy policy on the web.

After not hearing from Mr. Bryc following my original e-mail, we assumed that he had elected to take his business elsewhere. Several days later, he sent an e-mail (this was Friday), then another on Saturday. When I returned to the office on Monday, I promptly called him to apologize for not sending his order. I also asked him if he received the e-mail I sent on the day of his order. He denied receiving this, although he has received every e-mail I have sent him since? I then asked him about his use of our name. He explained to me why he used this technique. I empathized with his desire to track people that engage in this practice, but suggested there were ways that this could be done without using someone's legal trademark. I requested that he stop using this method and asked for his assurance that he would not use our name further. He told me that he would not be doing business with us in the future, but would not agree to not use our trade name.

At this time I did agree to send him the product he ordered, but would not send it to Cascade Toboggan at the Seattle address he specified. Several minutes afterward when I had a moment to reflect on the conversation, I made the decision that Mr. Bryc was not the kind of customer that we wanted to be involved with. His tone and in my opinion, his intent was inflammatory. I sent him a very cordial e-mail indicating that after further consideration we were invoking our right as a company to decline to do business with him.

I've owned this company for nearly 10 years, and the company has been in business for over 45 years. To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Bryc is the first customer we have declined to do business with. That should tell you something. We don't make hot headed decisions regarding business practices.

I too am a ski patroller, and have been for many years. My company has also donated many, many thousands of dollars to the National Ski Patrol, various Search and Rescue organizations and the National Avalanche School. I'm sure if you polled our many thousands of customers, you would be hard pressed to find a handful that have had a negative experience with our company. I would hazard a guess that the opposite is true of Mr. Bryc.

Sincerely,

Dana A. Jordan

Cascade Toboggan Rescue Equipment Company

So, Saturday night I made two Paypal purchases. When I looked at my bank account, I noticed that I didn't have enough to cover them, so I transferred enough to cover both purchases and the overdraft fee from my ING Direct account. Monday rolls around, my Paypal purchases come through, and my transfer shows up as pending. Okay, I thought, so I've got that covered, cool. Tuesday morning rolls around and my deposit has posted and I'm in the green, with enough to cover the inevitable overdraft fee. Then, Tuesday night I decided to check in on my account. TWO overdraft fees has posted, and I'm deep in the red. Not to mention I had bought a stamp today that puts me deeper in the red, though not by much. So I call Wells Fargo, explain my situation and confusion, and ask to speak to the manager. I'm put on hold, the music plays for a little while, then stops. I sit for another five minutes with no reaction from the phone, so I hang up and try again. I am transferred to the manager, but this time I don't even get the music, it just cuts off. The third time I finally get through to a manager, who, after I explained the situation, informs me that, yes, every item will be subject to an overdraft fee. This means I might get another overdraft fee from having bought the stamp today.

I know this is mostly my own fault, but after about ten minutes on the phone I couldn't even get her to reverse one of the fees because it "wasn't a bank error." I just think it's a little unfair that I'm looking now at potentially over $100 in overdraft fees for something I thought I had corrected. Consumerist, I put this out as a warning. I used to love Wells Fargo, but now... the magic is gone. I have to move on. Probably to a Student Credit Union- I've heard good things about them.

-DM

DM,

In the final tally, deductions are taken out immediately. So if at any point there wasn't enough money to cover the charge, there's going to be an overdraft. Technically, you're screwed, but if you call the Wells Fargo 1800 number and say please, they might show mercy and refund one of the overdrafts. Switching to a credit union is a good idea anyway, but don't expect them to be more lenient on the issue of how quickly items are debited, though they might be more sympathetic when you overdraft again.

At $2 (after rebates) for 2 GB, I thought it was a deal I couldn't refuse. I would just format the flash drive to get rid of the pre-loaded software and I'd be in good shape.

Well, the drive came today and check out what was on the packing slip. A message telling me that the pre-loaded software was a 30-day trial and that my credit card would automatically be billed for $69.99 30 days after the shipping date.

Sure, some hardware comes bundled with software, but this is the first time we have seen it coupled as such an underhanded charge. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

TigerDirect
Previously: Why Rebates Suck: TigerDirect and OnRebate

My dell computer has been giving trouble form the day i got it. finally they replaced the motherboard and processor however instead of replacing my x6800 they gave me a pentium extreme edition 955. the guy from Dell says this is an upgrade i think he id trying to pass off something on me which chip is better.

The service rep has informed me that he has started the Exchange process and i will be informed by e-mail of updates, but should take approximately 19 labor days for the system to arrive.

x6800 vs pentium extreme edition 955 [TGForumz] (Thanks to Andrew!)

I made sure she knew they were buy one get one free. She told me the total was $43.xx. I was like, they're buy one get one free. She told me that the discount was split between the two, then the tax. Being almost late for work with a line behind me I didn't feel like starting a fight.

$43? We are not good at math, but we checked with a nearby engineer, and he says that half of $29.99 is $14.99.

Ben checked his receipts when he got home. Instead of a 50% discount, FYE had deducted $10 from the price of each DVD. Our engineer says that is only a 30% discount. FYE owes Ben $9.99.

