Buying an item on Amazon’s site doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily buying that item from Amazon. This can lead to serious confusion when you try to make a warranty claim, and seriously confuses some customers when a box from Walmart shows up on their doorstep with their Amazon order. Why would that happen? If a box from a different retailer shows up on your doorstep, it means that your seller is playing the retail arbitrage game and breaking Amazon’s rules. [More]
breaking the rules
Pilot Flying As An American Airlines Passenger Caught On Video Texting During Takeoff
By 9.4.15
Where there are rules, there will inevitably be people who break them. But it’s still surprising when someone who’s tasked with enforcing those rules is instead doing exactly what they usually tell others not to do. That was the case for a man flying on American Airlines recently, who filmed an airline pilot traveling as a passenger on a flight from Charlotte to Tampa texting on his cellphone during takeoff. [More]
Banks Seeking To Value Assets Higher Than Market Value
By 3.27.09
Banks are pushing for a change to banking rules that would allow them to ignore mark to market accounting for assets in markets that they deem “inactive.” In other words, if a bank is loaded with worthless assets but decides that the market for those assets is frozen, they can value those assets higher than the market would. Or to simplify it even more, they can create value out of toxic assets. And it looks like now the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which so far has been against this rule change, is caving in.
Hertz Holds Your Rental Hostage For Cash Deposit, To Be Returned In 2 Weeks
By 3.6.09
Ryan’s wife is currently traveling alone with their 3-month-old son on the way to an unexpected funeral near Salt Lake, Utah. Despite the fact that she paid for the rental up front as part of an Orbitz package, the local Hertz jerks are refusing to give her the car unless she goes to an ATM and brings back $200 cash, which they say they will mail back in check form a few weeks after she returns the car. Even Hertz says this isn’t their policy, but they can’t seem to stay on the phone long enough to help Ryan and his wife.
