Ken writes: “In February of 2007, we purchased a Whirlpool Duet Sport Washer, model XWWFW8410SW. The washer worked very well, and we noticed a savings in our water and electric bill. A few months later, we noticed it was leaking water. Fortunately, the washer is in the garage. We called our local appliance dealer, and they sent out a service technician. He “fixed” the leak. A couple of days later, it began leaking again. And it was fixed again. The door was replaced. The lock was replaced. The ring was replaced. Everything was caulked, adjusted, tweaked, etc. Again it leaked.”
complaints
Passenger Only Gets Half Her Seat On Delta Flight
By 2.1.08
Julie found that only about half of her seat was available due to the size of the passenger next to her. The passenger was apologetic, but obviously couldn’t magically shrink her body mass and make more room. Julie asked if she could purchase a seat in first class but was told they were sold out, and there were no more seats available. “A flight attendant suggested that the only way to change my seat was to ‘find a cute boy or girl’ and sit on their lap.” Instead, she spent the flight half in her seat and half in the aisle. When she emailed a complaint to Delta and asked for a refund, they thanked her for her feedback.
By 1.31.08
../../../..//2008/01/31/man-manages-to-stay-at/
Man manages to stay at what he describes as the most ghetto Sheraton in the world. How bad was it? Well, it’s called the “Sheraton-Miami-Mart.” Yes, “Mart,” and it has the same high level of quality, cleanliness, and accommodations that you would expect from any place with “Mart” as a suffix. [Shankman]
Tmobile Sued For Charging For Unwanted Text Messages
By 1.31.08
Tmobile was hit with a class action suit yesterday over its charging customers for unwanted text messages. Unscrupulous marketers can get your cellphone number, send you “premium” texts (for dating services, daily jokes, horoscopes, etc), and then have Tmobile bill you for them. Tmobile gets to keep a piece of the profit. Other cellphone companies let you disable text messages sent from the internet, where most text spam originates, or turn off text messages all together. Tmobile has refused to give customers this option.
Consumerist Reader's Story Featured On NBC Nightly News
By 1.30.08
One of our readers appeared on NBC Nightly News the other night after his story was featured on The Consumerist. Bob Loncaric paid extra to fly direct on United and when he checked his reservation, he found it had been mysteriously changed to one with stopovers. He called customer service, but was barely able to understand the outsourced call center employee’s version of English, except for the list of cities he didn’t want to stay in spouting out of the guy’s mouth….
Does Comast Check To See If 911 Works On Your Digital Phone?
By 1.30.08
A Comcast insider warns us that Comcast does no checks to make sure 911 is working on your Comcast digital phone:
Time Warner Charges You For 2 Years For A TV You Don't Own
By 1.29.08
Colby writes:
I moved this past month to a new apartment in the same building — when I was setting up the account transfer, the representative uncovered that I had been misbilled for nearly 2 years for service on a 3rd, non-existent, television. It wasn’t clear due to the billing information, and I was instantly promised a credit for $170.20 that was calculated by the rep and his supervisor. As a loyal consumerist reader, I got all their extensions and representantive ID’s — just in case. After the move, I received a bill and there was no credit. I called, and was informed my credit was denied due to a ‘disclaimer’ that would allow them to only go back for 3 months with a credit. They didn’t care what I had been promised, nor did they care what another rep and their supervisor had noted on my account.
Dealer Sells Car Touting Safety Features It Doesn't Actually Have
By 1.29.08
Ben writes:
A friend of mine bought a 2005 Toyota 4 Runner for about $25000. When he went to the dealer, he told them that safety was a big concern as he has small children, and he wanted to get as many safety features as he could on the vehicle he was going to buy. The saleswoman showed him the 4 Runner he ended up buying and pointed out that it had side and curtain airbags, which were listed on the sticker. He bought it, and a week later he took it to get inspected. It turns out that it does not have the side and curtain airbags that are listed on the sticker. He went back to the dealership and spoke to the manager who offered him a few free oil changes, and tried to tell him that that year didn’t even come with those airbags so what was he complaining about. What should he do? They already got rid of the truck he traded in, and is thinking that the dealer owes him some cash back on the deal.
