Author: Chris Morran

In January, Consumerist reader Matt received a brochure from Comcast touting their high-speed Internet service with “Unlimited usage for a flat, monthly rate.” But only one month after upgrading to Comcast’s “Ultra Tier,” he found out that, well… “unlimited” actually means “limited.”

Here’s Matt describing the call he just got from Comcast:

I was told I used more data than they allow (250GB). I do not argue that I used over 250GB, in fact I went quite a bit over. Though I did want to ask for proof that affected their network, I figured it wasn’t the nicest way to start the interaction. I informed them that I used this because it was sold as “Unlimited usage for a flat, monthly rate.” He then told me it said “access.”

I had the brochure right next to me and quoted, “Unlimited usage for a flat, monthly rate.” He told me their website says something different, and my local franchise overstepped its bounds, and their website overrules the “Important Information about our services, Charleston SC” sales brochure sent to me. If I went over again (It goes by calender month, not billing cycle) I would be disconnected for 1 year without giving me a call.

I asked if Comcast had a tool to help me monitor bandwidth. “Not in your market” he told me. “Download something from Google that will do it for you.”

Here’s a close-up of the brochure:

In 2008, Comcast began limiting Internet users to 250 GB a month. At the time, they claimed that the 250 GB number was where they decided to place the threshold for excessive usage. In a letter to customers, they noted that 250 GB was enough to “download 125 standard definition movies.”

Of course, as more outlets are providing HD films and TV shows online, we’re wondering if Comcast is going to have to revisit how they handle limit violators. It would seem to us to merely charge them more for overages, instead of threatening with sanctions.

In states like Virginia where it’s legal for gun owners to walk around in public displaying their heat, there are some firearms fans who go out to stores they assume will be unfriendly about their gun-toting ways. But, in spite of its left-leaning reputation, coffee colossus Starbucks has instituted a policy saying guns are A-OK with them.

“Starbucks is seen as a responsible corporation and they’re seen as a very progressive corporation, and this policy is very much in keeping with that,” John Pierce, co-founder of firearms advocacy group OpenCarry.org says about Starbucks’ decision to not ban guns from their stores. “If you’re going to support individual rights, you have to support them all. I applaud them, and I’ve gone out of my way personally to let every manager of every Starbucks I pass know that.”

In most states, private businesses still have the right to refuse firearms on their premises, and other coffee shops and restaurants like Peet’s and California Pizza Kitchen have decided to forbid guns in their locations.

Gun control group The Brady Campaign has already received more than 25,000 signatures on a petition asking Starbucks to rethink their policy.

“If you want to dress up and go out and make a little political theater by frightening children in the local Starbucks, if that’s what you want to spend your energy on, go right ahead,” said Peter Hamm, spokesperson for the Brady Campaign. “But going out and wearing a gun on your belt to show the world you’re allowed to is a little juvenile.”

Are you comfortable with customers bringing guns into your local Starbucks?

Buzz and bullets: Gun fans cheer Starbucks’ policy [AP]

Toyota might be getting a pity party at home in Japan for the skewering the car company is receiving over their recall of 8 million vehicles, so this latest report will probably turn them into saints. A new look at almost 13,000 speed-related complaints over the last decade shows that Toyota led the pack in with the most complaints involving a crash.

According to the report in the NY Times, Toyotas accounted for around 1,000 crash-related complaints, more than double Ford’s total of 450. There are two other sets of numbers that make this information even more intriguing. First, Ford had a higher total number of complaints, but significantly fewer resulting from crashes. Second, Ford had almost 10 million more cars on the road than Toyota during this period.

In fact, both Toyota and Ford pale in comparison to the 41 million GM vehicles out there at the same time. But they only had 1 speed-control crash complaint per every 179,821 vehicles sold, while Toyota has 1 per 20,454.

Also of note in the Times’ findings — There were more crash-related complaints about Toyota’s 2002 Camry than there were about the 2007 Camry. And yet the latter model year was recalled while the 2002 was not.

In response, a Toyota rep said that all the NHTSA complaints had been looked into previously and, “At the conclusion of these investigations, no specific evidence of a trend regarding safety issues was found.”

Do you think Toyota is hiding something? Or are those un-recalled cars merely a statistical anomaly?

