Reader Jerry wants to warn you about his shocking problem with his Bose in-ear headphones. If he goes for a walk with them, they shock his inner ear. Ouch! Jerry wrote to Bose, telling them about his problem, and Bose wrote back, “Yeah? So?”. Apparently, occasional shocks to your inner ear aren’t a problem, or a design flaw, they’re a feature! See what Jerry has to say about this, inside.
readers
Disney's Five Free Blu-Ray Disc Promotion Is Broken
By 4.24.08
A lot of you have written in about problems with the Five Free Blu-Ray Discs promotion that was available here. The deal was supposed to be, buy a certain Blu-Ray disc player, mail in the coupon and proof of purchase postmarked by February 29, receive five free Blu-Ray movies. Many of you haven’t received your movies. What happened?
Thrice Has HP Attempted To Fix This Laptop, And Thrice Has HP Failed
By 4.24.08
Despite three attempts, HP cannot fix the video vomit that is going on in Willy’s laptop. After Willy sent it in for the third time, describing the problem to HP as “Video Related Problem: Lines, Spots, Scrambled,” HP replaced the audio PCA and sent it back marked “Repaired.”
Florida Judges Tosses Out Thousands Of Bogus Toll Fines
By 4.24.08
A Florida judge tossed out thousands of Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and Florida Turnpike Authority toll violation citations for people getting tickets for no apparent reason because their toll transponders malfunctioned. Citizens were subjected to a “bureaucratic morass” when they tried to sort out the bogus tickets, made all the worse because their accounts were on auto-debit. [Orlando Sentinel]
E*Trade Holds Your $3,195 Hostage
By 4.24.08
After eight months of calling and writing, Reader Brice finally annoyed E*Trade enough to close his account. At least that’s what the letter from E*Trade said; in reality, Brice never received a check for his balance, and although he couldn’t access his $3,195, his account is still earning interest.
It Takes Two Subpoenas And A Contempt Threat To Get A Response From WaMu
By 4.24.08
Washington Mutual will give you a copy of the check that you’ve been requesting for a year, but first you will need to subpoena them twice and attempt to have them held in contempt of court. That’s what one reader experienced when her employer, a law firm, needed a document from the megabank. As she puts it: “If a law firm with the power of a subpoena behind them can’t get WaMu to cough up a document in a timely manner without a massive amount of headache, I’d hate to see what the average consumer has to deal with.”
UnitedHealth Unapproves Surgery From 2 Years Ago, Wants $7700 Back
By 4.23.08
United Health Care, not content with merely denying life saving cancer procedures or refusing to pay for basic (covered!) checkups, took things to a new level by retroactively un-approving procedures they paid for in 2005. They sent reader Suzanne a letter and a bill for $7700, claiming the pay-out was an “administrative error”, and she needed to pay up. Check out the details, inside.
By 4.23.08
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Since its creation in 2001, the TSA has fired over 200 employees for stealing. Since the TSA will invariably deny your request for compensation if you file a theft claim, your best bet is to either pack valuables in your carry-on, or just leave them home all-together. [MSNBC]
By 4.22.08
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The root problem for the guy whose Dodge Charger dashboard lights would flash in the rain and then he would have trouble restarting was…frayed and rubbing wires.
Reach Verizon Wireless Executive Customer Service
By 4.22.08
Here is a new number for reaching the Verizon Wireless Executive offices: 908-306-6750. They picked up right away for us. 910-794-6232 for Lisa Bennett, Executive Customer Relations, still works, as does a general executive office inline, 910-794-6200. Use the info in this post to guide your contact through the process of dealing with executive customer relations.
9 Most Obnoxious Hidden Airline Fees
By 4.22.08
As their corpulent systems collide with increasingly harsh economic realities, airlines are making up more creative fees and charging for things that used to be free. Here’s 9 of the worst offenders of the hidden airline fees, via Aviation.com.
8 Monthlong Dodge Charger Problem Fixed After Consumerist Post
By 4.22.08
Whenever Brian drove his Dodge Charger in the rain, all the dash lights flashed and he had trouble restarting his car, but after 8 months of strife, his problem got fixed after his story posted to The Consumerist. The next day after the post went up, Brian got a call from Paul at Danbury Dodge, his dealership. Paul wanted Brian to bring his car in so the Chrysler tech could inspect it. Brian brought in the car during a rainy day, the problems were recreated, and the Chrysler tech diagnosed and fixed the problem in less than four hours. On repeated visits before this, the dealership kept claiming they couldn’t recreate the problem. A rep for Chrysler VP TP Lassdora also called Brian up, apologized profusely, and offered five years of free oil changes and extended Brian’s service contract. “In the end, I believe that the Consumerist story forced Chrysler to get involved, whereas Danbury Dodge was content to ignore my complaints,” writes Brian. “Thank you to the staff and the readers of the Consumerist for motivating Chrysler and Danbury Dodge to fix my car.” Inside, the original video showing how Brian’s dashboard reacted in the rain.
James At Verizon Fiber Solutions Center Deserves A Cold Beer
By 4.21.08
James at Verizon Fiber Solutions Center, this is The Consumerist calling to say that you deserve a beer. One of our readers shared with us a story about how you went above and beyond the call of duty to get his router fixed. You could have just left Jeff with “the tech should arrive,” but instead you took a personal interest in Jeff’s case and got his problem solved. You rule. Jeff’s story, inside…
Comcast Fixes Problem Of Reader They Made Cry
By 4.21.08
Stephanie’s internet is back after she used the contact info from our post “Comcast Trawling Blogs And Twitter For Customer Complaints” to email Comcast’s problem solver, Frank Eliason. Stephanie writes, “Within an hour of my email to Frank he responded, saying that he forwarded my problem to Scott the local guy…they had a tech at my house within an hour.” Score!
Ticketmaster's Facebook Page Is Full Of Fake Friends
By 4.21.08
With over 150,000 fans, Ticketmaster’s Facebook page is one of the most popular. Too bad most of its friends’ profiles are fake.
Comcast Skips 3 Appointments, Hangs Up On You 6 Times, Makes You Want To Cry
By 4.21.08
Reader Stephanie wants to cry because of Comcast:
I HATE dealing with tech support. This time, I bit the bullet because my internet connection wasn’t working.
