uUniversity Of Phoenix May Be Up For Saler

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  Increased government scrutiny and falling enrollment at the University of Phoenix may be too much for Apollo Education Group, the parent company of the for-profit college mega chain. The company is reportedly exploring its options on what to do with the school, including a sale.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that Apollo’s board is in discussions that could lead to a change of control for the company.

  News of the possible sale or other strategic change sent Apollo’s already floundering stock prices down by $0.56/share. Apollo’s stocks have fallen 42% in the past three months.

  In addition to revealing a potential sale or other measure, Apollo reported on Monday that new degree enrollment at the University of Phoenix had fallen once again, this time by 38% to 176,900 for the quarter ending Nov. 30. Overall, the for-profit chain’s total degree enrollment fell 22% to 227,400.

  Apollo CEO Greg Cappelli and other executives tried to placate investors last year when the chain revealed enrollment at the college had declined once again to 214,000 students, a stark contrast to the 470,800 students enrolled back in 2010.

  At the time, Cappelli blamed the continued decline in enrollment on the transition the career college has undergone and a decrease in marketing expenditures.

  “University of Phoenix is going through a transition, but we’re building a stronger foundation for future success,” Cappelli said at the time. “We’re working to build a much more competitive and efficient university for the long-term.”

  The company has since reportedly stopped enrollment at 14 campuses and 10 learning centers.

  Additionally, it’s been placed at the center of more intense federal scrutiny related to its recruiting practices.

  In October, the Department of Defense put University of Phoenix on probation, meaning the schools are barred from recruiting on U.S. military installations, and participation in the DoD Tuition Assistance Program for active duty military personnel is on hold.

  “We’re cooperating fully,” Cappelli vaguely said of investigations into the for-profit college chain. “We’ve taken appropriate action to correct any area where there is even the slightest perception that we are not appropriately serving our students or complying with requirements.”

  Apollo Education to Explore Strategic Options [The Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uVolkswagen CEO: We Are Not Crooksr

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  While Volkswagen is currently the target of numerous civil lawsuits — including one filed last week by the federal government  — there is still the possibility VW could face criminal charges. But the company’s CEO contends that no real crime was actually committed.

  According to USA Today, VW CEO Matthais Mueller told reporters at the Detroit Auto Show that the carmaker is “not a criminal brand or group.”

  “We haven’t been that. We have made a huge default, technical default, but there was no intention against customers or authorities,” explained Mueller. “Whether we did lie or not – that is the issue of the investigation.”

  While the company’s legal future is in limbo, there is still the matter of fixing the hundreds of thousands of cars that Volkswagen rigged with “defeat devices” to cheat U.S. emissions tests.

  VW execs are slated to meet with federal and state regulators on Wednesday. According to Reuters, the company is expected to propose adding catalytic convertors to the recalled vehicles with EA 189 diesel engines.

  Michael Horn, head of VW’s U.S. operations told a Senate committee in October that the company was looking to add the converters to some emissions-cheating vehicles

  He told the Subcommittee of the House Energy & Commerce Committee that the company was having a difficult time finding a remedy for the first generation cars affected by the scandal, noting that they couldn’t be fixed with a simple software upgrade.

  Those vehicles currently don’t include an after treatment system – such as a urea tank, which injects fluid into the exhaust pipeline in order to reduce the amount of NOx (nitrogen oxides) emitted into the environment.

  Reuters reports that the possibility of adding a catalytic converter isn’t a done deal. Mueller will meet with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board on Wednesday.

  Those agencies must approve of any remedy that VW proposes. Last week, sources close to VW said the company was considering buying back some vehicles from customers, as it would be easier than actually fixing them.

  VW proposes catalytic converter to fix U.S. test cheating cars – Bild am Sonntag [Reuters]
  Volkswagen CEO: ‘We are not a criminal brand’ [USA Today]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uTesla Announces Software Upgrade That Allows A Car To Park Itselfr

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  As carmakers continue to push for fully autonomous vehicles that will take the hassle out of driving, Tesla Motors is taking another step in that direction with a software upgrade that will allow Model S owners to park them in a garage or perpendicular spaces without anyone behind the wheel.

