The other day a friend of mine offered me a special deal on buying a new Chrysler car or truck. (Of course, the Viper, Challenger, Wrangler 4 Door and Grand Cherokee SRT8 are excluded, and I really can't blame Chrysler for doing that.) I really appreciate being included in this offer, and just might take them up on it.

But, a couple of things have come to mind. First, I must like the hybrid or flex-fuel options on any car or truck I choose. My car is five years old, so it has lots of life left. I'm not going to trade my 35 mpg small car for a Charger, as much as I want one.

The bigger question, though, is in the $2.99 gas deal. At first glance, this sounds really cool. The folks at Freakonomics, however, are casting a bit of doubt on the value of this offer. Clearly they didn't have my gas bills when I was commuting to work every day. So, let's do a little math, and then I’d love to hear your opinion.

A while back, Kriste lamented a dispute with T-Mobile customer service, and how hard it was to fight charges on her bill. T-Mobile made good by Kriste and gave her a refund. Her persistence paid off. Next, here comes AT&T with a schedule of fees based on how you pay your bill.

What??

If I happen to be running errands and want to drop my payment off I have to pay extra? And let's not forget what the good folks at Consumerist point out as the really unfair part -- people who don't have checking accounts to pay their bill pay more, too. Yes, you get charged extra if you pay your bill in cash.

This one hits home because somehow I totally forgot to pay my phone bill a few weeks back, and so I called in a payment to make sure it got there on time. Guess what I found on my next bill! Yes! A $30 fee!

AT&T, I'm sure, realizes it's the first place people go for basic phone service. Kinda like Blue Cross is the "insurer of last resort" in Michigan. If you can't afford a cell phone or cable-based phone service, you can still get a basic phone line through AT&T.

I'd like to see AT&T use that situation to improve their reputation, not leverage it to make more money. Can you imagine the power of a movement by AT&T to embrace its position in the community? The ideas are already teeming... identifying community outreach programs is as easy as paying attention to how people pay their bills.

Does AT&T have the guts to make good, too?

Oh my gosh. I saw this article and wanted to cry.

How could something so good be so bad for you?

Men's Health has put out the 20 Worst Foods in America. Read it and weep.

Please, dear readers, learn from this great list. Next time you crave for that double deep fried overcooked cheesy beefy starchy thingy, think of this list before you scarf it down.

The worst food of all?

Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing which comes in with a whopping 2,900 calories,  182 grams of fat, and  240 grams of carbs. Ouch!

Even if I'm not hungry, the image of a hot, juicy burger with all the proper accoutrement (lettuce, onions, ketchup, etc.) will make me question where my next meal is coming from. I don't consider myself a gourmet whatsoever (considering I eat cereal for dinner a lot) but even I have standards.

This is precisely why I (and work neighbor Cora) were flabbergasted to find a German website (compliments of Consumerist) which compares perfectly poised package ads and the actual contents of said food item right next to each other! The DIFFerence is a quite appalling....and gross. Some of the items aren't very commonly found here in America, but it's still easy to see we're all being somewhat tricked when it comes to the intricate art of food photography.

The site and images are making the rounds in the blogosphere and I can't help but share - check it out for yourself!

2 years ago, on my way to Vegas with my friends, I had my first issue with an "overweight suitcase." I’m not sure how I managed to pack more than 50lbs worth of stuff into my suitcase, but I did it – it was just over 52lbs.

In an effort to avoid charging me a fee for the weight of my luggage, the woman at a the Spirit check-in counter was nice enough to suggest I move a couple things (ended up being some shoes) to one of my friends’ suitcases and that ended the debacle.

The last trip (to Boston), I was slightly perturbed by the fact I had to pay to actually check my luggage (which followed all the size/weight rules). But I found solace in the fact that I saved myself $5 by paying for it online prior to my flight. Somehow, I felt I was getting a bargain.

Someone forgot to tell Airborne to do their homework.