Ben's emails with pictures and the resolution, after the jump...

Ben's second email:

Went back before work today and got a picture of the sign. Got my refund, but I had to jump through some hoops and walk over to the sign and point to it and the geneon logo on the dvd i'd bought. Their system didn't have it on file so the money didn't come off automatically. Probably an old sign. Here's the pic!

Good thing Ben didn't throw away the receipts. If he had, not even the strongest samurai would have been able to enforce the deal. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

"So I went to DeLonghi Accessories, and found that I needed to replace the entire milk tank assembly. I'm okay with this. $7.95 for a dollars worth of plastic but I'm still okay. Then I find that it's $9.99 in shipping. So 125% shipping, but still I decide that it's better than buying a new coffee machine, and it's a small percentage of the $200 I spent on the unit to begin with."

We would, too. Nothing stands between us and our morning coffee. Despite paying 125% shipping, after two months and one letter, Marc still had not received his milk tank assembly. Marc did what any of us would do. He wrote another letter.

Marc's letter and DeLonghi's puzzling response, inside...

To whom it may concern, This is my second e-mail. The first was never answered. You have been "processing" my order for 33 days. I paid $9.99 for shipping a $7.95 part that broke in my coffee machine from regular wear and tear, and you can't even PROCESS is to ship it within a month? You certainly charged my credit card in a timely fashion. I see that on 12/6/06 a charge processed from FOX INT LTD BEDFORD HTS OH XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-6765. So you have my money, have charged me 125% to ship a part by ground, not to mention $7.95 for a milk assembly is already an outrageous amount. If I do not hear from your company soon, I will have no choice but to 1) go elsewhere for my coffee maker needs and 2) spend my free time in 2007 informing as many consumer groups as I can about my treatment here, starting with www.consumerist.com, moving on to Consumer Reports, Amazon.com, and so on. I spent over one hundred dollars on your coffee maker, and this level of follow-up support is unacceptable.

Three days later, DeLonghi responds:

Thank you for contacting us in regard to your DeLonghi product. We are sorry for the delay in responding to this email.

We see we sent an email on January 4 to advise that your part is on backorder. We currently do not have an expected date from the manufacturer and it can take two to six months for parts to be received from Italy.

It is the policy of Fox International to charge the credit card at the time of purchase. This ensures that orders are filled in the sequence they are received.

We apologize for the delay and inconvenience this has caused you. We would like to assure you that we are doing everything we can in order to ship your order at the earliest possible date.

If you have any further questions or would like to check the status of your order in the future, please do not hesitate to e-mail us at customerservice@delonghiusa.info,
or you can call us at 1-800-322-3848 Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

Does anyone have an idea for a DIY milk tank assembly?

DeLonghi should at least refund Marc's shipping expenses. While they're at it, next time they should ship the part from Italy by plane, not pack mule. Cows produce 35 liters of milk in one day. Why does it take DeLonghi six months to produce one milk tank assembly? — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

Until Aug 11, 2006 my cell phone's antenna housing cracked. So I called "Signal" and after spending 20 minutes describing how the phone broke, I was told that I had no insurance. So I called customer care "611", and had a rep. help me out. He did a in house exchange because he said that I had signed the paper work but the plan was not added. He also told me that there would be a prepaid return box sent to me, and I could just send my broke phone back.

Jaideep sent back the Nextel i860 he had activated two years prior onto an expired contract.

One week later, I received a I850 cell phone, and no return box. I called customer care and they said they would send out a box. I used the phone for about 2 weeks, still no return box. After using the phone for 2 weeks the phone started to randomly shut off. I thought nothing of it, thinking my battery was just low. After using it for couple more days the problem got worse.

Turns out, the problems Jaideep was experiencing were all too common. Fed up, Jaideep called Nextel to ask for another replacement phone. Nextel refused because Jaideep's thirty minute warranty had expired.

Nextel claiming, "The company might be ripping you off, but that doesn't mean I can just take off these charges," and Jaideep's response, after the jump...

RETURN POLICY - 14 DAY RISK FREE GUARANTEE All phones and devices may be returned for a refund or credit within 14 days (30 days in CA) of activation.

Maybe the insurance Jaideep signed up for could help.

I then call Signal and I was once again told that I do not have insurance. I called customer care and explained the situation and was told that they did not add the insurance once again and they would add it. Till today the insurance has not been added. So I was told that I could do a swap at the Nextel store.

Jaideep brought the busted phone to a Nextel store. They gave him a refurbished phone for $36. What happens next? The same thing. Busted phone number three.

Two weeks later, Jaideep receives a $241.06 bill for a new phone.

I called customer care and the reps kept telling me that they could not help me out, because Motorola has determined the phone is not repairable and that it is not in inventory. I asked what was wrong with the phone? I was told that "it was not repairable" I asked why?. I was told by your employee "You probably dropped it and bent the board inside of it. or you could of dropped it in water.". I have used my previous phones for years, and neither of that occurred as you can see by the website provided earlier in the letter stating problems with this model. I asked her "Is that what it says on the description?" Her response "No, it says it was not repairable".

