Sometimes a company verifies that a bank account by making a couple of small deposits in it, then asking you to report back the deposit amounts. Don’t rely on that verification process to block any activity in the meantime, though. That’s what Suzette did with Ally bank, and she ended up with a $35 stop payment fee from her own bank.
mistakes
Best Buy Says Ian Can Keep His Free Xbox
By 11.9.09
Last month Best Buy gave Ian a free Xbox 360 due to a snafu while handling his extended warranty.
Verizon Won't Give Elderly Couple Their $600 Back
By 10.23.09
Bonnie’s elderly parents switched from Verizon dial-up to Verizon DSL, but Verizon didn’t turn off their dial-up account when switching them to DSL. They somehow failed to notice when they continued to be charged for dialup. For two years.
SIGG Gives Customer $50,000 Gift Card For Two Water Bottles
By 10.22.09
After SIGG USA announced that their metal water bottles contained plastic additive BPA, they offered to exchange consumers’ offending bottles for new ones. Karen sent her BPA-riddled water bottles in for replacement, and received her gift certificate to buy two new ones for a total of $46.98. But something went horribly wrong, and now she has a store credit for just under $50,000.
Vonage Sends 14 New Modems To Replace Customer's Broken One
By 10.21.09
My Linh’s Vonage modem stopped working, so she called to request a replacement under the terms of her service agreement. Vonage was happy to oblige. So happy, in fact, that they sent her 14 modems instead of one via UPS—but then couldn’t figure out how to get UPS to come pick them up again. Hey, they do VOIP, not logistics.
Virtuous Amazon Customer Uses Same Gift Certificate Twice, Fesses Up, Keeps Cash
By 10.12.09
Some people who got away with using a $60 gift certificate on two separate Amazon orders would take the merchandise and run, hoping to get to use it a third time.
Man Sues Coors Over Invalid Contest Codes
By 10.9.09
An Illinois man has filed a class-action lawsuit against MillerCoors because the “Silver Ticket Sweepstakes” code on the case of beer he recently bought turned out to be invalid. The man says he tried entering the code online and over the phone, but it was rejected each time—not because it wasn’t a winning code, but because it wasn’t a legitimate sweepstakes entry code to begin with.
Fake McDonald's Letter Is Totally Fake, Burger Pusher Confirms
By 10.1.09
Mickey D’s down under wants everyone to know that the parody McDonald’s letter making the rounds is indeed prankaliscious. Corporate Communications Manager Bronwyn Stubbs writes:
(Parody) New Profit Center For Australian McDonald's: Fraud?
By 10.1.09
Note: This memo is a parodic spoof.
AT&T DSL Customer Sold Wrong Series Of Tubes
By 9.30.09
Richard is annoyed at AT&T. Due to what we will optimistically call a mixup, he didn’t exactly get the DSL service he ordered and was paying for. While he has straightened things out with the company, he wants to keep other customers in his area from having the same experience.
Behold Dell's "Buy One Wireless Card, Get 120 Free" Promotion
By 9.27.09
Dell accidentally skipped Andy in Canada’s wireless card upgrade while putting together the laptop he ordered. He called them and they sent the card along at no cost to him. Great service! The service was so great, in fact, that instead of just one wireless card, Dell went right ahead and shipped Andy a case of 120 of them.
Gmail Account Shut Down For Receiving Errant Bank Spreadsheet
By 9.26.09
The judicial system has spoken in the case of the spreadsheet full of personal data accidentally e-mailed to a random Gmail user by an employee of Rocky Mountain Bank. Google must reveal the account holder’s identity, and the account has been deactivated.
Bank Sends Sensitive Customer Info To Some Random Gmail User
By 9.24.09
Here’s the problem with Gmail: so many people use it that a mistyped e-mail address probably will not result in a bounced message. It will result in your message going to the wrong person, since nearly every derivation of a name is probably a working address.
Buy DS Game Scribblenauts, Get Bonus Racist Symbolism
By 9.21.09
In the puzzle game Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS, you type in names of items that appear on screen and help you complete levels. Among the tens of thousands of possibilities is one that’s more than a little unnerving: type in the antiquated racial slur “sambo” and up pops a watermelon, another racist Vaudevillian symbol.
If The Coupon Doesn't Apply, You Must Not Buy
By 9.11.09
Most likely, this has happened to you. You have a great coupon for a restaurant or retailer, and go to use it only to find that for some reason, it’s been declined. Maybe it expired. Maybe it doesn’t apply to the item you bought. The question is: Do you still make the purchase?
Sprint Yanks $100 Credit Offer On Palm Pre, Says Oops
By 9.9.09
Earlier today, Sprint made news by effectively cutting the price of a Palm Pre to $99 for new Sprint customers, after a $100 credit. Now Sprint is saying it was a publishing error and not a valid offer.