Data Shows Camrys Not Recalled Also Had Problems [NY Times]

A court in California recently tossed out a lawsuit filed against Sony claiming that their refusal to make their games more accessible to the visually impaired was in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

At the crux of the plaintiff’s failed case was their contention that, because PlayStation allows people all over the world to connect and play games together via their now-repaired PlayStation Network, that virtual world constitutes an actual public accommodation. And as such, it would need to be in compliance with the Disabilities act.

In their filing, they pointed to games like World of Warcraft, which does have adjustable settings for players with impaired eyesight.

The big question is — Can you envision a virtual network that would truly fall under the “public accommodation” classification?

Judge Tosses Blind Gamer’s Suit vs. Sony [Kotaku]

Apparently the Stateside uproar over the recall of 8 million Toyotas — and worries that the company may be attempting to conceal potential defects — has had the inverse effect in the car company’s homeland. According to a new report, the Japanese public thinks America is overreacting to the situation.

“When Japanese see this excessive reaction happening in the U.S., they feel pity for Toyota,” explains Takashi Takeda of advertising biggie DDB Worldwide. “Recalls always happen. Trust for Toyota is huge in this market and was not built overnight.”

Here in the states, most Toyota commercials are nothing more than 30-second apologias for the recall. But in Japan, it’s been a much more don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach.

“It’s an example of cultures colliding. The average consumer in Japan is not reacting in the same way and marketing professionals here are a bit daunted by the proactive role that America’s government has had,” said Chris Beaumont, a Tokyo-based branding consultant and a marketing professor at Tokyo University.

“People here are surprised at how visible the recall has been and wonder, ‘If Toyota is hurt, is Japan Inc. hurt?’” Mr. Beaumont said. “To what extent will Japan be affected adversely rather than just Toyota?”

It’s basically just the Japanese version of the old bromide, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.”

“There is concern that if Toyota’s problems do not improve, the recovery pace of Japan’s economy will slow down, too,” Mr. Takeda said. “We see U.S. nationalism at work.”

U.S. ‘Overreaction’ Stirs Empathy for Toyota at Home [Ad Age]

While many media outlets were heralding today’s news that magazine giant Condé Nast plans to bring five of its biggest selling titles to Apple’s new iPad tablet thingy, if you actually read what the Condé memo says, it becomes apparent that they really have no idea what they’re dealing with.

Condé editorial director Thomas J. Wallace admits, “We need to know a little bit more about what kind of a product we can make, how consumers will respond to it, what the distribution system will be.”

So they don’t know what they’re selling, how it’s going to be sold or if anyone’s going to buy it?

Condé doesn’t even know which demographic to reach out to first, so they’re trying them all, launching with GQ in April, followed in June by Wired and Vanity Fair, with The New Yorker and Glamour to come later in the summer.

“GQ is men. Glamour is women. Vanity Fair is a dual audience. The New Yorker is unique with its periodicity, and therefore it’s also more news- or text-heavy, and it’s a slightly older audience,” explains Wallace.

Lest you think they have even a single base covered, Condé admits they’re still not fixed on what to do about advertising on their iPad mags.

“What we’re looking at right now is what kind of ad units for a phone and iPad would optimize the experience for a consumer,” said Sarah Chubb, president of Condé Nast Digital. “As an example, if you’re a fashion retailer or a fashion advertiser who also has an e-commerce store, how can we make the simple fact that you can click through to an item and buy it kind of great? How do you romance it a little bit more?”

Condé’s cluelessness — and really that of the entire print industry — can be summed up with this statement from Charles Townsend, the company’s CEO: “How large a revenue stream digitized content represents is an answer we hope to learn through this process.”

Granted, with new markets and revenue streams opening every day, there’s always going to be uncertainty. Does Condé’s decision to invest so heavily without a more rigid game plan strike you as hubris or is it the type of daring thinking the economy needs to move forward and out of the recession?

Condé Nast Is Preparing iPad Versions of Some of Its Top Magazines [NY Times]

Upstart software company Microsoft managed to eke out a rare legal victory, as a U.S. District Court has thrown out a lawsuit alleging that Microsoft was forcing computer manufacturers to ship computers with their Vista operating system, compelling owners who want to use the earlier XP operating system to pay for the downgrade.

In Feb. 2009, a woman in Los Angeles filed suit against Microsoft after she had to pay $59.25 to have the operating system on her new Lenovo laptop downgraded from Vista to Windows XP. Microsoft has maintained that they do not receive any sort of additional payment when users decide to downgrade and that any money paid by the users is going to manufacturers and retailers. For some reason, the plaintiff did not include Lenovo in the lawsuit.

