Consumerist

Amtrak's Exemplary Service Saves You Time And Money [Above And Beyond]

Carey — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:00:47 EDT

Bob didn't realize that his Amtrak train from Syracuse would be delayed for more than an hour until an Amtrak agent called him up and offered to upgrade him free of charge to an earlier and pricier train. Bob initially declined, but later called back to change his mind. When he got to the station, the same agent realized that he qualified for a cheaper ticket and refunded the difference on the spot.

Bob writes:

I am writing to let you know about the exceptional customer service I received today from the staff at Amtrak, specifically the agents at the William Walsh regional transportation center in Syracuse NY.
This morning I was called at home by a very friendly Amtrak agent. She was calling to tell me that because of a crash elsewhere on the line, my train was going to be at least an hour late. Before I could thank her for that news (because really, who wants to wait an extra hour at a small rail station) she offered to change my reservation to an earlier and more expensive train for free. At first I declined, but she left her number so that I could call back and check to see if my late train was more than 1 Hour late.

I changed my mind and called back and the agent happily rebooked for me.

At the station, I found out that Amtrak's national call center calls and offers solutions if a train is more than 2 hours late. In this situation the local agents called all of the local passengers on their own initiative.

I got another surprise when I got to the station: the same agent discovered that I qualified for a lower fare on the return trip so they gave me a $5.40 refund!

Thanks to Amtrak and the Syracuse agents for raising the bar in travel.

Well that's certainly unexpected, especially from Amtrak. If only their trains were as fast as their Syracuse agents are nice.

(Photo: reivax)

10 Easy Ways To Keep Your Flight Attendant Happy [Flying]

Carey — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:00:27 EDT

A happy flight attendant makes for a happy flight, and 24-year-old Northwest flight attendant Brandi Lynne has a list of 10 things you can do to make your next flight a little more enjoyable...

10. Smile! Just like your mother always said, positivity is contagious.
9. Don't Hog The Overhead Compartment: Your jacket doesn't belong in the overhead compartment, and you don't want to be the guy with the seat in the back stealing the overhead up front.
8. Keep The Aisle Clear: Nobody likes obstacle courses. Keep your things out of the aisle or you will get hit with a galley cart.
7. Keep The Demands Reasonable: Not all flight attendants can help you lift your bags. If you're told no, don't roll your eyes.
6. Listen To The Safety Briefing: Yeah, we've all ignored the briefings, and apparently it really annoys the flight attendants. Pay attention for just a minute and they'll love you forever.
5. Take Your Headphones Off When Ordering: It reduces confusion and it's not like you would talk to anyone else while wearing headphones.
4. Be Nice: Don't tell flight attendants how to do their job. They'll help if they can, but if they can't, an attitude solves nothing.
3. Appreciate What's Left Of The Food: Well, well, well, look who feels bad for making fun of airline food all those years. Now it's gone and you're still complaining? The flight attendants aren't hiding hot meals in the back. If you're that upset, write a letter.
2. Deal With Dirty Diapers Yourself: Do not hand these to your flight attendant, ever. Lavatories have baby changing stations. Use them.
1. No Touching! Do we really have to tell you not to poke your flight attendant? Apparently!

For extra-decent service, offer candy to your flight attendants. They won't forget you.

The 10 Most Annoying Passengers, As Told by a Flight Attendant [Lemon Drop]
(Photo: Brandi's Excess Baggage)

ADT: Sign Up Or Thieves Will Kill Your Dogs With Oven Cleaner [Sales Pitches]

Carey — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:00:14 EDT

Leo thought that letting her two dogs greet an approaching ADT salesman would be enough of a hint that she didn't want their security services. Nope! The well-trained salesman sensitively barked: "You know what they are doing to dogs now, don't you? They're spraying oven-cleaner into their face, killing them in 20 seconds!"

Leo writes:

I just got a visit from a friendly neighborhood ADT salesman who freaked the hell out of me.
My dogs went nuts when they saw him approaching the house, but I didn't get to the door fast enough to drawn the shade and hide in my closet, so when he rang the bell I was forced to open it. I saw his big ADT yard sign and T-shirt, so I knew what was coming. I opened the door to tell him buzz off when my Jack Russell blew through the front door and into my yard, barking at him incessantly as my bigger dog barked from the door. I smiled and retrieved my dog, saying 'Well I guess I don't need you since I have them." I offered a meak smile for politeness sake and headed back inside.

"You know what they are doing to dogs now, don't you?" He yelled back at me. I figured some side-show horror story was coming and didn't want to hear it, so I said 'Not interested buddy' and kept walking. "They're spraying oven-cleaner into their face, killing them in 20 seconds!" he screamed back. What the @#$%!

This guy was soooo ready for me to use my dog excuse to get out of talking to him, and freaked me with something I have never heard of and now will never forget. He was obviously trained to respond this way because he didn't stop talking even though I said I wasn't interested. Sweet holy crap what kind of company allows its people to say such horrible things to potential customers. I know times are tough and everybody is just trying to survive but come on...they're gonna spray my dogs in the face with oven cleaner?

I told him I didn't want to hear anymore and shut the door in his freaky face. Consumerist, two questions. (A) Have YOU ever heard of breakins by theives bearing Pam, and (B) am I the only one really disturbed by what this guy said? I mean he said it so non-chalantly is was clearly rehearsed. I'm a corporate trainer and I spend my days teaching people who not to sound like that.

I don't own any oven cleaner because cleaning sucks, and after today, that's the way its staying...

Um, well, no, now that you ask, this is the first we've heard of Pam-wielding thieves. Does Pam even clean ovens? We use it on cookware, not dogs, but it's that sort of inside-the-box thinking that keeps us from being thieves.

The pushy retort is less surprising. Salesmen often pack snappy answers to common objections, and sometimes, like with ADT's salesman, they go way over the line.

(Photo: OakleyOriginals)

Help, Baggage Screeners Stole My Underwear! [Covenant]

Carey — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:00:45 EDT

Careful travelers, there's a panty-stealing baggage screener lurking in San Francisco's international airport, according to reader Ari, whose girlfriend lost eight days worth of underwear on a recent trip.

Ari writes:

I recently flew out of SFO with my girlfriend for a weeklong vacation. We had checked in one suitcase with a bunch of her clothes and a makeup case.
When we arrived at our destination, we found a notice from our TSA screener indicating they had opened the suitcase. The makeup case, which had been nicely packed before, was bulging at the seams, and when we opened it we were greeted with pieces of glass from the mirror which had been seemingly jammed down to close the makeup case.

My girlfriend was understandably a bit peeved at this, but we still had the receipts from the purchase of that case, so it didn't seem *too* bad. Later that evening she went to go take a shower and took out a bag from the suitcase containing her underwear/bras/socks. There was one problem... all the underwear was gone (8 nights)! (Including one pair of socks)

Looks like our vacation will include a trip to the local Walmart...

Are there any tips from Consumerist readers on how to make a claim for this? We've been calling Covenant Claims for the last couple of days, but no one has answered, and the website requires us to print out a form and mail/fax it in. Oh, that's not including the photographic evidence and receipts that they want us to mail in. (Who keeps receipts or takes photos of underwear they've purchased???)

