Stephen Hill thought he was buying his dream furniture set from Aaron’s furniture. He picked out a sofa and loveseat back in 2013, and just finished paying it off last year.
“It was beautiful, it looked good. I was impressed by it,” Hill told NBC10 Responds Reporter Harry Hairston.
Just as Hill was about to make his final payment to the rent-to-own store, he started noticing a big problem with the set. The furniture would peel and crack, leaving a mess for Hill to clean up. “It's embarrassing to have people come, and it peels and it looks like there's bugs on the floor,” Hill said.
Hill tells NBC10 Responds he contacted Aaron’s directly, to try and get the company to make it right. Hill says a representative from Aaron’s told him someone from the factory would be out to Hill’s home to inspect the furniture, but no one ever showed.
He called NBC10 Responds, hoping we could help the company keep its word. Days after we reached out to Aaron’s, a regional manager personally came out to inspect the problem. A few days after that, a brand new furniture set was delivered to Hill’s home for free.
Aaron’s released this statement to NBC10 Responds:
“Aaron’s, Inc. cares about our customers and associates. That’s the value we’ve built the business on for 61 years. When a concern is raised with us, Aaron’s fully reviews the matter and works diligently with our customers in an attempt to keep them as fully satisfied customers. We are pleased that we have been able to resolve Mr. Hill’s concerns.”
This problem is not unique to our region. Our sister station in Chicago has reported on the peeling furniture problem for months.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, and are not getting a resolution from the company, NBC10 Responds wants to hear from you.
Philadelphia city leaders announced Monday morning the first neighborhood schools chosen to be part of the community schools initiative.
Mayor Jim Kenney, City Council President Darrell Clarke, Philadelphia School District superintendent Will Hite Jr. and others made the announcement around 10 a.m. in City Hall.
The community schools will combine education with community-wide services -- everything from medical services to job training.
The city plans to spend $40 million over the next five years to transform 25 existing public schools.
An inclusion grant aimed at making synagogue life more accessible for people with disabilities hits home for a Montgomery County rabbi.
Melrose B’nai Israel Emanu-El along Old York Road in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania announced it received a United Synagogue if Conservative Judaism Ruderman Foundation grant Monday morning. MBIEE is among just 18 synagogues around the country to receive the grant aimed at including people with disabilities fully in the community.
Rabbi Charles Sherman lauded the grant as helping the synagogue become more inclusive.
"This is a very exciting opportunity for us," said Sherman. "It impacts the total community. No one is immune from life’s challenges. While we feel we do a good job welcoming all people, and having our sacred space accessible - there is always room for improvement. And through education, through programs and our interactions, we can help change people’s attitudes and make the synagogue an even more positive and accepting place."
The inclusion initiative is important for Sherman whose 35-year-old son Eyal Sherman is a quadriplegic dependent on a vent to breath since the age of 4.
United Synagogue launched its inclusion grants initiative in 2014. They will send inclusion specialists to MBIEE to determine where improvements can be made so that everyone can participate in all facets of religious life, said MBIEE.
Sherman hopes to inspire other public spaces and places of worship to increase accessibility.
"This is not about just building ramps," said Sherman. "This is about a basic Jewish concept -- Tikkun Olam -- repairing the world."
Ninety-two ducks were dumped in New Jersey and are now in need of a home, according to officials.
The ducks were rescued by New Jersey State and Wildlife officials Friday after being dumped near the Mill Creek Mall Secaucus on Friday.
They were temporarily relocated to The Barnyard Sanctuary in Columbia, New Jersey, an organization that rescues pet farm animals.
Tamala Lester, the sanctuary’s managing director said they're young Khali Campbell ducks, a domesticated breed that does not fly. The group is now looking for help to care for the ducks, and hopes they can go to a good home.
Officials are looking for information about who dumped the ducks.
A love triangle is likely to blame for the execution-style shooting last week of a Bucks County man that marked the first murder in Warwick Township in nearly 30 years, law enforcement officials said on Monday.
Now, police are searching for Jeffrey Gould, 33, of Bensalem, who is charged in the murder. Police said they believe Gould is still armed and fled to North Carolina after the murder.
