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October 28 2011
After an autistic girl and her service dog were wrongly kicked out of a discount clothing store owned by TJ Maxx, the district manager profusely apologized and gave them a $25 gift card to pick out anything she liked. When she returned and tried to use the gift card, store staff kicked her out for having a service dog again. Looks like someone didn't get the memo.
Three months after the nine-year-old girl, Emily, was kicked out of "Winners," a chain owned by TJ Maxx, she and her mother came back to the store to pick out something nice using the gift card the district manager gave her.
"We were asked to leave the store," Emily's mother told CBC News. "My child's service dog was not permitted in their establishment anywhere. And if that's true, then that includes my child because there is no separation between the two of them."
"I was disappointed that I didn't get anything from the store, even my dress that my mom picked out nicely for me," Emily told CBC News.
The mother said she didn't think the store's apology was sincere because while the manager had made the perfect "putting out of the fire" gesture, the store hadn't bothered to educate their staff on the proper protocol.
Parent company TJ Maxx said that it's standard policy for service dogs to be allowed in stores. "We are looking into the particulars regarding this customer's experience and will reach out to her directly, as well as take whatever actions we believe are appropriate," Doreen Thompson, a TJX spokeswoman told CBC News.
Edmonton store bars girl's service dog twice [CBCNews] (Thanks to Neil!)
October 07 2011
In the middle of reports of widespread Time Warner Cable outages in New York's East Village late this week, one building supervisor has decided to hold a local cable node hostage. This node controls cable and internet not just for his building, but several others on the block. His price for access? Free cable.
Local blogger Adam broke the story on his blog Adam's Life after he called up Time Warner Cable demanding answers about why his internet was out:
Finally, I connected with a service rep. He sounded young. Stumbled a little bit over the script he was reading. I assume he's new. This will be important in a moment. I asked him what the heck was happening. And he told me this:
The box that controls the cable, internet, pretty much everything else for Time Warner Cable in my area of the East Village is located in the basement of a building. In order to service this box, Time Warner Cable needs to contact the super of the building and be let in.
The super of the building, according to the service rep, REFUSES TO LET TIME WARNER INSIDE.
"Why is he refusing?" I asked.
"He wants free cable," the rep responded.
Apparently, Time Warner has tried to reason with the man, but he refuses to budge. Today, he's refused to answer the door or his phone. He's cut off all communication.
"It's a very unusual situation," the rep said.Time Warner Cable confirmed the story to the Village Voice. "We did have to remind the landlord of city ordinance that requires us to have 24/7 access to our infrastructure," a company spokesperson told the paper.
After they published the story, Adam's cable and internet came back on.
Less than 24 hours later, it was out again. Maybe the building supervisor decided he didn't like True Blood after all and wanted a different cable package.
Someone Is Holding Time Warner Cable Hostage For Free Cable [Adam's Life]
East Village Super Held Time Warner Cable Hostage For 24 Hours [Village Voice]
September 27 2011
Verizon FiOS has done an admirable job with their online chat-based customer service, making it seem incredibly real and human. You almost forget that you're not talking to a person over the phone. One of the ways they make this simulacrum seem so life-like is that you can be transferred from one agent to another, and then there's silence on the other end because there's no one there -- just like the real thing! Reader Michael shares a recent chat transcript to illustrate:
Chat Subject:FiOS Telephone (Other)Congratulations, Verizon FiOS. It's so real, so dynamic, almost sensual. You can bury your line in my yard any time.
Your Question:Status/billing of recent service visit.
A Verizon Service Representative will be with you shortly. Thank you.
10:50:30 Estimated wait time is 1 min 4 secs. We apologize for the delay. You are next in the queue. A representative will be with you shortly.
Agent Tina has joined. (10:50:40)
Tina : Chat ID for this session is xxxxxxxxxxx. (10:50:40)
Tina(10:50:45): Thank you for using Verizon FiOS Technical Support. My name is Tina, for security purposes please post the name, address, and telephone number on the account as well as a good can be reached telephone number.
Michael(10:51:08): Michael ***
Michael(10:51:19): *****
Michael(10:51:24): *****
Tina(10:52:19): Ok, sir is your questions billing related?
Michael(10:53:08): Partially, we had a service disruption due to a contractor damaging our incoming line. You guys sent someone out last week to put in a new line and someone else buried that line this morning.
Michael(10:53:39): Is there a fee for this service? If so, I will need a bill generated soon so I can have my contractor pay it.
Tina(10:54:34): Ok, i need to transfer you to the billing department for this matter
Tina(10:54:34): please allow me one moment
Michael(10:54:50): fine
This session is being transferred. (10:55:20)
This session is transferred to Melinda. (10:55:30)
Agent Melinda has joined. (10:55:30)
Michael(10:56:48): Hello?
Michael(10:58:25): Is someone there or not????
Michael(10:59:23): I see that you have accurately reproduced the experience of calling your 1-800 number with a new chat environment.
Michael(10:59:50): Kudos, for turning an internet-based tool into a slow mechanism for answering a quick question.
Michael(11:00:58): FYI, I have no intention of closing this chat session because I want to see just how long it takes you, and I think the consumerist.com would be curious to see this as well
Michael(11:01:07): 6 minutes and counting...
Michael(11:04:06): well??
Your session is now closed.
Thank you, have a nice day.
May 11 2011
On the left are the flowers Brian ordered from ProFlowers for Mother's Day. On the right are the ones that were actually delivered, late, and found by the janitors at the university she works at unceremoniously left in the hallway.
There are 7 differences between the two photos. See if you can spot them all!
Meanwhile, Brian has sworn off ordering flowers from big national companies. "I have learned my lesson," writes Brian, "and will order from a local florist (as your readers suggest)."
May 09 2011
An actor who pitches Honda cars in their ads says he got screwed over by a Honda dealership when he tried to get the very same deal he helps sell on TV.
Dennis Singletary tells TMZ that he went into one dealership trying to get the "The Really Big Thing" deal - 0% down, low rates, and $190 in monthly payments. With a credit score of 709, he qualified for these terms. Only thing was that that dealership didn't have the car he wanted. So he went over to another Honda dealership, where they did have his car. But they said he didn't qualify because according to their computer, Singletary's credit score was only 663.
The actor argued, he called the first dealership and had them tell the second one how his credit score was 709, but they were unmovable.
"How is it that I am dealing with such blatant dishonesty and unethical behavior from one of your dealerships, when my face was all over the TV promoting the very deal I wasn't able to get?" said Singletary in the indignant letter (PDF) he wrote Honda headquarters. "If this is the way I am being
treated how is everyone else being treated?"
One of the friendlier dealerships explained to him that Honda only needs to take the second highest credit score, but the problematic dealership was taking the 3rd highest credit score in order to make the actor pay higher monthly payments.
The actor went to a third Honda dealership where he finally got the car and terms he wanted.
Honda Spokesman -- I Got Screwed At Honda Dealer!! [TMZ] (Thanks to MIke!)
April 04 2011
So you're involved in a dispute and you want to make sure that your well-crafted complaint letter is mailed in a way so that it's indisputable that your recipient got it. What's the best way to shoot off your epistle? Certified? Signature delivery? Wrapped around a brick? Nay.
It's not necessary to do registered mail, that's just for shipping valuables that you want insurance on if they get lost.
Instead send it by certified mail, which guarantees and tracks delivery, including date and time it was delivered. You can check on the status online and the post office keeps a record. Request an additional return receipt to get a signature back from the recipient.
Now they'll never be able to say that your letter "got lost in the mail!"
January 12 2011
Elliot has been to heck and back with Verizon. His Samsung Rogue refused to charge, so he got them to replace it with a refurbished one. The "new" phone began randomly shutting off by itself. Elliot got Verizon to give him a full replacement, but they mailed it to his old address. After more shipping woes, he finally got a working phone. Then his bill arrives, about $1,000 higher than it's supposed to be.
Elliot writes that he then
call[s] customer service and am eventually (a few days later) credited with the two charges, though not the taxes or fees associated with a higher bill. While waiting for those credits though, Verizon attempted to take the money out of my checking account twice. This is obviously my fault for allowing them direct access, but I was assured this wouldn't happen, and then assured after the first time (and after I suspended autopay) that it wouldn't happen again.
Today I receive a text saying that if the balance of $900+ dollars isn't paid they would be shutting off my service. Additionally, I have been assessed late fee and returned check fee by Verizon, as well as $52 in NSF fees from my bank. While trying to get this all straightened out today I spoke to two people in customer service, two in financial services, was hung up on once and spent nearly an hour on hold, and have been told that they will be unable to credit any of the extra charges until I pay the bill in full (which includes those charges).Does that sound right? At this point I would definitely not trust Verizon to refund the money that they are overcharging me. Sounds like a case ripe for escalation.
