When she brought it back to the store, workers reportedly "giggled" and joked about how "cool" it would be to find a scorpion. The ASDA manager offered the not-amused mother of a 6-month old toddler a "double refund." The type of scorpion is not deadly, but has a very painful sting.

Scorpion found in bananas [The Sun] (Thanks to Matthew!)

As I was getting into my car to go to work a Fed Ex Express van pulled up behind me. It was my replacement Jawbone from Aliph. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be overnighted to me.

I opened the box and inside with the brand new Jawbone was a hand written note from Lindsey Cromwell who is Richard's executive assistant. Also include were 2 Jawbone car chargers and 2 sets of their new earbuds which was another unexpected surprise.

This was a great customer service experience!

Excellent. Horrible problem reported Monday night, no-questions replacement + personalized prizepack received Wednesday morning, going from Jawbone melting to jaw-droppingly good customer service. You just earned yourselves a place in the "Above and Beyond" hall of fame!

PREVIOUSLY: My Jawbone Melted

Black Friday Discounts on Macs Have Begun [MacRumors] (Thanks to David!)

Well, you can file a lawsuit for anything. The question is whether you will win. Norberg has set up a site, standforspeech.com, about his issue and made available the documents related to his case. Read 'em and see who you think is right.

Remember folks, the best defense against libel and slander is the truth. As long as he's telling it, he should be ok, right?

Below, what exactly Norberg said about Biegel that sparked the lawsuit in the first place...

The following statements are false as they apply to the plaintiff:
a) "A friend told me to stop going, cause Dr. Biegel billed his insurance company funny awhile before"
b) "So, I saw the guy for 2 visits, expected a bill for about 125 bucks... So ends up, Biegel billed me for over $500. I called to pay, and he couldn't give me a straight answer as to why the jump in price, we got into an argument..."
c) "He called me back to cover his ass, and had reasons as to why he could bill for the extra amount, then tells me he would still write it off because he wanted to keep his word from the previous conversation. One reason he gave me, was that he runs a business and would stick it to insurance companies (even though that drives my premiums up, and makes me wonder who else he sticks it to.)"
d) The next day I received a voicemail from the receptionist, she told me that she talked to my insurance company and found out that my case settled, and even though it was for an amount less than expected, they felt I owed them $125.
e) [I was a bit put off by the fact that] "he wasn't keeping his word anymore..."
f) [I don't think good business means charging people whatever you feel like hoping they'll pay without a fuss.]"Especially considering that I found a much better, honest chiropractor."

9. Each statement described in paragraph 7, above, is libelous on its face. It clearly exposes plaintiff to hatred, contempt, ridicule, and obloquy because
a) the statement in 7 a) above,"billed his insurance company funny" suggests plaintiff is dishonest.
b) the statement in 7 b) above,"...he couldn't give me a straight answer" suggests plaintiff was billing in a fraudulent and dishonest manner.
c) the statement in 7 c) above"He called me back to cover his ass, and had reasons as to why he could bill for the extra amount" suggest that plaintiff dishonestly made up false reasons which excused his billing practices. "One reason he gave me, was that he...would stick it to insurance companies," suggests that plaintiff dishonestly [illegible] "even though that drives my premiums up, and makes me wonder who else he sticks it to)" suggests plaintiff dishonestly and fraudulently bills his other patients, and other business entities he deals with in his business.

10. These statements contained in defendant's review posted online on yelp.com were seen and read by thousands, if not tens of thousands of consumers and prospective patients of plaintiff, as well as professional colleagues, who reside in and around the San Francisco Bay area, and were no doubt seen and read by many persons outside of the Bay Area.

11. As a proximate result of the above-described publication, plaintiff has suffered loss of his reputation, shame, mortification and hurt feelings all to his general damage.

12. As a further proximate result of the above-described publication, plaintiff has suffered the following special damages: injury to his business and profession, all to his injury....

You can read the rest in the online filing [PDF]. Rest of the documents are here.

(Photo: dougalug)

Smoke began pouring out of Marc's Jawbone cellphone headset last night:

I purchased a new Aliph Jawbone 2 directly from Aliph back in July. I owned an original Jawbone and was happy to see it shrink in size. It's been working extremely well and I haven't had any issues with it...until last night.

I connected my charger to a USB port on my computer and I charged my headset like I have any other time. I was on my computer doing some web surfing when I noticed a burning smell. I look over at my headset and saw smoke coming out of it.

I immediately disconnected it from the charger but the smoke kept coming. I noticed that it was also getting hotter. I didn't want it to burst into flames so I ran into the bathroom and ran it under the faucet. I've attached some photos showing what ended up happening to the headset.

I contacted Aliph support and was told that since it's not a technical issue that they could fix (really?) that my issue would be forwarded to a specialist. I'm still waiting to get a call back and will update once I do.

Must have been one too many steamy calls on the $.99 per minute lines.

"My name is Jordan W and I am writing to you to tell you about my success story with Apple and my MacBook Pro. I almost feel compelled to tell you because it was your article that inspired me to take action in regards to resolving my issues with my MBP. (see http://consumerist.com/consumer/apple/get-your-defective-laptop-replaced-by-sending-well+written-emails-to-steve-jobs-256931.php) In short, my laptop was experiencing an array of issues including USB, firewire and bluetooth reliability issues, hard drive problems (slow read/write), complete superdrive error (fails to burn cd/dvd, laser disc error) and the display experiencing warping issues when the lid was shut. After my laptop being in the Apple shop twice and nothing being resolved, I decided to look elsewhere for answers to my problems - online. Here is where I stumbled upon the article posted on Consumerist about this one man's success story with getting his MacBook fixed/replaced by simply beginning an e-mail correspondence with sjobs@apple.com, so I decided to give it a shot. Attached is the e-mail I wrote at 2:22am on November 4th:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Jordan
To: sjobs@apple.com
Date: Nov 4 at 2:22am
Subject: MacBook pro dilemma; Jordan
—-—-—-—-—
Mr. Steve Jobs,

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Jordan W and over the past two years, I have been a loyal Apple customer through purchasing two MacBook Pro's (one for me, one for my brother), several iPods as well as Apple peripherals (keyboards and mice). Simply put, I love Apple products. Unfortunately, a horrid dilemma has been developing with my experience of my most recent MacBook Pro, which I purchased in June of 2007.

Several problems have begun to arise with my MacBook Pro (late 2007) concerning the display, USB ports, bluetooth reliability and overheating. I have brought my beloved notebook in several times for repair, but each and every time, I have been told there were no problems detected and my machine was working properly. In addition, one time during a service repair, my laptop came back to me slightly damaged (casing at bottom-left of laptop was/is loose), which I was told was "already there", when it most certainly was not. Also, I purchased the 3-year Applecare extended warranty (expires in June of 2010) in hopes that it would cover these sorts of issues. Apparently, it was not worth the extra $$$ to assure my laptop's reliability.

My experiences with Apple Support in the past have been relatively troublesome, but not to this degree. I finally have
become fed up with leaving my laptop at Apple Sagemore of South Jersey (I live in State College during the school year) for two weeks at a time and risking my data being destroyed, only to be told that it is "functioning properly". So now, I am stuck with a half-functioning laptop that experiences hardware failures all too frequently, poor iPod syncing due to USB issues and a useless wireless keyboard and mouse. I write to you in hopes of receiving some sort of explanation
or advise on what to do, as purchasing a new notebook at this time is not in my realm of options. I cannot find a notebook that is better than an Apple, but how can I remain a loyal customer to a product that consistently fails me and a repair process that does not help resolve the issues? Any reply at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Jordan W

Contact Info:
M - xxx-xxx-xxxx
E-mail - xxxxxxxx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nearly seven hours later, at 9:30am on Nov 5, I received a very friendly phone call from my local Apple store and spoke to the manager about what we could do regarding the repair of my MacBook Pro. She kindly asked me to e-mail her a detailed list of all the issues I was experiencing over the next two weeks, so when I came into the Apple store on Nov 24, the geniuses could be prepared to assist me. Here is the e-mail I sent to her concerning the issues I was experiencing:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Jordan W
To: xxxxxxx@apple.com
Date: Nov 19 at 12:27am
Subject: Jordan W; MacBook Pro Issues

Manager,

Here is the list you requested of issues I have and can recreate.

* Sporadic USB behavior
o Iomega eGO external USB drive will fail to mount, must unplug and plug back in to recognize/mount
o Time Machine will not backup via USB, firewire only
o iPod is not always recognized/mounted as well, syncs will hang at "Syncing with calendars..." until i manually remove the iPod from the USB connection
* Sporadic Firewire behavior
o Time Machine is recognized/mounted, frequent error occurs which says, "Time Machine failed to backup."
* Consistent Bluetooth Issues
o Devices (Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mighty Mouse) will drop bluetooth link from MacBook Pro after a given period of use
o Sometimes, when connected, the mouse will stutter across the screen until I shut the mouse off and on again
* Strange DVI behavior
o When MacBook Pro is waked from sleep, as well as Dell 2408wfp, the screen will flicker twice before any picture is to come through
* CD/DVD drive burning failure
o CD-R, CD-RW fails to burn because of "unable to read disc laser speed" error
o DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-DL burning capabilities (ISOs for example) fail to burn; Messages say "Beginning burn..." then about 10 seconds later, the message "Finishing burn." appears and hangs for 10 to 15 minutes until it informs me the burn has failed
o Attempted to burn media through iTunes, Finder, Disk Utility and Disco, none have worked
* MacBook Pro display warp
o The display on my MacBook Pro now is bent, even though I have had the display replaced/repaired
o Very visible when closed (Apparently, this is a documented issue)
* Slow Hard Disk Read/Write
o Formatted using Zero-Disk to see if it will solve the problem; no improvement found

If I find anymore, I will add them to this. Thank you.

- Jordan W

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Nov 24 finally came around, I went to the Apple store at 10am and was greeted by one of the many-a-salesperson. (I live at school and Nov 24 was the first day I could get to an Apple store) I told them my issue as well as who I was and they informed me I was expected where I was then escorted to the Genius Bar. Then is where I explained all the issues I had with my MBP and he took my machine in the back. He also politely told me that he would be right back out. About five minutes later, the gentlemen came up to me and told me that I was to receive a replacement machine free of charge! (I tried very hard not to smile and jump up and down until he walked away) Twenty minutes later, I was signing the paperwork to my new MacBook Pro (Yes, the actual new one that came out a couple weeks ago, not a refurbished replacement. In fact, I am writing this e-mail on it.) and walking out of the store with a mile-wide grin on my face.

All thanks go to you Consumerist, for without that article, none of what happened could of been possible.

P.S. - Apple, you rock too."

(Photo: James Young Art)

1) Cash register, POS outage and Servers are down
2) 3-5 hours to checkout and sometimes the line never moves. See 1
3) No available shopping carts.
4) A line that wraps around the outside twice because of people waiting in line since Thanksgiving Day.
5) Checkout line that wraps around everything inside the store like spaghetti.
6) Parking lot is packed to a point you have to park on Walmart property.
7) Customers hording anything they can get their hands on.
8) Employees hording ad items.
9) Pushing, shoving, running, and running people over with a shopping cart.
10) Most sale items gone within 1 hour. Very low in inventory to begin with.
11) Customers punching each other in the face / and other fighting.
12) Customers and Employees getting away with stealing.
13) Customer walkouts.
14) Customers abandoning sales associates commission quotes.
15) Employees lying to you about items being sold out.
16) Employees lying to you to buy items they claim are on sale but are not.
17) Employees lying to you about the extended warranty and tacking it or other extras onto your quote. Beware of fake bundles.
18) Employees aiding customers to front of line for buying warranties, wireless installations, or fake bundles.
19) Customers cutting others in line.
20) Employees fighting over customers or commissions
21) Employees stealing other customers from each other.
22) Employees ignoring customers who are cheap.
23) Employees working odd hours from 3am to 12am midnight, with inadequate breaks
24) Customers start buying products they saw in the leaked Black Friday ad before Black Friday and try to get an Low Price Guarantee or price match on Black Friday will be turned away and be very frustrated.
25) Customers will steal products from other customers.
26) Your possessions will be stolen from your car while you shop.
27) People will get hurt.
28) People will get arrested.

Is the list complete? Add your predictions that he missed in the comments.

28 things that will happen on Black Friday 2008 at Fry's Electronics [Fry's Forum]

Now who’s drowning in debt? Bill collectors [The Buffalo News] (Thanks to Eric!) (Photo: Sharon Cantillon)

...opt-out of "courtesy overdraft fees" so that if you use your debit card and don't have enough money for what you're swiping it off, they will actually decline your card. However, you have to remember to never swipe as credit, only as debit.

Reader Jon thinks he's got it figured out. Opt out of courtesy overdraft screwing, and then ask for a debit-only card. "Voila," he writes, "you have a checking account and debit card immune to shady courtesy overdraft fees." However, since Chase now owns WaMu, I'm betting you have to already have a WaMu account for this to work.

(Photo: thekateblack)

Title: "Movin' on out"
Caption: "It's time to pack! Still a while before we move, but I'll be studying for my exam right before we plan on moving."
By: unleashedlive

Title: "please don't feed me 8"
By: missdesigndiva

Title: Credit Card Eliminator
By: frankieleon

Title: washing
By: Nykoh

Title: SOAP
By: jimlittle2

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. See previous winners of the Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool finds here.

Are stores relaxing return policies? [Consumer Reports] "A new survey by the National Retail Federation concludes that many retailers will be adhering to more generous merchandise return policies this holiday season."

When to File Taxes Separately [Wall Street Journal] "Some married couples can save significant amounts of federal income tax by filing separately."

Learning to keep costs under control [Vanguard] "If there's a silver lining to the current economic downturn, it may be a renewed focus on living within our means."

Back to Basics: Reduce your debt [Mighty Bargain Hunter] "Here are a few things to consider as you reduce debt."

— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: The GlassPeople)

Here's the fee notice:

Administrative Charge
Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the Administrative
Charge will increase to $0.99 per line. For
details on surcharges, please see Sprint Terms
& Conditions or visit sprint.com/taxesandfees

And Matt's story:

I called sprint with the bill (with the exact wording) open, and their taxes and fees site (sprint.com/taxesandfees). First I got a normal CS rep, asked about getting an ETF waiver because of this "materially adverse" change, she said no, but that she would transfer me to an "account specialist" (retentions).

Was transferred to retentions, got a woman who also said no. We debated a little bit, me asking why it wasn't materially adverse, her saying because its a fee, etc etc. Once I realized I was going no where with her I asked to speak to somebody else. Apparently I got to talk to the King of Retentions, or something.

I remember this part the best, because he picks up the phone and says "Hello! I heard you had a question about one of our government mandate fees?" This really set me off. I had been saying the whole time it was their administrative fee and picture message increase. Anyways, we debated, a lot. Basically the only key was to never stop. He kept saying they could change their fees at any time, it even says so in their T&Cs. I pointed out how that was not valid, and how it was the whole point of a contract that both parties agree to the terms as presented, and how could you agree to terms in advance? After about 10 minutes of this I said "is there anybody else I can talk to" and he said "no, I'm the end of the line before you cancel", and then he said "Do you want the number to legal" and I said "yes!".

I was put on hold for about 10 minutes, when he came back he was much much nicer. He said they couldn't ETF free it now because it hadn't affected the account. I told him the reason I called now is because I wasn't to make sure paying the Nov bill is "agreeing" with the change (I'm sure if I called back in Jan there would have been nothing that could have been done). I said ETF free in Jan was reasonable, and asked him to put the note on the account to let me cancel ETF free in January if the account was affected by the change, he obliged.

Called back the next day, and the note was there.

Yes, the account is still not canceled. Yes, that note could mysteriously disappear. But Matt was able to go most of the way towards getting it ready to be cancelled once that new fee starts hitting the account. He just needs to go the next step. He needs to argue with them that it doesn't matter if it hasn't hit the account yet, the terms of the contract have changed. That alone gives him sufficient reason. If they respond by waiving the surcharge, he should insist that the contract has still been changed.

Just because it's in the terms and conditions that they can change the contract doesn't make it so. Ski lodges can make you sign death waivers but if you really do bust your leg up, the lawyers know you still can sue and probably will win. If
contracts could really be changed like this mid-term, then car dealerships could decide 6 months into your lease that you need to start paying a $300/month administrative fee.

Whether or not they obviate the effects of the contract change, the contract was still changed without his consent. If you stab someone, and then put all the blood back in the wound and put a band-aid over it, you've still stabbed them.

Administrative Charge Increasing Jan 1... [Howard Forums] (Photo: your_favorite_mart ian)

Your Mail in Rebate May Be In Jeopardy [[H]]Enthusiast] (Thanks to xskeweredx!)

Title: "Enchanted Forest"
By: Lisa Brewster

Title: "Economic Suicide"
Caption: "So Much Fun"
By: frankieleon

By: soraxtm

Title: "Our 92 Integra at 100k"
Caption: "Tonight our 1992 Acura Integra turned over 100,000 miles. We got it 16 years ago for $14,000 out the door. It has been a great, reliable car and worth every penny. I love that car!"
By: sfxeric

Title: "The world's largest Sheetz"
Caption: "20 pumps. Endless canopies. MTOs. It's no Wawa, but it was still pretty damn big and fed my late-night hunger."
By: voteprime

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. See previous winners of the Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool finds here.

K writes:

I first became aware of this company when my sister called to tell me she had been contacted by "Harry Wilson" from the phone number 951-200-3254. He yelled at her on the phone, demanded that she pay him the money I owed immediately or he would use her Social Security Number to take all the money from her bank account and ruin her credit. He would not tell her what her Social Security Number was when she asked. She hung up on him.

I called and spoke to "Ryan Smith", a man with an extremely heavy Indian accent and was told I was going to jail on Saturday if I did not pay immediately. When I asked for verification of this debt in writing, he told me he was not required to provide that and I would go to jail. He gave me a fax number 914-462-3657 to fax my bank account number, debit card number, social security number and mailing address to so he could get payment.

The loan in question was supposedly taken out on 4/13/2007, a full 7 months before I even opened an account with the bank he claimed the deposit was made to. Then he changed his mind and said the deposit was made on 12/04/2007. I checked my bank account statements and no deposits were made to my account on or near that date.

My sister again received 2 calls yesterday from "Harry Wilson" threatening her with jail time if she didn't make me pay them.

I can deal with the threats to myself, as I am well aware they are bogus, but my young nephew took one of the threatening calls yesterday and was understandably shaken and upset over the incident.

I filed complaints with the FTC and with ic3.gov. I talked to a consumer lawyer to find out my rights in this matter. I was terrified at first, as I'm sure many other victims are, but I knew none of this sounded right. I've not always been the most financially responsible person in the world, but I have always repaid my debts. I took notes on everything this man told me, even making him repeat himself to be sure I had the correct information.

Then the bottom-feeder called me at work yesterday to tell me I was going to jail in an hour if I didn't give him my debit card number immediately. I told him in no uncertain terms that this was a scam and I knew it. I detailed for him every step I had taken and the fact that if his harassment of my family and me continued he would cost his company $1000, which is the amount the lawyer I spoke with told me I would be able to get in judgment against USNB.

He started off trying to talk over me and resorted to yelling at several points, but I continued to speak in a calm, forceful voice and eventually he was silent. I told him one more call to my home, my sister or my place of employment would result in my telling the lawyer the law suit was on. He hung up on me.

My sister spoke with my nephew and explained that there are people out there who steal information they have no right to have and this was a case of that happening. She also told him again that when she is not home he is not to answer the phone unless he knows the person calling (they have caller ID).

I hope they do stop calling. Maybe they will now that you've shown you can't be intimidated. What the consumer lawyer told you was correct, if USNB was actually a legit debt collector based in the US. Because they call from overseas using caller-ID spoofing and never give out their address, it's unlikely you would be able to hit them for that $1000 statutory judgment.

PREVIOUSLY:
Interview: I Fought Off The US National Bank Scammers
Harassed By US National Bank "Debt Collectors?" Let's Talk
Fake Debt Collectors Are Trying To Intimidate You Out Of Your Money

(Photo: Getty)

...Brigette refused and also refused to let anyone else test drive the car.

Aaron is now pursuing complaints against the company with the BBB and the State's Attorney General. Deposit, hotel, rental and airfare, Aaron and his friend are out $2,000. A check of their online profile turns up a number of very severe complaints against the company, mixed in with a number of glowing reviews.

Our request for comment from International Motor Productions was not returned.

"I am also curious as to where they get cars that have clean titles, but have obviously been wrecked. (*cough* chop shop *cough*)", said Nathan.

