• In-Flight Entertainment: Call before booking and ask which of your potential flights has AC power or AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) built into the seats.
• Look At The Plane Type: Thanks to its configuration, a 767 can be 86% full before anyone gets stiffed with the middle seat. Look for domestic flights configured for international travel, the ones out of major hubs that then connect to international destinations.
• Ask For An Aisle Seat In The Back: Airlines start at the front and move backwards to fill middle seats. Asking for an aisle seat towards the rear boosts your chance of sitting next to an empty seat.
• Book The Damn Seat! If you can't reserve a seat in advance after consulting with a site like SeatGuru, then call the airline directly and ask for a particular seat assignment. Once you get to the gate, talk to the agent and see if something better isn't available.

Getting Comfy in Coach [Condé Nast Traveler via Lifehacker]
(Photo: FlyGuy92586)

Hariette's story is long, but you'll alternately laugh and cringe as she shares what happened to her after her checkbook was stolen this past December. Hariette worked with her bank to quickly patch up any security holes from the theft, and soon she was set up with a new account.

Changing her billing info with Verizon was not so easy, however. Apparently Verizon's "e-center" has never been seen by any humans working at Verizon, but it's where you have to go to get anything done. Here's probably the most telling exchange Hariette has with any Verizon employee in the whole story:

As the 20th minute approached, the rep fearfully told me, "Ms. Surovell, I am only allowed to spend 20 minutes helping each customer. From this point on, you will have to hold for the e-center yourself."

"So, what was the point of your being involved at all, if you can't do anything for me?" I asked.

"Ma'am, I'd like to help you, I would, but I'll get in trouble if I don't get off the line now."

He was becoming frantic.

I stayed on the line, holding for the e-center until I got the announcement. It was 6 p.m., and the e-center was officially closed. I was welcome to phone back the next day between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

There you have it: a Verizon employee admitting that he has to not help solve your problem or his job will be at stake.

Our favorite person at Verizon now is officialy "T," the relocated Texan who is some sort of security agent for Verizon, and who used to work in Tampa, and who won't stop calling Harriette a "ticket" whenever she amuses him. Oh, also he keeps calling her from his Verizon cell phone, which goes in and out of range, and he suffers from road rage.

"Well, I gotta be honest here, Ma'am, and tell you that it's not looking good. Now, let me warn you, we're going into a zone, and my cell may go out, so..."

"I didn't hear the last thing you said. You're fading out."

"What? What did you say?"

"I said I can't hear you! I'm hanging up."

"What was that, Ma'am?"

A few minutes later, he called back.

"'T', I can't stay on the phone with you like this every day. These calls are taking a lot of time, and I need to use my time to be writing my articles. "

"Ma'am, you are a ticket! Hey, can you hold on there a minute, some people should not be allowed on the road (screaming out the window...) 'Lady, you fucking idiot, you goddamned moron, who the fuck taught you how to drive?!' (Without skipping a beat...) Pardon my language there, Ma'am, I hope I didn't offend you, but some people driving out there can really rile you up."

"I'm a New Yorker, it takes more than the f-word to shock me." I lied. "T's" segues from extreme formality (I was being "Ma'am'ed" more than Judge Judy) into gross obscenity unnerved me.

"Well you are a ticket, I tell you, that's what you are!"

Sure, that part of the story sounds like it's ready to be optioned for a movie, but there's no happy ending when Verizon is involved. In fact, if customer service is a priority for you, remember this response from Verizon when Hariette asked them to at least apologize for wasting her time for six months on what was supposed to be a simple account edit: "No, we will not."

Verizon Customer Diss-Service" [Matahariette]

At $28, Benetint isn't cheap, and Briana had to throw the whole thing away. Disappointed, she e-mailed the company:

I've never been much a makeup girl. If I bought makeup, it was from the drugstore. On sale.

Last Christmas, while buying something from Sephora for my sister, I decided to try some Benetint as I'd always heard good things about it. I love the product. It looks natural and really makes me look more energized. I became a girl who puts on makeup (even if it's just blush) every morning.

I have been severely disappointed by the packaging, however. Within days, all of the lettering rubbed off of the bottle, which I thought was kind of ugly. Then recently, while screwing on the lid, it cracked. I could no longer seal the bottle completely. I travel regularly for business, and as this happened on one of my trips, I had to throw the bottle away. Not being able to take it while traveling means the product is much less useful for me. I'm disappointed and will have to consider this when I think about whether or not it's worth investing in more expensive makeup if the packaging isn't durable.

Thanks
Brianna

Benefit responded, and the e-mail made it quite clear that the customer service rep didn't even read past the first paragraph of Brianna's e-mail. It contained instructions for returning defective products purchased on Benefit's own Web site. Not only did Brianna not purchase the product from their Web site, she no longer had the bottle in hand to return it.

She wrote back to express her disappointment in Benefit's response.

Thanks for your prompt reply to my previous inquiry (copied below). Given the contents of your note, I fail to believe that you even read what I wrote. After packaging from one of your products failed, I was forced to dispose of my Benetint. Hence, I cannot return it to you. Given the service I have received from your company, I plan to go elsewhere for my cosmetic needs.

Best,
Brianna

This got Benefit's attention. Sort of. They e-mailed her back, but weren't able to actually, you know, help her.

Hello Brianna,

Thank you for writing to us at Benefit Cosmetics.

You have our sincere apologies for the previous response you received from us. The problem with the benetint cap breaking is known to us, and we are sorry it happened to you. We have forwarded your comments to the appropriate department for consideration.

One of our aims at Benefit Cosmetics is to provide convenient and efficient service; in this case, we have not met that standard.

We're sorry that we weren't able to fulfill these expectations of this level of service. We hope that you will give us another opportunity to prove the quality of our service to you.

Laughter is the best cosmetic, so grin and wear it.

Angelica G.
Benefit Cosmetics Customer Service

So they know about the problem, will perhaps consider changing the packaging someday, and hope that she will give them another chance. Um, no.

I would suggest contacting Sephora, the retailer where Brianna bought the original bottle. As a company trying to sell high-end cosmetics in a recession, they would probably be delighted to know that one of their vendors is selling a defective product and is in no hurry to change the packaging.

UNION CARBIDE
"Science helps build a new India"

Ah, the innocent days before a Union Carbide plant in India obliterated everyone in sight. In 1984, Union Carbide's plant in Bhopal released 42 tons of toxic gas into the air, ultimately killing about 25,000 people. The stench of this "new India" remains to date, in fact, as the Yes Men have duly pointed out.

(Image via Copyranter)

CORVAIR (1960)

The Corvair in action!
Impaling drivers with steering wheels!
Leaking oil!
Spiraling out of control!

You may remember the Corvair as the focus of Ralph Nader's classic book Unsafe at Any Speed. (This, before Nader had grown senile and was busy saving the country from itself.) If your family had a Corvair and didn't die in it, please be sure to go on about that in comments because that disproves everything. Considered one of TIME's 50 Worst Cars of All Time.

ASBESTOS (1981)
"When life depends on it, you use asbestos"

Okay, sure, when you need to get out of a burning building fast, asbestos may give you a few extra minutes. But you better be wearing a respirator because when that fucker collapses, that asbestos is getting in your lungs, where it will fester for years before killing you mercilessly. (Wait, did we mention 9/11?)

(Image via Copyranter)

DISTAVAL (Thalidomide), circa 1960
"This child's life may depend on the safety of Distaval"

Who says advertising doesn't tell the truth? Sadly, this slogan was more true than anyone expected at the time. Distaval was a brand name for thalidomide, a drug that causes serious birth defects. Think flipper babies and death. This sedative-hypnotic, commonly prescribed to stressed-out moms, was advertised as "especially suitable for infants" as well. (On a side note, am I sick for longing for the days when it was okay to sedate your baby?)

