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Behold! A map of the Starbucks locations that are rumored to be closing. If you know of a location that's getting the ax, you can submit your information to the Seattle Times. [Seattle Times via Starbucks Gossip]
rumors
rumors
XM-Sirius Merger Will Double Monthly Prices?
What does the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger mean for XM customers? Well, according to one customer service rep, it means mean prices are going to roughly double in May. Here's what she said to one of our tipsters:This is strictly confidential, but all the paperwork is signed and ready to go, and XM has fully acquired Sirius Radio. Come May, there will be a substantial price increase for XM Radio, as it will, in June or so, host all the Sirius channels. It would be best to simply extend your XM plan as we will honor your current contract price per month before we begin hosting the Sirius stations.The tipster said he believed she said the price was going to double. Perhaps the customer service rep just wanted to score a renewal, but if true, it would certainly at least be ironic considering when the DOJ approved the deal was they said, "the evidence did not show that the merger would enable the parties to profitably increase prices to satellite radio customers." However, reader comments on this post and this post over at Orbitcast say this customer service rep is full of pure baloney.
Rumors on the Internets: T-Mobile may be consider buying Sprint in order to keep the company from lowering its prices and triggering a price war, says Merrill Lynch. "In such a price war scenario, we think T-Mobile would face the most pressure, and Deutsche Telekom would see the increased urgency to drive market repair," the firm's analysts said.
Sprint has lost more than 60 percent of its value since June 2007. We're not like analysts or anything, but wouldn't T-Mobile have to be under a lot of pressure (or be able to get a great deal) to bother buying Sprint and its incompatible network when it might be able to sit back, do nothing, and wait as the company's few remaining customers defect? Wouldn't a CDMA-network based company make more sense? [NYT]
hidden fees
AT&T To Charge $5 For Payments Over The Phone In May
An anonymous AT&T employee who says to call him "Vernon" wrote in to tell us that starting next Tuesday, March 11th, some customers in the Southeast who call in to make a payment will be charged $5, with the fee going nationwide by May. He writes, "I feel this is taking advantage of our customers' trust, because even when we put it on all of their bills, and let people know, there will be tons of reps that won't let the customer know they're being charged for taking their payment." More »
mergers and acquisitions
Bank Of America May Buy Countrywide
Marketwatch says that Bank of America is in "advanced" talks to acquire Countrywide. No word on if said talks took place on Vader's Star Destoyer or on Captain Hook's pirate ship. Bank of America already bailed out Countrywide last year, chucking $2 billion into the troubled mortgage lender in exchange for preferred securities that could be converted into stock at $18. Countrywide is currently trading at around $7.75. More »
rumors on the internets
Shenanigans With Chase Credit Cards?
Anyone else get a call from Chase about their credit cards?I thought I would pass along a problem I ran into today. I received a couple phone calls from Chase Bank fraud department concerning 2 credit cards I have with them (Amazon Visa and Chase Freedom Card). They reported (in a separate call for each card) that both cards are suspected of being compromised and that they are being closed.More »
Rumor has it that CompUSA could be closing down for good immediately following the holidays. UPDATE: This has come true: CompUSA Will Close All Stores After Holidays
subprime meltdown
Rumors: Merrill Lynch CEO Forced To Resign After Disasterous Third Quarter?
Rumors are flying that Stanley O'Neal is being forced to step down after a disastrous third quarter— making him the most prominent casualty of the subprime meltdown. More »
rumors
AT&T Looking To Purchase DirecTV?
The Wall Street Journal has it in their pretty little heads that AT&T is in the market for either EchoStar or DirecTV. And hey, why not? AT&T owns everything else. More »
leaks
Comcast's Download Cap Is 200 GB, But Only In Areas With Subpar Networks
Comcast's download limit is 200 gigabytes, but the limit isn't everywhere, a former Comcast employee told The Consumerist. Places where the network isn't optimal, due to old hardware or too much traffic, like the Bay Area, will run into the limit. Places like Philadelphia will never run into the problem.
Comcast even has a system ready to go where if you exceed the limit a popup will ask you to purchase additional gigabytes, our source says. The graphical user interface is completely designed and everything, but Comcast hasn't deployed it, because they're waiting for either another ISP to do it first, or to figure out how to do it without angering their customers, whichever comes first.
CEO Brian Roberts is said to have seen a demo and given his thumbs up.
RELATED: Comcast Customer Uses "Unlimited Service" Excessively, Gets Disconnected For A Year
(Photo: cmorran123)
A tipster tells us FedEx's website has been malfunctioning for the last two days, resulting in hellish lines at the stores. It might be a good time to visit the FedEx Kinkos store that is furthest from other forms of intelligent life.
AT&T experiencing coast-to-coast data service outages, reader Michael writes, with users unable to connect to EDGE via iPhone or use data via Blackberries. Reportedly, it should be fixed within 1-2 hours. (P)
rumors
Best Buy Fires Geek Squad Supervisor Following Negative Newspaper Articles About Porn Pilfering
Best Buy is on the offense, launching an internal witch hunt to unmask the "rogue employees" responsible for exposing Geek Squad's pervasive culture of porn pilfering. Their first victim is the Geek Squad supervisor of the Santa Clarita store, one of the only Best Buy locations whose former employees were quoted in recent articles, print as being a center for porn pilfering. More »
rumors
Is Circuit City Eliminating The "Unbeatable Price Guarantee?"
A Circuit City manager told reader Ryan that the "unbeatable price guarantee" will soon be eliminated. Ryan was asking the Circuit City in Hicksville, NY to match Best Buy's price for an Arrested Development DVD; though the cashier refused to honor the policy - which beats the advertised price of any local competitor by 10% - the manager explained that it was just a huge tiny mistake, and that so long as signs advertising the policy are up, the policy will be honored. After the jump, we ask Circuit City when the signs are coming down. More »
rumors
Best Buy To Sue Geeks Who Spoke Out Against Porn Stealing?
Word on the street is that following negative stories in the LA Daily News, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Best Buy interrogated employees at the Santa Clarita store where former Geek Squad agent and Consumerist reader Brett Haddock used to work, and could be gearing up, or at least, wants people to think it's gearing up, to seek damages against Geeks who spoke out about the porn pilfering.
Haddock wrote The Consumerist that BBY's threats posturing is, "an obvious attempt by a big corporation trying to scare the little guy. This may work to silence other agents, but it won't silence me, and they can't scare me for expressing my first amendment rights. I've done nothing but told the truth."
Hey Best Buy, guess what? The store where we got a video of your agent stealing porn? Yeah, it wasn't in Santa Clarita.
interviews
"Security Mostly Follows Black People" Disgruntled Target Worker Alleges
UPDATE: A current Target employee rebuts these statements, inside... More »
rumors
Save $100 At Apple By Being A Tease Over The Phone?
An Apple telesales rep tell us you can get them to knock $100 off your price when ordering over the phone just by playing a little hard to get:If they make it obvious that they're purchasing but are a little resistant to it being "too expensive" by about $100 - sales representatives can take off $100 off an order (as long as it's purchased through the standard consumer store).We're thinking this is more likely to work if it's a big-ticket item like a laptop. More »