Though they aren’t actually admitting any wrongdoing, Airborne is settling a class-action lawsuit to refund the purchase price of their products sold from May 1, 2001 through November 29, 2007.

David Schardt, a senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest has led the lawsuit trying to show that Airborne has used false advertising. Over the course of the lawsuit, it became clear that there is no proof, no glaring scientific studies that show the supplement does what it says it does – boosts your immune system to ward of sickness.

Does it work or doesn’t it? No one is totally sure – I’ve used it and so have many people I know. I haven’t gotten sick after using it, but it doesn’t show that Airborne has anymore of an effect than a standard placebo.

Check out this letter from a student loan company that a fellow Quicken Loans team member received. They're writing to tell them they can't process a form, but can't seem to form an opinion why!

Editor note: We believe in full disclosure at the DIFF to expose all the silliness, but the person supplying the letter has asked to have the company removed to remain anonymous.

Editor's Note: This is a post sent in by a guest blogger about his experience with Spirit Airlines. In all fairness, we’d also like to invite our readers to check out a very different experience another guest blogger had with Spirit Airlines. Or feel free to get writing and send in any and all experiences you have!

By Jay Wetcher

I have flown extensively over the past 25 years, domestic and international, on business and personal travel.  I have encountered all kinds of delays, lost bags, even 2 emergency landings. I have never had an experience like the one I had on Spirit Airlines.

On Jan 4, 2008, I had the misfortune of flying on Spirit Airlines for the first time. The flight was from Fort Lauderdale, Fl to Washington DC Regan Airport.

Upon check in, I was offered an upgrade to a big seat, which I took. (more about this later) Upon arrival at the gate, about 1 hour prior to the scheduled departure time, I saw that the aircraft was at the gate, very good sign. I noticed that the Spirit section of the terminal was in utter chaos, but I have seen this before on other airlines, and did not pay any attention. The flight did not board as scheduled, so I tried to ask when it would board. There were very few Spirit employees available, and when I found one, a flight attendant waiting to board a flight, I was told to check the tv monitors. When I explained that I already had, and the monitor said the flight was on time, and it was already past the scheduled departure time, the person said "Welcome to Spirit Airlines, no flights are ever on time." I thought that this was just a disgruntled employee. I found another employee, a gate agent, who informed me that she had no idea why the flight was delayed or when it might leave. She was nice enough, but she was clearly fed up with her job. I never did find out the true reason for the delay.

Think back a couple months to all the sensational coverage Michael Vick got for running a dog fighting business. If you saw any of the pictures or heard any of the witness accounts of the abuse and neglect the animals endured, it was just enough to make your stomach turn. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison.

Skip to this week, when the Michigan’s Department of Agriculture decides quit pet shop inspections. Pet shops, which in the last few years, have been cited for deadly viruses, cramped quarters, water tainted with feces, fire hazards and even a complete absence of heat source. Cited, but not fined, shut down or jailed.

Mind you, these are not backwoods/underground type puppy mills. These are licensed shops in downtown and suburban areas. These are pet shops where the fire department had to step in and shut them down. These are the pet shops exactly like the one where I got my I got my lab, Phoebe, 12 years ago.

I can excuse barking back at an unruly customer. I understand setting someone straight who is out of line. But what do you do, as a customer, with a salesperson that bites your head off when you’re being nice? No complaining, no whining, no demands, just a pause.

Is there a new customer service tactic being developed that trains the sales person to strike first before the customer has a chance to complain? If so, I’m the first victim.

I had travel plans go sideways, for reasons that I won’t bore you with. So, I decided to call Northwest Airlines (whom I now affectionately call Northworst) to see if we could fly rather than drive to get our plans back on track. As always, when asking for the nearly impossible, I always start out as kindly as I can, explaining that I understand if what I’m asking for can’t be done, but I have to ask anyway, just in case it can.

