Kyle says:

I wanted to send an update to the story regarding Comcast digging in my yard and their CSR subsequently hanging up on me when I called to get more details.

Mr. Comcast (Frank) called me the same day that this story was posted, took some details about the story and put me in touch with Kelly Hill, a very pleasant woman and the regional VP for my area. My conversation with Ms. Hill was very productive and she referred me to a member of her team who has been equally nice, John Braisher (sp?), with whom I've played phone tag for the past few days.

Today, John and I were able to have a conversation regarding the digging and the rude CSR. According to John, Comcast does in fact have an easement on my property, one that extends 15 feet from the curb. However, according to my records (the same that are on file with my local government), there is no easement on my property. I asked for proof of this easement and their rightful ability to access it, and John will be mailing it to me.

Regarding the CSR who hung up on me, the good news is that John apprised me that there will be a $500 credit made to my account (he initially tried to buy me off at $250). The bad news is that he says that I am currently under a promotional rate with Comcast, one that provides me with a $14 monthly credit. I say that this is bad news because when I signed up for Comcast services, I specifically asked if this was a promo rate and was told that it was not. John has promised to look into extending my promo rate, and to call me back within an hour regarding the new rate at the end of my current one, and its duration. Of course, I asked that all of this information be sent to me, in writing, should any discrepancies develop in the future.

I am admittedly skeptical the evidence they intend to show me regarding the easement on my property and their right of way to it, especially since the copies of my plat obtained from my local government show nothing regarding an easement. I understand that if there is in fact an easement and that they have rightful access to it, there is nothing I can do about the digging. However, if their proof is not satisfactory, John knows that I will be back in touch to revisit this issue once more.

In my conversation with John, I told him that I would be writing to the Consumerist with updates regarding my situation, both good and bad. Comcast gets a lot of negative press (deservedly so), but in this particular instance, it appears that they are taking the steps to make this right.

Many thanks,

Kyle

Thanks, Kyle. We're very happy to know that this situation is getting sorted out amicably.
(Photo: cmorran123 )

Here it is:

I wanted to apologize personally for the way you were treated in our store. I'm very sorry that you were dismissed so rudely. I have looked into the situation you described and have discovered that there is no policy that outlines customer service in this kind of situation. We like to think that we give our employees enough training and flexibility to make smart customer service decisions even without direct guidance, but unfortunately (as you have experienced) this isn't always the case. There were many alternatives that our employee could have chosen to make sure that both customers in this situation went home happy, and our employee failed in that regard. Although I have not heard our employee's side of the story, there's simply never an excuse for that kind of rude behavior, especially from a manager (if that was, in fact, the identity of the employee in question).

With your permission, I would like to take corrective action so that this employee can learn from his mistake. Do you happen to recall the employee's name, and/or the location of the store you were visiting that day? Rest assured that the employee will not be terminated - I'll simply recommend that he be given more training when it comes to customer service so that we can avoid problems like this in the future.

Once again, please accept my sincerest apologies; thank you for bringing this to my attention, and I hope we can convince you to shop at Macy's again.

(Photo:Ben Popken)

Cablevision writes:

"There is no direct connection between the digital transition of broadcast television stations that will occur across the nation in early 2009 and Cablevision's decision to transition away from the duplicate analog feeds of a certain number of channels that we already carry in digital format.

Unfortunately, Cablevision goes on to say:

Neither our customer service training, nor our customer communications, link the two in any way."

As for Cablevision's training, we spoke with four customer service representatives and each one said the same thing. These weren't rogue agents conjuring up their own unsupportable explanations. Two CSRS put us on hold to consult their materials, came back, and repeated their assertions.

When we asked the agents to tell us who instructed them to mention the FCC, they expressly stated that they were following Cablevision's training. We strongly suspect that if we (or you) called back, we would again receive the exact same answer. Could all the agents have made the same mistake, and lied about their training? Absolutely, but Occam's Razor seems to shred any suggestion of a coincidence.

Cablevision admits that their agents repeatedly provided incorrect information. Two questions remain: Are they now lying about their training; and, how will the FCC admonish Cablevision for their deceptive and predatory behavior?

PREVIOUSLY: Cablevision Blatantly Lies To Subscribers As The FCC Twiddles Its Thumbs
Cablevision Uses Digital TV Transition To Upsell Basic Cable

Rhys says:

At 5-30pm today I received a phonecall from Apple. They'd done some detective work to find my phone number that sounded quite complicated and involved tracing everybody with my forename that they'd dealt with over the last few days and finally tracing me through my blog. Not quite sure how they traced from my blog to my business website (www.sagephotoworld.com) to find my business phone number but there we are.

