uYouTube Hides Most ESPN Content After Network Failed To Negotiate Paid Subscription Service Dealr

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  If you’ve decided to pony up the $9.99 monthly fee for YouTube’s new paid subscription service, your money won’t be buying you access to basically any ESPN videos. The sports network, owned by Walt Disney Co., failed to negotiate a deal to have its videos available through YouTube Red. As a result, most of ESPN’s featured YouTube channels have gone dark.

  Out of ESPN’s 13 featured channels — including Grantland, SportsNation, ESPNU and others — only two still have videos, notes Mashable: X Games and NacionESPN. Some channels simply have messages reading, “This channel has no content,” while over on the main ESPN channel, the most recent videos are from three years ago.

  Any companies making money with videos on YouTube had to strike deals for rights to show them on the new Red subscription service. If they don’t agree to YouTube’s terms, videos are hidden inside the U.S. from all of YouTube, even the free version. YouTube told Gizmodo in a statement that most companies had made deals to avoid this.

  “Today, the overwhelming majority of our partners, representing nearly 99-percent of the content watched on YouTube, have signed up,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “Videos of partners who don’t update their terms will be made private, but we remain committed to working closely with these partners with the goal of bringing them on board.”

  ESPN declined to comment to Mashable, and YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

  ESPN likely had a tougher time than others in this area, as a lot of its content involves layers of rights, a source close to the situation explained to Mashable. That insider said that sports videos such as those published by ESPN tend to involve many third-party rights that are affected if that work is suddenly not being distributed for free.

  ESPN videos disappear from YouTube after subscription service launch [Mashable]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uComcast Insists Its Twitter Account Isn’t A Robot; Just Assumes Everyone’s An Angry Customerr

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  Like a number of corporate customer service Twitter account, the public replies from the @ComcastCares account are of the “Sorry to hear that” variety, often with a request for a private direct message containing more specific account information. But are these similar-sounding responses produced by a computer script or by a human being who just assumes that everyone hates the company they work for?

  Comcast insists it’s the latter, even in spite of evidence like this bizarre exchange from earlier in the week, in which Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Claudia Vargas merely quoted Philly mayoral candidate Jim Kenney’s feelings about Comcast’s “very slow and frustrating” service:
  

  This reply from @ComcastCares has all the hallmarks of an automated response: The canned sincerity, the utter disregard for the context or content of the original Tweet.

  And then it gets better. Almost immediately after sending that robotic reply, @ComcastCares follows up with another Tweet that demonstrates its inability to distinguish between a customer complaint and someone writing about Comcast:

  

  In spite of all the indicators that these responses are probably being generated by a server in the bowels of Comcast Tower 1, the company insists that these Tweets were written by living, breathing human beings.

  Comcast tells Philly.com that there are actually 60 staffers manning the @ComcastCares Twitter line and that one of them must have gotten a bit overzealous and jumped the gun on their response to Vargas.

  However, responding with an apology to a Tweet that was quite obviously not a customer complaint doesn’t exactly strike us as proactive or zealous customer service. Instead, it feels like the auto-response from someone who is so used to being yelled at that their immediate reaction is to apologize.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uJ. Crew Ending On-Call Scheduling For Workers In Its U.S. Storesr

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  The list of retailers who have decided to end the practice of on-call scheduling has just grown by one more, as J. Crew announced it will no longer require workers to be available to work shifts on short notice at all its U.S. stores.

  New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters to 13 retailers in April, questioning their use of -on-call scheduling and citing possible violations of the state’s requirement to pay hourly staffers for at least four hours when they report for a shift, even if they don’t end up working.

  “Workers deserve protections that allow them to have a reliable schedule in order to arrange for transportation to work, to accommodate child care needs and to budget their family finances,” Schneiderman’s office said on Friday.

  J. Crew says it will give workers at least one week of advance notice about schedules at all its New York stores. It says on-call shifts ceased nationally in October, after the company started discussing tweaking the system 10 months ago.

  Employees may now volunteer to fill needed slots on a voluntary basis, J. Crew’s Senior Vice President Maria Di Lorenzo wrote in a letter to Schneiderman’s office, reports the Associated Press. That could be challenging for some managers, she says.

  “Further, J. Crew has strict anti-retaliation policies,” Di Lorenzo wrote. “Consistent with those policies, J. Crew will not retaliate against associates who do not volunteer to cover these shifts.”

  Urban Outfitters recently announced it’d put the kibosh on on-call scheduling in its New York stores,Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap have all ended the practice nationwide.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uMcDonald’s Testing Sweet Potato Fries In Texasr

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  For about as long as we can remember, McDoanld’s has been known for their over salted French fries. While the staple item has undergone a few makeovers in the past – remember the shaken’ flavor seasoned fries? – the fast food giant is gearing up for perhaps its biggest starch transformation: adding sweet potato fries to the menu. 

  Several McDonald’s restaurants in Texas have added the sweeter side to the menu as part of a test run for the “Create Your Taste” pilot, Eater reports.

