At last Friday's championship celebration parade, featuring World Series MVP Sean Carter, Yankee fans, apparently lacking confetti, flung documents containing sensitive personal information into the air.

According to Fox 5 New York, "Some of the documents were medical records listing names, addresses, insurance information, medical diagnoses, and other private information. One document was somebody's stock brokerage account, containing financial information."

Sure, it's not technically the Yankees' fault, but when your owner is a convicted felon, disrespect for the law will trickle down to the fans.

Private Documents Tossed on Yankees Parade [Fox 5 New York]
(Photo: frankieleon)

Unfortunately, he may be stuck with the debt. First, because he didn't notice the charges and kept paying the usual amount month after month — then because Bank of America demanded $2,500 that he didn't have — so he transferred some of the debt to another credit card.

"So, to avoid the $2,500 which I did not have in cash at the time, I just...I talked to (Chase) and I said I want to transfer this amount of money from another card over," said Godding.
He transferred the balance to a Chase account with a high credit line. That proved to be the second critical error. An attorney told Godding that because he transferred the balance, the debt is likely now his.
"I made the total payoff when I switched. I shouldn't have paid it," said Godding.
Now, he's stuck paying a $500 minimum monthly payment.

Bank of America says its looking into the situation, and the man, who was retired but now has gone back to work part-time job to pay off the debt, says he only blames himself.

"Pay attention. Observe. Watch what you're doing," he told ABC7 in Denver.

We hope Bank of America helps him out.

Retiree Forced To Pay $11,000 In Fraudulent Credit Card Charges [The Denver Channel] (Thanks, Kensey!)
Fair Credit Billing [FTC]
Your Liability for Unauthorized Credit and Debit Card Charges [NOLO]
(Photo:epicharmus)

The abandoned woman isn't even angry at the airline. She says she loves flying and will do it again. Her kids, however are not in a very good mood after hours of wondering what happened to their mother.

The trouble started Tuesday. Ms. Jones had a connecting flight at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. She made the connection in time, but no one pushed her wheelchair down the jetway.

After the gate agent realized what had happened, he called her family and American Airlines arranged for food and a hotel room. The following morning Ms. Jones was returned to the Terminal and left with a Skycap. Nobody helped her to her gate and she missed the second flight, too. Eventually she was upgraded to first class and given a $100 voucher for a future flight.

Ms. Jones' family says that they are upset about the lack of communication from AA.

From WFAA:

"It's just a simple human error," said Tim Wagner, an American Airlines spokesman. "We apologized profusely to Ms. Jones. We've done everything we've been able to do to make her comfortable."

American Airlines forgets grandmother at gate [WFAA]

The Carterton man, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Herald that when he and his wife noticed the Auckland purchase they called BNZ to ask what went wrong.

He said he was "astounded" when a staff member denied the bank was responsible and then gave him Mrs Hansford's home address, work address, mobile phone number and private email address so he could sort the situation out himself.

"We were advising them of a fraudulent transaction and they couldn't care less," he said.

"I was incredulous and surprised and wondering why the bank didn't do basic checks like the person's name and address before the transaction. Their basic response was 'tough - if you don't like it - tough'. Which was when we cancelled the account."

Bank of New Zealand offered the woman $2,000 to apologize for sharing her personal information. She turned it down and canceled her account.

Customers' anger as bank passes on personal details [New Zealand Herald]

Give the back of your passport a few good whacks and hope the feds don't give you 25 years for tampering with a passport.

The State Department asserts that hackers won't find any practical use for data skimmed from RFID chips embedded in the cards, but "if you don't want the cards read, put them in an attenuation sleeve," says John Brennan, a senior policy adviser at the Office of Consular Affairs.

Gigi Zenk, a spokeswoman for the Washington state Department of Licensing, says the envelope her state offers with the enhanced driver's license "ensures that nothing can scan it at all."

But that wasn't what researchers from the University of Washington and RSA Laboratories, a data security company in Bedford, Mass., found last year while testing the data security of the cards.

The PASS card "is readable under certain circumstances in a crumpled sleeve," though not in a well maintained sleeve, the researchers wrote in a report.

Another test on the enhanced driver's license demonstrated that even when the sleeve was in pristine condition, a clandestine reader could skim data from the license at a distance of a half yard.

Well well, State Department, here's a sad little communiqué you never expected from the internet: we told you so.

Special alloy sleeves urged to block hackers? [AP via Upgrade: Travel Better]
PREVIOUSLY: HOW TO: Disable RFID in Your New Passport
(Photo: Ryan McFarland)

Our tipster writes:

My 13 year old daughter Taylor's best friend Kayla moved to Colorado last year. As Taylor and Kayla were saying their goodbyes we told them we would have Kayla out for a visit someday.

So this summer Kayla's parents arranged for Kayla to come visit my Daughter here in California for a week in June. Kayla's parents flew her out via Frontier airlines and paid the extra $100 unaccompanied minor fee. My wife picked Kayla up from the airport without a hitch and everything was fine.

Fast forward to the day of the return trip a week later.

