Ace consumer reporter Kurtis Ming in Sacramento, California has received a lot of complaints from readers about glasses from Stanton Optical, a growing national chain. Customers reported blurry lenses that caused poor vision and pain. One customer said that looking through them was like “looking through a glass of water.” Another claims that they’ve had Stanton remake their glasses fourteen times, and they’re still blurry. So what did the consumer advocates of CBS Sacramento do? They got eye exams and took their eyeballs undercover. [More]
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McRib Pork Supplier Hit With SEC Filed Complaint Over Alleged Pig Abuse
By 11.3.11
Can you taste the tears in your McRib? The supplier of pork products to McDonald’s, Smithfield Farms, just got hit by a complaint filed with the SEC by animal rights group Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Citing their own shocking undercover investigative video, HSUS allege that Smithfield is making false and misleading claims to shareholders and consumers about how well they treat their pigs and that those claims are in violation of federal securities law. [More]
Don't Tweet The Identity Of Your Plane's Air Marshal
By 2.17.10
On a flight yesterday, minor celebrity Kim Kardashian figured out that the guy next to her was the air marshal, at which point she excitedly announced it to her followers on Twitter. “Jim the air marshall makes me feel safe!” she tweeted. But it’s okay, she understands how security protocols are supposed to work; after some of her followers complained about what she’d done, she responded, “[I] highly doubt anyone is twittering like me on this flight! shhh.” [More]
Hidden Cameras Catch LA Valets Breaking All Kinds Of Laws
By 10.1.09
An excellent piece of investigative journalism by NBC Los Angeles catches valets all over the city putting up fake no parking signs, jamming meters, and using customers’ cars to shuttle valets around.
Baristas Flash Their Hoohas At The Grab-n-Go, Get Charged With Prostitution
By 9.28.09
We’re not at the “full body latte” stage just yet, but Grab-n-Go Espresso in Everett, Washington has apparently taken us right up to that edge with their espresso stands where baristas show skin while serving coffee. Now five Grab-n-Go baristas have been charged “with multiple counts of prostitution and violating the city’s adult entertainment ordinance.”
Denver TV Station Tests Computer Repair Techs
By 4.28.08
A Denver TV crew unseated a RAM chip and then took it to seven different repair centers for a diagnosis. The resulting displays of incompetence were pretty evenly distributed, with two Best Buy Geek Squads, one Circuit City Firedog, and one locally owned repair center (CTI) all failing miserably (“It’s the motherboard!” they each said). Of the three locations that correctly diagnosed and fixed the problem, Action Computers charged $50, Geek Squad charged $30, and the Firedog tech who hands-down won the challenge “reinstalled the memory cards in less than two minutes, free of charge.”
When "FireDogs" And "Geeks" Don't Know What's Wrong, You Pay
By 2.25.08
Channel 10 out of Columbus, Ohio recently conducted a sting operation in which they equipped themselves with an easily repaired laptop and took it to Geek Squad, FireDog and Micro Center to see who could figure out what was wrong.
Market Workers Caught Urinating Near Produce
By 2.2.07
Nothing makes for fresh produce like sewage, open urination by workers, and storage next to rat-infested garbage and Port-A-Potties. That’s what a hidden camera investigation by Joel Grover found at a So-Cal produce processing area found at the Seventh Street Produce Market in downtown LA. The market services thousands of SoCal restaurants and stores.