The TSA has complaint forms for lost and damaged items, but they don't cover the ten airports using private security screeners. That doesn't mean you can't ask the TSA for help. The folks from the TSA Blog left a comment on a reader's website suggesting that they use the TSA's feedback system to reach the customer support manager at San Francisco International. Since Covenant has an abysmal record responding to complaints, it's certainly worth a shot.

Got Feedback? [Transportation Security Administration]
Claims Management Branch [Transportation Security Administration]
(Photo: kaibara87)

Wet Shave And Save! [How To]

Carey — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:00:04 EDT

Wet shaving offers a closer, classier, and cheaper shave than any of the modern junk littering pharmacy aisles. Wet shaving requires a double-edge safety razor and badger-hair brush, along with a healthy dose of practice, but once you have your basic equipment razor refills cost just pennies per month.

So what's the real difference between regular shaving and wet shaving?

A: Wetshaving is just what the term implies – keeping your face (or for women, their legs) wet with plenty of hot water before, and during, the entire shave. In fact, you should always shave after a hot shower, not before (if you need to shave without taking a shower, washing your face with hot water for a few minutes will suffice). With a layer of hot water between your skin and the lather, the blade skims the surface instead of dragging on it, which is the main cause of irritation, redness, and "shave bumps".
Wetshaving gives you more effective shaves and better looking skin. The hot water opens the pores of your skin and relaxes your facial muscles, and it softens your whiskers for more effective cutting. Believe it or not, but your whiskers are tougher than the edge of a razor blade, and shaving "dry", or mostly dry as with the vast majority of shaving creams, foams, and gels on the market, means you're literally tugging on each and every hair on your face instead of neatly slicing it at the skin's surface and moving on without irritating your skin. The key to proper wetshaving is keeping your face as wet as possible at all times during the shave. Even if you keep your current tools and routine, you'll marvel at how much closer and more comfortable shaving can be when you keep your face hydrated at all times with lots of hot (not scalding) water.

Here's what the whole thing looks like in action:

Shave Like your Grandpa Did [Painless Frugality via Lifehacker]
RELATED: How to get that perfect shave [MSNBC]
(Photo: mthomps00)

RadioShack Will Say Anything To Upsell Extended Warranties [Insiders]

Carey — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:00:35 EDT

An anonymous RadioShack employee sent us what he considers unethical talking points distributed by the corporate office to help employees upsell the RadioShack Replacement Service Plan. According to our tipster, "each example encourages lying." Read the deceptive talking points, inside...

Our tipster writes:

I'm a RadioShack employee who has become very frustrated with being asked to lie to customers in order to increase our profits. I forwarded the following email to ethics@radioshack and did not receive a reply or witness any correction from the managers involved. I feel that at this point your blog is my best chance to warn consumers about RadioShack and other retail outlets that might pull similar shenanigans. The email that follows has been transcribed from a printout, as our email system doesn't allow messages to be forwarded outside the company. In the email, we are given examples of things to say to customers in an effort to sell the RadioShack Replacement Service Plan - aka RSSP. Each example encourages lying to the customer about the benefits of the service plan. The full terms and conditions for the plan can be found here.
Subject: Wanna "SELL" RSSP after you offer it!

Here is some example verbage. You have to believe in this to make it work. The customer's can sense your indifference if YOU don't believe. Don't just offer, SELL IT!!!

1. Bluetooth especially, or anything that has rechargeable batteries.
"For only $5.99 a year this replacement plan will get you a new headset every year! Just make a claim, get you gift card, come back here and get your new headset and service plan for one more year".

2. This works with most replacement plans.
"If you get the replacement plan, its like buying one and getting one free" "If for ANY reason you are dissatisfied with the product, you can make a claim, get your gift card, then get a new product of the same, or use it to upgrade to something better. It's like an upgrade program for most everything in the store".

3. Multi phone cordless example.
"If you get this replacement plan for $29.99 on this four phone set, it's like getting $120 worth the future battery replacements for 75% off retail AND a full two year money back guarantee on the whole phone system for free! Even if you never have to make a claim on the phone system, you saved $90 on batteries.

The claims are par for the course. Salespeople upsell extended warranties by making grandiose promises that companies rarely honor. Save yourself the cash and stay away from extended warranties.

(Photo: Brave New Films)

Chantal Cookware Keeps Your Tea Kettle Whistling [Above And Beyond]

Carey — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:00:25 EDT

After two years, the whistle on Ruby's Chantal Cookware Livestrong teakettle finally gave up its zest for life. Chantal Cookware's cleaning recommendations couldn't revive the ailing whistle, so Ruby resigned herself to buying a whole new kettle. Before pouring another $60 down the drain, she emailed Chantal Cookware to ask if it was at all possible to replace just the whistle...

Ruby writes:

Most companies (including my own workplace) are short-staffed these days, and customer service usually suffers the most. But today I'll like to commend Chantal Cookware for some amazing customer service!
In 2007 I bought a beautiful, bright yellow "Livestrong" teakettle from Bed Bath & Beyond by Chantal. It cost a little over $60, but was well worth it. My favorite part was the whistle - it was extremely loud.... but sadly it stopped whistling over the past 2 years. I've tried the cleaning methods described on Chantal's website, nothing worked, and as a last resort before buying another kettle, I sent an email to the Chantal customer service, asking if there's any way to replace just the whistle. It's been about 2 weeks, I received no response, so I forgot about the email and prepared to head to the store this weekend to pick up a new kettle.

And today, a package came in by UPS from Chantal Cookware. Inside was a brand new, beautiful Livestrong "Loop" Teakettle.

All I sent was one email, a shot in the dark about replacing a part on a product purchased 2 years ago, not under any sort of warranty.

Attached is a photo of the brand new kettle before I even opened the box, big thanks from me and the bunny Toffee :)

Great work, Chantal Cookware! Although, responding to Ruby's email wouldn't have been misread as tooting your own horn.

Vonage Routing Causes Reader To Miss $1,000 Giveaway [800 Numbers]

Carey — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:00:12 EDT

Ari's wife had ten minutes to call into her local Washington D.C. radio station to claim a $1,000 giveaway, but couldn't connect because Vonage routes all calls to 1-800 numbers through New York, and the radio station was only accepting local calls. For ten anguishing minutes Ari and his wife suffered through busy signals, worried that the radio station was deluged by other callers. After emailing both Vonage and the station producer, Ari and his wife finally realized what happened...

Ari writes:

I've been a loyal Vonage customer for over a year now and sing their praises all the time. I think its an incredible bargain and I have been a very satisfied customer. That changed this morning when my wife's name was called as a winner as part of a promotion on a local radio station here in Washington DC. She had 10 minutes to call their 1-800 number to claim $1000. She tried calling from our Vonage line and got a busy signal. She tried calling from her cell phone and got a busy signal. She repeated this well past her allotted 10 minutes to no avail. The $1000 prize was gone, but we did not give up. Prior to the 10 minutes expiring, she emailed the DJ of the show saying she had won but could not get through. Around 30 minutes later, a producer wrote her back, and that led to several emails back and forth and they guaranteed us there was no way the phone lines were busy at that time.
After a little bit more investigation on my part, I identified the problem was actually our Vonage line. The radio station was blocking non-local numbers from calling their 800 number, which explained why our cells were getting busy signals, but our Vonage number was a local number and should have worked just fine. An email to Vonage Executive Support and a subsequent return phone call explained all. "Calls to 800 numbers," the representative told me, "are all routed through New York...so it makes perfect sense your call was blocked by the station." All Vonage offered me was 2 free months... which leaves us $936 short of the prize that should have been ours.

Certainly an odd situation, and not one that is necessarily unique to Vonage since we can easily see other VoIP providers routing 1-800 calls through a central office.

What do you think? Is it Ari's fault for relying on services with inherent limitations, or should the radio station pay up if he can prove that his wife was trying to call during the giveaway window? Dispense your justice in the comments.

(Photo: TheGiantVermin)

Don't Hide Your Cash In Your House [Cash]

Bargaineering.com — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:00:28 EDT

Last week, Carey found a Frugal Dad article offering up 7 places around the house to stash your cash. While you should keep emergency cash around the house, don't put too much!

Here are six reasons why your money should be in a bank and not your flower pot:

You earn zero interest. The number one enemy of a saver is a little demon called inflation. Inflation is the erosion of the purchasing power of your money. When you put your money in a high yield savings account, you get a little protection against inflation because you'll be earning interest. It won't be much, but you'll get zero percent interest on money you hide in your house.

You won't need that much emergency cash. Think of all the reasons you might need actual cash in your house, there aren't that many. We generally keep about a hundred dollars of cash in the house, which has never been insufficient for anything.

You'll forget where it is. If the hiding spots for your money are that good, you might forget you hid money there in the first place. If you forget, what good is it?

A thoughtful gift can become a disaster. Let's say you do remember where you've hidden your cash, what then? Well, what if your daughter replaced your tattered old mattress? What if you knew you put a million bucks in it but she didn't? If that sounds outlandish, it happened in Israel.

Your dog might eat it. You can put this one in the outlandish but true category but your dog might eat your money, right after he eats your homework. An eight year old Lab-German shorthair ate $800 in cash out of a woman's purse (some of which she recovered "later").

FDIC protects against fire in the bank, but not in your house. If you hide your money in the house and there's a fire, you have very little by way of protection. There is generally a limit to how much cash is protected (~$200) and that is, of course, subject to your deductible. You wouldn't have to provide proof but the coverage is very limited. It also might compel you to make bad decisions. Instead of running for the door, you might stay longer and try to recover your money.

So keep a little bit of cash in the house, but not too much. Have you ever heard a success story of untold riches start with "So, I put all my savings in my mattress..."

Jim writes about personal finance and money issues at Bargaineering.com.

Photo: cutiemoo

Used Syringes Surprise Kohl's Shopper [Dressing Rooms]

Carey — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:00:42 EDT

We've all been there, trying on a pair of shorts in a Kohl's dressing room when suddenly we feel the cold sting of three used syringes. Or maybe it's a joy that was limited to a Texas woman who was shopping yesterday at the Kohl's in Harris County, Texas.

Speaking to us on the condition we don't reveal his identity, the victim's husband detailed what he says happened. He says his wife was trying on a pair of shorts when she was pricked by what she though was a pin, only to discover after reaching into the pockets that three syringes were inside.

"They were obviously used. They had blood on them," the victim's husband said.

What troubles him is that store employees seemed to downplay the incident, only notifying the sheriff's office after he suggested it.

"That's the first question I asked them, 'Did you call law enforcement?' They told me they hadn't. They had called their loss prevention individual," said the victim's husband.

The sheriff's office confirmed a police report was taken, but without any evidence the syringes were left intentionally, it was strictly taken for information.

A spokesperson for Kohl's said, "We are cooperating with authorities as they investigate."

Just to be safe, Kohl's employees are rifling through their stock of pants to make sure no more stabby surprises are lurking in any pockets. As for the pricked shopper, she's already getting preventative treatments for whatever nastiness might live on a bloodied syringe.

Woman says she was pricked by syringes [ABC13] (Thanks to Steve!)
(Photo: OakleyOriginals)

Enlightened Nation To Banks: Either Explain Excessive Fees Or Eliminate Them [Fees]

Carey — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:00:58 EDT

Australian consumers will soon be able to challenge any bank fee that they consider "unreasonable," thanks to a new law that could save consumers up to $1 billion. Banks that want to keep levying excessive fees for late payments and overdrafts will need to prove that the charges are reasonable by revealing the true processing costs behind the fee.

Consumer lawyers say the banks will then have to reveal the cost involved, and that as a result of the changes the size of exception fees could fall dramatically. The banks argued during the passage of the bill that customers would "seek to avoid their obligations" to pay certain fees even though they would have agreed to the charges laid out by the terms and conditions of a particular account.

Almost every type of bank account, credit card, personal loan and mortgage, "numbering tens of millions", could be affected, says the association.

Wouldn't it be great if *ahem* our own Congress passed a similar law?

New law puts $1b in bank fees at risk [The Sydney Morning Herald via Consumer Law & Policy Blog]
Write Your Senator
Write Your Representative
PREVIOUSLY: How To Write To Congress
(Photo: Pascal Vuylsteker)

State Department Admits RFID Passports Are Insecure [Whoops]

Carey — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:00:27 EDT

The State Department is advising travelers using super-secure RFID-enabled passports to buy a "radio-opaque" holster, because it turns out that RFID chips aren't so super-secure after all. Don't fret if "radio-opaque sheath" isn't on your holiday shopping list, this is thankfully one of those rare problems that you can solve with a hammer...

Give the back of your passport a few good whacks and hope the feds don't give you 25 years for tampering with a passport.

The State Department asserts that hackers won't find any practical use for data skimmed from RFID chips embedded in the cards, but "if you don't want the cards read, put them in an attenuation sleeve," says John Brennan, a senior policy adviser at the Office of Consular Affairs.
Gigi Zenk, a spokeswoman for the Washington state Department of Licensing, says the envelope her state offers with the enhanced driver's license "ensures that nothing can scan it at all."

But that wasn't what researchers from the University of Washington and RSA Laboratories, a data security company in Bedford, Mass., found last year while testing the data security of the cards.

The PASS card "is readable under certain circumstances in a crumpled sleeve," though not in a well maintained sleeve, the researchers wrote in a report.

Another test on the enhanced driver's license demonstrated that even when the sleeve was in pristine condition, a clandestine reader could skim data from the license at a distance of a half yard.

Well well, State Department, here's a sad little communiqué you never expected from the internet: we told you so.

Special alloy sleeves urged to block hackers? [AP via Upgrade: Travel Better]
PREVIOUSLY: HOW TO: Disable RFID in Your New Passport
(Photo: Ryan McFarland)

Crackpots Detail Insane Ideas For Banking Reform [Community Banking Reform ]

Carey — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 08:00:36 EDT

Credit Slips has this wild idea about reforming the banking system by letting some fairy-tale character named "Bob" run around issuing loans to qualified people in his community. We normally love Credit Slips as a well-researched piece of scholarly work masquerading as a blog, like cauliflower disguised as Cheetos, but this "community banking" idea? Ridiculous, right?! Grab a juice box and hit the jump to see what happens when economists take a stab at children's fiction.

