Unless you’re a frequent business traveler, or a big spender who makes a lot of expensive purchases using their credit cards, racking up thousands of rewards points in a short period of time isn’t always easy. So when you see an opportunity to amass enough points to earn you free airfare in the matter of a few weeks, it’s tempting to give it a shot. But if your timing is off, it could backfire on you in a big way, leaving you with a bunch of points but without the rewards you wanted. [More]
the blame game
Owners Of Wrecked Boat Out $20K Because AAA Tow Driver Used Personal Vehicle
By 3.11.15
Common sense would tell you that if your vehicle is wrecked while in the care of a AAA tow truck driver, either that driver’s insurance or AAA would be responsible for making you whole again. But if the tow driver is using their own personal truck at the time of the collision, you could be stuck holding the bill. [More]
Report: Sony To Officially Point Finger At North Korea For Huge Hack
By 12.3.14
Last week, it was revealed that Sony had been the victim of a massive data breach, resulting in the leak of Sony films, scripts, passwords, and sensitive information about employees and business operations. There have been rumors of suspected involvement by the North Korean government in the hack, and a new report claims that Sony will officially name the country as the source of the breach. [More]
Restaurant Says Smartphones, Not Lazy Staff, Are To Blame For Slow Service
By 7.15.14
Does it feel like you’re spending an inordinate amount of time sitting at the restaurant table before you actually eat? The tendency might be to blame it on bad service or a slow kitchen, but one NYC restaurant points the finger at customers’ smartphone obsession. [More]
Netflix Tests Passive-Aggressive Buffering Messages To Call Out Slow ISPs
By 6.4.14
When your streaming video of Charles In Charge comes in pixelated and is regularly interrupted by pauses for buffering, is it the streaming service or your ISP? New messages being tested by Netflix attempt to point the finger straight at the other guy. [More]
Walmart Blames Xerox (Who Blames Walmart) For Unlimited EBT Shopping Spree
By 10.15.13
Over the weekend in Louisiana, some food stamp recipients realized that their EBT cards were suddenly showing up as having no limit, resulting in empty shelves and overflowing shopping carts as people tried to buy as much stuff as possible with their cards before the glitch was fixed. Now, Walmart and Xerox are playing the blame game over who’s at fault. [More]
House-Painters Rip Down Customer’s Patio Cover Because They Thought That’s What She Wanted
By 8.2.13
Get it in writing. Those are four words you need to repeat to yourself over and over whenever you have someone doing work on your house. Just ask the California woman who learned that her house-painters had torn down her patio cover, not because they were clumsy or reckless, but because that’s what they thought she’d asked for. [More]
Verizon Accidentally Gives Customer’s Number To Someone Else, Charges Her $50/Month For Its Mistake
By 5.13.13
One day, a Verizon landline customer in New Jersey found that her phone was no longer working because the number she’d had for 35 years had somehow been given to someone else. To make things worse, even after it was obvious that Verizon was responsible for the mistake, the company said the customer now had to pay an additional $50/month for its screw-up. [More]
Who's To Blame For Broken Urn: UPS Or The Crematorium?
By 5.1.12
When a California woman went to unpack the urn containing her late brother’s ashes, she found it had been damaged in shipping and the ashes spilled onto her floor. The crematorium that sent the urn blames UPS, which points the finger right back at the crematorium, saying it violated UPS policy by shipping human remains. [More]
National Grid Blames Meteorologists For Storm That Left 421,000 Without Power
By 11.11.11
You often hear hackneyed jokes about people blaming the TV weatherman for the bad weather. But the folks at National Grid are doing just that, pointing the finger at forecasters for not accurately predicting a storm that left hundreds of thousands of customers in New England without power. [More]
Panasonic Marketing Guy: Lack Of Good 3D Movies Makes 3D TVs Sell Poorly
By 7.11.11
A Panasonic marketing executive says it’s Hollywood’s fault you don’t want to buy a 3D TV. If there were more Avatars and fewer Clash of the Titanses, he insinuates, you’d feel compelled to spring for the expensive products and their obnoxious accompanying glasses. [More]
Magazine That Stole Writer's Story Likely Shutting Down; Blames Writer
By 11.17.10
Some people don’t know when to leave bad enough alone. Earlier this month, we brought you the story of a freelance writer who not only found out that a small cooking magazine had lifted her entire story without permission or payment, but then insulted the author saying she should have paid them for the tiny bit of editing they did on her text before printing it. Now the editor at the magazine says it’s likely curtains for the publication — and you’ll never guess who she’s blaming. [More]
Bankers: We Wouldn't Hire Unqualified Robo-Signers If You Just Paid Your Mortgage
By 10.14.10
While a lot of attention has been paid to recent foreclosure freezes and the hordes of unqualified “robo-signers” hired to rubber stamp mortgage documents, the bankers of Wall Street want to remind the homeowners of America — This is all your fault. [More]
AT&T, Comcast Blame Each Other For My Internet Exploding
By 7.2.10
Roger was dissatisfied with his phone reception in his home, so opted to buy an AT&T MicroCell, a mini cell phone tower that’s supposed to boost signal performance. [More]