(Image via Bonkers Institute)

DuPONT'S CELLOPHANE BABIES

Parents who tired of drugging their babies could always turn to cellophane to keep them quiet. Permanently quiet, in fact. In 1959, Life and other media sources scared readers with "the latest household peril" — plastic dry cleaning bags — so we're betting this ad dates prior to that.

(Image via Copyranter)

DUTCH BOY LEAD PAINT
"Where your dream house comes true, don't let cheap paint make it a nightmare!"
You want to hear my nightmare? How about spending nearly a year stripping lead paint in my dream home, wearing a gas mask and gloves and keeping the bedroom in lockdown so that toxic dust and muck doesn't spread everywhere?

BAYER HEROIN

Not only did Bayer once own the trademark on Heroin, it promoted it to doctors as a non-addictive substitute for morphine. For a while, doctors took the bait. "It possesses many advantages over morphine," wrote the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal in 1900. "It's not hypnotic, and there's no danger of acquiring a habit." The American Medical Association approved the use of heroin in 1906, but by then the "junkies" foraging scrap metal to feed their habit were getting hard to avoid. Bayer stopped making heroin in 1913 when prohibition seemed inevitable, and its use without a prescription was banned in the US the following year.

How Aspirin Turned Hero [Sunday Times, September 13, 1998]

JAMES DEAN'S "SAFE DRIVING" PSA

When it first released Rebel Without A Cause, Warner Brothers was concerned that kids would ape James Dean's character and wind up driving off cliffs. (A problem, of course, because the kids' relatives would likely sue the company.) To distance themselves from copycat incidents preemptively, Warner Brothers had Dean film this public service announcement urging kids to "Take it easy driving out there. The life you save might be mine." Alas, the clip was never used because Mr. Dean was killed in his speeding Porsche shortly before the movie was released.

As predicted, a number of teens copied Dean's "chicken" game and died while racing over cliffs. (Boston Globe, October 20, 1993)

THE FORD PINTO
"The little carefree car"

Carefree? Hardly. Ford's Pinto was designed in such a way that rear-end collisions could cause the car to catch fire and blow up. An internal memo revealed that Ford execs were well aware of the problem, but determined not to fix it. Why? Ford's cost-benefit analysis showed that paying off potential law suits from deaths was cheaper than a redesign. Another one of the TIME's 50 Worst Cars.

CAMELS
"More doctors smoke Camels..."

Ironic old cigarette ads are a dime a dozen but we figured we should include at least one, if for no reason than to call this post an even 10.

That's all. Thanks.

Carrie McLaren & Jason Torchinsky are coeditors of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. In previous lives, they worked together on the hopelessly obscure and now defunct Stay Free! magazine .

Vicodin is a combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen; Percocet is oxycodone and acetaminophen. While oxycodone is available without the acetaminophen (as OxyContin) hydrocodone is not available alone in the United States. A ban would be problematic for patients and doctors alike.

"It ties the doctor's hands when you put the two drugs together," said Dr. Scott M. Fishman, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of California, Davis, and a former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. "There's no reason you can't get the same effect by using them separately."

Dr. Fisher said the combinations were prescribed so often for the sake of convenience, but added, "When you're using controlled substances, you want to err on the side of safety rather than convenience."

Still, some doctors predicted that the recommendation would put extra burdens on physicians and patients.

"More people will be suffering from pain," said Dr. Sean Mackey, chief of pain management at Stanford University Medical School. "More people will be seeing their doctors more frequently and running up health care costs."

Most discussion after this panel has been about the restrictions on over-the-counter medications contaning acetaminophen, but removing commonly prescribed drugs from the market entirely is something else entirely.

Panel Recommends Ban on 2 Popular Painkillers [New York Times] (Thanks, Kelly!)

(Photo: veeliam)

After all, E. coli is a bacterium normally found in cow intestines. That's why contamination cases generally occur either in beef products, or fruits and vegetables fertilized with manure (or otherwise cross-contaminated.) So how did it get there? Nestlé doesn't know. Neither do the FDA or the CDC.

Health officials still do not know how E. coli 0157, a bacterium that lives in cattle intestines, ended up in a product that seems so unlikely to contain it. The risk usually associated with cookie dough is salmonella, a bacterium that can be found in raw eggs. None of the ingredients in the dough — eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter — is known to host E. coli 0157.

Federal investigators spent more than a week at the Danville plant and did not detect contamination in the equipment or among workers, Acheson said. "It raises the likelihood that it was an ingredient," he said. "And it really means that industry has to be constantly vigilant, because foods we think of as low risk could be contaminated with a deadly pathogen."

So be sure to eye your flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and chocolate chips suspiciously until this situation is resolved.

Incidentally, this paragraph in the Post story caught our eye:

Nearly all the victims, most of whom are female and younger than 19, reported eating raw cookie dough in the days before the onset of symptoms.

Because the ladies love raw cookie dough! Reports did not indicate whether any of the victims had recently been through a rough breakup, but we can infer.

In all seriousness, some of the victims are now severely ill, and we wish them a full recovery and for authorities to figure out what caused this.

E. Coli Confirmed In Nestlé Samples [Washington Post]
Cookie dough at Nestlé plant tests positive for E. coli [Consumer Reports]

(Photos: pyntofmyld)

"This was born out of listening to our customers," said Kevin Brown, chief marketing officer/home appliances. Customers were saying, "We're just in a spot where we're deferring major purchases due to our concern about our personal economy and the national economy."

For the moment, the program will only apply to purchases made between July 6 and August 1.

We're skeptical of these recession guarantees, which seem more like clever marketing than a fail-safe that consumers find useful. And since it's Sears, we'd definitely want to see the fine print before believing anything.

Sears to modify payments if appliance buyers lose their jobs [The Chicago Tribune]
(Photo: raindog808)

The New York Times reports that the judge didn't buy Madoff's theory that there was some sort of "mob vengeance" surrounding calls for a long prison term.

"Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering," the judge said. "It spanned more than 20 years."

Of course, this was just a polite, judgy way of saying "LOL, no dude, what you did really is that bad."

Speaking for himself, Fraudy McEvil told the court his life really sucks.

"I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I've created. I've left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren."

He also apologized to his victims, acknowledging that it didn't really matter if he was sorry.

"I will turn and face you. I'm sorry. I know that doesn't help you."

The Times also noted that when passing the maximum sentence on Captain Jackass, the judge mentioned that no one — not "friends, family or other supporters had submitted any letters on Mr. Madoff's behalf, attesting to the strength of his character or good deeds he had done."

So, future Madoffs, take note: Be sure to Robin Hood it up whilst stealing people's life savings. It'll look better in court.

Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years in Prison for Ponzi Scheme [NYT]

Exhibit 1: Powder-scented dog-feces reclamation bags ($12.99) vs. Any of the heptillion plastic grocery bags you have lying around (free)
Is there ANYTHING you want to pay money for that you're going to cram full of dog feces and then ditch? Plastic bags are as free and easy to get as a dirty look. And as far as the "powder scenting" goes, you do remember that you're filling these bags up with dog shit, right? And you're probably not putting them in your curio cabinet. As far as the "biodegradable" aspect, I think reusing a grocery bag trumps that.

Exhibit 2: Stress reducing pheromone wipes ($15.49) vs. Petting your cat (free)
If your cat is so stressed out that you're wiping your couch down with cat-calm pheromones, maybe you and your cat should move out of the locomotive factory you live in. Sure, some cats are spazzier than others, but I've never known a cat who'd rather you handi-wipe your furniture with tiger urine than receive some nice head rubbings. Pet your kitty.