I understood from my conversation that Apple is working on its online system in order to make it accept more than 4 gift cards. I also understand that they're going to have a word with their sales team. Apparently the use of more gift cards is unusual and requires more manual labour to get it right. It did take a while to get the numbers read out and checked. I was asked who I'd dealt with but I could only remember the name from the online chat - not from the time when I rang.

There was a lot more in the calls during which a brand new $1299 Macbook was ordered with some extras. Thus far we seem to have come to an amicable settlement. The chap at Apple appologised profusely and offered a free iPod Nano as compensation. Quite honestly I'd rather a copy of Aperture but he said he'll ring and we'll chat about it tomorrow.

And it's all because Apple executives read consumerist.com. :)

Rhys

(Photo:ShellyPanzarella)

The nutritional information calculator on Taco Bell's website "inadvertently includes red strips" when it calculates the info for the Fresco Zesty Chicken Border Bowl. The actual bowl contains 8g of fat and 350 calories, as advertised. Rob says: "Appreciate you bringing this to our attention as we are currently working to fix it." [Consumerist]

The panties, which were sold in the juniors department, seemed to suggest that girls don't need money, they just need a sugar daddy — in this case Santa Claus.

The hipster briefs — carrying the slogan "Who needs credit cards ..." on the front and "When you have Santa" on the derriere — caused an uproar among parents, who called for the $2.96 drawers to be pulled off the racks.

"We have directed our stores to remove this merchandise from our shelves," Linda Brown Blakely, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, told FOXNews.com Wednesday.

Since Walmart has chosen to pull these panties from their shelves, we can only assume that a tsunami of pantie sighting pictures will soon be washing up on the shores of our inbox. (That sounds really dirty, doesn't it?)

Wal-Mart Yanks Pink 'Credit Card' Panties Off Shelves [FoxNews] (Thanks, John!)
(Photo:Feministing)

PREVIOUSLY: Walmart "Junior" Panties Suggest That Your Genitals Are Better Than Credit Cards

We recently became aware that some consumers have not been able to enjoy the full audio output in the Nintendo Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. We are currently working with Nintendo and are planning to issue an improved audio experience in future versions of the game. We expect to have re-mastered discs available by early 2008 and we will be offering consumers replacement discs at no cost once they become available. We thank all of our customers for their support and patience.

Fixing Guitar Hero III's Mono Problem [NYT]
(Photo:danoxster)

So, thanks to your amazing help my Comcast problem was fixed immediately. Not only did they apologize but I received free installation as well as money credited to my account. I can not think you enough for your help. You, the consumerist, are my new hero.

(Photo:cmorran123)

PREVIOUSLY: "Comcast Flat-Out Calls Me A Liar'

Mr. Pants writes:

Comcast really went after me to try and keep me as a customer, and I have to admit, they're probably going to do just that. For 1 year.

How is this even possible you ask? How is it, after everything they put you through, that you will even think of giving them another chance?

I'll tell you.

Monday, after I sent my original rant to Comcast, basically saying, "Look if this story helps other customers, great. If not, I won't be surprised considering our experience." I received no less than 4 phone calls from 4 different support managers, directors and even a corporate executive.

An hour and a half after I sent my email I got a call from an executive who assured me they were extremely sorry, and he would make sure my wife and I were well cared for.

Over the course of the day Monday, I talked to all 4 of these Comcast representatives, and had a technician at my house at around 6pm working on my issue. He happened to have a signal checker that NONE of the other Comcast techs have had. He also informed me that there was indeed a signal issue that went from my house back to the pole across the street.

From that point, up until around 10pm that evening I had 2 techs in my house, who proceeded to rewire the basement coax, re-ran the line to the pole across the street, and triple checked the signal from the pole to my TV.

Then FOUR Comcast trucks showed up and started running cable from the pole to the node, over a block away.

At around 10:30, the original support tech called me to say that they had figured out that there was some "equipment running hot" at the node, and they had to replace and retune it.

Whatever that means.

This morning, the regional CS director called me again and asked if everything was fixed. I told her that to my knowledge it was, and she asked what they could do to keep me as a customer. I told her something very nice, and very substantial.

They reapplied all of the payments I had made to my original account, over to my new account again, which totaled around $300. They upgraded my TV package to include twice as many channels and dropped the price to $39/mo. and then dropped my internet service from $45/mo. to $35/mo. for 12 months.

