Benjamin writes:

Normally, I just accept the inevitable and pay without contest. But the "gas prices" line really bugged me, so I decided to call in and complain.

Since this is an issue with the billing and pricing plan, I tried to talk to someone in billing support. I'm not one for popping a blood vessel, so I calmly asked for an explanation as to why overall decline in fuel prices is responsible for the increase in the cable fees. The person from Comcast said that they could not help me and that I had to call the complaint line. Up until this point, I hadn't had a complaint- I just wanted some explanation. She puts me on hold so that she can get me the number for the complaint department. Then she comes back with something that literally made me speechless for a few moments... "The complaint line phone has been disconnected."

Me: (Pause) Wait? What?

Comcast: You need to go to the web site and submit a comment through email.

Me: Comcast disconnected its complaint line?

Comcast: Go to our web site and click on the 'contact us' button and submit an email.

Me: Is the complaint line going to be reconnected anytime soon?

Comcast: On our web site under 'contact us'.

Me: Are you serious?

This didn't go anywhere so I eventually hung up. I did send an email from the Comcast web site and a few minutes later received a rather robotic, wholly unsatisfying response that basically said 'whatever, we don't really care'.

Its ridiculous that Comcast can claim that because of the INCREASE in gas prices, the INCREASE in technology prices, and INCREASES in health care costs that my bill needs to be raised $30-$40 a month. Is there any guarantee that when these outrageously high gas prices go down that the monthly charges will go down as well? And for the record, I haven't seen any enhancements to my service. I'm paying more for the exact same services that I got two months ago.

Benjamin D.

Calling Comcast customer service and expecting a sensible explanation for why they raised rates is like trying to thread the Empire State Building through the eye of a needle. You might be better off registering your gripe with the local Public Utilities Commission. At least their complaint lines still work.

(Photo: ChristophrHiestr)

Start shopping now!

Reader Kyle says these photos were taken yesterday, 10/29 at a CVS in Arlington, VA.

(Thanks, Kyle!)

The court noted that "were the 'Federalist Papers' just being published today via e-mail, that transmission by Publius would violate the [current Virginia] statute."

The real problem with the statute is that it's overbroad, said the court, and it can't simply be reworded. We assume this means the state legislature will have to start over, and this time limit the statute to "commercial or fraudulent e-mail, or to unprotected speech such as pornography or defamation."

This is one of those feel-bad judgments—ultimately we agree with the court that the law needs to be more specific in order to limit its power, but in the meantime this means that spam king Jeremy Jaynes, who had been sentenced to 9 years in prison in 2004 under the newly enacted law, is now free to resume spamming until a new, better worded statute can be drafted.

"Va. Supreme Court Strikes Down State's Anti-Spam Law" [Washington Post] (Thanks to Michael!)
(Photo: Getty)

Scott Hoover, a business professor at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, was "shocked" to learn that the $5 scratch-off ticket he bought had no chance of being a big winner. The top prize of $75,000 had already been awarded before he even bought the ticket. Now CNN says he's suing Virginia for breach of contract.

"It's one thing to say it's a long shot to win the $75,000, but it's another thing to say you have no shot to win it," John Fishwick, Hoover's attorney, told CNN.

Through a request filed under the Freedom of Information Act, Fishwick's firm was able to obtain records that showed the Virginia State Lottery sold $85 million in tickets for which no top prize was available. Fishwick says the state should pay $85 million in damages.

USAToday says that about half of the 42 states that sell scratch-off tickets continue to sell them after the top prizes have been claimed. Lottery officials say it's fair because there are still lesser prizes that have not been claimed, and because people can use the internet to check if top prizes have been claimed.

'Zero' chance lottery tickets stun some players [CNN]
(Photo: blue_j )

"We hope that parents will talk with their kids and remind them to never let a stranger in your house," says Henrico Police Lt. Doug Perry. "Either act like you're not there or say your mom and dad are in the bathroom or whatever, to make them think that a parent is present."

Jefferson is a registered sex offender who was convicted of rape 1984.

Please remember to always ask for ID and never let strangers into your home when you are alone. Even if they really work for the cable company.

UPDATE: This guy works for Double J Communications, which was working for a subcontractor to S&N Communications, which in turn was working on contract with Verizon. Verizon has asked S&N to terminate the contract with Double J.

Cable worker charged for allegedly touching girl in Henrico
[NBC12]

Michael writes:

On May 8 2008 around 6pm, my wife was shopping at Rite Aid store # 11285 in Newport News, Va. She noticed an individual in the store wearing a heavy coat and nit cap with a backpack. It was warm out so she thought it a little strange. He paid for his purchase and left the store. She paid for her items and left. She has remote start on her car and started it from inside the store. When she got to her car and opened the door, the individual who was in the store ran up behind her an attempted to grab her.

