Author: Laura Northrup

Last month, we posted about a Slate article encouraging people to depend on their senses and instincts when deciding whether food is safe to eat, rather than going solely by printed expiration or “sell by” dates. “Is the food slimy and smelly?” that post proclaimed. “Don’t eat it.” But if you doubt your own judgment and are unsure of the exact level of smelliness and sliminess that is acceptable for you and your family, the Livejournal community Can I Eat This? is here to help you navigate the scary world of your own refrigerator.

Here are some sample recent posts:

March 12: I have chicken that expires tomorrow–I opened it Wednesday and the put foil back over the container and put it back in the fridge. When I went to put it in the pan tonight, I noticed a slight smell. Only on some of the pieces and they have to be pretty close to my nose.

Can I eat it?

Verdict: No.

March 10: So I have some expired turkey burger that apparently “expired” on Feb 28th. It’s been in the freezer since then. I’m not much of a cook and i’m fairly inexperienced, would this be safe to eat? I’m probably going to go with yes, but you never know.

Verdict: Frozen before the expiration date. It’s fine.

February 27: A friend of mine was eating a QuikTrip sandwich just now, and a quarter of the way through, she noticed the meat was orange, yellow, green, and shimmering. What might happen now?

Verdict: Birefringence. Perfectly safe.

Consumerist’s verdict: follow your own instincts and government guidelines, instead of seeing text-based guidance on the Internet.

Can I Eat This? [Livejournal]

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Allow Yourself To Stop Being Obsessed With “Sell By” Dates On Food

Steve writes that his brother used to live in New Jersey. He now lives in Missouri. When ordering a Playstation 3 from Best Buy, he repeatedly corrected his address in Best Buy’s system, but somehow the PS3 still ended up shipped to his former address in New Jersey. Now Best Buy doesn’t intend to do anything until Steve’s brother convinces the current occupant of his former home in New Jersey to send the PS3 back. Good luck with that.

I am trying to help my brother out by seeing if anyone can help him with his predicament with Best Buy. He wanted to buy a Playstation 3 for the upcomming release of Final Fantasy 13. Since he lives in a small town called Union, Missouri, he has to make the approximately 1 hour trip to St. Louis to the nearest Best Buy. He did have the option of hitting up his local Gamestop, but he does love his rewards points and has been a long time member of the Best Buy rewards program. Unfortunately as luck would have it, Best Buy was out of PS3’s. He talked to a manager and they told him that the next shipment of PS3’s would be next week. Unable to wait that long, he decided that he would just go online and order the console form Best Buys website. He logged into his account to update his information. It had been a while since he had logged into his Best Buy account. His previous address was from New Jersey. After changing his address, he logged out then logged back in to purchase the PS3. When he went to check out he noticed that the address information had not been updated so he re-entered his Missouri address from the check out screen. He finished his checkout and thought nothing else of it.

His problem started when after a week goes by and he does not recieve a PS3 at his front door step. He logs into his account to find the tracking information and to his astonishment discovered that the PS3 had been delivered, but it had been delivered to his New Jersey address. He called up Best Buy to complain that they shipped the PS3 to the wrong address and that he had updated his address to his account. He wanted to know why they still delivered it to his New Jersey address. Per his words Best Buy gave him the usual “BS” and they said they would be glad to refund him his money as soon as he returns the Playstation. He then calls up UPS to complain and they just tell him that they received a package with an address and that they had fulfilled their delivery to the correct address. The package did not require any delivery confirmation so the PS3 was just dropped off at the front door. He assumes that the current owner of the house in New Jersey has decided to keep the PS3 since it has been about two weeks and no PS3 has been returned. So now he is out $300 with no PS3 and no way to get back to New Jersey to hunt down the PS3. Consumerist please help my brother.

Those addresses for an EECB (and phone numbers) are right here if you need them. Since we published this list in 2009, Brian Dunn has taken over for Brad Anderson as CEO. If you have any other ideas for Steve, he’s listening.

Late last year, someone claiming to be a Best Buy employee wrote in with advice for ordering from their Web site. It’s too bad that Steve’s brother didn’t see this before placing his ill-fated order.

