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happy-endings
happy-endings
(mine)
Outback Steakhouse Manager Overreacts To Spilled Beers -- But In A Good Way
By Chris Morran on February 3, 2012 2:30 PM
63 Comments
Most of the e-mail we get into our tip line, especially with regards to restaurants, is about rude waitstaff, awful food and uncaring managers. So it was a very pleasant surprise to hear this story from Consumerist reader Rob, whose visit to Outback Steakhouse started sourly but ended happily. More »
HQ Notices Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Discovery, Fixes Problem
By Laura Northrup on February 2, 2012 9:00 AM
28 Comments
Hey, remember the Raiders of the Lost Walmart? Reader Joe sent us a picture of a comically obsolete thumb drive still on the shelves at his local Walmart, a stunning discovery in the field of retail archaeology. "We thought Walmart had the best inventory control systems in the world," I wrote. "Perhaps not." Then we heard from Walmart's Arkansas headquarters. I was wrong—the inventory people are now on it. More »
(benh57)
Hurray! Consumerist Helps Reader Find Laptop Left On American Airlines Flight
By Mary Beth Quirk on January 10, 2012 11:00 AM
14 Comments
While running the gauntlet of the daily grind, one can get caught up in everything that can go wrong for a consumer, which is why we downright love it when something goes right. And if we can help a tiny bit, that's nice, too. Rachael writes that her friend lost his laptop on a recent flight, and she immediately thought of Consumerist. More »
Target Apologizes To Rebuffed Students; Walmart Ups The Ante With More Cash
By Chris Morran on December 14, 2011 11:15 AM
86 Comments
Yesterday we brought you the story of an Ohio middle school teacher who penned an open letter to Target after an employee told her that she and her group of 25 students would not be permitted to do their annual holiday shopping to benefit a local charity. As you might have predicted, once this news hit the web that goes worldwide, Target had a change of heart — and Walmart made a nice counter-offer to the put-out teacher and her charges. More »
EECB Gets Dell's Attention, Better Computer Shipped Overnight
By Laura Northrup on December 8, 2011 9:00 AM
8 Comments
The Dell Inspiron 2305 is a slick-looking all-in-one touchscreen desktop computer. The one Mike received wasn't as fun to live with as it was to look at, though. He had his computer replaced once, but the replacement had video card problems that led it to freeze. Frustrated, he lobbed an executive e-mail carpet bomb at Dell higher-ups, and it was effective. Very effective. Soon, Dell overnighted a similar but more expensive computer to Mike's house. More »
(afagen)
Reader Heeds Your "Bad Consumer" Verdict, Returns Free Wiper Fluid
By Chris Morran on December 1, 2011 1:30 PM
50 Comments
Yesterday, Greg wrote in to ask his fellow Consumerist readers if he'd gone too far in his dealings with a local car wash and crossed the line into being a "Bad Consumer." Well, the hive-mind voted in full force and Greg has listened to your verdict. More »
Chase Decides Not To Evict 103-Year-Old Woman After Deputies & Movers Refuse To Help
By Chris Morran on December 1, 2011 12:30 PM
118 Comments
The folks at Chase have really gotten into the holiday spirit. The bank has announced it won't be forcing a 103-year-old Atlanta-area woman and her 83-year-old daughter from their home. Of course, this change of heart only happened after local news outlets reported that sheriff's deputies and the moving company hired to remove her stuff refused to do so. More »
Jack The Cat Found After Two Months In JFK Airport
By Laura Northrup on October 26, 2011 8:00 AM
71 Comments
Before the flight to his new home in California, Jack the cat escaped from his travel carrier and disappeared into John F. Kennedy Airport. The airline organized searches and put out food, and animal lovers all over the world helped in any way they could, from performing their own searches of the airport and nearby neighborhoods to getting word out to employees of nearby businesses and other airlines. We're happy to report that Jack has been found. In two months, he apparently never left the airport. More »
Family With Crappy-Sounding Casio Piano Saved By... Best Buy?
By Laura Northrup on October 20, 2011 10:33 AM
25 Comments
Last Christmas, Jennifer bought her daughter a digital piano, and it hasn't sounded very good since June or so. What sounds even worse is that manufacturer Casio and the local piano repair shop were dragging their feet on getting it working again before the one-year warranty was up. We shared this story a few weeks agoand things looked bleak...until Jennifer's husband thought to call the retailer they had ordered the piano from: Best Buy. More »
(Tektum)
Best Buy Sends Us Wrong Stove, Actually Does Something About It
By Chris Morran on August 2, 2011 4:30 PM
32 Comments
The vast Consumerist archives are not lacking for tales of customers left holding the short end of the stick following a Best Buy purchase. And for a while it looked like Jon and his wife would be adding their names to the roster of fist-shaking Best Buy customers. But, as occasionally happens in this wacky world, this couple came up a winner when they spun the customer service wheel of fortune. More »
EECB To Sony Turns Lemon Laptop Into New Laptop
By Laura Northrup on July 28, 2011 9:30 AM
8 Comments
Aaron's Sony VAIO has failed a few times too many. He faithfully sent it back for repair or had a technician visit his home four times, believing Sony's promise that the repairs would fix the issue. The last time, it failed during finals week at his college on the East Coast. Sony's repair depot kept the machine for a month, yet the issue still wasn't fixed for good. The laptop is now out of warranty, but Aaron had the law on his side. He launched an executive e-mail carpet bomb to some Sony contacts, copying Consumerist. The next day, he heard back from two different people at Sony, offering him a new machine comparable to the one that had failed him. More »
Antics Of Rude, Shirtless Dude Score Me A Free Hotel Room Upgrade
By Chris Morran on July 19, 2011 12:15 PM
93 Comments
Regular readers of Consumerist probably know that we do occasionally write about "bad consumers," those few who bad apples whose behavior makes things harder for the rest of us. But we don't often see examples of good, sensible consumers actually benefiting from others' idiotic antics. This is one such story. More »
(VA Trish)
I Sued Dish Network And Won (Because Dish Never Showed Up At Court)
By Chris Morran on June 27, 2011 3:15 PM
73 Comments
One of the more common complaints we get about cable and satellite providers is that, while customers are held to ironclad contracts that lock them into strict terms lest they pay a penalty, providers too often change their end of the agreement with impunity. Luckily, there are people out there like Consumerist reader Alex, who took Dish Network to court and walked out victorious... when the satellite company was a no-show. More »
Dell Warranty Provider Buys Customer New TV On Amazon
By Laura Northrup on June 23, 2011 9:30 AM
26 Comments
Two weeks ago, we shared the story of Tom, who bought a Vizio TV from Dell that he bought an extended warranty for, but couldn't track down the warranty company when the television actually failed. He finally got in touch with the nice people at Service Net Solutions, and they did amazed him by doing exactly what they were supposed to: replace his busted TV with a nicer one. Curiously, they did this by ordering one up for him from Amazon.com. More »
Via Full-Page Ad, Taco Bell Asks "Meat Filling" Lawyers For Apology
By Ben Popken on April 22, 2011 10:00 AM
120 Comments
Taking a victory lap around the tactical retreat by the lawyers who had sued it for its beef not being beefy enough, Taco Bell took out a full-page ad asking the firm to say "sorry." More »
(Fujoshi)
Botched Supercut Has Happy Ending
By Laura Northrup on April 19, 2011 3:30 PM
153 Comments
After receiving a coupon in the mail, Jacqueline thought she would save some money by getting her hair trimmed at a local Supercuts. This turned out to be a false economy, since her stylist didn't seem to actually listen to what Jacqueline wanted, and was more interested in her lunch than in her customer. More »
Lawsuit Questioning Beefiness Of Taco Bell Beef Dropped
By Laura Northrup on April 19, 2011 10:00 AM
40 Comments
The Alabama law firm that filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against Taco Bell regarding the quality and contents of its ground beef—or "taco meat filling"—has voluntarily dropped the suit. The original lawsuit accused Taco Bell of serving ground beef in its "Mexican-inspired" meals that didn't meet the USDA definition of "ground beef." Even before the suit was dropped, Taco Bell was able to turn the suit into a marketing opportunity, describing the contents of that meat filling in detail, and taking out full-page ads thanking the plaintiffs. More »
TurboTax Eats Tax Return, Apologizes With Free Software
By Laura Northrup on March 29, 2011 1:00 PM
15 Comments
Here's a story about TurboTax that is at least a little bit heartwarming. Tyler filled out all of his tax information on the TurboTax website, and paid for an extra upgrade to save himself some data entry for his investments. But somehow, the TurboTax servers ate his 2010 return, and the information was nowhere to be found. He steeled himself for a long wait on the phone and a vicious fight with rude Intuit representatives, but that's not what happened. More »
(misterjt)
Sears Delivers New Stove, Ends Family's 6 Weeks Without Cooking
By Laura Northrup on March 15, 2011 3:30 PM
21 Comments
Remember Ian, whose family was stuck with a series of defective Kenmore stoves and hadn't been able to cook at home for six weeks? He reports that Sears delivered a new stove to his house on Saturday, and this one seems to be actually functioning. So far. Hooray! More »
(_tar0_)
Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty For Mailing Live Puppy
By Laura Northrup on February 2, 2011 8:00 AM
142 Comments
"This is for your 11th birthday. It's what you wanted," was written on the outside of an Atlanta-bound Priority Mail box in a Minneapolis post office. It caught postal workers' attention when it started moving on its own and making loud panting sounds. They got permission to open the box and found... a four-month old poodle-schnauzer mix puppy who was very, very happy to be free. The woman who mailed the box was charged with animal cruelty, then went back to the post office to try to get a refund for the $22 in postage she paid. More »