She was able to turn and kick him and get into the car and drive off. When she got home we called the police. While we were waiting for them to show up we called the store and spoke with the manager. His name is Jim or John . We explained what just happened and he stated he remembered her being in there and he somewhat knew the individual as he comes in regularly and he might work for a Waste Management Company. He also stated the camera facing the right front side of the building where the attack happened was not working, but the one in the store was. Once we gave the description to the police, he went to talk to the manager. Later in the evening he called to let us know the manager refused to discuss the issue and would not let him see the security video of inside the store. The matter was turned over to a Detective the next day. Since the 9th, numerous attempts have been made to contact the manager, however he has not returned one phone call.

On May 27 around 1pm I called the Home Office at (717)761-2633. After getting bounced around to different departments and disconnected, I was finally able to get Karen Mcklintic (sp) at 503-977-5903 in the claims department. She listened and stated she would take this to her supervisor to act on. I heard nothing from her yesterday May 28, and left her a message today May 29. All I was asking for was for someone to call the manager and instruct him to call the detective and to give him the information he needs. I don’t know if the security video is still available or if it has been taped over.

I do not understand why he is reluctant to help get this resolved. My wife was attacked a few years ago and this is bringing back some bad memories. It makes it worse that the manager may know the individual and sees him in the store and is not doing anything. As a minimum the security tapes should have been pulled after we called and given to the police. I understand if a district or regional manager needed to be involved before the tapes were given or viewed, but to get NO cooperation from a Rite Aid representative is ridiculous. I have no problem taking a week off from work, having a sign made that states: MY WIFE WAS ATTACKED IN THIS PARKING LOT AND RITE AIDE WILL NOT HELP. SHOP AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Good idea. Make the sign, show it to the manager, and explain your intentions. Then, ask once more for the tape.

The corporate office really needs to step up and reign in their vigilante manager. Customer service complaints are inherently subjective, but we can all agree that it's a bad idea to interfere with a police investigation.

(Photo: Getty)

Looks like Applebees in Lexington, VA doesn't believe in truth in advertising. Compare the menu's Hot Fudge Sundae shooter, which fills the glass and spills over the top, to the Sundae they served me, which barely fills half the cup. I guess I didn't get my two dollar's worth.

Beware diners, the inflation-powered Grocery Shrink Ray has escaped from store shelves and is now lurking in restaurant kitchens. It is destined to terrorize the masses until Ben Bernanke angrily rises in opposition after being served an equally disappointing dessert.

Does that mean there's another sign boasting: Girls! Girls! Girls!?

According to our tipster:

Not that anyone should be surprised, but Best Buy is still at it.

My wife spent several hours at home researching digital picture frames online, and Best Buy actually had the best price on one, as well as being the only way to get it in time for Christmas. Last night we went to our local Fairfax, Virginia, Best Buy. They didn't have the frame at first, and I actually have to commend the staff, they searched for about 30 minutes because one of them thought he had seen it somewhere. They finally came up with one, the Kodak EasyShare EX1011. I took it to a different station and asked them to price check it, and it came up at $255.99, well over the $234.49 that was listed online.

We went to one of their public computer terminals and searched it and it came up at the $255.99, no surprise.

iPhone to the rescue. At first it was showing the $255 price on my iPhones browser, then I realized it was connected through WiFi, so they have it blocking the external Best Buy site and feeding the fake one. I disabled WiFi and searched again and bam, there it was, $234.99.

The electronics department said I had to go to customer service for such a thing, and they promptly took care of the price change.

Keep up the great work, Consumerist.

[Sue Busch, a Best Buy spokeswoman] said the kiosks were never intended "for price-match purposes," but admitted that "a small percentage of customers did not receive a price match when they should have due to errors in policy execution."

"Every day we get at least one person asking why he can't find a price he saw online," the salesman replied.

I said I was looking for a DVD player I'd seen online that was selling for $71.99. I said it wasn't on the kiosk site.

"Here," the salesman said, "let me show you a secret."

He switched to a different screen, typed in his employee I.D. number, and the real Bestbuy.com came up. "Try now," the salesman said.

I asked why the real website wasn't available to everyone.

He shrugged. "I wish I knew."

Maybe that's something California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown should also be wondering.

As I will document below, Sears failed to live up to its warranty on multiple occasions, and because of this negligence my home has experienced considerable water damage.

