The Associated Press says that a review of regulatory documents shows that years before the subprime mortgage crises developed into a full blown economic meltdown— the government ignored warnings and listened instead to lobbyists who represented some of the same banks that have now failed.
failure
Wall Street Hoped They'd Be "Wealthy And Retired" Before The House of Cards Fell
By 10.23.08
If you’re wondering why all these supposedly smart people bought bullsh*t securities made up of pools of overpriced mortgages given to broke people with crap credit — it’s time for you to meet the rating agencies. Rating agencies are the folks who decide the “quality” of investments. They’re the ones who decided that these securities deserved a AAA (read: awesome) rating. Did they know that they were passing junk off as gold? Um, yeah, according to reports from Bloomberg and the New York Times. It looks like they sorta did.
Delta Creative Settles With Artist Over Defective Paint Products
By 10.8.08
Remember Vickie and her defective Delta Creative PermEnamel experience? It ruined several of her pieces, not because she applied it incorrectly but because something was wrong with the product. It happens sometimes with products, no big deal. What was a big deal was the company’s CEO, Bill George, refused to approve a compensation payment that his employees had already agreed to with Vickie, leaving her with no choice but to contact a lawyer and write to us. It looks like Delta Creative and the artist have now resolved the issue, and she’s sent us a statement saying everything has been resolved to her “complete satisfaction.”
Delta Creative Prez Denies Refund: "We're Not In The Business Of Reimbursement"
By 10.2.08
I have used the Delta PermEnamel Products for several years with marvelous results. This was an isolated incident which I would not expect to recur. This isolated incident has been resolved to my complete satisfaction. Thank you, Delta Creative, Inc.
Continental Confuses California With NYC?
By 9.12.08
[Update: Several commenters have pointed out that “Ontario, CA” actually refers to Ontario, California, which is near L.A. And to be fair to the OP, we’re the ones who misinterpreted Ontario, not her. We’ve updated the post. Also, check out Fly Girl’s insider explanation as to what likely happened.]
Continental canceled one leg of Lesley’s flight from NYC to California without notice—she only discovered it when she went online to check that everything was okay this morning. What’s worse, however, is the alternative flight plan they proposed, which would have her going from NYC to Houston to California and immediately back to Houston to NYC again, depositing her 20+ hours later in Newark, New Jersey—where we presume a gang of Continental employees will be waiting for Lesley at the gate to beat the crap out of her with confiscated water bottles. East Coast hates West Coast, Lesley!
J. Crew's Notoriously Awful Website Charges You $9,208.50 To Ship The Wrong Shirt
By 8.7.08
J. Crew has a problem with their website. Whatever the problem is, it isn’t small. Meet Per, a J. Crew customer who tried to order some polo shirts and not only did he get the wrong shirts, the bill came with a shipping charge of $9,208.50. Per would like to return these shirts and not pay $9,208.50 in shipping, but he can’t manage to log on to J. Crew’s website.
Sprint Loses $29.5 Billion Dollars In A Single Quarter
By 2.29.08
Sprint has announced a fourth quarter loss of $29.5 billion, says the Chicago Tribune. Most of the loss is due to a one-time $29.5 billion writedown of its purchase of Nextel. The wireless carrier says it expects 1.2 million additional customers to leave this quarter, citing dropped calls and poor customer service as their reason for seeking less frustrating pastures.
Chief Executive Dan Hesse, who took over in December, said business is worse than he expected and is deteriorating.
3 Months, 21 Customer Service Calls, 1 Tech Visit And No Working Verizon DSL
By 2.26.08
Starting in November, reader Roberta has called Verizon 21 times about her lack of DSL, and has yet to reach a resolution. She also launched two EECBs, both of which were ignored.
Walmart Sample XBOX 360 Demonstrates The Red Ring Of Death
By 2.5.08
Reader James says:Just went down to my local Wal-Mart the other day (La Quinta, Ca) and saw a Red Ring Of Death xbox 360 on display… thought it was worth a picture.This isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the product, is it?
Adobe's DRM Fails "Catastrophically."
By 1.4.08
In a stunning bout of honesty, Adobe’s licensing subsystem would like you to know that it has managed to fail “catastrophically.”
Walmart Shutters Video Download Store
By 12.27.07
It’s official: Walmart is no longer in the video download business.
By 12.18.07
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And now we pause for a bit of shopping schedenfraude: Kate Moss’ collection is now “heavily discounted” at Barney’s. Can one sustain a coke habit at 50% off? [Barney’s via Racked]
Macy's Website Asks You To "Wait Here A Few Moments While Other Shoppers Finish Up"
By 12.18.07
Mike
We like the “wait in line” style of the message. It’s a good way to remind people who shop online to avoid crowds that they’ve managed to fail in that regard.
Lobbyists 1, Kevin Martin 0: FCC Compromises On New Proposal
By 11.28.07
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin thought he had the support of the two Democratic commissioners when he went forward with a proposal to invoke powers given to the FCC in the 1984 Cable Communications Act. The 70/70 rule, as it’s called, allows the FCC to adopt any rules necessary to promote a “diversity of information sources,” once 70% of households can receive cable and 70% of them subscribe.
The Edsel Turns 50!
By 9.6.07
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Ford Edsel, long considered the premier example of over-hyped commercial failure. New Coke has nothing on the Edsel!
US Airways to Delta: "Fine, Keep Your Broke-Ass Airline"
By 2.1.07
The latest chance at a merger ended yesterday, when US Airways withdrew its $10.2 billion offer for Delta Air Lines, after it failed to win the support of Delta’s creditors, which included the Boeing Company and the federal pension agency.
Delta is determined to go it alone, but analysts are still speculating that eventually Delta will find a partner. Will it be Northwest?
