delays

5 Appointments To Deliver Sears Dishwasher, Still No Dishwasher
By Laura Northrup on September 8, 2011 12:15 PM  
When Wesley's dishwasher died, he found himself in a sad and typical modern predicament: it was easier and more cost effective to go and buy a new dishwasher when his broke. So he ordered one from the Sears Outlet. This turned out to be a bad idea, at least if he wanted a dishwasher actually delivered to his house. If you enjoy waiting around for installers to never show up, perhaps Sears is your store. More »

(afagen)

Despite Busy Thanksgiving Holiday, Flights Departed On Time In November
By Chris Morran on January 12, 2011 2:40 PM  
The Dept. of Transportation released its Air Travel Consumer Report for November 2010 yesterday, and for the first time since 2008, U.S. airports went two months in a row without a single plane being delayed on the tarmac for more than three hours. More »

Sony's Repair Service Has Left My Coworker Computerless Since August
By Phil Villarreal on November 9, 2010 2:30 PM  
Back in August, Michael tried to do his co-worker a favor by guiding him through Sony's warranty repair, but did him no favors because the the repair attempt ended up breaking the computer in a different way. The computer has since fallen out of the warranty window but apparently is still in the long, winding path toward redemption. More »

Citibank Transfers Student Loan To Another Company, But Sits On $1000 Payment For 30 More Days
By Chris Walters on September 29, 2010 1:30 PM  
The last time I uncovered an obvious error with my Citibank checking account, I realized it was time to move on. Our tipster Roarke may have just reached that same conclusion, only in his case Citibank has already passed along the account for him—just not the thousand dollar electronic payment he made on it a few days prior, which Citibank says it plans to hang on to for another 30 days. More »

An Insider's Look At A Four Hour United Express Delay
By Chris Walters on September 22, 2010 10:33 AM  
If there was something that could delay United Airlines flight 1488 from Washington to Philadelphia, then it happened, writes our tipster dev. Although originally meant to be a short one hour flight, the delays stretched to over three hours. Dev writes that most of the delays were caused by the pre-flight crew: "Those of us in the front of the aircraft could hear the Trans States Airlines crew griping over the fact that the ground crew, another contract outfit (this group from Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation), did not do their pre-flight prep work on the plane properly." More »

Charter To Customer With Five Failed Service Calls: "You Haven't Bugged Us Enough To Resolve Your Problem"
By Chris Walters on September 21, 2010 10:30 AM  
Charter tells it like it is: the problem with Eric's incorrectly installed Internet service is that he hasn't been trying hard enough to fix it. Here's a copy of an email that Eric tried to send to Charter's CEO last week, but it bounced back. Maybe someone at Charter can read it here? More »

DOT Updates 'Fly Rights' Airline Consumer Guide
By Chris Walters on September 7, 2010 9:00 AM  
The Department of Transportation has updated its consumer guide to air travel, which provides a quick summary of what to look for when buying a ticket, and what protections you have during travel. It's also a good starting point when you have an airline-related problem and need more information before deciding what to do next. More »

There Are No TVs Here, Only Dell Hell And Despair
By Laura Northrup on August 26, 2010 10:30 AM  
Brandon tells Consumerist that he found the best deal around on a huge Vizio TV from Dell. Unfortunately, instead of finding himself in 47" HDTV bliss, Brandon found himself condemned to weeks in Dell Hell, while the company threw out empty promises and conflicting excuses, and in the end simply can't deliver the television that Brandon purchased. More »

Flight Cancellations Hold Steady Despite New Tarmac Delay Limit
By Carey Alexander on August 8, 2010 8:00 AM  
Remember how airlines threatened to cancel a mess of flights if the Department of Transportation imposed fines for holding planes on the tarmac for more than three hours? Well, the DOT imposed the rule and it looks like airlines are coping just fine. The Wall Street Journal examined recently released data and found that the most probable explanation for the slight jump in cancellations is a combination of weather and shoddy maintenance. More »