Classic bait and switch. If your friend wants to take the guy to the mat, he could try to ask for a rebate for what he feels the cash value of those safety features are. I recommend the tactics described in the post, “How To Kick A Scammy Car Dealer In The Nuts.”
Man Haggles With Dell Over Failed Laptop For 3 Years
By 1.29.08
Ethan writes:
I purchased a laptop through my company in 2005. The laptop I bought was the Dell XPS (Gen2). I had several issues with the DVD burner right off the bat. Within months Dell was replacing my 6800 Ultra laptop video board due to video artifacts. This happened again and more parts were replaced. In Late 2006 Dell swapped my Gen2 system for a M1710. In my book, both the customer service and the quality hit the fan. They sent me a laptop with less memory and poor video.
FiOS Swaps Customers' Account Details, Still Won't Fix After 8 Months
By 1.25.08
Whenever Andru logs into his Verizon FiOS account, he sees the personal information on some other guy’s account, including name, address, email address, last four digits of credit card and social security number. He’s contacted the other guy, and the other guy also sees his. Verizon has said they will fix it in the next 24 hours. They’ve been saying that for the past eight months. This is supposed to be the future of the internet and they can’t even fix a simple account error?
Credit Card APR Magically Raises From 7.99% To 21.99%
By 1.24.08
I keep reading and it says that I can “reject this amendment” by doing so in writing by 2/29/2008.
Couple Paints "FU FAA" On Roof To Protest Jet Noise
By 1.24.08
Fed up with a change in flight patterns that made them sleep in bed at night with earplugs, one Philly couple decided to paint “FUCK YOU FAA. NO FLY ZONE” and a symbol for “no planes” on the top of their roof. Note: in real life, it says “fuck” but the newspaper photoshopped it to just say “FU.” Homeowner Michael Hall said they had tried to lodge complaints with the FAA noise-complaint hotline over 20 times, but whenever they called, an answering machines would apologize for not being able to take their message as the mailbox was full.
Case Closed: Comcast Billing Gone Bonkers
By 1.23.08
After we posted SM’s battle with Comcast to stop fraudulently billing her for over a year, , Comcast took notice and asked to get in touch with SM. We played matchmaker and now Comcast reports that the problem is solved. The account is cleared and CMI has been notified to stop trying to collect on it. Inside is the letter they are sending to SM. Hooray, problem solved. Comcast’s billing system, however, remains a mess. Hopefully CMI won’t still try to collect, for CMI’s sake. Otherwise SM will now really have a very good basis for making quick and easy cash by suing them in small claims court for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Domino's Takes Overcharging You For Pizza Seriously
By 1.22.08
THE QUOTE:“Because your Domino’s Pizza store is independently owned and operated, I have forwarded your comments to the franchise owner or local representative. Please be assured your comments will be taken seriously and considered to help Domino’s Pizza improve our operations.”
Comcast Billing Gone Bonkers
By 1.22.08
SM writes:
This story starts in March 07 when my sister moved out of the country and canceled her Comcast account. I returned her modem, and they told me her account was settled. Then, my mom (who has power of attorney) gets a bill for around $193. Comcast customer service tells my mom that she really only has to pay around $35, so she sends a check for that amount, but another bill arrives for $135.35. Again, Comcast customer service tells her, no actually you only need to pay $43.86. My mom tries to dispute the bill, but Comcast sends my sister’s account to a collection agency called CMI…
Sears Automotive Tries To Charge You For Work They Didn't Do
By 1.22.08
I’ve been an avid reader of Consumerist for quite some time. Reading the good/bad experiences other readers had and the shortcomings of some companies is an eye opener. Unfortunately, my recent experience at a nearby Sears Automotive Department is worth mentioning. I’ve noticed my car would pull to the left while driving on a straight road. My initial thought was to get the wheels aligned. I decided to have it done at Sears.
Who Do I Complain About A Bank To?
By 1.22.08
If you think your bank is doing something so bad that it violates banking regulations, here are the groups that officially regulate banks. Complaining to them might not help your individual issue, but enough complaints could bring some attention on the banks that they would prefer to avoid:
