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Geek Squad Replaces Soaked Computer For Free
By 4.28.08 — Updated: 3.9.13
Nicole’s computer seemed to have developed water damage after she sent it in to Geek Squad, a favor for which they wanted to charge her $730. After her story posted to The Consumerist, some higher-ups cattle-prodded Sam, in charge of Geek Squad’s “Public Defender” team, and he jumped into action. Now Nicole has her computer back, completely repaired, free of charge. She says, “Sam at Geek Squad corporate was really helpful.” Woot, internet pillory wins again! [More]
Protesting Honda Civic SI Get Transmission TSB
By 4.25.08
Those Honda Civic SI owners who were holding protests in front of dealerships about the widespread transmission problem (where the 3rd gear kept grinding, popping out and randomly going into neutral), finally have their day. Honda issued a TSB (technical service bulletin) on the issue, so now owners experiencing the problem can go their dealership and get it repaired for free, provided they are still under warranty. It’s not quite the recall owners were hoping for, but it’s something. Guess Honda has now heard of the problem they previously said they “never heard of before.” Must have been all that negative news coverage. Here’s links to the TSB (for Honda dealers, for Acura dealers (PDF)) so you can print it out and bring with you. Inside, one of the original newscasts covering the uproar.
Progressive Responds To Question About Using Recent Military Service To Determine Rates And Eligibility
By 4.22.08
The Progressive auto insurance company saw our post “Why Is Progressive Using “Recent Military Service” To Determine Rates And Eligibility?” and responded to let us know that it’s just to make sure that service members aren’t penalized for having a lapse in their coverage due to the fact that they’ve been deployed overseas. They’ve apologized for the confusing wording on the website and have pledged to rewrite it for clarity. Full official statement, inside…
Comcast Fixes Problem Of Reader They Made Cry
By 4.21.08
Stephanie’s internet is back after she used the contact info from our post “Comcast Trawling Blogs And Twitter For Customer Complaints” to email Comcast’s problem solver, Frank Eliason. Stephanie writes, “Within an hour of my email to Frank he responded, saying that he forwarded my problem to Scott the local guy…they had a tech at my house within an hour.” Score!
Cablevision Claims They Are Not Lying Liars, But Mysteries Remain
By 4.20.08
Cablevision responded to our post chastising their attempt to force customer to upgrade to digital service by pointing to an unrelated FCC mandate. Cablevision admits that there is no connection between their unilateral business decision to cut channels and the FCC-mandated transition to digital television, but their statement leaves several questions unanswered. Read Cablevision’s statement and our response, after the jump.
Internal Documents Show Why Verizon Isn't Fulfilling Advertised Discounts For Tens Of Thousands
By 4.18.08
These internal Verizon emails, sent by the same insider and as a a followup to “LEAKS: Insider Says Verizon Isn’t Fulfilling Advertised Discounts For Tens Of Thousands,” shows why some of our readers have complained about Verizon offering them one price and billing them another, and then being inflexible in offering service credits. It appears to show that Verizon mailed out a half a million “Blitz” promotional rate cards, then decided it was an error and pulled the offer from the computers. Then Verizon let people get the advertised offers, but only if the customer specifically asked for it. Around the same time, on March 3rd, management cuts the discounts reps can give to $150. Two weeks later, it’s $50. Two weeks after that, it’s zero. Even if a customer was overbilled and legitimately deserved a credit, tough titties, Texas, you weren’t going to get it. Verizon insider’s explanation, rebuttal to the response by Verizon PR pointman John Bonomo, and the internal emails, inside…
Comcast Apologizes For Tech's Van Blocking Driveway
By 4.17.08
Frank Eliason from Comcast Executive Customer Service provided the following statement regarding the San Fransican whose Comcast cable service mysteriously shut off 10 minutes after asking a tech to move his van from in front of his driveway:
Sprint's "Nucking Futs" "Jessica" Fired
By 4.16.08
benpopken: How did the company track down which “Jessica” it was?
Get Free Sprint Features With URL Hacking
By 4.14.08
Two more instances of Sprint’s insecure online system:
Flawed Sprint Security Worse Than We Thought
By 4.9.08
In the comments on our post exposing a flaw in Sprint’s online account security that would let a stranger completely take control of your cellphone account, a former Sprint rep says it’s even weaker than what we thought. How? Reader Dragonfire81 says that every question about cars has three luxury models and one typical car, making it pretty easy to guess. “None of the above” for “which properties have you owned” was correct 99% of the time. And worst of all, you only need to answer two of the questions correctly to gain access to an account. “I was shocked at the number of times I was able to access an account by simply guessing the answers,” he writes. “Fortunately I am an ethical person, but if I wasn’t I could’ve done a LOT of damage very easily.” Here’s his comment in full:
Drugs In The Water No Big Deal, Says NYC Official
By 4.8.08
In regards to a headline grabbing AP investigation that found the drinking water of major cities contained trace amounts of an array of pharmacopoeia, the deputy commissioner of New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, “A person would have to drink one million glasses of water to get the dose of even one over-the-counter ibuprofen tablet or the caffeine in one cup of coffee…Even at eight glasses of water per day, this would take the average person over 300 years to consume.” So for those of you hoping to replace your medicine cabinet just by draining the Brita, sorry Charlie. However, there are no studies on the long-term effects to human of small exposure to a vast array of drugs, although, the Times notes, they have been shown to cause mutations in fish.
Kraft Stole Idea For "Bagelfuls" From "Bagelers"
By 4.8.08
As several readers have pointed out, Kraft’s new “Bagelfuls” (aka Bagel Twinkies) are not without precedent: A small New York company has been making the same thing, called “Bagelers,” since at least 2003. As depicted in the picture at left, (the company tried to make a splash at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards, scoring pictures and other stars on the red carpet holding boxes of Bagelers. Why it takes $100 million to steal someone’s idea is an answer best left to the masters of corporate America.
H&R Block Says It Does Not Refuse Tax Returns For Same-Sex Civil Unions
By 4.7.08
H&R Block recently got into trouble because when a Connecticut same-sex couple tried to file their taxes through H&R Block’s website, the system spat back, “”We don’t support Connecticut Civil Union returns.” One of our readers wrote H&R Block about our post and their VP of Marketing actually wrote back to him to describe what she felt was media sensationalization of the story. She says that the problem happens because the Federal government doesn’t recognize same-sex civil unions. The information for state tax returns gets inputted based on the federal, so in this specific case, it’s not “flowing” correctly. It sounds like they’re working on fixing that, though. Here’s her email in full:
Man To Receive Office Depot Rebate That Was Falsely Denied
By 4.5.08
Daniel, whose Office Depot rebate was falsely denied, says he called them back today and his rebate has been approved. His issue has even been escalated so his check will get out faster. Daniel also says that when he sent his complaint in, it wasn’t so much his particular issue that he was upset about, as he felt sure he would be able to successfully get his rebate after sending in the necessary information, but it was really the thought of how many other people there were out there who would end up getting their rebate denied because they didn’t have photographic proof that they had filled out their rebate correctly. He also notes that when he received the denial notice, it only gave him five days to respond. Had it come last week, while he was away on a 12-day trip, he would have lost his chance at rebate redemption. Those are the risks you take when you play the rebate lottery. Like most games of chance, the odds are stacked in favor of the house.
Comcast Spews BS When You Complain About HD Degradation
By 4.2.08
David wanted a straight answer from Comcast as to whether they were degrading his HD signal, but instead was fed a colossal trough of baloney. The executive customer service rep who replied to David’s email said Comcast is using a “new system” for HD and while it “works well with clean 1080i signals, we’re making some adjustments to improve how it handles other types of HD signals so we can bring you the best HD picture. We apologize this has not created the HD experience that we intended, but we will work towards getting it right. ” Sure… check out this previous post, Comcast Degrades HD Quality To Make Room For More Channels, for the science and proof of how Comcast (and other cable operators) are degrading HD feeds to make more money. The full exchanges between David and the Comcast reps, inside…
eBayed BMW M3 Resolution Hits Pothole
By 3.27.08
The guy who won a BMW for $60k on eBay only to have the dealership back out is chaffing at the conditions the dealership imposed after the two, following an international onslaught of criticism, came to terms. The two conditions the dealership asked for were 1) That Ken not sell the car for a certain number of years after he bought it and 2) That Ken has to go around to all the internet sites that picked up his story and tell them that the dealership worked out the deal. Ken’s lawyer was able to get the first one struck but Ken really doesn’t like the second one, especially after the following quote from the dealership appeared in the Journal-Star, “These bloggers out there, they have lots of time on their hands to do this.” To this, Ken wrote, “I got placed under the impression that the dealership really isn’t sorry for anything they have done here. Their attitude, it seemed was that I am to blame for the firestorm that culminated, implying that I wasn’t being proactive enough in getting the word out…I had no intention of becoming a pawn for this dealer, not after the way they treated me!” For their part, the dealership says they are ready to sell the car at the agreed-upon price once they receive payment from Ken.
Crest Refunds Teeth-Staining Mouthwash
By 3.27.08
For customer’s teeth stained brown by by Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash, Crest is refunding their bottles of mouthwash, but you have to push for them to pay for it. Reader Peter called the 1-800-285-9139 Crest number we posted about. “The rep was very aware of the situation & asked for some #s off the bottles I had. I had purchased 2 huge bottles from COSTCO,” Peter writes. “He offered to send some coupons. I told him that I wanted a full refund. He immediately said he would do so & is sending me a check for almost $16.” So not only will they pay for your cleaning if your insurance doesn’t cover it, they’ll give you your money back for buying the stuff. Good. Now how about taking it off the market?