Jaideep escalates the call and gets a manager.

They said that maybe if I signed a 2 year contract, they might be able to take off $100, and I could buy a new phone from you.

Jaideep didn't want a new contract. Jaideep wanted the charges reversed. The manager, refused, saying: "The company might be ripping you off, but that doesn't mean that I can just take the charge off for you."

Jaideep still doesn't have insurance. The charges have not been reversed. Jaideep told Nextel to reverse the charges or cancel his account. The next step is Nextel's. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

"I recently had my laptop a Dell 9400 replaced because it was giving off between 19 and 65 volts AC off any screw on the bottom of the laptop.

I am seriously concerned for myself and any [other] owners at this point. When I am using the laptop on my lap, my wife says I feel like a 9 volt battery.

On my first laptop, this problem lead to the death of my RAM and my Video Card."

The problem seems to stem from an improperly grounded power adapter. The solution is to call Dell and replace your two-pronged adapter with a properly grounded three-pronged one. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

ATTN: All Dell 9400/e1705/m1710/m90 owners!!! [Notebook Forums] (Thanks to Matt!)

Of course I am all giddy because they have made an error right? Well, to my surprise they didn't. The guy on the phone is looking at my bill and tells me that most of the charges are from third parties. I'm like wtf? He says that although I may have unlimited text messages, the texts I am sending and receiving carry additional charges. Basically when I send a text to get my horoscope, they are registering me for some subscription for $29.99. I've sent out hundreds of those texts you see on tv. Now I'm pissed. moreso at these companies that don't tell you that you are being charged so much to get a fricken joke or something everyday. I tell the guy that I have unlimited texts and I should be able to send and receive all I want based on my text message plan.

Third party text packages advertisements can be spotted a mile away, screaming: "Text 'purple monkey dishwasher' to 5555 for your free ABBA ringtone, NOW!"

It's not Nextel's fault that people are gullible, but cellphone companies could help more. Currently, customers either get all text-messages, or none. By allowing users to block certain senders, and only allowing third-party vendors to pass along the charges for messages received, confusions like Treysdad's could be avoided.

Always read the fine print, and stay away from "text now!" services.... especially if purple monkey dishwashers are involved. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

I Just Got A $7,000 Cell Phone Bill [Tampa Forums (Thanks to Carlo!)]

Bill totally fact checked our ass, along with Slate, on our post, ""Stupid" Law Prevents Foreign Investors From "Owning" US Airlines."

Slate mistakenly identified the Federal Aviation Act as being enacted in 1938, an error we duplicated. Bill pointed out the FAA was actually created in 1958, it was the preceding Civil Aeronautics Act that was created in 1938.

Slate writer Daniel Gross said, "A law that may have made sense when it was enacted in 1938 is clearly obsolete today." In this, Gross was correct, twice over. The CAA was folded into the FAA and the FAA itself got standardized under the US code and is now Title 49, Subtitle VII. None of which we actually knew ourselves, but reader Bill pointed out with his large, fact-holding brain.

Lastly, Bill emailed this correction to us. We are far more likely to catch a correction through email than through comments.

For his excellent knowledge sharing and efficacy, we anoint Bill as Awesomist Reader Of The Week!

If reader Charlie's letter inside isn't proof enough, then perhaps the profusion of negative reviews at Epinions might be of service.

Steve Martin should compile them into a Shouts undt Murmurs piece.

Lastly, let's take a look at the actual magsforless.com site. It looks like poo. Anytime you see a commerce site that looks like it was designed in three seconds, run away. It probably means they suck.

Charlie writes:

"On September 9, 2006, I ordered online a 2 year renewal subscription for The New Yorker Magazine. My Mastercard was charged $29.50. Over the last few weeks I've left 3 voice mails (888-7620-6298)and sent 3 emails to complain because The New Yorker has no record of this transaction. And I've received no response from Magsforless.com or their sister company, My1mag.com. Our subscription runs out in February. I'd like my money back. It appears anyone who uses them risks having their money flush down the toilet, and your credit card number is questionable hands.

I've contacted various consumer protection organizations. We'll see if they have better luck than I did. Just check out what people on epinions.com have to say about these guys. I should have looked there first. I learned the hard way."

At this point, it seems that Charlie's best route of action is to contact his credit card company and ask for a chargeback. This will refund Charlie's money, as well as charge a fee to Magsorless. Luckily, most credit card companies will issue this near automatically for amounts under $50.

— BEN POPKEN

They just won't let him.

Even after he tried everything in, "Break Your Cingular Contract Without Fee, Thanks 2 Txt Msg $ Raise."

Read his story inside...

Corey writes:

"Given the information contained in their TOS and the CTIA Consumer Code, I called Cingular Customer Service to terminate my contract agreement without being subject to the ETF. The representative I spoke with insisted that text messaging WAS NOT something I subscribed to, that it was a feature of my service and that I could not avoid the ETF. She also used this as an opportunity to sell me an upgrade for a text messaging package that I do not want or need.

I asked the representative if someone could use Cingular text messaging without being a Cingular subscriber and she stated that they could not. So I asked if Text messaging wasn't something I subscribed to, why is it that only Cingular Subscribers are able to use it? She had no legitimate answer for me.

