Radiohead ticket holders who couldn’t get into the DC concert this weekend due to flooding should email their grievances to customerservice@nissanpavilion.com [via DCist]
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A gentlemen who ignored flight attendants requests that he get off his cellphone was met by police when the flight landed at Dallas’ Love Field. Joe David Jones, 50, of Austin was ticketed for disorderly conduct, says the Associated Press.
Apparently, airlines can be fined up to $25,000 if passengers don’t get off the phone, and passengers themselves can be fined as well. The passenger could not be reached for comment by the AP, but a business associate said that Mr. Jones’ father was having a heart attack and and he was on the phone with the hospital.
“He expresses regret for the inconvenience that it caused the airline and its passengers, but he felt compelled because of the life and death nature of it to make that call,” Clayton said in a story for Monday’s online edition of the Austin American-Statesman.
Southwest passenger cited for refusing to get off cell phone [Houston Chronicle]
(Photo: Zonaphoto)
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A gun exploded in a customer’s hands and the manufacturer doesn’t seem to care, according to a graphic post by f3rr37 in the FivesevenForums. He wrote, “On the 2nd round I realigned my sights, slowly pulled the trigger, and all hell broke loose. I saw bits and pieces of the top of the slide cover blow. My first reaction was, “Oh crap what just happened.” My second reaction was, how are my hands?” F3rr37 sough medical attention and two days later contacted Five-seveN customer support. After a series of followup calls, Five-seveN said they were sending out a pre-paid packing slip for the gun and would inspect it, destroy it, and give f3rr37 a “deep discount” on a new gun. A month later, none of these promises have materialized. F3rr37 thinks the problem with the gun is that it fired “out of battery,” and that the problem with Five-seveN is that they just wish he would go away. Which is odd, considering that they are supposed to have a great reputation for being customer friendly. F3rr37 pledges, “Until they make this right, I will never buy another FN product again and will continue to share my experience with what happens when a FiveseveN fires out-of-battery.”
FN FiveseveN Warning [FivesevenForum]
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Last week the best radio show ever, This American Life, tackled the housing and credit crisis by talking to some of the real people involved with packaging junk no-proof loans into “sensible” investments. In the words of host Ira Glass and friends, it all comes back to “The Giant Pool Of Money.” [This American Life]
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Reader Christina has a (broken) water heater from Sears. It’s covered under a warranty, but Sears isn’t willing to replace it. She’s been without hot water for 3 weeks and Sears just doesn’t care.
Name: Christina | Address: [redacted] | City: Tulsa > >| State: OK | Zip: [redacted] | Country: USA | Day Phone: [redacted] | > >Evening Phone: [redacted] | Email: [redacted]
I am disgusted about the service that I have received from your workers. I know that sears doesn’t care about its customers nor does it stand behind its worthless products that it sells. I will not waste more of my time explaining this to you for the 100th time, you should be able to look at my account and clearly see that your stupidity and lack of customer service is my problem.
I have been waiting two weeks to get a water heater replaced. I was supposed to get a call yesterday and didn’t. I was supposed to get it installed today and didn’t. Big surprise, you don’t care! I want you to reimburse for the water heater, the permit, the warranty, and to be compensated for the stress of not having hot water for three weeks while you did nothing. While no one called me, no one did anything. I will contact my lawyer, I will report you to the BBB.
You don’t deserve to be in business and hopefully someone will put an end to sears soon. DO NOT CALL ME!!! I refuse to get stressed out listening to your scripted, we’re sorry, we’re going to do everything we can to help you out because your important. If I was, I would have hot water by now. You may email your response, if you can not honor my request you can send this to the corporate office and have the president of sears look at it. if he wont, then we will settle this in court. I fully expect for you to do the right thing for a change and get my water heater out hear within 24 hours and mail my check for my trouble of buying from sears to begin with which I WILL NEVER DO AGAIN!
Sears replied:
Where was this water heater purchased? Was this through your local Sears or over the water heater sales line? If this was purchased through the store, we at Sears.com would not have access to your order and would need to direct you to the store.If this was purchased through the sales line, what phone number was used and what name would it be under? Did you get a reference number? We would need some kind of information from the order to get the order to pull up. I have even tried calling the installation department as well as the service line and your name or phone numbers did not bring up any results.