Windows XP downgrade lawsuit dismissed [ArsTechnica]

In an update to yesterday’s global crash of the PlayStation Network that left many PS3 owners unable to use their systems, Sony has confirmed that the problem only affects that non-slim, or “fat,” PS3 units and has asked users to hold off on booting up until the problem is resolved.

“We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system,” reads a statement on the PlayStation blog. “We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.”

So until there’s a resolution, it’s time to dust off the PS2 and play some GTA: San Andreas.

There’s legal proceedings a-brewin’ in New York City. A man has file suit against his landlady — to the tune of $1 million — claiming she decided to do some mass bug-bombing in his apartment… while he and his family were still at home.

According to the lawsuit, the tenant says his landlord gave no warning and didn’t ask permission to enter his family’s Queens apartment, where she set off canisters of the colorfully named Real-Kill Indoor Fogger 5.

“She never called on the phone, never rang the doorbell. She just opened the chemical,” the tenant told The NY Post.

The tenant’s lawyer claims that his client inhaled some of the fogger fumes and subsequently took a tumble down the stairs while fleeing the bug bomb bonanza.

For her part, the landlady kept it short and sweet, telling reporters, “He’s a liar, and that will be proven in court.”

There’s obviously not enough detail here to say who’s telling the truth, but supposing the tenant’s story is correct, do you think he deserves $1 million?

” target=”_blank”>Landlady bug bombed me [NY Post]

Apple has always positioned itself as the computer and electronics brand of the hip and young — and it looks like they extended that ethos to their overseas manufacturing. The iCompany has issued an “oops” on its Web site, admitting that underage workers were employed in three different Apple-affiliated plants last year.

In its annual compliance report, Apple confesses, “Across the three facilities, our auditors found records of 11 workers who had been hired prior to reaching the legal age, although the workers were no longer underage or no longer in active employment at the time of our audit.”

The report, which doesn’t specify which of the plants were in violation, does say that the legal age in the countries involved is 16.

In addition to the kid labor admission, Apple admitted that more than half of the 102 audited plants had violated the company’s regulations regarding the work week. Apple states that employees work no more than 60 hours in a week, and must receive a full day’s rest per seven days of work.

However:

At 60 facilities, we found records that indicated workers had exceeded weekly work-hour limits more than 50 percent of the time. Similarly, at 65 facilities, more than half of the records we reviewed indicated that workers had worked more than six consecutive days at least once per month. To address these issues, we required each facility to develop management systems or improve existing systems—to drive compliance with Apple’s limits on work hours and required days of rest.

The whipping continues as Apple reports that 57 plants “with deficient payments in worker benefits, such as sick leave, maternity leave, or social insurance for retirement.”

Even worse, the audit found 45 facilities where wage reductions were being used “for disciplinary purposes.”

In response, Apple writes, “While the deductions we discovered may be legal under local laws, Apple has required an end to this practice.”

Download the entire PDF here.

Apple: Underage Workers May Have Built Your iPhone [PCWorld]

There’s a movement in New York to have the state pass a so-called “soda tax” that impose taxes on soft drinks containing more than 10 calories per 8 ounces. Among the beverages included would be just about all non-diet sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened coffees and teas (only in bottles), and fruit and vegetable juices containing less than 70% natural juice. According to the ads being run by the supporters of the tax, the goal is to curb childhood obesity. But will it really work?

According to the Alliance for a Healthier New York, they believe that a 10% increase in the retail costs of these beverages (FYI, milk, milk products, milk substitutes, dietary aids, and infant formula are exempt) will lead to an 8% “among low income populations.”

Opponents to the tax point out that only that above-referenced low income group would be affected by the price hike and this the tax does nothing to reverse the tide on the real problem.

In response, proponents of the measure say that the additional tax revenue generated by the price increase would go to the New York State Health Care Reform Act Resources Fund “to be used for health care and health related initiatives.”

What do you think — Can a soda tax be effective in reducing the number of obese children in the country?

Talk about having one of those days… A jet belonging to American Airlines spent eight hours mired down — literally — at Sea-Tac International Airport outside of Seattle on Saturday after it got stuck in six inches of mud.

Around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, the empty Boeing 757 was being towed down the taxiway when it went astray and ended up in the muck.

Crews immediately went to work trying to unstick the massive airplane (its maximum take-off weight is over 250,000 lbs) from the soft earth. Finally, at 5:30 p.m., the 757 was freed from the mud.