Based on her logic, Cingular Text messaging is one of the numerous services I currently subscribe to as a Cingular customer.

I then inquired if she was familiar with the CTIA Consumer Code and I offered to read #7 to her, but she was not interested. After talking in circles with her for approximately 10 minutes, I got extremely frustrated and hung up the phone. She was clearly reading from a script regarding this matter; I can only assume Cingular is getting many calls regarding the price increase.

I question if this is price increase is a well timed opportunity to increase revenue as the upcoming season of "American Idol" begins in a few weeks. Certainly this is a price increase that not many people will probably notice being mentioned on their bills. For those customers that do notice, it is a chance to up sell them into a text messaging package that they probably don't need.

This text messaging 50% price increase is exorbitant (how can a few bytes of text cost so much in comparison to what Cingular charges for voice minutes & for data?) to say the least and clearly changes the Terms of Service that I agreed to. Given the language of your TOS and the CTIA Consumer Code, I don't see how your company representative can deny that there is a clear and distinct price change to my subscription.

Cingular calls text messaging a service in their own "Cingular Nation GSM" plan terms and conditions:

http://www.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/legal/plan-terms.jsp

The terms for text messaging are listed under "Wireless Data Service Terms and Conditions" in Section II.
"ADDITIONAL TERMS FOR SPECIFIC DATA SERVICES Text, Instant Messaging and Multimedia Messaging"

This experience has completely changed my opinion of Cingular and makes me wonder what other price increases Cingular customers can expect in the future.

Will I soon be charged $5.00 every time I want to access my voice mail?

Will I be suddenly charged for long distance calls?

These are also considered features by Cingular.

Simply put, Cingular cannot increase rates anytime they want without allowing consumers the option to decline the increase. They have changed the terms of the contract that me and millions of customers have agreed to and they should not be able to get away with this.

Many have been able to get out of their contracts, but not me."

Corey then tried again. He wrote,

"This time they claimed that they can change the price of any feature at anytime and the wording is in the terms & conditions."

Try calling back and trying your attack again. If they're reluctant, try escalating to a supervisor. Keep driving your points home, even if you repeat them several times. Dealing with these people is like an extremely frustrating video game, sometimes you gotta just keep hacking away.

Now we ask, did you ask them to point to the part of the T&C that says this?

UPDATE: To this, Corey says:

"They told me to go here: http://www.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/legal/plan-terms.jsp

They claimed that the passage located under the main heading of "Wireless Data Service Terms and Conditions"

then subheading "I. General Terms & Conditions Applicable To Cingular Data Services..."

then about 75% of the way towards the bottom of that section there is in bold font "Changes to the terms and conditions:"

It reads "These terms and conditions may be changed from time-to-time."

Then it refers you to www.cingular.com/medianet for the latest changes to the t & c. There is no such price increase notice there and when I pointed this out to the supervisor I was speaking to, she said that is because the change doesn't take effect until 1/27. Total bullshit.

The section of the T&C they referred me to is the same one I mentioned to you earlier where it refers to text messaging as a "service", not a "feature".

The Cingular Terms of Service, as you quoted on your blog, state that if they changes the price of services you can exit your contract without a ETF.

They keep calling text messaging a "feature" and not something I subscribe to but I picked up Cingular's rate plan brochure in their store today and the rate plan has "included features": text messaging at $.10 along with all the usual stuff like nationwide long distance, caller ID, voicemail, etc.

So basically according to my experiences on the phone, there is nothing stopping them from suddenly charging whatever they want for voicemail access or for caller ID. They have basically told me that I my contract only covers the amount of minutes I agreed to at the price I agreed to."

You're right Corey, this is bullshit. Yes, they MAY change the terms of service, but then you MAY also exit the contract without fee. The former doesn't preclude the latter.

We don't know what else to say except to call back and if they try this tact on you, tell them they're wrong and insist, insist, on being let out of contract without fee.

Eye of the tiger!

— BEN POPKEN

RELATED:
We Interview Cingular About Cancelling Over Text Message Plans
What Cingular Tells Customers Canceling Over Text Message Rates
Break Your Cingular Contract Without Fee, Thanks 2 Txt Msg $ Raise

Perhaps this helps explain the recent uptick in company reachouts.

We're still going after corporate crooks; we still need your tips to do it. But with Ben gone for the week, we need them now more than ever. Meg and Mark are still cutting their teeth on writing for the site, and a deluge of tips would help them quickly acclimate themselves with the swagger, the snark, the bluster and the cold, hard, unforgiving stare required of a Consumerist editor.

So if you've got a complaint that you've been holding off sending to us, this is a great week to do it. Do you know a company that really deserves to have its excellence highlighted here? Send them in. Seen a story you think your fellow readers just need to see? We're listening.

Last week's reader submitted stories, after the jump.

