A type of lightweight aluminum cladding made by Arconic (formerly known as Alcoa) has been discontinued after being linked to the deadly fire that claimed at least 79 lives at the 24-story Grenfell Tower in London. [More]
horror stories
Uber User Claims Driver Beat Him And Left Him In “Pool Of Blood On The Pavement”
By 1.6.17
Increasingly popular ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft continue to be dogged by allegations of bad behavior by the drivers who use these popular platforms to connect with customers. The latest incident involves an Uber driver accused of assaulting a passenger after refusing to take him to his destination. [More]
USPS Gives Woman 7 Canaries To Replace Smashed Package Of Dead Birds It Delivered Before Christmas
By 12.30.16
A story that sounds like “The 12 Days of Christmas” gone horribly wrong is wrapping up with a happy ending (unless you happen to be a recently deceased canary): after delivering a smashed box filled with a half-dozen dead birds to a woman in Alabama, the U.S. Postal Service has successfully replaced the deceased avians with seven live canaries. [More]
After Mom Suffers Stroke, Comcast Tells Kids They Can’t Cancel Her Account
By 11.14.16
We’ve talked before about the grim but necessary business of having to close accounts and tie up loose ends for recently departed family members, but what about those instances when your loved one is still alive, but unable to participate in the process? [More]
Trilogy Of Set-Top Terror: Cable Box Horror Stories From Consumerist Readers
By 9.15.16
Earlier this week, we asked readers to send in their tales of set-top woe when dealing with their cable and satellite providers. We’ve already received a number of emails and we’re just beginning to sort through them, but here are a couple that caught our eye. [More]
Do You Have A Cable Box Horror Story? Tell Us All About It
September 14, 2016
Between the FCC’s efforts to reform the set-top box market and the cable industry’s thinly veiled threats of litigation — not to mention divided opinions on the issue on Capitol Hill — the old cable box is a big topic of conversation these days. And while much of the focus has been on the billions of dollars the cable and satellite companies make from monthly lease fees on these devices, we’d like to hear from people who have had to go toe-to-toe with their pay-TV provider over their set-top boxes. [More]
Samsung Phone Reportedly Explodes In Hand Of 6-Year-Old
By 9.12.16
UPDATE: The NY Post has revised — without any mention of a correction — its original story to now clarify that the phone involved in this incident was not a Note 7, but apparently a lesser-known Samsung Galaxy phone, the Core Prime. We have corrected the story below to reflect this important change. [More]
No One Will Tell Man Why Lowe’s Opened Insurance Policy For Him After He Left Company
By 8.12.16
A man who briefly worked for a company owned by Lowe’s is at risk of losing his current medical insurance after finding out that the home improvement retailer took out a health insurance policy in his name after he stopped working there. [More]
Homeowner Says Airbnb Guest Did $25K In Water Damage, May Have Shot Porn In Her House
By 8.10.16
We’re not saying this is the way things should be, but it’s the way things are: If you’re going to use Airbnb or some other service to rent out your house like a hotel, you need to know there’s a chance that the people you let stay in your home while you’re away might also see it as nothing more than a hotel room they can mess up and leave behind. [More]
Comcast Decides To Not Charge Early Termination Fees To Flood-Ravaged Stores
By 8.5.16
Flood waters recently tore through Ellicott City, MD, forcing some businesses to close up shop. One store says Comcast tried to rub salt in this fresh wound by demanding it pay hundreds of dollars to cancel service it can no longer use. [More]
Terminix Offering $87M To Family Sickened By Industrial Pesticide During Caribbean Vacation
By 8.1.16
The Delaware family that was sickened by toxic pesticide during their stay in a luxury condo in the Caribbean last year could be getting $87 million from Terminix as part of a proposed settlement. [More]
Comcast Admits It Incorrectly Debited $1,775 From Account, Tells Me To Sort It Out With Bank
By 6.22.16
Nearly two years after Consumerist reader Robert shut down his business-tier service with Comcast, he’s still fighting with the nation’s largest broadband provider over a $1,775 early termination fee that should not have been assessed. Comcast even admits the money shouldn’t have been debited from Robert’s bank account, but now says it’s his responsibility to sort the mess out with his bank. [More]
Police Paperwork Mistake Screws Over Victim Of Car Theft & Man Who Unwittingly Bought Stolen Vehicle
By 5.26.16
Here’s a case where no one really wins. Not the woman whose truck was stolen and had to go out-of-pocket to replace it, and certainly not the guy who bought the truck but had to surrender it after learning it had been stolen five years earlier… and all because someone at the police department filled in the wrong box on some paperwork. [More]
Comcast Customer Hit With $60,000 Penalty After Waiting 10 Months For Installation
By 3.18.16
We’ve already shown that Comcast and other broadband companies will mislead consumers into believing they can get service at a new property, only to find out when it’s too late that they can’t. So it’s both horrifying and not surprising to hear that when a Comcast business customer tried to get out of their contract because the cable giant failed to install their service for 10 months, they were hit with $60,000 in fees. [More]
Airbnb Guests Find Decomposing Body In French Rental’s Garden
By 2.29.16
We’ve heard of Airbnb horror stories before — from nightmare renters who refuse to leave, to guests who find hidden cameras watching them — but this might be one of the worst, and saddest: renters staying at a house near Paris discovered the decomposing body of a woman in the home’s garden. [More]
Stuck-In-The-Mud FedEx Truck Ruins Front Yard, Company Shrugs
By 2.2.16
If a company worth $36 billion ruins your front yard, you’d hope it would have the decency to scrounge up some pocket change to make things right — or at least have the common courtesy to explain why it wasn’t doing anything to repair the damage. [More]
![The building in San Francisco's Mission district is now being renovated, "presumably for wealthier tenants," notes the judge. [image via Google Maps]](../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/luckystreet.png?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
San Francisco Landlord Charged $4K/Month In Rent For Rodent-Infested “Death Trap” Apartments
By 9.8.15
A San Francisco man who fancied himself a landlord and building manager — but who apparently failed to do more than just collect rent that he didn’t always pay up the ladder — has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to tenants who paid exorbitant sums to live in “squalid” conditions with phantom appliances, exposed wiring, and rodents run amok. [More]
UPDATE: A Happy Ending For Man Who Almost Had To Sell His House Due To Comcast’s Incompetence
By 7.13.15
Remember Seth, the Washington state homeowner who was putting his recently purchased house up for sale because no one — not Comcast, not CenturyLink, not his county — was willing or able to provide the broadband connection he needed for his home office? We’re happy to tell you that Seth is still in the house and he can now go online. [More]