Old Shipping Address on Newly Placed Orders

If your BestBuy.com account has your old shipping address and you are placing an order that needs to go elsewhere, be very careful. Best Buy’s systems have this glitch which really gets people angry, but leaves only a short window to fix it (usually an hour, sometimes less). To make sure your new order doesn’t default to your old address, go into your BestBuy.com account and delete your old address. Now, add your new one and make sure your old one is nowhere to be found. Wait 30 minutes, at least then place your order. Your old address will not be used and your order will go to your new, correct address. This happens a lot and has been on the list for Best Buy to fix for over two years, but they haven’t fixed it yet.

The shopper loyalty cards that your grocery store provides can have a higher purpose than giving you discounts, profiling your shopping habits, and racking up points for rewards programs. Loyalty card data can also help track down the source of foodborne pathogens, retaining records of specific brands and items that customers probably won’t remember. Trying to find the source of a mysterious salmonella outbreak, the CDC mined grocery loyalty card data to narrow the source down to specific brands of Italian cured meat.

Through interviews and questionnaires, investigators suspected some kind of Italian meat was the culprit, but people couldn’t remember what brand they bought, [CDC epidemiologist Casey Barton] Behravesh said.

So the CDC asked supermarkets for certain buying information on seven victims in Washington state, focusing on suspect products rather than everything the customers had bought, Behravesh said. “We didn’t care about the brand of toilet paper people were buying,” she said.

Of those seven people, five had bought Italian meats made by the Rhode Island company, Daniele International Inc., Behravesh said.

Further investigation — including the use of data from other victims’ shopper cards — pointed to salami made by Daniele and, more specifically, the imported pepper it was coated in. That came from two spice suppliers in New York and New Jersey. All three companies have since recalled some products.

In this case, only people who had salmonella and gave permission for the CDC to look at their shopping history. Some grocery chains take this concept and reverse it, contacting customers who have purchased potentially dangerous items.

CDC uses shopper-card data to trace salmonella [AP]

While looking at tickets for Conan O’Brien’s upcoming comedy tour, Aaron came across this strangely appropriate CAPTCHA.

Warning: Even if medical marijuana is legal in your state and you have a valid prescription, your employer can still fire you for using it. A Michigan man learned this the hard way after failing a drug test given by his employer of five years, Walmart.

Joseph Casias has cancer and a brain tumor, and has a marijuana prescription to help him deal with his chronic pain. He claims that he never came to work under the influence, but the company’s policies are strict–and apply even where pot is legal for medical use.

[L]ast November, Casias sprained his knee at work. Marijuana was detected in his system during the routine drug screening that follows all workplace injuries. Casias showed WalMart managers his state medical marijuana card, but he was fired anyway.

“I was told they do not accept or honor my medical marijuana card,” says Casias.

In an e-mail from headquarters, WalMart spokesman Greg Rossiter explained the company policy. It states: “In states, such as Michigan, where prescriptions for marijuana can be obtained, an employer can still enforce a policy that requires termination of employment following a positive drug screen. We believe our policy complies with the law and we support decisions based on the policy.”

Walmart is challenging his claim for unemployment benefits, which he has collected since November.

Walmart fires Michigan man for using medical marijuana [WZZM] (Thanks, Carol!)

Paul received a door hanger from with a nice personal note from a salesman for the lawn care company TruGreen. “I see you’re treating the weeds already, but I have licensed techs, who use industrial strength products,” he wrote. “Give us a call to see aggressive gauranteed [sic] results!” How perceptive! Paul could almost take it seriously were his current lawn care company not TruGreen.

Ryan tells Consumerist that his HP dv2700se laptop has been problematic, losing wireless connectivity, and overheating a bit. And when I say “a bit,” I mean “tried to set his desk on fire.” HP’s solution? Keep replacing the graphics processing unit (GPU) with the same flawed part until his warranty runs out. Ryan does not find this solution acceptable. Here is his story, with pictures.