Exhibit 3: Wooly Mice Cat Toys ($4.99) vs. A Wad of Paper or Pretty Much Anything
Look, I'm sure cats can have a good time with those mice. But I also know they can have a pretty good time with a bit of floss, a wad of paper, a penny, fleck of dust, a dead bug, or the phantom cat that lives on the other side of that door. It's certainly not bad to get your cat some toys, but it's worth remembering how not picky they are.

Exhibit 4: Kittywipes pet bath cloths ($7.49) vs. Your cat's own tongue (free)
You can say a lot of things about cats—aloof, cold-blooded bird murderers, layers-down-on-what-you'
re-reading—but no one can say they're dirty animals. They bathe themselves constantly, and they don't buy many wipes. They have a great little, moist, barbed doohicky that lives in their mouths and does a damn good job of keeping them clean. They even like using it. Let them.

(Photo: darbidduckie)

Carrie McLaren & Jason Torchinsky are coeditors of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. In previous lives, they worked together on the hopelessly obscure and now defunct Stay Free! magazine .

The OxyClean pitchman was found dead this morning in his Tampa home. No foul play is suspected, although the wires are reporting that Mays might have hit his head yesterday when a U.S. Airways flight he was on blew out a tire while landing.

Born William Mays in McKees Rocks, Pa., on July 20, 1958, Mays developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other "as seen on TV" gadgets on Atlantic City's boardwalk. For years he worked as a hired gun on the state fair and home show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.

After meeting Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, Mays was recruited to demonstrate the environmentally friendly line of cleaning products on the St. Petersburg-based Home Shopping Network.

Commercials and informercials followed, anchored by the high-energy Mays showing how it's done while tossing out kitschy phrases like, "Long live your laundry!"

Recently he's been seen on commercials for a wide variety of products and is featured on the reality TV show "Pitchmen" on the Discovery Channel, which follows Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs. He's also been seen in ESPN ads.

His ubiquitousness and thumbs-up, in-your-face pitches won Mays plenty of fans. People line up at his personal appearances for autographed color glossies, and strangers stop him in airports to chat about the products.

"I enjoy what I do," Mays told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. "I think it shows."

His emphatic gesticulations will be missed.

TV pitchman Billy Mays found dead in Tampa home [Tampa Bay Online] (Thanks to everyone who submitted!)

1. A Budget: Yeah yeah, you've already read one of our numerous guides and written a budget, but a baby requires a wholesale re-write. Figure out how you're going to pay for day-to-day necessities like diapers, while starting to save for long-term budget-busters like college.

2. Life and Disability Insurance: If something happens, you're not going to be the only one to suffer. Take out life insurance worth four to eight times your annual salary, and consider disability insurance that can covers your whole salary in case of an accident.

3. Health Insurance: Make sure you have health insurance and don't forget to add your new child to your policy! Check your spouse's policy and see whose will best accommodate your new baby. Without insurance, delivering a baby can cost more than a semester at college.

4. A Will: Even if you have life, disability, and health insurance, you're still going to die. Hopefully it won't happen anytime soon, but if it does, you don't want a court deciding who's going to raise your kid. Hire a lawyer and name a guardian to raise your kids and manage your estate.

Crib? Check. Toys? Check. Don't Forget a Budget, A Will and Insurance. [Kiplinger]
(Photo: darabidduckie)

Here are her tips on how to "be your own regulator":

• Take advantage of existing government advice from sites like www.ftc.gov/credit, the FDIC's consumer alerts page, and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors calculators and tools.
   
  
• "Read everything, the junkier it looks, the better." We've all trained ourselves to skim or throw out anything that looks like junk mail. During the next few years especially, as less forthright banks and lenders try to sneak fee increases or changes to their terms past customers, you should constantly watch for anything that might be a notice in disguise.
   
  
• "Keep cushions everywhere." At first we thought she meant decorate your home like this guy we knew when we first moved up here to NYC—he had so many pillows around his apartment it looked like the inside of Jeannie's bottle on "I Dream of Jeannie". It turns out, that's not what she means at all:
  

  Even with money tight, try to keep a little extra in all of your accounts; it keeps the bankers from pouncing. Keep an extra $100 in your checking account and forget about it; you're less likely to bang into punitive overdraft fees when you use your debit card. Use less than the full borrowing power of your credit card; you'll avoid over-limit fees. Pay your bills a day or two early, to avoid late fee traps. Consider all of this a form of self-insurance.

• Apply for new credit cards using snail mail and letters, not online or over the phone. Stipulate exactly the terms under which you want the card, so that you cover any details that they might be leaving out that will bite you in the ass later.
   
  
• Complain. (Hey, have you heard of something called an EECB?)
   
  
• "Learn to like vanilla." Her point here is that old-fashioned products have "fewer nooks and crannies... where fees and other traps can hide."

"Personal Finance: Don't wait for Congress, be your own regulator" [Reuters]

RELATED
www.ftc.gov/credit
Consumer Alerts [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]
Consumer Info [Federal Reserve Board of Governors]
(Photo: Consumerist)

We've already gone over the details, and warned you about how to spot a scammer trying to profit off the program. However, if you really are in the market for a new car, how can you find the best, fuel-savingest one out there? Consumer Reports has some ideas, and they've even done the math to show how much money you can save in addition to the rebate, from just buying less gas.

Car Allowance Rebate System [NHTSA]
Cash for clunkers: Recommended cars that qualify for a voucher
Cash for clunkers: The best gas guzzlers to junk
Cash for clunkers bill cuts fuel consumption–running the numbers

(Photo: Laura Northrup)

Dawn gave us some examples of friends that Facebook is suggesting for her:

A couple of examples of people facebook has suggested to me (again, none of the addresses were imported to facebook) - a client (work email stored on my outlook contacts, but that is it, no mutual friends or common networks), the current wife of an ex-boyfriend, a former co-worker from 10+ years ago (again no current email anywhere), my now deceased mother-in-law (this one puzzles me less, but she died two years ago, why is she coming up now??)

Freaky. So what's going on here? Reader Megan turned up this blog post, where Tony Ruscoe formulated a theory about why this is happening, then tested it with his own Gmail contacts list, Facebook account, and some accomplices. What did they discover? Well, when you import your e-mail contacts and choose to skip over and not add certain people to your friends list, Facebook doesn't forget. Facebook also forms relationships based on other people's imported contact lists, meaning that even if you've never imported your own lists, Facebook sees your address in other people's contact lists and figures out relationships based on that.

How can you get Facebook to cut it out? You can start by removing any stored contact lists that Facebook has for you. If you're logged in to Facebook, do that at this link. If you want to take it a step further, change your privacy settings so you're not visible in search results.

How Facebook Uses Your "Skipped" Webmail Contacts [Blogoscoped]
Remove Contacts Imported using the Friend Finder [Facebook]

(Photo: avlxyz)

The news, of course, has ad agencies breathing a little easier. GM already owes several agencies and media buyers millions of dollars — and the industry overall is hurting. As for the content of the ads, GM has been taking its cues from the airline industry — particularly Northwest Airlines (now Delta).

From the WSJ:

Leading up to its Chapter 11 filing, GM studied how other industries handled communicating with the public while in financial hardship, zeroing in on airlines and particularly Northwest Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005.

GM found that by using its frequent-flier database and sending email and letters to customers, Northwest, which has since left bankruptcy court and was acquired last year by Delta Air Lines, was able to reassure many customers very quickly that it would continue to fly.

In a campaign that began airing shortly after its Chapter 11 filing, GM went beyond reassurance. In a TV spot dubbed "Reinvention," created by Interpublic's Deutsch, it acknowledged its problems but painted a more positive picture of the future.

"This is not about going out of business, this is about getting down to business, because the only chapter we are focused on is chapter one," intones the narrator of the ad, which is scheduled to end later this month.

What do you think? Should GM be cutting back on advertising until it emerges from bankruptcy? Or is it important to reassure the public?

GM Will Hold Ad Budget Steady [WSJ]
(Photo:frankieleon)

Using the metaphor of the commercial at left, reader Bryan thinks that Ally is giving investors a plastic pony, and hoping they won't notice. He wrote to Consumerist last week:

Ally Bank made headlines with their high interest rates on their savings accounts and CDs. (CDs are fixed interest rate investments and mature like bonds). Even the consumerist reported on it to notify their readers of the high rates.

I signed up for a 9-month [traditional] CD on Thursday 6/4, and my funds were transferred electronically the next day. Throughout the sign up process they probably mentioned my rate of 2.60% 3-4 times, and even showed how much money I would make on maturity at this rate. Well, on Monday I signed into my account, just to make sure they had my funds and there were no problems. However, on the account details page I noticed that my rate was listed as only 1.90%! I was extremely confused and immediately called Ally to ask what was going on. The CSR told me they had the right to change my rate without notice before they received my funds, and they did just that on 6/5 Friday morning.

I have been investing in CDs for the past 15 years and I have never seen anything like this before. Maybe a 0.10% drop between the rate I was quoted and the time to mail a check, but never a 0.70% drop within a few hours of a quote! I am unsure whether this is legal or not, but I do know this is not the proper way for a bank to treat investors. I asked to speak to a supervisor and demanded they either change my rate back to 2.60% or close my account without penalty. They changed my rate back about 24 hours later without any further communication.

Bryan's experience proves that the squeaky wheel does indeed get the .7%, but what happened to his interest rate? We contacted Ally Bank via e-mail, and will let you know what their response is.

Ally has indeed lowered their CD rates due to pressure from the FDIC, but they remain higher than those you'll find at your neighborhood bank. Jim at Bargaineering wonders what's going on:

A traditional CD should never have a lower yield than a no-penalty CD of the same maturity. With a no-penalty CD, you have the right to close the CD before the maturity period without penalty. The bank can't close it. You should be paying, through a discount on the interest rate, for that flexibility. When the no-penalty CD first debuted, its interest rate was a tenth of a percent lower than the traditional CD's rate.

Have you moved money to Ally Bank and noticed similar interest rate changes? Do other small banks advertising great rates online change their rates in a similar manner?

Ally Bank's No Penalty CD Rate Arbitrage [Bargaineering]
Ally Bank bows to FDIC and cuts rate [CNN Money]

The Consumerist
101 Truman Ave
Yonkers, NY 10703

70 Pine St,
New York, NY 10005

Dear AIG:

Congratulations! You are the 2009 grand champion in The Consumerist's Worst Company in America contest. In NCAA-style ladder vote-off, you bested 15 other contenders. Comcast, Ticketmaster, Walmart, Citibank, Chrysler, Target, Peanut Corporation of America, HP, T-Mobile, Best Buy, Timewarner Cable, Apple, Verizon, Sprint, Home Depot, AT&T, Chase, Sears, General Motors, United Airlines, US Airways, Capital One, DirecTV and Bank of America, they all lay quivering in your wake, much like our 401(k)s.

In anointing you supreme victor, Consumerist readers cited such achievements of yours as "wrecking the whole economy," and "costing the American tax payer untold billions," and noted both your "greed" and "chutzpah." Considering how influential AIG has been in the events of the past year, I can think of no one more deserving than you to receive our prestigious Worst Company in America Award, the Golden Poo. Please consider displaying it in your booth at your next secret tradeshow.

On behalf of the entire staff at and readers of Consumerist.com, I salute you.

Sincerely,

Ben Popken
Co-Executive Editor
The Consumerist

"It's just so obvious that, as the plumber said, 'You couldn't use that much water,'" she told News4's Tom Sherwood.

Ellen Cohen is worried about the stress this could cause her mother in law. Jeannette Cohen has lived in the same, modest house in the Tenley Circle area since 1955, and in December she turns 100.

"She would never dodge something that she owed, but she's also very fair and she has a real belief in justice," Ellen Cohen said.

Jeannette Cohen has a hearing scheduled for June 30.

"Well, I have hopes," she said. "I would love to have it fixed just because it is so stupid and so wrong."

99-Year-Old's Water Bill Jumps Almost 4000% [NBC]

I, too, fell foul of the metal mouth syndrome after eating a few handfuls of pine nuts bought from a supermarket.

Though I regained my taste after eight days, the only thing I could drink during that time was water, and the only food that was bearable was salad leaves smothered in strong balsamic vinegar. Drinking wine was like swallowing liquid metal.

Most worryingly of all, neither I nor my GP had the slightest idea what was wrong with me.

[...]

Kristin Donnelly, editor of online magazine Food & Wine, had the same problem. 'No matter what I tasted, there was a medicinal flavour at the back of my throat,' she says.

Trader Joe's acknowledged the problem in response to one consumer's complaint, writing:

Thank you for your feedback. We would like to extend our apologies for this unpleasant experience. We are aware this has been occurring more frequently with the batch of Pine Nuts we currently have available. This is an all natural occurrence and poses absolutely no health risk, but may linger for a day or so, or possible a couple weeks.

This is not just an occurrence with Trader Joe's brand or source, and not everyone reacts to the natural pine oils like this. Unfortunately, there are no quick remedies or preventive measure we can take to ensure it doesn't happen again, and there also isn't a way to determine if this may occur with future batches.

I also wanted to make sure you are aware of our "Product Guarantee." If you are dissatisfied with any product purchased in our stores, you can take it back for an exchange or full refund. We stand behind our motto, "We tried it! We liked it! If you don't, bring it back for a full refund, no questions asked."

Afflicted consumers have tried everything from drinking liquid aloe vera to taking activated charcoal tablets, but nothing seems to help. Doctors say that the pine nuts aren't a health risk, but that's little comfort to consumers who can no longer enjoy their food.

Pine mouth puzzle: Why do these nuts leave you with a bitter taste? [Daily Mail]
pine nuts ,origin and the bitter taste they leave in your mouth [Sainsbury's]
(Photo: melissa rudick photography)

ReadWriteWeb says:

The form (PDF) is a standard waiver that allows the city to perform a background check, which is obviously a routine procedure, but in addition, the city asks prospective employees to "please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc." The form provides three lines for entering this information.

Handing over your password, of course, allows the City to poke around in all of your business — including search history and email archive.

The local TV station picked up the story and, according to city attorney Greg Sullivan they don't look at, "the things that the federal constitution lists as protected things," and maintains that no one has removed their name from consideration because of the requirement.

So why do they even need your passwords? Mr. Sullivan says the City has "positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the City."

My moral character says it's wrong to poke around in an applicant's personal life, but what do I know.

Want to Work for the City of Bozeman, MT? Hand Over Your Social Network Logins and Passwords [ReadWriteWeb] (Thanks, David!)

Colby was a movie fan, [mom] Lisa Curtin said, and she latched onto Pixar's movies because she loved animals.

[On April 30] Colby's health began to worsen. On June 4 her mother asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair for Colby so she could visit a theater to see "Up." However, the weekend went by and the wheelchair was not delivered, Lisa Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby could no longer be transported to a theater and her family feared she would die without having seen the movie.

At that point, Orum, who desperately wanted Colby to get her last wish, began to cold-call Pixar and Disney to see if someone could help.