The person on the other end was very clear with her answers, and explained what I would need to do in order to get three tickets from Greenville to Detroit tomorrow. I paused to consider the cost, and then it came:

Something stinks at Detroit Metro Airport and it isn't fumes from burning jet fuel.

It's the fact that Detroit Metro is the slowest airport I've ever been to (anywhere in the world) when it comes to waiting for baggage to be unloaded.

The other day I waited (at 1 in the morning) over an hour to get my bags after my US Airways flight from Charlotte to Detroit. It was a frustrating ending to a perfect vacation in beautiful St. Maarten (I'll talk about that in a later post). 

What the heck is going on that makes it take an hour to unload bags from a plane?  How come they can do it in 15 minutes pretty much everywhere else?

It's a shame that Detroit, the organized labor capital of the world, does such a poor job on a task like bagging handling.  I have no idea what the problem is.  Are there too few workers?  Are the workers just slow and apathetic?  To be honest I don't care. I just don't want to wait an hour for my luggage ever again.

Editor's Note: While we appreciate Ann-Marie's anger and her need for a spam-free social network, these are the opinions of Angry Ann-Marie only and not Quicken Loans....at least not everyone.

Someone had to do it. With the departure of “Angry Ed” to what I can only imagine are the blissfully sunny streets of LA, the DIFF had been left with a certain void. Well, no more. My rebellious ways – and the fact that my name starts with an “A” – has earned me the title of “Angry Ann-Marie” from here on out. Most of my teammates shan’t be surprised…

My latest beef? I recently made the move from the obnoxious, ad-filled, seizure-inducing pages of MySpace to what I thought was the social networking site at the end of the rainbow: Facebook. The white-space alone on Facebook was enough to make me take a deep, refreshing breath; I finally thought I found the place where I could keep in touch with friends without being stalked by advertisers. But now I wonder…

Facebook recently launched a marketing initiative called Beacon, which it originally positioned as a way to share interests with friends. Beacon was supposed to be the business world’s opportunity to make an innocent foray into online social networking, allowing me to do such things as share the latest video I rented – demonstrating my fascinating movie tastes – with my friends on Facebook directly from the video rental company’s Web site. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to bother my friends with such purchases, but I figured that as long as I was given a choice, fine by me.

It's really a coincidence that the same two years of life, my Army years, produced my own personal examples of the best and worst leaders I ever knew.  One of the best was 1st Sgt. Whatshisname.  He was a great leader. And then there was Sgt. P.

Sgt P was a first-class jerk.

Since that time, I've know some pretty darn good leaders (met a few in the last few years) and I ran head first into a few REALLY bad ones back when I worked for the government of a "large northern industrial city."  A city known for the automobile….

Anyway, I actually had pretty much forgotten about Sgt. P until a few months ago when I was walking through the Detroit Institute of Arts and someone yelled out my name. 

"Hey, Closson!" said a loud voice that startled me out of my art-induced stupor.   

by Cora Bledsoe

I’m a renter. And I don’t mean that in a good way. I live in a decent apartment in a decent complex in a decent neighborhood in a decent city. My problem is with the experience as a whole. Take for example the latest note left at my apartment by “management”. Last Thursday, September 13th, I got home around 6pm. I left back out to run a few errands and upon returning I found I newly placed rolled up piece of paper at my door. The paper read:

9/11/2007

Dear Residents,
Starting Wednesday the 12th, the leasing office will have parking passes available for pick up. Each unit will receive a number of parking passes equal to the number of people listed on their lease. Please pick up parking passes ASAP. Please display them either on the inside of your windshield or rear window. The towing company will check cars for parking passes. If you are having guests over, please pick up a guest pass in the clubhouse.