In early 2008(?) I purchased a HP laptop that started freezing and wireless would go out etc..I read up and found out the issue was with the GPU and requested a different laptop without the faulty gpu. This was before they were cranking up the fan to increase the life of the units. So they sent me and upgrade! a special edition, 14.1 inch, bigger HD, more memory, it was great. Then I look at the GPU, its an 8400m again. I get pissed but decide that they helped me out and the chances of it failing again were slim. Wrong.

About 6 months in I had the same issues with my dv2700se. It started freezing, getting really warm, mouse stopped working, and wireless. I sent it off and they didn’t find anything wrong. I then sent it off again, very upset, but still was kind over the phone. They sent it back with a new motherboard and the same gpu, even though I requested something with an ATI card. They also applied the bios change so then fan was always on.

So about 3 months after this repair the battery stopped charging. This was due to over-use of the battery with the fan being on. So 3 months after that it starts overheating again! this time it almost lit a envelope on fire!, charred it black and set off a smoke alarm. Checked the temp and it was running at 82c, thats 180+ degrees.

So I call the number I got from [Consumerist], and get a case manager [redacted]. Hes very nice and says they will replace the motherboard, and the LCD as I have a extended accidental damage warranty. I explain the new DV4i with an ATI card would be cheaper than replacing the motherboard and lcd. He said they never replace laptops. I asked why they did the year before? no answer. I ask him about the defective 8400 cards and he says “yeah its been a pain in the rear, but what can we do”. He pretty much said yeah we are just going to put a defective part in it, again, until your warranty runs out.

I work for best buy on the weekends, and run a design firm during the week. The HP is my portable machine I take to clients, and if I need to work on 3d stuff on a plane etc..

I am constantly recommending HP stuff at work, but that is going to end now. It has been almost 2 years and I have never got more than 4 months out of the unit without issues.

Ryan sent an update a few weeks later:

I keep getting the run around from them. They now want me to send it to their engineers. I asked them what happens if the engineers deem its overheating? they said it will go to the repair facility. I said its been there, 3 times, and the same parts keep over heating. Soon my warranty will run out and it will cost me 400$

I haven’t gotten anywhere with them cause I don’t have email address’s to anyone important. One of the case reps even went as far as to call me stupid, saying I cant say that its overheating without being a HP certified tech. Even though I’m a certified tech and have been working on and with computers for over 15 years.

Ive pretty much given up, and my 1,000$ is now a waste.

An extended warranty and executive customer service have failed Ryan. Unfortunately, it may be time for him to escalate to some serious hardball. We’ve published stories in the past about readers with similar self-destructing laptop issues (or other problems that were HP’s fault) who have found success through filing in small claims court. Ryan’s computer wasn’t one of the notorious dv6000 models, but this draw get their attention to the fiery lemon that they sold and keep not repairing.

Man Gets Brand New Laptop After Suing HP In Small Claims Court For Losing His
Reader Receives $900 For Broken Laptop In Small Claims Court

Fab lawyer Sam Glover wrote a guide to taking a big scary company to small claims court for Consumerist: read it and learn.

Do you squeeze every last bit of toothpaste out of the tube, and remove the spout to get every last drop of detergent out of the bottle? You’re reading Consumerist, so you very well might. But sometimes extreme measures are needed to get everything out. Our sister publication Consumer Reports noticed this, and applied some mad science to see exactly how much product people are paying for, but leaving behind.

Maybe I’m just hopelessly cheap, but I find some of these cutaways amazing.

Packaging Squeeze [Consumer Reports]

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Old Navy produces solid, inexpensive clothing, but isn’t a brand that one normally associates with high-end customer service. Yet Ashley had such a great experience after a catastrophic coat button loss, she just had to share. She tells Consumerist that after some decorative buttons fell off her coat, the company simply gave her a store credit for the full purchase price of the coat.

In November I purchased a coat for about $99. I tend to have bad luck with buttons, and this coat was no different. I had to reinforce the buttons quite a few times because they would slowly start to come off. At one point, a button came right off without me even noticing it (it was a button with no purpose aside from giving it a double-breasted look) until it was too late.