Kayla's flight was scheduled to leave from San Diego at 2:59PM. I called Frontier Airlines around 11:00 AM to make sure the flight was on time and to see how early we needed to arrive at the airport and to verify her reservation. While talking to the agent I found out that even though Kayla's mother had put me on the list of people authorized to receive a gate pass so I could walk Kayla to her departure gate, I was not showing up in Frontiers computer system. After a few phone calls to Kayla's Mother and to Frontier we straightened this out and I was placed on the approval list in Frontiers System.

We showed up 2 hours early to the airport for her flight. While checking Kayla in I was required to fill out Frontiers standard unaccompanied minor request for carriage form which contains all the contact information on who is dropping the minor off and who will be picking the minor up from the destination airport. The form was filled out completely with both kaylas mother and father being the recipients. Kayla bags were checked in and I was given a gate pass.

After waiting an hour and a half at the departure gate the same ticket agent that checked us in called Kayla's name to board early. We walked up to the gate and gave the agent the paperwork we had along with the request for carriage form. The agent took the paperwork, said thank you and immediately turned and started walking down boarding ramp with Kayla. I stopped the agent and asked, "dont I get a receipt or anything?! " The agent stopped and looked at the other agent at the gate. "I guess we could give him our copy" she said to the agent behind the check in counter. She then flipped through the FIVE duplicate pages on the form and pulled out a canary colored copy and gave it to me. I commented to her that I just gave her a very precious passenger and to be careful with her. I also told Kayla that if she was taken off the plane for any reason to immediately call me. I called Kayla's mother and let her know that her daughter was on the flight and was on her way home and to call me as soon as she had Kayla in hand.

So fast forward 3 hours later and I get a call from Kaylas Mother. I was expecting to hear that she had Kayla but instead she asked who's name I had filled out on the request for carriage form. She had been getting the run around at the Frontier check gate in Colorado. Even though she was the legal guardian and had the proper forms and I.D. Frontier would not let her have a gate pass to meet and pick up her daughter at the gate. When I talked to her she was frantic. I checked the receipt that I insisted the agent in San Diego give me. Her mother was listed first and then her Father.

So I called Frontier airlines and explained the situation. They told me that they didn't know why her mother was not on the list but that her father was listed and there is only room in the system for one name. They said it was corrected and I called Kayla's mother back to inform her. At this point the plane had been on the ground for some time and through text messages we found out Kayla was taken to a security station at the denver airport and placed in a holding room. It was about an hour before she was finally reunited with her mother.

In my opinion this is inexcusable. Not only did her mother have to pay an extra $100 unaccompanied minor charge to the airline, but the airline dropped the ball and didn't get it right. They left a mother in a panic for an hour in a busy airport and scared the heck out of an innocent 13 year old girl by placing her in a security room. All the agents had to do is look at the request for carriage form that was with her.

I'm writing this because I think Frontier Airlines needs to carefully review and revise their procedures to insure that this never has to happen to another parent of child flying with them again. I think they also owe Kayla's mother a refund for at least $100 for the unaccompanied minor fee and a huge apology .

(Photo: ATIS547)

He writes:

My wife picked up the Harry Potter Blu-Ray set today from our local Grand Junction, CO Best Buy and when we got home, we realized that the fourth film, Goblet of Fire, was actually an HD-DVD instead of a Blu-Ray. I realize now that this problem was reported when the set originally came out in December 2007, but it is surprising that there are still sets in the supply chain that still have this problem. The good news is that Best Buy was happy to exchange the set for another set that they had in stock, and that set contained only Blu-Ray discs. So my daughter is happily watching Harry Potter in Blu-Ray high-definition this evening.

PREVIOUSLY: Harry Potter Blu-ray Includes Unintended HD DVD [Gizmodo]
(Photo: AVS Forums)

The now-allegedly-quite-soggy Lowe's customer says he hired the store to design and install kitchen cabinets back in June of 2007. A month later he says a crew contracted by Lowe's installed the cabinets — and drilled into his water line. When they came back to correct their mistakes — he says they did it again. And again.

He claims that the leaks have caused water and mold damage and is seeking compensation. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Clay man sues over cabinet installation [WV Record]
(Photo:slhpatterson)

"We found evidence of only 2 instances where IRS personnel conducted visitations to shred/burn facilities in the past 2 fiscal years," the report notes. "Not all Territory Managers were even able to identify the contractor who provided their shred/burn services or where they were located. None of the four contractor sites we visited had ever received a request from the IRS to inspect their facility or onsite records."

In response, the IRS says it will keep close watch on both its dumpsters and contracted employees. Honest!

Increased Management Oversight of the Sensitive but Unclassified Waste Disposal Process Is Needed to Prevent Inadvertent Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information (Audit # 200830008) (pdf) [Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration]
Report: IRS Created Dumpster-Diver Swimming Holes [The Washington Post]
(Photo: sonyaseattle)

Charlton says:

From the looks, the lack of removing the security boxes Best Buy suffers the same symptoms as our deranged friend Target! This also gave me great practice on how to open them if I ever want a five finger discount!

I wasn't paying attention when the cashier did it. The kicker was the alarms didn't go off when I walked through the door! I would have called and reported it to them but they are 30 minutes away and I wasn't going to drive back to return two cheap cases.

It's probably best that you didn't bother, otherwise our headline would probably be "Best Buy Accuses You Of Stealing Games."

Meg tried calling Greyhound to sort out the overcharge. Greyhound has a separate phone tree option for overcharges, but it leads only to static indifference. Greyhound's customer service voicemail is equally useless and didn't seem to be connected to anything either.

Greyhound eventually felt bad for the overcharge and the cold shoulder so they sent Meg a letter.

...yesterday, I got a form letter from Greyhound, apologizing because of my "concerns regarding not being able to reach customer service". What? I wasn't calling up customer service to say hello! I was calling about the THOUSAND DOLLARS I'd been overcharged. I didn't need a apology because no one picked up the phone, especially that apology completely ignored the reason I was calling, those ten times they charged my card.

So now I'm completely furious again. I don't want a voucher for a discount my next ticket, I'm pretty sure this has been my last Greyhound trip. Isn't an old saying about this kind of situation: Overcharge me a thousand dollars once, shame on you. But twice, shame on me. Something like that. But I would like a "Sorry we were incredibly rude about not being able to sell you a ticket, while actually charging you ten times for that ticket. Sorry that when you called about that, our customer service number goes straight to disconnected voicemail." form letter.

Think they've got one of those made up?

Don't count on Greyhound to do reverse the charges. Call you bank instead and ask them to return your cash. If they've ever ridden Greyhound before, they should be more than sympathetic.

Greyhound Form Letter [Simpson's Paradox]
(Photo: heliosphan)

Audits are not required by the government, but food companies are increasingly requiring suppliers to undergo them as a way to ensure safety and minimize liability. The rigor of audits varies widely and many companies choose the cheapest ones, which cost as little as $1,000, in contrast to the $8,000 the Food and Drug Administration spends to inspect a plant.

Typically, the private auditors inspect only manufacturing plants, not the suppliers that feed ingredients to those facilities. Nor do they commonly test the actual food products for pathogens, even though gleaming production lines can turn out poisoned fare.

As in the Georgia peanut case, auditors are also usually paid by the food plants they inspect, which some experts said could deter them from cracking down. Yet food companies often point to an auditor's certificate as a seal of approval.

The baking institute, which is based in Manhattan, Kan., and is also known as AIB International, says it inspected more than 10,000 food production sites in 80 countries last year. James R. Munyon, its president and chief executive, said his group's inspections were reliable and tough, no matter who pays for them, but he declined to elaborate on specific audits.

Even worse, employees with safety concerns are told to defer to the private audits.

Both the government and industry are aware of the problem. The government's solution? "Expanding the role of private auditors to inspect the more than 200,000 foreign facilities that ship food to the United States."

Robert A. LaBudde, a food safety expert who has consulted with food companies for 30 years, said, "The only thing that matters is productivity." He added that "you only get in trouble if someone in the media traces it back to you, and that's rare, like a meteor strike."

Dr. LaBudde said a sausage plant hired him five years ago to determine the species of bacillus plaguing its meat. But the owner then refused to complete the testing. "I called them ‘anthrax sausages,' and said they could be killing older people in the state, and still they wouldn't do it," he said, declining to name the company.

Food Safety Problems Slip Past Private Inspectors [The New York Times]

He only learned of the astounding figure when he received an email later that afternoon informing him that his debit card, which started out with $90 on it, was maxed out.

Initially, Mr. Zamora thought it must've been a joke. But after contacting PayPal customer service he was surprised to see that the company treated it as anything but a laughing matter.

"Somebody from a foreign country who spoke in broken English argued with me for 10 to 15 minutes," Zamora said. " ‘Did you get the gas?' he asked. Like I had to prove that I didn't pump $81,400,836,908 in gas!"

He would have needed more than 3 billion fill-ups of the amount he actually pumped into his tank in order to reach that outrageous sum.

Eventually, Zamora said, he was finally able to convince the representative that he didn't deserve to be in the same position as General Motors, who has lost roughly 80 billion dollars since 2005.

When Zamora returned to the Conoco gas station, he said, the attendant would not believe him until he showed her the printout of the PayPal receipt.

What moral is Juan taking away from the story? "Pay cash."

Driver Fills up Gas Tank, Receives Bill For $81 Billion [Consumer Energy Report via Jalopnik]
(Photo: NASA)

E. writes:

I've been an avid reader of this site for several months now and I find a lot of the advice helpful, or at least interesting. But I do have a word of warning regarding the EECB practice.

I work for a major, national bank with whom I also have my accounts. During the month of February I had an incident occur where I incurred multiple overdraft fees totaling almost $300 due to the policy of clearing items from largest to smallest. I tried to resolve the issue through the main customer service line, but got little help. I was extremely frustrated and decided to take my next move out of the Consumerist playbook and launch an EECB to several of the higher ups to try to get some money refunded.

Well, about a week later I have the district president call me into my manager's office who sits me down and tells me that what I did was inappropriate and put me in a negative light with the company. I was mortified. The president continues to tell me that I breached the code of ethics of the company and should have gone to my manager first (neither of which I was aware of).

EECBs can be a great technique for a regular consumer, but if that person happens to be an employee as well as a customer, it can get him/her in hot water.

(I won't name the bank, because it will likely get me in even more trouble; I just wanted to put the warning out there)

If you have an issue with your employer, take advantage of your insider status and escalate your complaint properly through normal channels.

There was also a list of officials who could be called to confirm such requests. The signatures of the officials appeared to match those in Citibank's records and were accepted by Citibank, the complaint says.

In October, Citibank received two dozen faxed requests for money to be wired, and it transferred $27 million to accounts controlled by the conspirators in Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, Cyprus and the United States, the complaint says.

Citibank called the officials whose names and numbers it had been given to verify the transactions, prosecutors said. The numbers turned out to be for cellphones in Nigeria, South Africa and Britain used by the conspirators.

Citibank, in its investigation, later determined the package of documents had come via courier from Lagos, Nigeria, rather than from the offices of the National Bank of Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa.

The FBI arrested Amos when he tried to visit Los Angeles. Citibank sent the $27 million back to Ethopia and may soon form a support group with this guy.

Nigerian Accused in Scheme to Swindle Citibank [The New York Times]
(Photo: TheTruthAbout...)

From 10Connects:

Wheelchair-bound Elfride Kuemmel was on her way back home to Tampa Monday when a US Airways employee wheeled her on to the wrong connecting flight.

The 83-year-old wound up in Puerto Rico, where she was initially told she'd have to spend the night at the airport.

Vera, of course, objected to this idea.

"I was upset, and I told them there was no way they were going to leave her in the airport all night waiting to leave on a flight at 3:30 in the afternoon," she told the local news.

US Airways ended up buying Elfride dinner, a hotel room, and a flight back to Florida. First class.

Elderly Tampa woman ''lost'' by US Airways [10Connects]

"Dear Mr. Soandso," it says, "We haven't seen you in a year and the truth is, we miss you! We really wish you would jet out of town so we can spend some quality time together..."

They then apologized for the "technical error with our database."

How JetBlue has fallen... [Penchuk]
Mr. So and So [One Sided War] (Thanks, G. Y.!)

Apparently, not even working at a place like CR can keep you from accidentally peeling your skin off with a power washer.

The story explicitly said make sure you don't point it at yourself. Our video even had a guy who had really hurt his foot that way, as I recall. "I'll never do that," I said confidently. And, sure enough, the first time I used the device I managed to just brush the edge of my wrist with the stream. No skin left.

Staff blunders: Times when we didn't heed our own advice [Consumer Reports]

Tim writes:

I thought you might find the attached (redacted) letter of interest. I’ve had an unlisted phone number for over 30 years, but no more. Moreover, although I use a PO box for billing and everything else, this letter was sent to my street address, so that is probably the address that was sold and will be associated with my phone number. The worst of both worlds.

You can't un-ring a bell, but at last Charter seems slightly sorry for the surprise outing. Other than not publishing Tim's number in the first place, how else, if at all, do you think Charter should respond?

(Photo: Getty)

We're Sorry!
The Best Buy® Reward Zone® program is always looking at ways to make our program even better for our members. You have inadvertently and inaccurately received this e-mail during an initial testing process. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. You continue to maintain your current membership status. If you are eligible for the Reward Zone program Premier Black pilot that will be run in a limited number of select areas, we will notify you by a separate email. If you have any questions about this or the Reward Zone program, please view our Program Overview page or contact our Customer Service Center at 1-888-237-8289. Thank you.

Reader David, who forwarded this email says:

So apparently Best Buy decided that they don't want me in their special elite program. Fine, I'll just stick with saving money by buying online.

Yeah, tragic isn't it?

The bank initially downplayed the issue, calling it an “infrastructure problem” or a “systems issue involving disks in our mainframe computer” that affected “certain applications.” In reality, it was much worse.

“It’s very serious to have your core system go down,” said Bart Narter, senior vice president of the banking group at technology research firm Celent. “It is a major technical failure.”

A bank’s core system is the back-office computer that keeps track of checking and other account balances and transactions. Many other bank systems, such as online banking and ATMs, rely on the information in that system. Other computer systems are unrelated.

“The core system is the system of record, the absolute arbiter of how much money you have and how much money you deposited today,” Narter said.

Most U. S. banks do not operate in “real time,” but rather keep computerized notes or “memos” of all transactions that occur during a given day, Narter said. At night, during a specified window when the bank shuts down, officials run the core program to update the accounts using “batches” of those transaction records. They then bring the system back up in the morning.

If the hard drive fails, the bank has to reboot and restore the system, and then rerun the overnight batches to catch up. That takes time at a big bank.

“This is a bank’s worst nightmare, to have the core banking system goes down,” he said. “That means any channel you go to, they’re running blind.”

The bank is keeping select upstate branches open late so Catholic Health System employees can come in and trade their pay stubs for cash. As for affected HSBCDirect customers, the bank promises to "return full–system functionality to you as soon as possible."

HSBC’s issues mostly repaired, but cause still sought [The Buffalo News]
HSBC struggles with customer transactions after crash of computer system [The Buffalo News]
(Photo: Getty)

From the Daily Mail:

Mrs Ralph, 57, a civil servant, said: 'I bought the packet of five multi-coloured knickers. Because they are in a packet, you can't see the writing "Dive In" on them.

'I was extremely shocked when I saw what was on them and I don't believe Disney or anyone else is so stupid not to realise the implications of the wording they chose.

'You let your children watch all these programmes, which are innocent and nice.

'But the merchandising that runs alongside them is the complete opposite. It's sexually suggestive, inappropriate and wholeheartedly wrong in some cases.

Disney has issued the following statement:

"Unfortunately, an oversight was made and the text on the underwear was used out context,” Disney said in a statement. “This product will not be part of any forthcoming collections and the remaining product has been removed from shelves.”

That's probably for the best.

Outrage at High School Musical knickers for young girls emblazoned with the words 'Dive In' [Daily Mail]

Disney says no to ‘Musical’ panties [Reuters via Fark]

I thought I'd let you guys in on a nasty little surprise I was involved in over the weekend. I filled up my car at my usual gas station in Springfield, MO, started driving across the state to see my family, and noticed about halfway home that my car was acting funny. When I got home, the car died in the driveway. The mechanic who we took the car to told me it was filled with diesel.

Turns out, a local distribution center had a trucker dump diesel into a regular gas tank. That gas then got sent to an unknown amount of local gas stations. At least one other gas station besides the one I used were confirmed to have the contaminated gas. Interestingly, the other gas station got the fuel at 7:30 am and shut the pumps down by 8:30. My gas station, however, was still pumping out diesel at 11:52.

Anywho, the gas station I fueled up at, Kum 'n' Go, is paying for repairs. So, if anyone in the Springfield area (or anywhere, in general) happens to end up with a load of diesel by accident, go back to your gas station and demand a compensation. I'm waiting on my check now.

Yikes! It's nice to know that not only does Kum 'N Go have the best name of any gas station we've ever seen, but that they own up to their mistakes, too.

(Photo: SA_Steve )

I'm a little pissed off right now. I missed the last 30 seconds of Game 3 of the NBA finals because the local ABC affiliate (KAKE in Wichita, KS) decided to run a test of the emergency alert system. That's right, a TEST! On what proved to be Boston's last shot at closing the gap, I was treated to a series of bleeps and bloops accompanying a gray screen, and was reunited with game coverage in time to see the players walking to the locker room. I soon found out that there was no miracle, and that the Celtics did indeed lose. But that's besides the point.
I called KAKE, politely explained what happened, and asked if anyone else had called in to report this. She said no, and also added this: "It's a required monthly test, and I'm not sure that we can do anything about the timing of it." I find that very hard to believe. Is FOX helpless to stop the EAS test from popping up during the last 30 seconds of the Super Bowl? Will they simply shrug their shoulders and say that there was nothing they could do about it? Unlikely.
I asked if she could bring it to someone's attention, and said that I was very disappointed that this happened. She said that she would "look into it", and made no apologies.
...Unbelievable.

Wikipedia says that EAS tests aren't supposed to be scheduled during important live events such as the Oscars, or the Superbowl, but we weren't able to find anything on the FCC's website that confirmed that rule. Anyone work in TV? Want to enlighten us?

As if that wasn't hostile enough, when a local sports reporter contacted the Lions for comment, and suggested that the tone of the F-bomb email shed some light on the larger issue of the Detroit Lions producing a generally poor football "product," the Lions executive vice president and chief operating officer, Tom Lewand, replied: "If you write that, it will be factually incorrect and bordering on slander," Lewand said. "And I will come after you." Boy, they sure are grouchy up there at Ford Field. Cheer up! Brett Favre retired!

From the Oakland Press:

Furlong owned season tickets for three years. He had two in the club level the first year. The second year, he received two more in the lower level stands after being on a waiting list — so he had four. The third season, they reduced the size of the club level, including a portion where his seats were located, which were on the aisle.

He said he wanted to keep those two seats, add two club-level seats and asked that two seats he had in the stands be combined with his seats from the club level that were moved to the stands. The Lions agreed. It gave him six season tickets.

But when he went to sit in his old seats, somebody else was sitting in them. He asked them to leave, but when he looked at his tickets, he noticed his seats had been moved.

"It was an embarrassing and awkward moment," Furlong said. "I was stunned."

When he contacted the Lions, he was told nothing could be done about it during the 2007 season, but he was promised aisle seats for 2008.

Yet, when Furlong received his season ticket invoice for 2008, it was for the same seats he had in 2007.

It was then that Furlong canceled his season tickets in an e-mail to Schul. Powser then e-mailed Furlong with an offer for more desirable seats, but Furlong said it was a matter of principle — and he wouldn't accept the offer.

Then Furlong received the inadvertent e-mail from Schul.

The entire e-mail reads, "Lance...he is not talking about you here. Mark was asked to speak to these people and he said no. F... 'em until next year."

"Mark" is Lions ticket director Mark Graham.

Once he heard of the e-mail, Lewand called Furlong and invited him to a game.

"I did so before I heard from any media on this," he said.

Lewand offered no excuses for the incident, but absolved Graham from blame, although the e-mail in question indicates Graham refused to discuss the issue with season ticketholders such as Furlong, who had their seats unexpectedly moved for the 2007 season.

"It was an inaccurate characterization of a conversation held in 2007, not this year,'' Lewand said of Schul's e-mail.

Lewand said he was, "deeply disappointed with the e-mail and light it portrayed, and I have addressed it."

"There are a number of different levels this could have been avoided and we realize that," Lewand said. "One, with the invoice we sent out for this year. If it had been correct, none of this would have happened. We never condone our fans being discussed in that manner, whether it be in an e-mail or any type of discussion among members of our organization."

Whoops. We'd always assumed that season ticket holders got good customer service, considering the amount of money they spent. Guess not.

The Detroit Lions have since "clarified" that "I will come after you" wasn't meant as a threat towards Pat Caputo, the Oakland Press writer.

Does e-mail show how Lions really feel about their fans? [Oakland Press](Thanks, Kraig!)
(Photo: yodie ann )

One local taxpayer, who asked not to be identified, reported that he had discovered an unexpected deposit of $1,800 in his bank account. He said a review of his bank records revealed that it was a deposit from the IRS bearing another taxpayer's Social Security number. He said he contacted the IRS and was told by an agent that the deposit was one of 15,000 misrouted checks sent out incorrectly as a result of a computer programming glitch.

[Internal Revenue Service spokesman Kevin McKeon] said he could not confirm that figure or that a computer problem was responsible.

The government will want its cash back, so don't giddily spend any unexpected stimulus money. Paper checks can be mailed back to the IRS, while those with direct deposit should report the error to their bank.

IRS: Some stimulus checks sent to wrong accounts [Newsday]
(Photo: Joe Shlabotnik)

From Slate:

Reading McTeague's comment over coffee yesterday morning, I couldn't help but think of an advertisement I'd seen a few months ago while on a reporting trip to China. I was walking from my Beijing bed-and-breakfast to a nearby subway station when I was stopped in my tracks by a billboard that made the controversial 1990s Calvin Klein underwear ads look artistic by comparison. Staring down at the throngs of shoppers on Beijing's Xinjiekou Nandajie Avenue, a busy commercial thoroughfare about a mile west of the Forbidden City, was a white girl who looked all of 12, reclining in a matching bra-and-panties set adorned with Disney's signature mouse-ear design. In a particularly creepy detail, the pigtailed child was playing with a pair of Minnie Mouse hand puppets. In the upper left-hand corner was the familiar script of the Disney logo.

Not believing my eyes, and on an assignment that touched on images of Westerners in the Chinese consumer's imagination, I snapped a photo:

After reading of the Cyrus flap, I e-mailed my photo to Disney's McTeague. I was curious: How did the company square its position on the Liebowitz photo with its risqué billboard in China?

McTeague passed on commenting and forwarded the image to Gary Foster, a spokesman for Disney's consumer-products division. He called me from a business trip (to China) to disavow the ad. "It has caught us totally by surprise," Foster told me by phone from Guangzhou. He explained that Disney contracts with a host of licensees, who produce and market products for the Disney brand. Foster said that licensees are contractually bound to clear all advertising with Disney's corporate offices. "We have literally hundreds of licensees making our products. They are supposed to submit any kind of imagery to us before it is used, but it's hard to enforce that sometimes," he said.

Mickey Mouse Operation [Slate]
(Photo: Daniel Brook )

The tickets were supposed to cost 1775 Euros. Whoops!

The airline is refusing to honor the tickets, saying:

"It is a genuine mistake, a fundamental mistake on our part. We rectified it as quickly as we could. We have contacted the customers and given them the opportunity to re-book," he told RTE state radio.

"To sell a business class flight for a fiver... that is a genuine mistake, people are going to know that there is something up.

"It is really a case of 'if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true'," he added.

"The offer was made, it was accepted by Aer Lingus. Consumers booked and paid to bind the contract.

"Realistically I think Aer Lingus is going to have to do something to abide by it (the booking) and to help them,' he said.

Airline seeks to cancel 'accidental' sale fare [The Age] (Thanks, Mandy!)
(Photo:Cubbie'N Vegas)

WNBC has an eyewitness report:

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

When the man finally stopped praying, he explained that he couldn't interrupt his religious ritual and wasn't trying to be rude. But the attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.

Praying Passenger Removed From Flight At JFK [WNBC]
(Photo:Travelin' Librarian)

Now the videos are available to anyone who wants to see them —for a price. Lawyers, reporters, activists and journalists are lining up at the production company's tiny new office, cash in hand.