January 03 2011
On Jan 1 and 2 of 2011, tons of people overslept, not due to hangovers, but because of an iPhone glitch that made their alarms go off. For most people this was just an inconvenience, but for one couple it was disastrous. They missed a fertility treatment deadline.
Jodi writes:
My husband and I set the alarms on both of our iPhones to go off at 6:45am on January 1. We had a very important deadline to make that morning in regards to our scheduled fertility treatment. But we missed it. The alarms didn't go off. Apparently (according to Google) they don't work on January 1 or 2 of 2011. Wish we would've known this ahead of time. Thousands of dollars and a month of injections wasted. And no one to turn to for recourse.
Jodi
Sent from my iPhoneMy heart goes out to you and your husband, Jodi. That is devastating. I only hope that you have the resources and fortitude to be able to pick up the pieces and try again.
You might say that they should have set multiple, non-iPhone alarms, but hindsight is 20/20 and that doesn't remove the pain of their loss.
For those who aren't familiar, fertility treatment is a multi-step process, requiring different drugs to be injected for several weeks at prescribed days and usually at the same time. Missing an injection time can complicate the pregnancy. Getting an injection a few hours later runs the risk of overstimulating the patient as the interval between that injection and the next one is shorter. If you miss an injection, you need to call your clinic's emergency line as soon as possible and tell them what's going on.
An Apple spokesperson told NYT that they were "aware of an issue related to non-repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2." They promised alarms will start working right today. Mine worked fine today but judging by some angry Tweets, the fix hasn't rolled out to everyone yet. Until then, here's some free iPhone alarm apps that will work.
November 02 2010
Unlike their lilly-livered counterparts to the south, Sun Chips Canada has decided to hold the line on their jet-engine loud biodegradable bags. Instead of caving to detractors, they're offering them free earplugs.
"Our bag is loud, our bag is different, our bag is good for the environment, and our bag will remain on store shelves," says the company. They've also launched a public awareness campaign, starting with this informational video:
Hopefully they'll also be making a series telling people about how to make their compost piles, too. The bags advertise that they'll break down in 9 weeks, but you'll need a much more intense compost pile than most people have the time or care to make.
You'll want your compost pile to preferably over 130 degrees and at least 21 cubic feet. SunChips's instructional PDF recommends a recipe of the following to create optimal conditions:
1 part food scraps (greens)Still, even if you have to wait a few more months for the bag to decompose, that's a lot faster than a traditional chip bag, which will take hundreds of years to break down, and even then will only be a fine grain of plastic dust.
2 parts leaves (browns)
2 parts grass (greens)
2 parts hay (browns)
1 part finished compost (a bacterial activator to start the composting process)
Know what's even more annoying that a noisy bag? A planet full of garbage.
SunChips to complaining consumers: 'Yeah, compostable bag is noisy - get over it' [Sustainable Food News]
Do Sunchips 'compostable' bags really decompose in a compost pile? [Examiner]
PREVIOUSLY
Were 'Biodegradable' Sun Chips Bags Not So Biodegradable?
Unbearably Noisy Biodegradable SunChips Bag Terminated
October 04 2010
Andy and his wife were saving up for a trip for Hawaii. They had 87,000 points, which represented $87,000 they had spent accumulating these points. Out of nowhere, Citibank closed his account and gave him no chance to get his points.
Andy complained and was told there was nothing that could be done. Citibank had new rules for accounts opened off Equifax data, and Andy didn't make the cut, despite having 39 accounts in good standing.
But then he wrote Consumerist and we posted his story. After it went live, a Citibank rep contacted us and we put them in touch with Andy. They fixed him up good, though not without a little tug and pull. Andy says:
One of the main sticking points was that Citi said they sent me a letter on June 23rd stating that my account would be closed on July 31st. I never received the letter and I don't know what it said. After my account was closed on July 31 and points gone, I called them to find out what was up and they referred me to the letter. I said I didn't have the letter and they offered to send me out a copy of exactly what it said. I said "sure" send me a copy. A few weeks later I received a letter from Citi that said something to the effect of "Sorry, we are unable to provide a copy of the letter you requested and we won't be able to provide a copy in the future....."Now Andy has his points back, demonstrating once again the power of getting your story out to the media, having all your facts and dates straight, and having a big number that catches people's eye.
PREVIOUSLY
Citibank Yanks Your 87,000 Rewards Points And Closes Account Without Warning
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