The employee was caught giving friends a break on the bottom line when requesting a cheeseburger. Instead of charging the more expensive price to her friend, she rang up a cheaper hamburger.

And was quickly fired.

Of course the matter went to court, where common consensus is agreeing that a dismissal from her job was incredible overkill for such a simple matter as a slice of cheese. The court ordered the fast food franchise to pay the remaining salary the employee had contracted for, in addition to the court costs.

People quickly learned that they could offer help by simply texting the word “HAITI” to 90999 in order to donate $10 towards a recovery fund.  As of yesterday, organizations such as American Red Cross and Yele Haiti Foundation had raised over one million dollars to help the island and its people through this remarkable, and widespread method, of text donations.  In fact, the overwhelming success of this venture has encouraged the charity organizations to use this method more in the future.

That’s fantastic! It’s wonderful that the American people could band together to help people in the midst of a natural disaster.

Of course, I don’t write this blog to talk about successful charities and good organizations. So, why am I talking about the Haiti earthquake disaster and text donations?

Because out of the “big four” wireless carriers, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, only AT&T didn’t feel charitable enough to waive text messaging fees to their big hearted customers who donated to the cause. All the other chose to support the donations.

“It’s a way we support non-profits who are tipping their toes into the mobile giving water,” said Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon Wireless spokesperson. T-Mobile was in on the giving: Amanda Ginther, spokeswoman for T-Mobile said that the texts “will not draw down on a messaging plan, and customers without a messaging plan, will not be charged for the text.”

However, customers of AT&T can expect no encouragement from their carrier. In their case, “Standard text-messaging rates “may apply”.

Thanks AT&T. Your company is so giving.

Yup, you read right. The companies are taking records of old debt that people have paid off and reinstating them. This means that a person needing a loan has to pay off this phantom debt before their credit checks out clear.

Whaaat?

Take Van Rathavongsa, a factory worker from North Carolina:

But Capital One continued to report the factory worker’s discharged debt to credit bureaus as a live balance, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Raleigh.This kind of failure by creditors to update credit reports happens with some frequency, consumer lawyers and court-employed bankruptcy trustees say. And it can have consequences: In September, 2003, when Rathavongsa tried to close on a $274,650 mortgage for a new house, his would-be lender, Wachovia (WB), said he would either have to pay Capital One or show proof from the credit-card company that the debt had been discharged. Despite several calls and a letter from his attorney, he says, Capital One never revised the credit report. To obtain the home loan, Rathavongsa eventually did what many consumers in this situation do. He gave in and paid Capital One $9,523 he no longer legally owed. (Business Week)

How this was allowed to happen is beyond me. Luckily, Van Rathavongsa’s story has a happy ending. He secured a lawyer and proceeded to sue Capital One for this extortion. He won the case and was paid back all his money in full, along with an additional $14,000 to cover his court costs and lawyer fees.

Authored by Bob Hansen -

Gordon Hageman couldn’t believe the credit card offer he got in the mail.

“My first thought, it was a mistake,” Hageman said.

The wine distributor called the number on the offer, gave them the offer code and verified his information. Sure enough, it was right:  the pre-approved credit card came with a 79.9 percent APR.

Yes, 79.9 percent.

The offer is for a Premier card from First Premier Bank, which is based in South Dakota. On its Web site, First Premier says it is the country’s 10th largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard credit cards. The site also says it “focuses on individuals who have less than perfect credit but are actually still creditworthy.”

“I think they’re trying to take advantage of me,” said Hageman.

Ya think?

Hageman acknowleged that his credit isn’t perfect, but he said it’s about average. He said the pre-approved offer didn’t mention the actual interest rate on the card — for that, he had to read the enclosed fine-print disclosure.

“I think you’re beginning to border on deception there,” San Diego State marketing professor Michael Belch said.

Belch said the card is offering a bad deal to people who are desperate.

“They’re just finding different ways to gouge the consumer,” Belch said.

The California Attorney General’s office said there’s nothing it can do about the cards since they are issued out of state and out of its jurisdiction.

A spokesman with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said interest rate limits on bank cards are set by the individual state and not on a federal level. According to information on the South Dakota Legislative Web site, there is “no maximum or usury restriction.” In other words, the individual bank can set its own interest rate limits.

Several calls made to First Premier for a comment were not returned.

Case in point, Verizon vs. Daniel Streed:

The Verizon ad promised phone, Internet and satellite TV service for $77.99 a month.

And that’s all Dennis Streed wanted to pay.

So the 83-year-old drew up his own contract and, on May 9, a Verizon salesman signed it. Included was a provision Streed crafted to ensure there would be no misunderstanding: “No hidden fees, and no additions, unless we ask for them.”

But when the first bill arrived May 22, it asked for $158.49. The monthly charge grew to $186.33 in June and $183.03 in July.

With the second bill, in June, Streed began paying only the $77.99 he’d promised. By August, Verizon cut off his Internet and TV service.

“We did everything but pound on the table in order to stress that we would sign up providing there would be no extra fees or charges,” said Streed, who also has an online order confirmation stating his monthly bills would be $77.99.

And yet his first bill was more than twice the agreed-upon amount, Streed noted. “Can a person trust Verizon?”

Many don’t.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission has received enough complaints concerning Verizon and competitor Qwest Communications’ bundling that it recently asked the Oregon attorney general’s office to investigate.

The attorney general has received eight bundling-related complaints about Verizon and 26 about Qwest this year, though currently it has no open investigations into either’s billing practices. Read on…

This was selfish and dishonest of Verizon. Even if the contract signed was not the normal contract, that doesn’t mean the company isn’t obligated to honor it. A contract implies an agreement between two parties. Once pen hit paper, Verizon became obligated to honor the 79.99 dollar bundle amount – even if later they were gnashing their teeth over the ridiculously good deal they just gave away.