American says they’re investigating exactly how the plane ended up going off-roadin’ like it did.

Jetliner stuck in mud at Sea-Tac [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Imagine the scene: Your beloved grandmother has been hospitalized for a respiratory illness. And then comes the bad news — A nurse at the hospital calls to say your grandmother has passed away. You go to her room to gather her personal items, and that’s when your dead grandmother wakes up.

Well, that’s exactly what happened to a family in Brooklyn over the weekend following a mix-up at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.

After being told about the tragic passing, the patient’s great-granddaughter paid a final visit to the supposedly deceased relative. “I just walked up to her and I touched her head, and when I touched her head, her eyes opened and she turned her head,” the great-granddaughter recalled. “When she did that, I started screaming.”

“That was a bad experience for me, because I never went through that, and I’m still in shock,” she added.

Not surprisingly, the family is already talking about possible legal action.

“It’s negligence on the hospital’s part,” the patient’s granddaughter told reporters. “We are looking at emotional duress, emotional stress — you know, that’s basically what our issue is.”

While the hospital has yet to issue a proper statement on the snafu, the family says they were told it was a simple mix-up. And one news report claims that the nurse got the patient in question confused with another patient having a similar last name.

Does the family have a legal leg to stand on? And even if they do, should they sue? Would you?

NY Family Outraged Over Hospital Identity Mix-Up [CBS 2]

Today marks the beginning of what could be an ugly four months at JFK International Airport, as the NYC-area travel hub loses its busiest runway for renovation work. This move has forced the airport to reduce the number of flights going in and out by 20% during this time.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates all three major airports in the NYC area, has reduced the total number of arrivals and departures at JFK from around 1,300 to 1,050.

The redo on Runway 13-31 isn’t just a simple repaving job. The $376 million effort will widen the runway by 50 feet and add taxiways, all with the goal of reducing flight delays by around 10,500 hours each year.

To deal with the temporary loss of the runway has forced carriers into some creative thinking. JetBlue will be running about 20 fewer flights per day out of JFK; that’s slightly more than a 10% cut. American Airlines is maintaining its current flight schedule, but is holding off an a planned increase.

Though the Port Authority is hoping the loss of the runway will be “invisible” to passengers, bottlenecks and delays — especially at an airport already noted for them — are inevitable.

As always, it’s advised to book departing flights out of JFK for as early in the morning as possible.

Major runway closing at JFK airport [CNN]

Last week, the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform issued a subpoena for documents from former Toyota lawyer Dimitrios Biller as part of their investigation into exactly when the car giant knew about possible defects in their now-recalled vehicles. And now that they have their hands on Mr. Biller’s papers, they are accusing Toyota of deliberately holding back important information.

“We have reviewed these documents and found evidence that Toyota deliberately withheld relevant electronic records that it was legally required to produce in response to discovery orders in litigation,” Congressman Ed Towns wrote Friday in a letter to Toyota North America chief Yoshimi Inaba. “Many of these documents concern ‘rollover’ cases in which the plaintiff was injured. I am writing to request that you personally review these records and provide a response to these allegations.”
 
Congressman Towns points to a document dated Sept. 1, 2005, entitled “A Serious Need to Get Documents/E-Discovery From TMC,” in which Biller voiced his concern over Toyota’s failure to produce electronic documents in litigation.

While researching a case for Toyota, Mr. Biller discovered a computer database called “MIK” that included information about “design problems” and “countermeasures used to resolve issues.” The data held in the MIK “is downloaded by TTC [Toyota Technical Center] into secret electronic ‘Books of Knowledge.’”
 
Mr. Biller’s concern was that, in spite of its existence and accessibility, the MIK information had “never been produced in litigation… Clearly, this information should have been produced in litigation before today.”

In the memo, Biller concludes that Toyota “is clearly not producing all of the relevant information/documents in its possession… We need to start preserving, collecting and producing e-mails and electronic discovery.”
 
However, not only were these Books of Knowledge never produced in litigation, the documents obtained from Biller appear to indicate that Toyota later agreed to multi-million dollar settlements for fear that the Books of Knowledge would be discovered. 
 
Biller describes in an e-mail from Dec. 2006 how one of the prime reasons for agreeing to a $1.5 million settlement in one rollover case was to prevent disclosure of the Books of Knowledge.