Then, about two weeks ago, I noticed a button unraveling yet again. I didn’t have time to fix it yet, so I put it off… Unfortunately, the button came off while I was in class or on my way to campus, so I didn’t find it. I decided that it might be a good idea to get in touch with Old Navy to see if perhaps they could send me some replacement buttons. Since I’m a lazy college student, I had my mom call the [redacted] store to see what they could do. Their first suggestion was to visit a Michaels and purchase a new set of buttons, trying to match the style as best as possible. The other suggestion the manager had was for us to return the coat and receive store credit.

Now, normally I would prefer to keep something around that fits as well as this coat did, but considering the fact that we’re already up into the forties, I wouldn’t get much usage out of a winter coat anyway. We ended up taking the coat in and we were able to get a store credit certificate for the full price paid for the coat, despite the fact that I had lost my receipt, and I paid in cash originally. Now I will be able to buy spring clothing in exchange for a coat that I certainly got my money’s worth over the past four months. Considering that this was the outcome despite my lack of receipt, I am incredibly pleased with their actions, and felt as though this experience was worthy of sharing on your awesome blog.

This is a true case of “above and beyond” – the customer called the store up looking for a packet of new buttons, and walked away with a full refund for the coat she had been wearing all winter. Amazing!

If you order food, should you be able to take the uneaten portion home with you? Sure, you can’t take home a box full of roast beef and shrimp from an all-you-can eat buffet, but can you take home half of a cheeseburger from a chain restaurant? Jennifer writes that the staff at the McCormick and Schmick’s that she visited recently don’t seem to think so. Her boyfriend wasn’t allowed to take the uneaten portion of his burger and fries home because it was purchased during happy hour, at happy hour prices.

My boyfriend and I enjoyed a couple of beers and cheeseburgers at the McCormick and Schmick’s [redacted] Location happy hour last Friday. My boyfriend, however, only finished half of his burger and nearly none of his order of garlic fries. As we asked for the bill, not wanting to waste the food, we also asked for a to go box. The hostess initially took our food, but she came back rather quickly, advising us that no happy hour food could be taken to go, with no exceptions.

I was terribly disappointed in the restaurant’s rigid rule, mostly because the rule clearly promotes and even encourages the wasting of food, which is simply unacceptable.

I would have asked to speak to the manager on duty, but as we were late for our movie, this was not a choice. I’ve since tried emailing the manager from the main McCormick and Schmick’s website, but the emails keep bouncing.

We’ve often enjoyed McCormick and Schmick’s happy hours over the years, but I am now torn. I would appreciate some sort of official explanation for this rule, and why exceptions cannot be made. It’s not as if we ordered a lot of food (clearly more than we could consume in more sitting); rather, between the two of us, we ordered two cheeseburgers and one order of garlic fries. Further, we paid for the food, we should be able to take the leftovers home. Simply put, we should have been able to take home the leftover, uneaten food to consume later.

Any thoughts on this? Any other restaurants have such an asinine rule?

Jennifer got her answer from the restaurant’s general manager the next day. Customers can’t bring happy hour food that they’ve paid for home because it’s priced so inexpensively.

Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting us regarding your experience at McCormick &
Schmick’s last Friday during Happy Hour. I am glad to hear that overall
you enjoyed your experience at Happy Hour. Unfortunately, we run into a
quandary on the issue of taking food to go. It may not seem like much
taking half a cheeseburger and fries home, but after many years of
hosting a Happy Hour featuring food that is priced as a loss leader we
have found that allowing any To Go food creates a multitude of problems.
Unfortunately when we offer a To Go box to any customer, then every
other customer wants one. This may not seem so bad, but with the
extremely low prices we offer on our Happy Hour Food (our 8oz burgers &
fries are less than half the price of the same item at a fast food
restaurant and much higher quality) we immediately have people ordering
a great many items that they have no intention of finishing at the
restaurant. As the items offered are not a profit center for us this
does not benefit the restaurant and can actually hurt it. The purpose
of our Happy Hour offerings is to offer guests an incentive to enjoy
great inexpensive food items while enjoying cocktails at the same time,
it is not meant to be a buffet to take home. Though I realize that was
not the case in your instance, that is what it becomes to many of our
guests when food is allowed to be taken out. That is why we prominently
display the legend “No To Go Food” on the Happy Hour Menu.