A neighbor walking a dog Thursday morning found the victim, Edward Dubinsky, 33, dead of a gunshot wound to the head on the front porch of his home on the 2600 block of Virginia Lane, in Jamison, police said. Dubinsky was the first person murdered in the small township in 27 years, Warwick Police Chief Mark Goldberg said at a news conference on Monday.
Goldberg and Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler said an investigation into the killing revealed that Dubinsky and Gould had been involved in a love triangle with the same woman, whom police identified as Zannatul "Asha" Naim. Naim, 30, of Warwick Township, lived with each of the men at some point in time, Heckler said.
Heckler said investigators aren't aware of any particular incident that sparked the murder, but said the trio had a history of contact.
"Nothing specific or dramatic [happened] that we're aware of. I think there had been a certain amount of communication and friction back and forth," Heckler said.
The tension came to a head Wednesday night, when police say a neighbor reported hearing "a loud bang" about 11:30 p.m. Dubinsky was found dead on the porch the next morning. A neighbor told police a white Mercedes -- later identified as Naim's car -- leave the scene Wednesday night, but police said they believe Dubinsky switched vehicles and is now driving a champagne-colored 2001 Chevy Silverado with an extended cab. The truck has heavy damage to its bed on the passenger side and has New Jersey tag YKD 24N, police said.
Heckler said police were able to get an arrest warrant for Gould after a person he met with when he arrived in North Carolina after the murder told police Gould confessed to killing Naim's ex-boyfriend.
He urged Gould to surrender to police, and Naim to come forward to provide information. There are currently no charges pending against Naim, he said.
"We would like very much to talk to her," he said. "I urge her as well to contact the local police department wherever she is."
He said Naim and Gould should be considered armed and dangerous, and that ballistics from the scene of the killing matched shell casings found when detectives served a search warrant on Gould's apartment in Bensalem. They believe he's armed with a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun.
Anyone with information on Gould or Naim's whereabouts should contact authorities at 215-343-0100.
Christiana Mall was evacuated in Newark, Delaware after loud sirens went off inside the mall according to one witness who was there at the time.
Turns out a mall employee using a steamer accidentally set off the alarms.
Before security figured that out early Monday afternoon, people were asked to leave.
At 2 p.m., everyone was being allowed back in, mall officials told NBC10's Tim Furlong.
Philadelphia police were looking for two men in West Philadelphia Monday afternoon after gunfire near the corner of 61st and Market.
A call for help went out over police radio close to 2 p.m.
Initial reports indicate a third man may have been arrested.
SkyForce10 is en route.
This story is developing. Please check back for more information.
A peaceful blockade is scheduled to protect patients of a health care provider in Philadelphia.
After the Westboro Baptist Church planned a protest outside of the Mazzoni Center, an LGBTQIA-centric health care provider, on Tuesday, July 26, an event was planned on Facebook to make sure patients were able to come and go in peace. The event has quickly grown, and now over 1,000 people have RSVP’d that they are attending the event.
For over 35 years, The Mazzoni Center, located at 809 Locust Street, has been the only health care provider in the Philadelphia region that targets the unique health care needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. The center benefits over 35,000 people annually with services that include outreach, prevention and education.
Organizers are reinforcing that the event is not a counter protest, but instead a peaceful blockade. People in the blockade will be holding up visually protective barriers and singing songs of love. Signs will be available but folks are encouraged to bring their own flags, angel wings, and signs with messages of love and support.
For more information on the blockade, visit the “Great Wall of Love” Facebook page.
A woman was killed when she made contact with a live storm-downed wire while trying to get out of her car in New Jersey Monday, police say.
The wire came down on the car at Midway Avenue and Ginder Place in Fanwood as storms swept through in the late afternoon, according to Fanwood Police Chief Richard Trigo.
The 26-year-old driver tried to get out through the passenger side and made contact with the downed wire and died, Trigo said.
The unidentified woman was the only person in the car, Trigo said.
A woman driving home with her 12-year-old daughter witnessed the electrocution. They said the rain was pouring when a tree branch snapped, taking down electrical wires. One of the cables fell on top of the victim's car in front of them.
"The wire fell on this side of the car and she went through the other door, and that's when she put her elbow on one of the wires. And that's when she fell," said the daughter, Camila Chacha.