Bob was a local banker. He lived in the same town where his bank was. He was a loan officer, probably a Vice President, and worked for the bank for years. Bob married his high school sweetheart, raised four or five kids in the town you lived in, belonged to the local optimist club, and attended a local church every Sunday. Bob showed up at most of the civic events in town. You saw him at many of the weddings, christenings, and funerals in town too. Bob knew everybody who was anybody in your town. He also knew a lot of nobody's as well, but that didn't matter to him – anybody or nobody, you were from his town and he was the banker.

Bob viewed himself as the guardian of the bank's money, and the reputation of the bank in the local community was very important to him. When people needed money, they would come to Bob to apply for a loan. There was paperwork to fill out, but it usually wasn't very extensive. Bob looked at the paperwork to be sure, but Bob knew you, he knew your parents, he knew where you worked, and he knew how much money you made. Most importantly, Bob had a pretty good idea what sound financial practices were and he cared about your financial well-being because it was tied to his bank's reputation.

If you tried to borrow money to buy a house or a car you couldn't afford, Bob would take you aside, puffing on his cigar, and say, "Son [a term applied to all males under 50 years old, sic] there's no way I can loan you this money because you can't pay it back. If I have to foreclose on you, my name will be mud in this town…"

Hey Nostalgists, your drugs aren't wanted here! Maybe next year if Bank of America stops trading at $13 we can afford your family trip back to Pleasantville.

Bring Back Bob the Banker [Credit Slips]

Make, Serve, And Preserve Your Own Homemade Ice Cream [Om Nom Nom]

Laura Northrup — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:00:40 EDT

Ice cream makers may not be worthless pieces of junk, but they're not absolutely necessary, either. Check out this most delicious roundup of ice cream-related tips and projects from Lifehacker. Make your own ice cream in a plastic bag, keep your store-bought ice cream fresh, learn new scooping techniques, and turn strange-colored liquid medicine into a tasty hangover cure. And more!

Our Favorite Homemade Ice Cream Recipes and Tricks [Lifehacker]

(Photo: glacial23)

The Cutting Edge of Balloon Delivery [Franchises]

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:34:54 EDT

In my new personal version of hell, I'm the owner of a Beautiful Balloon franchise teaching my employees to develop artificial balloon delivery personas, with only this instructional video as my guide.

The Megapixel Wars Must End [Cameras]

Laura Northrup — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:25:27 EDT

Consumer Reports has the guts to say what nobody else does. Too many innocent kilobytes have been overwritten in vain. Too many other digital camera features not given their chance to shine. It's time. We all must agree that it's time for the megapixel wars to end.

Resolution on a digital camera isn't infinite. Eventually, technology reaches a point where adding more pixels doesn't add to the detail or quality of an image. Before we reach that point technologically, it's time to add more cool features.

For consumers, this means that the new models camera makers will introduce for the holidays this year (yes, it's nearly that time already) will probably exhibit only modest increases in megapixels. Instead, camera makers will push a variety of other features, such as HD video capability, wider wide-angle lenses, and more wireless features. Other enhancements I expect: more cameras with swiveling LCDs, sophisticated smart modes and face-detection type features, and specialized functions like panorama modes.

Yes, please!

Will new digital cameras continue the megapixel war or focus on other features? [Consumer Reports Electronics]

(Photo: Tengaport)

Amazon Deletes Your Books, Has Always Been At War With Eastasia [Doubleplusungood]

Laura Northrup — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:43:08 EDT

Sure, electronic books are portable and have all sorts of advantages. But Borders has not, to date, broken into my house and stolen back my copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide.

That's what happened to Kindle owners who had purchased copies of 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell. Amazon stole a page from the totalitarian, history-revising regime portrayed in 1984. Literally. As in, took back every snazzy digitally rendered page back. Amazon deleted the books from the accounts and even the Kindles of purchasers, and credited their accounts. Kindle users are, understandably, sort of freaked out.

The company selling digital copies of the books hadn't secured the proper rights to sell them, so this isn't exactly an arbitrary fascist act. Just a scary one for any consumers who like to pretend that they actually own digital copies of, well, anything.

David Pogue noted:

This is ugly for all kinds of reasons. Amazon says that this sort of thing is "rare," but that it can happen at all is unsettling; we've been taught to believe that e-books are, you know, just like books, only better. Already, we've learned that they're not really like books, in that once we're finished reading them, we can't resell or even donate them. But now we learn that all sales may not even be final.

It sounds like e-book publisher MobileReference was selling Orwell's books in digital form without bothering to secure the rights to them. Pretty straightforward, but having a transaction automatically reversed in this way is new.

What does all of this mean? Is this an incidence of a company abusing their abilities with DRM, of recovering stolen property, of copyright infringement, or just one really big misunderstanding?

Sorry, Winston, you only temporarily held the rights to access the material, and those rights have been revoked.

Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others [Pogue's Posts]
Mysterious George Orwell refunds [Amazon.com Forums]
Amazon removes books from Kindle? [MobileRead Forums]

JetAmerica Crashes And Burns (Business Plan-Wise) [Airlines]

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:30:28 EDT

JetAmerica, the ultra-low-cost airline (think $9 fares), the back-from-the-dead kissing cousin to SkyBus, has ceased to exist before taking a single passenger aloft, reports Jaunted. The carrier was unable to secure landing rights at Newark International Airport, and will be issuing refunds to all customers. Sad. US travelers deserve an American version of RyanAir. Then they'll really have something to complain about.

JetAmerica Will Not Be Jetting Anywhere Ever [Jaunted] (Thanks to Jaspreet!)

Mattel Profits Increase After Cost Cuts [Toys]

Laura Northrup — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:10:36 EDT

Mattel's revenues are down by 19%. Toy sales from summer movies and flagship product Barbie and Hot Wheels are down. However, the company reported today that profits are way up. So what explains the profits? Blame a visit from Price Hike Barbie.

The world's largest toy maker reported a profit of $21.5 million, or 6 cents a share, up from $11.8 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 19% to $898.2 million, with currency fluctuations accounting for five percentage points of the decline.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently were looking for break-even results on revenue of $970 million.

The company doesn't typically provide financial guidance, but executives said they are on track to generate $90 million to $100 million of net cost savings in 2009 and $180 million to $200 million in savings by the end of 2010. And one advantage Mattel has heading into the critical holiday season that it didn't have a year ago is that the difficult environment won't come as a surprise, [Chairman and CEO Robert A.] Eckert said.

No, I suppose a weak holiday season wouldn't come as a surprise this year.

Mattel 2Q Profit Up; Cost Cuts Offset Weak Sales [Wall Street Journal]

(Photo: Ryan Holloway Photography)

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds [Flickr]

Chris Walters — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:05:41 EDT

Here are seven wonderful photos readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, picked for neatness and usability in a Consumerist post. Check 'em out!

"Dollar Front" (above) by Omer Wazir

by donbuciak

by bradym80

by frankieleon

by sussmanb

by frankieleon

by Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie

by gaylordd

by alicekinerk

by digizen

Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers go and upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click "Join Group?" up on the top right, and start hitting "send to group" on your individual photos you want to add to the pool.

Add your shots to The Consumerist Flickr Pool, and perhaps they'll get featured in a future story, or even highlighted in a Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds post. See previous winners of the Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool finds here.

Hepatitis Outbreak: This Is Why You Need To Wash Your Hands Before You Return To Work [Employees Must Wash Hands]

Meg Marco — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:57:01 EDT

Hepatitis A is an extremely contagious disease that can be passed along by food service workers who don't thoroughly wash their hands — and that may have been the case at a Milan, Illinois McDonald's according to the Quad City Times.

From the Quad City Times:

[A spokeswoman for the Rock Island County Health Department] declined comment about news reports that employees of a McDonald's restaurant in Milan, Ill., were tested Wednesday for hepatitis A.

The business on U.S. 67 was closed Thursday. A sign was posted on the window of every door and at the drive-thru area. Written all in capital letters, the sign read: "Sorry for any inconvenience, but we are closed until further notice."

Workers could be seen inside the building about 6 p.m. Thursday, sweeping floors and scrubbing chairs, including the type used for toddlers.

Kevin Murphy, owner of the business, could not be reached for comment by the Quad-City Times.

There have been 19 confirmed cases of the disease in the area recently, according to the article. The size of the outbreak is unusual because since 1995, children have been vaccinated against the disease. Hepatitis A is rarely fatal, but does have the ability to damage the liver.

The CDC says, "Hepatitis A is a contagious liver disease that results from infection with the hepatitis A virus. It can range in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a severe illness lasting several months. Hepatitis A is usually spread when a person ingests fecal matter - even in microscopic amounts - from contact with objects, food, or drinks contaminated by the feces or stool of an infected person. " Yuck.

Hepatitis A [CDC]
Hepatitis A outbreak reported in Henry, Rock Island and Mercer counties [Quad City Times]
Customer, parent outraged over Hepatitis-A handling [WQAD]
(Photo:jdobbsrosa)

Buy A Car, Get A Free AK-47 [Stunts]

Chris Walters — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:55:34 EDT

Want a new car, but also want an AK-47? Head to Max Motors in Butler, Missouri, where with any new car purchase you'll receive a voucher good for $450 to spend at a local gun shop. It doesn't have to be an AK-47, but you don't have to be a red-blooded man either, you big city sissy.

The logo at Mark Muller's dealership is... an old west caricature pointing two pistols at those who pass by. He said it's a nod to what he calls "big city" ways. "We really are different than the big city dealers."

"Car Dealer Gives AK-47 With Purchase" [KCTV Kansas City] (Thanks to Dooley!)

Dodge Dealership Can't Repair Truck After 6 Days, Local Mechanic Does It In 10 Minutes [Repairs]

Chris Walters — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:35:13 EDT

A Dodge dealership in Alexandria Bay, NY, wasted over $700 of Joe's dad's money and a week of their time not repairing a 20-year-old truck. Joe says he heard that the dealership recently replaced all of its mechanics—maybe they took a page from Circuit City's playbook?

Some days I wonder why Chrysler failed, others I don't.

Rewind to Friday, July 3rd. My parents, myself and my girlfriend are vacationing in Alexandria Bay, New York. My father tows his boat with a 1988 Dodge Ramcharger, approximately 80K miles, and in very good shape, mostly because he has it serviced religiously and only uses it for towing.

Well, being over 20 years old, some part went, probably a vacuum tube somewhere coming off of the carburetor, or a related part. A couple of guys at the local marina took a look at it and replaced a couple of parts, including a mass air flow sensor and an electronic idle control. The engine would start and continue to run, but the RPM's would climb and fall rhythmically. We had AAA tow it to a local Dodge dealership, F.X. Caprara in Alexandria Bay. I left after the weekend to get back to work, trusting that a dealership would fix the truck so that my parents can get home.

I understand that most new cars have so many electronic sensors these days that all a "technician" (mechanic) needs to do is plug in an OBDII scanner and order a new part. As complex as they are, they are rather simple to diagnose. Vehicles from the 80's, need a bit more experience, what one would get from an experienced mechanic.

Well, the dealership was in contact with my parents over the course of the nine days that they had the truck; from Tuesday to Wednesday. I won't bore you with the details of what they replaced, but basically it was everything electronic that was still available to order. The manager finally admitted on the sixth day that he could not fix it, and it needed to be towed 100+ miles home to our local garage. He charged $761.18 in parts and labor, yet it still needed to be towed home. It was in exactly the same condition as day 1. As of this writing, the truck is yet to show up at the local garage, but I can follow up later with what was actually malfunctioning.

I read horror stories about cars not being repaired, or shoddy dealership repair service all the time. I understand, sometimes the problem is deep in scope and is rather difficult to pin down. What is particularly bothersome, is that I overheard that this particular dealership, an established dealership, recently overhauled its repair staff and hired all new technicians. None of which, I'm sure, ever worked on a carbureted vehicle. I'm a bit astounded that a Dodge dealership could not diagnose and repair what is probably the simplest type of car engine still rolling on the road today.

Plus, charging labor on a repair that actually was not a repair seems like adding injury to insult. Do we have any recourse on this?

What kind of mystery problem was keeping the truck out of commission? Here's the follow up Joe sent us this morning, after the truck arrived home:

Just an update for you, it arrived yesterday afternoon and our local mechanic fixed it within ten minutes. He disconnected the battery for about five minutes to reset the computer. Now it runs as if it were new; he had it up to 65mph on a local highway. They will replace a gasket that the dealership destroyed and tried to fix with silicone, but other than that, everything runs just fine.

(Photo: JacobEnos)

Survey Says: You Love Ads And Think They Help You [Advertising]

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:28:51 EDT

A new surveys find that not only do you like ads, you believe it provides you with information allowing you to make better consumer choices. Who knew you were so stupid? [ADWEEK] (Photo: dno1967)

Verizon Limits Handset Exclusivity To 6 Months [Antitrust]

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:08:09 EDT

Verizon announced it will limit handset exclusivity deals to 6 months, a bow to pleas by small wireless carriers, and in advance of possible Department of Justice action on its inquiries on the one-carrier deals for the iPhone, Pre and LG Voyager. In its announcement, Verizon noted 24 rural carriers had asked it to limit these anti-competitive deals. Yes, apparently there are that many small carriers still left.

Verizon Says It Will Limit New Handset Deals [Reuters] (Photo)

It's Free Chocolate Friday From Mars [Free]

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:08:51 EDT

Fork over your personal information and the Mars chocolate company will snail mail you a free coupon for one full-sized Mars candy bar in 6 weeks. We mentioned this in Morning Deals in May, it's still going on, and will continue on Fridays through September. They're calling it the "Real Chocolate Relief Act," a tie-in to two different news stories: 1) Economic bailout plans and 2) Some corner-cutting candymakers not using 100% cocoa butter and putting more oil inside - a basterdization known as "mocklate."

Real Chocolate Relief Act [Mars] (Thanks to meninblack!)

What To Do When You Discover You've Been Overcharged At A Restaurant [Overcharged]

Chris Walters — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:52:09 EDT

James discovered that the waiter at a steakhouse he and his wife ate at padded his bill by 4 extra dollars, but also ran through the charge a second time with no tip at all. Now he's wondering what to do next.

He writes:

So, on Monday my wife and I decided to go out to Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Today I log into my bank account to make sure my paycheck went through when I see a charge at Longhorn Steakhouse for 47.13, which was higher than my bill was even after the tip I'd left. I did some quick math and determined that they over charged me by 4 dollars.

But it gets worse.

While steaming over that little pricing error I noticed two lines above that that I'm being charged 38.38, which as I'm staring at my receipt from the night is the actual charge minus the tip...

I was wondering what the protocol was for getting your money back out of a restaurant that appears to have double billed you... I've got the receipt, and placed it in my wallet for safe keeping, but I'm wondering what the easiest way to dispute the second charge is going to be, will they have records, or should I print out my bank statement and bring it with me?

Would I be out of line to request my tip be removed so the waiter does not get a tip? Afterall, the tips themselves are to show an appreciation of the value of their work, if the waiter billed me twice then he doesn't deserve a tip as he's forced me to enter their location and argue finances on my own time.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks.

We think the advice at punny.org is good, and it suggests three steps in this order:

1. Call your bank and initiate a reversal of the fraudulent charges.
2. Call the police and report the theft.
3. Call the restaurant (optional) and explain what happened. If the manager isn't involved in it, he or she will likely be very interested to find out what your server did.

Punny.org also suggests working in a checksum when you tip, so that you'll be able to quickly spot altered totals when reviewing your account later. The problem with that, of course, is it requires basic math while you're figuring out your tip, and sometimes (too many drinks, dinnermates talking to you) that can be hard to pull off accurately. Thankfully technology can help—we found a link to at least one paid iPhone app that will do this for you, but better still (as in, free) is this web-based app called TippyTops that was made for the iPhone but should also work on other smartphones with a decent web browser.

One final note: it's possible that the first tip-free charge is a hold placed on the card to pre-authorize it, and it hasn't dropped off your statement yet. You should review that option with your bank when you call them. That doesn't explain the doubled tip, however.

Update: James sent us the above email two days ago, and in the meantime he'd already called the restaurant (he thinks like many of our readers do, apparently, and gave them the benefit of the doubt). He also describes some of the waiter's bad behavior, which we think justifies the lower tip.

Here's his follow-up:

Just as a brief update to it, I called the restaurant, asked for a managed, complained about the charge and they began looking it up. apparently they had just recently upgraded their credit card transaction system. But more importantly the manager informed me that this particular employee had used my card on someone elses bill, realized what he'd done, reversed the charge, and then billed me properly.

The error here is that the employee did not inform me of his mistake, as such when I went to look at my bank statement a couple days later I noticed the two charges. The manager proceeded to explain to me that the charge should drop off his receipt within a day or so.

And indeed it did, the following morning it was gone.

The manager asked for my address so he could mail me something to make up for the error, having worked retail before I politely declined the offer as I knew it would've most likely been a gift card. I informed him that my intention was to highlight the poor service that the waiter gave us and that had he at the very least informed us of his error then I would've been less agitated.

I also took the time to explain to the manager that the waiter himself mostly chatted away with two other employees (women, one in a green shirt vs. the usual white, so I'm guessing a manager) and "shoulder checked" us to see if we needed anything, only asking when he was walking by to check on something or wait on someone else, then returning to the two employees to chat some more as they ate. I informed him that so long as the employee was "re-educated in the proper use of a credit card transaction device" that I would be satisfied, and he assured me that he would.

Total time: 20 minutes

Items required: Last night's receipt (For receipt number), dollar value of both charges for look up ($38.38 and $47.13) and credit card used for the transaction.

Did not require even setting foot into the store. Also want to note that even if they'dve had to do a charge back, a trip to the store would not have been required.

Thanks for posting the story, enjoy the update.

"Fight Thieving Restaurant Servers With Checksum Tips" [Punny Money]
TippyTops Tip Calculator
(Photo: rick)

Even Waiting Outside Your Local Comcast Office Will Not Get Your Bill Corrected [Comcatastrophe]

Meg Marco — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:26:25 EDT

Reader Kevin would like to be billed the correct amount for his internet service from Comcast. This is a dream we all share, so let us give our support to Kevin in this dark hour. In his letter to the CEO of Comcast, Kevin says that he has tried many tactics in order to get Comcast to charge him the correct amount — including — but not limited to —- going to the Comcast office and sitting outside in the hope that the account executive would show up. He didn't. This mysterious account executive has also failed to answer messages left on his work voicemail and his cellphone. Perhaps he has become hopelessly trapped under a vending machine somewhere. Someone should try to find him before the scorpions show up.

Kevin writes:

Beginning last February, my credit card (which is on autopay) began to be charged $181 per month for cable Internet and a block of 13 static IP addresses. Yes, that's correct, one hundred and eighty one dollars per month just for Internet access.

Obviously, that was wrong so I looked into it and I found that I had been on a contracted rate with Comcast which had been assigned as a promo rate; however, I'm almost certain that nothing I ever signed specified that rate as being a promo rate OR that the rate would end. I'm highly against rate increases because of promotions and would have never signed anything to that effect unless it was not properly noted and/or explained to me.

So beginning last February, and without any notice, Comcast began charging me almost double what I should be paying for Internet.

My account executive Scott explained what was going on and said that he would fix it. I signed a new 2 year contract that was backdated and amounts ($275.25) were credited onto my account. I pointed out the fact that I was still being charged $181 and he said he'd fix that too but it hasn't happened.

***For the current bill cycle alone, Comcast needs to refund me $74.57.***

This needs to stop so I tried to get it solved by calling the commercial billing support line and they were unable to help me. Another month went by with wrong billing so I began to get more serious about fixing this. For the past month and a half, I have left many voicemails, gone to the local Comcast office to find my account executive—and infact waited for him to arrive for more than 30 minutes without luck. I've left messages for him at work, on his cell phone, at the office, EVERYWHERE.

I've tried all this and yet I'm being billed $181 per month instead of $106 per month since February.

Can someone there spend some time to help a consumer that just happens to have a business account? (for the static IP addresses)

Thank you,
Kevin

(Photo:diaper)

Men's Wearhouse Alters Your Suit Early So You Can Attend Your Grandmother's Funeral [Above And Beyond]

Meg Marco — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:59:55 EDT

Reader Michael emailed to let us know that Men's Wearhouse, for no extra fee and with no hassle, bumped his suit alterations ahead in the schedule so he could make his grandmother's funeral on time.

Michael says:

My grandmother was on death's door, and we all knew that the time would come fairly soon for her to pass on. So, in preparation for the funeral, I dropped off my suit (like many people, I only have one) at Men's Wearhouse for alterations (I've put on a couple pounds since the last time I wore it) on July 11th. The original date that it would have been ready was supposed to be the 23rd, but no one in my family expected my grandmother to hang on that long. I was able to convince them to have it done on the 17th, no additional charge for the rushed job.

Well, she didn't last even that long. I got a call the evening of the 11th that she had drawn her last breath. I needed to be headed to MN from WI on Sunday the 12th. I called up Men's Wearhouse, frantic, expecting that I'd simply be out of luck for the alteration and have to find some other solution, but no! A brief check with the tailor's schedule had my suit moved to the front of the line, and it the first thing they would work on Sunday morning when the tailor got in at 11am, and it would be done at noon. That would leave plenty of time for me to make the 6 hour drive to my parents' house, and saved me from a lot of panic filled scrambling trying to get a suit that fit. And again, no additional charge for the rush, no hassles, no run around, nothing complicated. So thanks Men's Wearhouse for making the already painful experience just a little bit easier.

Our condolences, Michael, and thanks for the story.

Urban Expressions Craft Store Calls Customer A Whore [Rude]

Chris Walters — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:53:03 EDT

The only thing crazier than people involved with wedding planning are people in the scrapbooking supply industry, it seems. Weddingbee reports that an online craft supply store called Urban Expressions (not to be confused with the handbag company) completely lost it when an angry customer wrote in asking why they had neither shipped the item she'd bought nor specified otherwise as promised. Their response makes us understand why they chose the name "Urban Expressions" for their store.

Irritated that the craft punch she'd ordered hadn't arrived, the customer wrote the following email:

I ordered this over a week ago and it still has not been shipped!! Your shipping policy states that most items will be shipped within 48 hours unless otherwise specified - you guys did not specify otherwise! When will this item be shipped out?? I would like some kind of compensation for the delay. Sincerely, *****

You can see a screencap of the email response from Urban Express on the Weddingbee website. In the "comments" on the cancellation notice—the customer didn't ask to cancel the order, by the way—the company writes,

"hows that for compensation. drop your fucking attitude bitch. now no product.. whore."

They did give her the money back, however, so we'll give them points for that.

"PRO: Craziest Vendor Response Ever" [Weddingbee] (Thanks to Russ!)

Retailers Ready To Rebel Against Credit Card Fees [Fees]

Meg Marco — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:27:00 EDT

You've all seen the $10 minimum signs at Mom & Pop stores, and while these stores aren't supposed to be placing this type of restriction on their customers (it's a violation of their agreement with the credit card companies) it's important to understand why the signs are there in the first place. Fees.

The NYT has an interesting article about the effect the growing number of credit card customers is having on retailers that sell things like coffee.

Of $100 charged to a Visa card, the merchant's bank receives about $2.25, according to a hypothetical example used by J.P. Morgan in a June report. The bank forwards about $1.80 - the interchange fee - to the cardholder's bank. Both banks pay a fee to Visa, 10 cents apiece. The merchant's bank then pays another nickel to a third-party processor and keeps the remaining 30 cents.

While the fee for each purchase is small, combined credit and debit card payments at merchants have almost tripled over the last decade, to more than 58 billion swipes last year from about 20.7 billion in 1999, according to data compiled by the Nilson Report, a journal on the payment industry.

The article goes on to say that while it seems like a small amount of money — the sheer volume of credit card transactions make it enormously expensive for the retailers. Home Depot apparently pays more in credit card fees than it does for employee health insurance. Target's second largest store expense is credit card fees — after payroll.

Retailers are pushing for Congress to limit the fees, but that might pass the costs along to their customers. The Times says that a Government Accountability Office report found that when the fees were limited in Australia, credit card companies raised annual fees and reduced rewards programs.

Card Fees Pit Retailers Against Banks [NYT]
(Photo:dooleymtv)

Let's Perma-Ban Consumer Predators [Consumer Financial Protection Agency]

Sam Glover — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:09:47 EDT

Regulating consumer predators is a bit like Whac-a-Mole. No matter how many times you put the bad guys out of business, they keep popping up again and again. Maybe it is time to consider a lifetime ban from financial services for the worst offenders. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency proposed by the President may be just the right watchdog for the job of handing out such banishments.

A colleague recently suggested this approach, which has the advantage of not just stopping illegal activity, but stopping those responsible for it. No other approach seems to attack the root of the problem: those driving predatory activities. They may be the heads of large, national banks, but also the heads of small mortgage brokerages or closing companies.

While banishment could be used on large-scale consumer predators, it should also be used on small-scale operators. A few examples: bait-and-switching mortgage brokers, small-time predatory credit card lenders (those with $250 limits that begin with $200 in fees, for example), lending redlining (and reverse redlining), and others.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) proposed by the Obama Administration is supposed to be a consumer watchdog agency, responsible for ensuring financial products are safe much as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) does for physical products. It will be in the best position to supervise financial services vendors, large and small, and impose banishment when appropriate.

It may be that enabling the CFPA to banish the worst offenders as an extreme sanction is the best way to give the new watchdog real teeth.

Sam Glover is a consumer rights lawyer, enemy of shady debt collectors, previous Consumerist contributor, and writes the Caveat Emptor blog. His column appears monthly.

(Photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/garydenness/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

)

Why Is Spam Around? Because 12% Of Readers Actually Try To Buy The Stuff [Spam]

Chris Walters — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:41:22 EDT

Why, in a rational world, does spam continue to exist? Because someone you know—or maybe it's you—has actually tried to buy something from it, a new study finds. Find that person and beat him (or yourself) with a stapler.

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group, or MAAWG, ha ha, conducted "800 interviews with computer users in the United States and Canada who said they were not 'security experts' and who used email addresses that were not managed by a professional IT department." A little over half of respondents admitted to clicking on "what they felt was spam," but for a variety of reasons, including by accident, to contact the company, or our favorite response, because they're not sure why.

But the horrific part comes on page 16 of Part 2 of the report, which you can download here (pdf).

It says that 12% have responded to spam because they were "interested in product/service."

On page 38, the survey breaks down the "yeah I clicked on it" group by age, which is fun to look at if you have presuppositions about how certain age groups treat spam. For example, the 65 and older crowd seems less likely to want to buy erection pills, but more likely to send a note to the company; while the 18-24 crowd has a strong desire to "see what would happen" if they clicked. (As usual, I trend with the seniors: I went on a weird anti-spam kick in, oh, 2000 or so and responded to every spam I got for about three weeks asking to be removed from any mailing list, before I figured out that I was making the problem worse. *sigh*)

"A Look at Consumers' Awareness of Email Security, Part 1" [MAAWG]
"A Look at Consumers' Awareness of Email Security, Part 2" [MAAWG via Metafilter]
(Photo: mray)

Be Sure To Wear Your Wetsuit, Blindfold, Pepper Spray Necklace To Florida's Water Parks [Summer Of Perverts]

Chris Walters — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:17:43 EDT

Various water parks in Florida have taken on a weird Westworld vibe this summer, only instead of robots gone mad it's fellow parkgoers, and instead of trying to kill you they're trying get at your genitals. And by "you" we mean teenaged girls and boys.

Here's what's happened in the past month or so:

July 16, Typhoon Lagoon: 29-year-old David Thomas arrested, accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy and as many as five other boys in the park.
July 11, Typhoon Lagoon: 51-year-old Bradford Pellet Biggers arrested for exposing himself to a 14-year-old girl. He says it was an accident due to his "European-style" bathing suit. Park officials responded that "guests are expected to wear appropriate swimsuits at Typhoon Lagoon."
July 3, Typhoon Lagoon: 52-year-old Robert Double Jr. arrested after a 15-year-old accuses him of pulling off her bikini and groping her in the wave pool. Security says they have footage of him repeatedly positioning himself in front of young girls so that he can crash into them.
June 27, Aquatica: 23-year-old Joshua Fuentes arrested, accused of molesting three girls ages 12 through 14.
June 21, Wet 'n Wild: a 14-year-old girl claims to have been sexually assaulted by "a man with long, dark hair" during a midnight celebration. Police haven't located a suspect yet.

