American Express hit Mike with a finance charge because his Blue card had a balance. A negative balance. Incredulous, Mike called and said, “so you dinged me for carrying a balance and not making a payment, even though it was a negative balance?,” to which AmEx replied, “Right, even negative balances.”
ridiculous
Royal Caribbean Levies $14.95 Steak Surcharge
By 10.4.08
Do you like flying? Well then you’re going to love cruising with Royal Caribbean! The cruise line recently announced plans to charge customers who order steak in the main dining room a $14.95 surcharge.
AT&T's New 2,500 Page Contract 'Directly Violates' The Law
By 9.14.08
Do you want to know if AT&T boosts your rates? Maybe you want to pay only for services you ordered or explicitly authorized. Tough! AT&T’s new 2,500 page “guidebook” is the latest spawn of California’s failing experiment with deregulation, one that is in “direct violation” of the law, according to the Public Utilities Commission.
Priceline Encourages Deal-Seekers To Vacation Under Tropical Storm Hanna
By 9.6.08
Priceline won’t let deal-hating weathermen keep you from the amazing savings churned up by Tropical Storm Hanna. Rooms in Hilton Head are now going for the low, low price of $64 per night, but act fast because the deal is only valid while Hanna pummels the dream destination’s shores with 70 mph winds!
Spirit Airlines Drops $10 Fee For Ordering Tickets Online
By 8.2.08
As quietly as it came, the $10 “web convenience fee” Spirit levied for the favor they were doing you by letting you book online, has gone. The fee no longer appears in Spirit Airlines’ contract of carriage. A small victory for common sense, though they’ll probably just figure out a way to make it up somewhere else. How about $5 fee for takeoffs and landings?
"Golden Coffins" Make CEOs Modern-Day Pharaohs
By 6.10.08
Thanks to a change in federal rules 18 months ago, it’s now much easier to find out details of so-called “golden coffins,” which are—yes, this is real—posthumous payouts to CEOs that can climb into the hundreds of millions. Brian Roberts of Comcast will receive $298.1 million if he dies in office; Robert Iger of Disney will receive $62.4 million; Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon will receive $43.4 million. Ha ha, life insurance is for paupers!
Ticketmaster Levies Entirely Believable $327 Per Ticket Convenience Charge
By 4.11.08
Ticketmaster charged reader Keith $655 in convenience charges for two tickets to tonight’s Rangers/Devils playoff game. Of course, the tickets in section 118 cost nothing, but we still won’t give them the benefit of the doubt. Ticketmaster boasts that special brand of evil that wouldn’t object to levying several hundred dollars in convenience charges to a free Raffi concert.
Qwest To Workers: Pee In A Urinal Bag
By 3.22.08
Union representatives are pissed that Qwest ordered field workers to pee in urinal bags so they wouldn’t waste time trying to find public bathrooms. The disposable urinal bags were distributed by a manager to 25 male field techs in Colorado.
A company spokeswoman told the Rocky Mountain News there’s no policy that requires field technicians to use urinal bags while they’re out on a job.
Best Buy Charges Woman $35 For Free Repairs
By 1.28.08
Did you know that if you request a repair under warranty for an appliance you bought at Best Buy, and the repair isn’t made, then Best Buy will charge you a fee?
TSA Detains 5-Year-Old As National Security Risk
By 1.9.08
A 5-year-old boy was detained as “security risk” because he had the same name of someone on the TSA “No-Fly” list. The TSA had to conduct a full search of their persons and belongings. When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn’t passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him. Pretty insane. If you’re ever mistakenly on the No-Fly list, here’s how to get off it.
Chase Penalizes Customers For Saving Money Too Long
By 8.24.07
Savings accounts, they’re where you save money. You put money in and leave it there. That’s the whole point, right? Well, at Chase, if don’t deposit or withdraw money into it for 3 months, it becomes “inactive,” blogs Tom Drapeau. That means you can’t make a wire transfer out of it. Annoying, but you can change to “active” by depositing or withdrawing money, and if you want to avoid “inactive” status, you could set up an automated transfer to put in $1 and take out $1 of it.