I personally have not seen this order and would like the opportunity to try and get this resolved for you. I also understand that you have probably heard that before and do not feel like hearing it again, but I would like to try to help you with this. Even if the order was placed through the store, if you call us, we could even help by doing a conference call to the store and to the installation department and try to figure out what went so horribly wrong and see what can be done to get your water heater installed.
Our number here at the water heater sales line is 800-877-6420. My name is Grant and I am here most evenings, minus Sunday and Wednesday. If you would like to give me a call, my extension is 10093. If I am on a call, you can leave your name and number with whoever you talk to and I can call you back.
At this point and after reading your e-mail, I do not blame you for being angry. If you feel like you need to pursue this further legally, I would need to refer you to the legal department at 847-286-8371.
I know you do not want more apologies, but I do feel sorry that this has happened and do regret the inconvenience that this particular situation
has caused you.
If you feel so inclined to ask for my assistance, please give me a call, or e-mail me back, I have marked your e-mail so I can take ownership of
any further correspondence and will do what I can for you.
Look for Great Ideas throughout the store and find Sears exclusive innovations from great brands like Sony, Kenmore, NordicTrack, Craftsman and Reebok.
Grant B. Sears.com Customer Care
Christina replied:
You can not find my information because I have called you all a million times and told you my new number but nobody seems to want to write it down.The old number is [redacted] The new number is [redacted] The cell number is [redacted]
This is suppose to be a replacement because the other piece of crap water heater I got from you guys broke AGAIN! For God’s sake just look at your own website, nobody has anything good to say about your water heaters. Its all people who are mad because their water heater is doing the same thing mine has. They should last more than a year.
I don’t know why you cant look me up by anything but my number, you had my name and address what kind of shitty customer service is this?
If you can give what I have asked for by all means, otherwise, you will need to forward this on to your corporate office because I will not be swept under the carpet. I will not be ignored, every day I go without hot water is one more day that I take the time to spread the word about how sears has treated me.
Sears replied:
Dear Ms. [redacted]:
Thank you for visiting Sears.com, we appreciate hearing from you.
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide the information you requested via e-mail. We encourage you to contact our Installation department by telephone, at (800)859-6000.
Thank you for choosing Sears for your home service needs.
Sincerely,
Larry D Sears Holdings Corporation
Christina replied:
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:28:21 -0500
I got a call saying that you can not find anyone to install my water heater which is suppose to be covered under my warranty that I paid for. This is unacceptable! I will not pay someone to install your piece of shit water heater and only be reimbursed $219. I have called 5 companies in the Tulsa area and the quotes they have given me have ranged from $500-$700 depending on what all they have to do. You are not going to get away with this.
I want to be refunded to total price of the water heater plus tax, I want to be refunded for all of my warranties, and I want the cost of installation. I will go to another company. I refuse to have anything to do with you ever again.
You can not do this to me, I have the warranty which guarantees you to replace my water heater and installation, not a portion of the installation.
And I don’t want any stupid vouchers for sears!
Christina
You could keep arguing with Sears, or you could just sue them for breach of warranty in small claims court. The limit in Oklahoma is $6,000, which should cover your complaint. You may think suing a huge corporation like Sears is futile, but it’s not. Here’s a story from one reader who sued Best Buy over a defective washing machine and won. We’d also report Sears to your attorney general.
Before you put on your lawyer pants, you might want to try Sears’ public relations number: 847-286-8371.
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While Jeff Cannizzaro was off fighting in Iraq, he was also fighting Sprint. Jeff suspended his phone while overseas, but left some money in the account. While he was away, Sprint kept deducting small amounts from his balance. His wife kept calling and writing emails, trying everything they could think of to get Sprint to stop deducting the money. Nothing worked.
When Jeff got back in September, he tried writing the CEO. That didn’t work either. It took help from the local media to encourage Sprint to give Jeff his money back.
From King 5:
Sprint wouldn’t talk to KING 5 specifically about his case, but they did act fast.“I got a call from someone from Sprint apologizing, saying it must have gotten lost in the shuffle and we’re really sorry about the inconvenience and there will be a check in the mail overnight to you,” Cannizzaro said.
Cannizzaro said Sprint owed him $48. In the end, Sprint sent him a check for $100.
“I’m very glad KING 5 is willing to help me out in this situation,” he said.
Hey, Sprint. This type of customer service isn’t really scalable. It’s not cool to outsource your simple billing problems to the local TV station. Ya know?
Fort Lewis soldier battles cell phone company over bill [King5] (Thanks, Landon!)
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Canada is about to become the first country
=1365998400&en=4000c2c9f48ae647&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink”>”Canada Likely to Label Plastic Ingredient ‘Toxic’” [The New York Times]
(Photo: ToastyKen)
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The personal finance blogger at Can I Get Rich on a Salary has detailed nine ways he believes people can become rich. His list includes the following:
1. Visionary
2. Ridiculous Talent
3. Blind Luck
4. Opportunistic Luck
5. Small Business Empire
6. Small Business Investment
7. Highly Aggressive Investment
8. Skilled Investor
9. Slow and Steady
These can be divided into three basic groups:
1. Extraordinary skill/ability that only a handful of people possess.
2. Luck that rivals (or is worse than) the odds of getting struck by lightning.
3. A series of tasks almost anyone can do if they are disciplined enough.
Obviously, option #3, which relates to the “slow and steady” approach, is the most viable choice for the vast majority of people. And yet there’s that issue of discipline that almost makes this solution as likely as golfing better than Tiger Woods or finding oil in your back yard. Why is that?
The 9 Or So Paths To Getting Rich—And My Purported Analysis Of Them [Can I Get Rich on a Salary]
(Photo: Getty)
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Defunct budget airline Skybus plans to issue full refunds to all ticket holders. The airline announced last night that they were done flying less than two weeks after former CEO Bill Diffenderffer quit to pursue a book-writing career. While everyone who hasn’t yet traveled will soon be reunited with their cash, what about passengers who are in the middle of a trip? Let’s ask Air Force Sergeant Gary Patterson.
Gary L. Patterson, who flew Skybus from Richmond yesterday to visit his girlfriend, said he felt “empty” when he learned he wouldn’t be going back the same way. He’d gotten word when a friend called his girlfriend.
Patterson, 42, an Air Force tech sergeant temporarily stationed at Langley Air Force Base, said he’s frustrated. He thought “common courtesy” called for at least a week’s notice.
But “getting mad is not going to change anything,” he said. “It’s not going to get me back on Monday morning.”
Skybus is not providing alternate transportation.
Patterson planned on getting something to eat and trying to find a way back tomorrow.
Skybus is instructing slighted passengers to contact their credit card companies for a full refund.
Airport: Skybus Airlines Shutting Down [AP]
Skybus shuts down, cancels all flights [The Columbus Dispatch]
PREVIOUSLY: Skybus Airlines Ceases Operations
Skybus Will Try To Mimic Some Other Ultra-Low-Cost Carriers, Just Without The Whole Imploding Aspect
(Photo: marada)
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Creative Labs heard your chest-beating across the internet and decided to reinstate spurned developer Daniel_K less than a week after booting him from their forums. Unlike Creative, Daniel_K issued drivers that allowed Creative sound cards to work properly under Vista, and even enabled previously crippled features. The drivers were downloaded over 100,000 times. The company thanked the developer by accusing him of “enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, [in] effect, stealing our goods.” Even though he has been reinstated, Daniel_K is still pissed.
“They publicly threatened me, just to show their arrogance,” he told El Reg by email.
He told us that Creative contacted him on a chat session. “They were sarcastic, ironic and asked me if I wanted something from them, as if I were expecting something,” he wrote. “It was my protest against them and would like to see how far it would go.”
He acknowledges that Creative has a case regarding intellectual property, but is furious about the company’s strategy. “I’d say they are stealing [from] their own customers by disabling features based on technologies they own (so they did it on purpose) and by charging for a software that requires an improved driver that they refuse to provide.”
“At least they are getting flamed all over the web and they are certainly mad about it. That is enough reward for my hard work,” he wrote.
Though Creative claims that their eviction notice “did not make it as clear as we would have liked that we do support driver development by independent third parties,” the company is hardly contrite. A statement released to the press defiantly declared that they do not support or appreciate “the unauthorized distribution of other companies’ property.” Way to learn from the experience, Creative.
Creative climbs down over home brew Vista drivers [The Register]
(Photo: Young Frankenstein)
PREVIOUSLY: Creative Sparks Customer Revolt When It Tries To Silence Third-Party Programmer
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