Her mother, Eliberia Delgadillo, said she began panicking as they watched the horror unfold.
"She said, 'Mom, relax,' I can't, I can't, I saw her when she burned," said Delgadillo, who returned to the scene with her daughter later in the evening to leave flowers.
"We just called 911, and we couldn't do anything right there -- we couldn't get out of the car or back up, we just had to look at her," said Camila.
"It was so scary, and I never want to go through anything like that ever again," she said in tears.
Utility companies often remind customers to stay in their cars if a live wire falls on it, especially because tires are electrical conductors -- not insulators, as many mistakenly believe.
"It is true that you are safe in your vehicle when a live wire falls on it. But that's because electricity always seeks the easiest path to the ground," PSE&G says. "If you remain in the vehicle, the path of the electricity will be on the outside of the vehicle, through the tires, and into the ground."
"As long as we do not provide a path to the ground through our body the electricity will not enter it. So when an electrical wire falls on your vehicle, stay in your vehicle until help arrives and the power is shut off," PSE&G says.
If you must get out because of a fire or other danger, jump clear out with both feet together, making sure not to touch any other part of the car as the feet hit the ground. Then keep both feet together and hop or shuffle at least 30 feet away.
Philadelphia is paying tribute to the three police officers who were shot and killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana over the weekend by lighting up the Ben Franklin Bridge.
The bridge was lit up in blue Monday night and the tribute will continue Tuesday night and Wednesday night. The bridge was previously lit in blue to show support for the five officers who were killed during a shooting in Dallas.
Rutgers University police will soon be wearing body cameras as they patrol campuses in Camden, New Brunswick, Piscataway and Newark.
It comes as police nationwide are under a microscope, and in some cases, under attack.
"I think it'll have a positive impact on our relations with the community," Chief Kenneth Cop said in an exclusive interview with NBC 4 New York.
Fourteen of the body cameras are being rolled out this week as part of the beta phase of their deployment. The rest will be mounted on officers by the time school starts at the end of the summer.
Students generally seemed to like the idea, and most had high praise for the Rutgers police.
For Sgt. Bryant Myers, a 17-year veteran of the Rutgers force, it's a chance to show the public transparency and the police department's professionalism.
"One can get a chance to view the steps that we take," Myers said.
Pedal to the metal seems to be Uber's new philosophy.
After taking nearly six years to accomplish 1 billion rides, the ride-hailing mogul based in San Francisco reached the 2 billion number just six months later, as reported by The Verge.
The milestone ride occurred on June 18. Well, technically, it was 147 rides that all started at the exact same time across 16 countries, according to CEO Travis Kalanick's Facebook page.
Not only is Uber celebrating the achievement, but those 147 riders and drivers will be gifted with $450, a number symbolizing Uber's operation in 450 cities around the globe, Kalanick said.
Monday's announcement breeds optimism for Kalanick.
"It took five years to reach our billionth trip, six months to reach the next billion ... and we'll hopefully reach our third even more quickly," he said on Facebook.
More than 100 firefighters descended on an industrial area near Newark Airport on Tuesday morning as a raging inferno tore through one warehouse and spread to another building, sending smoke and ash gushing into the night sky.
Video from the scene shows the South Street blaze towering over firefighters as they try to get it under control. Onlookers watched as Kearny Steel Container, a packaging business, burned away into a charred shell.
About 120 firefighters were battling the fire, which started at 12:30 a.m. and burned for hours. Crews were still dousing hot spots at 4:30 a.m. but the fire was mostly under control except for the occasional flare-up.
A deputy fire chief said that firefighters had their hands full throughout the night. Kearny Steel houses corrosive material and that caused some concern.
The deputy chief said water and electricity were also an issue. There were worries that there wasn't enough water to get the fire under control and at some point a transformer fell onto an adjacent building, burning electrical wires and setting that building ablaze. On top of that, the fire was in an area that was hard to access.
"There were some difficulties in getting to the actual building. By the time units got back there, they had to set up in a defensive position to fight the fire defensively," the deputy chief said.
Many detours were reported around the area, which is just north of I-78 and Newark Liberty Airport. Fire officials said that the area around the warehouse would be shut down to traffic throughout the morning.
No injuries were reported and it doesn't appear the smoke affected air traffic at the airport.
