As long as your clothing isn’t scanty or sporting lewd or suggestive imagery, Southwest Airlines is usually pretty good to fly. Not so for the author of the Strobist blog on a recent trip whose fun had only just begun when Southwest sent him an email reminder about his trip that said it was leaving 7 hours earlier than expected. He rushed off to the airport, nearly all of his clothes still in the wash, only to find out that his flight was leaving at the later time as scheduled. Always double-check those flight times and if you see something wacky, verify it first before leaving the house without a clean pair of underwear.
complaints
Wal-Mart Holds Your Credit Card and ID Hostage When You Complain
By 4.14.08
When reader Steve went to Wal-Mart to buy Rock Star for his daughter, he reluctantly presented the cashier with a state issued ID containing just his picture, name and signature. Steve’s job is to consult with law enforcement about identity theft, so he’s more careful than the average bear.
This Buyer's Experience Pretty Much Sums Up What's Wrong With Ebay
By 4.11.08
Veteran Ebay buyer/seller Monty has just come off a triple play of misrepresented auctions, each from a different seller, and has had zero luck getting things straightened out with any of them.
Dear HP: It's Been 6 Weeks Since I Last Saw My Laptop Can You Please Return It?
By 4.11.08
Reader D misses his laptop. A lot. He hasn’t seen it in 6 weeks. Despite tirelessly working to escalate his complaint up the ladder at HP, he keeps getting shuffled back around to “Jim,” an executive customer service rep who just keeps repeating the same old story about a delayed part.
Geek Squad Soaks Your Computer, Blames You
By 4.11.08 — Updated: 3.9.13
Still think using Geek Squad to repair your computer isn’t such a bad idea? That’s what reader Nicole thought when she took her laptop in for a warranty covered repair. The laptop was sent off to a service center, “repaired”, then sent back. She immediately noticed it had the same exact problem and sent it back 48 hours later. This time, she was told the warranty wouldn’t cover it, as the Blue Screen of Death was now being caused by water damage. Nicole pointed out that there wasn’t water damage the first time it was repaired for the exact same problem two days ago. Geek Squad responded by quoting her $775 for the repair. The details, below.
Conde Nast Will Never Stop Emailing You. Never. Stop Asking.
By 4.10.08
Condé Nast marketing department, are you on crack? Have you put some trinket from “The Hills” in charge of your mail server? Justin has emailed you repeatedly to tell you to stop spamming him. His marketing preferences on your site show a vast field of “No” for every single title on your list. And yet he’s received 16 emails since his last request—almost three a month. You should know better—or, as Justin puts it, “This isn’t some Nigerian guy trying to make my penis larger or send me money, this is a company here, in the United States, that I know should be held accountable.”
Gordon Biersch Pinches Your Pennies
By 4.8.08
Gordon Biersch, a small chain of brewery-restaurants, stole a penny from our reader. Consumerist “Punkrawka” used a credit card to hold open a tab at the bar, then closed the with a gift card. Gordon Biersch then passed a one-cent charge onto our reader’s credit card a few days later. More funny than anything else, the bizarre details, inside…
"Red Light Of Death" Xbox Owner Wants Same Extended Warranty As "Red Ring Of Death" Sufferers
By 4.8.08
Though Microsoft bowed to a gamer backlash and gave 3-year warranty protection for the widespread Xbox hardware failure known as “The Red Ring of Death,” it seems another debilitating malfunction, “The Red Light of Death,” hasn’t become enough of a PR fiasco to merit the same treatment. Let’s help it along with reader Steve’s story…
Man To Receive Office Depot Rebate That Was Falsely Denied
By 4.5.08
Daniel, whose Office Depot rebate was falsely denied, says he called them back today and his rebate has been approved. His issue has even been escalated so his check will get out faster. Daniel also says that when he sent his complaint in, it wasn’t so much his particular issue that he was upset about, as he felt sure he would be able to successfully get his rebate after sending in the necessary information, but it was really the thought of how many other people there were out there who would end up getting their rebate denied because they didn’t have photographic proof that they had filled out their rebate correctly. He also notes that when he received the denial notice, it only gave him five days to respond. Had it come last week, while he was away on a 12-day trip, he would have lost his chance at rebate redemption. Those are the risks you take when you play the rebate lottery. Like most games of chance, the odds are stacked in favor of the house.
