Filmmaker Kevin Smith was thrown off a Southwest flight for taking up too much space, according to the airline, which has admitted communication errors led to the incident. Smith says he fit in his seat easily and was unfairly singled out. After telling his side of the story via Twitter in piecemeal fashion over the past couple days, Smith finally channeled his story into a cohesive blog post. [More]
follow up
Sued College Ain't Exactly Harvard
By 8.14.09
Remember that story about Trina Thompson, the woman who sued her college after she couldn’t get a job? Turns out maybe the institution had it coming.
Yes, Pringles Are Potato Chips
By 6.1.09
Reversing an earlier decision, Britain’s Lord Justice Robin Jacob has ruled that Pringles are, indeed, potato chips. The decision means Pringles parent Procter & Gamble will be stuck paying $160 million in back taxes. P&G had insisted that the chips lack enough “potatoness” to qualify as a potato-based product (and be taxed as such), but the Judge disagreed, leaving it to philosophers and nutritionists to determine what exactly qualifies as the “essence of potato.” We kind of feel for P&G on this one. We love that crunch, and the way they stack so neatly in the can, but if we want real potatoes, a Pringle isn’t likely to be our first choice.
UPDATE: Hello! SkinnyJeans Talks Back to Consumerist
By 4.29.09
Remember the reader who tried to return pants to Hello! SkinnyJeans, only to receive brusque notes and sassy phone support? Did you wonder what the other side of the story might be? Wonder no more: Hello! SkinnyJeans sent us a press release.
Metrolink Addresses Confusing Wording Regarding Monthly Passes
By 3.19.09
It looks like someone at Metrolink in Southern California reads The Consumerist, because their communications manager responded today to yesterday’s post about some potentially confusing language on their website. He even posted a suggested revision to the language in an attempt to clear it up, and is asking for reader feedback.
Missing iPhone Back In Reader's Hands
By 2.14.09
Got the iPhone back now and went to the AT&T store and now activating it via iTunes. Phone seems to be working just the pictures in the camera roll were deleted along with recent calls.
Missing iPhone Mystery Solved By Consumerist Readers In 55 Minutes
By 2.13.09
Wow, that was impressive! In less than one hour after we posted about Dino’s dad’s lost iPhone, Consumerist readers were able to locate his Facebook and Hi5 accounts, track down his name and home address, and even get him to respond via email—something Dino and his dad weren’t able to do yesterday. Dino just wrote us and said “Michael Smith/Emerson” contacted him and promised to return the phone tomorrow.
Update: the phone has been returned!
Pistol Whipping Pizzeria Owner Was Ex-Mobster In Witness Protection Program
By 2.9.09
Well, this explains that Goombah Pizzeria owner’s apparent anger management issues: he was a former hit-man who’d served prison time in 2004 after pleading guilty to 2 murders.
By 1.23.09
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Remember the father and son team who cut in line at Walmart, then threatened an off-duty police officer with bodily harm, then were arrested? They’ve been charged with battery, and the off-duty cop has been cleared. A police investigator said, “The [Walmart] video supports [Officer] Kirby’s version of what happened.” [Indy Star] (Thanks to David!)
By 1.14.09
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Adolf Hitler Campbell, an unfortunately named three-year-old for whom ShopRite refused to make a birthday cake, and his sisters JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell have been placed in the custody of the state. We hope their new parents give them new names and they finally get some birthday cake.
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.”
Qwest Updates Contact Page To Explain Why They Don't Accept Emails
By 9.4.08
Yesterday we noted that Qwest has done away with their “email us” option on their contact page, and in a comical example of corporate doublespeak they’d printed, “Your questions and concerns are very important to us, however we are no longer able to respond to email.” Today it looks like Qwest has changed that pop-up window to provide a little more information.
Circuit City Says Rogue Firedog Was Wrong, Refunds $40 'Repair' Fee
By 8.28.08
Last week we wrote about a Circuit City customer who was charged $40 without warning for “repairs” to a brand new computer. We received several explanations from Circuit City insiders, both in the comments and through email, that the repair was mandatory—Acer and Circuit City had agreed that instead of pulling the PCs, the retailer’s Firedog techs would flash the BIOS in-store upon purchase. What was unclear was how or why this would fall under the Firedog “Quickstart” service, which is optional and includes things like removing shortcuts from your desktop and setting up your background. (Seriously, check it out here.) Yesterday we received the following interesting email from Circuit City HQ.
EBay Decides To Contact Tim About His Laptop Auction Problems
By 5.9.08
Timothy, our hapless eBay seller who kept having problems listing his laptop on the auction site, was contacted by a Real Live Human from eBay the day after we posted his story. “Garrison” apologized for the frustration, and said he’d be making a note on Timothy’s account to keep it from getting shut down by other agents. He also suggested several listing options that were pretty well-covered by our commenters in the original thread.
Customer's EECB To Best Buy Scores Direct Hit—Rewards Glitch Is Fixed, Plus Here's $75
By 4.24.08
A few weeks ago, Zach emailed us to say that his Rewards Zone Mastercard hasn’t worked properly in the five months he’s had it, and no one at Best Buy had been able to help. We pointed him to our Guide To Fighting Back, and he responded tonight with an update.
Sprint Customer's Number Gets Ported Without Authorization; Email To Executives Gets It Back
By 4.19.08
Robb spent almost two and half hours with Sprint CSRs trying to find out why his phone had stopped working, and eventually he was told that it had been ported to AT&T, and that it would “take 4-5 days to try and get this number back if at all.”
Follow-Up: Citibank Steps In, Forces Sears To Remove The $1070 Charge
By 4.15.08
Tom just sent us a follow-up to yesterday’s post, and it’s good news:Score another one for The Consumerist! This morning I contacted Sears’ Executive Customer Service Department. They attempted to contact the store manager on my behalf. I stress “attempted” because they were hung up on too.
