Crazy Guide to the Internet

William writes to tell us about an asinine DirecTV contractor who demanded a tip before starting work. The contractor was dispatched by Halstead Communications, DirecTV’s unfortunate installer of choice in New York. After being denied an entrance tip, the contractor noticed an easily movable table blocking his way and declared to his partner, “I can’t work like this, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

William writes:

I write in the hopes you will expose the abusive practices of Halstead Communications, the contractor DirecTV uses to install service in New York. As an initial matter, running a search on Google for “directv halstead communications ltd” pulls up many complaints regarding this subcontractor. I am not the only one who have been abused by this company.

I use the word “abusive” because the technician who showed up this morning did not have equipment and had parked his van a few blocks away even though we have a driveway. He clearly was not ready to work, and he asked my mother for a tip upon coming in—she had tipped him when he came in on a service call a while ago. (He cut a DirecTV line and was not able to install a dish on that service call.) My mother said that he would be tipped after he finished. The technician got angry and said that he couldn’t work because there was a table in the way. My mother had the table moved immediately, but the technician said to his co-worker, “I can’t work like this, let’s get the fuck out of here” and walked out.

I contacted DirecTV and all they could offer was the phone number of the contractor, Halstead Communications. I called Halstead and they said they would have the local office call me back. Of course, the local office has not called back. Halstead refused to tell me their address, or the phone number or address of the “local office.” It’s understandable why they do not want to disclose this information—they’d otherwise be buried in complaints. The consumer is powerless to do anything, and the technicians know this because they would not act like that if we had any power.

It is unbelievable that a large corporation such as DirecTV chooses to do business through such a contractor. I really hope you choose to do a story on Halstead, if only to let DirecTV know that they have to be responsible.

Thank you very much for your time.

Truly Yours,
William

The consumer isn’t powerless. Take your complain straight to DirecTV’s mustachioed CEO, Chase Carey. He can be reached at: chase.carey@directv.com.

(Photo: SpooSpa)

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Feeling down? Money might help, according to Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers. The Wharton economists released a paper arguing that countries with higher gross domestic products have happier citizens. The study shatters the conventional wisdom known as the Easterlin Paradox, which holds that GDP and happiness are largely unrelated.

Prof Wolfers said he and Prof Stevenson had reached their dissenting conclusion partly owing to improved international statistics, covering more countries - poor as well as rich - and a greater number of happiness surveys that had been conducted over the past three decades.

The paper will be discussed next week at the spring economic conference of Brookings, the think-tank, and is likely to provoke lively debate.

Prof Easterlin, who has seen a draft of the paper, said he believed that as far as he was concerned his paradox still stood.

While commending his younger critics for “serious research”, he said they needed to focus more on what was happening within specific countries, rather than “throwing all of these countries together”.

A quick glance at the IMF’s GDP rankings show a few glaring contradictions. China ranks two notches higher than France in GDP, not happiness, and everyone’s favorite Middle Eastern playground, Iran, falls just two slots behind Denmark. And, of course, everyone is sadder than the United States. Um, maybe this Easterlin fellow was right after all.

Money can buy you happiness, say researchers [Financial Times]
List of countries by GDP [Wikipedia]

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Dear Readers,

While it’s been a very exhilarating first day here at The Conglomerist, I’m disheartened by some of the commenters taking issue with my writing style, especially with regards to the word “irregardless.” While I take your concerns seriously, trust me, irregardless is a “real” word. I know because I went to dictionary.com and it’s right there:

ir·re·gard·less /ˌɪrɪˈgɑrdlɪs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ir-i-gahrd-lis]
-adverb Nonstandard.
regardless.
[Origin: 1910-15; ir-2 (prob. after irrespective) + regardless]

They even show you how to pronounce it. This begs the question: what’s the real motive behind these baseless attacks and accusations? I can only wonder. Haberdasher Communications is analyzing all the ip logs of these so-called “commenters” and I think we’ll all be very interested into seeing the results.

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This list of Amazon coupon codes for April makes me want to puke, irregardless of the fact that the only thing I ate all day was a small money salad. Only scumbags avoid paying full price. [ProBargainHunters]

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Irregardless of where the market is going, these tips for selling your gold jewelry, coins, and fillings will come in handy after I visit my grandma tonight. [Bankrate]

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In a surprising turn-around Walmart has decided to drop its effort to collect $400,000 in money awarded to a brain damaged former employee, says the Associated Press.

The world’s largest retailer said Tuesday in a letter to the family of Deborah Shank it will not seek to collect money the Shanks won in an injury lawsuit against a trucking company for the accident.

Wal-Mart’s top executive for human resources, Pat Curran, wrote that Shank’s extraordinary situation had made the company re-examine its stance.

Deborah’s husband Jim Shank welcomed the news. Family lawyer Maurice Graham of St. Louis said Wal-Mart deserves credit for doing the right thing.

‘It’s a good day for the Shank family,’ Jim Shank said in a statement.

Wal-Mart has been roundly criticized in newspaper editorials, on cable news shows and by its union foes for its claim to the funds, which it made in a lawsuit upheld by a federal appeals court.

Walmart says its internal rules required it to seek reimbursement for medical costs, but it has now revised those rules so that it can make exceptions in individual cases. Some experts think that Walmart is concerned about the issue attracting pressure from lawmakers.

The case put a spotlight on the growing use of reimbursement claims by health plans, experts say.

Roger Baron, professor of law at the University of South Dakota and a specialist in health-plan law, said health plans have become ‘very aggressive’ about subrogation since the 2006 Supreme Court decision.

‘It’s free money. They want the free money,’ Baron said.

Lynn Dudley, vice president for policy at the American Benefits Council in Washington D.C., said the negative publicity around the case was beginning to draw the attention of lawmakers who might want legislation to stop or limit subrogation.

‘Capitol Hill is paying attention,’ Dudley said.

Wal-Mart drops injured worker claim [AP]
(Photo:CrawfishPie)

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Yahoo’s “Unlimited” email, isn’t. [WSJ]

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MTV …. To be honest, we’ve never required any “customer service” from MTV, so we’re not really sure why they are nominated. It seems some people are still upset that video killed the radio star.

TransUnion is a credit rating service that holds in its hands your financial destiny.Hope that it doesn’t misplace it…

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/

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Want to reduce your Bank of America spam mail? Our commenter tinder posted a link to their opt-out page in our earlier post on Chase spam. [www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/]

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Marketplace had a telling interview with Susan Smith of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the editor-in-chief of a new report about the commercial real estate market titled “Rough Road Ahead for Investors.”

She says that the commercial and residential real estate markets are different and there are still opportunities out there for investors… but she doesn’t invest in real estate much herself because she knows “what goes into it.”

Napoli: And that’s the upshot of this report, even though you’ve titled it “Rough Road Ahead for Investors”?

Smith: I believe so, because there’s more difficulty in going out and finding that property that you want to buy or even listing a property and trying to sell it, so in terms of what buyers and sellers were used to over the last ten years and what they’re encountering now, it’s definitely going to be a rough road, but it’s also important to realize that there are opportunities out there for investors. It’s just a matter of what your strategy is and I always like to think that real estate investors are optimistic.

Napoli: You also have to have a pretty strong stomach, I’d imagine.

Smith: I think you do, I think you do. People always say to me “well, you’re in real estate, I can’t believe you don’t own so much real estate” and I say I know what goes into it. I know how people react to all the things you have to watch in real estate: what’s going on with employment and what’s going on with the consumer and to me, there’s just too much to focus on that it does… you need a strong stomach and good optimism.

Mixed news for commercial real estate [Marketplace]
(Photo:AngrySicilian)

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