“Janice” has been working in the BP Call Center in Houston, answering calls about the disaster from all over the world, and she says she and her coworkers don’t think the calls are being sent any higher up in the company. “We’re a diversion to stop them from really getting to the corporate office, to the big people. I don’t want to get emotional, but it’s so frustrating when these people live right there [in the Gulf Coast] and nothing is being done to help them.” [More]
disasters
Know Your BP Gulf Disaster Charity
By 6.14.10
Before you rip up your checkbook or rush down to pitch in, make sure you get to know the BP Gulf disaster-related charity you’re getting in bed with. [More]
BP Tries To Clean Up Coffee Spill
By 6.9.10
What would happen if BP spilled a bunch of coffee on their conference room table? Pretty much the same thing if they spilled a whole bunch of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. This Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater sketch spoof explores the delicate mapping between the two scenarios, and the delightful comedy that ensues. Kevin Costner’s voice, or a reasonable facsimile, guest stars. NSFW for one naughty word. [More]
BP Buys Up Search Phrases To Keep You From Snooping On Its Heroic Clean-Up Efforts
By 6.8.10
BP isn’t too fond of people using search engines to check up on its Gulf of Mexico misadventures. The company has bought up some Google and Yahoo phrases in order to scuttle efforts to find news reports using such words. [More]
Design BP's New Logo
By 6.2.10
In light of recent events, it seems BP’s “blossoming natural gas flower” logo needs an update. A friendly citizen passing by their station at Crosby and Houston in New York has offered this as their suggestion. If this sets off a brainstorm for you, LogoMyWay is hosting an parodic BP logo redesign contest with a $200 prize. (Thanks to GitEmSteveDave!) [More]
Family Of Four Dies In Sinkhole After Yard Silently Liquefies
By 5.13.10
The bodies of a family of four were found on their couch at the bottom of a crevasse after the area underneath their house suddenly gave way Monday. The culprit was an ancient one, the modern-day after-effects of a 10,000-year old inland sea. [More]
Update: All Four Major Carriers Now Waiving Fees For Haiti SMS Donations
By 1.14.10
Update 2: Sprint has also announced that it is waiving fees, retroactive to Wednesday. (Thanks to changebumpin!)
Update: MSNBC has updated their article, and they say that AT&T has announced it will waive fees for donations, and apply the exemption retroactively to those who have already donated. (Thanks to Mathew for the heads up.) [More]
Want To Participate In Haiti Relief Efforts? Here Are Some Options
By 1.13.10
Haiti’s president says the death toll from yesterday’s earthquake may rise above 100,000. You probably already know some organization you see eye to eye with that’s trying to help out, but if you want to donate but don’t know who to donate to, try these options. [More]
Should You Be Let Out Of Your Lease If Your Apartment May Plummet Into The Sea?
By 1.12.10
It’s nice to have an apartment on a cliff overlooking the ocean — until the cliff decides to stop existing. That’s what is happening to one apartment complex in Pacifica, CA. [More]
Do Not Leave Common Sense Behind When Trying Out Your Shiny New GPS
By 1.2.10
Like many Americans this year, I received a GPS unit as a Christmas gift. Its first real test was navigating to an unfamiliar town for New Year’s Eve, and it sent me on a circuitous, traffic-clogged route to the nearest freeway entrance after picking up a friend. “What? No!” I yelled at the device when it asked me to make a pointless, impossible left turn onto a dead-end street.
I only ended up a half-mile away from my route at any given time, and quickly realized that global positioning satellites are no substitute for actual common sense, assuming that you have any. But some of my fellow holiday GPS recipients haven’t been so lucky.
Apple Replaces Shattered iPhone After Customer Drops It
By 12.18.09
Someone in Apple’s iPhone Support department just got the crap haunted out of him by three ghosts, I’m guessing, based on what happened when David called to explain that his wife had dropped and ruined her brand new iPhone. [More]
T-Mobile: We Won't Swap Out Your Sidekick For A Different Phone
By 10.15.09
Amber is a pre-paid Sidekick owner who has been a T-Mobile customer for 7 years. After the recent T-Mobile data disaster, she doesn’t intend to get burned again. She wants to switch to a different phone, and she wants T-Mobile to buy back her Sidekick since they can’t deliver the data security they promised. Initially T-Mobile agreed, but then they pulled a Sidekick Data Outage on their promise and it disappeared forever.
T-Mobile Sidekick Data Outage Turns Into Epic Customer Data Fail
By 10.11.09
This time last week, we thought of the T-Mobile Sidekick data outage as a mere inconvenient outage, but a temporary one. We grossly misunderstimated how badly T-Mobile and Danger/Microsoft could screw things up.
Comcast: Fire Destroyed Your Cable Box? Pay Up.
By 8.21.08
Here’s one more thing to worry about when a fire destroys your home — Comcast.
Comcast Crashed A Truck Into My House And I Don't Even Get Free Cable
By 6.30.08
Reader Ryan sends us a gallery of photos depicting the aftermath of an unfortunate meeting between a moving Comcast van and his house.
Car Stereo Company Tries To Install GPS, Causes $12,398.54 Damage To Your Car
By 6.30.08
Reader Brandon took his recently purchased 1996 BMW M3 to a car stereo installation company to have a stereo, speaker set, and GPS system installed. When he got his car back, he noticed that the climate control system was no longer functioning the way it used to. Hot air was leaking from his air ducts when he selected cold air. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get the car stereo installation shop to repair the damage they caused, Brandon took the car to some BMW experts and found out that the botched installation had caused over $10,000 in damage to his car. Brandon then tried to get the car stereo shop’s insurance company to pay for the repairs, but they denied his claim on the basis that procedures used for the installation were typical. Brandon says he then took the car stereo shop to small claims court. but the judge ruled against him because the car stereo shop employees claimed that he entered into a oral contract to release them from liability in exchange for a partial refund. Brandon claims he never entered into such a contract. Read his story inside.
What Do You Do When Your Moving Company Destroys Everything You Own?
By 6.12.08
What should you do when you carefully pack all of your belongings into a truck for a cross country move and the driver promptly drives under a bridge that’s a couple feet shorter than said truck? That’s the question that one couple is asking after their move from Boston to Oakland, CA went horribly awry. They shared their story with a Boston alumni email list and one user posted it to LiveJournal. Their letter, plus a gallery of photos generously donated by eyewitness (and Flickr user) K a t m, inside.
Mazda To Destroy $100 Million Worth Of Brand New Cars
By 5.1.08
Two years ago the freighter Cougar Ace nearly sank, spending weeks bobbing at an impossible-looking angle in the North Atlantic. The cargo was eventually saved (you can read about the salvage effort here), but what does one do with cars that have spent weeks at sea? Can you be sure that they weren’t damaged?