The Fire Was The Easy Part
Guilt Starbucks Into Giving You Free Coffee
Hey Comcast! Where's The Hockey?
Widows Pays AT&T $14,000 for Rotary Rental
DefendMyStreet Owner's Bad Business History
Getting Misty, Old Sears ActionFigure Wishbooks
No More Drug Company Pens For Stanford Doctors
Scammed Youth Cry For Consumerist's Aid
Colorado Pedophile Paranoia Site Probed
State Farm: Love The Smart, Make Them Stupid
Whose Warranty Is Best?
Wachovia Apologizes For Locking Old Man In Bank
Update: State Farm Isn't All There
DefendMyStreet Investigated
Out Damned Spot! Help A Reader Clean His Citibank Credit
Starbucks Baristas Outraged That Customers Have Wised Up
More Lies Verizon Told Us
Old Man Locked Inside Callous Philly Wachovia
Con Ed: Now With Twice The Bill!
How To Join The Mile High Without K-Y?
UPDATE: Target Targets Handicapped, We Target Them
We (Maybe) Called Fran
State Farm Isn't All There
Target Don't Like Talkin' 'Bout Fran
Helmann's Spreads It Thin

But, as usual, we still need 'em. Four out of five of last week's top stories were reader submission. Ben and I remain just the editors of your own consumerist chronicles; we damn well know we're merely a spoke in the wheel that grinds bad companies underfoot, or lifts good companies high into the sky for your esteem.

Last week, readers exposed AOL's new call script... just as hard to cancel as ever. They exposed Comcast's weasely attempts to prevent an out-right cancellation, as well as horny Comcast techs. They complained about Pop-Tarts. They informed us about the properties of grout.

We want to hear from you. Hell, we need to hear from you. Companies shouldn't treate their customers in aggregate, but there's no doubt that an aggregate voice of dissatisfaction gets things done.

Last week's reader stories, after the jump:

UPDATE: CVS Won't Accept You're Not Stacy
Comcast Tech: "You Don't Need Dis Fuggin' Box"
AOL Finally Does Something Right
OfficeMax Loves Receipts. Hates You.
Go-Tarts Blithely Indifferent To Own Sucking
Parsing AOL Cancel Semantics
EXCLUSIVE: Old AOL Cancel Script vs. New
You, Sir, Are No Grout
Get A Human With Bringo. Maybe.
US Airways Flight 723: UNKNOWN
AOL's Guide To Just A Super Fun World-Class MRM Call
AirTran Would Rather Me Stinky
Dell Helps You To Uninstall, For A Price
What Is Up With These Horny Comcast Techs?
Crunch Fitness, I Wish I Could Quit You
Adventures In Everyday Consumerism
Big Thumbs Up For Audible
ASUS is ANUS

The bottom line is we can't be everywhere. What this site dwells upon most is the one-on-one interaction between large corporations and the individual customer. But most of the time, that's not the sort of interaction we can be part of first-hand. We have to be a third party, and that means you need to tell us what's going wrong and what's going right.

Last week, readers pointed out Walmart broiling babies and Sears' reneg of a debt agreement. They told us about IDT salesmen telling elderly old men they would have to go to jail if they didn't switch energy providers. They complained about Jiffy Lube destroying their cars; the eerie grins of obsequious idiots at Backyard Burger.

We always need these stories. We need to hear from you. So if you've got something you think needs to be posted on this site, mail us and tell us to post it. If it's good, we will.

Likewise, if you've got suggestions or complains, let us know about them? Want commenting access? Mail us. Or wait until Wednesday, when we'll be giving them out in real-time again in our Campfire chat room.

Last week's reader submitted stories after the jump.

UPDATE: Circuit City Flouts The DMCA For A Tenner
Backyard Burger Wayyyy Too Friendly
UPDATE: Boiled Walmart Baby, With Pix
Best Buy Hates Firefox
Circuit City Flouts The DMCA For A Tenner
Milk is Fucking Awesome
Dasani, The Opposite of Gross
AOL Still Retaining Like A MoFugger
UPDATE: Boiled Walmart Baby
Steal Bandwidth From 419 Scammers
Lifehacker Suffers Trifecta of Crappy Cable Companies
Hungry? Eat a 419 Scammer
Don't Buy From an Ebay Scam Bot
The Softer Side of Sears' Ruthless Debt Collection
AOL Hates Hugs.
NONUPDATE: Cingular Wants to Yank Docs
Correction: Boiled Walmart Baby
Butter Trough Hoax?
IDT Energy Bilks Grandpa
Jiffy Lube Up For Double Reaming
Empire Who's Who Service Gets Imperial
Cancel Your Cellphone By Dying
Complain: Mailing Address for Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank
Virgin Atlantic Flight 45
Welcome to The Butter Trough!
Baby Nearly Killed By Walmart's Indifference

If you're totally off base, there is, of course, a chance you might end up finding yourself ridiculed instead of the company. That's something you should know going in. We're not here to suck anyone off: ultimately, our mission is to preach responsible consumerism, and that means stamping down hard on the spines of self-entitled, whiny complaints as much as biting away at the corporate behemoths. Frivolous complaints unreasonably voiced cheapen the cause. But it's easy to avoid this: we like reasonable, intelligent consumers who do everything in their power to resolve a situation amiably before they contact us, not the guys who start screaming seconds into a phone call with a CSR. Anyone with any introspection should be able to realize if they are the former, rather than the latter.