Pixar has an automated telephone answering system, Orum said, and unless she had a name of a specific person she wanted to speak to, she could not get through. Orum guessed a name and the computer system transferred her to someone who could help, she said.

"Pixar grants girl's dying wish to see 'Up'" [OC Register] (Thanks to Mike!)

Here's the horrible story, as posted on the Livejournal community bad_service:

I realize that you're in financial trouble due to the cost of fuel spiking last year, and the decline in the economy. However, when you screw around with the people that mean the most to me - you've clearly underestimated your consumer experience. My grandparents were planning a last minute trip to see me cross-country for my birthday - you had no trouble booking them and taking their money at an obscene rate. They have flown constantly with your company for more than 10 years - do you have any idea how much it takes to retain a customer nowadays?! Allow me to inform you of your major mistakes....

When said grandparent fell from a step-ladder and crushed his knee - which required 6 pins, 6 screws and 2 metal plates - you made them jump through hoops trying to rearrange their flights. Please let your mind envision the horror of hearing your Customer Service reps tell my grandmother that she should have made the changes before they even left on the 1st flight. (Fail!) Or how my grandfather maybe should have been paying more attention to what he was doing. (Major Fail!!) Or maybe how she could travel home, alone, and make arrangements for him when he was better. (Triple Fail!!!) Or that maybe her priorities were out of line - like taking care of her husband for 60+ years isn't her first priority!! (Please tell me this rep was fired!)

[My grandparents] canceled their original flights due to not knowing how long it would be before they could safely travel CROSS COUNTRY in a confined space after MAJOR surgery, (and because you wouldn't allow them to change the dates without major fees!!). They faxed you - on 4 different occasions - the medical report from his doctor and surgeon - but this wasn't good enough for a refund. We sent gruesome pictures - nope, still not enough. What, pray tell, would have satisfied your "unexpected medical injury" rule for a refund??

Allow me to continue - as the horrors of your company have not yet ceased to amaze me. My grandparents were finally cleared to travel 3 weeks after the expected departure date. We went about making new flight arrangments to get them home safely. Cue endless elevator music while on hold for 4 hours! Cue obscene phone booking charges, simply because we were speaking with a phone representative. Seriously?! Over $65 per person simply for speaking to a rep?! Are the chairs made of gold thread?!?

We finally get the flights booked - a 2 day process!! - and we go about getting them packed and what not. We arrive at the gate, after booking 1st class seats, a pre-boarding notice, and wheelchair notice was given - only to find they've been BUMPED to COACH. Are you freaking kidding me!?! He just had a joint reconstructed and pieced together, and not able to bend said joint for 6-8 weeks - only to find you want him to bend the knee (against medical advice) for 7 hours on a flight home?! Try again!

I talked to the gate supervisor - who refused to hear one word I was trying to explain. I talked to a floor manager - who also failed to understand the gravity of the situation. I get to the flight deck manager - who after 3 hours of speaking to idiots- finally understands everything. By this time - *gasp* guess what?? They missed the *ONLY* non-stop flight that night. Your flight deck manager needs a promotion, kudos, a recogintion piece - something. He went above and beyond any requests we made. He put them up in a VIP hotel suite at the airport, rebooked their 1st class seats for the first flight in the morning, and even bought them dinner that evening. Him you can keep - feel free to get rid of every other offending party we've dealt with.

If I had known how bad this would get, I would have called Channel 13's news crew to meet us at the gate. Picture it: the headline should read: "Airline bumps disabled Grandpa and abuses spouse".

Think about this letter the next time you have a marketing campaign that says: "Doing What We Do Best".... if this is the best you have - then we have a major problem.

Kudos to the flight deck manager who made the situation tolerable at the end, but they never should have been put in this position in the first place. What place is it of an airline to question a family's caretaking arrangements? And what, exactly, does qualify as an "unexpected medical injury" if this injury and surgery do not?

Effing Airline! [Livejournal] (Thanks, AJ!)

(Photo: arsheffield)

From the WSJ:

"We are hopeful that if we can tell our story to the FDA, that maybe we can get them to change their mind," Matrixx Acting President and Chief Operating Officer William Hemelt said. He claimed that the safety concerns are "erroneous" and said that the agency made no effort to communicate its concerns with the company prior to this week.

The product has apparently been the target of many consumer lawsuits.

"Plaintiffs will still have to prove that Zicam cold remedy caused their loss of smell," Hemelt told the WSJ. The company settled 300 smell-related lawsuits in 2006, but the company president maintained that studies show that Zicam doesn't reach the area of the nose responsible for smell. He then admitted that the company didn't share 800 reports of smell loss with the FDA.

Hemelt said the company didn't believe it was required to share the information and acted on the advice of company lawyers.

UPDATE: Matrixx Defends Zicam Pdts Included In FDA Warning [WSJ]

According to TMZ, the lawsuit alleges that the giveaway was a "scam to deceive its customers into spending more dough."

From TMZ:

The suit says this "bait and switch" caused customers to incur "travel costs, paper and printing costs, postage, the money they spent on other food items at KFC on visits when they had intended to redeem the Coupon ... and the loss of the value of the promised Meal."

What do you think? Are you angry enough at KFC's lack of planning to sue them?

Customers: KFC Giveaway Clucked Up Our Lives [TMZ] (Thanks, J!)

Rescission, or cancellation of a health insurance policy after coverage is in place, can happen when insured people give incorrect or incomplete information when applying for insurance. This can be outright fraud, or something as simple as a woman forgetting to mention taking acne medication in the past when she's diagnosed with breast cancer. Companies are happy to collect premiums until their customers get sick—then they investigate, and cancel the policy if they can.

In testimony to Congress today, CEOs of major health insurance companies admitted that their companies will not limit rescission to cases of clear fraud.

"When times are good, the insurance company is happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums," said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). "But when times are bad . . . some insurance companies use a technicality to justify breaking its promise, at a time when most patients are too weak to fight back."

"I think a company does have a right to make sure there's no fraudulent information," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.). "But if a citizen acts in good faith, we should expect the insurance company that takes their money to act in good faith also."

Late in the hearing, Stupak, the committee chairman, put the executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he would at least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions except where they could show "intentional fraud."

The answer from all three executives:

"No."

It's sort of the GM private jets moment of the health care debate, isn't it? Only the stakes are much higher.

Health insurers refuse to limit rescission of coverage [LA Times] (Thanks, /jc!)

(Photo: pavel)

If you recall, I wrote a confessions regarding RadioShack's sales practices back in 2008. I feel an update is now in order. It may also have something to do with me going to college soon and no longer needing a job that requires deceiving the customer daily to pay the bills—but I digress.

Should you go to RadioShack for a purchase, here's some tips to remember.

#1 — ALWAYS, ALWAYS, open the box and check the merchandise in store if possible.

RadioShack stores sell returned merchandise all the time. Sometimes it's cordless phones that have sold and come back to the store 4 times, or it's an antenna that's missing a remote (not that the staff will tell you), or it's a cell phone that a manager wants sold.

The main reason RadioShack hocks used merchandise as new is due to how the returned merchandise is sent to the RS refurb center. The returning store receives no credit if the product is damaged or missing an included part. Sending in distressed merchandise results in the loss being charged against the manager's quarterly bonus—so a situation exists where store management has incentive to resell used products as new.

So, open the box and test the product in store before leaving. Be sure to check the bubble-packed product for taped corners or stapled ends.

#2 — Cell phone deals.

RadioShack has a price match policy for its corporate stores. Here's the fine print, so when the manager/salesman tries to dodge the rebate you'll be ready.

