Consumerist
-
whoops
Yankees Fans Celebrate Championship By Giving Away Your Private Information
In case the unlimited payroll, overpriced stadium, and everything else weren't enough, here's another reason to dislike the Yankees: their celebratory parades are havens for white collar crime. More » -
whoops
Bank Of America Forces Man To Pay $11,000 In Fraudulent Credit Card Charges
It's important to note that the Fair Credit Billing Act caps your liability at $50 for unauthorized credit card charges — but you have to notify the bank in a timely fashion that someone is using your card. (You should notify your bank in writing within 60 days of the first incorrect bill.) One Colorado man is finding out the hard way that not noticing an $11,000 charge to your account for months is really, really bad. More » -
whoops
American Airlines Misplaces Your Grandmother, Twice
Every once in awhile we post a sad story about someone's 85-year-old grandmother being left at the gate because nobody came to push the wheelchair. This is one of those stories. The difference, however, is that in this case American Airlines left the woman at the gate, apologized, got her a hotel, brought her back, and left her with a Skycap. She missed the second flight too. More » -
privacy
Bank's Fix For Erroneous Charges: Disclose Personal Information To Other Customers!
Taking outsourcing to an extreme, Bank of New Zealand decided that instead of figuring out why one woman's charges ended up on another customer's account, they would just give the customer the woman's name, home address, work address, email address and cellphone number so they could settle things for themselves. More » -
whoops
State Department Admits RFID Passports Are Insecure
The State Department is advising travelers using super-secure RFID-enabled passports to buy a "radio-opaque" holster, because it turns out that RFID chips aren't so super-secure after all. Don't fret if "radio-opaque sheath" isn't on your holiday shopping list, this is thankfully one of those rare problems that you can solve with a hammer... More » -
children
Frontier's Computer System Lands Unaccompanied Minor In Security Room For An Hour
Ok, here's a crazy idea: if you're an airline, and you have a form with room to list two adults who are authorized to pick up an unaccompanied minor, wouldn't it make sense to have room for both names in your computer system? Because whoever is running Frontier Airline's system doesn't seem to think so! Kayla's mother spent a frantic hour, IDs in hand, trying to prove that she was authorized to meet her 13-year-old daughter at the gate. The form accompanying her daughter clearly had both her and Kayla's father listed, but the computer listed only the father's name. While Frontier sorted out the confusion, Kayla spent an hour waiting in Denver Airport's security room. More » -
whoops
This Harry Potter Blu-Ray Set Requires A HD-DVD Player
Best Buy is still selling a defective Harry Potter Blu-Ray set that contains a HD-DVD version of the Goblet of Fire. The bumbled bundles were first discovered in 2007, but reader Bill found one sitting on a Best Buy shelf in Grand Junction, CO. More » -
whoops
Lawsuit: Lowe's Cabinet Installers Drill Into Water Lines Three Times
Here's an interesting little lawsuit from West Virginia. A customer is suing Lowe's, claiming that installers contracted by the hardware giant drilled into his water lines. Not once. Not twice. Three times. More » -
-
whoops
The IRS Isn't Sure Who They Hired Or Why Your Sensitive Tax Documents Are Filed In Dumpsters
Here are three things you didn't want to know: 1) The IRS doesn't always conduct background checks on the employees contracted to handle your sensitive tax documents; 2) Those contracted employees regularly toss your sensitive tax documents into dumpsters without first shedding them; 3) The IRS doesn't really know who's in charge of conducting background checks on contracted employees, or who's responsible for keeping your sensitive tax documents shredded and out of dumpsters. At least that's what the Treasury Inspector General's office uncovered when it audited everyone's favorite auditors. More » -
retail
Returning These Games To Best Buy Could Get A Little Awkward
Reader Charlton went to Best Buy to buy some games. He successfully accomplished his task, only to find that opening his purchase was going to be a little difficult. More » -
whoops
Greyhound Accidentally Charges $1,000 For A $70 Bus Ticket
Greyhound tickets from Raleigh to Asheville cost $67.50, unless you're Meg Stivison. Then they cost over $1,000. Greyhound repeatedly charged Stivison's debit card while insisting that she didn't know the address on her bank statement. Meg ended up driving down to the bus terminal to buy a ticket, but that was just the start of her nightmarish journey... More » -
terms and conditions
This Office Depot Coupon Apparently Applies To Everything
Tipster Paul quips, "perhaps they should invest in a 'techonology' like spell check..." [Office Depot]
-
whoops
Private Food Safety Inspectors Routinely Give Seal Of Approval To Dangerous Food
Large companies routinely rely on private audits to prove that their food is safe even though private auditors are dangerously incompetent, according to a New York Times investigation. The private auditor who inspected the Peanut Corporation of America plant responsible for unleashing the massive salmonella contamination was trained to audit bakeries and repeatedly gave the plant a "SUPERIOR" rating, partly because he "never thought that [salmonella] would survive in the peanut butter type environment." More » -
whoops
PayPal Charges $81,400,836,908 For $26 Tank Of Gas
Juan Zamora fed his 1994 Chevy Camaro $26 worth of gas, a transaction for which PayPal charged his debit card $81,400,836,908. Unsurprisingly, PayPal saw nothing wrong with the charge and demanded that Juan prove that he didn't actually buy $81.4 billion worth of gas. More » -
Helpful Reminders
No, You Should Not Launch An E.E.C.B. Against Your Own Employer
Do not launch an Executive Email Carpet Bomb against your own company or it will explode in your face. Reader E discovered this the hard way when he tried to use an E.E.C.B. to convince the bank where he worked to reverse $300 worth of overdraft fees. More » -
whoops
Citibank Sends Nigerian Scammer $27 Million
37-year-old Nigerian scammer Paul Gabriel Amos convinced Citibank officials to wire him $27 million belonging to Ethiopia. Rather than go with the usual Nigerian nom de plumes like prince or will executor, Famous Amos pretended to be an official with the National Bank of Ethiopia. Amos forged "official-looking" documents that confirmed his status with the central bank and instructed Citibank to await faxes telling them where to send the country's cash. More » -
Harvard University's endowment, the largest of any university, has lost 22% of its value in the past year — or approximately $8 billion. Ouch. [MarketWatch]
MORE » -
whoops
US Airways Loses Your 83-Year-Old Mother
It's bad enough when they lose your luggage, but what do you do when the airline loses your 83-year-old mother? File a claim? Poor Vera Kuemmel had to answer this very question as she waited in vain at the baggage claim of the Tampa airport. More »
whoops
New York, 3:49 PM
Sat Nov 14
10 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@consumerist.com
tipline: 347-42C-ON95
Co-Managing Editor:
Ben Popken
Email | AIM | Twitter
Co-Managing Editor:
Meghann Marco
Email | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Chris Walters
Email | Twitter
Weekend Editor:
Laura Northrup
Email | AIM | Twitter
Associate Editor:
Alex Chasick | Email
Associate Editor:
Phil Villarreal
Email