In October of this year, I came home to find water puddled on my floor around the washing unit. I called Sears customer care to request that - in compliance with my warranty - they send a technician to fix the problem. They scheduled an appointment on a Wednesday two weeks later.

I'm a school teacher, so for that day I requested off work so I could be home when the technician came. I had received the automated courtesy call the night before confirming that they would come between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. At 4:45 p.m., when nobody had showed up or called, I called customer care again and was told that the appointment was switched until next morning (even though nobody ever bothered to call me to ask if this was ok).
I told the person that this was not acceptable, since I had taken off work and could not reasonably take off work again the next day. She said that since it was their mistake, that they would accommodate my schedule by coming at 5 p.m. the next day after I got home from work.

A technician called the next day and confirmed that he would be there at 5 p.m. As can be ascertained, nobody showed up. I called Sears again, and was told that nobody is ever scheduled after 5 p.m. and that that was a mistake. I was on the phone for about 2 hours, and finally they tried to "transfer" me to the manager, but my call was dropped, and when I called back nobody picked up.

I called customer care and scheduled an appointment for two weeks later (keep in mind that standing water has been under the units all this time, and I can't get to it because they're stacked). That Saturday, a technician showed up, ran the washer once, never unstacked the units, and declared that the problem "must have fixed itself."
Of course, it wasn't long after that I had a puddle of water on my floor again - this time I hadn't even run the washer in a week. Becoming more and more irate, I called and scheduled yet another appointment, making sure to mention that these were stacked units and that I needed 2 technicians so they could be unstacked and actually serviced. Since I didn't want to take off work, my father offered to wait at my house for the people to show up.

The appointment came around, and only 1 technician showed up. It was the same technician as before, he claimed that he couldn't do anything because it takes 2 technicians to unstack the units (even though I made sure to tell customer care that they were stacked.)

Sensing my frustration, the technician personally rescheduled the appointment and reassured me that two technicians would come a week later. I had to take the day off work. Both showed up, unstacked my dryer, and fixed the washer. But when they moved it out, there was still water on the floor, and my floor was completely damaged (after having water sit there for over a month because of their repeated failures). The technician informed me that the problem was one of installation because they put hoses on my machine that were too short and they wore down over time. Incidentally, the machines didn't even have to be unstacked to be fixed, and this was something he could have fixed the first time he visited. Because the damage was caused by a bad installation, he informed me that Sears is obligated to fix the water damage, and all I had to do was file a claim.

After several hours on the phone, being transferred from department to department, repeated "dropped calls," I finally got to file a claim that I was told was "most likely not going to be honored" since my installation was so long ago. I was also told that all claims should be responded to by phone within 48 hours.

Today is Sunday; I made my call last Wednesday. I have received no call and it has been well over 48 hours. This problem started in October - and after repeated no-shows, improper service, hours on the phone with customer care, two missed days of work, and inconveniencing my family, this issue has still not been resolved. So we've turned to you to possibly help alert Consumerist readers to Sears' shoddy customer service.

Thank you for any help you can give.

Sincerely,
Sapna

Sears' appliance repair technicians are licensed with the commonwealth, and complaints of this nature are the sort of things that a dispute resolution team could potentially help you with. We took at look at Virginia's complaint database and saw that the Sears Service Center in Richmond has 3 complaints and all 3 were eventually resolved in some way, so it might be worth filing a complaint.

You could also try an EECB using Sears' executive customer service contact info. Anyone else have advice for Sapna?

Office of Consumer Affairs [Commonwealth of Virginia]
(Photo:theogeo)

..the District Manager called us back and stated that she watched the video in slow motion, and that while she could understand how we interpreted the employee's gestures to have been inappropriate, that she has concluded that the man was just playing with the animals, did not in fact strike any dogs, and was not inappropriate.

On Sunday, October 21, my wife and I picked up our dog from the Petsmart Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia (at Potomac Yards) where he had been boarded for one night. As we waited for our dog to be retrieved, we watched a live video stream of the day care room on a monitor facing us. The room appeared to be overcrowded with more than a dozen large dogs in a relatively small space. One employee could be seen in the middle of the crowd of dogs. Suddenly, both my wife and I saw this employee raise his hand and strike a dog. We were shocked by what we saw. Outraged, we immediately pointed this out the desk employee and requested to see a manager. As we waited, we continued to watch the video feed and witnessed the worker strike two or three more dogs. The Pet Hotel manager came out and we explained what we saw. We asked that this matter would be investigated and that the individual we saw strike the dogs would be removed from caring for dogs. We weren't looking for any deal from Petsmart or to threaten any legal action — we just wanted a firm answer that this employee would no longer be left in the care of any animals.

