Consumerist
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credit unions
So What's Replacing Boarded-Up Payday Lenders? Credit Unions!
Consumers in Washington D.C. have apparently flocked to credit unions since the district outlawed payday lending last year. Payday lenders whined that lending without 300% APRs was utterly unaffordable, but credit unions are proving that it's possible to make long-term, low-dollar loans with interest rates as low as 16%. More » -
murky coffee
Coffee-Shop Threatens To "Punch" Customer In His "Dick"
What could a customer and a coffee shop be scuffling over that would lead the owner to publicly announce that if the customer comes back in, he'll "punch him in the dick?" And the customer saying the only way he'll come back in is with "matches and a can of kerosene?" The right to pour espresso over ice, obviously. The blogstorm began as follows... More » -
receipt checking controversy
Washington D.C. Police Say Its OK For Off-Duty Cops To Detain You For Not Showing Receipt
Remember Matt? He was detained by an off-duty police officer who was employed as a security guard by the Home Depot because he did not show his receipt. Matt complained about this to the Home Depot and received an apology from Frank Blake, the CEO. He also filed a formal complaint with the Metropolitan police. He says the police found his complaint to be unfounded. More » -
apologies
Disgruntled Radiohead Fans Offered Free Lawn Tickets In New Jersey
The Washingtonian is reporting that a few disgruntled Radiohead fans who were forced to circle the parking lot rather than actually watch the Radiohead show they paid to see (and to park at... parking was included in the ticket price), were offered replacement tickets. In New Jersey. Now, we failed geography and can barely read so we don't actually know where this so-called "New Jersey" is, but it sounds like it's not in Washington D.C. Let's take a look at the map. Nope. Google maps says that the closest NJ Radiohead show (Susquehanna Bank Center Camden, NJ) is a 3 hour drive from the Nissan Pavilion where the first disastrous show took place.
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happy endings
Home Depot CEO Responds To Receipt Checking Story
Home Depot's CEO, Frank Blake, responded to Matt's complaint about being unlawfully detained by the Washington D.C. Metropolitan police after refusing to show his receipt to a Home Depot employee.
Here's his response:
Frank Blake, CEO of Home Depot, writes:
Mr [redacted]: I apologize for the bad service you've received from us (and for the detention)! But I thank you for taking the time to send this note. We are working hard to try to re-direct our company and deliver the customer service you should expect. - Frank blake
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receipt controversy
Unlawfully Detained At Home Depot For Not Showing Receipt
Reader Matt has launched the dreaded EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) on Home Depot—attaching a copy of a formal complaint that he filed with the Metropolitan Police in Washington, D.C.. More » -
false advertising
"So, I'm Suing Comcast..." Reader Joins Comcastic Class Action Lawsuit
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Comcast on behalf of D.C. area customers for "false advertising related to the speed of its Internet service," says the Washington Business Journal, and one of our own dear readers has written to tell us why he's joined up. It's an all-too-familiar-sounding story, but Jonathan's experience has been so awful that he says he'd rather go without internet and join a lawsuit than deal with Comcast anymore.
More »
My name is Jonathan [redacted], and have had the worst customer experience in my life in dealing with Comcast of DC over the last 5 months. From incompetent technicians, to gross abuses of billing procedures, to a simple lack of basic service, I am appalled at what they claim to be "Comcastic". In addition, I am a graduate student, and so do not have much time to fight with call center employees (60 hours and counting, no exaggeration) over their horrific overcharging; I also don't have time to sit at home for yet another technician who doesn't know anything about the services they are providing. For my work-study, I am an IT technician or an office building in downtown DC. As a result, I oftentimes know much more about networking than the technicians who are supposed to service my line! -
comcast
Comcast Ceases Throttling Traffic After Negative AP Story?
Last week, Comcast got positively busted by the AP for disrupting users who use a popular file-sharing method called BitTorrent. Now Reader Brandon in the DC area says:
I've found that Comcast isn't throttling traffic now that they've been exposed. I'd been throttled for the few days prior to the story, then two days after bam, I was downloading. I downloaded 2 gigs of music.
Comcast is probably just going into hiding so other outlets can't issue confirmation reports of the AP story, then after the news forgets about it, they'll go right back to it. But not the internet. The internet never forgets. Especially when you're trying to stop the internet from internetting.RELATED:
Comcast: "We Throttle Traffic To Help Other Users; Besides, It's Not Permanent"
Comcast Impersonates Users' Computers To Meddle With Internet Traffic -
usury
Payday Loans Die In DC
In a victory for consumers, Washington D.C. effectively outlawed payday lending today with the passage of the Payday Loan Consumer Protection Act capping lending interest rates at 24%. More » -
good intentions
Washington D.C. Gives Away Uncool, Defective Condoms
We're sure that Washington D.C. meant well when it started giving away free condoms in order to help stop the spread of H.I.V. in the US city with the highest AIDS rate. One problem: The condoms suck. More »
washington dc
New York, 8:13 AM
Fri Dec 5
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