Thank you,
Woodland Mews Management

Editor's note: The DIFF team is sad to see Angry Ed Moffett leave our lovely city for smog-filled, silicone bodied L.A. We wish him well and will miss his wit, sarcasm, cynicism and well, pretty darn good writing. Good Luck and make sure you give us back-stage passes when you get famous. By the way here's Angry Ed Moffett's music profile.

by Ed Moffett

I’ve been in Michigan for a year now, and I just don’t think I can handle another winter, so I’m going back to California. DIFF president, Clayton Closson requested a departure post. Mind you, I’ll still gladly “contribute,” after I’ve gone - I’ll just be ranting and raving about what sucks from the other side of the country.

Anyway, I needed a final topic - a grand finale’ if you will - something bigger and more interesting than complaints about driving, smoking, or poor customer service in a hardware store. President Closson suggested a contrast, revealing “The DIFF” between life in southern California, and life in Detroit. DONE!

by Mark Messing

It’s no secret we live in a fast paced society. Deadlines, schedules, appointments, and bosses all ensure that we will all be busy from dawn till dusk.  We have very little time for rest. 

We have to GO, GO, GO! 

So when something tells us to stop, it can be annoying.  Especially when that something is a stop light.  I have noticed that there are some stop lights that are extra annoying.  The type that make you stop and wonder who ever decided to set them up so madly.  Here is what I’m talking about:

I’m completely neurotic about my credit. I’ve never paid a bill late, am very careful about opening new credit cards and would flat-out freak if my credit score dropped below 720. That’s why I was particularly revolted when I read about Macy’s new “information sharing” practice on The Consumerist.

Here’s the low-down: If you have a Macy’s credit card but haven’t used it in more than two years, Macy’s will give Citibank the thumbs up to open up a Citibank Mastercard on your behalf. You do have a chance to opt out, but that would require that you actually opened and read what could have only been a long form-letter from Macy’s detailing this new practice (and if you’re anything like me, this letter went straight into the trash before it was given a healthy once-over).

By Chris Martello

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of going to an appointment at the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), formally known as the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services), office on Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit.

Knowing this is a government run organization, you can expect some processes and procedures in order to ensure the proper filing of any paperwork or request.   It is rife with red tape and bureaucracy which provides for a very negative customer experience, even if it goes well. In the event that your paperwork is not 100% complete or if you failed to read the fine print and the extra-fine fine print with disclaimers, you may be asked to provide the proper papers, or worse yet, make another appointment. I witnessed such an example for some poor guy and his family that was trying to get some paperwork processed. 

By Stephanie Powel

Nearly 1,200 Sprint subscribers got the ax June 29 when the nation's third-largest wireless service provider deemed this group’s 40,000 monthly customer service calls, "excessive."   Some may see reason for such harsh consequences, but enacting mass contract terminations sends a clear message to their remaining 53 million Sprint customers and to the world at large, "We don’t want your business!"

The termination letters read as follows:

Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information.  While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs.

By Cora Bledsoe

Although my experience with Comcast hasn’t always been the best, I recently had an experience worth writing home about.

I have both a desktop and a laptop computer at home and spend the majority of my time on the laptop. A few weeks ago my internet connection to my desktop suddenly stopped working. I was still able to use my wireless so I wasn’t too worried but I was still paying for desktop connection so I wanted to get my money’s worth.

I finally found the time to give Comcast a call to find out what was going on. When a technical support specialist answered the phone, he walked me through a few simple steps.

Seth's blog features a sushi place that sells "day old" sushi........yuck. 

I admit sometimes I'm pretty cheap, but even at half price I would pass on day old sushi.  Regardless if the fish is still ok to eat raw, it just seems, well, eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww. 

My wife is Japanese and I eat sushi all the time.  Any raw fish we don't eat the same day we buy it gets cooked or goes to the dogs. 

Sometimes you have to sacrifice profit to maintain a standard of quality. 

Editor's note: Angry Ed is back with some advice for safe and fun driving.  By following these simple rules, we can all be the DIFF and keep Angry Ed smiling!

This week we explore "The DIFF" between driving like you have an ounce of consideration for the millions of others trying to get from A to B on our crowded roads, and deserving to be drawn-and-quartered.