The following day we received calls from both the Pet Hotel manager as well as the store manger. The Pet Hotel manager told me personally that she watched the video and found the worker's actions "unacceptable." In a separate conversation, the store manager stated that he watched the video "about 12 times" and also found it horribly inappropriate. Next we received a call from the District Manager who was incredibly evasive in her statements and stated she would get back to us after a full investigation, but that the employee in question was still working with dogs while the investigation took place. Ten days after the incident, the District Manager called us back and stated that she watched the video in slow motion, and that while she could understand how we interpreted the employee's gestures to have been inappropriate, that she has concluded that the man was just playing with the animals, did not in fact strike any dogs, and was not inappropriate. In response, we very reasonably asked if we could watch the video with her so she could show us what she saw. She said no.

Since this incident, we have canceled all his future stays. We are outraged by what we saw and even more troubled that despite two managers having told us that they agreed that the employee was inappropriate, the district manager not only concluded otherwise, but refused to show us her interpretation. Petsmart has handled this in the worst possible way, excusing the conduct of an employee who hit dogs he was entrusted to care.

We feel the right thing to do is to let the community know about this incident so that dog owners can consider this incident when finding care for their dogs. Needless to say, we feel strongly that Petsmart Hotel is not a dependable or safe place to trust for care of D.C.-area pets.

(Photo: dairycow2)

The SCC's communications division has recommended that Verizon Virginia and Verizon South pay a related fine of $17.5 million — an estimate of the sum Verizon saved by not responding quickly to customer complaints of "land line" phone outages.

The SCC says the fine is justified because Verizon, even after filing a "corrective action plan," violated a rule that requires the company and competitors to clear each month no less than 80 percent of out-of-service calls within 24 hours and 95 percent of such calls within 48 hours.

In turn, Verizon warns that a fine that high, coupled with the SCC's continuing to hold the company to related performance standards, could set back efforts to fully roll out its fiber networks and put Verizon at a competitive disadvantage.

"As hard as we tried to get this standard right, we didn't," said Stephen Spencer, Verizon's director of regulatory affairs. "It's not the right standard, I believe."

Spencer said Verizon is "losing tens of thousands of lines a month" because of competition.

Among the big cities: New York came in #82, with 1 foreclosure in 305 households, an increase of 47% from last year. Chicago was ranked #30 on the list, with 1 in 88 households in foreclosure, up 45% from 2006. LA was #29, with 1 in 87 and an increase of 125%.

You can read the full report at RealityTrac's website and see how your neighbors are doing. If you live in Richmond, VA you can relax. Your area has only 1 in 2,319 households in foreclosure, dead last on the list. Congrats!

STOCKTON, DETROIT, LAS VEGAS POST TOP METRO FORECLOSURE RATES [RealtyTrac]
Las Vegas, Detroit foreclosure rates double-report [Reuters]
(Photo:Jim_W)

From the AP:

Sejas said the theater's assistant manager saw her holding up the digital camera and reported it to the general manager, who called police.

The Marymount University sophomore was charged with a misdemeanor and was banned for life from the Regal Cinemas Ballston Common movie theaters.

"I was terrified," Sejas said. "I was crying. I've never been in trouble before."

Arlington County police spokesman John Lisle said the theater wanted to prosecute the case, which is a first for the police department.

"They were the victim in this case, and they felt strongly enough about it," Lisle said.

Teen Faces Charges For Recording 20-Second Movie Clip [NBC4] (Thanks, Ian!)
(Photo:Wikipedia)

In the ensuing months, through May 2005 and up until the present, three separate installation companies hired and retained by Best Buy to deliver and install the purchased goods made some effort to install the Morris' home theater, including: National Installation Company, K.A.T. Communications, and Digital Technology, Inc.," the suit says.

"Currently, the wire molding is not properly installed; the television's wiring is dangling and exposed; the television is not functioning as promised; and the universal television remote control was taken by Digital Technology for programming and has not been returned to the Morris'," the suit says.

Woman says Best Buy, installers didn't complete job [WVRecord]
(Photo: cmorran123)

The bill imposes no limits on the currently 391% interest rates, but do limit the amount of loans allowed to be given to a single borrower. The Washington Post reports,

Just like when you swallow poison you can either get your stomach pumped, or you could take an axe and chop it out. — BEN POPKEN

House Passes Payday Lending Reform Bill Without a Rate Cap [Washington Post]

Previously:
Virginia Payday Lenders To Charge Infinity Interest
Do Virginia PayDay Loan Centers Target The Poor?

In counterbalance, the bill limits the amount of payday loans made to a single person to 3, whereas before there was no limit. Of the 446,000 Virginians that took out payday loans in 2005, 91,000 borrowers took out 12 different payday loans each, according to the State Corporation Commission.

When asked for an explanation of the bill, a lawyer for the committee said, "The language was produced by the industry."

From 3.3 million payday loans in 2005, the industry gleaned $1.1 billion in revenues.

Hopefully the governor rejects the bill, and doesn't bend over for the loan sharks like a willow in the wind. — BEN POPKEN

House committee OKs bill on payday lending [Times Dispatch via CL&P Blog]

The thought of washing down a Big Mac with a chai was too appealing to ignore, so we mashed up Richmond, Virginia's 1990-2000 Poverty Statistics by Census Tract along with Payday loan center locations. * Click to enlarge.

Richmond payday centers seem to roughly prefer to sit on the edges of areas with 15-30% poverty. People got to have a paycheck to give them an advance on, with 177% interest.

If a worker is short of cash and gets their full next paycheck advanced to them, how are they ever supposed to catch up?

With a windfall investment, or perhaps, another loan. — BEN POPKEN

* Combining 2000 poverty data with 2007 addresses is, admittedly, less than ideal, but it was the best we could get our hands on.

"A second person was waiting outside by the fence, loading the merchandise into a vehicle. Both were apprehended when the second person came into the store and tried to return merchandise without a receipt."

The men were charged with various counts, including Conspiracy to Commit Larceny and Possession of Marijuana. Good job, boys. Very smooth. —MEGHANN MARCO
Police Catch Walmart Thieves In The Act [WTKR]

"We've more than doubled the amount of viewing choices for customers who now have the most HDTV and VOD (video-on-demand) viewing options with 100 hours of HD on demand and nearly 7,000 video on demand titles each month," Steve Kipp, a Comcast vice president of communications, told The Everett Herald."

Can a national rate increase be far off?—MEGHANN MARCO

HDTV: Will Comcast Hike Prices? — Yes [TV Predictions]

Reader Shaun spotted this entry form for a local Nascar tickets sweepstakes, sponsored by Hardees "charbroiled thickness" and Comcast. It seems designers at Comcast went a bit overboard with the mouseprint. Even after digital magnification, it's nigh impossible to discern the contest's rules.

What are they hiding in there? Give us your paranoid guesstimates in the comments or tips at consumerist.com.

Reports of fraudulent late fees, cashing checks twice and refusing to close accounts earned CapitalOne a place in ConsumerAffairs' rogues gallery.

If you've got a complaint against CapitalOne, avail yourself of the addresses we posted after the jump. We've got the mailing address CEO Richard D. Fairbank, as well as the Attorney General of Virginia and The Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Virginia. The last two have jurisdiction over Capital One.

A notice of intent to file, that's what's in our wallet, bub.

MAILING ADDRESS FOR THE CEO OF CAPITAL ONE:

Mr. Richard D. Fairbank
President & CEO
Capital One Financial Corp
1680 Capital One Drive
McLean, VA 22102

MAILING ADDRESS FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA

The Honorable Bob McDonnell
Attorney General
State of Virginia
Office of the Attorney General
900 E. Main Street
Richmond, VA 23219

MAILING ADDRESS FOR THE COMMISSIONER OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF VIRGINIA

Commissioner of Financial Institutions
State Corporation Commission
1300 East Main Street
Suite 800
P.O. Box 640
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Companies fail time and time again to protect our most sensitive data and we're learning our lesson: we know that our identity being stolen, our bank accounts being drained is as close to happening as firewall left unsecured, one CD forgotten in an airplane pocket, one disgruntled waiter walking away with our credit card number. The average American is a lot more savvy now: everyone knows now that there's no reason at all for Radio Shack to need your telephone number when you buy a transistor radio; Best Buy doesn't need your address when you pick up a Sopranos DVD. We shred our credit card statements; we deny companies our social security numbers when they don't actually need them. We're closing the security hole of our unwarranted trust in companies.

As an individual entity, then, the average consumer is much less of a target for fraud or identity theft than they ever were before. Yet companies like Verizon, Hewlett- Packard, Ford and now a government agency keep on "losing" laptops that make that extra vigilance worthless. These companies would like us to believe that the laptops are being stolen for their resale value, but is it so hard to believe that criminals are specifically targeting the thoughtless jackasses at these companies who keep putting millions of us at risk by bringing home their work?

What do you guys think?

(Thanks to Ian!)