Consumerist

washington

DC Scraps Zone System, Cabbies Threaten To Strike

By consumeristcarey 10.20.07

Cab rides in Washington will soon be cheaper thanks to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s decision to scrap the DC’s antiquated and expensive zone system in favor of the modern meter system found in any respectable city. Cheaper fares for residents means less profit for cabbies. Said one: “There is no way we can make a living on a [time-and-distance] meter.”

“The talk of a strike is in the formulation plans,” said Nathan Price, a driver for Yellow Cab Company of D.C. Inc. and a spokesman for the D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association (PTDA).

SCAMS

Unable To Overcome Stain Of Breaking Into Mentally Disabled Customer's Home And Stealing $70,000, Dealership Closes

By consumerist.com 10.4.07

Remember that Seattle used car dealership that broke into a mentally disabled customer’s house and stole $70,000, and turned out to have a history of on the job drug-use, shady tactics, and abusing mentally handicapped customers? Seems the new owners were never able to overcome those little besmirches on its good name and the dealerships are closing. Huling Bros, consider this your auto de fe.

apple

AT&T Stores Try To Promote iPhone Price Cut As "Manager's Special"

By consumerist.com 9.25.07

A reader reports that a Bellevue, WA AT&T store is trying to play it like the company-wide iPhone price drop is a “manager’s special.” When he called the regional manager, our reader was told the signs were the brainchild of the regional marketing department.

washington

Despite Winning $54 Million Pants Lawsuit, Drycleaner Shutters

By consumerist.com 9.20.07

The ordeal of battling the $54 million lawsuit over a pair of pants finally got to the DC drycleaners and they’ve closed up shop.

SCAMS

Pat's Plumbing Charges Guy In Wheelchair $550 To Remove Dispoable Razor From His Toilet Trap

By consumerist.com 9.19.07

My name is Pat. I recently needed some plumbing done on my toilet. It was clogged, and we couldn’t get anything to work for us to get it unclogged. I looked through the online websites in the area of plumbers. Holy crap, here is Pat’s Plumbing.

certification

Prevented From Calling Your Produce USDA Certified Organic By Federal Law? Call It "Artisan Naturals" Instead

By consumeristcarey 9.8.07

Stemilt Growers can’t call its produce USDA Certified Organic until they grow without chemicals for three years, but that isn’t stopping them from branding their produce “Artisan Naturals” in the interim. The three year chemical-free transition period is marked by insect infestations, infertile soil, and poor crop quality, which conspire to ravage a farm’s profitability. Stemilt, one of the nation’s largest apple growers, is hoping that consumers will pay a price premium for “natural” produce, which will likely be confused for USDA certified organic produce.

The orchard is in its second year of transition to organic, but the fruit will be sold under Stemilt’s Artisan Naturals label, promoting its naturally farmed history.

bacteria

FDA Warns Consumers Not To Eat Certain Raw Oysters From Washington State

By Meg Marco 8.10.07

The FDA has issued a warning not to eat raw oysters from the southern tip of Hood Canal in Washington state. Oysters from the Hood Canal have been linked to an outbreak of vibriosis, a rare illness caused by the Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria.

lawsuits

Seattle To Require Calorie Labeling At Chain Restaurants, Cut Trans Fat

By Meg Marco 7.20.07

Seattle will be going trans fat free, according to the CSPI. Not only that, Kings County is also adding a calorie labeling requirement similar to that of NYC. NYC is currently being sued over the regulation by the a restaurant group representing most fast food chains. Subway has complied with the requirement and their menu is being used as an example in court.

googlemaps mashups

DC Madam's Favorite Hotels

By consumerist.com 7.16.07

Inside, an interactive Googlemaps Mashup showing the most popular hotels from the DC Madam’s phone records.

travel

Top 10 Most "Ho-Friendly" DC Hotels, Based On The DC Madam's Phone Records

By consumerist.com 7.13.07

If you want to have sex with a prostitute in Washington D.C., try the Marriott.

adrian fenty

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty Cut The iPhone Line

By consumeristcarey 6.30.07

Did D.C. Mayor Adiran Fenty dispatch henchmen to retrieve an iPhone? An eagle-eyed tipster spotted a member of the Mayor’s coterie dashing into a double-parked SUV with three bags outside the AT&T store on 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue.

By this point, more than a few people are asking questions, and after a guy behind me yells out “fix the schools first,” the [Mayor’s staffer] gives him the finger and sneers, “there’s only 15 left.”

The full email, after the jump…

apple

J.W. Marriott Saves The Day

By consumeristcarey 5.26.07

Eric flew from Portland to Washington to give a presentation, but forgot to bring the DVI-VGA adaptor needed to connect his MacBook Pro to his client’s LCD projector. Eric caught the mistake at the Portland airport, so he looked up the number of his hotel, the J.W. Marriott on Pennsylvania Avenue, and asked for their help.

The operator was very patient with me as I quickly summarized my situation. She connected me with HD at the Marriott’s Audio/Visual Department. I spoke with HD regarding my rookie Mac mistake. HD informed me that one of their staff would go out and purchase the cable for me.

Eric wasn’t staying in the Presidential suite, nor was he a VIP, even though he was treated like one. The adaptor he found waiting for him at the front desk bore a J.W. Marriott sticker, and was lent to Eric free of charge. “I think their idea was that they probably needed that cable anyways and if they could help a customer out then it was a win-win situation.”

cellphones

Washington State Bans Texting While Driving

By consumeristcarey 5.14.07

Starting in January 2008, it will be illegal to text while driving in Washington State. The measure signed into law by Governor Chris Gregoire also bans talking on a cellphone without a hands-free device while driving. Violators will be punished with a fine, but only if first pulled over for another reason.

Under the new laws, drivers who read and compose text messages or talk on a cell phone without a hands-free device could face a $101 ticket. The text-messaging ban takes effect Jan. 1; the cell-phone law will be enforced starting in July 2008.

Drivers will be exempt in “some situations, including emergencies.” — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

trader joe's

Trader Joe's Has The Authority To Install Traffic Arrows

By Meg Marco 5.7.07

Oh, wait. No, it doesn’t. A reader wrote in to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer because he was suspicious that a traffic arrow installed in the alley near his home wasn’t legit.

“Area residents, like myself, use the alley to rejoin the neighborhood arterials and frequently have difficulty going against the flow of the oncoming alley traffic,” Sarbach said. He said he’d “had several close calls as cars quickly turn into the alley off of Galer; my son and daughter have noticed a few impolite finger gestures from vehicles backing out of the alley onto Galer (Street) to clear (a) way for our vehicle.”

washington

Above And Beyond: Baseball Edition

By consumeristcarey 4.16.07

Tom attended opening day at RFK Stadium to see the Washington Nationals, but couldn’t get a hot dog. What is baseball without a hot dog? Is that cricket?

At no point during the game were the lines shorter than two innings. When I tried to go back in the 7th, there were hotdogs, but no buns. Who the fuck orders more hotdogs than they order buns? I mean, I get that they come 8 buns to a pack, but 6 dogs to a pack, but the solution here is to use combinatorics, a word which I alone learned on Square One back in the late 1980s, and come up with an equal fucking number of hotdogs and buns. Folks, this is not rocket surgery. It’s fucking concessions. Owners were supposed to fix this situation, not carry it forward. Yet, this opening day, much like the previous two, have brought concession lines that were unacceptably long, and concessions unable to cope with the demand of a full stadium.

Tom forwarded his concerns to Stan Kasten, President of the Nationals. Stan’s response, inside…

readers