T-Mobile just doesn’t want to let its customers go. We’ve shared stories of customers whose survivors couldn’t get a line shut down after they died, and survivors asked to keep a phone line open so they could hear a loved one’s voice. This isn’t a problem unique to T-Mobile USA, apparently: a widow in Cardiff, Wales brought her late husband’s ashes to the store after they refused to close out her husband’s line. [More]
death
SkyMall Wants You To Watch The Seconds Of Your Life Tick, Tick, Ticking Away
By 9.24.14
“Is this reeeeaaaall?!” is a question that we ask each other around Consumerist HQ pretty much every day. Because if we’ve learned anything from this wide world, it’s that people are absolutely trying their best to invent things that make us feel crazy inside. For example: A watch that counts down the years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds of your life. Until you die. Not because the watch itself will kill you, but still, creepy. [More]
Airport Parking Company Really Sorry About Tasteless E-mail Mocking Parking Lot Death
By 9.23.14
Earlier this month, a man in his fifties from the suburbs of Chicago was reported missing, then found dead in a parking lot at O’Hare International Airport. An autopsy was inconclusive, but authorities found no evidence that there was any foul play. AirportParkingReservations.com knows why he died, though. He died because finding a parking space at the airport totally sucks. [More]
T-Mobile Rep Encourages Me To Keep Dead Dad’s Mobile Line Open To Hear His Voice
By 6.13.14
It can be incredibly painful to realize that you can barely remember what the voice of a dead loved one sounded like. However, we’re not sure that we accept the proposed solution of one T-Mobile customer service rep. Reader Robert says that he was asked whether he wants to keep his dead father’s line open so he can call up his voice mail periodically. [More]
Death Is No Excuse For Not Paying Your Car Lease
By 3.21.14
We’ve written before about people who co-signed a loved one’s loan and were left owing the debt after the borrower passed away before the loan was repaid. But even if you weren’t the co-signer, you might still end up being on the hook for thousands. [More]
Sorry, Being Dead Isn’t A Good Enough Excuse For A Refund From Allegiant Air
By 3.4.14
A man in Washington state who had planned to spend his birthday this year at Disneyland instead got to spend it planning a funeral. What a crappy exchange. He had to cancel a planned trip to Disneyland because his wife suddenly became ill and died around Christmas. Allegiant Air should have no problem refunding round-trip tickets when one of the passengers died before the flight, right? Nope. [More]
Contractor Found Dead Before TV News Investigation About Him Was To Air
By 11.7.13
On Monday night, a St. Louis TV station was planning to air a “5 On Your Side” investigation into a local contractor. Instead, they announced on the air that the subject of their investigation had been found dead in his home just a few hours before the scheduled broadcast. [More]
Autopsy Shows Toddler Died From Consuming A Battery
By 10.30.13
A Las Vegas toddler died a few weeks ago, and the reason for his death wasn’t immediately clear. His illness began when he started coughing blood, and doctors couldn’t figure out what was making the child ill. The culprit wasn’t identifiable in an X-ray: a small coin-shaped battery. [More]
Surprise: Attendance At Six Flags Over Texas Down After Woman Killed On Roller Coaster
By 10.24.13
In news that will shock absolutely no one, in the months after a visitor to Six Flags Over Texas was killed on one of the park’s rides, attendance and revenue declined. What’s that? You close one of the park’s signature rides after a rider is killed, and people don’t want to come to the park anymore? [More]
These Letters Sent To Dead People Are A Little On The Nose
By 10.7.13
The mailer from the Neptune Society addressed to Holland’s father has a point. Many Americans do put off planning for their own burial or funeral until it’s too late, leaving their family members scrambling and guessing when the time inevitably comes. That’s not true for Holland’s dad: he received this mailer two years after he died. [More]
Family Of Woman Killed On Six Flags Roller Coaster Sues, Coaster To Reopen This Weekend
By 9.11.13
Yesterday, the family of the 52-year-old grandmother killed in the accident filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Later the same day, the park announced that they will reopen the ride this weekend with some safety improvements. The park’s president and his family will be among the passengers on that first trip after the grand re-opening. [More]
Dead Woman Found In Dillard’s Dressing Room, Store Closes Down
By 8.12.13
When a dead newborn turned up in the rest room of a Kohl’s department store in Kentucky last week, some shoppers were horrified to learn that they were browsing sales right near a possible homicide investigation. Maybe the management of other chains paid attention: a 57-year-old died in the dressing room of a North Carolina Dillard’s store, and management shut the whole store down. [More]
Bank Of America Continues Deducting Fees, Even After Death
By 8.12.13
Perhaps showing its firm belief in the afterlife, Bank of America has continued to charge fees to the bank account of a man it knows died nearly half a year ago. [More]
Dead Baby Found In Bathroom, Kohl’s Keeps Store Open
By 8.9.13
What should it take to close a store during a normal shopping day? Would you expect a department store to close if a dead person were discovered in the public restroom? What if the death were mysterious and homicide detectives were on the scene? What if the dead person were a newborn infant? [More]
ScotTrade Wants Us To Spend More Than $5 To Close Account That’s Negative 89 Cents
By 5.1.13
While we do business with them here on Earth, some companies exist in a strange and wondrous land. A land where there is no death. It would be really nice to live there, but it’s incredibly frustrating to do business with companies that don’t understand that everyone here on our plane of existence dies. Everyone. ScotTrade doesn’t understand that, which is why reader Ryan tells us that they’re demanding a pile of paperwork in order to stop sending one of their late customers mail. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Overfunded 401(k), Living In My Rental Property, And More Tax Returns For Dead People
By 4.2.13 — Updated: 4.3.13
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but he’s currently at a Warby Parker showroom shopping for some even less fashionable glasses. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. [More]
4 Years Later, Toys ‘R’ Us Won’t Remove Dead Kid From Their Birthday Club
By 1.24.13
The Toys ‘R’ Us Birthday Club is a cute program for kids 10 and under: they get a card, small gift, and coupon from company mascot Geoffrey the giraffe. The problem comes when the unthinkable happens, and a child’s name needs to be taken off the list. That happened to Lyndsey’s family, when their middle daughter Kamryn died before her second birthday. The problem was that Toys ‘R’ Us kept sending birthday cards. For four years. Nothing the family did could make them stop. [More]
Facebook Won’t Remove My Dead Brother’s Page
By 1.23.13
Sylvie’s brother died at a tragically young age. It’s awful enough that his loved ones have to face life without him, but they also have to deal with his continued presence on Facebook. People still comment on his … wall, timeline, whatever Facebook is calling a person’s profile this week. They don’t want to un-friend him, which feels wrong, but Facebook won’t delete or memorialize his pages, even when family members have submitted his death certificate and specifically requested to have them taken down. She doesn’t know where else to turn. [More]