But our audience is largely intelligent, full of vim, throbbing with consumerist pride but not self-righteousness. Which is why we almost always love to hear from you. So if you're having a problem, write us. Let us help. We want to help.

Last week's reader's stories after the jump.

Undiluted Drink? That'll Be Another Buck.
Tipster Don'ts: We Don't Care For Rape Analogies
The Art of The Buy: Hide Your Time Wisely
When Credit Is Safer Than Debit
So You've Decided To Join The Army Just To Cancel Your Cellphone
The Dumbest Dell CSR Who Ever Lived
CCBill Professional In The Face of Non-Linear Sexual Cravings
Delta Crashes Man's Wedding With Similarly Titled In-flight Movie
Love's Labor Lost, Thanks to American Airlines
Kroger Just Needs a Warm Body
UPDATE: Bally's Tele-Customer Service Blows
Bank of America Lies and Lies and Lies
Krap Kroger Gets It Wrong, Gets It Right
Reader Wants A Job. We Give Him One!
T-Mobile Forbids You From Recording Customer Service Calls
Dell's Low Call Time Kills Customer Service

My boss needed an email-capable phone, and needed it here and functioning before she left for a business trip to New York.

How much you want to bet that didn't exactly happen? Check your wager, after the jump...

Kyle writes:

"I called T-Mobile a week ahead and ordered her a Motorola something-or-other, which arrived several days later, but the email functionality was not what she had hoped. For clarity's sake let's call her existing phone A and her phone number 1. The new phone B arrived carrying phone number 2. Since she didn't like the phone, we called T-Mobile to order a Blackberry C, being assured it would arrive in time for the trip. It did not, of course, so we had her phone number 1 put into phone B so she could go on the trip with email capability. Phone number 2, a temporary factory number, should have then disappeared.

While she was gone, Blackberry C arrived with phone number 3.

When she returned, we then placed a call to T-mobile to have phone number 1 put into the Blackberry C, planning to then return phone B since we hadn't wanted it anyway. After waiting the 24 hours or so it takes to get a number transferred, we placed 1 or 2 test calls from the Blackberry C, which worked, then placed test calls TO the phone number, which rang on phone B indicating the number had not been transferred as requested.

Eventually the transfer took, so the standing was something like this:

Phone number 1 is now in Blackberry C and is the permanent setup to this day

Phone number 2 disappeared

Phone number 3 disappeared

Phone A old, probably recycled, who knows

Phone B returned to T-Mobile

Blackberry C in use.

Our next T-Mobile bill was wrong, which, let's face it, we kind of deserved for putting them through this. How wrong was the surprise.

Phone number 1: normal monthly charges with the new data charge for email.

Phone number 2: activation of service, pro-rated charges from that point to the date of the Blackberry activation (about 6 days) including prorated data charges for email, early termination of service, and the purchase price of phone B.

Phone number 3: activation of service, monthly service from that point forward including monthly data charges, and the purchase price of the Blackberry.

So on an ongoing basis, we had two active lines, had paid for two new phones, and an early termination fee. All we wanted was one new phone with the existing number, and if their Blackberry had arrived when they said it would, that's all we would have had.

It got better when I tried to explain all of this to a CSR. (I do realize how confusing this is, but we're a telecom company...I know it can be done and understood...don't get me started on telecom taxes and fees). The first few CSRs I talked to basically told me it's all our fault for using Phone B, and the reason Phone Number 3 is still active is because we used it. If you remember, we only used it to see if the number transfer had worked. I did finally get someone to take phone line 3 off the bill, and to refund the purchase price of phone B when someone agreed we had returned it. This was three months later.

On the next bill we see:

Phone number 1: normal monthly charges plus data

Phone number 2: refund for purchase price of phone B, refund for activation fee

Phone number 3: monthly charges plus data prorated to some random date, early termination fee.

So my argument now stands at two early termination fees and all of the monthly charges on phone number 3 that accumulated while they took their sweet time.

After a couple more months of harassment, I did manage to get someone to realize we hadn't intentionally "used" phone number 3, and got the early termination fee refunded. I also got someone to realize we hadn't ever used phone number 2, and got that fee refunded. (I'm leaving out lots of "yes you will" "no we won't" emails and heated arguments - it really just took calling back a thousand times until I reached the one guy who wasn't an idiot).

So, after 6 months of argument, my dispute was down to just 3 or so months of monthly charges on phone number 3 that were never refunded. Getting those months refunded is turning out to be a battle of wills, and I think I might win soon. It is now April, and the business trip that started the saga was last May. I smell victory any day now.

Now, I'm not silly enough to not take blame for the craziness of the situation; I recognize it's unusually complicated, but getting a rep to sit down and say "wait, the customer really only wanted one line in one phone, and at no point does it seem they intentionally tried to rip us off, and since we have numerous lines on this account with them, perhaps we could go the extra mile and make this easy for the sake of customer service" shouldn't be this hard.

Thanks for letting me vent."