  News of the new side addition came after a local McDonald’s spread the love on Twitter.

  The perfect side to go with your perfect burger. Sweet Potato Fries. #MyPerfectBurger http://pic.twitter.com/fPhqMYswDb

  — McD TX Panhandle (@McD_TXPanhandle) October 21, 2015

  A spokesperson for the fast food company confirmed that sweet potato fries are currently available in the Amarillo, TX market for a limited time.

  Eater points out that this isn’t McDonald’s first foray into the sweeter side of starch: restaurants in Australia and Singapore also offer sweet potato fries.

  McDonald’s Is Testing Sweet Potato Fries in Texas [Eater]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uU-Haul Accuses Chicago Towing Companies Of Hauling Away Perfectly Fine Vehicles To Rake In Cashr

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  There’s a fight heating up between U-Haul and Chicago-area towing companies, with the former accusing the latter in a new lawsuit of fraudulently hauling away its trucks and trailers and then making the company pay thousands in fees to get the vehicles back.

  The lawsuit names 14 towing companies and individuals, alleging that the scheme took place all over the city and in suburbs as well over the past year, reports the Chicago Tribune.

  Here’s how the alleged scheme went down, according to the complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court: customers using U-Haul to move stuff were offered money to claim that their vehicles had broken down — when they hadn’t — and request towing. Though U-Haul has roadside assistance numbers listed on the contract and posted on vehicles, customers instead called the named towing companies, which weren’t authorized by U-Haul, the company claims.

  One customer involved said she was offered $500 by one of the defendants to rent a vehicle from U-Haul in the northwest suburbs, and then claim it was damaged, necessitating a towing service. She says she reported backing into a light pole but later admitted to U-Haul that nothing had happened.

  U-Haul started an investigation as the towing incidents piled up, but it didn’t say in the lawsuit how many vehicles were involved.

  “U-Haul filed the lawsuit after an extensive investigation following an increasing number of U-Haul rental equipment had been towed in the region under suspicious circumstances,” Steve Hansen, a U-Haul vice president, said in a statement.

  U-Haul of Illinois is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and injunctive relief to prevent the defendants from towing their vehicles again.

  U-Haul sues Chicago-area companies in alleged towing scheme [Chicago Tribune]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uMazda Recalls 1.2M Vehicles Because Grease In The Ignition Can Cause A Firer

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  If you have an older Mazda that still runs like a champ, listen up: the car company is recalling nearly 1.2 million vehicles made in the 1990s because of defective ignition switches. 

  Mazda announced this week that it would recall several models of cars after determining that the ignition switch can overheat and potentially cause a fire.

  According to a notice [PDF] filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an excessive amount of grease may be present at the contact points inside the ignition switch. The substance can accumulate and carbonize between the points, reducing electrical insulation performance inside the switch.

  If this happens, continuous use may lead the points to become conductive and overheat, resulting in smoke or fire, Mazda says.

  Vehicles included in the recall are: model year 1990-96 323/Protégé, model year 1989-1998 MPV, model year 1993-98 626, model year 1993-95 929, model year 1993-97 MX-6 and the model year 1992-93 MX-3.

  The issue dates back to May 2001, when the company first received reports of short circuits in ignition switches in vehicles sold in Japan.

  In 2008, the company investigated the switch failures and determined an accumulation of grease could lead to smoke and short circuits. Two years later, the company had determined that the cause was likely grease injected into the switch as a result of normal wear-and-tear.

  Then in 2015, the company decided it was unable to determine how the vehicles collected excessive grease, but understood it could be a safety hazard and recalled the vehicles.

  Mazda will notify owners, and dealers will replace the ignition switch, free of charge. The company also says it has changed the crease used in the ignition switch to be less susceptible to fires.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uApplebee’s Forgot To Pay Prep Cook With Autism For A Whole Yearr

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  How can someone work part-time for a national chain restaurant for the better part of a year and not receive any pay? What happened to a young adult in Rhode Island was a unique situation where the employee worked in an unpaid training program through a state-funded nonprofit, then was supposed to be moved onto the payroll. Only he never was.

  The 21-year-old’s parents say that he worked three days per week for most of the last year. A local nonprofit that works with people who have developmental disabilities placed him in an unpaid training program, then in a part-time job with the restaurant.

  His parents kept checking back with the nonprofit that had placed him in the job, and filled out new pre-employment paperwork every few months. Finally, they took their concerns to a local TV station. Now there’s supposedly a check on its way. It’s amazing what happens when a TV station starts making phone calls.

  The Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals is investigating what happened and how it’s possible that someone could work for months without pay, somehow escaping the notice of the restaurant, the nonprofit, and state government.

  The family estimates that he has worked at least 350 hours in the last year, yet the restaurant’s records show only 166 hours per week. Helping with those records is supposed to be part of the duties of job coaches who work with developmentally disabled workers.

  State investigating case of autistic man who wasn’t paid for hundreds of hours of work [WPRI]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist