Consumerist
annoying
Posts Tagged “
Rental
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annoying
bad rentals
Zach tried to rent a truck from Budget last month, and not only did he not get the truck, but he didn't get the compensatory gift card they offered by way of apology. In fact, pretty much the only real thing he got from Budget was a $50 fee on his credit card for being a "no show"—even though he arrived at the location a half hour before closing only to find it locked up. Oh, and the location was 150 miles from his home.
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Budget Rents Man A Truck, Then Closes Early And Charges $50 "No Show" Fee
Zach tried to rent a truck from Budget last month, and not only did he not get the truck, but he didn't get the compensatory gift card they offered by way of apology. In fact, pretty much the only real thing he got from Budget was a $50 fee on his credit card for being a "no show"—even though he arrived at the location a half hour before closing only to find it locked up. Oh, and the location was 150 miles from his home.
More »
video wars
Blockbuster Total Access Fails, Netflix Wins
We're ready to call Netflix the winner of this battle of the video war, based on Blockbusters remarkably sad third quarter numbers and the flood of pissed off emails we've been getting from Blockbuster's (former) customers. More »
video wars
Apple May Be Plotting iTunes Movie Rental Service
According to CNNMoney, Apple may be plotting an iTunes movie rental service that would allow iPod users to rent and watch a movie for 30 days without purchasing the entire film. Rumors place the rental fee at about $2.99. More »
rent-to-repair
iPhone Defective? That'll Be $29 For A Loaner
Reader Jonathan's iPhone just keeps breaking. The second time, rather than replacing it, they decided it would need to be repaired—and tried to charge him $30 for a rental phone. More »
real estate
Heat Map Of Rental Prices Based On Craiglist Listings
In a project born out of "boredom" and an experience with a landlord that was facing foreclosure due to gambling on an ARM, grad student Ethan Garner created CraigStatsSF, a site that visualizes craiglist San Francisco rental listings. He writes:As I started looking for places, I noticed everything that used to be for rent was now for sale due to the same foreclosure effect that happened to my landlord.More »
hertz
Mexican Hertz Charges $499.48 For A Flat Tire
Why is Hertz charging Kathy $499.48 for a flat tire? Kathy writes:For a pre-paid one month economy car rental for $632.03, on January 16th Hertz rented me a 2007 Blue Chevrolet , Lic#5981AVB in good condition at the Los Cabos airport. I declined to purchase insurance. Late on the night of January 20th, during a rainstorm, a tire blew out on the vehicle; so, after exchanging the tire with the spare the following morning, on January 21st, I returned the vehicle to the agency at their suggestion and wrote a full report. The agency assured me there would be no problem of any charges.More »
rental
Comcast: On-Demand Rentals on DVD Release Date
The New York Times is reporting that Comcast will begin testing a new video on demand service in two cities, Pittsburgh and Denver. Unlike traditional video on-demand that shows movies 30- to 45-days after their release date on DVD, this service will allow movies to be ordered the same date as the DVD release. This puts video on-demand in direct competition with sales and rentals. Each on-demand rental will cost $4, which compares with DVD rental prices. Uh-oh, Blockbuster. Forget the beginning of the end, this is the end of the end. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
internet
Craigslist Advertises Sex For Rent
When Ben started editing for The Consumerist, part of his contract was that he had to service Gawker overlords like Joel Johnson and Nick Denton, but not Brownlee, who doesn't go for that gay stuff. Everyone thought it was a fair arrangement: although a passable writer, Ben's true talents have always been most evident in his carnal artistry, and what artist wouldn't want to make a living doing what he loves? But then Gawker's crackerjack legal monkeys looked over the contract, cited New York State prostitution laws and Ben found that the numerous vacancies he had been hired by Gawker to fill were reduced to only one... that of a lowly Consumerist editor. Sullen, Ben comforted himself the only way he knew how: injecting every Consumerist post with as many gay non sequiturs as possible. More »
rental
Netflix Still Boning Best Customers
We were a bit surprised by the renewed ruckus concerning Netflix throttling the turn around speed of heavy users, considering it's been a well-worn topic on Netflix blogs for at least a couple of years. But thanks to a new article on CNN.com, the issue is back to upset a whole new set of customers. More »
complaints
Gloria Trembicky: The Movie!
Last night a local New York news team filed this report about everyone's favorite landlady, Gloria Trembicky, she who inspired the landlord complaint site, Trembicky.com. Here is the report in full, thanks to one Mr. Knit Wit.
complaints
Hipsters Speak: Stupid Rent!
While we're not advocating blowing off your landlord, per se—you guys got us feeling all guilty after we suggested you could lie to companies to put off paying bills—we found the thread that erupted after this post on Williamsboard to be pretty entertaining. It starts:sneaky flutes posted this on Jan 26th, 2006 at 01:08:43 pmMore »
basically i'm considering blowing off my rent for the last two months on my lease and saving the money on a new, nicer place. i'm just trying to cover the stupid broker fee that i would otherwise not be able to come up with in time.
complaints
Trembicky.com: The Bad Landlord Story Site
There's not yet many stories on Trembicky.com, a site that chronicles "bad landlords we have known," but we see a kindred spirit. You might remember the name 'Trembicky' from the story "'Gloria Trembicky is a Bad Landlord.'" Inspired by the success of that complaint, Trembicky.com takes its name from the landlord who first terrorized the site's creators. More »
rental
Renters Speak: The Cockroaches of Central Park
Despite the great response we got from our request for bad rental experiences, we can't get enough horror stories about awful living situations—especially ones in New York. More »
rental
Renters Speak: Lead Paint Chips and Sweatpants Lawyers
From 'Saralegal,' the girl with the best lawyer-to-be nickname ever:Here is my tragic tale of woe from an apartment in Baltimore, MD.More »
rental
'Gloria Trembicky is a Bad Landlord'
This is a little New Yorkish, but we're in the process of searching for a new apartment in Brooklyn and to stumble along a well-written story about a frightening hag of a landlady fills up our spine with cold water like it were an old radiator. 'Gloria Trembicky is a Bad Landlord' is the chronicle of one couple's awful experience with a Park Slope apartment with little heat, occasional droughts of both hot and cold water, and a husband/fixit-monkey who was too cheap or stupid to realize that reusing bent screws might be a problem. More »
complaints
Consumers Speak: London Flat Rental Flippancy
Reader JP sends this frightening story of a rental gone wrong, just hours before a flight across the ocean.On August 22, 2005, I booked a two bedroom, two bath apartment in London with a company called Connections Management Group, in Ogden, Utah. It was for five days for our Thanksgiving holiday. They immediately charged my credit card $765 (half of the amount) and the next month, charged the remaining amount.More »
This was going to be a big family event because my daughter lives in London and the rest of my family was flying in to join us. I explained that I needed a space with a decent kitchen in which to cook and a dining room to serve 12 for dinner and the next day, I planned on inviting several friends over for leftovers and drinks. They sent us digital pictures of a lovely flat in Sloane Square once owned by the dancer Rudolph Nureyev. We booked it and we sent out invitations, made an electronic market order for the food, etc.
We were flying over on Tuesday night. Up until that day, we continuously received emails saying that they were expecting us, what the procedures for entry were, etc. On Monday afternoon, we also received an email saying "So sorry, there's a problem with the flat and it has been double booked, so you are out." To say that I was livid was an understatement. And to have been notified in such a fashion was the height of unprofessionalism.
complaints
