Interesting facts from a Boston Globe article profiling a member of the Tweeter liquidation team, David “The Junkyard Dog” Spehar:
massachusetts
Best Buy Cancels Your Order As You Stand There Shouting "Stop!"
By 9.22.08
Best Buy didn’t want to honor the sale price of the 2GB flash drive Matt ordered through their website, so when Matt arrived to pick-up his purchase, the store’s assistant manager called customer service and, pretending to be Matt, asked to cancel the order. Let’s read Matt’s story and see how it violates Massachusetts law, inside…
United Makes You Pay To Move To Upgrade Area They Would Have Moved You To Anyway
By 8.7.08
Joe may have uncovered a deceptive policy at United Airlines that’s screwing over customers. Here’s how it works. If you’ve got an economy ticket and the only seats available are in Economy Plus, but you didn’t spring for the extra Economy Plus fee, you’re asked if you would like to pay the upgrade fee for economy plus seating. If you decline to upgrade, they seat you there anyway. Sounds pretty sketchy to me. Here’s Joe’s story:
WaMu Tells You To Stop Paying Your Mortgage And Apply For Help, Then Forecloses On You
By 8.5.08
WaMu, despite all their big talk about helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, is apparently too overwhelmed with a tsunami of defaulted loans to call their customers back, let alone help them stay in their homes. Meet Lori and Mark Pestana. They have a $275,000 fixed rate mortgage with WaMu as their servicer. In August 2007, the Pestanas could not make a payment on their loan. They considered dipping into their retirement savings, but WaMu’s website offered an alternative:
Uno Chicago Grill Charges You $200 When You're Not Even There
By 7.21.08
Lauren was shocked to find five charges for a total of $200 on her account from a pizza place she hadn’t been to in months. They were all levied from one Uno Chicago Grill during a day she wasn’t even in town. What she found out about why they happened in the first place was even more disturbing, and annoying.
By 7.11.08
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In Mass. a new law has gone into effect requiring all children under 8 years old or shorter than 4′ 9″ use a booster seat when riding in a car. Picturing our parents trying to make us do this when we were 7 is hilarious. [Boston Herald]
Massachusetts Supermarkets Want To Remove Price Tags From Items
By 6.25.08
A bill is advancing through the Massachusetts legislature that will allow supermarkets to leave off item price tags and instead force customers to rely on electronic scanners spaced throughout the store. Although prices will still need to be displayed on store shelves for most items, you’ll have to rely on your memory and your faith in the store’s scanner system at checkout. John Hurst, the president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, “said consumers will benefit in the form of lower prices and shortened lines once stores no longer need to devote resources to item-by-item pricing.” But kjd aa- [thump]
Meet The Coupon-Throwing Papa John's Owner From Hell
By 6.8.08
Papa John’s wouldn’t let reader Adi redeem her coupon for a $9.99 extra-large pizza online, so she trekked over to the nearest store in Weymouth, Massachusetts, where she met the franchise owner from hell. The owner insisted that the coupon didn’t apply to online orders, so Adi asked to cancel her online order and re-order her pizza in person to get the discount. This prompted the owner to angrily throw the coupon at Adi, before throwing away her ready-made pizza. And was just the start of the fun…
UPS Breaks, Steals Computer
By 4.12.08
Nick paid the UPS store in Woburn, Massachusetts $600 to ship his computer with insurance to and from England. UPS smashed the computer somewhere along the way and insisted that Nick would need to wait 4-6 weeks for a decision on his claim. After a month, Nick called the UPS store and was told that they needed additional documentation. Another month later, Nick decided to get a new computer and asked for the damaged computer back so he could use it for parts, only to find out that the UPS store had inexplicably shipped it to headquarters, which then delivered it to a stranger in New York named Ken.
Man Gets $35 Service Credit From Comcast By Doing Math In His Head
By 2.25.08
Shaw writes:
I am one of the early adopters of Comcast’s new TiVo service that is being rolled (see: rushed before ready) out in Massachusetts.
By 1.25.08
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The Boston Globe profiles the last remaining shoe and boot maker in New England, Alden Shoes. The company’s classic footwear has been worn by the likes of John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Indiana Jones… and the Massachusetts state troopers. The shoes will set you back about $350-$500 a pair, but they seem like awfully nice people. “Our shoes don’t wear out,” says Robert Clark, Alden’s vice president. [Boston Globe]
Mass. Residents Face Monthly Fines For Going Without Health Insurance
By 1.3.08
Residents in Mass., who refuse to get health insurance will soon face monthly fines of up to $76 , says the AP:
The fines are part of an increasingly aggressive approach written into the health care law designed to pressure Massachusetts residents into getting insurance. The law, intended to create near-universal coverage in the state, was approved by lawmakers and signed by former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006.
By 11.28.07
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A customer says his complaints were met with indifference after reporting that mice had infested the bird seed at a Mass. Home Depot, leaving torn and spilling bags in their wake. Not only that, the store wasn’t clean up the dead mice. Seems the store employees don’t know which aisle contains the pest control products (or dustpans), nor do they care to. If they want to be “green” about it, they could just go over to PetSmart and get a few cats. Felines have been killing mice for us humans since the dawn of grain storage, so maybe it’s time to kick it old-school. [Wicked Local]
AMC Plays "SAW IV" Instead Of "Bee Movie"
By 11.21.07
“I went to the AMC Theater in Framingham MA Sunday night with my wife, 27 year old daughter & 12 year old son to see Bee Movie. After sitting through the 10 minutes previews for coming attractions, it’s on to the Feature Presentation. Well, to everyones shock & awe what is the opening scene? There on the big screen in front of the mostly “G” audience what do we see? A naked male corpse on a slab being autopsied…………..yes we were watching SAW IV!”
Are Leaf Blowers Disturbing The Peace? Should They Be Banned?
By 9.29.07
Some residents of a leafy suburb of Boston are fighting over what to do with all the leaves. Residents of Newton, Mass., say they are being tormented by the noise coming from the gas-powered leaf blowers that are now everywhere.
Oh no!
77-Year-Old Man Sues Bank Of America Over $10,000 In Undisclosed Fees – Wins
By 9.24.07
77-year old Peter Gossels won his 8-year lawsuit against Bank Of America for $10,000 in undisclosed fees the bank assessed when he deposited a large check drawn on a German bank. The elderly lawyer argued that the bank failed to disclose the exchange rate when he conducted the transaction.
Airports On High Alert After TSA Seizes Block Cheese
By 7.25.07
Logan security remains high as terror concerns are raised [Boston Globe] (Thanks to Dork Esquire!)
