Circuit City Lies About Guitar Hero Release Date To Get You To Go Away

By Meg Marco

David went to Circuit City yesterday to buy a copy of the new Guitar Hero game, which, according to our extensive research, is currently on sale at Circuit City. Unfortunately, the employees at this particular store refused to sell him the game, then lied about its release date, so that they wouldn't have to correct an error in their computer system. Why were they so reluctant to fix the mistake? Because the game was priced at $10,000 in the system, and to mark it down to its actual price would "look bad."

David launched an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) on Circuit City and CC'd us. Let's listen in:

I came to Circuit City hoping to purchase Guitar Hero: World Tour Complete Band Set for my wife's birthday. I had tried several other stores before coming to Circuit City, but all were sold out. When I arrived and asked an associate if they had the complete band set in stock, I was pleased to learn that they had one left. However, when they attempted to ring the item up, instead of the $189.99 list price, the item rang up at $10,000.00. We all had a good laugh at this as the associate went for a manager to clear up the error.

The manager looked at the price and told me that that normally happens when an item is marked unavailable because the item was not yet at its release date. Of course, this game was released last Tuesday, Oct. 28, and the manager and various sales associates told me that they had already sold a ton of them. After speaking to his supervisor on the phone (I believe it was a district manager), I was told that they could do a price adjustment to the correct price, but since that would throw off some numbers, would it be all right with me if they set the item available online, where the price is correct, and just pay for it on the web with immediate "in-store" pickup? I was happy to do whatever was needed, and did not mind helping, so I said sure.

Unfortunately, for the next 45 minutes I waited as the employee trying to make this happen ran back and forth from computer to computer trying to get the inventory and the website to match up. Finally, as I had been in the store over an hour at that point, I asked that the manager just do the price adjustment and let me buy the game. He got back on the phone with the district or regional manager, and I was the told that the Guitar Hero: World Tour Complete Band Set was not supposed to be released until NEXT Tuesday, so they could not sell it to me. This is untrue. Multiple CC employees told me that they had sold many of the sets earlier in the week. Also, here is a small list of stores and sites selling the set as of RIGHT NOW:

—WalMart
—Best Buy
—Target
—Amazon
—CIRCUIT CITY (At multiple stores, according to the website)

When I told the manager this was not true and that the manager had in fact earlier offered to simply price adjust the price, the truth emerged. The district manager told the store manager that a price adjustment that large would make their numbers look really bad, so they could not do it. The "It hasn't been released yet" line was just that, a lie to tell me so I would leave. This is unacceptable.

This is what I would like from Circuit City:

1. An explanation why Circuit City's internal variance numbers are more important than a customer trying to spend several hundred dollars at your store, and why I was lied to.

2. An acknowledgment that the item I was trying to buy was in fact available, and that I should have been allowed to purchase it.

3. A phone call from the District Manager, Regional Manager, or higher up at corporate to explain 1. and 2. to me.

Finally, one personal observation...perhaps it is customer service like this that is forcing you to close 155 of your stores?

Sincerely,

David

UPDATE:
David has an update and a happy ending!

David says:

I wanted to give you an update for my Circuit City issue. This morning I got a phone call from the District Manager for the Memphis stores and surrounding areas, Michael. He was "mortified" and had investigated the issue with the store in question as well as the asset manager that the store called. He went over what happened with me and addressed all my points. Apparently, there was a company-wide glitch that goofed up the price for my item. He apologized profusely during our 15 minute conversation, and though I did not ask for it, he gave me the complete band set for free. I just got back from Circuit City, and the game was waiting for me there. So, Circuit City, or at least Michael, really went over and above to address my issue.

Original here

Bush Administration Committed War Crimes Against Prisoners, Reveals Physicians for Human Rights

by: David Gutierrez

(NaturalNews) The Bush administration has committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in its practice of torturing prisoners, according to the conclusions of a medical examination conducted by the organization Physicians for Human Rights.

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," wrote retired Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba in the preface to the report. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.

Taguba was the general who led the investigation of allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. After releasing a report documenting the torture performed there, Taguba was forced out of the army.

In the new report, titled "Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by US Personnel and Its Impact," physicians examined 11 former prisoners who claimed they had been subjected to torture by their U.S. captors. It was the first study to medically document first-hand accounts of torture "based on internationally accepted standards for clinical assessment of torture claims," the human rights group said.

The report "tells the largely untold human story of what happened to detainees in our custody when the Commander-in-Chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture," Taguba writes in the preface. "This story is not only written in words, it is scrawled for the rest of these individuals' lives on their bodies and minds. Our national honor is stained by the indignity and inhumane treatment these men received from their captors."

The torture suffered by the former prisoners was not the result of a few decisions by lower-ranking soldiers, Taguba said, but of a policy that came straight out of the White House and of doctors and psychologists who colluded with torturers.

"In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which they were subjected, a government policy was promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice were disregarded," he writes. "The UN Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately ignored. And the healing professions, including physicians and psychologists, became complicit in the willful infliction of harm against those the Hippocratic Oath demands they protect."

"Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, we can see the full scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy has inflicted," he said.

The 121-page report documents medical evidence that the 11 prisoners examined had been subjected to beatings, shackling, involuntary medication, sleep deprivation, electric shock, sexual humiliation, anal rape, threats to their families and other forms of deliberate physical and psychological abuse.

"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," medical evaluator Dr. Allen Keller said.

The Bush administration has repeatedly denied allegations that the U.S. tortures detainees.

Four of the men had been captured in or near Afghanistan between late 2001 and early 2003 before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay; seven had been captured in Iraq in 2003. All the men were eventually released without charge. Before their release, however, the report concludes that all were subjected to various forms of torture that "often occurred in combination over a long period of time."

Although the examination of 11 specific former prisoners did not allow the study's authors to make conclusions about the treatment of U.S. detainees in general, they noted that their findings were consistent with those of prior investigations. Because of this, it is "reasonable to conclude that these detainees were not the only ones abused, but are representative of a much larger number of detainees subjected to torture and ill treatment while in U.S. custody."

One of the former prisoners examined by physicians was an Iraqi man in his mid-40s, identified in the report as "Laith." The examination concluded that he had been subjected to electric shock and sleep deprivation, and that he and his family had been threatened with sexual assault.

"They took off even my underwear. They asked me to do some movements that make me look in a very bad way so they can take photographs. ... they were trying to make me look like an animal," Laith said. "And they asked me, 'have you ever heard voices of women in this prison?' I answered, 'yes.' They were saying, 'then you will hear your mothers and sisters when we are raping them.'"

"Laith appears to have suffered severe and lasting physical and psychological injuries as a result of his arrest and incarceration at Abu Ghraib prison," the report concluded.
Another case was that of "Youssef," detained while trying to cross the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan without a passport. He was taken to an Afghan prison, where he reported "being stripped naked, being intimidated by dogs, being hooded and being thrown against the wall on repeated occasions." He was then transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he was forced to lie on the floor with his hands tied to his feet behind him, while interrogators demanded that he confess to being involved with the Taliban.

Physicians for human rights called on the U.S. government to formally apologize to all people who it had detained and tortured since autumn 2001. It further demanded that the Bush administration "repudiate all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment"; establish an independent committee to investigate the cases and conditions of those detained at U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay; carefully monitor conditions at all U.S.-operated prisons; and hold torturers accountable.

"These men deserve justice as required under the tenets of international law and the United States Constitution," Taguba said. "And so do the American people."

Sources for this story include: blogs.usatoday.com; blogs.abcnews.com; brokenlives.info; www.cnn.com.

Original here

Ex-Health Care CEO Convicted in $1.9 Billion Fraud Case

Andrew Welsh-Huggins
The Associated Press

A federal jury in Ohio on Friday convicted the former CEO of a failed health care financing company in a $1.9 billion fraud case that prosecutors likened to the Enron or WorldCom scandals.

Lance Poulsen, 65, founder of National Century Financial Enterprises, was accused of fabricating data, moving money between accounts to hide shortfalls and misleading investors who funded his business model.

He had been on trial for the past month on charges of securities fraud and money laundering. He was convicted on all 20 counts.

His attorneys said they will file an appeal. Poulsen faces up to 135 years in prison, although his actual sentence will likely be shorter under federal-sentencing guidelines. No sentencing date was set.

In closing arguments Thursday, U.S. trial attorney Leo Wise called the case one of the largest frauds ever investigated by the FBI.

Poulsen, who was convicted in March and sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting to bribe a witness, characterized himself as a rags-to-riches success story whose legitimate business was destroyed by the government.

Poulsen remains disappointed that U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley allowed jurors to hear evidence of Poulsen's bribery conviction, defense attorney Pete Anderson said Friday.

Anderson said that information should have been excluded under rules of evidence. It's always a risk when a jury learns of a previous conviction, he said.

Prosecutors declined to comment.

Poulsen had testified he did nothing illegal and was guilty at most of overseeing a company that might have grown too fast.

But the government's key witness, former company Executive Sherry Gibson, testified that she falsified numbers in investors' reports on Poulsen's orders. Gibson pleaded guilty in 2003 to conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud.

The government said Poulsen kept two sets of books and signed off on falsified reports.

Poulsen founded National Century Financial Enterprises in Dublin, Ohio, in the early 1990s.

At its height, the company employed more than 300 people, most of them in the Columbus area. Executives made millions, with Poulsen alone earning more than $9.1 million between 1996 and 2002, according to the government. He also owned a yacht, a private corporate jet and a Florida mansion.

National Century offered financing to small hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers by purchasing their accounts receivable, usually for 80 or 90 cents on the dollar, so they wouldn't have to wait for insurance payments. National Century then collected the full amount of the payments.

The company raised the money to fund its business by selling bonds to investors. It declared bankruptcy in 2002 after the FBI raided its offices.

At least nine former National Century executives have been convicted of corporate fraud related to the case.

Original here