A woman in Arizona was kicked off an Allegiant Air flight from Mesa, AZ to Billings, MT after her 2 year old started to cry and then her 4 year old would not say in his seat.

The airline did not refund her money.

Check out the video posted above.

Here is my opinion of the situation after reading through hundreds of comments about this article at the Consumerist.

The biggest complaint in the comments section seems to be regarding the fact that parents should control their children. The argument back and forth is that children get rowdy and restless from time to time as opposed to children should know how to behave in public or be able to be calmed down regardless of the situation. The way I feel about it is I know that kids get fidgety, however if you are on a flight, then he or she has got to stay in their seat. There wasn’t a lot of information as to how the kids were acting exactly, but if there is a 4 year old running up and down the already crowded aisle, then it is a matter of safety (for the child).

So, Do I think the kids should be kicked off the plane? I think that it would have been nice for the news story to have a bit more about the way the kids were acting. If the news station reporting could have gotten some of the other passengers to say either “the kids were misbehaving for a long time” or “I didn’t even notice that there were misbehaving children on the plane” then I could make my decision one way or another.

In this situation, people will argue. I will say that I have been on a few flights where there were children that behaved so well, then there was one where the kid screamed in the back of the plane for an hour. I suppose, screaming children bother me, personally, the worst when I see the parent do nothing about it.

Will you boycott Rockstar Energy Drinks over the company’s controversial owner?

Question:

As the Consumerist reported yesterday, a little known fact has come out that shock jock Michael Savage is the father of Rockstar Energy Drink CEO and founder Michael Savage Jr. When someone on Facebook found out, a group was created to Boycott Rockstar. The Facebook account was deleted and lawyers were involved.

Knowing this would you boycott Rockstar?

Answer:

I am a lot less likely to buy the drinks now (which is a shame because they were my favorites next to Red Bull). Michael Savage has made some extremely hateful and hurtful words on his radio show. He has told a gay caller to “get AIDS and die” as well as called for all immigration of Muslims to be banned. So I feel that any money that goes to someone who is so hateful just puts fuel on the fire.

The way the Consumer put it is the best…If you were a right-wing conservative, would you buy ketchup knowing the money was funding Michael Moore’s “documentaries?”

Does AIG deserve the Consumerist’s “Worst Company in America 2009″ award?

Question:

This week the Consumerist’s quest to find the Worst Company in America 2009 came to an end when AIG was put against Comcast and AIG came out on top. So, after all that AIG has done, does it deserve the Worst Company in America title?

Answer:
Yes. In my honest opinion, AIG definitely deserves this award. After taking taxpayer money and then giving outrageous bonuses to execs, AIG deserves the golden poo trophy.

I must not be the only one who feels this way because they managed to beat out everyone from Verizon to Peanut Corporation of America (from the peanut butter recall).

AIG is the face of what is wrong with the economy. It also represents greed to many. For all these reasons, it deserves to be the Worst Company in America 2009 and that golden poo trophy.

On the Consumerist some of the comments indicated that there was a Limp Bizkit song that was available for the $.69 cost. Of course, the comments were followed by snarky remarks about how that’s $.69 too much.

Apple did promise that there would be more songs at 69 cents than at $1.29. There were several tracks that are decades old in the new 30% higher tier.

Do you want to download Heart’s 34-year old Barracuda? That will now cost you $1.29. Of course, to some Baby Boomers that song serves as a mini national anthem to the 1970′s so it may not be the best example. Maybe, I should look at not just at older music, but music that is less popular too.

Source

Anyway, today the Consumerist had a story about a man whose wife went to Wal-Mart in Las Vegas. When she came out she found a note on her windshield, handwritten, that said “Please call me about your car” and there was a number left on the paper.

Well, it was simply an awful way to get the woman to try to trade in her car for a new Dodge or Chrysler.

This is just an awful way to attempt to bring in new customers. If I got a flyer on my car that said that and it turned out to be just a way to advertise, I would never go to that dealership.

Source: The Consumerist “Dirty Tricks: Desperate Chrysler Dealership Resorts to Stupid Scare Tactics…”

However, with stories across the internet about consumers getting burned with the sales, we were hesitant to even pick up a DVD.

Sites like the Consumerist and even Yahoo.com have been telling stories about how customers are buying things like LCD or Plasma TV’s and the TVs are shattered and Circuit City refues to refund the money, and previous to the sale would not let the consumer open the item in the store (which I witnessed first hand, not being able to open items in the store).

This sale has been rediculous since the beginning when Circuit City was taken over by a lousy reseller.

Hopefully the store will ride off into the sunset like it should, instead of stories like this looming over its head in the demise.