AutoTrader doesn't let customers post dealership reviews. Before putting down a deposit and flying to get your dream car, make sure to always check out a dealership's reputation elsewhere, like cardealercheck.com, their BBB report and Yahoo! Local reviews. You can also investigate a car's history on CarFax.com. If you were to check out a dealership's rep, where would you look first?

P&G told Consumer Reports that they had two choices, charging more for the "value-added" bleach or fabric softenter, or do what they did and vary the amount of loads while keeping the price the same. What they opted is more economical for them and easier for retailers (they didn't specify how but I imagine it makes managing inventory easier if the price is the same across the board).

However, Consumer Reports notes that you can't do effective comparison shopping by unit price on detergents. Instead, do some mental math or if your brain has atrophied, bust out the calculator on your cellphone and compare cost per load, total cost divided by loads.

Mystery solved: The "load-down" on Tide detergent [Consumer Reports] (Thanks to James!)
PREVIOUSLY: Tide: Different Loads For Different Scents?

Recent news reports have grossly mischaracterized an American International Group seminar for 150 independent financial planners held in Phoenix last week.

The financial planners are not AIG employees. In addition, the cost to AIG for this event was minimal. More than 90 percent of the costs were paid either by sponsors or by the independent financial planners themselves.

It is essential for AIG to conduct seminars of this kind to keep independent financial planners abreast of investment products and services including those offered by AIG. The financial planners are responsible for generating almost $200 million in revenue this year for AIG as of September 30th.

On October 10, I issued a directive to all AIG employees and subsidiaries to reduce expenses and conserve cash, including cancelling all nonessential conferences or meetings, unnecessary travel and excessive overhead. Since then, we have canceled more than 160 events. We conducted a top-to-bottom review of all expenses of the Phoenix meeting in advance and found that it was consistent with my October 10th directive. This conference was approved because it provides the kind of communication we must conduct with the people who sell our products if we are to be successful and repay the U.S. taxpayer.

PREVIOUSLY: AIG Spends $343,000 On Secret Seminar

My grandfather, Steve, is being scammed out of his money by a group of women including his gardener. Steve is in his mid 80's and lives in Florida. He is retired and recently hired a new gardener. She introduced him to her supposedly wealthy friend who soon thereafter was "injured" in Maine. The gardener has convinced him to "loan" the women money, in cash, to pay for upkeep on her home, groceries, cable, bodyguards to protect her from her ex-husband and son who want to kill her, and many other things.

It is at the point where he is giving these women over $10k a month out of the only account that my parents have access to (so it could be a lot more from his other accounts).

When my parents tried to talk to Steve he says they are trying to put him in a nursing home and steal his money.

He insists that he knows what he is doing and he does not need anyone's help. We tried calling the Florida Abuse Hotline. Their response was that he can give his money away if he wants to. We recently spoke to his doctor who said that one of Steve's neighbors was also worried about him, the gardener had been coming around quite a bit.

Apparently another investigation has begun since we spoke to the doctor but nothing has come of it yet. Is there anything else we can do? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Sounds like a con to me. I wonder if a call to the police or FBI would help. Do any Consumerists have any advice on how the family can intervene? Or is it the old guy's right to do whatever he wants with his money? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

866-878-7962 [800notes] (Thanks to jurijuri!) (Photo: Getty)

Another AIG Resort "Junket": Top Execs Caught on Tape [ABC] (Thanks to Andy!)

Circuit City, Electronics Retailer, Seeks Bankruptcy [Bloomberg] (Thanks to Ken!)
Circuit City Stores, Inc. to Reorganize Under Chapter 11 [Press Release] (Photo: corsec67)

So, if the low-level peons are ripping you off, try appealing to the higher authorities, en-masse, via EECB.
(Photo: Alexis Deadly)

Title: "Banksy: Bunny putting on makeup"
By: dooleymtv

Title: "Mr. Businessman is happy"
Caption: "I've jumped in to the world of stock trading. Why now? I'm not sure. With the economy seeming to be going down the shitter, I guess there are some deals to be had. Not investing a lot as I don't have much. If I mess this up it means I have to work during my 4th yr of school, eek. On the other hand if I don't mess it up, I can foresee a 5D MKII in my future :) ... or at least break even.. "
By: Unleashedlive

By: dooleymtv

Title: "View"
Caption: "View from our Hotel Room at the Stratosphere Hotel...unfortunately, this was taken the morning before we left. We only stayed a night...but I definitely want to go back now. What a great trip."
By: jayRaz

Caption: "Emma poses with a bit of Coca Cola."
By: sfxeric

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. See previous winners of the Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool finds here.

Jeff writes:

Today I am writing to pay a serious compliment to one of your outstanding employees. I do not know her last name, but Leslie (the manager?) from your Emeryville, CA transfer center went above and beyond the call of duty today, and this outstanding effort on her part should be recognized.

Today I am purchasing a vehicle from a private seller. Due to some complications with the bank holding the title, it was not shipped from Georgia until yesterday evening, and arrived in California early this morning, with an expected delivery date of Monday. This was not good, as the seller was leaving the country (for good) later this afternoon, so we had to have the title by this morning. After the seller placed a few calls to fedex, they informed him that he would be unable to pick up the shipment because it was stuck in the Oakland airport. We were both disappointed, and tried to come up with a workaround. However, a few hours later, I checked the tracking information and saw that the package was now sitting in the Emeryville shipping center. Again, the seller tried to call but whoever he spoke to refused to transfer him to the Emeryville office!

At this point I called and spoke to a very polite and helpful customer service rep on the phone (whose name I cannot remember), who assured me that she would get a message to Emeryville and see what they could do. An hour later, Leslie called me to confirm the tracking number and asked me a few questions for verification, and promised to personally find the shipment and have it ready by noon. I was thrilled. When the seller walked in around 9:30, Leslie had already found the package.

Because of the singular effort on the part of Leslie, I will be able to purchase my new car today, something that would have gotten way more complicated once the seller left the country, even it even could have been completed at all. I have already told several people this story, and will continue to mention it in the future. This sort of exemplary action on the part of FedEx employees reinforces the brand image your company attempts to portray on Television and other advertising campaigns: If it absolutely has to be there, you can absolutely depend on us. Today Leslie has reminded me that FedEx is one company who actually takes their credo seriously.

Leslie, thank you so much,

Jeff G.

And that's how the front lines can win you customer loyalty.(Photo: billy verdin)

Ezekiel 4:9® Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Products [Food For Life Baking Co] (Thanks to Zakarth!)

Dear Consumerist,

Overheard a couple guys at work talking about phone service, and it reminded me that it's been a while since I checked for lower prices. I am currently paying 19.95 for the lowest speed DSL and $21.46 for basic service, unlimited local calling w/caller ID (number only, no name).

Online ATT offers $14.99 for the same internet service I currently have, and also offers a basic home service for $21 that includes unlimited local clg, caller ID w/name, and call waiting. I see an opportunity to save $5.46 and add services.

I call the internet services number (877-722-3755) and the first guy I talk to has to verify my # (even tho I entered it already), then the last 4 of my SSN. He says he has to xfr me to someone else for my request. that person asks for the same info (ph#, last 4 SSN). Still can't help me, offer apparently for new customers only (which to me does NOT reward loyalty), says she can see what options are available with a contract. Says she will transfer me to a diff dept, gave me # in case disconnected (877-722-3755, SAME # I called first). I am put on hold there, so I hang up.

I call back to the internet svc number, this time hit 0-0-0-0-0-0-0. Shortly, I speak with a rep, explain that my cable co. has offered me a price of 14.95 for basic internet, can ATT match? He transfers me to a guy in Billing, I repeat myself, he transfers me to Retention group at 800-288-2020. ( I used the magic words, "thinking of canceling, have better offer elsewhere"

There, I speak with a very helpful lady who says she can definitely take care of both of my requests. She is very quick and efficient, we spend a few minutes while she works her magic with my account, and I end up saving $5 and walk away with more services than I started with.

All thanks to Consumerist tips I read every day.

Thank you! Have a great day!

Always keep an eye out for other advertised deals from other vendors and if you see something better, don't be afraid of calling up your provider and saying you're thinking about cancelling unless they can pricematch.

If an item does not have a price tag, don't buy it. You more than likely won't be getting much of a discount, you may actually be paying more than normal for it. The way Circuit Citys price tag system works is basically all the tags should be pretty much the same in every store.