DOT Calls BS On "Misleading And Premature" Tarmac Delay Study
By Chris Morran on July 21, 2010 3:10 PM  
Remember that study from yesterday that said there had been a significant increase in the number of flight cancellations since the DOT enacted new rules limiting the number of hours a plane can sit on the tarmac? Well, it's not sitting with the folks behind the rule, who say it's a bunch of hogwash. More »

Are Tarmac Rules Causing More Flight Cancellations?
By Chris Morran on July 20, 2010 1:20 PM  
According to a new study, the recently enacted DOT regulations that levy huge fines against airlines for planes that sit on the tarmac for more than three hours have been forcing carriers to cancel flights rather than face possible stiff penalties. More »

You're Most Likely To Get Stranded On The Tarmac With Delta And United
By Meg Marco on July 12, 2010 1:45 PM  
Every month the Department of Transportation issues the Air Travel Consumer Report. This month the report has statistics about tarmac delays — and the numbers aren't good for Delta, United and their regional partners. More »

Passenger Says Frontier Airlines Used Fake Weather Delay To Avoid Compensating Passengers
By Chris Walters on June 29, 2010 12:00 PM  
Scott says his flight from San Antonio to Denver was delayed last night because "the weather computer was not working," but two hours later that excuse was replaced with a "weather-related delay" in Denver. The problem is, Denver was sunny and clear at the time. More »

10 Flights That Rarely Arrive On Time
By Ben Popken on June 11, 2010 3:17 PM  
If you're on any one of these 10 flights, better time budget in for delays. According to Department of Transportation stats, they're almost never on time. [ABC]
Lamps Plus Takes Deposit, Leaves Customer In The Dark
By Chris Walters on April 6, 2010 7:39 PM  
Erica and her fiance are tired of waiting for a lamp to arrive from Lamps Plus, especially now that it's been three months and the company hasn't kept any of its promises so far. She wants to know what to do next. More »

Don't Count On That Rebate From MSI
By Chris Walters on March 22, 2010 3:04 PM  
My advice on mail-in-rebates is to ignore them when you're trying to decide on a purchase. They take too long to receive, during which time you've paid a higher amount on the product. Even worse, it's easy for a company to deny a claim and refuse to cooperate with you, and it's hard for consumers to get misbehaving companies to play fairly. More »

(Photo: inottawa)

JetBlue Takes 2 Hours And Charges $15 To Redeem Customer's Gift Card
By Chris Walters on March 17, 2010 12:02 PM  
Angela won a "Wish List" contest from American Express, which let her buy a $100 JetBlue gift card for $70. JetBlue managed to wipe out that $30 savings and any good will Angela might have felt by making her waste 129 minutes trying to redeem the card—and then charging her $15 for the service. At the end of her letter to AmEx and JetBlue, Angela writes, "I don’t know about other AmEx cardholders, but spending almost two hours on hold in order to be able to use something you’ve already paid for is not on my Wish List." More »

(Photo: Abeeeer)

American Airlines, Jet Blue, Delta Seek To Delay Tarmac Imprisonment Rule
By Chris Walters on March 17, 2010 10:37 AM  
You know that new rule that says airlines have to let passengers off the plane if it's stuck on the tarmac for more than 3 hours? It's supposed to go into effect in April, but at least three airlines are hoping to delay it because they say runway repairs at JFK Airport will interfere with schedules. More »

Access America's "Comprehensive Trip Protector" Insurance Isn't Comprehensive, So Enjoy Your Overnight Layover
By Chris Walters on February 26, 2010 3:11 PM  
Mark Smith just got suckered into buying travel insurance that turned out to be worthless to him. There was a huge hole in the middle of the coverage, which meant he and his two kids were stuck overnight in Denver on his own dime. Luckily the policy only cost $40, but that's $40 that now belongs to Access America in exchange for providing a useless service. More »

Dell Delayed My Computer Purchase A Month, Took 50 Minutes On The Phone To Let Me Cancel
By Phil Villarreal on February 17, 2010 10:15 AM  
Danish says he ordered a Dell desktop computer late last year, and was willing to wait until Jan. 22 for its expected delivery. After that date kept getting bumped back until more than a month had passed, Danish canceled the order on an arduous phone call. More »

1