I find driving to be one of the most stressful things I HAVE to do every day, and the stress I feel comes from millions of either inconsiderate or ignorant people that need to be educated or eradicated. Just writing this raised my heart rate, and you'll note the gradual increase in the aggressiveness of tone as the post continues.

Following are a few common road-rage inspiring acts, which you should all be careful not to commit, for when I rule the world and set the laws, punishment will be swift and severe:

By Kathy Fawcett

When you're 5'10", you're pretty far from your feet.

I hardly notice mine, they're so far down there, except to note how much they look like my dad's feet. My three older brothers used to torment me when I was growing up by telling me that I was adopted. (They never said that I was "loved, wanted and chosen," they just wanted me to cry.) I never took them seriously, because no one could deny that the arches of my feet are carbon copies of dad's.

I'm noticing my feet much more now because of my new shoes.

Hey kids!

It's me, again! Your friendly neighborhood hyper-vigilant narcissist, Ed, here with another lesson on how not to be perceived as an idiot. This week, we'll explore "The DIFF" between speaking like you have an education, and exhibiting the conversational skills of P. Diddy.

Our language has been devolving at an alarming rate. Society is making up new words and phrases for unknown reasons. I'm not referring to false contractions like, "gonna," which has no reasonable reference to the two words of which it is supposedly a contraction, "going" and "to," because it actually simplifies speech, using fewer letters and syllables. I'm talking about complete bastardizations of our language where people have added letters or words to create new, useless phrases that further complicate our communication process. It's only natural that a language should compress as it ages.

Many people like to pick on the mortgage and real estate industries. I'm sure they enjoyed this little slip.

That's "Title Source Inc." listed right under Scotty's Potties and Thornton's Portable Toilet.

Yes, Title Source is affiliated with Quicken Loans and Rock Financial (we have to disclose this stuff). And, no, we're not mad at YellowBook.com. They've graciously fixed our listing online.

Thanks, Kim, for keeping an eye out for Title Source!

By Nadar Abadi

So a new team member passing my cube stopped and asked me: "Hey Nader, why do you have six staplers in your cube all lined up like that?"

"Well, here's the story...

When I worked at my previous "job," I realized one morning as I came to my desk that my stapler was missing. Because I needed the stapler to process all the paper "forms" that bogged down my day, I went to my "manager" to get the "Parts/Supply Request Form."

I asked him for the form, he asked me to come back in a couple hours -- I did, and he gave me a big sigh, powered up his computer, waited for it to boot up, opened the folder on his desktop that said "Forms," printed it out, and then, with the body language speaking to me as if I had ruined his day, he handed it to me.

By Ed Moffett

There's an old saying in Germany regarding the speed-UNlimited autobahn that goes something like, "Liberated roads for free people."

Well, here in the states it's, "Restricted roads because of stupid people."

Allow me to explain.

One night last September, driving cross-country at 3am on a stretch of highway in Iowa where I would more likely be abducted by aliens than encounter traffic, it occurred to me that a 75mph speed limit is just plain ridiculous.

Have you ever created a public disturbance? I have...twice. I’m not talking about some loud, crazy or even drunken event where I got arrested or anything like that. These “disturbances” were merely a mild, three-minute or so musical interruption in other people’s lives.

The first time it happened was when I was in 4th grade. We were on a school trip in Toledo, Ohio somewhere.

By Scott Struzik

I took a look at my online account today at my bank.  I noticed the very first line item in my Savings account:

EXCESS TRANSACTION FEE = $5.00

So naturally I called my local banker who I found out no longer works there and got someone else instead.

Banker:  You wrote too many checks from that account

Me:  I have never wrote ANY checks from that account, that's what my checking account is for.

Banker: Please hold.