  Owners will be able to park from outside the car as long as the sedan is within 33 feet of a garage or narrow space, Elon Musk said at a press conference on Sunday, ahead of the Detroit auto show, reports Bloomberg. Cars can also be called to the owner from the spot, though the tools remain in beta for the moment.

  Drivers will be able to use the software in a few weeks, the company said, with CEO Elon Musk calling the move a “baby step” on the company’s way to making cars that can be driven completely without human intervention. Musk says he thinks within two years, a Tesla owner will be able to summon an electric car to drive autonomously from Los Angels to New York.

  “I might be slightly optimistic on that, but I don’t think significantly optimistic that we can do that in two years,” Musk said at the press conference, adding that it would be technically likely to have fully autonomous vehicles within 24 to 36 months.

  Musk Predicts Your Car Will Be Able to Drive You Cross-Country Soon [Bloomberg News]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAT&T Brings Back Unlimited Plans. What’s The Catch?r

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  Years after ditching the unlimited data plans that it used to convince so many consumers to switch from boring old feature phones to the iPhone (and other smartphones), AT&T has announced it is bringing back its “unlimited” offering starting at $100 a month. Oh, but it’s only for DirecTV and U-Verse customers.

  While that does mean that more than 20 million people could be eligible for the plan, it also means that the vast majority of AT&T customers are not able to get the unlimited data offer.

  But for those who do have DirecTV or U-Verse service and want to combine their pay-TV bill with their wireless bill, they can get another $10/month discount.

  In terms of cost, it’s $100/month for a single phone. Each additional phone is $40. For phone-filled families with four phones, AT&T says there will be no monthly charge for that fourth line. That means you could have unlimited data on a quartet of smartphones for $180/month. Of course, that discount doesn’t kick in until the third billing cycle, so you would pay $220/month until then.

  The one big difference between the grandfathered unlimited data plans that AT&T had allowed to continue and the new ones that the company will start tomorrow is that customers can no longer get discounted phones by agreeing to a two-year contract. That’s because AT&T did away with two-year contracts last week. Thus, anyone signing up for this plan will need to purchase their phone outright or through an AT&T Next installment plan, which has the same effect as a contract.

  So is the data really “unlimited”? Nope. As with the grandfathered unlimited offering, AT&T reserves the right to throttle customers’ data, but only after they hit 22GB in a single month. That’s a pretty large amount of data for most consumers, but something to keep in mind if you’re someone who loves to stream HD movies on your device everywhere you go.

  

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uUnited Passenger Leaves iPad On Plane, Has Joyful Reunion With Airline’s Helpr

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• Denise made a very understandable and common mistake: she stashed her iPad in the seat-back pouch in front of her during a United flight, and didn’t realize it until later. She ran the always handy “Find my iPad” app, and found that the iPad was in the hands of United staff at George Bush airport in Houston. The problem: she lives in Indiana, and no one at United was interested in helping her.

  Her iPad was still still turned on, it turned out, and the app even showed her where in the terminal it was: depending on which floor it was on, either at the customer service desk or the baggage claim. Yet she couldn’t get anyone at the airline to help her, when she knew the exact location of her iPad, in the hands of United.

  

  Here’s a map of United’s terminals at the G.H.W. Bush airport, showing where we’re guessing Denise’s iPad was hanging out. Here was the challenge: she had learned that items that aren’t picked up in 7 days get sent to a mysterious “warehouse,” from which they probably won’t return. If she wanted her iPad back, time was running out.

  

  “I’ve been trying to reach United Airlines in every way possible (their online claim site, Facebook, Twitter, phone calls),” she explained to Consumerist in an e-mail. “All I get are automated responses.” She couldn’t really afford to buy a new iPad, but even if she could, why would she have to? She knew exactly where it was. She just needed someone to fetch it for her.

  Even actual humans who did reply to her on Twitter weren’t all that helpful, she later noted. While Twitter customer service reps did respond to her and promised that the “team” would get back with her with instructions for how to get her iPad back, they weren’t able to actually help.

  “I’ve noticed that quite a few of the United Tweets are “feel good” wishes and sympathetic “Gee, that’s awful” condolences,” Denise wrote. While empathizing with customers is important, it’s not the same as actually helping or getting Denise her iPad back.

  That’s when Denise contacted Consumerist, and we got involved, contacting to United’s media relations team. We don’t know what went on behind the scenes, but about 12 hours after our last e-mail exchange with United, someone from the airline called Denise to let her know that her iPad was, indeed, on its way to the Warehouse of No Return. He was able to intercept it and ship it overnight from Houston to Indiana, waiving the fees.

  Would Denise have been able to get her iPad back without a media outlet getting involved? We would like to think so, but despite her many methods of contacting the airline, it doesn’t look like she was able to find anyone with the actual power to help her.

  “When they offered ‘fees waived’ for the Fedex return, I knew that something larger (than me) was at work,” she wrote after her happy reunion with her iPad. Maybe. Or maybe it was because Denise posted the Find My iPhone screenshot on social media repeatedly, yet United did nothing about it.

  Either way, she and her cat Gracie have their iPad back. Let this serve as one of our semi-regular announcements: check your seat pouch before you get off the plane.

  

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uChipotle Sued For Not Disclosing Food Quality Control Problems To Stockholdersr

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  Customers don’t trust fast-casual Mexican-ish restaurant Chipotle very much right now, after a series of foodborne illness outbreaks in different parts of the country. The outbreaks of e. Coli, Salmonella, and norovirus were unrelated to each other, but demonstrated problems with the chain’s food-handling procedures. Now an investor has filed a lawsuit on behalf of shareholders who bought stock in the company in the lsat year, claiming that the company should have known about the problems with its food handling processes, and disclosed them.

  The company’s food safety woes have undermined customers’ confidence in the chain, and sales are down 30%, according to Chipotle’s most recent quarterly report. That has hurt the company’s share price, making the value of customers’ investments fall even further than their sales–down 35% as of Friday afternoon.

  According to Reuters, the lawsuit claims that the burrito chain hurt investors by failing to let them know that “quality controls were inadequate to safeguard consumer and employee health,” something that its own management evidently didn’t know. While the eatery has changed its cooking and chopping procedures since the outbreak, it hasn’t yet regained the public’s trust despite the company founder and co-CEO going on a national media apology tour.

  All that was needed to cause an outbreak of the massively contagious norovirus in Boston was for one manager to not force a sick employee to go home. The food safety failures may have been chain-wide, or may have been caused by one person somewhere in the company failing to do his or her job just one time. All its victims know is that the company’s “food with integrity” slogan is rather hollow when you’re in gastrointestinal distress.

  The company declined to comment to Reuters about the lawsuit.

  Chipotle sued for misleading investors over food safety [Reuters]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uMazda Adds 374,000 Vehicles To Takata Airbag Recall Listr

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  Weeks after federal regulators announced that additional vehicles would be added to the long list of those affected by Takata’s airbag defect, Mazda recalled 374,000 automobiles in the U.S. 

  The recently recalled vehicles have been linked to defective front passenger side airbags made by the Japanese parts maker.

  According to a notice [PDF] filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall includes 374,519 model year 2003 to 2008 Mazda 6, model year 2006 to 2007 MazdaSpeed 6 and the 2004 RX8.

  “In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger’s frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death,” Mazda said in the notice.

  The company will notify owners of affected vehicles and dealers will replace the frontal airbag with a new one.

  For more than a year now, Takata has been at the center of a massive recall centered on airbags that can rupture with such force that pieces of shrapnel fly at drivers and passengers causing injuries and even death.

  So far, eight deaths in the U.S. and nine worldwide have been linked to the defect.

  Consumers looking to see if their vehicles are part of the largest auto recall in history can check by entering their 17 digit VIN on the SaferCar.gov website, which produces a list of all recalls associated with a particular vehicle.

  [via Reuters]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist