According to the FAA, Southwest flight 438 returned to Dallas’ Love Field on November 17 when the plane “experienced a vibration in the number 2 engine” shortly after take-off.
BLOGS
Amtrak Train Runs Out Of Fuel, Passengers Told To Arrange Alternate Transportation
By 12.1.07
An Amtrak train traveling from San Diego to Santa Barbara ran out of fuel eight miles from its destination. Hartford Courant Editor Jeanne LeBlanc’s daughter happened to be on the train, and recounted Amtrak’s puzzling response.
Verizon Ad Appears Next To Story About Death By Exploding Cellphone
By 11.30.07
This ad for Verizon cellphones is placed right next to an AP story about a South Korean man who may or may not have been killed by a cellphone exploding in his shirt pocket. Someone should invent a fancy technology that excludes advertisers from appearing next to articles when the name of their core product appears in editorial proximity with “death” or “exploding.”
By 11.30.07
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Rumor is that when Good Morning America ran a piece about Mona Shaw, the cranky old lady who busted up a Comcast office with a hammer, Comcast subscribers in her home town suddenly found their ABC channel had gone black. [Comcast Must Die]
Premium Cola, The Ethical Cola Company
By 11.29.07
How about a cola company that does no advertising or marketing? Donates one cent per bottle sold to offset its carbon footprint? Where every customer can look at the company’s bank account, and if they disagree with how the founder is running things, can argue to have his share reduced? It’s called Premium Cola. There’s no salaries, no office, and no bosses, per se. All decisions are made equally by members of the cola collective. The drink is only sold to select locations in accord with the Premium Cola ideologies. Sound impossible to sustain?
Top 10 Most Calorie-Packed Fast Food Items
By 11.28.07
ACalorieCounter.com compiled the 272 fast food items most densely packed with calories. Here’s the 10 worst offenders:
10 Secrets Of Air Travel Insiders
By 11.27.07
FareCompare’s Rick Seaney shares Top 10 Secrets Of Air Travel Insiders. We hadn’t heard number 6 before:
Fly the Big Hubs – Usually – A bigger airport can mean bigger savings.
By 11.27.07
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An LA resident reports he was verbally threatened and banned from Circuit City after insisting that the store honor its car audio installation guarantee. [Atwater Village Newbie]
The E-book Credit Card Scam
By 11.27.07
The Red Tape Chronicles details a credit card scam where an ebook company fraudulently charges consumers for ebooks they never ordered. Oddly, when you find the company’s hidden “customer service” number, they’re very quick to issue refunds. Using eBooks is clever, too. That way, if they’re raided, the only inventory they will have to show are a few digital files It’s almost like they know how to just skirt on the edge of the law… hmm…chin scratch….
Best Buy Hoards Black Friday Doorbuster Laptops For Employees And Their Girlfriends?
By 11.26.07
One of Best Buy’s Black Friday deals was a $229 laptop. Each store was supposed to have 15. A complaint letter posted over at Notebooks.com alleges that a New Orleans Best Buy hoarded the most laptops for the employees and passed out only a few vouchers. At one point, an employee’s girlfriend in line threw a hissy-fit because she didn’t get a voucher and her boyfriend snuck over and palmed her a voucher, skipping over the other customers in line. Shame shame shame, Best Buy. Yet another reason we hate Black Friday, the stores can’t even abide by the rules of the in-store promotions that are designed to lure more people inside than will ever get the deal and then offload otherwise unsellable crap.
Redeem Rebates With Hard Work And Luck
By 11.25.07
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna is reminding consumers to read the fine print on rebate offers before giddily pouncing on a seemingly hot deal. We are rebate skeptics; they are nice when they work, but should never be a deciding factor when weighing a purchase. The Attorney General has a few tips to help improve your chances of successfully redeeming a rebate:
Florida Shopper Punched In Face In Black Friday Scrum
By 11.23.07
A shopper was punched in the face in the 1am scramble outside a Macy’s in Central Florida at the Altamonte Mall. Way to shop, indeed. “They couldn’t open the doors because there were too many people pushing,” Rhonda Wega told the Orlando Sentinel. “It was chaotic.” Once again we have a problem with outward-opening mall doors. Guess they need to invent futuristic inward-opening inward AND outward opening mall doors, or better cordon off the area immediately outside the doors.
Patient Shoppers Screwed When Staples Opens Early For Some
By 11.23.07
Scott is pissed because he had his hopes geared up for a $99 Navigon 2100 portable GPS unit from Staples. All the advertising said the sale started at 6am. After dutifully waiting until 6am, he ordered the item Then he found out that some people had been calling in to the 1800 Staples # since 4 that morning, placing orders, and it was now out of stock. No GPS for Scott, who is now mad. If you advertise the heck out of a 6am starting time, you better make sure everyone abides by it. At least, unlike other shoppers across the nation, Scott was able to miss out on the doorbuster deal from the comfort, convenience, and warmth of his own home.
By 11.21.07
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Advice for people now traveling for Thanksgiving: check in online, get to the airport early, try not to check bags, and more. [Today on the James front]
32 More Foreclosures Dismissed For Lack Of Documentation
By 11.21.07
In Ohio, judges have dismissed 32 more foreclosures due to insufficient documentation. This is no white-knight that’s going to save homeowners at risk for foreclosure. One law prof told us that whenever we go through a glut of foreclosures, judges start clamping down and begin requiring the plaintiffs to have all their papers in order. It’s all just a matter of getting the note from the loan originators, who usually hold on to all the proper paperwork.
12 Signs Of A Mystery Shopping Scam
By 11.19.07
If you’ve ever been curious about becoming a “mystery shopper,” a person paid by a company to check in on a store’s performance, you should know there’s lot of fraudulent mystery shopping companies out there. Bargaineering has 12 warning signs to look out for if you think one of these jobs is a good way to pick up extra cash, like:
By 11.16.07
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Always scrutinize your bills: US Bank charges customer 25 cents every time she buys stuff with a debit card and punches in her PIN. The fee applies to US Bank customers in Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. [Red Tape Chronicles]