“This case is particularly appalling, in that the victim, Penny Green, was a healthy young woman who was rendered a quadriplegic in the rollover of a Toyota vehicle,” writes Towns in his letter to Mr. Inaba.
 
Regarding the level of Toyota’s influence on NHTSA, Congressman Towns says that the documents also indicate that Mr. Biller “was concerned that Toyota’s interactions with NHTSA would be discovered.” He points to an e-mail from Nov. 2006, wherein Mr. Biller writes that a plaintiff’s lawyer had “learned about the substantial involvement of TMC with NHTSA and how TMC communicates with NHTSA via TMA and the Alliance.” 
 
On the topic of sudden unintended acceleration, a Biller e-mail from 2005 — two years before the earliest floor mat recalls — states that “no one was surprised” by a threatened lawsuit on the matter.
 
“This issue [sudden unintended acceleration] had been the subject of a number of meetings and the exchange of a number of documents between TMS and TMC… and the possibility of a class action lawsuit was used as one way to try to get TMC to work on a series of proposed countermeasures.”
 
In his letter to Inaba, Towns writes:

In sum, the Biller documents indicate a systematic disregard for the law and routine violation of court discovery orders in litigation. People injured in crashes involving Toyota vehicles may have been injured a second time when Toyota failed to produce relevant evidence in court. Moreover, this also raises very serious questions as to whether Toyota has also withheld substantial, relevant information from NHTSA.

To aid in our investigation of these and related issues, please respond to the following questions:
 
1. What steps did Toyota take to address the concerns expressed by Mr. Biller in his September 1, 2005 memorandum regarding the need to produce relevant electronic records, including the Books of Knowledge?
 
2. Has Toyota disclosed the existence of the Books of Knowledge to NHTSA? If so, when and under what circumstances?
 
3. When did Toyota begin producing all relevant electronic documents in response to discovery requests in tort cases?
 
4. Have the Books of Knowledge been produced in response to discovery requests in litigation? If so, please list the cases in which they have been disclosed. If not, please explain why they have not been disclosed.
 
5. If it is true that the Books of Knowledge and other relevant electronic records were not produced in the course of litigation as required, will Toyota petition to reopen all closed cases so that the relevant evidence may be considered?

Towns requests that Mr. Inaba respond to these queries by noon on March 12.

Start the clock, boys….

Perhaps following the lead of Denny’s, who has been pointing customers to the wrong Twitter account for several months, the folks at United Airlines decided to use their Twitter to link out to a site selling male enhancement pills.

At some point on Thursday night, the following Tweet was blasted out by United:
“hey, i’ve been having sex and longer with this here,” with a link out to another site.

We’re guessing this was a bit of Twitter hackery and not some daring new plan to open up new revenue streams. Within minutes of the Tweet going out, it had been taken down, but not before some users managed to snag a screengrab of the gaffe.

Hey United… If you want to spice up your Tweets, we recommend hiring Conan O’Brien.

And oh yeah, just a reminder that you can follow Consumerist onTwitter too.

United Airlines Twitter Account Hacked [NYCAviation]

We can understand just a little bit why some people might be willing to go on any of the countless daytime “judge” shows like Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, Street Court, etc. The show’s pay you a nominal fee to appear, you get to be on TV and if the defendant loses, the show foots the bill (up to a certain amount). But the following video should give you four very good reasons for why you should never, ever, ever go on one of these shows.

Actually, it’s not exactly four “reasons” as much it’s the four people featured in the clip. These are four folks you should not want to be associated with.

See the Best Judge Judy Ending… Ever? [NY Mag]

If you think you’re lactose intolerant, the National Institutes of Health says, well… maybe you’re not. In a statement released yesterday, the NIH claims that lactose intolerance is nowhere near as prevalent as it’s believed and that a general misunderstanding of lactose is causing people to not get the Vitamin D and calcium they need.

“Particularly in children and adolescents, it’s very difficult for them to receive enough calcium and vitamin D if they avoid dairy completely,” said Dr. Frederick J. Suchy, professor and chief of pediatric hepatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. “The same thing may hold true for adults.”

While Suchy admits that only a small portion of the world’s adult population has the ability to absorb lactose as a nutrient, that shouldn’t be mistaken for an intolerance to the sugar.

He also warns that some symptoms of true lactose intolerance — diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating and flatulence — could also result from more serious gastrointestinal conditions like irritable bowel syndrome or celiac disease, and that people may be misdiagnosing themselves.