The actual ad must be present,and on paper. No photocopies or duplicates.

No mail in rebates can apply, although instant ones do.

Don't be afraid to bring in several favorable ads. You can only use one per phone, but this way if one flier is disqualified you can still use "the backup."

The way modern phone programming works, there's no reason why the cell phone you just bought shouldn't be making calls before you leave the store. While it's normal for data programs to take longer to work, if your new phone isn't making calls before you leave, ask why. Don't buy the salesman's stock line of 1-4 hours provisioning time. Phones I sold that didn't work the day I sold them generally stayed broken until the customers returned them the next day.

Sometimes there are network outages, but confirm this by asking for the store's Sprint/ATT demo to see.

#3 — Keep the receipt.

RS's customer research system sucks. Plain and simple. Unless you bought a service plan (and I sure hope you didn't fall for that hustle) or agreed to sign up for email registry with a name and address, the ticket is essentially lost after 90 days. Plan accordingly when filing the receipt.

---

And here's some new sales hustles to watch for:

RSAP card

You don't want a credit card with a 23% APR, do ya? And no, it's really not free for 90 days or a year with purchase-that lovely APR is still charged against the balance,and if you're one millisecond past 90 days or a year all that accrued interest charged over that timeframe is added to the balance.

Personal Data

A lot of stores are catching heat for not meeting credit metrics, so any request for your name, drivers license, or SS# should be qeuried immediately. Some stores have lied and ran customers credit info illegally to keep corporate off their back,so be aware.

E-mail capture

Pretty harmless, just make sure you use a spam box so you can get the occasional coupon for $10 off a purchase over $40.

Wireless Pitches

DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR PHONE. Headquarters was getting real crafty teaching psychology via a method about asking a question about your cell phone battery, and using that to twist the conversation into a cell phone discussion. If an associate asks about how your cordless phone,or cell phone battery works make it clear right there you're not buying a phone from them. That'll kill the pitch, and the look on the salesman's face will be well worth the trip to the Rat Shack.

Service Plans

Very simple. MFR warranty on everything in the store usually lasts a year except on Apple products. It's not smart to pay RadioShack an extra $3.99+ for something that came with the product. Even headphones are better off replaced at the mfr level than at RadioShack, because all the store does is send the broken product to.. drum roll please... the MFR! All the service plan pays for is the right to use RS's glacially slow repair process.

DTV Antennas

Before going into the shack to buy an antenna, verify whether your old antenna works well first with the box. I've found that the indoor antennae sold by the shack with 'amplifiers' and 'multi-gain' switches suck so badly a set of 1982 era rabbit ears get better reception. Steer clear of indoor antennae period, and search elsewhere if your current set are broken. Outdoor antennae have worked a lot better, but again make sure to have your current set re-aimed to your DTV broadcast antennae in whatever major city is near you before spending $$ on new equipment.

---

Last tip—if you're buying a big-ticket item, be sure to ask for the store's district office direct line. If something goes sideways and the manager won't fix the situation, asking for it then will tip the manager off that you mean business, so they'll obviously play damage control—which won't be in your favor. So request the number at the counter before there's a problem, and if you run into problems call it directly. This will catch the moronic store staff off-guard, so there will be no time for lies or damage control on the part of the store staff.

This should help save some Consumerist readers any headaches on dealing with the rat shack. I'm glad that after more than a year I'm finally free of the joint.

We asked D. how you can identify whether a store is corporate owned or not:

Check the top of the receipt. A corporate store will have a store number printed at the top in 01-6XXX format,although the 6 can be a different number too. Products sold from corporate stores can be returned/exchanged at franchise side locations,and vice versa.

RELATED
"6 Confessions Of A Former RadioShack Employee"
(Photo: strangelv)

Bugaboo strollers - As the CPSC puts it, "One or both sides of the brakes can fail, causing a stroller to unexpectedly roll away on an incline. This can pose a risk of injury to the child occupant." They've been on the market for about two years.

Sanyo hair dryers - sold only around Los Angeles. Missing the feature that turns off the dryer if it's dropped in water.

Viking refrigerator/freezers - The doors can fall off, and have caused bruises and broken fingers and toes.

Starbucks coffee grinders - Grinder can suddenly turn itself back on during cleaning, which is problematic if your fingers happen to be in the way.

Speedy children's hooded sweatshirts - drawstring poses strangulation hazard.

Various LaJobi cribs (other recall) - Parts of both cribs can break off, posing a risk of serious injury to babies.

Warm Biscuit children's pajamas - Don't meet children's sleepwear flammability standards.

The FDA says it has received more than 130 reports of loss of sense of smell associated with the use of three Zicam products:

Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel
Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs
Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, Kids Size (a discontinued product)

The FDA says that some of the cases occurred after only one dose.

"Loss of sense of smell is a serious risk for people who use these products for relief from cold symptoms," said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). "We are concerned that consumers may unknowingly use a product that could cause serious harm, and therefore we are advising them not to use these products for any reason."

FDA Advises Consumers Not To Use Certain Zicam Cold Remedies
Intranasal Zinc Product Linked to Loss of Sense of Smell [FDA]

A reader IM'd me to say was able to get HP to fix his problem by making a new Twitter profile, hpdoesntcare, and then following every single HP-related profile he could find. Then he began tweeting every phone call he made to HP and tweeting every phone number he dialed. It worked, he said, and his final tweet was "Thanks HP. It is finally over. For real. :)".

The IM came while I was away and the direct messaging isn't enabled for his account so I couldn't follow up and find out more info, like if he @replied or direct messaged some of the profiles to get their attention. Also, he deleted all the tweets except for the final one, I suppose some sort of gracious bury-the-hatchet gesture, so we can't see the backstory.

In any event, a novel and potentially very effective tool to add to The Consumerist arsenal. Let's recap:

1. Normal attempts to contact the company and seek resolution fail
2. Make new Twitter profile.
3. Follow every person on Twitter associated with the company that you can.
4. Tweet every phone call and every phone number. Put @thenameofsomeofthecompanypeopleyouarefollowing in some of your tweets.
5. Wait for someone to get embarrassed enough to reach out.

(Photo: frankieleon)

Yesterday, Jonathan's ten-year-old daughter boarded a plane from Boston to Cleveland to visit her grandparents. She flew as an unaccompanied minor, meaning that her family paid an extra fee for airline staff to keep an eye on her and make sure she was taken care of and ended up where she needed to be. They didn't. She ended up on a plane bound for Newark, NJ.

The planes to Cleveland and Newark, both regional jets, used the same departure gate and were parked next to each other on the tarmac. Airline staff put the little girl on the wrong plane, and no one realized that anything was amiss until Jonathan's in-laws in Ohio received a phone call telling them that they could pick up their granddaughter. In New Jersey.

Jonathan wrote about the situation and the immediate aftermath on his blog:

When the flight arrived in Newark, no one there noticed that my daughter had been put on the wrong flight and flown the wrong city, again despite the fact that her paperwork clearly spelled out both the flight number and destination. The Continental people in Newark called my in-laws' phone number to tell them to come pick her up as if nothing was wrong, despite the fact that their address on the form was an Ohio address and their phone number had an Ohio area code. The people in Newark did not call my home or cell number to find out why no one was at the airport to pick up my daughter, despite the fact that they had both of those numbers on the same paperwork as my in-laws' number.

We didn't find out something was wrong until my father-in-law called me from the arrival gate in Cleveland to ask why my daughter wasn't on the plane.