Also, on top of all of this, a free month of everything.

So. I guess I'm going to take it, since it'll be cheaper than everything else out there.

At least for 12 months.

Twelve months from now, we'll see what happens. Provided the current service works for the next 12 months anyway.

I send this on to you, since you posted my first story, I figured it was only fair that I tell you of Comcasts rectal rectify.

Thanks for reading.

Mr. "Fancy" Pants

(Photo:cmorran123)

For those of you new to this issue, Best Buy was caught using a duplicate website to fool customers who tried to compare internet prices with in-store prices.

Customers who asked why the price was higher in the store were often told that "the sale must have ended" in the time it took them to drive to the store. They were then told to "check the website" to see for themselves, then were shown an identical-looking website that displayed different "in-store" prices.

We think Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said it best back in May (right after he sued Best Buy):

"Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal - a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices," Blumenthal said.

"The company commonly kept two sets of prices - one on its Internet site and an often higher set on its in-store, look-alike, available on kiosks. The in-store site was an Internet look-alike, commonly with higher prices, which were charged to consumers. Best Buy broke its promise to give the best price - an Internet version of bait-and-switch - a technological bait-and-switch-plus.

"Best Buy used in-store kiosks to conceal lower online prices and renege on its price match guarantee. Consumers seeking bargains were led to believe that lower online prices had expired or never existed. Best Buy treated its customers like suckers, not patrons to be prized."

Attorney General, DCP Commissioner Sue Best Buy For Deceiving, Overcharging Customers [Connecticut AG]
(Photo:Thanks, MK!)

PREVIOUSLY: Connecticut Sues Best Buy For Tricking Customers With Secret Internal Website
UPDATE: Best Buy Still Using Its Secret Website
Best Buy Confirms The Existence Of Its Secret Website
Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site
Best Buy's Secret "Employee Only" In-Store Website Shows Different Prices Than Public Website

It's just really not offensive at all. Tacky, yes, but white denim isn't illegal. Neither is flashing a little bit of your underwear as you sit down. Kyla assured Matt Lauer that she had her legs crossed and wasn't showing off her... you know.

If this outfit is enough to get you a public lecture from a flight attendant we must have missed the part where they constantly publicly humiliate men for rampant exposed butt crack. Does that take place during the safety lecture? We never pay attention.

Southwest gave the Today Show a statement:

"Southwest Airlines was responding to a concern about Ms. Ebbert's revealing attire on the flight that day. As a compromise, we asked her to adjust her clothing to be less revealing, she complied, and she traveled as scheduled. When a concern is brought to our Employees' attention, we address that situation directly with the Customer(s) involved in a discreet and professional manner. Fortunately, as an airline that carries approximately 96 million Customers a year, these situations are extremely rare."

Thrown off plane for outfit deemed too skimpy [Today Show]

Kerry writes:
Hi

Thanks
Kerry Stiles

PREVIOUSLY: Woman Receives Severe Chemical Burns From Flip Flops, Walmart Tells Her To Complain To Manufacturer

UPDATE: Kerry's site went down, so we mirrored her photos here.

A businessman from St. Tammany Parish and his partner agreed to pay a settlement to Jamie Land, the company that bought the Atwood's home at auction and was preventing them from selling the house or borrowing against it to repair damage caused by hurricane Katrina. The Atwoods have been living in a FEMA trailer on their property since the hurricane.

From the Times-Picayune:

The settlement was signed Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., Duplechain said, and paperwork was to be filed at the parish courthouse in Covington later Tuesday and today to clear the title to the property to the Atwoods.

Duplechain said the businessman, who wants to remain anonymous for now, stepped forward Monday after reading a story in The Times-Picayune about the couple's plight. The attorney said he could not disclose the settlement amount.

Jamie Land Co. President James Lindsay II said the agreement calls for the amount of the settlement to remain undisclosed.

"But it wasn't a lot of money," he said. "We've been willing to settle this thing all along."

Tax lien nightmare ends in Slidell [Times-Picayune] (Thanks, Christopher!)

PREVIOUSLY: Elderly Couple Could Lose Home Over $1.63 Tax Bill
(Photo:Scott Threkeld)

Home Depot promised changes and now ABC 5 is following up:

Team 5 Investigates obtained Home Depot's most recent online reference guide for service providers who are sent to customers' homes, and it shows significant changes to what has been published in the past. "I think this is a step in the direction of tightening up the requirements and recognizing the public needs to have confidence and know that it's going to be safe to have these contractors doing the work," said professor Jim Post of Boston University's School of Management.

