If we’ve learned anything this year it’s that vehicle recalls are a big deal, and, as a car manufacturer, ignoring signs of a recall will most certainly land you in hot water with U.S. regulators. And so, Hyundai will pay more than $17 million for delaying a recall related to defective brakes. [More]
fines
NY Hotel Fines Brides And Grooms $500 For Each Negative Review Posted By Their Wedding Guests
By 8.4.14
UPDATE: After hundreds of outraged posts on social media sites, the hotel addressed its Facebook audience early Monday afternoon to say the negative review policy was all just a big misunderstanding. [More]
Former Work-At-Home Schemer Hid Assets From FTC, Must Now Pay Previously Suspended $26.9M Fine
By 8.1.14
When your company is under investigation by federal regulators it’s best to be forthcoming with your net worth, because, you know, secrets come out. And when that secret happens to be hidden money, the subsequent fine will likely increase – by a lot. [More]
Southwest Airlines Could Face $12M FAA Fine Over Improper Repairs
By 7.28.14
Even the smallest mistake – or three of them – can translate into huge fines for airline companies. Southwest Airlines could be paying a $12 million fine to the Federal Aviation Administration because of allegedly improper repairs to its aircraft going back as far as 2006. [More]
CFPB: ACE Cash Express Must Pay $10M For Pushing Borrowers Into Payday Loan Cycle Of Debt
By 7.10.14
Another payday lender faces a hefty fine — to the tune of $10 million — for allegedly pushing borrowers into a cycle of debt. [More]
Library Waives $7,600 Fee For Book 91-Year-Old Man Returned 61 Years Late
By 6.16.14
Youth is wasted on the young, some might say, but not everyone tries to make up for the wastefulness of their earlier days when they’re all grown up. One 91-year-old man wasn’t about to let the capriciousness of his 30-year-old self go unanswered forever, however, turning in a library book that was 61 years late. [More]
SEC Fines Brokerage Firm $2M For Improper Use Of Customer Data
By 6.6.14
When a company breaks its promise of securing your personal information, that’s a problem. When the company does so for three years and used consumer trading data for its own benefit, that elicits a hefty fine from U.S. regulators. [More]
Southwest Airlines Fined $200,000 For Violating Fare Advertising Rule… Again
By 5.29.14
It’s only fair that when a company advertises a price that consumers get that price. Well, apparently Southwest Airlines wasn’t holding up its end of the airfare deal – again. Now, the company is getting a slap on the wrist, and a $200,000 fine from the U.S. Department of Transportation. [More]
GM To Pay $35 Million Fine For Botched Ignition Switch Recall
By 5.16.14
GM will be paying a record-setting $35 million fine over its completely botched decade-long ignition-switch defect and subsequent recall, the Department of Transportation announced today. [More]
Man With Uninsured $430K Lamborghini Finds $568 Ticket Outrageously High
By 10.25.12
Only the capriciousness of youth or a devoted avoidance of the realities of life could explain why someone would decide against insuring a $430,000 vehicle. The 22-year-old driver of a Lamborghini Aventador apparently believed no harm could ever befall his precious vehicle, which is the only reason we can think why he would skip insuring it. Paying a high price for such a car is apparently no biggie, but a $568 ticket? That is ridiculous. [More]
Federal Reserve Smacks Wells Fargo With $85 Million Fine
By 7.21.11
Punishing Wells Fargo for alleged mortgage funny business, the Federal Reserve has fined the bank $85 million. Accusations include falsifying mortgage applications to let unqualified borrowers receive mortgages and directing those with good credit into costly subprime mortgages. [More]
Man Fined $2,000 For Not Watering His Beehive
By 7.20.11
While New York may be trying to raise revenue by cracking down on city beekeepers, this looks like one sting operation that got its stinger broken off in the wound: inspectors fined a Queens man $2,000 for “not watering his beehive.” [More]
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Fined $425K For Not Inspecting Planes Following Lightning Strikes
By 6.17.11 — Updated: 9.8.16
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a regional carrier for Delta, was fined $425,000 by the Federal Aviation Administration for neglecting to inspect two of its jets after they were struck by lightning in July 2008. The FAA says the airline operated 13 flights before the planes were inspected. [More]
Mass. Restaurant Chain Fined $110K For Data Breach
By 3.30.11
A Massachusetts restaurant chain agreed to pay a $110,000 fine to settle a complaint that alleged hackers nabbed customers’ credit card and debit card info in 2009. [More]
Florida Aims To Fine Pesky Robocallers
By 11.23.10
Fed up with untimely calls from the Terminator, Robocop and other telemarketrons, Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is going after four telemarketing firms in the state, aiming to stick them with fines and injunctions that will stop them from making more cold calls. [More]
AirTran Fined $500,000 For Lousy Wheelchair Service
By 8.31.10
The Transportation Department has served AirTran a $500,000 civil penalty for repeated failures to accommodate disabled travelers, reports Associated Press. The airline was also cited for not providing adequate responses to customers who complained, and for not properly filing complaints with the government. The biggest issue, however, was that it doesn’t always provide wheelchairs to disabled passengers in a timely manner. AirTran says it’s working on implementing a wheelchair tracking system at its hubs. [More]
How Would You Penalize The Airlines For Safety Violations?
By 8.27.10
Yesterday, when we posted about the record-setting $24 million penalty the FAA gave to American Airlines over allegations the carrier flew thousands of flights in planes with potentially dangerous wiring, some Consumerist readers expressed the sentiment that the massive fine was either ineffective in properly punishing AA or that it did little to make air travel better for passengers. [More]
Chef Fined For Licking Toads In The Kitchen
By 8.17.10
The chef at a Japanese restaurant in Iowa was fined $335 after health department officials watched a video of him licking and kissing toads, then putting them in his mouth and then back on the prep table, in the restaurant’s kitchen. His brother taped the stunt and posted it on Facebook. [More]
