Jen said Chase left a message on her phone asking her to call back. Thinking it was about fraud, she did three times, and when she finally reached the person who called her, she got a creepy and misleading pitch for overdraft protection. They wanted her to come into her local branch and “go over her overdraft protection choices.” Who has time for this crap? [More]
complaints
Xbox Assumes Women Contacting Them Must Be Doing It For Their "Sons"
By 8.9.10
When a woman emailed Xbox support about downgrading her Xbox LIVE Gold account to Silver, they sent her back a form letter that assumed she was contacting them on behalf of her son, even though she doesn’t have a son and never made mention of one at all. Hey Microsoft! Ever hear of GIRL GAMERS? [More]
Woman Arrested Over Wet T-Shirt Complaints At Florida Children's Water Park
By 8.9.10
A 36-year-old woman says she’s planning on suing the city of Tavares, Florida, because its police force demanded her name for a “database” as she was leaving a children’s water park last spring. She’d taken her 7-year-old son there for the third time that season, and on each visit, other parents complained that her wet t-shirt and bra look was offensive. As she was leaving, a police officer demanded her name, and arrested her when she refused. [More]
Heart Attack Patient Has No Phone Going On A Week, Time Warner Botches Repairs
By 8.5.10
Thomas is on the 7th day without Time Warner Cable phone service, which is a bit of a problem since his mother just had a heart attack. They’ve promised multiple times to come out and fix it, and either broken those promised appointments or only partially fixed the issue. [More]
Auto Dealers And Fake Foreclosure Relief Offers Top Consumer Complaints For Last Year
By 7.28.10
The 2009 Consumer Complaint Survey Report is out, and it says that among the 18 states that participated in the survey, complaints about auto dealers topped the list for the second year in a row. However, the fastest-growing category of complaints were about fake foreclosure relief offers. [More]
Apple Sued Because iPad Does Not Work "Just Like A Book" As Claimed
By 7.28.10
A new class action suit filed in California takes issue with how the iPad shuts off automatically if it overheats. In particular, however, the suit claims that the marketing phrase “reading on the iPad is just like reading a book” is misleading, and that Apple is therefore engaging in fraud and misleading consumers. This is great news for me, because I was thinking of suing Apple for not providing dustjackets for iBookstore titles but my friends told me I shouldn’t. [More]
"New" Sprint Phone Pre-Loaded With Porn
By 7.8.10
A Detroit woman is saying “What?!” after buying a supposedly new Sprint phone that had an unwanted free feature: it already had several X-rated porno videos on it. [More]
Dollar Tree Stops Playing Music In Store
By 7.7.10
Ultra-cheap discounter Dollar Tree has turned off the in-store music in all of its stores, citing cost issues. On the company’s Facebook page, shoppers keep complaining that the company is being too cheap (many don’t seem to know about licensing fees for music), but Dollar Tree’s official response is that it freed up expenses to keep prices low. [More]
"This Is Why I Canceled Cable," As Told In Collage Form
By 7.2.10
Redditor Lambboy got an email from his cable company asking him why, oh god why, had he canceled cable? Doesn’t he know that without it life is but a cheap oat paste? Lambboy struggled with the best way to communicate his innermost thoughts. The radio buttons on the survey, and, yes, even the optional comment boxes, were insufficient tools with which to express himself. So, he sent them this collage. [More]
Verizon Retreats From Charging Marine Widow $350 Early Termination Fee
By 6.30.10
After achieving “clarity,” Verizon has decided to not charge the widow of a Marine who died in Afghanistan a $350 early termination fee. The woman had moved back home following her husband’s death so as to be closer to family, and in the new area she had no cellphone reception. In announcing the situation’s resolution, Verizon Wireless also took the opportunity to take a jab at the media for sensationalizing their incompetence. [More]
Passenger Says Frontier Airlines Used Fake Weather Delay To Avoid Compensating Passengers
By 6.29.10
Scott says his flight from San Antonio to Denver was delayed last night because “the weather computer was not working,” but two hours later that excuse was replaced with a “weather-related delay” in Denver. The problem is, Denver was sunny and clear at the time. [More]
AT&T Ships Empty Box Instead of iPhone 4
By 6.29.10
The big day had arrived. The UPS box containing Logan’s new iPhone 4 sat on his front porch. Picking it up, he noticed it felt rather light. [More]
Even Wells Fargo CEO Powerless To Reduce Your Punitive APR
By 6.28.10
The APR on Kevin’s Wells Fargo credit card got jacked up from 9.6% to almost 23%. He owes $16,000. At 9.6, he could afford to make double the monthly payments, but now he’s paying $300+ a month in finance charges alone. He’s begged up and down the hierarchy, from the CEO to any exec or VP he could reach, to please reduce his APR so he can carry this debt. Nope. The numbers have spoken. The odds are calculated. Your risk has been assessed, and the verdict has been issued: you lose. [More]
USPS Sends Your Package 5,586 Miles To Travel 120
By 6.25.10
Jonathan is trying to figure out why the box of records he sent from Bell to Bakersfield, CA somehow took a 5,000 mile detour across the country and back first. [More]
Verizon: Die Fighting In Afghanistan, Pay $350 Early Termination Fee
By 6.25.10
After a woman’s husband died in Afghanistan, a marine felled by an IED, she moved back to her home town to be closer to her family and grieve. In the smaller town, she couldn’t get any reception from Verizon, so she called them up to cancel. Despite being a widow and Verizon not living up to its contractual obligations to provide actual cellphone coverage, they slapped her with a $350 early termination fee. UPDATE: Verizon Retreats From Charging Marine Widow $350 Early Termination Fee [More]
Publix Takes Moldy Garlic Even More Seriously Than You Do
By 6.24.10
Ian and his family love garlic, but he tells Consumerist that his favored Publix store seemed to have trouble stocking garlic that wasn’t either moldy or sprouted. Neither of these are good qualities for fresh garlic, so Ian e-mailed the chain’s corporate office about the situation. Eventually, he received a response with an almost Wegmans-like level of class and problem-solving. [More]
Clusterfracas of Stove Delivery Incompetence Loses Best Buy a Customer
By 6.23.10
Add “delivering a stove” to the list of things Best Buy is not very good at. Heather bought one from them, then was subjected to various delays and bogus fees, and now has to wait for Best Buy to “trick” its system into giving her a refund for a fee she should never have been charged in the first place. Here is the email she sent CEO of Best Buy, Brian Dunn, explaining the series of events leading up to her decision to never shop at Best Buy again: [More]
Luggage Emerges From United Airlines Flight Totally Mauled
By 6.22.10
A Gothamist reader’s bags didn’t show up until three days after she got off the United Airlines flight, and when they did, they looked like they’d been ravaged by the gnashing of an angry monster. The bags and contents were torn, soaked, and moldy, and several items were missing. [More]