The most significant changes relate to background checks. There are now new obligations for those who are supposed to be doing them and an increase in how often they're supposed to performed. Home Depot is also demanding that service providers verify the identity and social security number for each worker. A failure to do so could result in hefty fines.

Workers must also wear a new type of badge to show they've met the new requirements. If they don't, the fine is $500. Licensing infractions, including a failure to pull permits, could cost a contractor $1,000. And for every consumer complaint filed with an attorney general's office where the service provider fails to demonstrate an effort to resolve the complaint, that service provider is subject to a $2,500 penalty. "It certainly shows that they're serious about making sure the quality of service that's delivered to customers is consistent with the standards that they've set," said Post.

Home Depot Makes Policy Changes After Team 5 Investigation [ABC 5]
(Photo:Maulliegh)

PREVIOUSLY: Home Depot Sent Registered Sex Offender To Refinish Single Woman's Cabinets

Read her email inside.

Hi Meg- I wanted to let you know that thanks to The Consumerist, I did receive a call Friday from the district manager affiliated with the Applebee's that I purchased my insect leg salad from (she mentioned she saw it on the internet). Ms. Goodwin was very apologetic and reassured me that they have added some new "quality control" processes to hopefully reduce significantly the probability that anyone else gets an insect leg in their salad. She gave me the details on how it happened and what is happening now: Salads purchased by Applebees come in pre-packaged, vacuum-sealed bags. The contents are washed by their supplier five times, then sealed and distributed to the restaurants. From what I understand, in the past, contents were taken from the bags and distributed on to plates for the salads. Now, and going forward they will be emptying the contents into bins to double check the contents prior to placing on the plates. Ms. Goodwin has asked if she could bring lunch into my office, since there is no process in place to refund our money. I am hesitant myself, but am going to check with my co-workers to see what they would like to do since a number of others in my office also threw their food once they saw what I had in mine. I would like to extend a thank you to you and The Consumerist for posting my concern, which again was more about why it happened in the first place and how Applebee's failed to follow-up after vs. the having leg itself in my mouth. Although it took about a week and a half, I did receive what I believe was an explanation of why it happened and an appropriate apology from Applebee's District Manager, Ms. Goodwin, and she is working to gain back the trust and business from my co-workers and me. Thanks for looking out for all of us!

Thanks for following up, Stacie. We're glad that Applebee's is going to take steps to weed out the bug legs! (At least the really, really large ones... ) —MEGHANN MARCO

PREVIOUSLY: Applebee's Apple Walnut Chicken Salad, Now With Free Insect Leg (Caution: Gross Photos)

PREVIOUSLY: Paypal Freezes Deadspin Fund For Slain Soldier

As you can see, Apple is in the middle, with Sony as the most reliable and Gateway the least. Surprisingly, on average, 17% of Apple laptops require serious repair.

Suck on that, fanboys!

Most people don't realize that nearly all of the phones that carriers sell today have MULTIPLE liquid damage indicators, and only one is generally visible (under the battery, natch). It's generally true that if the one under the battery is triggered, then odds are very high that the ones inside are triggered as well.

By taping over the thing, or by outright lying, this only results in a delay of the customer being charged a voided-warranty fee, and then tends to result in said customer returning and bitching about a 'mystery charge' they forgot they agreed to accept as a condition of a warranty exchange. Most sales reps aren't going to try to intentionally fuck you by lying about the damage indicator, its just generally easier to break it to you then, and they tend to know when a customer will be charged for something and when you can sneak a 'warranty issue' by the techs (user damages mostly..).

Sometimes, it's just better to accept the hand that fate has dealt you, learn your lesson, and fess to the damage and buy a new phone (extend your contract or don't, you've got a choice, its up to you to accept the discount a contract provides) versus trying to scam the carriers.

Yes, honesty is the best policy. Just because companies lie to us doesn't mean we should start lying to them. Plus, they're sneaky bastards... they usually know.

She writes, "If you look closely at the head-on picture, at the bottom, you will see... um, is that purple? Yes, thin purple... with a couple spots on either side that are empty. Almost as if the store ran out of purple ribbon in a Marti Gras-fueled frenzy."

We went ahead and mocked up her findings:

We placed an eyedropper tool (which grabs the color of the pixel the tool is placed over) on the ribbon spool inside the red circle. Then we used a the paint bucket tool to make a colored box.

Maybe the NoCoast blog missed the purple ribbon, being too busy looking for offense.

