A bunch of Honda owners are mad because they think Honda should issue a recall on their cars due to their transmission, things like randomly deciding to pop out of third gear into neutral and not fully engaging. When these owners confront Honda, the car company kept saying “we’ve never heard of the problem before,” despite numerous complaints being sent in, and dealers say they “can’t replicate” the problem. There’s a writeup of the whole problem at AutomotiveTech.org, a list of message board forum members with the problem, and now, Fox 6 San Diego picked up on it after angry owners organized a protest at a local dealership. Suddenly, Honda’s tune has changed, and they’re “aware of the problem” and “investigating.” Video after the jump.
defects
By 3.14.08
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Heavens, another Macbook has exploded. Apple is sending him a new one. [Appeltell]
Dell Is "Too Cheap To Realize That I Have A Defective Laptop"
By 3.14.08
Reader Jake says he just opened his 45 day old laptop and the LCD cracked for no reason. Now Dell doesn’t believe his story and won’t cover it under his warranty. That sucks.
Try To Exchange Your iPod Due To A Scratch, Apple Scratches It More And Sends It Back
By 3.6.08
Reader Matthew bought a new MacBookPro and an iPod from Apple. The MacBook was ok but the iPod came with a scratch on the screen. He decided to try to exchange it for an undamaged iPod. He sent it back to Apple and instead of a new iPod he got his old one back with an additional scratch on it.
Lutron Brightens Up Your Day With Good Customer Service
By 3.2.08
Peter noticed that several of the 25 Lutron Maestro dimmers he installed three years ago while renovating his 120 year-old home had started to fail. The dimmers were expensive, $30 a pop, so Peter sent them back to Lutron expecting some sort of response. Soon after, one of Lutron’s product managers called with a seemingly innocuous question…
Guitar Hero For Wii Owners Are Furiously Angry At Having To Mail Their Discs To Activision
By 2.19.08
We’ve been getting a lot of emails lately about Activision and their requirement that people who purchased their defective game send it back and wait a month in order to receive a replacement.
Tainted Puerto Rico Pills Hit U.S. Mainland
By 2.6.08
A review of FDA reports shows that Puerto Rico’s pharma industry has exported pills with metal in them, pills with incorrect dosages, and pills with paint from the factory doors embedded in the finishing, among other defects. One company, responding to the findings, said “some metallic material was to be expected because the manufacturing equipment is made of metal.” The FDA says the problems in Puerto Rico, which makes 13 of the top 20 best-selling drugs, are proportional to those found on the mainland. Consumer advocates contend that that just shows how ineffective the FDA is, both on the island, and on the mainland. If those are the defects inspectors found, imagine which ones they didn’t, and are inside our bodies right now.
BMW Catches Fire, Everyone Tries Not To Pay For It
By 2.6.08
Poor guy. Buys a 2000 540 Bimmer and while he’s driving home, it catches on fire. Some sort of thermostat failure. At first, he was screwed. Commerce, his insurance company, wouldn’t pay for it because they say they don’t cover mechanical failure, and there was no flame. “No flame, no claim,” was their clever explanation. BMW said there were no recalls or faulty parts for that model and so they weren’t going to do anything either. Then the BMW owner posted his complaints on an online message board, got a lawyer, and filed a complaint with the State Insurance Commission. All of a sudden, magically BMW now sends out an engineer to the guy’s house and found that yes, the car had failed. BMW offered him enough of a settlement that he no longer feels queasy about buying BMMs in the future. Ah, the power of putting your dukes up.
Apple Store Manager Calls Autistic Guy A "Freak"
By 1.31.08
Joshua’s MacBook was splitting along one side—you could push it back together, but after a few minutes it would start to separate again. When Joshua, who has Asperger syndrome, tried to get it repaired at his local Apple Store, he ran into all sorts of problems. First there was a two-hour wait to see an expert, then an assistant manager walked up and said, “I’ve seen you in here a lot with that laptop, what’s wrong?” Joshua explained, and pointed out that he had a meeting to attend that evening and needed his laptop to take notes, so he was hoping to have it looked at in person.
“I’m sorry if I seem on edge or anything, I just…. I’m born with this”… The assistant manager then says “It’s okay. It’s the Monday before a full moon. There will be plenty more freaks like you before close“. And tells me to calm down.
GameStop Will Not Accept Defective PS3 Exchange Because Of Serial Number Mistake
By 1.17.08
Reader Ben’s receipt doesn’t match the serial number on his defective PS3, so GameStop and Sony are refusing to repair or exchange it.
By 1.12.08
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Wisconsin-based hunting stand company Ardisam Inc. has agreed to pay a $420,000 civil penalty to settle a government lawsuit. In 2004, the company recalled 78,000 hunting tree stands that “unexpectedly detached from trees,” sending hunters tumbling to the ground.
5 Years, 6 iPods, and $1495 Later, You Just Want One That Works
By 1.4.08
Last week, Reader Andrew CC’d us on this email to Steve Jobs:
Home Shopping Network Agrees To Pay $800k Civil Penalty
By 12.28.07
HSN has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $875,000, according to a CPSC press release, settling allegations that HSN “failed to report in a timely manner, as required by federal law, serious injuries and hazards with the Welbilt Electronic Pressure Cookers.” The CPSC alleged that from 2001 to 2004, HSN received “at least 25 reports” from consumers that the cooking appliance was potentially unsafe. (In 2005 the cookers were recalled.)
Best Buy Refuses To Accept Legit XBOX Exchange Because Of Typo
By 12.13.07
The XBOX that I bought on Black Friday had recently been scratching my discs.
By 12.6.07
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Ford is recalling 1.2 million vans, SUVs, and pickup trucks “because of a flaw in an engine sensor that could cause sudden stalling.” [Reuters]
AT&T: There's A $39 Charge To Exchange Your Defective iPhone
By 11.26.07
Apple has a 10% restocking fee on opened non-defective products, but AT&T seems to think that this applies to iPhones that are defective right out of the box.
Guitar Hero III For Wii Is Mono?
By 11.15.07
Dissatisfied customers who bought Guitar Hero III for the Wii are claiming that the game is in mono and doesn’t work properly on their surround sound systems.
