A Couple of Controversies Concerning Conventional Car Care

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Part 1

You are Probably Changing Your Oil too Frequently

How frequently do you change your motor oil? Every 3,000 miles? 4,000? 5,000? Your local oil change shop probably advises you to change your oil every 3,000 miles. They are so thoughtful they even put a transparent sticker on the corner of your windshield telling you to bring your car back in when the odometer hits certain mileage.

Listen to your manual, not your oil change retailer
Photo: Wikipedia

I used to do it every 4,000 miles because calculating 4,000 requires no brain power. But since the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery launched its Check Your Number campaign, I have been reformed. Check Your Number urges drivers to go with manufacturers’ recommendations for oil changes. Many newer vehicles, in fact, have devices built in that calculate when your next oil change should take place. My 2007 Honda Element has an indicator in the odometer that tells me the amount of oil life remaining based on how I drive and how many miles I have gone. For me, it’s at about 5,000-mile intervals. If I did more long distance driving it would extend the oil life even more. My 2001 Toyota Solara does not have that feature. The manual allows me up to 7,500 miles, but that applies to ideal driving conditions. Since most of the Consumer Gal’s and my driving in that car is of distances ranging between one and seven miles, I recently switched to oil changes at 5,000 mile intervals.

Why is all this so important? There are three reasons.

1) Nearly 40 percent of the pollution in America’s waterways is from used motor oil. One gallon of used motor can pollute one million gallons of water.

2) Changing oil less frequently saves the consumer money. If you change your oil, as an example, every 5,000 miles instead of 3,000, you get two-thirds more for your money.

3) Consuming petroleum products adds to the demand for fossil fuels, which our country can ill afford for a variety of reasons.

So check your owner’s manual and follow its recommendations. For more information, go to the Check Your Number web site at www.checkyour number.org. It’s aimed at Californians but you most of it applies to you no matter where you live.

The ten states that prohibit credit card surcharges are :

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.

 

 Part 2

Credit Card Surcharges at Gas Statiions

How do gas stations get away with charging more for credit card purchases? Sloppily written laws, that’s how. Ten

Gas prices higher for credit cards
Photo: KPBS, San Diego (Glenn Batuyong)

states prohibit surcharges, also called checkout fees (see below). Under California law, for example, a retailer may not charge a fee for using credit cards. But with a loophole the size of the Van Allen radiation belt, they may offer discounts for using cash. This is what I call a scam, especially when the huge price sign required for gas stations in the Golden State sometimes show the discount price, with a tiny sign below showing the “full” (read “credit card”) price. Adding insult to injury, ARCO stations in California do not accept credit cards. They do, however, accept debit cards if the consumer pays a flat fee (35 cents the last time I looked) for using the debit card.

According to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACSO) makes the case that credit card companies charge gas merchants about two percent for each transaction (Duh!), so they need to pass that cost along to their customers. The fallacy with this argument is that most gas stations, as well as printers, plumbers and pizza parlors, just figure the expense of credit cards into their prices without passing the costs along to just their credit card customers. Look at it this way; if you were to purchase a $500 TV set with a credit card at Best Buy, and the store were to charge you an additional 10 bucks for using the card, you’d be pretty ticked off. You might even leave in order to look around for a better deal. And, after all, credit cards bring more business into the stations and simplify their accounting by automating those purchases and generating computerized bookkeeping. On its web site, Visa explains that it does not allow its merchants to surcharge customers for using its card, but does not have a policy on cash discounts. My advice to you: skip retailers that charge extra for credit card usage and find stations that even the playing field. Here are the ten states that prohibit checkout fees: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.

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Coupons: Money Makers or Cash Costers?

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Lots of folks use coupons. They save you money, right? Sometimes. Manufacturers of retail items, with the exception of the U.S. auto industry, have typically been pretty smart. So they are not giving away the store. The idea behind coupons is to lure you to their products, or to create demand for new ones.

Photo: U-Haul Trucking Rental

I seldom use coupons because they are usually for stuff I don’t need, stuff that’s overpriced to begin with, or “foods” that are bad for me.

The Consumer Gal and I enjoy tea. My wife especially likes herbal teas. I recently came across a one-dollar coupon in the Sunday newspaper for Celestial Seasonings tea. When I saw that my supermarket “club” card price gave a dollar discount, I piled on my coupon and got the $2.99 box of tea for one buck.

On the other hand, I have a one-dollar coupon for “WhoNu?” cookies. It’s a new line of cookies from Suncore Products. They‘re marketed as a nutrition-rich treat, containing fiber, protein, nutrients, yada, yada, yada. My Consumer Guy curiosity (and my sweet tooth) has gotten the best of me. So I will take that tooth to the market and check it out. But here is the caveat. I’ll check the after-coupon price. If I’m not going to save a buck compared to my normal gamut of after-dinner, low-fat goodies, I ain’t buying. And I’m not sure that WhoNus are low in fat.