Bite the bullet and deal with it.

The children picked blueberries and hauled buckets alongside their parents

Unfortunately, it is all too common for us to hear of overseas companies (sadly many of them with American connections) using unethical methods or working conditions to boost profits with no regard to the people working for them. The most common of these unethical situations would have to be child labor. Thankfully, most of these companies are held accountable for their actions and their products are often boycotted once the word gets out that they are using children in their factories and fields.

But here in America we’re supposed to have higher standards, right? We wouldn’t even think of allowing a company use child labor.

Right?

Recently Wal-Mart has gotten into a bit of legal trouble when it came to light that their blueberry suppliers had been using children as young as five in their fields, picking berries and hauling large buckets full of the fruit.  Adkin Blue Ribbon Packing Co. has been the worst offender and now Wal-Mart, along with Kroger and Meijer, are at this point no longer dealing with them.

According to Adkin general manager Tony Marr, the company does not condone the use of children and denies knowing that they were even there. But there they were, as photos and video prove.

There are certain laws allowing younger children to work on farms with their parents, but as far as this case goes, it doesn’t look like any of those exceptions were the case.

Full story here.

This time it’s the pricing that looks suspicious. A bit of a bait and switch scenario, if you will.

It starts with a customer surfing the company website and finding a sought after item ON SALE. Alright! They scoot on down to the nearest Best Buy location and lo! the sale is over! They missed it by mere minutes! The oh-so-helpful employees even pull up the website to prove that the sale is over (and no doubt suggest buying the in-store model at a higher price). Dejected, the customer returns home to pine over the lost sale.

But what is this? A second glance a the site shows the sale still in progress! How could this be?

Suspicion has it that Best Buy makes use of an employee only, store wide intranet – a Best Buy website that has no correlation to the public access site available at home on your favorite browser. Thus you are drawn into the store by promises of cheap electronics, but denied the sale by “proof” that the sale is over. I suppose the hope is that you will buy the item anyway – at a higher price.

In the employees defense, many aren’t even aware of the discrepancy. They will pull up the kiosk website in a genuine attempt to help the customer. But corporate instead fools them into duping the customer. Thanks Best Buy. I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.

An New Delhi court issued a warrant today for the arrest of the former head of the American chemical company responsible for a gas leak that killed at least 10,000 people in Bhopal 25 years ago.

Warren Anderson was the head of Union Carbide when its factory in the central Indian city leaked 40 tonnes of poisonous gas on 3 December 1984 – the world’s worst industrial disaster.

More than 555,000 people who survived the initial disaster are thought to have suffered aftereffects, though the exact number of victims has never been determined. Many have died over the years from gas-related illnesses, including lung cancer, kidney failure and liver disease.

In response to a recent appeal by a victims’ group, Prakash Mohan Tiwari ordered the arrest of Anderson, who is reportedly living in the US. Tiwari, who is the chief judicial magistrate of Bhopal, also ordered the federal government to press Washington for the American’s extradition.

Anderson was arrested immediately after the disaster, but he left the country soon after. The Indian government has since said that it did not know where he was, but CNN-IBN television recently reported he is in the Hamptons – a wealthy area outside New York.

In Bhopal, victims and civil rights activists who gathered outside the court cheered at the news of the order. They threw slippers at an effigy of Anderson and hit it with brooms, as they danced in the streets.

In 1989 Union Carbide paid $470m (£281m) in compensation to the Indian government and said officials were responsible for the cleanup. Victims accuse New Delhi of delaying distribution of the funds.

The government says its efforts were slowed when Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical took over Union Carbide in 2001, seven years after Union Carbide sold its interest in the Bhopal plant. Meanwhile, Dow maintains that the 1989 settlement resolved the legal case. (Guardian.co.uk)

“I’m dead if this leaks. I really am . . . and my career is over. I’ll be like Martha f- – -ing Stewart,” she allegedly said on wiretaps recorded by the feds.

Chiesi, 43, an Upper East Sider, faces six counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud in an indictment announced yesterday. She could end up imprisoned for decades.

Chiesi, who worked for New Castle Funds LLC, a former Bear Stearns affiliate, expressed fear in wiretapped talks of being caught for gathering insider information, which she used for her own company’s trading and shared with hedge-fund kingpin Raj Rajaratnam.

AP

‘I’M DEAD’: Danielle Chiesi, who was allegedly caught on wiretaps fretting about her involvement in an insider-trading ring, is led in handcuffs from FBI headquarters downtown yesterday.

She made the Martha Stewart crack in August 2008 discussing inside data about computer-chip maker AMD, the feds say. Stewart was convicted of insider trading in 2004 and served five months in prison.

Chiesi allegedly expressed similar fears to Rajaratnam a week earlier that authorities would learn she’d spread inside data about AMD and IBM.

“If it leaks, I think I’m out of business . . . Because . . . who knows IBM? And who, who’s in bed with AMD? Put Danielle’s name on the f- – -in’ ticket,” she said.

Chiesi was freed on $2 million bond at a Manhattan federal court hearing yesterday. Her lawyer, Alan Kaufman, said she plans to plead not guilty at an appearance in November. (NY Post)

But it’s as certain as death and taxes that someone out there is willing to go the extra length to avoid paying their rightful taxes. And more often than not, it’s those big corporations that are willing to pull that move. Corporations whose tax money could really help out the nation that they rely on for their profits. They end up screwing us twice – first by not helping out with our national needs, then by making us pay exorbitant prices for their products and services.

Here is a list of 10 big businesses that moved their headquarters out-of-country in order to dodge taxes.