It took forty-five minutes from that point until the Continental people in Cleveland finally confirmed that she was in Newark. The only reason they were able to figure it out at all is because I told them that there had been a flight to Newark boarding at the same gate and the best possible explanation for her whereabouts was that the gate agent put her on the wrong flight (the alternatives were much worse!). God only knows how long it would have taken them to figure out where she was if I hadn't noticed the Newark flight leaving from Boston and mentioned it to them.

The folks in Cleveland "graciously" offered to refund the unaccompanied minor fee. My father-in-law laughed when they made the offer, it was so outrageous. You can bet they'll be refunding a lot more than that fee by the time I'm done with them.

I can see all of the parents reading this post shuddering right now. Jonathan has contacted the airline as well as the FAA, and hopes to hear back from them very, very soon.

Another airline screwup you just will NOT believe: Continental puts my unaccompanied minor daughter on the wrong plane! [Something better to do]
Frequently Asked Questions about Children Traveling Alone [Continental Airlines]

(Photo: quinnanya)

Ned writes:

In early January, 2008, I was traveling via Delta Airlines from my home base in Las Vegas to Atlanta, connecting to Washington DC, where I was going to stage a new-book launch at the National Press Club. My seat was in the emergency exit row – at my request, because of the extra leg room – and after I took my seat, I put on a soft-collar neck brace, which I use in lieu of a pillow to support my head while in flight. Like most airlines, Delta's seats seem to have been designed by Torquemada, and anything that adds to my comfort is a plus.

When a flight steward saw this, he informed me that I'd need to change seats, as someone with a handicap could not sit in the exit row. I'm not handicapped – this neck brace stems from being rear-ended in '76, and I keep it around for flying and not much else. I explained this to the steward in reasonable terms, even taking it off and demonstrating my neck mobility. However, he was on a mission from God to purge the flight from evil handicapped men in emergency exit row seats, and would not be calmed. That the plane was full and the flight was long both motivated me to want to hang on to my aisle seat. After listening to this "gentleman" for way too long, I asked to speak to the senior flight attendant. Unlike this cretin, she was reasonable – I explained to her my situation and choice, demonstrated my mobility – and she told me to stay in my seat, but wait until after take-off to put the neck brace back on. She was so reasonable that I was glad to comply.

After take-off – in fact, I waited until we could all turn on our electronic devices again – I put my neck brace back on. A couple of hours later, during the in-flight movie that I was watching (at $5), the steward came back, manhandling the drink cart. When he saw me with the neck brace on, he went ballistic. He got in my face – literally, just inches away, and I thought I'd need an umbrella to avoid the spittle. He was furious that I had bucked his ‘authority.' I tried to explain to him that I'd gotten his boss's permission, and that he should back off, or at least check with her before he broke a blood vessel. That didn't seem to please him, but he finally backed off after threatening me with unspecified dire results. Under my breath, I mumbled "son of a bitch" – and meant it – but even though he didn't hear it, he figured out that it wasn't flattering, and really went thermonuclear. He demanded to know what I said, and I informed him that it was none of his business.

Well, it took me about 45 minutes to get my blood pressure back down from low earth orbit, but eventually I calmed down and "enjoyed" the rest of the flight. As I was getting off the airplane in Atlanta, this guy avoided my gaze, but with a smirk. Moments later, I found out why when I was accosted by an "official" looking middle-aged woman with an official red blazer, a clipboard and an attitude. She said something like, "I understand there was a problem on the plane …" Since I was intent on making my connection (also with Delta) and because I'd just about had it with power-crazed minions who should have been treating me like a customer instead of a problem, I chose an unusual approach.

"Yes," I said, "and I hadn't intended to report it – I figured I'd just let it go – but since you brought it up, I'd like to file a complaint against that flight attendant who treated me so rudely." I briefly described the nature of my complaint, and kept pressing her to give me the complaint form and get the name of the flight attendant, as I wanted to take this to the top. Suddenly, she got an emergency phone call and had to depart the scene. It clearly hadn't gone the way she'd expected.

Especially since 9/11, there have been a small but annoying cadre of airline people who think they have real power over passengers – that they can use the threat of booting someone off the plane (or worse) to enforce things that are way beyond their rights. This isn't the first (or the last) time I've been hassled on airplanes or at gates, and it isn't the worst case, either, but it was the only time when I'd figured out a way of deflecting the problem. I thought others might want to consider the same approach – instead of submitting meekly, complain ABOUT them to proper airline authorities, putting them (and the system) on the defensive.

(Photo: bixentro)

K writes:

I am having a problem with an external Maxtor OneTouch 2TB drive, which is being used in a RAID1 format. The drive works beautifully with my Vista computer, but doesn't work with my Win XP computer. The XP systems recognizes the drive immediately, but can't read it, and in fact wants to format the drive. So, I decided to contact customer service to see if there was a work around to this. I use other external drives all the time between these two operating systems without any problem. I suspect that the software supplied with the Maxtor drive is at fault.

The response that I received was unwarranted (see below). I do hope that this is not representative of their normal customer service. The rudeness of their representative will make me certain to avoid any Seagate or Maxtor drives in the future.

I have sent a copy of this exchange to their investor relations dept.

---

Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...
Hello. How may I help you?
Bruce W.: To properly assist you today, can you please provide me with your specific Operating System ( for example windows XP Pro, Vista Home Premium, Mac OS 10.6)?

K. : Hi! Vista and XP I have a 2TB Maxtor OneTouch III ext drive. It is set up as a 1TB mirror. Vista sees it fine, XP wants to format it. How do I make XP read the drive, please?

Bruce W.: the issue is that XP and VIsta have different ways of naming files
Bruce W.: This conflict is not something that is a Seagate issue
Bruce W.: so depending on what files you are saving and what you are trying to do, you may never get XP to read any Vista files
K. : I don't think that the FAT or drive format is an issue. The two computers have identical file formats. XP wants to format the ext file.
Bruce W.: for more information on this I suggest you contact Microsoft as this is not a Seagate drive issue

K. : I suspect that it has more to do with the mirroring software supplied with the drive.
K. : It is not a MS problem
K. : I share ext drives between XP and Vista all the time

Bruce W.: Well since you know better then we do, Im sure you dont need our assistance

K. : Excuse me?

Bruce W.: I am telling you what the issue is and you are telling me that I am wrong
Bruce W.: You contacted Seagate for this issue, if you dont want to take the information then there is nothign more i can do to assist you

K. : I am asking if there is an issue with the mirroring software supplied with the drive.

Bruce W.: NO there is not
Bruce W.: it is an OS issue

K. : Thank you for your help. It has been most interesting. I hope that your day goes better from now on. I'm sorry that you are upset about an innocuous question.

Update: K. writes:

I did hear from Seagate/Maxtor. The email to the company produced results. A very nice customer service representative contacted me and apologized for their technical service person. She put me in touch with a senior technical person and the solution was very, very simple.

All I had to do to get my new external drive recognized by both Win XP and Vista machines was to do the initial format with the Win XP machine. Then, ALL of my Vista machines (both 32 bit and 64 bit) recognized the drive as a 1 TB RAID1 hard drive.

(Photo: Piez)

Molly writes:

My brother signed up for a monthly membership to Gold's Gym a few months before he deployed to Afghanistan. At the time he was told that he would not have a problem terminating his membership when he deployed. Before he left for Afghanistan he brought in a copy of his deployment letter to Gold's Gym and was assured that his membership would be terminated while he was abroad. After his first month in Afghanistan, my brother realized that he was still being charged for his gym membership. He asked my mom to assist him with the matter so she faxed and mailed additional copies of his deployment letter to both the Gold's Gym in Oxnard and to Gold's Gym's financial office. These additional copies of his deployment letter were "misplaced" and 2 months later he is still being charged for a gym membership that he cannot use! What a pitiful way to treat our servicemen and women.

