Public health authorities in Detroit are raising the food safety alarm: anyone who bought prepared food at the Whole Foods store at 115 Mack Ave in midtown should seek medical attention, since they may have been exposed to Hepatitis A. While details are fuzzy, they know that the span from Oct. 6-10 is when any exposure would have happened. [More]
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Southwest And American Planes Collide On Taxiway In Detroit This Morning
By 2.17.16
Passengers on early flights this morning in Detroit got a scary jolt when their planes collided while passing each other on the taxiway. Early this morning at the Detroit Metropolitan airport in the suburb of Romulus, the wing of an American Airlines aircraft clipped the tail of a Southwest aircraft while both were on their way to be de-iced. [More]
Comcast’s Next-Gen Broadband Service Coming To 5 Cities This Year
By 2.2.16
A few weeks after flipping the switch on its first next-generation DOCSIS 3.1 modem — which can deliver speeds faster than Google Fiber over existing cable lines — Comcast is detailing plans on which markets will be the first to get access to the service. [More]
One Detroit Neighborhood Actively Looking For Squatters
By 9.18.15
Some neighborhood groups would look at squatters — people who live rent-free in vacant buildings — as a negative to be shooed away in favor of paying tenants. But the folks in one part of Detroit would rather have squatters occupying the empty homes in their area than see these buildings stripped or burned to the ground. [More]
United Airlines Customer Service Reps Learn That Working From Home Comes With 20% Pay Cut
By 9.8.15
Last week, United Airlines decided to shutter two of its customer service call centers — one in Detroit and one in Honolulu — but did so without plans to lay anyone off. Instead, these airline staffers could either move to Chicago or Houston to work in a call center, or they could work from home, but with a pay cut. [More]
Stupid Scammers Sell Play-Doh “iPhones,” Get Caught When Victim Asks To Buy More
By 7.28.15
Dear dumb criminals: If you’re lucky enough to trick someone into buying an iPhone box full of Play-Doh, consider your crappy, evil job done and move on to the next victim. Because if that buyer calls you back asking to purchase more “iPhones,” they’re either less-intelligent than you, or you’re about to be arrested. [More]
People Who Bought Pontiac Silverdome For $583K Now Asking $30M For Run-Down Arena
By 6.12.15
The Pontiac Silverdome hasn’t played home to the Detroit Lions since 2002; the Pistons fled 27 years ago. Aside from a handful of one-off events, it’s basically gone unused for most of the last decade, with much of its few remaining assets recently auctioned off. And yet the company that paid only $583,000 for the arena at a 2009 auction are now asking for a whopping $30 million. [More]
Michigan High School Baseball Team Stranded In Florida After Spirit Cancels Flight
By 4.23.15
Just two days ago the American Customer Satisfaction Index revealed that Spirit Airlines was the worst when it comes to, well, customer satisfaction, and it seems the airline is wasting no time in confirming that it earned its low scores. Just ask the Michigan high school baseball team that had to fork over thousands of dollars for a chartered bus after being told they would have to wait an extra week to rebook their canceled Spirit flight. [More]
Detroit-Area Shopping Center Goes From Nation’s Oldest Mall To Nation’s Newest Dead Mall
By 2.27.15
If you spend much time on Consumerist, then you’re probably aware of the current sad state of the world’s malls; from the former largest mall in the world being demolished to those full of fish or snow covered, it isn’t exactly a pretty picture. Today, we learn that another historic shopping center will soon trade in its purported title as the nation’s first regional shopping mall for that of the latest “dead mall.” [More]
Detroit Business Owner Unhappy To Be Featured In “Bullsh*t Comcast-Powered Sh*tfest” Video
By 2.23.15
Imagine you own a business that’s gotten some good press for the work you do. Now imagine finding some of that press repurposed into a video sponsored by a company that you really, really dislike, and which is trying to spend billions of dollars to dump your entire area off into the hands of a brand new company that may be even worse. [More]
Man Desperate To Sell Home Will Accept An iPhone 6 For It
By 10.8.14
With a house languishing on the market in Detroit, one homeowner who claims he paid way too much in 2010 — $41,000 — is so desperate to unload the property, he’s willing to give it up for a song. Let me clarify: This “song” comes in a white box and makes phone calls, connects to the Internet… Okay, it’s an iPhone 6, and that’s all he’s asking for. [More]
There’s A Dead Elephant Buried At This Dead Mall
By 8.12.14
Someday in the far future, the fortunes of suburban Detroit might improve, and someone will redevelop the site of Summit Place Mall in Waterford, Michigan. When that happens, the new owners may excavate the site and wonder what the skeleton of an elephant is doing in suburban Detroit. That will be a very good question. [More]
Detroit Selling Foreclosed Homes For $1,000 In City’s Latest Attempt To Rebuild
By 4.15.14
Neighborhoods in Detroit are in for some extreme, and much needed, renovations. In an effort to rehabilitate neighborhoods and get occupants into previously foreclosed properties, the city is auctioning off properties for as little as $1,000 starting next month. [More]
Bus Tour Shuttling Suburban Christmas Shoppers Away From The Malls And Into Detroit
By 12.12.13
Detroit has been having a tough go of it for a long time now, with a judge just recently ruling it’s eligible for the bankruptcy it filed for in July. In an effort to infuse the city with more holiday spirit and all the holiday dollars that go along with Christmas shopping, a guided bus excursion is ferrying shoppers from the ‘burbs back into the city. [More]
Company Markets Stun Gun iPhone Case In Detroit, Where It Would Be Illegal To Use
By 10.28.13
A company that sells iPhone cases that double as low-powered stun guns has selected Detroit as a target market, disregarding the fact that such a device appears to be illegal in Michigan. [More]
Was Detroit’s Singing Hot Dog Guy Fired Because He Hates Ketchup, Or For Just Being Annoying?
By 9.13.13
For more than a decade, he’s scaled the steps of Comerica Park in Detroit, selling hot dogs to Tigers fans and occasionally busting out in song to hawk his wares. Then last week, he was given the boot by the stadium’s foodservice contractor. Some say it was because of his too-harsh stance against ketchup on hot dogs. Others say it was just because fans finally got sick of his singing. [More]
Woman Who Let Detroit Keep Her Tax Refund Rewarded With $5,300 Bill From The City
By 9.3.13
We believe in unicorns and ghosts, but someone voluntarily letting a city keep her tax refund? Yes, such a person really exists, but somehow her act of goodwill toward the city of Detroit has been turned into an ordeal of vastly annoying proportions. The city now claims that she actually owes it $5,300. Good thing she’s kept up on her personal paperwork. [More]
Comcast Now Testing Prepaid Cable Service, But With No Sports Channels Or HD
By 8.2.13
Earlier this year, Comcast started testing prepaid Internet service for consumers in the Philadelphia area. Now the nation’s cable provider is trying out a prepaid (non-HD) TV service that offers a few dozen channels (but no ESPNs, Nickelodeon, or MTV) and costs anywhere from $15/week to $45/month. [More]