Says Dr. Marshall Wolf of Harvard Medical School:

This is not an allergic condition where if you take a little bit of milk you get sick. That’s quite rare… This is a quantitative condition and most people, even those with malabsorption, can take a certain amount of milk products without any symptoms, and there is some evidence to suggest that if you take milk products on a regular basis, you can build up your tolerance for milk.

Dr. Suchy adds that yogurt and hard cheeses, especially low-fat hard cheeses, may be more tolerable to those afflicted by lactose intolerance.

Anyone else really want a milkshake right now?

Think You’re Lactose Intolerant? Maybe Not [US News & World Report]

What’s in a name? Just ask Stephanie Madoff, daughter-in-law to imprisoned Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff. Seems like Stephanie is finding that the surname she took when she wed Bernie’s boy Mark isn’t just a badge of shame — it’s also a threat to her life. That’s why she has petitioned a Manhattan court for a name change.

Citing death threats made against her since her father-in-law got nabbed for bilking billions out of investors, Stephanie now “wishes to avoid additional embarrassment, harassment and endangerment associated with the name ‘Madoff.’”

She’s also seeking to protect the lives of her two children, adding name-change requests for them both to the petition. Oddly, both kids will retain “Madoff” as a middle name.

According to court documents, Mark Madoff voiced no objection to the request.

We’re guessing he might be considering dropping the “Madoff” from his name too.

Madoff’s daughter-in-law wants her name changed [CNN]

Getting something fixed under warranty is rarely a pleasant task. It often takes longer than expected and occasionally lapses into bouts of back-and-forth finger-pointing between the manufacturer and the owner of the faulty product. Just ask Consumerist reader Art, who says that Toshiba has not only had his busted laptop for three months, but they’ve reneged on their promise to replace it and now want $140 for his troubles.

According to Art, he received the Toshiba Satellite L455 laptop four months ago as a gift. And after only three weeks of use, he says the USB port was falling out, the computer had shorted out and it was completely inoperable.

Since the laptop, which had been purchased at Best Buy, was still under its one-year manufacturer’s warranty, he sent it in for repair, expecting to have the problem resolved in a manner of weeks.

That was three months ago.

Here’s Art’s version of the events that followed:

Toshiba has now had my laptop four times longer than I did before it broke due to a factory warrantee. That would be enough to get angry about by itself. But after calling the company over a dozen times, and spending over 24 total hours on hold(and being disconnected/sent to phones that rang for 10-15 minutes before I gave up), I called Best Buy. They got a corporate representative on a three-way call with me, where they strong-armed Toshiba into finally doing something. The computer had been going on and off hold for two months while they ordered more and more parts, and they finally gave up and said they’d replace it. That was last week. Best Buy, horrified at how poorly toshiba has treated their customer, has told me they are sending me a $50 gift card. Note: Best Buy is doing this, not Toshiba. So I was satisfied that I would finally get my computer back, albeit three months later.

I just got a phone call from Toshiba’s repair depot. They have declared the damage to be my fault and not covered under the warrantee. But they’ll go ahead and fix it, for only $140! What a deal – only a third of the cost of the computer itself, which I had for three weeks before it broke due to a factory defect! I am at the end of my rope here. What was supposed to be a really cool gift from a friend has turned into an absolute nightmare, with over 30 hours now spent on hold talking to people who transfer me back and forth, drop my call, don’t call back, refuse to help me and tell me nothing. Then they lied to me, told me they were replacing the computer, and then called back and tried to charge me $140 to fix it.

I hope my story can at least serve as a warning to never, ever buy a Toshiba product. They are a company that intentionally steals – yes, literally steals – from people who are ignorant enough to buy from them.

And then we just received this update:

One last thing that happened — Best Buy is no longer sending us a gift card for some reason. In fact, it turns out the guy who told us that was just completely lying and never actually marked anything down to be sent for us. Best Buy has no idea what we’re talking about.

Here are some things Art may want to try next:

• Contact Best Buy Executives — Use this contact info and write a cogent, strongly worded e-mail to Best Buy bigwigs about their company’s involvement in the situation. Remember to keep your anger in check and stick to the details.

• Contact the Credit Card Company — This is slightly more complicated than usual, since it’s a gift. You’ll need the friend that bought the laptop for you to contact their credit card company’s warranty division. They may be able to help either with a charge back or if that card offers automatic extended warranty protection.

• Check Out This Link to see what other options may be available to you.