So if the liquidator wants the price to be higher, they can't print a tag (easily at least). So basically what they do is just not put a tag on it, raise the price, then give you the 10-30% discount. So really the customer is just paying normal or higher prices. They suspect it to be like that for a while depending on how fast they sell through inventory. If they aren't selling through product, then they should start giving real discounts.

If there's a high dollar product you want, I would just keep checking back every day or so because of the limited inventory, until you can get the best price possible.

With "Few Deals To Be Had At Circuit City Liquidation Sales", and a number of the items available online for the same price, savvy dealseekers need to go into the 155 closing Circuit Citys cautiously and armed with price research about the goods they want to buy.

(Photo: Xurble)

Yes, a Room’s Available. But No, You Can’t Check In. [NYT]

Now, she can't pay $260 a month and doesn't want to sign this document, but is looking for advice about whether she should or not. I haven't heard about this kind of affidavit so I'm just going to throw that part out to the readers, but I do know that collection agencies are not allowed to just keep calling you at your home and work to get you to pay. That's a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Inside, Sarah's story and what she can say to NCO to get them to stop calling.

Sarah writes:

I'm 27 and graduated with about $40k in student debt. Around the time my loans went into repayment, I got very sick and had to pay a lot of medical bills and ended up going into default on my student loans. Since then I've been trying to dig my way out of the hole. I recently rehabilitated my Sallie Mae loan. I'm in a rehabilitation program with collection agency Windham Professionals— I'm paying $335 a month for nine months, not a small amount on $38k a year. I've got one other loan with a collection agency, NCO Financial.

I've been making payments on time to NCO for 27 months, long enough that my debt should have been rehabilitated months ago. Here's the thing. They want me to sign a statement that says I am able to afford to pay $260 a month should my loans be rehabilitated, triple my current payment. I can't afford that. I sent them a letter three months ago explaining that I have a chronic medical condition that requires me to pay hundreds of dollars in prescription copays each month, and therefore I cannot afford another $260 a month. It's on record. Now they're telling me that if I don't sign this (false) legal document, they will never rehabilitate my loan. In fact, they told me that if I keep paying the amount I'm currently paying, they'll place me back into collections and step up their harassment. Repeat: I've been making my payments on time for 27 months! One representative told me that they're doing this to all of their victims— er, customers— because the company is in trouble. Guess they took on too many toxic debts... seems to be an epidemic!

I'm concerned that if I sign the document, I'll be held liable for the $260. Furthermore, I'll be signing a legal document that is (a) false, and (b) contradicts a statement I've already put on record. If I don't sign the document, though, I'll continue to be in default and may be subject to further penalties. Meanwhile, NCO is harassing me with daily phone calls to my work and home numbers.

My questions for you and your readers:

1. Is this legal? If not, do I have any recourse?
2. What happens if the company goes out of business?
3. What should I do? I could:
(a) sign the document, pay the triple amount, and stop taking my medicine and paying my rent;
(b) continue to pay the current amount, in the hopes that external circumstances (the election, the company going under) intervene; or
(c) stop paying anything, since they're telling me that the consequences will be the same whether I pay the current amount or nothing at all.

I'm at a loss here... has anyone faced a similar situation?

Next time they call, say this:

"I am requesting that you not contact me by phone in the future. I do not want to receive any more calls from you at home or at work and am asking you to communicate with me only in writing."

If they give you static, say this:

"The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that you stop phoning me at home and at work once I request that you do so. I intend to send you a certified letter tomorrow putting my no contact request in writing. If you continue to phone me, then I will file a complaint with the FTC and the attorney general."

Then send them this letter by certified mail:

Date

Your Name
Address
City, State Zip

Debt Collector’s Name
Address
City, State Zip

Re: Account Number

Dear Debt Collector:

Pursuant to my rights under federal debt collection laws, I am requesting that you cease and desist communication with me, as well as my family and friends, in relation to this and all other alleged debts you claim I owe.

You are hereby notified that if you do not comply with this request, I will immediately file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the [your state here] Attorney General’s office. Civil and criminal claims will be pursued.
Sincerely,

Your Name

Any advice about the affidavit?

(Photo: Getty)