Ticketmaster Charges 168% Of 3 Doors Down Ticket Price In Fees
By 4.4.08
Reader Brent was furious to find three lawn tickets bought through Ticketmaster, priced at $13 each, came to the ridiculous total of $106.20. First there’s the facility fee, then there’s the mandatory parking, a processing fee, and the “convenience” charge for purchasing the tickets online. After all the fees were piled on, the $13 tickets now cost $35.40 each. Brent’s letter, and a breakdown of the charges, inside:
Office Depot Falsely Denies Man's Rebate
By 4.4.08
You know what this is? This is a picture of Dan’s rebate form and UPC code, the very UPC code that whoever does Office Depot’s rebate processing says wasn’t attached to his rebate form. Yes, Daniel is the kind of person who takes pictures of all his rebate materials before sending them in, just in case something like this should occur. Companies love rebates because they can get you to buy something thinking you’re going to get a deal, and then if you fail the rebate process, they still get to keep all your money. Even if you do everything right, they still might deny it. Why? Because the rebate company has a certain quota, their contractually agreed upon “redemption rate” of rebates to deny that they have to meet. If too many legitimate rebates get in, guess they have to “figure out” ways to meet their numbers. Inside, the correspondence between Office Depot and Dan and a full-sized pic of his rebate and UPC code…
Comcast Spews BS When You Complain About HD Degradation
By 4.2.08
David wanted a straight answer from Comcast as to whether they were degrading his HD signal, but instead was fed a colossal trough of baloney. The executive customer service rep who replied to David’s email said Comcast is using a “new system” for HD and while it “works well with clean 1080i signals, we’re making some adjustments to improve how it handles other types of HD signals so we can bring you the best HD picture. We apologize this has not created the HD experience that we intended, but we will work towards getting it right. ” Sure… check out this previous post, Comcast Degrades HD Quality To Make Room For More Channels, for the science and proof of how Comcast (and other cable operators) are degrading HD feeds to make more money. The full exchanges between David and the Comcast reps, inside…
Using Proxies To Get Good Deals When Virgin America Reneges
By 4.2.08
Reader Tom was all set to buy a ticket on Virgin America when all of a sudden the fare he thought was locked in shot up 33%. The machine told him his reservation had expired. Tom tried redoing the purchase several times, clearing his cookies, changing browsers, only to continue to be denied by Richard Branson’s faceless automoton army. So then he cleared his cookies and then rerouting his signal through another computer so to Virgin America it looks like a different user is trying to buy the ticket (in technical terms, he rerouted his traffic through a SOCKS proxy server on the West Coast). Shazam, he was able to get the ticket at the old price. Whether the deal had expired because he dawdled too long, or whether he was only able to get it because it looked like he was coming from the West Coast and the fare was related to the time of day, Tom felt jerked around. If this happens to you, here’s a how-to on using proxy servers.
Buick Doesn't Tell Dealerships About Fire Hazard
By 4.2.08
There are efficient ways to initiate a recall and issue safety notices, and then there’s the Buick way. After determining a potential fire hazard in the certain Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regals, Buick sent out safety notices in advance of a probable recall to its customers. It alerted them of the hazard, and recommend they have a mechanic investigate any suspicious burning smells. What they neglected, however, was to inform their dealerships of the hazard. Reader Tculkin, who had already complained of burning smells to another mechanic, followed the advice in his safety notice and immediately called his local dealership. The dealership had no idea what he was talking about. Literally, they didn’t get the memo. Details, inside…
At Sprint, Nothing's SIMple
By 4.2.08
Allison and her husband wanted to reduce the amount of minutes they’re signed up for on their Sprint-Nextel cellphone plan. While that was a hassle in of itself and Allison ended up getting a phone with another company, the fun really begins once “”Insert SIM” started flashing on her husband’s phone (which is on the Nextel network, which uses SIM cards). Sprint seemed convinced that the SIM card had been reported as lost or stolen and couldn’t be activated. This was very bad as it was her husband’s business line. What followed were a series of 45+ minute call time waits, disconnected customer service calls, fruitless visits to the store, conflicting and confusing information given by different customer service reps and tech support personnel. During the fracas, her husband lost one customer who hadn’t been able to reach him during the outage. Over 100 days into the reign of new Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and shennanigans like the following story are still happening. Oh Danny-boy, are one of the “nukes” you have planned for revamping Sprint aimed at customer service?
Apologies For Poor Photo Choice Exercised In IDT Article
By 4.1.08
Part of our job here as we incorporate The Conglomerist into the fold of Haberdasher Communications (tagline: let’s keep it under our hat, shall we?) is to clean up some of the ethical missteps taken by The Consumerist, particularly with regards to its notoriously corrupt photo selection department. Dipping into the mailbag, Marc writes:
An avid reader of your website, I was a little bit concerned by the choice of picture to illustrate the “IDT Energy Scamming Spreads Past New York City” story.
Granted, the picture shows an IDT building in the background, but in the foreground are catenary wires, which are quite distinctive from power distribution wires…
Dairy Queen Sells Man Four Delicious Burgers
By 4.1.08
We’re not sure what Robert’s problem is but apparently he doesn’t appreciate the hard work Dairy Queen went into making him and his family four delicious cheeseburgers. Irregardless of the futility of the endeavor, he has decided to make it his personal mission to try to sic the health department on his local Dairy Queen, simply because his burgers came out nearly raw. News flash Robert! Ever heard of a steak tartare? This is a Freedom Steak, and you don’t have to go into one of them fancy-pants restaurants to get it. His ill-informed ranting and more pictures of tasty burgers, after the jump…
AT&T Lets You Close Your Account, But Not Stop Paying For It
By 3.31.08
Reader Steaming Pile is waiting, not so patiently, for AT&T to give him back his $160. He had an account set up with automatic bill pay, and when his contract was up in September he canceled the account. This should have been the end of his dealings with AT&T. A few months later, he was perusing his post-holiday credit card bill when he noticed a charge from AT&T. Reviewing his statements more closely, he noticed that while he was successful in terminating his service, he hadn’t convinced AT&T to stop taking his money every month. Thanks to automatic bill pay and (let’s admit it) his own negligence, AT&T had pocketed $160 for a closed account. In fact, when he called to terminate the automatic bill pay, not only did he have to argue for the credit, he’s still waiting for his money three months later. Check out his very angry email below.
