Not only does AT&T give you service you can’t use and then continue to bill for it, they also apparently want you to pay the disability claim when one of their employees injures himself on your property. [More]
ILLINOIS
Man Out For Repoman's Blood (Listen To Their Calls)
By 2.10.10
Some “pal” of Mark’s put him down as a reference on a motorcycle loan with Freedom Road Financial and fell behind on his payments. So now the company is making harassing phone calls to Mark and his elderly mom, almost giving her a heart attack, telling them that Mark is in “serious trouble,” that he’s “a party” to the “stolen motorcycle.” They wouldn’t stop even though he told them to, and now an “investigator” identifying himself as “Marshal Davis” is also making calls, threatening to send “people” to his home and office. Mark recorded a conversation with Michelle Peacan at Freedom Road Financial (FRF) and we liked it so much that we added some funny photos, and uploaded it to YouTube. Then we reached FRF for comment. [More]
Took Matter Into Own Hands After RoboCaller Spoofed Cell
By 2.5.10
A scammy robocaller had spoofed Rodger’s phone number and angry recipients of the calls were calling him incessantly, but now it’s over. With AT&T’s help, he realized that the autodialer had spoofed his new work number, which was being forwarded to his cellphone. So he disabled the call forwarding, kept his cellphone number, and just had his new work number changed. Victory. [More]
RoboCaller Spoofed My Cell, Now Angry People Call Me Nonstop
By 2.3.10
Rodger is screwed. A telephonic bot is using his cellphone number as the caller ID as it spam calls thousands of people. It’s probably a scam, too, because the message it leaves tells people that if they’ve had their credit card canceled recently, to press “1” and then enter their credit card number. Rodger knows exactly the message that’s left because loads of these people are angrily calling back his cellphone.
UPDATE: Took Matter Into Own Hands After RoboCaller Spoofed Cell
Price Match Fraud Lawsuit Filed Against Best Buy
By 10.25.09
A class action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against Best Buy. The suit’s claims? That the company has an official policy against price-matching their own web site. You don’t say. That claim of a special Intranet site to prevent price-matching against the chain’s Web site sounds familiar. So do most of the suit’s allegations, for loyal readers of Consumerist.
Lawsuit Attempts Declare Chicago's Privatized Parking Meters "Illegal and Void"
By 8.21.09
Know what people don’t like? Chicago privatized parking meters. Now a public interest group is suing the city, claiming that Daley didn’t have the right to lease the meters to a private company for an “excessive period,” that that tax payer dollars shouldn’t go towards police to enforce meters owned by a private company. They also say that the city can’t force the Illinois Secretary of State to suspend licenses for failure to pay tickets issued at private meters.
Tenant Sued After Using Twitter To Complain About Moldy Apartment
By 7.28.09
If the the puiblic didn’t read Amanda Bonnen’s Twitter feed before, they will now, thanks to a defamation lawsuit brought against her by Horizon Group Management in Chicago.
Hepatitis Outbreak: This Is Why You Need To Wash Your Hands Before You Return To Work
By 7.17.09
Hepatitis A is an extremely contagious disease that can be passed along by food service workers who don’t thoroughly wash their hands — and that may have been the case at a Milan, Illinois McDonald’s according to the Quad City Times.
Ticketmaster Pays $50,000 Fine, Closes More Than 100 Deceptive Site
By 6.30.09
Ticketmaster will pay a $50,000 fine and shutter more than 100 deceptive brokerage sites as part of a wide-reaching agreement with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Madigan’s office accused Ticketmaster’s always shady subsidy, TicketsNow, of creating sites that masqueraded as local venues selling tickets at face value. The settlement also requires TicketsNow to wait until after Ticketmaster puts non-sporting events on sale before hawking tickets at outrageously inflated prices.
170 Bogus Tickets: Chicago Tests Ticketing Equipment With Your License Plate
By 6.15.09
When I read the headline for this story (it didn’t mention Chicago), I bet myself a million dollars that the man had an Illinois license plate. I am now a millionaire. Or I will be as soon as I pay myself.
Apartment Listing Service Sells Database Of Scammy And Outdated Rentals
By 5.22.09
The Illinois attorney general’s office has filed suit against a Chicago-based rental property listing service for allegedly “charging consumers a membership fee for access to a property database populated largely with fraudulent or outdated rental listings.”
Treasury Announces Multi-Agency Crackdown On Mortgage Fraud
By 4.6.09
Various U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, announced a multi-agency crackdown on foreclosure relief fraud today, vowing to “redouble efforts to crack down on schemes that target distressed homeowners and also to share more information and resources across agencies and with state officials,” says the WSJ.
KFC Wants To Fix Chicago's Pothole Problem
By 3.30.09
Will sponsored pot holes sell chicken? KFC seems to think so. They’ve asked the City of Chicago if they can fix potholes — in exchange for including a white stencil saying the spot was “Re-freshed by KFC.”
Parking Meter Revolt: Chicagoans Are Vandalizing Parking Meters In Protest!
By 3.25.09
The Chicago parking meter saga continues today with a post from theexpiredmeter.com, a blog about Chicago parking tickets and how to fight them. The post has photos of parking meters being spray painted, destroyed and otherwise defaced. Guess people aren’t too thrilled with paying 28 quarters for 2 hours in the Loop…
Are Chicagoans Rebelling Against The New Parking Meter Regime?
By 3.23.09
The evidence is purely anecdotal, but it seems that some unrest might be brewing in the City of Chicago. Now that the Mayor has leased the city’s parking meters to a company that jacked up the rates, people might be staying home rather than feed the meters — which now take as many as 28 quarters for 2 hours.
Illinois Couple Swindles Best Buy Out Of $31 Million
By 2.27.09
The Chicago Tribune says that Russell Cole calls his $2.75 million Deerfield, IL home “the house that Best Buy built,” but now investigators are claiming that the Best Buy money was obtained through fraud.
Wal-Mart Worker Burns Self To Death Outside Store
By 2.27.09
A 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee who said he “couldn’t take it anymore” lit himself on fire outside the Bloomingdale store where he worked late Thursday night and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said this morning.