The primary source of food in our home is Trader Joe’s. Excellent prices and a great array of healthful, vegetarian items are why. TJ sells a huge percentage of stuff bearing its own brand, which allows it to keep prices down. As for name brands, TJ accepts coupons.

We rarely buy foodstuffs we wouldn’t ordinarily buy just because we have coupons. If you don’t stick to that commitment, you could be in for a world of financial hurt. (Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration.)

If I can buy a can of beans at TJ or Safeway that bears the stores’ labels and pay 89 cents for them, but I can get 25 cents off a can of S&W beans with a coupon, which way should I go? That depends. If the S&W beans cost a dollar with the coupon, you know which way I’m going. But if you simply like the taste of the S&W’s better, enjoy yourself! Of course, coupons don’t only apply to grocery items. I collect coupons for restaurants from the Sunday paper. On occasion I buy a Groupon. But I make it a point never to do so for a restaurant or other establishment where I would not otherwise be spending my money (unless I’m interested in trying a new place.

I have about 150 old LP and cassette music albums (for the youngsters out there, they are ancient forms of recorded albums from the days before CDs came along). Kohl’s was selling a device that allows listeners to play their LPs and cassettes and to record them onto CDs. It cost almost $170, a very good sale price. But for each $50 spent, Kohl’s issued the consumer $10 in Kohl’s Cash, which is essentially a coupon. So, with my $30in Kohl’s Cash I bought a $25 plush bathrobe and a $12 pair of slippers – both on sale (of course). They came to about 40 bucks, including sales tax. I ended up forking over only $10 out of pocket for stuff I needed. By the way, man, I’m really diggin’ listenin’ to my old vinyls and trippin’ back to the days when most of rock was real music.

That’s the upside of coupons. Here are some downers:

  • They induce us to buy junk foods and beverages like potato chips, candy, soda and juice drinks;
  • They induce us to buy additional stuff we don’t need or really want;
  • And, according to financial journalist Faroosh Torabi (www.farnoosh.tv) using coupons often seduces us into spending the money we saved, and more, on other stuff. In the September 1, 2011 issue of Bottom Line Personal¸ she refers a Harvard Business School study that show online shoppers who use a $10 coupon tend to spend $1.59 more than those who don’t use the coupon.
  • Bed Bath and Beyond offers 20 percent off coupons which are frequently a great deal. But you need to compare the pre-coupon price of what you’re buying. While some stuff at BBB is priced well, I have also seen items there for two or three times the price I have seen at Target or Costco.

Here’s something else to watch out for – coupon web sites. I find that frequently they offer coupons good at vendor web sites, which are nothing more than the same offer already available from the vendors. I just ordered a ladder from the Home Depot site that was selling for $168. I checked with several coupon sites. They offered me free-shipping coupons for Home Depot on products that cost at least $45. That’s the exact same deal that Home Depot was offering with no coupon requirement. The best way to get the best price on a particular item is to use one of the discount price comparison sites like Buy.com, ebates.com, or one of the many others. I bought the special- order ladder from Home Depot’s web site because there is a Home Depot store near my home and I can return it there if it doesn’t meet my expectations. Plus, they deliver it right to my house.

In summary, a coupon is only a bargain if it’s for something you already want and you can’t get another, equivalent item for less.

Filed Under: Advertising, Consumer Guy, Food, Shopping, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

All that credit card info they ask for online keeps your account safe . . . NOT!

January 11, 2012 By 1 Comment

I had an agenda of topics laid out for this web site for months to come. But last week I had an eye-opening experience that taught me that as low as my esteem for big banks was, it still had a long way to drop.
I have a Chase Freedom Visa card. I haven’t used it in more than three years. I keep it as a backup in case I misplace my two primary cards (I lose a lot of stuff. In fact, the only thing I ever had trouble losing was my virginity – but that’s probably more than you need to know). When the card came up for renewal about a year and a half ago, I decided to not activate it.

Freedom from what?

But lo and behold – what does “lo” mean anyway? – I recently received a statement from Chase with a charge on it from Mutual of Enumclaw insurance company. I never made a payment to that company. How could I? I had never heard of it. I would remember if I had, since it’s the worst name for a company since Studebaker. And since I had never activated the card, it was unusable anyway. Or so I thought.
I called Chase and canceled the payment. Chase got back to me and informed me that the charge was a mistake. “How could that happen?” I inquired, since M of E had neither my three-digit security code nor the expiration date for the card. Furthermore, how could anything be charged to a card that was never activated?
The rep could not answer so she connected me to the fraud department. The guy at the fraud department told me that if a Chase customer doesn’t activate the card within 60 days, Chase activates it AUTOMATICALLY!  “Why would you do that?” I asked. “What if someone had stolen my card from the mail?”
“We don’t want to inconvenience our cardholders in case they forgot to activate,” was the explanation. “What about the failure to verify the expiration date and security code?” I parried. The fraud rep kicked me upstairs to his supervisor, Audrey. I repeated the question. “You’ll have to ask the merchant,” Audrey advised.
So I called M of E and found a person whose actual name is Sara. I use her real name because she was nice, solicitous, and a good listener. After diligent research she determined what had happened. One of M of E’s “insureds” (that’s what they call their customers in the insurance game) had mis-entered her card number when making a premium payment. The one-digit error meant she entered my unactivated card number. But what about the expiration date and the security code?
“You’ll have to ask your bank,” responded Sara. So I called Chase again. This time Dean was my fraud department supervisor. He explained that some vendors do not ask for the security codes and/or expiration dates for credit card charges and that’s how this charge got through. “How about the fact that the customer had a different name?” I challenged. I’m not sure what Dean said exactly, but it was something like, “Mhllf blah, sheboygan, phlegm.”
So I called Sara at M of E again. I asked if they request expiration dates and security codes for credit card payments.  “We do,” she averred.
So let’s review.
• The person who made her credit card payment to Mutual of Enumclaw, innocently entered my credit card number.
• The card had never been activated.
• She had the wrong name for my account number.
• The expiration date was incorrect.
• The security code was wrong.
• And still the charge went through.
Once again I chased down Chase’s fraud department. This time I got Elvira on the phone. Long story short: Elvira admitted that, “We dropped the ball on this one.” She agreed that the charge never should have gone through and should have been sent back to the merchant. “We use a variety of algorithms,” to verify charges, she claimed.
On behalf of Chase she took full blame for the screw-up, but reminded me that Chase never charges the customer for fraudulent charges and that anytime a cardholder brings a wrong charge to the bank’s attention, the bank makes it right.
What, I asked, if a person has a hundred charges on a monthly statement and, like so many consumers, they don’t check each item? This $385 charge would be paid as part of – let’s say – a $3,000 bill. The cardholder would pay it and never know they had been ripped off.
Elvira admitted that such instances do occur.
Upshot. Check your monthly credit card statements. Match the charges to your receipts. And if you think all those data that merchants ask for when taking your credit card number protect you, think again.

Filed Under: Banking, Consumer Guy, Privacy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A Brief Holiday Consumer Guy Blog

December 28, 2011 By 1 Comment

I’m taking off this week but I would feel guilty if I did so without leaving at least one helpful hint.

If you would like to give your, let’s say, older parent a free technological bonus gift for the holidays – especially if you gave that parent a smart phone or computer – check this out. www.TeachParentsTech.org offers 50-plus brief videos with instructions like how to make text larger, how to set up a video chat, or how to create a new screen saver. This site was built by a few folks at Google to help keep tech support a family business.

You can even send an email message to your loved one with links to specific videos. So check it out. You might even learn a few things yourself.

Happy New Year!

 

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You can Avoid Checking Fees and Even Make Money on Your Checking

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

While the big banks have dropped the idea of charging monthly fees for using your own debit card, there are still some nasty charges out there for checking account customers.
To compete with the big boys, many smaller banks around the country are not only skipping the fees, they’re offering substantial dividends. Are there any catches in order to access this largess? You bet. But if the requirements to access these returns are within – or close to – your normal banking behavior, it’s no big whoop.
Let me give you an example. In California, where I live, Community West Bank is offering a 2.53 percent yield on up to $15,000. The requirements? Each month you:
• Must complete 10 debit card transactions;
• Have a direct deposit or automatic debit transaction;
• Receive an electronic statement
• Access online banking.

At Bank of the Sierra, the qualifications to earn 2.09 percent on up to 25 grand are:
• Minimum 12 Sierra Check Card purchases per qualification period
• Minimum one direct deposit or automatic payment from your account per qualification period;
• Make at least one payment using Sierra BillPay per qualification period;
• Enroll and receive electronic statements.

Financial institutions in almost every state have similar deals, some with rates above four and five percent.
In a recent survey by Bankrate.com, just 45 percent of the banks in the 25 largest markets are offering free checking. In 2009 76 percent of these banks offered free checking.
To qualify for the high interest rates, you typically must be a resident of the state where the bank operates. And they all have restrictions similar to the ones above.
You can find banks in your state at the web site www.depositaccounts.com, run by Ken Tumin.
Credit unions sometimes offer competitively high rates as well, and, like banks, they have account insurance. If you tend to keep only relatively small amounts in your checking account, as I do, then I favor credit unions. And since I don’t use a debit card because it’s like carrying cash in your wallet if anyone obtains your PIN, I favor credit unions. But if you do a lot of debit card purchasing, the high-rate checking accounts may be just right for you.
The Consumer Gal and I make most purchases with a credit card and earn two percent back on those transactions. We pay off the entire balance each month. That’s the only way credit cards work to your advantage.
If you are looking for a credit union in your area, check out the web site above or www.creditunion.coop.
Happy holidays. And remember:
Whoever holds the money has the power.

 

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Are White Men the Dumbest People in the World? TV Advertisers Seem to Think So

December 3, 2011 By 1 Comment

I admit it; I am a TV addict. Being a writer is a lonely job. I write two blogs and I’m now marketing a book. My dog Ozzie and my TV sets keep me company. It’s mostly news show that I watch . . . or listen to . . . or just have on in the background to keep me company.
But I catch enough of junk TV to see a lot of commercials. Actually, commercials keep me up on what crap a lot of advertisers are foisting upon the American consumer. By the way, is there ever a day when Kohl’s is not having a huge sale?

TV commercial
Yoplait commercial in which the husband is clueless that his desserts are really Yoplait yogurt . . . duh!

Here’s what I’ve noticed about a certain technique advertisers employ in order to make certain segments of their target audience feel good about themselves. In humorous commercials at least 90 percent of the time, white men are dolts. Idiots. Morons.  At the top of the intelligence heap are black women. They are followed closely by Asian and white women. Then come Asian men, followed by black men and children of any ethnicity. Finally comes the lowly white guy.
Now these are not hard and fast rules. There is some limited upward and downward mobility between levels, but just a little. Forgive me for leaving out Latinos, but advertisers don’t identify them much in commercials and when they do, the families seem to be stuck just interacting within their own culture.
Let me demonstrate a few examples. There’s the former State Farm Insurance customer who calls his former agent and cries that he ran his car up a pole. She’s compassionate. He’s an idiot.
There’s the AT&T Internet customer whose whole family understands that their Web connection is wireless but he just can’t understand it, much to the disdain of his daughter.
How about the guy who walks into the kitchen, overhears his wife talking on the phone about the delicious dessert flavors of Yoplait yogurt, and starts looking for the desserts in the fridge? That is until she derisively asks him, “What are you doing?”
In commercials, there are mostly black doctors of either sex. There are no dumb Asian or black women. Black men are only dumb in comparison to others above them in the hierarchy.
After much contemplation I have figured out the why the world of humorous commercials is so ordered. There are two prongs to my theory. White guys have a disproportionate influence in society. And they are not all that sensitive to being at the bottom of the TV commercial pile. They can laugh at being made fun of.
But by making women, and particularly minorities, feel good in relation to the product being sold, the advertiser creates a humorous and positive association with its product or service.
The second aspect of this phenomenon is that men – particularly white men –– control “Madison Avenue,” as the ad business is often called. So white guys flatter minorities and women in order to dupe them into buying the stuff the advertisers and their ad agencies are hawking. So while everyone else gets to feel superior, white guys (predominantly) are manipulating them.

Personally, I find this phenomenon disturbing. Sexism is sexism. Racism is racism. Period. The John Gray book Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus, did a lot to promote the “men do this, women do that” mentality that pervades so much of television, radio, and publishing. It leads to viewpoints that generalize sex-defined behavior and ignore the behaviors of sensitive men, coarse women, and everything in between.
As a white man, while I enjoy funny beer commercials I also resent being generalized as a sex crazed oaf (no matter how true it is of me personally) who makes consistently stupid choices.

I don’t give a damn what it sells.

 

Filed Under: Advertising, Consumer Guy, Shopping Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

B of A – I Told You So! (And other ways to beat your bank)

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In a column last month I talked about why I approved of Bank of America’s lame effort to ignore the “Occupy” tide across the country and charge five bucks for customers to use their debit cards each month. I liked B of A’s – and the test market versions of other big banks – policy because I was sure that it would drive many customers away from the sociopathic corporations that played such a big part in bringing our country to its financial knees when they dealt in questionable financial instruments. Generally speaking, local banks and credit unions offer lower rates for most services.
In an Associated Press article, reporter Ben Nuckols relates the story of how a young woman, Molly Katchpole,  who was upset by Bank of America’s new policy, initiated a petition on Change.org, a nonpartisan web site that facilitates launching of campaigns on any topic. 300,000 signatures later B of A canceled its plans to charge the five dollar fee. Did the petition cause the change of policy? Maybe. Was it the fact that other banks like Wells Fargo and Sun Trust scotched their debit fee plans? Could be.
Or was it this fact? In 2010, approximately 600,000 people joined credit unions. In just the month of October 2011, an astonishing 650,000 people enrolled as credit union members, according to the Credit Union National Association as referenced in yesterday’s San Jose Mercury News.
When the big boy banks let it be known that customers would have to pay extra to access their own money, the banks were daring their customers to take their business elsewhere. It seems like a lot more than just a coincidence that customers left in droves. Consumers double-dared ‘em right back.
Whether you bank at a community bank, credit union, or at one of the big boys, here are some ways to lower your costs. If you pay off your credit cards in full each month, get a card with a cash-back or travel rewards benefit. Shop around – there all kinds of good deals for those with good credit.
If you rarely make an overdraft but goof once in a very blue moon, ask the bank to refund your overdraft charge. Find a bank – or ask your current one – to give you free overdraft protection, giving you a day to cover the boo-boo upon notice.
Use checks that make carbon copies so you won’t have to ask the bank to sell you a copy if you mess up your register.
Choose an account that has a low or zero minimum balance so that you don’t get hit with a fee.
When it comes to ATMs, choose an institution that does not charge for using ATMs at other banks in their network. On a recent trip to New York City I was able to use an ATM, without paying a fee, in a McDonald’s that belonged to a credit union on the same network as my California credit union,. Some financial institutions will reimburse you if you have to use another bank’s ATM.
(Footnote – Anyone who refers to an ATM “machine” should be reported to the FBI of Investigation).
For lots of good banking information, check out www.bankrate.com.

