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Report: Best Buy CEO Probed Over Relationship With Female Employee

April 13, 2012 By admin

The plot continues to thicken in the story surrounding this week’s sudden departure of Best Buy CEO Brian “I Like My Burgers Well” Dunn. As some had suspected when he stepped down on Tuesday under the cloud of a “personal conduct” probe, new reports claim that the 28-year Best Buy vet was being investigated for possibly misusing company assets while involved in a relationship with a female employee of the electronics retail chain.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune was the first to report that 51-year-old Dunn, who stepped into the CEO role nearly three years ago, had “acted inappropriately” with a 29-year-old employee who was identified by the Wall Street Journal as a working in the leadership training institute at Best Buy HQ.

The Star-Tribune gave Best Buy the opportunity to deny its source’s claims, but a spokesman for the retailer only said, “the investigation is ongoing. We have no additional comment at this time.”

The Wall Street Journal attempted to speak to the woman, saying that her Facebook page still listed her as a Best Buy staffer. When they were unsuccessful, the paper says it did find someone close to her that said the situation was “something small that people blew out of proportion.”

Even so, Dunn’s quickie exit is reminiscent of the 2010 departure of HP CEO Mark Hurd, who is alleged to have used company funds in an attempt to woo a former reality show star that he had hired to host events for company executives.

Best Buy Probes CEO Relationship [WSJ.com]

Best Buy board investigating Dunn’s conduct with female staffer [StarTribune.com]

The Consumerist

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: Best, Employee, Female, over, Probed, Relationship, Report

Ethical living: how do I water my homegrown veg?

April 13, 2012 By admin

Green
green

Image by K2D2vaca
I was going to entitle this "Field of Gold." I decided not to for 2 reasons…
1) it’s not too golden…it’s much more green
2) there are too many Sting references in photo titles already on Flickr
So, until I can think of a better title, it’s just "Green"

View on Black

See my other shot from this field here.

Like many sustainable enthusiasts, we’ve invested a lot of money and energy into growing our food at home. Faced with a hosepipe ban, we’re tempted to get a borehole drilled. Is this acceptable in eco terms?

One thing is guaranteed by a hosepipe ban: a summer immersed in debate over water which, from Yorkshire to Wiltshire, is in perilously short supply. Depending on the depth of the water table and the make-up of the ground, you may be able to get a borehole drilled on your land. If all goes well, within hours you could be extracting 20,000 litres of free water a day. Your sprinklers could be set to full and you’d come nowhere near your daily extraction limit. As well as domestic irrigation, you could also utilise your own water as grey water for flushing loos and washing clothes, and filtered and tested water could replace drinking water, as you’d go mains free. Come the winter, you would have half the set-up needed for eco-friendly geothermal heating. How’s that for future proofing?

Unlike other off-grid ideas such as renewable energy, however, boreholes do not attract green plaudits. Critics contend that if everyone had a borehole in water-stressed areas all hell would break loose, as the personal daily abstraction allowance (those 20,000 litres) is too high, and private and public aquifers can abstract from the same places, meaning competition for resources.

I’m not sure this is fair. For starters, the hosepipe ban has a number of anomalies. It allows consumers to top up hot tubs and use car washes, but there’s no exemption for those growing their own food, despite the fact that they are drastically slashing their water footprint (given the water burden of packaged, well-travelled food). They have also opted out of the huge carbon footprint of mains water: UK water is pumped through a network of 408,000km of pipes, using 3% of all purchased electricity.

A simple borehole for garden irrigation will set you back £3,500. This cost barrier means that there won’t be too many boreholes competing for the same underground water sources – but paying your way out of a drought and privatising a vital shared resource hardly smacks of social justice and ethical integrity. For the latter, look to traditional eco strategies: install water butts, use compost, give up lawns in favour of more wayward (and less water-intensive) growing areas, and follow permaculture techniques. And as you ferry watering cans of recycled bath and washing-up water down the garden path, remind yourself you’re doing the right thing.

If you have an ethical dilemma, send an email to Lucy at lucy.siegle@observer.co.uk

Lucy Siegle

Environment: Ethical and green living | guardian.co.uk

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: 'Water, Ethical, homegrown, Living

What do companies do with the gold and coins they buy from consumers?

April 12, 2012 By admin

Question by lahdiva1369: What do companies do with the gold and coins they buy from consumers?
I have some old coins I’m thinking of taking to one of these “We Buy . . .” fairs—some from the 1800s—and I suddenly wondered what do these companies actually do with all this stuff they buy? Melt it down? Do they resell it to consumers, to an auction house, private buyers?

Best answer:

Answer by Matt
They look at it and see if it has value beyond the value of the gold itself. If it a nice piece or a collectible coin, they will sell it iff as such. If it is not, then they melt it for the raw materials.

Give your answer to this question below!

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: coins, Companies, Consumers, from, gold, They

Florida Town Goes All ‘Footloose’: Bans Nightclubs, Dance Halls & Skating Rinks

April 12, 2012 By admin

CES 2012 – Consumer Electronics Show

Image by David Berkowitz
Consumer Electronics Show 2012 – Las Vegas, Nevada
(cc) David Berkowitz – www.marketersstudio.com / www.twitter.com/dberkowitz

Heaven forbid anyone have any fun in Weston, Fla.: In a preemptive effort to ward off trouble, a new ordinance specifically bans any nightclubs, dance halls or skating rinks from ever going into business in the city. Sounds like the town could use a little Ren McCormack action to shake things up a bit. You, know, get a little Footloose, as it were.

The Sun-Sentinel says the commission is taking action because of trouble they’ve seen going on in those kinds of businesses in neighboring towns. And as for why skating rinks are also included in the ban, the city manager says a rink could hide a nightclub business.

Mayor Eric Hersh says it’s not even an issue, because they’ve always aimed at keeping those kinds of businesses from opening in the town anyway.

“There aren’t those uses in Weston, there won’t be those uses in Weston, and we were never planning to allow those uses in Weston,” he said. “This is something that we thought would protect the city.”

Unlike the movie starring Kevin Bacon, dancing itself isn’t outlawed — there are still school dances and gatherings for teens at the YMCA and city parks. The town just doesn’t want crime and crowds or the drinking and drugs that may come along with those businesses.

No one was specifically worried or applying to the city to change its zoning code, however, says the mayor. The town leaders just figured it should happen.

“There were no applications on anyone’s desk when this passed,” he said. “We just thought this was the best thing for our city.”

Weston bans nightclubs, dance halls and skating rinks [Sun-Sentinel]

The Consumerist

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: 'Footloose', Bans, Dance, Florida, goes, Halls, Nightclubs, Rinks, Skating, Town

BBB Warns Consumers and Businesses About Phishing Scam

April 9, 2012 By admin

Posted on 4/3/2012 by
Arlington, VA – April 3, 2012 – The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) issued the following statement today:

“For the past 4+ months, BBB has been the victim of a massive phishing scam that uses our name and logo to fool people into thinking the email is from BBB concerning a complaint against their business. Although they appear to be coming from a BBB computer, they are not.

The emails appear to have been totally random in who they are sent to. They have gone to businesses, but they have also gone to individuals who have never owned a business, as well as to educational, nonprofit and government addresses. There is no indication that BBB Accredited Businesses are being targeted.

The emails appear to be part of a criminal campaign that has spoofed other trusted identities, including Bank of America, Intuit (maker of Turbo-Tax) and the Internal Revenue Service. The FBI has made this a priority and CBBB is working closely with their cyber crime division and other law enforcement agencies to shut down the scammers.

The spammers’ goal is to get as many email recipients as possible to click on the link within the email which redirects to a website infected with malware. If you clicked on the link within these emails, your computer is likely to be infected. The criminals then use that malware to transfer money out of bank accounts or obtain additional email addresses.

BBB is directing many resources to combat this attack. We have hired security specialists to track the fraudulent emails and shut down the websites hosting the malware. We have been working with forensic criminal experts to make sure no malware has infiltrated BBB’s computers or those of our vendors.

In the past week, many recipients have gotten multiple copies – sometimes dozens or even hundreds – of the same email. This may be due to some unsophisticated “copycat” spammers who don’t even know or care that they are sending multiples of the same email.

The two things people can do right now to prevent being victimized by this scam or other phishing scams:

Install good anti-virus software on your computer(s) and get regular updates of virus definitions several times a day.
Never click on links in emails that have come to you unsolicited.

If you have clicked on a link in one of these emails, run a complete system scan of your computer or network, and make sure your anti-virus software includes elimination of the Zeus or Z-bot virus.”

–

ABOUT BBB: For 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping consumers find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2011, consumers turned to BBB more than 100 million times for Business Reviews on more than 4 million companies and Charity Reviews on 11,000 charities, all available for free at www.bbb.org. The Council of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for 116 local, independent BBBs across the United States and Canada, as well as home to its national programs on dispute resolution and industry self-regulation.
BBB Blog RSS Feed

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: About, Businesses, Consumers, Phishing, Scam, warns

GOP: Killing Vulnerable Americans with Kindness – Literally

April 9, 2012 By admin

As a favor to struggling Americans, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., proposed a federal budget last week ravaging programs for the poor, elderly, disabled, young, veterans, jobless, students and other vulnerable people. Ryan did it, he said, because these programs, food stamps, health insurance, Pell grants, veteran’s hospitals and the like are demeaning.
Yes, demeaning.
So Ryan [...]

Perhaps “Bank Of America” Should Change its Name to “Anything For a Buck Bank”

April 8, 2012 By admin

BofA

It is no wonder that consumer’s wonder why phantom debt collectors call about debts already paid. I’ve read stories on Bank of America foreclosing on homes that the mortgage was paid off on and sending people to collections for paid in full accounts.

According to Fire Dog Lake a prominent blog, Bank of America is selling the rights to sue to debt collectors, credit card debt, many of which may have already been paid in full.

“Bank of America has sold collections agencies rights to sue over credit card debts that it has privately noted were potentially inaccurate or already repaid.

