Late last month, the company that operates the Spiegel and Newport News women’s clothing catalogs filed for bankruptcy. There’s some very interesting background questions about why the company is bankrupt for the second time in eight years and why it’s being sold to an affiliate of its parent company. But that’s not what reader Angela is concerned about. She returned some merchandise to the catalog that she paid for with her store credit account. She sent it back several months ago, and still insist that she pay for it. This is not a practical way to get out of Chapter 11. [More]
refunds
Here's Why You Shouldn't Carry A Large Balance In Your Skype Account
By 5.25.11
Some strange things happened to Rob’s Skype account recently, Scammers drained his account balance and tried to steal money from his credit card, too. While his credit card remained untouched, and his account is now secure, he’d still like that stolen balance back. Skype is awfully sorry, but he’s not going to get that money back. [More]
Is It Amazon's Fault They Still Have My $200, Or Mine?
By 4.21.11
David ordered a Kindle and cover from Amazon shortly after Christmas, but it disappeared in transit and was never heard from again. These things happen in commerce. What David doesn’t understand is why, after he was too busy to respond after an initial e-mail exchange, Amazon didn’t try to contact him or just automatically issue a refund or replacement for the missing Kindle. [More]
Verizon Gives Out Refunds For Deceptive Premium Text Messages
By 3.10.11
Verizon has set up a site to give out refunds to customers who signed up for premium text messages with an advertiser who “did not meet Verizon Wireless’ standards for the disclosure of pricing and subscription information.” Here is a list of the 120 affected short codes. If you were a Verizon customer who signed up for one of them, you can file a claim here. [More]
Should Restaurant Refund Me For Edamame Appetizer With Free Giant Worm?
By 2.10.11
Some time ago, on an unknown farm, a worm crawled inside a soybean pod to eat the delicious bean within. The pod was harvested with the worm inside, cooked, and served to reader Sarah as an edamame appetizer at a local Japanese restaurant. Sarah was disgusted and wants a refund of the $3 or so she paid for the appetizer. The restaurant’s manager claims that business is slow and they can’t afford to give her a refund. [More]
How I Lost 90,000 United Miles
By 2.1.11
Marissa says she booked a flight in 2008 before canceling and using the credit to try to buy another flight. But United said she’d waited too long to re-book the flight, so her sunk cost and frequent flyer miles are gone. [More]
Kaiser Permanente Makes Cancelling Hard, Then Sends Me To Collections
By 1.24.11
Tim has been stuck in a 7-month limbo with his ex-health insurer Kaiser Permanente that he is trying to break it off with. First he was told to write in a fax that said “I [name here] no longer want health care coverage by KP.” Then it turned out they gave him the wrong fax number, which he found out after he got a bill for missing payment. He called back and got the right fax number, was promised a refund and prorated payment, and sent in all his info. Instead, he got back a letter from the collections department. [More]
Reader Crafts Effective Complaint Letter, Scores 50% Refund From CVS
By 12.29.10
Reader CMM was able to score a partial refund from CVS after they flubbed up her gift photobook order. Instead of bound and ready books, they handed her husband a pile of loose pages and covers and said “go to town.” Some of the pages had minor ink spots on them too. [More]
$568 To Change A US Airways Flight? Complain And Get Transferred To Little Caesar's Pizza
By 12.14.10
Kyle was annoyed that when he had to change his US Airways tickets, he not only was charged a ticket change fee, he also didn’t get any refund, even though the new tickets were cheaper than his old ones. When he complained and asked for a supervisor, he found himself transferred instead to a purveyor of doughy circular objects, covered in cheese, and ruled over by a diminutive dictator. [More]
How Far Should I Go To Let Macy's Know It Accidentally Gave Me Refund?
By 12.7.10
Steve received an early, accidental Christmas present from Macy’s, which mistakenly issued a refund for a jacket he ordered online. Being paragons of moral virtue, Consumerist readers will no doubt tell him to let the retailer know about the goof and offer to pay for the jacket. But the question isn’t so much whether or not to tell Macy’s, but how much effort he’s morally obligated to exert in order to give Macy’s the chance to correct the error. Is an email to customer service enough? Does he need to follow it up until he receives a response? [More]
HP's Idea Of Fixing A Coupon Is For You To Buy A 2nd Laptop
By 12.3.10
Talk about buyer’s remorse. Hours after David bought a new laptop from HP with a $150 off coupon, they rolled out a $200 off coupon. HP’s first suggestion to solve this was that David should buy a second laptop at the reduced price and then return it. Excuuuuuse me? [More]
Crowd Gets Refund Because Steve Martin No Longer Wants To Be Funny
By 12.2.10
The lectures and other events at NYC’s 92nd St Y are a varied lot and can range from intellectually stimulating to downright hilarious — and can be, on rare occasions, both. And that’s what many in the audience to see comedian/actor/author/banjo-player Steve Martin were expecting. [More]
A Cautionary Comcast Tale: Decimal Points Are Very Important
By 12.2.10
When a California retiree missed a decimal point and sent Comcast an online payment of $6,894 instead of $68.94, the massive overpayment didn’t raise any red flags in Comcast’s system. It didn’t cause a cascade of overdrafts in his bank account, either, since he had enough money to cover it. To bring the situation to Comcast’s attention, though, he had to enlist the help of a local newspaper and a television station. [More]
NFL Will Refund Most Tickets If Lockout Occurs Next Season
By 11.30.10
Even as NFL fans are enjoying this season, the specter of a lockout for the 2011 season looms large. With that work stoppage looking more and more possible every day, the league has had to make a decision on how to deal with ticket refunds should the league come to a grinding halt next year. And for most people, it’s not horrible news. [More]
Update: Couple Waits 7 Months For FiOs Refund. Instead, They Get A Debt Collector.
By 11.29.10
There could be some relief on the way for the couple, who, after waiting 7 months for their $144.81 refund from Verizon FiOs, got a call from a debt collector instead. [More]
Couple Waits 7 Months For FiOs Refund. Instead, They Get A Debt Collector.
By 11.18.10
Tony and his wife have been waiting for 7 months for their $144.81 refund from Verizon FiOs that they’ve repeatedly been told is coming their way. It hasn’t showed up, but the debt collector trying to collect on that amount has. [More]
Netflix Has Another Streaming Outage, Apologizes With Credits
By 11.11.10
On Tuesday night Netflix suffered another temporary streaming outage. This late afternoon they once again apologized by sending out customers an email offering a 2-3% reduction off their bill or an extension of their free trial. You’ll have to click on the link in the email to claim the credit. Hey, if Netflix keeps going at this rate, soon we’ll end up with a free month! [More]
Verizon Pays FCC $25 Million, Credits Customers With $52.8 Million For False Data Charges
By 10.29.10
Despite earlier reports that Verizon would refund $90 million to customers it overcharged for data use on cell phones, the cell phone company revealed it’s paying $25 million in fines to the Federal Communications Commission and crediting only $52.8 million to customers. [More]
