Michael Dayah's dashboard

I stopped into the Turkey Creek Starbucks in Knoxville (11038 Parkside Dr,) for a coffee and needed to use the restroom. A note on the door indicated the men's bathroom was now locked, and I was given a key attached to a long plastic spoon by the barista, just like at a shady gas station in the '80s. It was a disgusting, humiliating experience to be treated like that at a place which I previously considered to be a haven of politeness, professionalism, service, and quality.

I was informed this decision was made due to some vandalism and was made in concert with the corporate office. If corporate is aware of this, this is truly appaling, and I will not visit any location knowing the head office feels this was a reasonable decision to make.

I do not mind paying a premium for good coffee, and more importantly, a nice environment. This is not an elementary school classroom; it is a business. It is your job to insulate me from whatever previous customers might have done, not rub it in my nose as if I am being punished for others' actions. I do not know, and I do not give a damn who vandalized what. Deal with it and carry on, just like any other respectable business.

A couple years ago, the Motorokr S9 was the only sports-oriented wireless bluetooth A2DP player. The sound quality was above average and the design was simple and lightweight. However, anyone who has used this headset while running eventually encountered into the same problem: sweat got into the touch-sensitive buttons and they would no longer operate. The headset continued to play music, but the AVRCP buttons were useless. This was a universal problem and a clear design defect, as evidenced by countless reviews on Amazon.

After having one replaced, Motorola now refuses to replace the second one which has failed in the same manner since it has been over 1 year since the original was bought. Nor will they exchange it for the new model S9-HD, which supposedly fixes the touch-sensitive button problem. Creating this new, almost-identical model with push rather than touch buttons is a clear acknowledgement of the original defect.

The standard one-year warranty exists so that design defects have time to show up. And this headset does have a known, consistent design defect that the company has addressed in their new model. However, their return policy gets around this and they refuse to replace my defective headset with either another of the defective model, or more reasonably, the new model.

I discontinued service when I left the country and then resubscribed upon return. When the installer came to reconnect the cable at the apartment office, he phoned in the MAC address for the modem I previously bought from Comcast, explaining it was a customer-owned modem.

When I receive the bill, I'm being billed for modem rental. I call customer service and tell them to remove all the rental charges, as I own the modem. I'm called a liar in so many words. They refuse to remove the charges, claiming the MAC address shows as a rental in the system. I have the receipt showing the purchase of the modem from them along with its MAC address, and the only way they'll credit my account is if I prove myself to them by driving 20 miles to their office with the receipt.

This is not acceptable. The burden of proof is on you to produce an agreement for this rental. It is not on me to prove I actually own the property I own or you will continue to levy random charges on me due to your own poor recordkeeping. If you would like to bill me for something you have nothing to back up, drive to my apartment and produce the signed paperwork. I will even go as far as faxing the receipt, but this was not offered as an option.

Comcast has always been a headache to deal with. As soon as I get on the phone with them for I'm immediately put off by the representative's insinuation that I'm some sort of huckster or deadbeat until I prove otherwise. I'm sorry you have to deal with such people, but assuming everyone is a delinquent is an appalling business practice and it certainly seems as if your representatives need training in avoiding this prejudice.