When you run a blog that anonymously posts poison-pen critiques of the customers who come into your store, you know you’re running the risk of losing that job should your employer find out. [More]
seattle
Seattle Woman Determined To Only Consume Starbucks Products For Entire Year
By 1.10.13
Many of us have probably already broken our New Year’s resolutions by now — if we ever made any to begin with — but one woman in Seattle says she’s determined to stick out the entire 365 days of 2013 consuming nothing but products made by Starbucks and its associated companies. [More]
Tow Company Employee Comes Out In Favor Of Price Caps
By 12.28.12
Yesterday, we told you how private towing companies in the Seattle area are suing the city to stop it from enforcing a new law that caps towing rates at $183 for the first hour and $150/hour thereafter. But one tow company employee tells Consumerist that these businesses need to quit complaining. [More]
Towing Companies Sue Seattle For Right To Charge More Than $183/Hour
By 12.27.12
The city of Seattle recently enacted an ordinance that would put a cap on towing an impound fees, but apparently $183 for the first hour of a tow followed by $130/hour after that is not enough for the tow companies of the King City, which have filed suit to stop the city from enforcing the cap. [More]
Advertisers Set Up Bogus Storefronts To Skirt Seattle Billboards Laws
By 11.14.12
You know those huge billboards you occasionally see on the sides of city buildings? In Seattle, these are required to advertise something sold inside the building on which the sign is placed. But one outdoor ad firm has found a way around the law — just send a guy from store to store (and some places that aren’t even stores) to sell gift cards for whatever is being advertised outside. [More]
Seattle May Leave Hygiene Standards To Cab Drivers Instead Of Dictating Cleanliness Rules
By 10.25.12
The city of Seattle currently regulates the dress code and hygiene of its cab drivers — setting standards such as an “absence of offensive body odor” and “well groomed” facial hair, with clean clothing that doesn’t have unrepaired rips and tears. But the city is now considering handing those requirements over to the drivers themselves. After all, they’re adults who don’t want to scare away business with bad B.O., say some drivers, who believe it should be up to the cab companies to regulate such things. [More]
How Complaints At A Restaurant In Seattle Led To Arrest Of Alleged Credit Card Hacker In Romania
By 6.12.12
They probably didn’t know it at the time, but when customers at an Italian restaurant in Seattle complained that their credit card accounts appeared to have been compromised, they were setting off a chain of events that would ultimately result in the arrest of a man in Romania believed to have stolen at least 44,000 credit card numbers. [More]
Appear In Ad Demanding Living-Wage Jobs, Lose Yours
By 6.1.12
A longtime skycap for Delta Airlines at Seattle-Tacoma Airport appeared in an ad pushing for living-wage jobs for airport workers. The ad was produced by Working Washington, a coalition pushing for fair wages and benefits, and highlighted the low pay that workers tasked with keeping air travel clean and pleasant receive. Contract workers at that airport receive an average of $9.70 an hour. In a move that we’re sure is entirely coincidental, only three workers weren’t hired by the new contractor when Delta switched to a new one recently. The man who appeared in the ad is one of them. [More]
Seattle Man Victorious Over Apple In Small Claims Court
By 4.17.12
Chalk up another win for the little guy! A blogger in Seattle says he just wanted Apple to repair his MacBook as the company had promised. When Apple refused, he felt he had no other option but to take the computing colossus to court. [More]
Seattle Makes It Illegal For Businesses To Tell Breastfeeding Moms To Cover Up Or Move
By 4.11.12
While many states, including Washington, have laws that allow for breastfeeding moms to nurse in public without being hassled, some of those regulations are not clear on whether or not this protection extends to places like restaurant interiors or even offices. Thus, Seattle has made its stance clear: It is illegal for a business to ask a nursing mom to cover up or move elsewhere. [More]
Man's Car Is Stolen, He's Left With $1,242 Towing Bill
By 2.28.12
Back in 2009, my little Daihatsu Charade hatchback was stolen from outside my Brooklyn apartment (presumably in some car thief contest to see who could swipe the crappiest vehicle). It eventually showed up two weeks later with less than a mile added to the odometer, and I got stuck with a $225 towing bill. But that’s pocket change compared to the fee being charged a Seattle driver. [More]
Kmart Manager Shot By Robber, Still Manages To Stop Robbery
By 2.28.12
If you’re shot while trying to prevent a robbery, not many people would hold it against you if you just let the bad guy finish up the heist and leave. But don’t tell that to the manager of the Seattle-area Kmart who not only survived his gunshot wound but also held the robber until police arrived. [More]
Should Libraries Let People Look At Porn In The Open?
By 1.31.12
There is much discussion in the Seattle area today after a mom claims that while on a visit to her local library with her two young daughters, she spied a man viewing hardcore porn on a computer with a screen that was facing out to the rest of the library. And when she complained about it to the staff, she says her concerns were shrugged off. [More]
Has Nordstrom Finally Succumbed To The Christmas Creep?
By 10.24.11
For four years, we’ve been documenting Nordstrom’s resistance to that insidious holiday shopping problem known as Christmas Creep. But after all these years of making it clear that it wouldn’t be getting into the yuletide spirit until after Thanksgiving, there is some concern the department store might be feeling the creep’s siren song. [More]
Zoka Coffee Responds To FDA Warning Letter
By 9.30.11
Yesterday, we reported how Seattle-based coffee seller Zoka Coffee had received a warning letter from the FDA regarding an April inspection that discovered more than a few rodent feces. After the story was posted, Zoka reached out to Consumerist to give its side of the story. [More]
FDA Warns Seattle-Based Coffee Company That Rat Poo Is Not Part Of A Seasonal Blend
By 9.29.11
UPDATE: Both Zoka and the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture have responded to Consumerist regarding the situation.
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Bank Of America Customer Gathers 10,000 Signatures In Attempt To Save Home & Business
By 8.15.11
After 18 months of trying to get a loan modification from Bank of America, the owner of a Seattle-area property that includes both her nursery business and her home, decided to get a little help from 10,000 of her friends, hoping that a hefty petition would help convince BofA to modify the mortgage. [More]
Seattle Residents Have Canceled 225,000 Yellow Pages In Only Two Months
By 6.30.11
Even though the Seattle city council announced it would be creating an opt-out registry for residents who don’t want the Yellow Pages delivered anymore last October, the registry didn’t go live until May. But in the short period of time since that launch, the response has been overwhelming. [More]