The gym appears to be violating California Civil Code §1812.89(b), which gives anyone the right to cancel if they move more than 25 miles from the gym.

(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), every contract for health studio (Ed. Gyms count as "health studios," along with any place that provides "instruction, training or assistance in physical culture, body building, exercising, reducing, figure development and other similar skills.") services shall contain a clause providing that if the person agreeing to receive health studio services moves further than 25 miles from the health studio and is unable to transfer the contract to a comparable facility, such person shall be relieved from the obligation of making payment for services other than those received prior to the move, and if such person has prepaid any sum for health studio services, so much of such sum as is allocable to services he or she has not taken shall be promptly refunded.

If the gym is billing a credit card, Molly's brother can also file a chargeback and ask the bank to refuse all future charges.

Overview of California's Health Studio Services Contract Law: Legal Guide W-10 [California Department of Consumer Affairs]
(Photo: Arturo de Albornoz)

Mike writes:

I received an e-mail reminder to pay my American Express Blue card bill a few days ago, and, as always, I scanned the statement for any unusual charges before I submitted my online payment. To my surprise, there was a $1.55 Periodic Finance Charge. I have paid this card off in full every month since I got it and never been late for a payment, so I called their customer service number and was able to reach a human without much trouble.

While the service person was looking up my account information, I scanned my payment history on their web site, noticed that I had not submitted a payment in March, and remembered that the reason was that I had received my annual cashback reward, which was a sum larger than my balance at the time, resulting in a negative balance on that statement. I mentioned this to him as being the potential cause for the mix-up, at which point he explained to me an American Express policy of which I was unaware: there will be a finance charge any month during which you carry a balance and do not submit a payment.

"So you dinged me for carrying a balance and not making a payment, even though it was a negative balance?"

"Right, even negative balances."

"Was I supposed to submit a payment for zero dollars? I didn't owe anything."

"I realize that. It's just our policy."

"Doesn't that sound a little…insane to you?"

He replied by saying that he would rectify it in the computer, and the charge would show up as a credit on my next statement. I am still incredulous that this is actually a company policy, and you have to call and complain to avoid penalties for carrying a negative balance of a few dollars… ironically, a negative balance that resulted from their cashback rewards deposit.

(Photo: DCvision2006)

"We had heirlooms in there…my mom's dining room set…her hutch with her dishes in there," the homeowner told WSBTV.

The demolition company said it had paperwork.

"I said, ‘Paperwork for what?' and he said, ‘For the house, to demolish the house.' I said, ‘I'm the owner of the house, I haven't given anybody any authority to demolish this house,'" said [the homeowner]....

"I said, ‘What address did you have?' and he said, ‘They sent me some GPS coordinates.' I said, ‘Don't you have an address?' (and) he said, ‘Yes, my GPS coordinates led me right to this address here and this house was described,'" said [the homeowner].

[The homeowner] said he suspects the intended target was actually across the road.

The report also said that about a month ago the power box had mysteriously been removed and holes punched into the walls. They thought it was vandalism at the time, but now think that the company was preparing to demolish the house.

Guess there's still something to be said for an address and a map. Oh, and maybe a photo of the house would have helped, too.

Homeowner Says Crews Demolished Wrong House [WSBTV via Consumer Reports]

Far be it from us to make fun of this contraption, since there are many perfectly valid medical reasons why a person might need one. It's the marketing that's so fascinating. How many shots of the little gripper releasing the paper do we need, really? The infomercial claims that this is the biggest technical innovation in toilet paper since the 1880s. Sure, just try to get this thing to hold on to a corncob or a Sears-Roebuck catalog. If you stuck a tiny piece of ShamWow on the end of that thing—then we'd really have something to write home about. (Speaking of which, nobody let Shamwow pitchman Vince have one.)

Incidentally, you can get what looks like the same thing from a seller on Amazon for half the price.

Sorry, infomercial people. I'm holding out for a Washlet. (Warning: link contains nudity.)

Comfort Wipe [Official Site]
The Comfort Wipe Will Help You Wipe Your Lazy Assh*les! [Best Week Ever]

Here are a few more results:

Best Burger:

1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Wendy's
3. Burger King
4. McDonald's
5. Whataburger

Best Food (up to 5,000 locations):

1. In-N-Out Burger
2. Panera Bread
3. Papa Murphy's
4. Chipotle
5. Chick-fil-A

Best Food (over 5,000 locations):

1. Wendy's
2. Subway
3. KFC
4. Taco Bell
5. Pizza Hut

And finally, because this is Consumerist:

Best Value Meal:

1. McDonald's
2. Wendy's
3. Taco Bell
4. Burger King
5. Arby's

Check out all the results at Zagat.com/fastfood.

(Photo:hellochris)

A defence lawyer told the court that the presence of the mouse was a shock to the company. He suggested it might have been put in the tin to "sabotage" the baker who has been in business for 60 years and has never had any complaints.

Neither the man who bought the bread nor the rat's family received settlements for their pain and suffering.

RELATED: Man Finds Mouse Baked Into His Hot Dog Buns

Man found dead mouse in malt loaf [BBC] (Thanks, Kristin!)

1. We received the console with a fair amount of dust on it, but certainly nothing in excess of what I would expect from a PS3. As has been documented, the PS3 is basically a dust magnet.

2. The technician who got it, for some reason or another, didn't want to repair the console and inhale some of the dust, so he decided to deny the repair as "neglect."

3. Since the technician knew he couldn't get the repair denied based on the condition the console was actually received in, he decided to throw a bit of dirt on the console. Getting the dirt into the repair center wasn't that hard since the original tech was a smoker himself. All he had to do was go outside on his break. We have Ziploc bags.

4. As part of the procedure for denying a claim, pictures were taken and attached to the case notes. These same pictures were taken after the dirt was thrown on it and posted on Consumerist.

5. The warranty contains no clause for the technician to deny the warranty based on the dust alone, as the owner knows. That's why the technician had to throw dirt on it and claim it was neglected.

6. Sony should repair or replace the console. Period.

I worked in the same facility. I'm pretty sure at least one supervisor knew about it. They just didn't want to publish anything because it was already a PR nightmare, and admitting they did that would just hurt them even more.

Last we checked, Reid had tried getting a refund through VISA but they ended up denying it. We asked him what he thought of this story and he said, "All of this seems possible to me and really just sad, I'd be really sad to hear that all this trouble was caused by one lazy tech."

Sony hasn't responded to our request for comment.

PREVIOUSLY:
Dust Voids PS3 Warranty
Is This Playstation 3 Too Dusty To Be Repaired Under Warranty?
Sony CSR: What? No! Dust Doesn't Void Your PS3 Warranty!
Dusty PS3: Carey Greenberg-Berger On Fox Business
Visa Extended Warranty Protection Replaces Infamous "Dusty Playstation"
VISA Won't Replace Dusty PS3 After All

Mike ordered this tiny light, which looks smaller than the average adult's finger, and he writes:

I ordered a small LED flashlight - powered by a single AA battery. Imagine my surprise when I received it and saw the product warning on the package. Apparently it was coated with lead from Chinese paint. Fortunately, I am not planning on any children. And they didn't even enclose any operating instructions.

Mmm, lead. Here's the text from the package, by the way:

Always wear ANSI approved safety goggles when using this product. Before using this product, the user should read the operating instructions to understand everything about this product. Normal everyday use of this product is likely to expose the user to dust and microscopic particles containing lead and other chemicals known in the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm. Always wear the appropriate clothing and safety equipment when operating this product. Wash hand [sic] thoroughly after the use and handling of this product.

How about I do you one better and I just don't buy the killer flashlight?