Please join us for our first ever DIFF podcast, from Mike Lyon, Quicken Loans VP of Operations. Mike had a great time watching the Red Wings win game 2 of the Detroit vs. Calgary playoff series. Well, it was a great time with one big exception. The bathrooms.

And later when Mike tried to e-mail a process improvement suggestion to the managers of Joe Louis Arena, his gesture of goodwill was thwarted...

One thing to mention, in the podcast Mike talks about "mousetrapping." That's what Quicken Loans refers to when we look for small, little changes that will make a process much better.

So without further delay, please enjoy "The Great Joe Louis Arena Bathroom Fiasco," or "why is the line 30 people long and the trough half full???"

Wow!! Talk about doing things the wrong way! Here's a humorous story from the Detroit News about a lady going through a drive-thru at 2am for a simple cup of coffee and doughnut only to be completely frustrated by the restaurant's completely ridiculous policy and the employees being WAY too adamant about enforcing said policy. I mean, how hard can it be to get a coffee and doughnut??

One thing that really annoys me is other people’s voicemail. I’m not talking about the fact that they’re not there to answer your call or even having to leave a message. I’m talking about having to listen to the outgoing message.

Let me set the scene for you: I call my husband. He’s doesn’t answer. I get his voicemail. His outgoing message includes the standard "Leave me a message" language, but he also includes his office number, blah, blah, blah, and his message ends up being fairly long. That’s not even that bad.

Here’s the part that REALLY annoys me.

As a leader, you are a servant to your team. If you think otherwise – that your team members are servants to you – then I suggest you take a few minutes to reflect on all the things that are wrong with that philosophy. Here's an example of the latter way of thinking. If you have trusted and respected leaders – or are one yourself – then you'll probably laugh as hard as I did at this "Note from Boss to Employees" that was posted on the Execupundit blog.

Cora, I’d just like to say I completely agree with you, so in response to your airline story, I’ve got another one for you. There’s a certain airline that I am sometimes forced to take, but their customer service is terrible, their Web site doesn't work, and their phone system is atrocious.

One day, I called up their reservations hotline to book a flight. An operator starts speaking to me, but before I can even say hello, I get switched to a recorded survey they want me to take. I didn't even get to talk to anyone.

By Cora Bledsoe

Last week, a few teammates and I took a trip to sunny Arizona to visit our new Phoenix office. The weather, scenery and people were wonderful and the trip was almost a complete success. We flew a major airline carrier and the flight back to Detroit, Michigan threatened to ruin my memories of the otherwise good trip.

To begin with, our flight was delayed one hour. No big deal, I thought, flights are delayed all the time, although I immediately began thinking of the extra hour of sleep I could have gotten. I got over the one hour delay and when the time came to board, I was ready to go, with a smile on my face.

When it comes to computers and gadgets, I always trust my husband Don's opinion. He can be extremely picky at what he likes and what he doesn't like--usually for very good reasons. Because he owns a computer business, he has to use a lot of different computer products, so he writes a lot of reviews on his blog. I thought his latest entry was of particular interest because it illustrates the old adage: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. He talks about how he loves using the old clickety-clack keyboards that used to come with the old IBM PC computers. But keyboards are made so differently now, they just don't seem to work as well. He has really big fingers and types so fast that on some laptop keyboards, the keys literally go flying off! And I can certainly relate (though not because he's my husband). I, too, love the old clickety-clack keyboards and wish they'd bring them back. I mean, why change something that works? Change for the sake of change isn't necessarily a good thing. And unfortunately, they just don't make things like they used to. No sirree!

Take a look at his entry and see if you think the new keyboards are the anti-DIFF.

By Kathy Fawcett

I am a communication junkie. And as I once wrote, communication is King.

I found early on that my mom's tendency to brood as a form of communication was a poor substitute for clearly stating expectations. I vowed that whatever flaws my own kids walked away with – they would have 1) manners, and 2) the skills it takes to let others know their feelings, frustrations and thoughts as they moved into adulthood.

Last week I got schooled.