Erstwhile Consumerist guest blogger and Upgrade Travel editor Mark Ashley has been taking a lot of cold showers lately. Heck, his nipples protrude like fleshy awls. Yet unlike most men who take to basking themselves in an icy deluge, Mark is not trying to extend his life or cut down on his sex drive: the situation’s been thrust upon him by Chicago People’s Energy (as Communist a name for a gas company as I’ve ever heard).
complaints
Register Complaints With The Better Business Bureau
By 10.6.06
Another great way to establish a public record of a company’s customer service negligence is to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Easily File FTC Complaints
By 10.5.06
Registering an official gripe against a company need not involve a trip to the post office. The Federal Trade Commission has an online form you can use, too.
Comcast Doesn’t Like Lying To Vonage Customers Either
By 10.4.06
Comcast says it’s looking into the allegations of a man who claimed a rep called up and lied to get him to switch from Vonage. At issue was whether Comcast made false claims about the inferiority of Vonage’s VoIp service. In a statement released to The Consumerist, Comcast said:
More Uhauls Of Shame
By 10.3.06
Blah blah blah Uhaul wouldn’t rent me a Uhaul because I’m too much of a slacker to show up on time. That’s what ran through our brains when we first read Christopher’s letter. Then we stumbled across this gem.
Atlas Shrugged Junk Mail
By 10.3.06
God bless our obsessive-compulsive readership. Without you guys, we wouldn’t have entertaining MP3s of foul-mouthed CSRs cursing your mother, let alone an answer to the question “how much junk mail does our average reader get in 9 months?”
U-Haul’s Voodoo Reservation System
By 10.3.06
Shrink a head in a pot, rub your skeletally-painted hands together and evoke ancient jungle spirits for their gris gris: exactly what sort of voodoo do you have to perform to get U-Haul to give you the right truck?
Comcast Lies (Badly) To Snag Vonage Customer
By 10.3.06
Comcast is dissembling like a mother smucker, telling fabulous lies about Vonage in order to get customers to switch. Comcast telemarketed one man and told him that Vonage:
Monday Morning Readers Round-Up
By 10.2.06
The Monday Morning Reader Round-Up is a great way for me to both nurse a hangover and help me make my Monday post quota. It’s the standard spiel: our biggest stories come from the anecdotes of our readers. We want you to send us your complaints, your links, your commendations, because this site is written by you more than it is by me and Ben. Then I give you the email address to write to: tips@consumerist.com. And then I round-up last week’s readers stories.
State Farm Lacks Persistence of Vision
By 9.28.06
State Farm is convinced that Rick was involved in a hit and run in San Francisco in July, even though he was out of town all that month and it seems they don’t even have the right license plate. Just to be sure, they stopped by Rick’s house to take photos of his car, a feat in and of itself as they intially demanded he bring it to their offices himself.
Clark Howard Attacks Bank of America For Jailing Customer, Costs Millions
By 9.28.06
A Bank of America customer trying to verify a check sent to him by a scammer was cast in irons for his trouble. Now Clark Howard, consumer activist radio host, has started a campaign encouraging everyone to withdraw their money from BofA in protest. Bank officials claim they’re just doing their duty but Howard and his viewers aren’t buying it. According to Howard’s site, so far they’ve cost BofA over $18 million in withdrawals.
T-Mobile Happy Endings!
By 9.27.06
Last week, David complained about T-Mobile charging him double what he expected. When he phoned the cellphone company, they disputed the basis of his complaint, calling him a liar. We posted the story.
HSBC: Fee Sharks?
By 9.26.06
Reader Chandra wrote to us today about her short-but-tumultuous relationship with HSBC’s credit card division. In the span of two months Chandra applied for a card, made a $300 payment (mailed 8 days early) on a $700 balance, got hit with a $35 late fee and a $15 pay-by-phone charge, and cancelled her account. She claims to have good credit and is just baffled by HSBC’s inability to process a payment without assigning a penalty.
Monday Morning Readers Round-Up
By 9.25.06
I mentioned it a bit earlier today, but companies are starting to read this blog. Last week, complaints about T-Mobile, Coinstar and Cingular led to direct intervention from the companies.
Sears’ Frosty Home Repair
By 9.22.06
Apparently, we’re not the only ones who’ve had Sears repair people not show up for their appointments. Meet Jim, a man with a broken fridge. Not knowing how to fix a fridge himself, Jim called Sears Home Repair and scheduled an appointment. He was given a $65 estimate and a four hour repair window. Jim waited patiently, earnestly, for his hero to arrive. Guess who didn’t show? Jim says:
