goodnews
(Torley)
(Photo: PJLewis)
—>Police in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are withdrawing charges against the two college students who refused to tip at a pub last month, says The Morning Call. More »
—>If you've been waiting impatiently to get your data back on your Sidekick, here's your opportunity. IntoMobile reports that T-Mobile has posted data retrieval instructions on its website. They note that most but not necessarily all contacts should be there, but if you're one of the unlucky few who lost all of your data, T-Mobile has a shiny $100 gift card for you. More »
—>Yesterday, the Senate adopted an amendment that will prevent federal funding from going to any contractor that requires its employees to use mandatory binding arbitration, instead of court, for sexual assault and civil rights claims against the company. More »
—>Good news! The Washington Redskins are no longer suing a 72-year-old grandmother and real estate agent who was unable to pay for her season tickets after falling on hard times. The team has vacated the $66,364 judgment against her. Yay! More »
—>We're not entirely sure Consumerist is responsible for Walmart finally getting back to Jeff on his ruined transmission—and frankly, because of the length of time between the incident and his complaint, as well as Walmart's reputation for silence on consumer complaints like this, we didn't expect much to happen at all. We were wrong, and we tip our hats to Walmart for making good on a very expensive mistake. Read Jeff's update below. More »
—>Today the FTC banned pretty much all telemarketing-based robocalls starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2009. At that point, "violators will face penalties up to $16,000 per call," notes the Los Angeles Times. More »
—>Too often, it seems that long-running companies shave away at customer service in an attempt to remain profitable. Sunbeam, however, proves that there are still companies out there who take pride in their products, and who make considerable effort to keep the customers they have. More »
—>Score one for the consumer over unfair arbitration. Just last week, Minnesota's Attorney General sued the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) for fraud, false advertising, and deceptive trade practices—and now the company has agreed to pull out of the credit card business entirely. According to the settlement reached on July 17th, "The only business NAF can now be involved with is in arbitrating Internet domain disputes, a business it has long been in." More »
—>Nathaniel got a money order to pay rent, and noticed Bank of America charged him twice for the transaction. He placed a call to customer service expecting a long, difficult battle, but was pleasantly surprised with the outcome: More »
—>David wrote in to tell us how he bought a cell phone, accidentally ruined the screen protector, then sought out the phone-condom manufacturer Zagg to try to buy a new one. What happened next was the stuff of a Frank Capra movie. Check out his story to see why David has gone Zagg-nuts: More »
—>Our reader The_Lone_Gunman just had a great experience with the Best Buy in Irving, Texas. Snark fails us at a time like this, so we'll just humbly print his email. More »
—>Disneyland mistakenly extended a special annual pass program to ineligible customers last December, but only realized it recently. At the time of the sale, residents of certain Southern California zip codes could buy an annual ticket on a 12-month installment plan, free from any interest rates or other fees. When they discovered that some customers weren't in valid zip codes, they ended the payment agreement with them—but they're letting them keep the annual passes. More »
—>It's strange, the way some customer/CSR encounters go so well when others seem headed for failure before the first sentence is finished. When Nix called to complain about being mistakenly sent a $100 gift card offer that she can't take advantage of, the Verizon rep on the other end not only addressed the real issues, but later sent a $50 gift card to Nix as a goodwill gesture. More »
—>Here's an example of terrific customer service, this time from the sink and faucet company Kohler. More »
