J. likes ordering from Woot, but hates FedEx SmartPost, the company’s shipping method of choice. Describing it as “some sort of misbegotten bastard child of FedEx and the US Postal Service,” J. calculates that it would actually be faster to travel from Woot HQ in Texas to his home on Brooklyn by bicycle. Which would be helpful if he weren’t ordering inanimate objects. [More]
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FedEx Package Takes 14 Months To Travel 230 Miles And Back
By 4.5.11
Where did Emily’s Fedex package run off to? It took more than a year to make the trip from New York City to Washington, DC, traveling at a rate of about half a mile per day. How does that happen? We like to imagine a massive fleet of turtles that are tasked with the important job of transporting gifts up and down the eastern seaboard. [More]
CitiFinancial Auto Keeps Deducting Payment On Zero Balance Loan, Triggers Overdraft Fees
By 8.18.10
Marc’s monthly budget just exploded into a mess of overdraft fees thanks to CitiFinancial Auto’s negligence, and now he’s not sure how to get them to actually do anything to fix it. [More]
Experian Fixes Messed Up Credit Report By Deleting Everything
By 12.1.09
Monique X. is trying to get a loan to consolidate her debts into a more affordable payment. She writes that she’s been careful with her credit history and knew that her credit score was adequate to get approved at her bank, “even with the economy the way it is.” That’s when she discovered that someone else’s accounts had been folded into hers, and that Experian’s solution to their error was as bad as the problem. [More]
First Results Of Gov Study Of Chinese Drywall Inconclusive, But More Tests To Come
By 10.30.09
Yesterday the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced some findings from its study of the problematic Chinese drywall, which 1,900 Florida homeowners have complained stinks and makes people sick. The commission told the Associated Press that “no connections have been made yet,” but that they’re doing more tests—which means there’s still no definitive answer on who should be held financially responsible if the homes have to be gutted and repaired, which the Wall Street Journal says could cost as much as $25 billion dollars.
Samsung Customer Service Operates At Knuckleball Speed In Replacing Bluetooth
By 7.9.09
Despite what that rascal Shakespeare would have you believe, all that ends well isn’t necessarily well. Example: When your Bluetooth headset breaks and Samsung wouldn’t warranty it out for several weeks, denying you your basic human right to roam hallways talking loudly into your own ear.
Mystery Solved? Using OpenDNS Results In Glacial YouTube Downloads For Qwest Customers
By 5.8.09
Earlier this week, we posted an email from a frustrated Qwest customer who said he couldn’t download YouTube and other online videos at a speed equivalent to the Qwest service he was paying for. Qwest wrote to us, and spoke to the customer, and swore they were not interfering with any download rates. Instead, it looks like the problem is with OpenDNS, a free service that usually speeds up downloading, but that seems to have an issue when it comes to certain video streams.
GameFly Accuses US Postal Service Of Breaking, Losing, And Stealing Its Game Discs
By 5.6.09
Late last year we pointed out that GameFly, a Netflix-style program for video games, was beginning to develop a reputation for rotten service and slow turnaround. It looks like the United States Postal Service may be partly to blame, at least as far as GameFly is concerned. They’ve filed a complaint against the USPS over lost, stolen, and damaged discs, as well as discriminatory treatment when compared to Netflix and Blockbuster.
Skype Pinches the Pipeline
By 2.28.06
Skype is very slow right now. We’re trying to buy some credit to make phone calls. Perhaps the system is overtaxed as Skype 2.0 with video chat just came out. The ‘Loading…’ wheel keeps spinning ’round n’ round…until the pictured error message appears.
