C. and her husband are a young couple who moved into their first house just a few years ago. Unable to manage their mortgage payments, they asked their lender, PNC Mortgage, for help. The bank offered them a monthly payment $500 higher than the mortgage they couldn’t pay in the first place. Their house has sat empty and on the real estate market since January, waiting for a buyer to come along for a short sale. One did, and the nightmare is almost over. Or it would be, if PNC would just stop calling the couple and any relative whose phone number they can find, almost every day. [More]
harassment
Keep Calling T-Mobile's Executive Office, Get Charged With Harassment
By 6.17.11
Gary’s mom uses a prepaid T-Mobile phone, but doesn’t use it a whole lot. She missed the deadline to re-up her account by three days, and is now stuck with a useless $50 refill card and a shut-off cell phone. After four fruitless attempts at calling regular customer service, Gary tracked down the executive customer service number, hoping to reach someone in the United States with some power. Instead, the person he reached was hostile and unhelpful. When Gary eventually reached that person’s boss to complain, the boss said that if he kept contacting the executive offices, they’d have him charged with harassment. All of this seems like a lot more trouble than turning some old lady’s phone back on. [More]
Do Not Pretend Your Waitress's Bosom Is A Credit Card Reader
By 4.28.11
Just in case you were wondering, it’s not cool to paw at a waitress and slide a credit card in her bra. Such actions are what a Washington Redskins lineman stands accused of, according to court papers filed Wednesday. [More]
Citibank Screws Up Money Transfers, Admits Fault, Calls Us 20 Times A Day
By 1.6.11
Henry and his wife went broke, then worked out a payment plan with Citibank to settle their debt. The idea was to be proactive in order to avoid harassment about bills they couldn’t afford. [More]
I Do Not Appreciate Your Drug-Pushing Calls, CVS
By 10.27.10
Josh used to get his prescriptions at CVS. He stopped when the company kept calling him, pushing more drugs, and refused to stop calling no matter who he asked. CVS seems to believe that they can annoy customers into purchasing more drugs. [More]
Continental Refuses To Believe Woman's Service Dog Is Real
By 8.18.10
Continental sure has a lot of skeptical employees when it comes to customers with disabilities. Jessica tried to buy a ticket yesterday and was told no, because the ticket agent didn’t believe that Jessica’s self-trained service dog was legit. [More]
Video Store Guy Calls Me 8 Times About Overdue Movies
By 8.9.10
Jon neglected to return a couple DVDs to the rental store on time and had to suffer the telephonic wrath of someone who bombarded him with 8 consecutive calls from both the store phone and his personal cell. [More]
Obsessive Debt Collectors Mixed My Roommate Up With Some Other Guy
By 8.5.10
Curt says his roommate can’t shake a pushy debt collector who won’t get it through his head that he mixed up his identity with some guy who owes AT&T for DSL service. He contacted AT&T but the company seems unwilling/unable to call off the dogs. [More]
Please Make Dead Friend's Creditors Stop Calling My Mom
By 7.29.10
Kevin’s mom is the executor of a family friend’s estate. Chase, the company that holds this family friend’s mortgage somehow got hold of her phone number, and is now calling her incessantly, looking for…. the dead person? Chase reps claim that they’re not allowed to speak with the executor of the estate, yet they keep calling back despite pleas to leave her alone. [More]
Western Dental Upsells Relentlessly, Then Pulls Dirty Trick With Billing
By 7.26.10
Ryan recently went to a clinic operated by Western Dental Centers, a franchise that operates in California, Arizona and Nevada, and now he regrets that decision. He writes that first he was forced to endure $800 worth of upsells while he was stuck in the chair, even though he was just going in for a cleaning. What happened with billing, though, was worse and may lead to lasting credit issues. [More]
Help! AFLAC's Recruiters Won't Stop Stalking Me
By 6.23.10
Elliot has a unique problem in this recession. He tells Consumerist that recruiters claiming to represent the insurance company AFLAC have been calling, emailing, and otherwise harassing him and other people he knows who are looking for work. He doesn’t want to work for AFLAC. How can he make them stop calling? [More]
Target Point Consulting Calls Stranger At Home To Insult Him
By 6.21.10
Jon says someone called him earlier this month and claimed to be from a company called Target Point Consulting, and asked Jon to answer a survey. When Jon said no and asked how the caller got his number, which is on the Do Not Call list, things got interesting. [More]
AmEx Keeps Bugging My Coworker To Track Me Down
By 6.2.10
David owes a bundle to American Express, but wishes the company would keep the debt between them. Instead, he says AmEx is calling around on him, tracking down a coworker in order to harass David into paying up. [More]
Verizon Bill Collector Threatens To Blow Up Man's House
By 5.25.10
A man in New Mexico is suing Verizon Wireless over a series of harassing phone calls made by Verizon bill collectors last year. The man, Al Burrows, says the calls were concerning a relative’s unpaid cellphone bill. When he hung up on one of them, the disconnected Verizon rep called back, said she knew where Burrows lived, and added, “I am gonna blow your mother fucking house up.” [More]
Fix Mortgage Errors By Promising The CSR "Phone Fun," At Least At Wells Fargo
By 5.24.10
According to a lawsuit filed in New Jersey, a CSR at Wells Fargo’s Home Mortgage Division refused to correct a payment error for Jamie Nelson unless she had some “phone fun” with him first. Phone fun, in this case, seemed to mean naked pics of the woman. She’s suing for emotional distress, since you can’t take someone to court simply for being a skeevy jackass. Wells Fargo says they’re taking the allegations seriously. [More]
Rent-A-Center Settles With Washington Attorney General Over Customer Abuse Claims
By 3.2.10
Rent-A-Center, the furniture/appliance rent-to-own company (“For When You Want to Piss Away Your Paycheck!”), has settled with the Washington Attorney General’s Office over charges that its employees harassed customers who were late on payments. Last year, the company’s employees in Washington were accused of trying to kick in one customer’s door and threatening another one with jail, among other things. [More]
Infomercial Pest Kevin Trudeau Jailed For 30 Days For Urging Followers To Annoy Judge
By 2.17.10
Kevin Trudeau, a diet and disease cure-all peddler who has a rich history with the FTC, just earned himself a fat 30 days in jail for encouraging his fans and followers to email a U.S. District Judge. Last Wednesday, Trudeau posted a request on his website asking supporters to email the judge who is presiding over an FTC civil suit against him. The idea, apparently, was for Trudeau’s happy customers to convince Judge Robert Gettleman to go easy on the pitchman. Instead, it had the opposite effect. [More]
Continental Gate Agent Tells Passenger She Thinks Her Mental Illness Is Fake
By 1.29.10
Laura has a pretty good description of what an anxiety attack feels like to her: “First, your chest starts to feel tight, like you are wearing a corset. You can’t breathe properly, your heart rate starts to skyrocket, causing a pounding feeling. It’s very out-of-body. You can’t figure out what’s going on. It’s like being trapped by your brain into a tight corner.” If the skeptical gate agent for Continental had ever experienced this–or had just been given adequate training for dealing with passengers with disabilities–maybe she wouldn’t have told Laura her doctor’s note looked fake, or asked her to stay put when Laura said she needed to get her meds. [More]
