United’s Reservation System Wreaking Havoc At Airports Today

Twitter user @ashleyralston posted this photo of the massive line (and few people working) at a United reservations counter this morning.

In a scene reminiscent of two embarrassing 2012 incidents, United Airlines is doing a lot of apologizing today after a problem with its reservation system has resulted in long lines at airports around the country.

The @United Twitter feed is currently littered with “very sorry” and “we are aware” responses to angry travelers who have been stuck in line for up to several hours at some airports.

“We are experiencing issues with our passenger service computer system,” United said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. “We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”

FlightAware.com currently says that 375 United flights (about 16%) have been delayed today. The big question is how many passengers are not making it to on-time flights because they can’t check in?

This situation reminds us of the problems United was having in the months after its merger with Continental Airlines.

Back in Aug. 2012, a system outage left travelers stranded at airports while the airline employees were helpless to do anything for them.

Then three months later, another crash shut down the nation’s largest airline’s system for a few hours.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Student Loan Debt Preventing Consumers From Buying First Homes

(coffeego)

First-time home buyers accounted for only a third of the homes purchased over the last year. The below-average number is thanks in part to American’s growing student loan debt. With high monthly payments and increased credit risk, student loan debt is keeping some first-time home buyers from entering the housing market; a trend that doesn’t appear to be turning around anytime soon.

Officials with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau say rising student debt, along with its implications on the housing market, could prove to be one of the most painful aftershocks of the Great Recession, the Washington Post reports.

Housing experts say the decline has to do with student loan debt carried by prospective homeowners. Student loan debt has tripled from a decade ago; an unsurprising figure considering tuition continues to increase year after year. Today, 71% of students leave college with an average of $29,400 in student loan debt.

Consumers with student loan debt face an uphill battle when it comes to purchasing a home thanks in part to a new federal rules that went into effect last month. The new rule gives mortgage lenders broad legal protections as long as they do not approve loans for buyers whose total months debt exceeds 43% of their monthly gross income.

Additionally, the Federal Housing Administration is looking to scrap a waiver that helped many first-time home buyers in the past. Currently, the agency allows mortgage lenders it works with to ignore student loans debt that’s been deferred a year or more when assessing a borrower’s eligibility for a loan.

Not only does higher student loan debt make for more high-risk borrowers, but higher monthly payments on loans means more consumers are struggling to scrap together enough money for a down payment. The National Association of Realtors reported that 54% of first-time home buyers said student loans made it tough to save money.

A recent Georgetown graduate told the Post that with $75,000 in student debt she struggled for years to come up with a down payment on a condominium. Finally, her parents came to her rescue.

Fellow first-time homebuyers are finding other ways to reduce their debt, such as going to work in developing countries for tax benefits or selling advertising on their graduation caps.

Student debt may hurt housing recovery by hampering first-time buyers [The Washington Post]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Why Just Cutting The Mold Off That Leftover Pizza Probably Isn’t A Good Idea

This pizza isn’t moldy… YET. (Coyoty)

Don’t be ashamed. You’ve done it, I’ve done it, we’ve all done it. That cheese is the only thing in your refrigerator, you’re hungry and too lazy to go scavenging the mean streets for fresh food. But it’s got a wee bit of mold on it — it’s totally fine to cut that mold off and eat the rest, right? Well, maybe not so much.

The thing about mold is, what you see is not only all that you’ll get, explains DNews (h/t to Lifehacker for the link) in this very informative video.

Basically, though you might think you’re cutting off only the part of the loaf of bread or fruit that has the mold on it, the stuff grows in strands called hyphae that aren’t visible to the naked eye. So if the food is soft and porous, that mold could be spreading its nasty tendrils throughout.

When it comes down to it — you’ll probably be okay if you cut mold off hard, non-porous foods like carrots or salami,for example. But that moldy pizza, soft cheese, bread or fruits? Just take a deep breath and get rid of it. It’s for the best.

Check out the video for more:

Can You Cut the Mold Off Food and Eat It? [DNews]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Clothier Sends Daughter From Minnesota To Costa Rica To Deliver Pants In Time For Wedding

(HerArtSheLoves)

There’s customer service, and then there’s sparing no expense to make sure your customer’s wedding isn’t ruined by flying your own daughter to a tropical destination so she can hand deliver the groom’s pants. That’s called dedication.

A Minnesota clothier went way, way above and beyond when he put his daughter on a plane to Costa Rica carrying $500 suit pants that his groom customer had forgotten. He needed them for his wedding and FedEx, UPS and airline package services couldn’t help, reports the Minnesota Star-Tribune.

The daughter works for her dad’s men’s store and took off Sunday morning at around 6 a.m., flying 11 hours to Costa Rica with the pants. She then waited an hour for a driver and bumped over back-roads to get around and washout before successfully arriving at the beachfront resort to deliver the traveling pants in time for the Monday wedding.

The happy couple hadn’t even realized the pants had been left behind until the store owner contacted the bride through Facebook, and of course, said they weren’t expecting such a special delivery. Turns out the rest of the suit had obscured the hanger that should’ve held the pants, so no one realized they simply weren’t there.

“We are incredibly speechless,” the bride emailed.

“We just want you to have best wedding ever,” the clothier replied.

“Now, thanks to you and your family, we will!” she responded. “I cried. You, Sir, are incredible!”

Sounds like it’s all in a day’s work for the store owner, who added, “We just want to take care of people so they have a great experience. It’s a big day for them. We certainly weren’t going to disappoint them.”

While of course there’s no way that every single business owner could afford such extreme acts of customer service, it’s heartwarming to know that there are those out there willing to literally, go the distance. Or at least have their daughters do so.

“I feel like I am carrying treasure through the jungle,” she said of her trek. “It’s pretty intense, but feels pretty great.”

Talk about customer service: Clothier delivers forgotten pants to groom in Costa Rica [Minnesota Star-Tribune]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

HTC To Now Replace Some Shattered Phone Screens For Free

It’s too late for this poor HTC Pure, but new HTC One, HTC One mini and HTC One max devices will include one-time free screen replacement with HTC Advantage. (Ninja M.)

Some of us are klutzy. No matter how hard we try, we break things. And the more expensive they are, the more likely we are to drop them on, say, the cold concrete floor of Citizens Bank Park. In an effort to lure in butterfingered smartphone owners like yours truly, HTC is now offering one-time free screen replacement on some new devices if the damage is done in the first six months of ownership.

As part of its updated HTC Advantage warranty plan, the manufacturer will cover screen breakage on new HTC One, HTC One mini, or HTC One max devices.

Unfortunately for those of you reading this story through the cracks of your current HTC One, the plan only covers devices bought starting today, Feb. 18, and afterward.

HTC Advantage, which also guarantees that each new device will continue to receive timely Android updates for two years after its U.S. launch, doesn’t cost anything to the customer, but it’s also something some HTC owners don’t know about because the carrier they bought their phones from didn’t exactly make a big deal about it.

As The Verge’s Chris Welch wisely points out:

“The big question is whether carriers will bother informing shoppers about this new initiative. Their existing insurance plans are a proven and lucrative source of revenue, and HTC’s newfound generosity may give customers pause in shelling out an extra monthly fee to Verizon, AT&T, or another wireless provider.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

McDonald’s Switzerland Puts Gruyere, Goat, Swiss Cheeses On Burgers

The name of a current promotion at McDonald’s in Switzerland translates as “large cheese cravings,” and that’s what it’s giving us around the Consumerist office. Unlike the boring old cheeses we’re stuck with here in America, Swiss fast foodies can try burgers topped with fine rolls of what we in the US call Swiss cheese, or with tasty slabs of Gruyère or goat cheese.

Well, they could. Don’t jump on a plane or train just yet: they stopped offering this burger a few weeks ago, since the promo was only for a few weeks in January and February.

Here are the sandwiches you were missing:

McSbrinz: Rolls of Swiss cheese and lettuce on a beef patty and “McSbrinz sauce,” which we’re going to assume includes more cheese, since Sbrinz is the name of the particular Swiss cheese.

McGruyère: Cheese and cheese sauce, beef patty, and lettuce.

McChèvre: Slice of goat cheese, goat cheese sauce, and a sourdough bun.

Around the World: McDonald’s Switzerland Offering Rolls of Cheese in Burgers [Brand Eating]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Comcast Deal Means No Set-Top Box Netflix App For Time Warner Cable Customers

Time Warner Cable had reportedly been in talks with Netflix regarding a deal that would give TWC subscribers direct access to the streaming video service through their set-top cable boxes, rather than having to use a third party device like a gaming console. But that seems to have come to a crashing halt now that Comcast has agreed to buy TWC for $45 billion.

Bloomberg reports that the TWC/Netflix chats have been put off pending the cable company’s sale to the bigger company (or the merger’s doom in the regulatory Great Pit of Carkoon).

Comcast has also been discussing the set-top box arrangement with Netflix but only casually, as the Kabletown Krew is more focused on convincing customers to get streaming video from Comcast than from the one company most directly associated with the cord-cutting phenomenon.

While Bloomberg states that a TWC/Netflix deal would have put pressure on other cable providers to do so, we hesitate to agree, as there is virtually no competition between terrestrial cable companies for customers.

For example, had Netflix been able to get an app on the millions of TWC set-top boxes in the New York City metro area, it’s not like those of us in Comcast country could switch providers to get the more attractive service.

What would have been interesting is to see if having easier access to Netflix would have done anything to stop the bleeding at TWC, which lost a significant number of customers last year in the wake of its ill-advised squabble with CBS.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Capital One Contract Update Gives Company Ability To Visit You At Home

(decaf)

Maybe they should change their slogan from “What’s in your wallet?” to “Who’s knocking at your door?” Capital One recently updated its contract for credit card customers, and the new language is giving some cardholders concern that Cap One may just pop in for tea and scones some afternoon.

The L.A. Times’ David Lazarus looks at the new cardholder agreement, which states that Cap One “may contact you in any manner we choose” including calls, emails, texts, faxes or a “personal visit” at “your home and at your place of employment.”

But if Cap One comes to visit, it probably won’t be a celeb shill like Alec Baldwin or Jimmy Fallon dropping by to watch the Olympics and share some pizza.

“It sounds really invasive, but I don’t think it’s a violation of your 4th Amendment rights,” one attorney specializing in illegal-search cases explains to Lazarus. He does, however, point out that there are laws against harassment.

A rep for Cap One says the company “does not visit our cardholders, nor do we send debt collectors to their homes or work.”

Though, explains the rep, it might be necessary to visit a home if the company is going to repossess something from the cardholder.

Another curious addition to the Cap One contract reads, “We may modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose.”

So basically, the company is telling customers it may trick them into answering their phones by making it look like someone else is calling. Bizarrely, this is not against the law so long as the caller ID spoofing isn’t being done with the intention of defrauding someone.

Again, the Cap One rep tries to downplay the strange implications of this part of the contract update.

“Actually, we want our calls to display as Capital One on caller ID, and that’s the way they are programmed,” claims the rep. “However, some local phone exchanges may display our number differently. This is beyond our control, and we want our cardholders to be aware of that potential occurrence.”

The rep says the company is “reviewing this language,” which may imply that a more plain-language tweak is coming, or may just have been an attempt to get people to shut up for a while.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

McDonald’s Manager Says She Was Fired After Paying For Firefighters’ Meal

(Paxton Holley)

It’s a classic case of she-said/franchisee-said at a McDonald’s eatery in New York state, where a 23-year-old single mom claims she lost her job as a manager at the fast food joint after paying for breakfast for a group of firefighters.

The Olean, NY, woman tells WIVB-TV that her restaurant recently received two large orders from firefighters who had been working to put out a house fire in freezing temperatures.

When it came time to ring up the first order, the manager says she elected to foot the $83 tab out of her own pocket.

Then a second group of firefighters came in and ordered $70 worth of food. The woman says she texted her boss to see if the McDonald’s would cover the cost. She tells WIVB that it’s “very common” for the store to pay for orders for police who come by the restaurant.

When the boss said no, she claims she went up the ladder to McDonald’s corporate, only to also be told no. So she and other workers at the restaurant chipped in to pay for the meals.

The details get a little hazy after that.

Some firefighters, believing that the manager had been pressured by the restaurant to pay for their food, called the franchisee to complain.

Her boss dismissed later her from her job of eight years. According to the former manager, she was told it was because she swore at a superior. However, she claims the extent of her foul language was saying, “this is ‘freaking’ ridiculous.”

The franchisee denies the manager’s claim that the firing had anything to do with paying for the firefighters’ meals.

“We would never penalize an employee for showing appropriate gratitude for the work of our firefighters,” reads a statement to WIVB. However, the franchisee would not provide any further details on the dismissal.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

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