Although stores often claim they employ receipt checkers to make sure you got everything you paid for, you still might get ripped off. This past weekend, three stores tried to sell us items that did not match their price tag or description. Each time, we politely pointed out the difference to a manager, and each time, we were rewarded for doing so, either with a reduced price or a better item than the original one we wanted. Let us tell you about our exciting weekend, inside.
complaints
My Mail Carrier Likes Throwing Our Packages Up Several Flights Of Stairs
By 8.21.08
Reader Misha would like to know what can be done about a mail carrier who seems to enjoy throwing packages up several flights of stairs, and supervisors at the post office who don’t mind that she does this.
How To: Locate Someone Competent At Comcast
By 8.19.08
Reader Jeff writes in to let us know that Comcast Frank and the Twitter team swooped in and rescued him from Comcast tech hell.
Petsmart Tries To Sell You Something To Stop The Bleeding They Started
By 8.18.08
Reader Sara wants to share the experience she had with Petsmart’s dog grooming service. She says that after they accidentally cut her dog’s toenail too close they tried to sell her a product to stop the bleeding.
Virgin America Anniversary Flight From Hell
By 8.18.08 — Updated: 3.18.13
Adam is writing in to say that in the year that Virgin America has been operating, he feels that they’ve forgotten how to run their airline. The first time he flew with them, his flight was delayed and his laptop adapter melted. He got a free flight. The second time he flew, about a year later, his flight was delayed, the airline ran out of food, his luggage was ripped open and his valuables disappeared, and the baggage claim rep laughed at his misfortune.
Fisher-Price Walkie-Talkie Picks Up Trucker Talk; Now Tot Wants Pot And Strippers
By 8.8.08
A mom in West Virginia says her 3-year-old’s Diego walkie-talkie, which is supposed to have a range of 20 feet, picked up some blue talk from truckers who may have been 275 miles away. “They said we should go smoke some weed, and were talking about being in a strip bar, some really explicit things,” the mother told the Asssociated Press.
DirecTV Force-Feeds You Movies
By 8.8.08
DirecTV customers are complaining that a software upgrade is shoving pay-per-view movies onto their DVR hard-drives, eating up disc-space and causing headaches. Tipster Buzwardo says, “I find it pretty darn annoying that DirecTV is sending me PPV content that I now have to make sure my kids don’t play.” More complaints can be found in the DirecTV Forums.
OnTheGoTickets Is Just TicketsMyWay In A New Skin
By 8.7.08
Back in June we mentioned how TicketsMyWay has a reputation for not actually providing tickets—”MyWay” apparently refers to the company and not the customer, and it translates into “no tickets or refunds for you.” A customer who learned the hard way about TicketsMyWay sent us an alert that the company is operating under a new banner, OnTheGoTickets.com.
BCBCS Must Think Your Breasts Are A "Pre-Existing Condition"
By 8.7.08
Marc’s girlfriend found some lumps in her breasts, the mammogram and ultrasound came back ok, but BCBS is denying coverage for the biopsy, saying it’s a “pre-existing condition.” The out-of-pocket cost is over $2,000. We’re confused, BCBS. What pre-existing condition? That she has breasts? That she might not have cancer?
Etrade: Hire That Baby To Do Customer Service, He'd Do A Better Job
By 8.7.08
“Maybe I should call the E*Trade Baby. He might give me better customer service.” Matt’s mother died last year and he has been trying since last year to liquidate her E*Trade CD and put it in the family trust. Every other financial institution has been able to liquidate the assets with no problem, but it seems after blowing their wad on funny Superbowl ads, E*Trade has nothing left over for customer service. Here’s Matt’s story, and our advice on how can get his problem fixed:
United Makes You Pay To Move To Upgrade Area They Would Have Moved You To Anyway
By 8.7.08
Joe may have uncovered a deceptive policy at United Airlines that’s screwing over customers. Here’s how it works. If you’ve got an economy ticket and the only seats available are in Economy Plus, but you didn’t spring for the extra Economy Plus fee, you’re asked if you would like to pay the upgrade fee for economy plus seating. If you decline to upgrade, they seat you there anyway. Sounds pretty sketchy to me. Here’s Joe’s story:
It Takes 40 Verizon Reps To Fix Your Address
By 8.6.08
You know those Verizon ads where someone is trying to make a call and like 100 Verizon people show up to help them do it? Arelene’s story is sort of like that. Except they all showed up to help her change her address. And they were one at a time. And it was over the phone. And it took several days. Here’s her tale, and how she eventually won…
WaMu Online Banking Treats You Like A Criminal
By 8.5.08
With all the focus on the girl rocketing across the desert in a supersonic purple dildo, Washington Mutual forgot to mention one thing. When you sign up for a new account with them online instead of in person, be prepared to be treated like a criminal at every turn. Here’s Brett’s story of why he and his partner don’t bank with WaMu, and never will again…
Fry Guy Doesn't Wash Bathroom Hands, Gets Public Shaming
By 8.4.08
When the sign says, “employees must wash hands after using bathroom,” Brent takes it very seriously. He says he was using the toilet at a Wendy’s, and spotted a worker use the bathroom and head right back to fondling the fries without scrubbing his hands. That’s when Brent decided to call out the guy in front of the entire restaurant. Here’s his story and what happened next…
Poor Reception? "Go To The Hilltop" Sprint Tells Customer
By 7.29.08
“Go outside, or to hilltop to make calls from your cell phone. Sprint does not guarantee call quality in buildings or homes,” a Sprint customer service rep told reader Nathan shortly before he canceled service. Sprint had told a long series of lies with various reasons and solutions that never materialized for why Nathan and his family couldn’t get any reception in their home. After wrangling for many months, Nathan told them to stuff it.
United Even Messes Up When It Fixes Mistakes
By 7.25.08
John finally got United to pay for the car he had to rent when the airline flew him to the wrong airport over nine months ago. In classic fashion, their refund invoice has a big typographical error. Airlines, even when they get it right, they manage to get it wrong.
Spirit Airlines Stealing Your Money Is "Nonrefundable"
By 7.25.08
Our network of spies and informants have penetrated every major American corporation. The following is dialog from a recent Spirit Airlines board meeting, as imagined by reader David, whom they screwed over. The first sentence of this post is therefore a non sequitor, but that’s ok. What’s not ok is Spirit’s policy making its various fees and upgrades non-refundable. So if they screw up your ticket and then have to issue you a new one, you don’t get to keep the upgrades you bought. They just take your money, because of their ironclad policy against refunds. Now let’s join that imagined Spirit Airlines board meeting, already in progress…