I do hope you can understand our reasoning and will continue to
patronize the restaurant. I would be happy to meet you on your next
visit and personally make sure that you have a great time whether for
Happy Hour or dinner. Please feel free to contact me and I will be
happy to make a reservation for you.

There is a logic to this, when customers are ordering huge amounts of cheap food and packing it up to take home. That logic does not apply to one cheeseburger and fries.

What do you think, Consumerist Hive Mind?

Do you suspect you may be eligible for tax credits for to purchasing a new home or remodeling an existing one, but would like a sleek, simple infographic to guide you? Fixr is here to help, with a simple guide to this year’s tax credits.

2010 Guide To Home Buying Tax Credits (Infographic) [Fixr]

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Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended To June 2010, Woot!
IRS Opens Can Of Whoopass On Paid Tax Preparers
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We might have all of the cat pictures here at Consumerist, but our sibling publication, Consumer Reports, gets to play with very cool toys. Right now, the folks in the TV-testing lab have some of the exciting new 3D televisions from Panasonic and Samsung, and they made a preliminary video to show them off and weigh the pros and cons of being an early 3D TV adopter. Sorry, the video is only in 2D.

The 3D television models that Consumer Reports is currently testing run around $2500, but are pretty useless if you don’t also invest in a 3D Blu-Ray player (around $400) and some spare pairs of glasses (about $100 each) for your family members and friends who will inevitably invite themselves over.

First Tests of 3D TVs [Consumer Reports]

Have you noticed Netflix’s new movie information page? A lot of other people have. The new, cleaner layout rearranges the user interface a bit, and removes social features from movie pages–you can’t see which of your friends have watched, rated, or reviewed that particular movie. Is this a good move, or a terrible one?

Users had their say on Netflix’s blog. The entry announcing the change currently has 449 comments, and commenters on that page claim that the first 150 comments were removed.

Here’s the new layout, if you haven’t logged in to Netflix in the past week:

This redesign is helping Netflix phase out community features, like friends’ ratings and lists. If you use Netflix, are these useful to you? Do you like the new changes hate them, or do you even care?

What Do You Think of the New Netflix Movie Information Pages? [Hacking Netflix]
New Movie Details Page Rolled Out [Netflix Official Blog]

Michael really has no complaints against CDW. He’s just amused at the size of the box that they sent his serial adapter (that small metal thing at bottom right) in. He writes:

The item, the serial adapter was inside the small box with the typical antistatic foam that electronics are usually cushioned in. That smaller box was then inside the larger CDW box with a few unpictured “air pillows”, some of which were deflated. No complaints against CDW, just showing the packaging.

Sometimes banner ads online promise a great price, but do not reflect actual reality. That’s the sad lesson that reader Ricky writes that he learned recently after clicking on a banner ad for Overstock.com. See, the banner advertised products for sale at Overstock.com and bore the company’s logo, but the company did not produce the ad, and the prices are not real.

He wrote to the company:

Hello,

I was researching iPod docks to purchase this morning and came across several models I was interested in. One in particular was a Philips DCP851/37x (Overstock #11676281). I came across several websites which carried the product including your own with the cheapest being Geeks.com which has it listed for $79.99.

Unfortunately, the item was sold out at Geeks.com and your website had it the next cheapest. The price was still over my price range so I stopped looking. This afternoon I had some free time at work so I decided to log into my hotmail account to check my email and the first thing I saw after logging in was a banner ad for overstock.com which had that very item I was researching. The price on the banner ad was $79.99 which matched Geeks.com website so I clicked on the banner ad and ended up on the product page on your website. The price unfortunately did not match the banner ad price and was the same price I had seen earlier, $107.49.

I clicked on the chat icon to talk to a customer service agent to explain what had just happened. They asked for a link to the ad in question, but unfortunately the ad had already switched to a different vendor. I kept refreshing the hotmail.com website in hopes that it would come back up, which it did. However, this time that price was different ($91.74), but still did not match the price on your website. She asked me to give her the link to the banner ad, but since it was a flash banner ad there was no way I could give her a link. She advised me to take screenshots and email this email address.

Attached you will find two screenshots, the first called hotmail.jpg shows my hotmail inbox with the banner add off to the right showing a different price from what’s listed on your website. Unfortunately, I have not been able to recreate the lower price of $79.99 that I initially saw however this screenshot still shows the price discrepancy. The second picture of overstock.com shows the location of where the link went to after clicking on the banner ad where you can clearly see the two prices don’t match up. Interestingly enough, you can also notice that on the item ‘Mustek MP80B’ the banner ad price is actually higher than the actual website.

The purpose of this email is two point out the price differences of your ads and your website and to hopefully get you to honor the $79.99 price on the Philips DCP851/37x (Overstock #11676281) product.

Any information on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Ricky

An Overstock rep responded:

Hello Ricky,

I am writing in response to your letter regarding the Overstock.com ad banner. I will be happy to help answer your questions.

To provide some clarification, the Overstock.com advertising on your Window’s Live Hotmail is not a paid endorsement by Overstock.com. The advertising was placed via our affiliate program, a program open to everyone and comprised of thousands of affiliate members who post our banners and sell our merchandise on their own websites. Affiliate programs are widely used in the Internet retailing business, and the task of connecting affiliates with online retailers is typically handled by an independent third-party organization.

Overstock.com does not sponsor, support, or endorse the views and opinions of any political party, organization, personality, or issue. We simply provide a great selection of quality merchandise at deep discounts. As vigorous supporters of free speech, we firmly believe society as a whole benefits enormously by encouraging a diversity of ideas.

After carefully reviewing the matter, we do not plan to change our policies with regard to our affiliate program at this time. We certainly appreciate your comments and value the viewpoints of all of our customers.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance on this or any other issue. I hope you will visit us soon for great savings on name-brand products.
Sincerely,

[redacted]
Customer Care
Overstock.com

It sounds as if this is a form letter sent to people who find sites on which they see Overstock’s banner ads offensive, so it doesn’t really apply to Ricky’s situation. Still, it got the message across to him. Prices on banner ads are not the same as prices on ad circulars, and they are not always current. Or even real.

Thinking about the controversy over asking for ID during credit card purchases, and the competing values of privacy and safety, Daniel had an interesting idea–though it isn’t a new idea. What if credit cards were photo IDs, and had our pictures on them? Logistical nightmare, or handy fraud-prevention tool?

He writes:

I don’t want to show anyone my license when I use my card but I’d have no problem using a card with my picture on it. Some companies do this, of course, but my question is what don’t they all require it? It seems like such a simple security measure that would cut down on much fraud. And it would be so easy to implement now—I can get any (acceptable) image I want on my Capital One card.

Having your face plastered across the entire surface of a card, like Capital One offers, is a scary prospect. But–leaving logistics aside–would you welcome such a measure?

Now that Chase has reversed their initial decision and issued a refund to the retiree they accused of credit card fraud, maybe they can take a look at a rather similar case, but on a smaller scale. Reader P tells Consumerist that Chase ruled that he is responsible for some uncharacteristic purchases he purportedly made thousands of miles away from where he was at the time.

He writes:

The Chase Bank Visa team are trying to stick me (a generic middle-aged Irish-named white guy near Boston who does not smoke or play the lottery and hasn’t left the area in months) with the bogus charges on a credit card receipt showing:

• redemption of a winning $80 lottery ticket,
• purchase of over $100 cigarettes and sundries, and
• the clear signature of one R. [Spanish last name],

…all taking place at a 7-Eleven near Tampa in February.

The accompanying letter from Chase says, “[…]we have researched your dispute[…] Based upon the information on the sales slip, the charge is considered valid.[…]”

Amazing! It’s like being on Candid Camera.

It sounds like there’s something odd going on here. You know who I bet would love to hear about it? Chase’s executive customer service team.

A Pennsylvania man died last Friday in a freak fire at a gas station. Authorities say that the fire was sparked by static electricity on the man’s body, and he died of inhalation of superheated gases. While this type of fire is very rare and fatalities even rarer, they do happen. To prevent them, you should do something terribly mundane: do not ever get back in your car while fueling, and make sure to touch a metal surface before fueling.

Built-up static electricity can be discharged as a spark, igniting the gasoline. But in this case, authorities are unsure what could have ignited the fire.

State police fire marshal Eric Keebaugh, who investigated the fire, said several things could have happened to discharge the electricity and spark gasoline vapors.

After he got out of his car, Byers might have closed the door with his elbow or his shoe, which would have insulated his body and not allowed him to “ground” any electricity, Keebaugh said.

Some clothing also is more prone to lead to the buildup of static electricity, he said. Renkes said he knows of one fire that resulted after a man put on a windbreaker.

“There was a perfect alignment of the conditions to create this tragedy,” Williamson said

.

Here’s a disturbing statistic: 80% of static electricity/gas pump fires happen to women, who are apparently more likely to climb back in our cars to comb our hair or fix our mascara or something.

This video shows a fire that started in a similar way, but did not result in serious injuries.

Gas pump death a warning [Lancaster Online]

Jen wrote to Consumerist to let us know that the number we posted in August for student loan servier Sallie Mae’s Customer Advocate Unit is still valid and staffed with extremely helpful people.. She cut through the nonsense of regular customer service who were unable to help, then hung up on her.

Hey, I just wanted to express my thanks for posting the number for
Sallie Mae’s Customer Advocate Unit.

I had called the main number for help after I couldn’t register online to get a copy of my 1098-E (apparently, they’re only sent out automatically if the interest paid is over $600). The first guy I spoke to, “J” was talking in circles, so I asked to speak to a supervisor to clarify a few things. He promptly hung up on me. I called back and managed to speak to a guy named “M” who claimed to be a supervisor. He kept asking me if I had created an online account, I kept telling him that I wasn’t able to do so because the website claimed my loan account number didn’t match up with my birthdate or some such. Rinse and repeat about three times. When I asked him to go ahead and snail mail a copy of the form to my home, he hung up on me.

I found the Sallie Mae CAU in your archives and gave them a call. They were closed for the day, but when I got home from work this afternoon, there was a message from them, asking me to call. I did, and I got ahold of a wonderful woman named Jocelyn. She listened to what I had to say, took my information and looked up the call. She apologized, and made a note in the file, and made sure I was able to get the form
I needed.

Not a huge deal, but she made me feel like she cared about why I was calling. So, let your readers know, that yes, that number still works with good results.

That number, if you’re a Sallie Mae customer in need, is 888-545-4199.

For some reason, Chase bank decided to take a second look at the $6,200 an unidentified person removed from Bronx retiree Ernest Nitzberg’s checking account. It just might have been the outcry after he shared his story with a global audience on the Huffington Post.

Chase had told the 78-year-old that he fit the profile of a credit card cheat, and would not receive a refund of the $6,200 spent using a debit card that Nitzberg says he never received. The NYPD opened an investigation on the incident, but the crooks were just too talented.

A Huffington Post staff member contacted a Chase representative, and then justice happened.

Nitzberg said a bank rep called him to say he’d get his $6,200 back: “We examined the account and we saw no reason we should have disbelieved you and the money will be in your account this afternoon.”

A Chase spokesman confirmed the refund to HuffPost: “We reviewed the case again and we were able to make a refund of the customer.”

Nitzberg is glad to have his money back, but not exactly gleeful.

“[The bank rep] expected me to thank her profusely and prodigiously, and I did not,” Nitzberg said. “I said, ‘You have caused me enormous aggravation.’”

Hooray for the Internet!

Chase Refunds $6,200 To Complaining Customer [Huffington Post]

PREVIOUSLY:
Chase Tells 44-Year Customer He Fits Fraud Profile, Stole $6200 From Himself