 

Filed Under: Consumer Guy

Here’s a Bright Idea – Energy Efficient Lightbulbs

October 28, 2011 By 5 Comments

In case you haven’t heard, the federal government is about to rock your dark little world. Before you go out and buy a lamp that uses a traditional incandescent bulb, keep in mind that buying replacement bulbs will be very difficult.
Here are the who, what, when, where, why and how of these changes:
Most ordinary bulbs, the type introduced by Tom Edison more than a century and a quarter ago, waste their energy consumption by putting out lots of heat. That’s why you can’t touch such a bulb with your bare hand after it’s been on for a moment or two. So, most of the energy is expended as heat, not light. The government wants less of that energy wasted. The aim is to save Americans $13 billion per year and reduce CO2 emissions by 100 million tons annually.
Starting next January, it will be lights out for traditional 100-watt bulbs. Manufacturers will be prohibited from making those bulbs as of that date. 75-watters go the following year. As of 2014, 60- and 40-watters will be discontinued. If you have a fixture that uses candelabra, appliance, or three-way bulbs (the ones that typically have two elements and can click to 50, 100 or 150 watts), not to worry; you’re protected for the foreseeable future.

Sylvania LED Bulb

     So what can we do to keep the lights on when we run out of old-style bulbs? There are plenty of alternatives around with more to come than you can shake a filament at. You probably already have compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs, in your home already. They are the ones that look like swirled soft ice cream cones. Some folks don’t like their spirally looks, the color of their light, or the fact that you can’t clip light shades onto them. The first two objections are being dealt with. Some newer versions encase the swirls in an outer globe. And there is a growing variety of shades of light available.
Halogen bulbs produce more light per watt than do incandescent bulbs. They’ve been around a while in the form of tubes that snap into clips at either end for use in lamps that are designed to accommodate them. They can, however, get very hot.  A greater variety of halogens is now available, including those that screw in like the incandescents.
I recently bought a bunch of flashlights that were on sale at a local electronics store for a buck apiece.
Each one is about the size of a lipstick except that it’s a little thicker. At the front end are nine tiny LED (short for light emitting diode) bulbs. The amount of light this thing emits is awesome. The LEDs don’t get hot because most of their energy – which comes from three AAA batteries (side note: how come there are no A or B batteries?) – goes to making light. The little suckers are amazingly bright. LEDs are the light of the future because of their small size, exceptionally long life, and their efficiency.
All of these alternative bulbs (while most of them are no longer bulb shaped, the term has come to mean almost any man-made item that gives off light) are much more expensive than traditional incandescents, they earn back their initial cost by using way less energy. And they tend to last a lot longer.
The October 2011 edition of Consumer Reports has a nice breakdown of a variety of bulb types, by function. It rates them according to brightness, expected bulb life, light color, warm-up time (for CFLs), and other characteristics.
Briefly, when shopping for bulbs, look for price, life expectancy in hours, brightness (in lumens), and color of the light. The colors can be cool or warm, daylight bright or slightly yellowish.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Environmental impact, Shopping Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Debit Card Fees by the big Banks may be Just What the Doctor Ordered

October 13, 2011 By 1 Comment

While thousands of angry people across America are joining Occupy Wall Street and its nationwide clones, Bank of America seems oblivious to the upsurge. Here’s how it works: If you use your debit card during any month, your account is debited five bucks for that month. If you don’t use your card, there’s no penalty.
The banks are saying they are forced to raise fees because of all the new restrictions on them. The most relevant rule, which went into effect on October 1, restricts the amount banks can charge retailers for debit card transactions to 21 cents. That’s down from 44 cents.

Even the Pentagon has a credit union!

Ohhh, poor banks! Chase Bank and Wells Fargo are testing $3 monthly fees. Sun Trust is jumping on the $5 bandwagon.
Good! Good? The Consumer Guy® likes bank fees? Nah. But I do like the idea that the big boys are making the small ones more appealing. I closed two Chase accounts last year and moved the dough over to the financial institution where The Consumer Gal keeps her money (yeah, we know, it’s strange that a couple has independent solo accounts) – a Credit union across the parking lot from Chase. Now these accounts are subject to virtually no fees. Citibank is standing pat with no debit fee as well.
In case you do not remember, the big banks are partly responsible for the meltdown of the U.S. economy, no small part of which had to do with bad mortgages. Then they took massive bailouts from U.S. taxpayers, only to deny hundreds of thousands of needy homeowners a break on their mortgages. So it warms the cockles of my heart, whatever they may be, to know that as the banks are finding an array of fees with which to hit their depositors, they are also giving those customers an incentive to say hasta la vista, and to look for better deals at local banks and credit unions.
It’s my hope that bank depositors will be willing to look at local financial institutions for free – or at least low cost – services. In other words, support local businesses. Just make sure they don’t charge other fees, like checking account or teller fees.
Here are some other ways to save on debit card charges.
• Pay cash. Just make sure that you extract the money from an ATM that doesn’t charge a fee. Either use your own bank’s ATM or one on its no-fee network.
• Use a credit card, but only if you pay off your entire bill each month. If you carry a balance, that’s costing you interest each month and makes credit purchases impractical. For information on choosing credit cards with the best benefits, do a web search for ‘best credit cards” – avoiding search results paid for by credit card issuers – and decide if you want money back, airline miles, or whether you want to pay an annual fee for expanded benefits.
• Try online banking. I am not a big fan of online banking because I’m fearful of compromising my personal information and becoming a victim of identity theft, or worse. If you are an Internet whiz kid, check out the services at  institutions like Ally Bank, Discover Bank and ING Direct, among others.
If you decide to switch banks, Consumers Union offers a checklist for consumers who want to switch at www.DefendYourDollars.org.
Don’t feel locked into your current financial institution. Free competition can be a very good thing for consumers.

Filed Under: Banking, Consumer Guy, Shopping, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Why do Seniors get Discounts? Who Cares? Go for It!

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Honestly, I’ve never understood why senior citizens, as a class, get all kinds of discounts. Why not people in their thirties . . . or forties? Evidently marketers have figured out a rationale for this type of promotion. Here’s an example of a unique discount. Last weekend the Consumer Gal and I went to a reunion in L.A. We checked a Sheraton Hotel near where the event was taking place. The price for the room was $195. With an AAA discount, the price was lowered to $149, an almost 24 percent discount. When I inquired if there was a better discount for AARP members (AARP is open for membership to anyone over age 50), they told me that the first night would cost $195, with the following night costing the last two digits of my year of birth. So, for example, if I were born in 1961 (no, I’m not revealing my birth year), the two nights would cost 195 plus 61. The average for the two nights would be $128. In other words, the older you are, the less you pay for the additional night.
The reason this makes little sense to me is that the average 23-year-old has a lot less discretionary money than does the average 60- or 70-year-old. In any case, being a “senior” is like living with a coupon taped to your back. But since that is the way of the American world, let’s take a look at some typical discounts available to seniors (and even younger folks).

Discounts abound. Perhaps my favorite discount is the U.S. National Park Service America the Beautiful Pass. If you are over 62, this is the best tourist value in America (next to New York’s Staten Island Ferry, which is free for everyone) at 10 bucks . . . for life! You, and up to three passengers in your car, can visit Yosemite (my favorite by far,) Yellowstone, Glacier and every other venue in the vast, wonderful park system at no charge, once you have forked over the initial 10 smackers. It also provides other assorted discounts in the park. You can get the card at any of the venues. Some states also offer discounts for their parks.
If you are over 60, you can get a 20-percent discount card at Elephant Bar locations. Applebee’s has a 10 to 15 percent discount at participating locations. It’s coffee for a buck at Denny’s for AARP members.
At Ross Dress For Less Stores it’s dress for even more less (???) with 10 percent off on Tuesdays for those over 55. Kohl’s offers 15 percent off on most Wednesdays for those  over 50.
Virtually every movie theatre discounts tickets. Jiffy Lube locations give 10 percent off to 60-plussers, with some even offering discounts to those over 50.
Check out baseball park policies. I recently learned that my beloved New York Yankees – yes, the same villains who sell some seats for thousands of dollars – have five-dollar senior discounts for some seats two hours before game time.
There is a succinct point to all of this. All kinds of businesses offer all kinds of discounts. So before you shop, ask. There are three essential ways to go about doing this. Call the business and ask; visit the business’s web site; or, when you get there, ask if there is a discount policy for seniors. This has worked for me a bunch of times.
And now, here is the tip of tips. There is a web site that consolidates much of this information for you. It’s www.seniordiscounts.com. Check it out. You need not pay for any of its additional serivces.

Happy shopping!

 

Filed Under: Consumer Guy

What’s with Those Direct Marketing Commercials that Offer a Second Item . . . for Free?

September 16, 2011 By 3 Comments

What’s with Those Direct Marketing Commercials that Offer a Second Item . . . for Free?

If you watch much television, you are familiar with those adds that promise a second item for free. The bonus offer usually starts with, “But wait! If you order now, we’ll send you a second widget . . .  for free!” Then, in a somewhat more muted voice, and stated very fast, is the phrase, “Just pay processing and handling.” Aha!
Let’s parse this marketing technique, using the ChefDini as an example. About that name, my best guess is that it’s a Houdini reference. The ChefDini is a food processor without all the inconveniences of an electric processor because you crank it by hand. Wow!
It’s $39.99. But wait! We’ll send you a second ChefDini for free. Just pay additional processing. Processing costs $7.99. So when you order, you end up paying $53.97.
Why do they do that? Here’s why. Putting a second item in the box costs the vendor just pennies for shipping. The balance of the additional $7.99 means they are still making a profit on the second gadget.
The Ped Egg is a small grater that has an integrated container. It removes rough skin from feet. Price? 10 smackers. Gimmick? $6.99 shipping and handling. Handling? Really? When I go into a local store, how come they don’t charge me for handling? So, sure enough, you can get a second Ped Egg free. Just pay shipping and handling. So when you order a 10-dollar Ped Egg, the yolk is on you (I couldn’t resist). It ends up costing you $23.98.
If you send any of this stuff back because you don’t like it, guess who pays the return postage. Yep, you do. But here’s the unkindest cut of all. They refund the purchase price but not the processing (or shipping and handling) costs. So, in the case of the Ped Egg, you send them 24 bucks, they refund 10 dollars, and you also lose the return postage. Let’s say you pay five bucks to return the stuff. You are now out 19 dollars and you have zero product.
Some malls have As Seen On TV stores where you can buy the direct marketing products that are “not sold in stores.” The trouble with these outlets? They typically charge a 15 percent restocking fee. Here’s the pitfall. You buy a product for, say, $20. You decide the product sucks – or at least doesn’t meet expectations. You bring it back. They charge you a restocking fee of 15 percent, which means you get 17 bucks back. The store keeps three dollars. Then they put the item back on the shelf. So you are out three dollars and they keep their profit anyway.
The bottom line:
Don’t buy direct marketing products from TV. It’s too risky. The two items I ever bought that were both junk. Wait for the products to come to traditional retail stores. If that doesn’t happen, it’s probably for a good reason.
If you decide to buy at an As Seen On TV store, have them cross out the restocking fee notice on the bottom of the receipt. If there is no notice, but a sign posted in the store instead, have the salesperson right on the receipt “No restocking fee” and sign it. If they won’t do it, repeat after me: “Sayonara.” (Hasta la vista or ciao will suffice.)

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Negotiating, Shopping, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , ,

You may be out of Warranty, but not out of Luck

August 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The product you bought is broken. The limited warranty has expired. And you are as exasperated as hell because you think the piece of crap should have lasted longer. Well, fret not. Try these approaches.

********DISCLAIMER – Although I mention several brand names in this column, this is neither an endorsement nor a condemnation. This is based on my personal experience with these companies and is no guarantee of future success or failure********

Almost three years ago I bought an Armitron digital sport watch at the Mervyn’s going-out-of-business clearance sale. The watch looked great and cost only 18 bucks. It came with a limited warranty that covered the watch’s internal movement. Last June, immediately after being felt up by a TSA officer at San Francisco Airport, I boarded a plane to New York and proceeded to strap my watch back onto my wrist. The strap
came off in my hand. I discovered that it wasn’t the strap that broke, it was the watch case. The plastic case had broken apart.

Considering that I only wore this watch when traveling or participating in sports, I was particularly irked. I reckoned that I had worn this watch perhaps 200 days in less than three years. When I returned home to San Jose I called Armitron in New York. The agent told me that only the movement is covered by the warranty. I conceded the accuracy of the statement and got off the phone. But the more I thought about it, the more the inequity of this situation ate at me. Why on Earth should a watch case ever fall apart?

A few days later I called Armitron again and asked for a supervisor. I left a message on his voicemail and lo and behold he called me back. I explained what happened and made my case about the case. He felt it was reasonable to expect a watch case to last more than three years. He asked me to send him my watch so he could inspect it. A week later a new watch arrived in the mail.

I called the guy and left a message on his voicemail. I told him that I appreciated the great customer service and that he had won me over as an Armitron customer. After all, one good turn deserves another.

Before I make my point I’ll tell you a related story. I regularly attend an upper-body class at my local health club. I usually leave the class a little early as the cool-down and stretching part of class begins (I do my own stretch routine after doing a few more independent exercises). I noticed that as time went by, my Reebok sneakers were not helping me sneak out of class. They started squeaking – louder and louder each week. The squeak was coming from inside the shoes’ soles.

I called Reebok, explained my problem and the customer service agent asked me to send them the shoes. About a week and a half later I received a new pair of Reeboks. They lived out their lives without a peep.

Here’s my point. If a product fails way before it reaches its reasonable life expectancy, speak up. A good manufacturer will do the right thing. And what is there to lose? After all, the worst thing a company can say is, “Sorry.” (Okay, they could also tell you to go pleasure yourself – but how painful would that be?).