Previously:

• Photos: WalMart Won't Sell Sinful Mardi Gras Ribbon
  
• UPDATE: Wal-Mart's 'Sinful' Purple Ribbon, a Hoax?
  
• Walmart Refuses to Sell 'Sinful' Purple Ribbon, Man Claims

These are some photos Jon later took to document his claim.

No purple ribbon visible. You can see larger versions of the pix, as well as compare them to Mardi Gras beads, at the online gallery Jon set up here. To corroborate his claim, however, we need an independent third party to physically enter the Wal-Mart located at 8301 No. Church Road, Kansas City, MO and verify the evidence.

The Wal-Mart [No Coast]

Now it's become a consumer issue. Why won't this Wal-Mart service the obvious needs of Mardis Gras ribbon-based craft? Ask for the manager at (816) 792-4644 and find out.

Previously:

• UPDATE: Wal-Mart's 'Sinful' Purple Ribbon, a Hoax?
  
• Walmart Refuses to Sell 'Sinful' Purple Ribbon, Man Claims

She's in luck. We've got the dope on how to do it.

Tom, another Bankone customer affected by the merger writes he's had no problem linking accounts and managing his bills and finances through Quicken. That's after he followed these instructions, found on the Chase website.

Download the instructions,
here. [pdf]

"I was as leery as the next person when I found out the two online services would be 'merging.' I also use Quicken and was almost sure that my last four years of perfectly maintained transactions would go to hell in a handbasket once I started using chase.com," he says.

Since following the instructions, Tom says he has, "successfully downloaded all of my transactions, for free, all week long."

Now, why couldn't any of the four different customer service representatives direct Sharon to that same info?

UPDATE: We are stupid. These are the very same instructions that Sharon referred to in her email. But the system only got activated after clicking the $10 a month option. She now waits to see if she will be charged for that. Sigh. Reading is hard.

Previously: Chase/Bank One Merger Super Fun for Customers

Calls upon calls to the store asking for people ribbon ensued after the story was posted here and on the Metafilter group blog. Arts & Craft employees continue to allege they have purple ribbon in stock.

Commenter "The Devil Himself" called and had a chat:

Walmart: Hello, Arts & Crafts, yes we have ribbon.
The Devil Himself: Hello, yes, I need some ribbon.
Well, we have purple ribbon. All colors. Everyone's been callin' about the ribbon, sayin' we don't sell it 'cause it's blasphemous. We have ribbon.
I see. Actually, um, I need some red and black ribbon. Do you have that? I need it for a Satan-worshipping party.
A what?
A satan-worshipping party. We're having a Satan-worshipping party, and we're going to praise Satan, worship at the altar of Satan, and reject Jesus, so we need decorations, and I need some red and black ribbon to, you know, honor the Prince of Darkness.
Well it ain't up to me what you do with the ribbon, it's up to the person buying it.
ME: So it's okay with you if I buy ribbon for a satanic festival?
Like I said it ain't up to me what you do with it. But we got red and black ribbon.
ME: Great, okay, thank you.
Thank yew for callin' Wal-Mart.

Having called the Wal-Mart we think the dialogue accurately captures the employees' twang and harried tone.

Don't delay, call (816) 792-4644 today. Ask for enough purple ribbon to keep a children's choir silent in a basement.

Previously: Walmart Refuses to Sell 'Sinful' Purple Ribbon, Man Claims

One name that keeps getting bandied about is... Office Max.

Check what the Raleigh, NC New & Observer has to say:

"Bank officials and federal investigators will not disclose the retailer or retailers thought to be at the center of the data breach because the investigation continues.

Local customers said OfficeMax is the name given by their financial institutions when asked for details. Many of the transactions appear to have been made in February, though investigators won't define the period."

See, that wasn't so hard. All we have to do is go to Staples.

This is actually really good news. Now we can easily dub the fiasco, "Off!c3 H@x0r."

(Thanks to Carbunkle!) [photo]

She reports the Better Business Bureau has opened a case and Uniwill has until the 11th of March to respond. She says further that the laptop was purchased from the MAX Group, a discount wholesale computer seller. So it may be that the Uniwill is simply a reseller. But if so, they shouldn't offer full on-site warranties if they can't live up to them.

We'll say it again, always buy from a reputable source with a positive track record. Otherwise, you may as well be buying a paper bag covered with question marks, which won't be the best for getting a good product at a reasonable price but can be fashioned later into a fetching clutch for your Riddler halloween costume.