From the WSJ:

They sold their 20,000-square-foot production facility and moved into an 800-square-foot rented office. They now hope to sustain the company by selling access to the Wal-Mart videos. They charge $250 an hour for video research, and additional fees for a DVD copy of film clips.

Plaintiffs attorney Diane M. Breneman stumbled across the videos while working on a lawsuit she filed in 2005, on behalf of a 12-year-old boy, against Wal-Mart and the manufacturer of a plastic gasoline can sold in its stores. Her client was injured when he poured gasoline from the container onto a pile of wet wood he had been trying to light, and the can exploded. The lawsuit alleges that the containers are unsafe because they don't contain a device that prevents flames from jumping up the spout and exploding.

Wal-Mart's lawyers have argued in court filings that the retailer couldn't have known that the product "presented any reasonable foreseeable risk...in the normal and expected use."

Ms. Breneman says that when she first laid eyes on the racks of tapes, "I thought, 'How could anyone in the world allow this to exist?'" The videos, she says, deal with "everything anyone would want on Wal-Mart....They've got 30 years of people winging it."

Ms. Breneman says Flagler Productions located videos of product presentations to Wal-Mart managers in which executives gave parody testimonials about the same brand of gasoline can. In an apparent coincidence, one manager joked about setting fire to wet wood: "I torched it. Boom! Fired right up." In a separate skit, an employee is seen driving a riding lawn mower into a display of empty gasoline cans. A Wal-Mart executive vice president observing the collision jokes: "A great gas can. It didn't explode." The tapes were made before the lawsuit was filed.

The video company says it offered to sell the tapes to Walmart for several million dollars, but the retailer would pay only $500,000, saying that the "footage wouldn't be of interest elsewhere."

Candid Camera: Trove of Videos Vexes Wal-Mart [WSJ]
(Photo:Clean Wal-mart)

I discovered last night that my Comcast Adult on Demand channel is 333. Easy buttons for a child to accidently press, particularly when Nickelodeon is 33. That's right, one extra push, and my five year old gets the Playboy listings instead of Spongebob.

Yeah, I blocked Adult on Demand, but I only found it in the first place because I was searching the hinterlands of Showtime en español.

(Photo:rick)

He told viewers: "Don't move your money from Bear! That's just being silly! Don't be silly!"

Cramer and CNBC have defended his statements, arguing that Cramer's assertions on the bank were in reference to a viewer's question on Bear Stearns' liquidity, not its stock prices.

CNBC spokesman Brian Steel said that on the Friday before Bear's meltdown, Cramer presciently called the bank's stock worthless. Cramer could not be reached for direct comment.

"I think that anybody who has a fundamental understanding about capital markets knows the distinction between [a] question about stocks and liquidity," Steel said.

Whether Cramer's viewers understood that the host and former hedge fund manager was not talking about Bear Stearns' stocks is unclear. Meanwhile CNBC's defense of Cramer has not insulated its heavily promoted star.

In recent days, finance and news blogs have blasted Cramer, and Comedy Central's news parody "The Daily Show" gave him a not-so-gentle ribbing: "I love the way Jim Cramer breaks down really complex financial issues into ones that are wrong," host Jon Stewart said.

Upping the snark factor was Fox Business News, which took out half-page ads Monday in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, comparing Cramer's words to some of the most infamous quotes of the last century, including Neville Chamberlain's famous statement after conceding Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler's Germany: "I believe it is peace for our time."

What do you think? Is Jim Cramer bad for you? Has he turned you into one of those losers from the E*Trade commercials? Wow, man. I just bought a stock from Hong Kong.

Should You Stay Away From Jim Cramer? [ABCNews]

"So, everybody calls Allegiant Air," Rigas said. "Three people got hung up on."

"'You're on your own' is basically what they told us," Duncan said.

Roy Harris, Jr., a passenger from Huntsville, called an attorney after he realized nothing was being done to help the passengers.

"At first, they did not want to give us a refund," he said. "Their attitude was, 'Too bad, you lost your money.' "

The people who did get through to Allegiant Air were told it was their fault for not getting to the airport two hours before their flight, Harris said.

"I arrived early before the flight," he said, "but not as early as some others who had been there up to three hours."

Travelers left holding their bags as flight leaves without them [The Huntsville Times]
(Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas)

"Taking it seriously" is a phrase companies use over and over again in public statements whenever they have bad PR. Our series of posts on occurrences of the phrase is our attempt to question how seriously companies are really taking these matters if every time they trot out this phrase by rote.

(Photo: Getty)

The following is why my girlfriend and I will never fly AirTran again and why we are extremely disappointed in American Express for their lack of concern for a consumer getting the royal screwjob.

My girlfriend and I had planned a weekend (Feb 8th - Feb 10th) to visit her brother in Baltimore and booked a flight through AirTran because they were the most reasonable. We left Boston Logan and arrived at Baltimore/Washinton, MD (BWI) just fine. We also had a great weekend.

