After several years of shutting down class-action lawsuits or affirming businesses’ ability to preempt such suits with forced arbitration, the U.S. Supreme Court today chose not to hear challenges to a trio of class actions about supposedly defective washing machines from three leading manufacturers. [More]
down the drain
City Doesn’t Believe Man About Suspicious $800 Water Bill, Now He Owes $76,000
By 2.13.14
A New Jersey man says that when the water bill on his rental property jump from an average of $200 to $800 in a single billing cycle, the city said nothing was wrong, leaving him to chalk it up to a careless tenant who must love long showers. But no non-whale tenant in the world could explain how his next bill soared up to $76,000. [More]
How To Keep iOS 7 From Sucking Your iPhone’s Battery Dry
By 9.19.13
Whether you’re awaiting the arrival of a shiny technological baby in the form of an iPhone 5C or 5S, the new iOS 7 is here already and iPhone 4 or later users as well as iPad owners may be updating their phones with it. But what if you don’t want your constant companion to lose its battery life due to the upgrade? First of all, stop playing with your phone so dang much, if that’s possible. [More]
Woman Hit With $9,000 Water Bill After City Refuses To Believe Her
By 6.22.12
Rounding out the trilogy that began with the $3,000 cable bill, followed by the $1.3 million power bill, is the story of an Atlanta woman who has spent the last year trying to tell the city’s water department about her wildly increasing bills — and who now faces a $9,000 bill for her efforts. [More]
How A Call To Fix Clogged Toilet Spiraled Into $13,698 Plumbing Bill
By 8.25.11
On March 31, a 73-year-old man in Wisconsin called a plumber to fix a clogged toilet. He says that a day later, on April 1, the plumbers handed him a bill for $13,698, but it was no April Fools Joke. Of course, this has all ended up in court, where the customer alleges employees at the plumbing business are told it’s part of their job to upsell additional work to the consumer. [More]