In a series of 2009 and 2010 transactions, Bank of America sold credit card receivables to an outfit called CACH LLC, based in Denver. Co. Each month CACH bought debts with a face value of as much as million for 1.8 cents on the dollar. At least a portion of the debts were legacy accounts acquired from MBNA, which Bank of America purchased in 2006.”

I seriously believe that Bank of America isn’t just too big to fail, but that it should fail and, killed off and buried. Perhaps Bank of America (BoFA) should be renamed “Anything for a Buck Bank” (AFABB).

Source: Fire Dog Lake

More

BofA Allegedly Called Debtor 38 Times After He Filed For Bankruptcy

Judge Slaps Bank of America and Debt Collector West Asset Management Over Debt Collection Harassment

Soldier Says Bank Of America Won’t Help Him Get His Stolen K Back

ABOUT ALLEN HARKLEROAD

Allen Harkleroad is the author of the book “Stick it to Sue Happy Debt Collectors”. The book has saved countless consumer from the clutches of abusive debt collectors and shady debt collection law firms. Allen Harkleroad is a veteran of beating bad debt collectors, whether it defending himself in court or suing them for violating the law. Allen’s latest book ‘Suing Debt Collectors’, is now available book stores and online.

Allen is an avid and judicious consumer advocate who enjoys helping others. In addition to consumer advocacy he enjoys writing and blogging on various technology and business subjects.

FMD Consumer News

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: America”, Bank”, Buck, Change, Name, Perhaps, Should, “Anything, “Bank

Couple Banned from Telemarketing, Timeshare Resale Services

April 8, 2012 By admin

consumer-justice The Federal Trade Commission put the telemarketing and timeshare businesses off-limits to a south Florida couple who allegedly operated a deceptive telemarketing scheme that victimized property owners hoping to sell their timeshares.

Pasquale Pappalardo and his wife, Lisa Tumminia-Pappalardo, agreed to settlements with the FTC that permanently ban them from telemarketing and engaging in timeshare resale services. The case against Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group, Inc. is part of the FTC’s ongoing effort to crack down on con artists who use fraud and deception to take advantage of consumers in financial distress.

According to the FTC’s complaint, filed in October 2010, the defendants conned consumers by promising that they had buyers lined up and waiting to buy the consumers’ timeshares. The defendants charged consumers an up-front fee, usually ,996, but promised a full refund upon closing of the timeshare sale. The FTC alleged that, after the consumers paid the fee, they were told to expect a contract from Timeshare Mega Media. What they received turned out to be a contract to market and advertise their timeshare, and not a sales contract, and many consumers signed and returned the contract thinking it was a sales contract, the complaint alleges. Those who questioned its validity allegedly were given the run-around by the company and falsely told that a sales contract would follow. In fact, according to the FTC, the company never had any timeshare buyers lined up and never actually assisted anyone in selling a timeshare. When consumers discovered this and demanded their money back, they found it nearly impossible to get a refund, or even get a call back. The Commission estimates that in the 20 months the defendants operated, thousands of consumers were defrauded out of at least .7 million. In October 2010, a federal court halted the operation and froze the defendants’ assets, pending resolution of the case.

In addition to banning Pasquale Pappalardo and Lisa Tumminia-Pappalardo from telemarketing and engaging in timeshare resale services, the settlement orders announced today permanently prohibit them from misrepresenting any product or service, selling or using customers’ personal information, failing to properly dispose of customer information within 30 days of the orders, and attempting to collect payments from past customers.

The order against Pasquale Pappalardo imposes a judgment of almost .7 million, which will be suspended when he surrenders the proceeds from the sale of a condominium. The full judgment will become due immediately if he is found to have misrepresented his financial condition. The court also entered a .7 million default judgment against Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group Inc., Timeshare Market Pro Inc., Tapia Consulting Inc., Joseph Crapella, Pasqualino Agovino, Louis Tobias Duany, and Patricia A. Walker.

Source: FTC

Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff v. Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group, Inc., d/b/a Timeshare Market Pro, Inc.; Timeshare Market Pro, Inc.; Joseph Crapella a/k/a Joseph John Philbin; Pasquale Pappalardo; Lisa Tumminia Pappalardo; Pasqualino Agovino; Louis Tobias Duany; and Patricia A. Walker, Defendants.
(United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida) Case No. 0:10-cv-62000-WJZ
FTC File No. 102 3168 – FTC File No. X110002

FMD Consumer News

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: Banned, Couple, from, Resale, Services, Telemarketing, Timeshare

Consumers borrowed more in Feb., but card debt declined – USA TODAY

April 7, 2012 By admin

CES 2012 – Consumer Electronics Show
consumers

Image by David Berkowitz
Consumer Electronics Show 2012 – Las Vegas, Nevada
(cc) David Berkowitz – www.marketersstudio.com / www.twitter.com/dberkowitz

USA TODAY

Consumers borrowed more in Feb., but card debt declined
USA TODAY
The Federal Reserve said Friday that consumer increased borrowing by .7 billion, sixth straight monthly increase. The jump in borrowing was driven by an billion increase in the category that mostly measures demand for auto and student loans.

and more »

consumers – Google News

Filed Under: Consumer Economic News Tagged With: borrowed, Card, Consumers, Debt, declined, Feb., more, today