Well, it turns out many customers are having a hard time redeeming these coupons. Quiznos is a franchised chain and the stores have to buy all their food from corporate, but corporate makes the store pay  for all the food used in promotions.

This has led many people to be messed over by the promotion, both in store and customers. Stores are flat out refusing to allow the coupon or are offing discounts in place of a free sandwich.

The Consumerist reported several people not being able to redeem their coupons and many are still commenting on the site about how they are unable to redeem their coupons.

It’s not only informative, but it’s also entertaining. I recommend this video to anyone who wants another view (or a first view) of what happened.

Here’s the “original” bottle Nina by Nina Ricci:

They are very similar.

However, this could be the act of someone else and Hot Topic isn’t actually producing the perfume, just selling it.

Here are two articles from the Consumerist about some more Hot Topic offenses recently:

Hot Topic Steals Yet Another Design and Sells it as its Own – Consumerist

Hot Topic likes your art so much they’re selling it – Consumerist

Here’s a few sites I have come across in the past (and still use) to find great deals before and after (and during) Black Friday.

SlickDeals.net – Forums and front page deals make this site an everyday go-to for me if I’m looking for a “slick deal” on something.

Woot.com – Woot puts an item up every day at 12:00 am central time every day. It runs until 11:59 pm or until it sells out. Sometimes they do a “wootoff” where items that did not sell out, or small items, are sold until they sell out.

Consumerist.com – Offers “deals of the day” as well as helpful consumer related advice.

Bfads.net – This site has “leaked” Black Friday ads so you can plan ahead of time which stores you want to hit.

Reports have been popping up over the internet that the checks given out by the company are or will start bouncing.

According to SlickDeals.net here are some of the companies known to use CPG:

* Acronis Software
* ACTIVSION
* Advance Auto Parts
* Antec
* AVG
* Bed Bath & Beyond
* BIC Corporations US – Shaver Division
* BFG
* Bridgevine
* Canon
* Citibank
* costco
* Fujitsu
* Home Depot
* Logitech
* Motorola (Surfboard cable modems)
* Natures Earth Products
* Nero
* Panda Distribution
* Pandigital
* PC Tools
* PriceGrabber
* Rosewill (Newegg house brand)
* Samsung
* Smith Micro Software
* Tabletops Unlimited
* TrendNET
* Westinghouse
* XFX
* ZeroTherm
* Zyxel

So what’s the problem with these firms? During the liquidation of CompUSA stores across the country, they marked products up and then discounted them. An example from the Consumerist site is a picture of a MyBook external hard drive; it was clearly marked with a sticker at $169, the sticker UNDER it was marked $119. Tsk tsk. Then a sign on the shelf said "15% off hard drives."

These business practices are shameful, but if that’s the way Circuit City wants to run the closing of their stores, let them. Everyone will go to Best Buy or shop online anyway.

Many are worried about the federal bail out of AIG. That is understandable why anyone would worry about such a large federal bail out, but Strauss-Kahn also said that economies in emerging countries and developed nations are resilient and can bounce back from such a large downfall.

The Consumerist blog lists some of the bail outs and buy outs as a sign of the apocalypse. I don’t see it that way. Everything that goes up must come down, and the higher it is the harder it falls.

Well it’s happening…the government is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as tomorrow…well this morning. These two mortgage lenders either back or actually hold HALF of the country’s mortgage debt…and they’re obviously in trouble. According to the AP, a government bailout of these two lenders could cost tax payers $25 billion…this is going to be a HUGE issue in the coming up election…hopefully.

According to consumer affairs website The Consumerist , this is how the bailout happened:

• Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, told Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron that not only them, but their boards were fired.
• Common shareholders will be almost completely done away while preferred shareholders, which are mostly banks, will be spared.

Most importantly, however, is that these two HUGE lenders will function as normal. Remember though, as a United States tax payer, you now own a portion of the homes backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Lets hope things get better soon.

It sounds great, it really does. I have had cable TV and internet for almost 5 years where I live. I do not have Comcast though…this is where it becomes a poor choice. Many people have had a lot of problems with Comcast. Readers of the blog The Consumerist have voiced their opinion about Comcast and it was voted the #2 “Worst Company in America 2008″ only losing to Countrywide Home Loans…one of the largest players in the mortgage crisis. Comcast has a history of spotty internet and phone and over-charging on monthly bills.

Another trick is that at the bottom of the press release is where it says Triple Play package availability and offers vary by market. Total number of Wii systems is limited. With Comcast’s history, many people will still be hesitant to buy into the program, even with the enticing offer.