All the cable hookups in B's apartment complex are located in a common utility closet. Since the problem started in the closet, that's where it needed to finish, but Time Warner was adamant that B be home for the job and B was equally adamant that he didn't need to be.

That B possesses a BS and Masters degrees in electrical engineering and knew exactly what he was talking about only made the icing on the cake that much juicer.

Luckily, there's gold at the end of this rainbow of nightmares, after the jump...

B writes:

"Case closed. Met a friendly Time Warner tech here this afternoon. Sure enough someone, possibly an outsourced "contractor", had moved my drop to the end of a lengthy chain of splitters in the utility room while hooking up someone else. Seems that one or more of the splitters was even the wrong type. This rendered mine the weakest connection in the whole building, resulting in my signals going to shit on Thursday. (If the guy originally dispatched to fix it on Sunday had just looked in the utility room when he was here, he could have fixed it then.) Anyway, today's guy said he configured things in a more balanced way so that everyone will have adequate signal strength. I think he did a good job and hopefully it won't get moved again. :)"

All you have to do is possess advanced degrees in electrical engineering, ignore them, obey the Time Warner installocrats and your problems will be solved.

Her story serves as a good reminder to read the finance contract with care and if you believe you're being screwed, be vocal and persistent in pursuing your grievance.

If a business doesn't believe the customer is always right, guess what? The customer will spend somewhere they're not wrong.

M.'s dealership knew this and that's why in the end, she wins. Read more, after the jump...

M. writes:

"I recently bought a new car and bout 30 minutes after my husband and I left the dealership, our financier called us. He told us there had been a mistake made on the finance contract that we signed. He accidentally gave us a 2.9% APR AND $2,000 in rebates and customer loyalty incentives. OOPS! He thought we were buying a different car and gave us the incentives for the wrong model. The model I bought offered a special 3.9% financing rate OR a $500 rebate (almost all car incentives work this way — either/or on financing and rebates.) He not only gave us the wrong rebates and incentives, he gave us BOTH rebates and the incentive APR.

When we arrived at the dealership, the financier, along with the business manager presented us with a new "correct" contract. We were extremely hesitant to sign this new contract, under the common understanding that once a contract is signed, it's legally binding. When we asked the business manager what would happen if we did not sign the new contract, he told us that the entire deal would be undone and we would have to give back our new car. He told us that the bank would not accept the first contract and that it would be declared null and void. For our troubles, they threw in a free oil change and car detailing. OUCH. Talk about rubbing salt in our wounds!

We spent the entire weekend fuming and called the general manger of the dealership first thing Monday morning. He apologized and invited us back to the dealership to present us with a new deal... a GREAT deal. First, we got the original 2.9% financing back. The dealership basically had to redo the finance deal with another bank and buy down the rate. We also got $1,000 in rebates AND a four year service plan. When we added up the costs on their recommended pricing and maintenance schedule, it added up to more than $1,200.

EDUCATE yourself about the car buying process and read the finance contract carefully!! If you believe the dealership has made a mistake, be persistent in contacting the people in charge — going higher up the management ladder if necessary. The dealership made the right move in correcting the mistake and going above and beyond for something that they bunged up in the first place."

After finally convincing Time Warner that this was in fact, their problem that they caused, they said they would send a tech out but required B to be at home. B doesn't want to take off from work. Time Warner certainly had no trouble messing up his cable without his presence, why should he be there when they fix it? And that's where the two parties stand.

While we admire reader B's pluck and resolve in the face of the unrelenting incompetence of Time Warner Cable, part of us is just like, dude, why don't you just take a sick day?

Read more, after the jump...

UPDATE: The complaint may have got someone to actually give a damn. That and his responses to your comments, after that more button there on the left.

B writes:

"I'm in an apartment complex divided up into small buildings of 12 apartments each. Each building contains a locked utility closet on the ground floor, and inside this room is each individual apartment's cable hookup to the main tap. Since residents have no access to these rooms, cable techs working at the complex either carry a key or pick one up at the onsite leasing office.

On Thursday of last week, a cable tech performed work in my building for a neighbor. Later in the day, I noticed my connection periodically locking up. Upon checking the cable modem status page, I discovered that my previously good signal levels (+3 dB downstream / 45 dB upstream) had changed to -11dB downstream / 55 dB upstream. On Friday the downstream levels degraded to -13, and by Monday they were bouncing around between -12 and -15 while the upstream remained pegged at 55. Apparently in the process of servicing the neighbor's hookup, the tech had moved my apartment's connection to either a bad port on the tap, split the signal, damaged the connector, or otherwise interfered with my signal.

The first hurdle to jump through was convincing Roadrunner's nationwide tech support gatekeeper to refer this problem to the Binghamton office for resolution. Starting on Thursday, I began exchanging emails with tech support describing the issue and its root in the technician's work in the utility closet. At first they claimed my levels were "well within our operational bounds", and responded with a form letter about general troubleshooting steps. Eventually they agreed that the signals were low and that a tech needed to be dispatched. However, they stated that the local office would refuse the work order unless I performed the steps on their troubleshooting script. Originally their script assumed I was using Windows XP. When I informed them that it was OS X 10.4 Tiger, they provided instructions for "OS 10.3 Panther" and "OS 10 Jaguar". I guess nobody told them that 10.4 Tiger came out last year and that they should update their form letter?