Then came time for our return flight. Being the tech savvy people that we are, we checked AirTran's website to ensure that our flight was on time and it was not. Not a big deal, we were still going to arrive at the airport on-time (like AirTran recommends to do on their website) and I would have plenty of time to read more of my book or grab some food. Our flight was originally scheduled to leave at 8:30pm but was delayed almost 2 hours to 10:15pm. We arrive and check in around 7:20pm and got through security by 7:35pm. During that 15 minute span we checked the time of our flight twice, still delayed. We get to our gate, still delayed. We then decide to grab some wings at this bar that was right at the end of the hall. Right outside the bar were displays, flight was still delayed. So we go into the bar not thinking anything of it. While we were in the bar I was careful to listen to all announcements regarding flights from AirTran. I heard at least two last minute pages from AirTran gates for passengers to get to the gate but they was not for our flight (825) and were not going to Boston.

We were in the bar until about 8:25 and when we left I checked the displays again, "FLIGHT ON TIME" is what it read. I was shocked that they didn't make an announcement. My girlfriend and I then ran to the end of the hall and went to the gate and I spoke to the representative and she said that flight was already in the air. At this very same time a women comes running up to the desk and asks if the flight had left, she was told the same thing. She said that the man at the check-in counter was supposed to radio them letting them know she was on her way — he obviously did not do this. Then about 5 or 6 more passengers show up and are all bewildered and the representative just says that we should have been waiting at the gate. I then ask her "Why didn't you make an announcement for this flight? Others AirTran flights were called, why not this one?" and her response was just "You have to be sitting at the gate to hear the announcements." I then asked her to put us on another flight, even from another airline if she has to, and she said that was not possible. The best she could do was a flight the next morning. We had to accept.

Now we had to get a hotel room and pay another day of parking at Logan — about $100. We asked the representative if we were able to get a hotel voucher, she said that that was not possible.

When we got home my girlfriend called Amex and the representative on the other side was very sympathetic and agreed with us that we should not have to pay for the hotel and parking because AirTran should have better customer service than that. He said that he would suspend $100 from the total bill (of $342) and put that into a dispute. Feeling confident that Amex would agree with us, we just sat back and waited for them to give us our money back.

Fast forward to today. We get a letter that says our dispute has been closed and we will not get our money back. Fuming, my girlfriend calls Amex and the rep she spoke to just said the ticket was closed and he could not open it. She explained the story again to him and he opened another ticket for us and assured us that he would put the entire story in the notes so that the 'investigators' would read it. He also suggested calling AirTran and seeing if we could resolve it with them. I knew this was a long shot but we called anyway. The woman on the other line could really care less about what happened. She also flat out lied to us. She said that AirTran only makes announcements in the gate area, not in the wing of the airport. At this point my girlfriend says "Well then why did we hear two announcements about AirTran flights while we were sitting in the bar, not in the gate area?" and the representative had no answer and just said that she could not do anything to help us. We asked to speak to a supervisor and she claimed that everyone working there was a supervisor, we asked to speak to her supervisor and she refused, saying that they would not be able to do anything.

While the loss of $100 (and both of us missing half a day of work) annoys the heck out of us, now it's a matter of principle. I would never in a million years dream of treating a customer like it is their fault for my shortcomings as a provider of service. While I do not believe that all inconveniences deserve some sort of compensation, I do believe that people should admit when they are at fault and that a huge company that claims to have such great customer service should have responded better. Do you guys have any suggestions? I mean, other than never flying with AirTran again...

(Photo:ZonaPhoto)

Since publicly announcing his involvement with a prostitution ring, calls for Spitzer to resign had been growing until it seemed very unlikely that he could avoid impeachment, says the New York Times:

"I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me," he said. "To every New Yorker, and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for, I sincerely apologize."

"Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct," he added. "I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor."

"An impeachment proceeding would force Democrats to either abandon him or defend him," said one leading Democrat. "They would abandon him."

Spitzer Resigns, Citing Personal Failings [NYT]
(Photo:Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong," said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. "I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better."

"I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family."

Before speaking, Mr. Spitzer stood with his arm around his wife; the two nodded and then strode forward together to face more than 100 reporters. Both had glassy, tear-filled eyes, but they did not cry.

As he went to leave, three reporters called out, "Are you resigning? Are you resigning?", and Mr. Spitzer charged out of the room, slamming the door.

A wiretap captured a man later identified as Spitzer "on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan". Spitzer then allegedly used the alias "George Fox" to meet the prostitute at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C, according to law enforcement officials. Unlike other famous alias, (Ron Mexico, for example) George Fox is a real person whom Spitzer may have "ID thefted" for the purpose of frequenting prostitutes.

Mr. Fox is a friend and donor to Mr. Spitzer. Asked in a telephone interview Monday whether he accompanied Mr. Spitzer to Washington on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14, Mr. Fox responded: "Why would you think that? I did not."

Told that the Room 871 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel was registered in Mr. Fox's name but with Mr. Spitzer's Fifth Avenue address, Mr. Fox said, "That is the first I have heard of it. Until I speak to the governor further, I have no comment."

Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring [NYT]
(Photo:Patrick Andrade for The New York Times)