There are sloppy cable installation jobs and there are sloppy cable installation jobs, but the job done by this DirecTV installer represents a new level of laziness, made worse by the company’s attempts to shrug it off. [More]
horror stories
House-Painters Rip Down Customer’s Patio Cover Because They Thought That’s What She Wanted
By 8.2.13
Get it in writing. Those are four words you need to repeat to yourself over and over whenever you have someone doing work on your house. Just ask the California woman who learned that her house-painters had torn down her patio cover, not because they were clumsy or reckless, but because that’s what they thought she’d asked for. [More]
Wells Fargo Customer Explains How $500 Loan Resulted In $3,000 In Fees
By 7.26.13
Wells Fargo claims that its Direct Deposit Advance loans are not payday loans, in spite of the fact that they are short-term, high-interest loans that are supposed to be paid off at the borrower’s next payday. One California woman says she assumed that Wells Fargo wouldn’t be steering her into a sketchy payday-like product, but then she ended up going around the debt carousel 63 times in five years — and paying $3,000 in fees on a $500 loan. [More]
DMV Error Leads To $17,000 In Toll Violations For Truck Owner
By 7.24.13
Back in 2008, a California man bought a truck but after getting a mysterious toll violation from a county 400+ miles away, he realized that the Dept. of Motor Vehicles had goofed and the license plate listed on his registration did not match the plate on his vehicle. The DMV sent him new plates but has done nothing to help him fight the thousands of dollars in toll road violations being racked up by some other driver. [More]
Passengers Forced To Sleep On Rest Stop Tables After Bus Is Stranded For More Than 24 Hours
By 7.17.13
Driving from Durham, NC, to New York City should take anywhere from 7-10 hours, depending on traffic and how frequently you stop to fill up, void your bladder, or just stand up and flex your knees. But for 53 passengers on a Manhattan-bound bus, that trip took nearly 30 hours, much of it spent stranded by the side of the road. [More]
Amazon Cancels My $6,000 Order Because It Doesn’t Know How To Use A Fax Machine
By 6.18.13
A few weeks back, Consumerist reader K. placed an order on Amazon for $6,000 worth of computer equipment. The online retailer was unable to immediately process her order because it needed additional documentation, which K. faxed over right away… and then re-faxed when Amazon requested a second time… and then eight additional times because Amazon kept asking for it, all before the company cancelled K’s order, claiming she never faxed the documents. [More]
Report: United Airlines Passenger Restrained After Saying He Poisoned Everyone On Plane
By 6.17.13
Here’s some news apparently coming from a United Airlines flight that hasn’t even landed yet. According to news reports, a passenger on the flight from Hong Kong to Newark had to be restrained after making an announcement that he’d poisoned everyone on board. [More]
Royal Caribbean Passenger Says Crew Wouldn’t Let Her Leave Her Cabin After Daughter Fell Overboard
By 4.17.13
Last September, a 21-year-old woman on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship fell overboard and lost her life. In a recently filed lawsuit, the woman’s mother says she was kept under guard in her cabin for days after the incident and that she was not allowed to leave her room or contact her other children. [More]
Even Bestselling Authors Aren’t Immune From Shoddy Home Depot Warranty Repair Work
By 2.19.13 — Updated: 6.26.14
In spite of the completely nonexistent rumor that making the NY Times bestseller list grants an author access to a level of customer service reserved for elite celebrities, it turns out that no one is immune to a bad repair job that can ultimately result in $20,000 worth of damage. [More]
Carnival Forced To Cancel 12 More Upcoming Cruises Aboard Stranded Ship
By 2.13.13
With the Carnival Triumph and its 4,000 passengers still being towed back to port following an engine room fire earlier this week, the cruise line operator has had to pull the plug on a dozen additional upcoming voyages for the ship. [More]
Stranded Carnival Cruise Passengers Will Be Stuck On Hot, Smelly Ship For Two More Days
By 2.12.13
Things are getting pretty awful for the passengers and crew aboard the Carnival Triumph, which was set adrift on Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico after a fire in the engine room. How bad? Crew members reportedly had to pass out plastic bags so passengers can answer the call of nature, as the bathrooms are just too foul to stand. And they’ve still got two days at sea before tug boats can pull them into port in Mobile, Ala. [More]
5 Home Inspection Photos That Show Why DIY Is Not Always The Best Route
By 2.7.13
Every day, emboldened by endless home-improvement shows, and Ed Harris’ soothing, assuring voice in commercials for Home Depot, millions of Americans attempt to repair and upgrade their homes without the help of a professional. The results vary from great to… well, you’ll see in these photos. [More]
Couple Paying Mortgage On Fire-Ravaged Home Because FEMA Rules Won’t Let Them Rebuild
By 1.28.13
Last August, a family in California came home to find their house on fire. Five months later, they live in a rented house down the street while still paying their mortgage and flood insurance, but the house isn’t being rebuilt because there is no way they could afford to meet new FEMA flood zone standards. [More]
JCPenney Loses My Mattress, Suggests I Rent A Truck To Go Pick It Up
By 1.21.13
Consumerist reader and former JCPenney employee Ron says he’d had some residual loyalty for the department store. That was before JCP not only lost his new mattress then suggested he rent a truck to pick it up. He might have even done it, if anyone could tell him where the mattress was. [More]
Neither L.A. Fitness Nor American Express Care That Customer Was Overcharged Hundreds Of Dollars
By 12.4.12
If you’ve signed enough contracts over the years, you’ve probably signed at least one where it was amended and initialed by the signers. But when one party refuses to acknowledge that those changes were ever made, you can end up getting royally screwed. [More]
Moving Company Sends Check To Pay For Stolen Xbox, Cancels Check When Customer Blogs About It
By 11.28.12
Mike says his hassle with his moving company has been going on for over a month. First, his Xbox goes missing and he discovers one of the movers stole it. Then police got involved and the movers promised to pay for the loss, after Mike wrote about the ordeal online, he says that check was canceled. [More]
Sears Will Do Just About Anything To Not Fix My Cracked Boiler
By 11.20.12
For almost two weeks, Consumerist reader Jim has simply been trying to get Sears out to repair his cracked boiler. Instead, he’s been given three separate appointments just to verify the existence of the crack, none of which have resulted in anything being done to actually fix the problem. [More]
Man Claims He Was Stabbed By T-Mobile Employee During Dispute Over His Bill
By 11.16.12
Sure, there are times when we’re arguing with a customer service rep or a grumpy sales associate where it feels like discussions are about to erupt in fisticuffs, but usually it’s all a bunch of hot air. Not so for one T-Mobile customer who claims he walked away from a bill dispute at a store with a stab wound to his abdomen. To be clear: He didn’t feel like he’d been stabbed in the gut, he actually had been. [More]
