Reader Stephen writes in to let us know that he somehow got signed up for a scammy “Joke of the Day” service that charged $9.99 to his Sprint account.
evil
By 1.8.08
../../../..//2008/01/08/oh-by-the-way-kamberedelson/
Oh, by the way, KamberEdelson, the law firm that filed the class action against Sears over its website exposing customer’s purchase histories? They’re the same folks who successfully sued Sony BMG for selling all those DRM-riddled music CDs. Sears could be in trouble. [Washington Post]
Sears Sued For Showing Everything Your Friends And Neighbors Have Ever Bought
By 1.7.08
Reuters reports a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Sears for its managemyhome.com site which allowed you to type in anyone’s name and address or phone number and get a record of everything they ever bought at Sears. The suit alleges that in doing so, Sears engaged in “unfair or deceptive” practices. Not too long after our post went up on Friday reporting on the matter, the purchase history feature was turned off. Sears said it had “turned off the ability to view a customer’s purchase history on Manage My Home until we can implement a validation process that will restrict access by unauthorized third parties.” Yes, a validation process, that would be good to have.
See Everything Your Friends And Neighbors Have Ever Bought At Sears
By 1.4.08
Want to see all the major appliances and repair services that your friends and neighbors… (and anyone else who you can look up in the phone book) have ever purchased at Sears?
Facebook Might Revamp Shopping Stalking Feature
By 11.29.07
BusinessWeek says they have a source close to Facebook that says executives are discussing changes to the controversial marketing tool.
By 10.24.07
../../../..//2007/10/24/just-to-ask-his-mortgage/
Just to ask his mortgage service about his home loan cost $9.99/minute – the same rate charged by many phone sex-operators. But only with the former do you have a chance of really getting schtuped. [Credit Slips]
Google: "Online Advertising Benefits Consumers"
By 9.29.07
“The online advertising business is complex, but my message to you today is simple: Online advertising benefits consumers, promotes free speech, and helps small businesses succeed. Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick will help advance these goals while protecting consumer privacy and enabling greater innovation, competition, and growth.”
Like A Good Neighbor, State Farm Wants To Steal Your Money And Send You To Jail
By 6.2.07
Greg writes:
Watch Out If Your Credit Card Gets Sold To SST Card Services, Cause They're A Total Freakin' Scam
By 5.15.07
Consumer complaints are mounting against SST Card Services for deceptive and unlawful billing practices.
Time Warner Cable: Your Internet Isn't Working So We're Sending A Tech To Disconnect Your Cable
By 3.22.07
Time Warner Cable in Southern California is completely broken. There is no hope. They’ve fired the head guy, but we think the ship may have already sank. They may as well have let the captain go down with the boat.
Crunch Gym Is Notoriously Corrupt
By 3.12.07
Crunch Gym is notoriously corrupt. In the course of running this blog, it’s only natural that we get quite a few similar complaints about the same company. Sears Home Repair People never show up on time. Verizon’s customer service people are mean. Stuff like that. It becomes really troubling when we receive many complaints about a company refusing to stop taking money out of an ex-customer’s account. Those are the complaints we receive about Crunch Gym. Remember Jacob? He was canceling his membership after Crunch tried to charge him extra for adding a boxing ring to the gym.
RIAA Bullies College Students With P2PLawsuits.com
By 3.1.07
The RIAA is sending what amounts to a cease and desist letter to 400 college students at 13 universities. The letter encourages students to confess and pay a “settlement” at an RIAA website: P2PLawsuits.com. The website suggests using Mastercard, Visa or Discover to pay your fines.
RIAA Hates Open WiFi
By 2.23.07
Debbie Foster was sued by RIAA member company Capitol Records for allegedly sharing copyrighted material on a P2P file sharing network. However, the alleged infringement was apparently committed by someone else with access to her ISP account. Foster had the case dismissed last summer, and as reported by Listening Post earlier this month, was awarded attorney’s fees in excess of $50,000.
Verizon Lies To Customer To Get Him Off The Phone, Charges ETF
By 2.20.07
I recently tried to cancel my Verizon Wireless service because of the text messaging increase. Spoke to 6 CSRs who all gave me really bad excuses but I pressed my case and finally found a CSR who I thought was going to do the right thing and let me go. I spoke to a CSR name Donnesha (#2569) who after speaking to her supervisor briefly said she will cancel my contract with an ETF but as soon as I receive written notice in my bills for the text messaging charge increase I can call back and have a CSR waive my ETF. I then asked her again “So you will make a written note on my account so that as soon as I receive my next bill with a notice of the text messaging charge increase, I can call Verizon Wireless, speak with a CSR and based on the note you just made, I will get my $175 refund with no problems whatsoever?” She replies with “yes, absolutely”. I thanked her and promptly hung up. The next day, I called Verizon again and spoke with a CSR name Troy (#9840) to check on the little note Donnesha made, lo and behold, the note does not exist! Troy then proceeds to email Donnesha to inquire about where the note went. Donnesha emails back within 5 minutes to say that I had agreed to eat the ETF and that no refund will be given.
Hang contacted the BBB and escalated the issue to a supervisor, but Verizon is standing firm. They believe Donnesha. Do you?
GameStop Matches Customer Contact Info To Purchases, Asks If They Can Buy Back Games
By 2.16.07
“We hope you’re enjoying your copy of Twiliight Princess, but if you’re finished with it, why don’t you bring it to the store and trade it in? We’re willing to give you $35 in trade for your copy of Twilight Princess….” I hung up at this point, and try not to curse. I really don’t like this sort of phone call, but I’m almost willing to tolerate it when they’re telling me a game I want to buy is coming in.
It seems that GameStop has cross-referenced their reservation database with the records of what their customers purchase. Then, when they’re running low on used copies of Twilight Princess or whatever, they can call and harass people to sell them back. Damn, GameStop. We know a lot of your customers are used to being treated like crap, but this is a new low. —MEGHANN MARCO
RIAA Tries To Avoid Paying Expensive Lawyers By Bullying ISPs
By 2.14.07
“The RIAA has sent out a letter to the ISPs telling them to stop making mistakes in identifying subscribers, and offering a ‘Pre-Doe settlement option’ — with a discount of ‘$1000 or more’ — to their subscribers, if and only if the ISP agrees to preserve its logs for 180 days. Other interesting points in the letter (PDF): the RIAA will be launching a web site for ‘early settlements,’ http://www.p2plawsuits.com”
That’s cool, just bypass the legal system with a scary letter and a website. ISPs aren’t going to fall for this, are they? Comcast? Verizon? Are you there? —MEGHANN MARCO
FOLLOWUP: Car Dealership Breaks Into Customer's Home, Steals $70,000
By 2.13.07
A Seattle car dealership that broke into a mentally-disabled customer’s apartment and stole $70,000 in cash has a history of drug-use, shady tactics, and abusing mentally handicapped customers, The Seattle Times reports.