According to police quoted in a story by Nick VinZant for Central Florida News 13, this sort of stuff isn't really that uncommon—it's just frequently underreported.

"All too often and often enough, these things occur and we don't get notified," said Jim Solomons from the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "The parents hear about these kinds of things, and by that time the bad guy is off in a crowd."

"Man Arrested After Touching Boys At Disney Water Park" [WFTV.com]
"Man accused of exposing himself at Typhoon Lagoon is free on bail" [Orlando Sentinel]
"WNY man arrested at Typhoon Lagoon" [WIVB.com]
"Man arrested after 3 girls say he molested them at Aquatica water park" [Orlando Sentinel]
"Girl, 14, Claims Sexual Battery At Wet 'N Wild" [Central Florida News 13]
"Lewd Behavior At Water Parks Doesn't Surprise Police" [Central Florida News 13]
(Photo: shareski)

Save Money on Cable Television and TV Services [Money]

FMF — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:02:00 EDT

Given the state of the economy, it seems like everyone is looking for ways to save on non-discretionary expenses. Lucky for us, The Digerati Life offers some useful thoughts on how to cut back on TV services without turning off media completely. Their five suggestions include:

1. Get what you need out of your television service. For some of you, having cable beyond a basic package is a waste of money.

2. Skip Pay Per View, always. The cost of Pay Per View is enough to make me cry.

3. Check out video rental services. Consider Netflix or Blockbuster online. For those who don't watch television frequently and are very busy, this option could even replace your cable costs.

4. Make going to the movies more affordable. Skip the snack bar, skip the more expensive, night time movies and look out for coupons to the theater and check their website: your theater may offer cheaper prices for tickets purchased online.

5. Check out other resources. Check out your local library and organize a movie night with friends!

It's a decent list, though they could have mentioned all the free stuff offered on the web — Hulu.com, ESPN360 (for certain "partner networks"), and television networks hosting downloads/web viewing of their own shows.

What else did they miss? Any other suggestions for cutting back on media expenses without leaving yourself high and dry for entertainment?

Save Money on Cable Television and TV Services [The Digerati Life]

— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: msmail)

How Long Before That Debt Falls Off My Credit Report? [Ask Consumerist]

Ben Popken — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:01:03 EDT

Reader Frank asks,

Is a true that after 7 years your bad credits go away?

By credit you mean debts, and, for the most part, the answer is yes. However, it depends. Some negative information can stay on your report for up to 15 years. Here's a breakdown of how long each of 10 different kinds of negative items stay on your report, aka, drag down your credit score:

Delinquencies (30 – 180 days): Up to 7 years after the first missed payment, the original delinquency date, after which point you never caught up on your payments again. A 30 days late stops mattering after about a year or two, but 60+ days can last for a long time, notes commenter FDCPA Guy.

Bankruptcy: Ten years from date of discharge for chapter 7, 11, and 12. Seven years for chapter 13. Any accounts involved in the bankruptcy stay on for seven years.

Collection accounts: 7 years from the original delinquency date (ODD).

Charged-off accounts (when the original lender figures they're never going to get money from you and writes it off as a loss and sells it to a collector): 7 years from the ODD, even if payments are late made (this is important to remember because some collectors try to say that by making a payment with them you've reset the debt clock. We covered this more in this post).

Closed accounts: 7 years from date of reported closing if they have delinquiencies, 10 years if there's a positive balance.

Lost credit card: 2 years, if there's no delinquienceies. If there are, then 7 years from ODD.

Child support judgments: 7 years from date judgement is filed.

Small claims and civil judgments: 7 years from date judgement is filed.

Liens: 15 years for unpaid tax liens. 7 years for paid liens.

Hard credit inquiries: 2 years.

Paid positive accounts: 10 years.

Positive open credit information: forever.

That many years sounds like a long time for a lot of these items. How will I ever get credit? Don't worry so much, says commenter Stephmo. They note that a lot of credit-scoring models just look at the last 24 months, "meaning that if you keep your pills paid for 24 months and your score improves and you manage to rebuild credit for 24 solid months - this stuff starts to not matter as much. If you have 24 months of similar high re-established credit, most creditors will consider you "rehabilitated." In many cases, you can even get auto-approved unless they're really targeting specific delinquency types."

[via Experian] (Photo: -heureux-)

Financial Crises Are The New Babies — Have One To Save Your Marriage [Marriage]

Phil Villarreal — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:45:23 EDT

At first glance, an awful economy would seem to be bad for marriages, since money squabbles would presumably lead to more fights. But divorce filings are down 50 percent nationally according to an Associated Press story.

Maybe straying husbands can't afford gifts for mistresses. Or maybe the need to hunker down and face financial hell draws couples closer. The AP story, which ran in the Indianapolis Star, cites an expert with a simpler explanation:

Family law expert Drew Soshnick calls divorce a path to bankruptcy because splitting up also means splitting up debts. He also says people whose retirement savings have dwindled since last year are rethinking whether divorce is affordable.

So do any of you who "have friends" who would get divorced if they could afford it, but are just hanging on until the Dow breaks 10,000 again?

Money woes discouraging divorce [AP]
(Photo: malgaze)

Fraud-Spinning Hedge Fund Manager Fakes Own Death, Gets Two More Years In The Clink [Suicide Isn't Painless]

Phil Villarreal — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:30:29 EDT

Sam Israel III was busted for managing the Bayou Hedge Fund Group, which defrauded investors out of $450 million. He received 20 years in prison.

So naturally Israel decided that the best way to get out of the punishment fraud was to try still more fraud. You know, since he was so good at getting away with fraud. In June 2008 he abandoned his SUV on an upstate New York bridge and disappeared. He turned himself in less than a month later and was slapped with two more years Wednesday.

CNN's story on the sentencing:

Federal guidelines call for a 12- to 18-month sentence, but Karas noted that Israel's crime "took a fair amount of planning," and he criticized the former hedge fund manager for "thumbing his nose at the system."

The additional sentence will begin after Israel serves his first 20 years for fraud.

The suicide was about as solid an investment as Bayou.

Faked suicide adds two years to fraud sentence [CNN]
(Photo: WABC)

Bail Yourself Out By Draining Water Costs [Money Saving Tips]

Phil Villarreal — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:15:51 EDT

If Kevin Costner's epic cinematic vision is to be trusted, water will only continue to get more rare and pricey, even as we move closer to a world of melted polar ice caps.

So until the aquapolypse it's best to learn how to save money on water sooner rather than later. DIY Guy, a syndicated Popular Mechanics column that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle, has 15 tips to help you lower your water bill.

One of them is to limit flushing:

Don't use the toilet as a trash can. Dispose of tissues, cotton swabs and dental floss in the trash — you'll save water and also prevent clogs. Consider replacing toilets with dual-flush models, which use less water depending on the contents being disposed. Another option is the Aquanotion, which allows you to retrofit your current toilet with a dual-flush system.

Or just obey the old nursery rhyme, "If it's brown, flush it down. If it's pee, let it be."

15 Ways To Save Water (And Money) [San Francisco Chronicle]
(Photo: Crawfishpie)