Anyway, when I got the chance on Friday, I did what they asked and sent the results...
1. power cycled the cable modem
2. speed test at speedtest.stny.com
3. traceroute test to www.yahoo.com
4. ping test to www.yahoo.com
5. ip address (seems like the modem's mac address would be more useful, but whatever)

They wrote back and said sorry, we can't file a work order unless you disconnect your router and let us know if the problem still exists. Of course it is impossible that a router could change the rf signal levels reported by the modem, which they already agreed were poor, but I had no choice but to do this step. Obviously the signal levels did not improve, and I reported this to them.

Then they wrote back and said sorry, you need to perform the troubleshooting steps again without the router connected. So once again I redid the 5 steps and gave them the results. Finally, they submitted a trouble ticket.

On Saturday, I received an email from agent "M1" in the Binghamton office. M1 stated that "When i run a test on your modem i do indeed see a problem with your signal levels. This will require a service call." He went on to request that I give him a call to set up an appointment, and that it would require me to be home. I wrote back explaining how the problem was caused by work outside my apartment, in the building utility room, and could therefore be fixed without having a tech come into my apartment. (Of course M1's email confirmed that they could read the poor signal levels from the office, and logically they would be able to likewise confirm the levels had been restored after the tech came.)

M1's response was "ok, i will get that service call put in for you, for them to check it in the utility room, but without someone home we cant check to make sure the signal strengh was restored. they would need to put a meter on the cable in the apartment to test it. but i will definately get the service call put in for today if possible or tomarrow at the latest if you do not see any results by monday please contact us again." (He appears to have "forgotten" that it was possible to read the signal levels from the office.)

On Sunday evening, I came home to find a tag from Time Warner Cable on my door stating that they came at 5:30pm and nobody was home.

On Monday, when I was able to get in touch with M1 he wrote back that the tech had not performed any service: "well i apoligize he did not make any adjustments. they marked the order as "not done" reason being "not home". I did write it right on the work order to adjust it in the utility room but they say they cant adjust it without someone home. I was wondering if it was possible to have someone home for an apointment or maybe we can call someone to meet the tech there, they can give up to a half an hours notice. The reason we cant run the test from the office with them on the phone is there is no gaurentee that they will be able to get through to a rep in a reasonable amount of time so it throw off his whole schedule for the day. and even if the do adjust it at the utility room and it looks good there, a problem might still be happening and we need to make a seperate trip."

Further emails from me went unanswered, so later on Monday I called M1 and explained my view that the problem was caused by their tech working outside my apartment, that it could be repaired and verified outside my apartment, and that there was no technical reason I should have to rearrange my schedule to let a tech into my apartment for them to fix the problem that they themselves created last week. He stated that it was their policy and that there are no exceptions. I asked to speak to his supervisor, "C", and left a voice mail message for her. A few hours later with no callback, I left another voice mail for C. She called back and said she must have misheard my phone number and had been trying to reach me all day. However, she was as unyielding as M1. I asked to be transferred to C's supervisor, "M2". I then left a voicemail for M2, who at least called me back shortly.

M2 continued to insist that I or someone else needed to be home to let them in the apartment and "approve the work". When I explained that from a technical standpoint this was unnecessary, and that I should not have to be inconvenienced by a combination of an outside problem that their own negligence caused and an arbitrary policy, she decided to try another excuse. The story suddenly became that they needed me or someone else over 18 to be in the apartment to release them to work in the common utility room for legal/liability reasons. She stated that they could not come on the apartment property without me being home. I pointed out that the tech had in fact already entered the apartment building and left a tag on my door, so this did not seem valid. Furthermore, I pointed out that I have no jurisdiction over the common utility room, and I certainly do not have the authority to decide whether to release a tech from liability for work he performs in the common space. Then the story changed again. She tried stating that I would need to be there to physically provide him access to the utility room. I of course pointed out that tenants have no access to the room, so whether I am home or not, a tech needs to bring their own key or get one from the office on their way in. She disingenuously denied that they know how to get this key, despite the fact that the complex has hundreds of apartments and that cable techs are here working in those rooms frequently. She demanded I provide the phone number or someone who could provide the utility room key, and refused to accept that this was information that they already had and that I (and the other tenants) did not. After arguing for quite some time and getting nowhere, she stated that all she could do was set up an appointment for the next available time but that if nobody was home they would not perform the repair. Having been worn down by this point, I said fine, whatever. Then she informed me that the next available window was three days later, on Thursday, and that there was nothing she could do to get someone out earlier.

Well, I was incensed. Having gotten nowhere with M2 (the supervisor of C, who was in turn the supervisor of M1), I asked M2 for her supervisor M3. M2 informed me that M3 was gone for the day and that either I could leave a message for M3 or that she would do it, but that either way she would have to give M3 a "heads up". I said fine, I'll leave a message.

That's when something bizarre happened. I was placed on hold (with music playing) for a l