If you are the type of person who is easily daunted, I can only say don’t fear the daunt. Most customer service reps are polite, even if they turn you down. And the sooner you take action, the sooner you will get the intended request off your mind and – I guarantee – you will feel great about standing up for yourself. Go get ‘em tiger.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Extended Warranties, Negotiating, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Why Couldn’t Older Generations Have Been More Aware of the Environment?

August 16, 2011 By 1 Comment

You may have seen a version of this tale as a forward in your email or while browsing the Internet.

I feel the lesson here is more relevant than ever. So I present it for your entertainment and edification with a comment at the end.

_____________

In line at the store, the cashier advised the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.” The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Former generations did not care enough to save our environment.”

Coke, Seltzer, and Pepsi deposit bottles

He was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.

But they didn’t have the green thing back in that customer’s day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store apartment building, and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go half a mile.

But she was right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have disposables. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a screen the size of a sheet of typing paper, not the size of a SUV. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their  pens with ink or inserted a refill instead of buying a new pen. And they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus, trolley or streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into 24-hour taxi services. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn’t have the green thing back then?

_____________________

This piece is sad and nostalgic for me. I have an assortment of memorabilia in my office shelves. They include old Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola deposit bottles, old seltzer bottles (in New York and other cities there were seltzer men who would deliver and retrieve syphon bottles), and some antique refillable lighters; not disposable ones. In other words, I guess I’m part of that generation that remembers when recycling didn’t have name; it was a way of life.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Should businesses be allowed to ban kids?

August 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

(Reprinted and edited with permission from www.enoughof.us)

Outdoors at McDain's

McDain's Restaurant

Would you take a toddler to an evening at the ballet? A cocktail lounge? The library  (excluding the children’s section)? If your answer is “yes,” perhaps you should  think twice about it. And if one of those venues were to say, “Sorry, no small  children allowed,” would you understand?

If your answer is “yes,” or even “maybe,” then why shouldn’t a restaurant have the  right to do the same thing? That’s exactly what McDain’s Restauarant in Monroeville,  Pennsylvania did starting a few weeks ago. While some folks think it’s unfair,  we believe that when you decide to become a parent, you have to accept the  drawbacks along with the advantages.

When I go to a local salad bar restaurant, I expect that we’ll be waiting in line while parents negotiate  what stuff goes on the kids’ plates, dodging kids all over the place at the  dessert bar, and listening to loud – if not screaming – kids at the next table.  It goes with the territory.

But when my wife and I go out for a pleasant – even a romantic – evening, we feel we’re entitled to not be harassed, harangued or hectored by a rampaging romper room refugee. Mike Vuick, McDain’s proprietor, said that he had to draw the line at age six for diners, because his
staff would often get dirty looks when asking patrons to control their offspring. “I decided that someone had to dig their heels in on behalf of all
these frustrated customers on this issue, so I did.” The result? McDain’s is drawing new customers.

As one patron put it, “We decided to go out to dinner to a place where we can enjoy ourselves without being assaulted by the screams of
kids.” According to a Today show report by NBC’s Janet Shamlian, several movie theatres are banning kids, PG-13 and R ratings be damned. And no more infants in first class on Malaysia Airlines.

Parenting expert Michelle Borba explains the change in attitude this way: “Way back when, it was, ‘Kids should be seen but not heard,’ and we stressed obedience. Right now it’s more connection with our kids. That’s the good news. But we’re also a little less likely to say, “No.”

But why are businesses becoming less tolerant of boisterous babes? “27 million couples have decided not to have kids,” says pop culture expert Lola Ogunnaike, on Today. “They call them DINKS – “Dual Income, No Kids.” Well, guess what. They also have a lot of disposable income. And marketers are waking up and realizing, ‘Hey, this is a segment of society that’s not being addressed.’”

In a survey, we asked parents this question:

“What would you think of the idea of designated childfree zones for people who would rather be in environments where there are only adults (examples: restaurant sections, movie theatres, park areas)?” (We wish we had left out the word “sections” when referring to restaurants.) The result was that 62.5 percent of the parents were fine with the idea and only 22 percent felt “no way.” The rest were not sure. So acceptance of this type of policy seems to be fairly reasonable to parents of toddlers.

If you are going to have children, you should assume responsibility for the inconveniences that entails, including the inconvenience to others. We should all, at the very least make an effort  to get along and accommodate each other. But just as it goes without saying that people without children need to accommodate those with kids on a regular basis, having kids means that parents need to consider potential inconvenience to others before schlepping their offspring just about anywhere on a whim.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Why are we so Willing to Ingest Poisons?

June 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I no longer eat peaches or strawberries unless they are organic. It’s not until I start wolfing down cherries by the handful that I feel it’s really summer. But I wash them like dirty underwear. Why? Fear of poisoning myself and inducing cancer as a result of pesticide ingestion. Strawberries and peaches are the worst, but all fruits without peel-away skins or rinds scare me.

It’s also why more and more consumers are buying organic produce. But modern society has poisoned so much of our immediate personal environments that we are polluting ourselves voluntarily, without being aware of it. i won’t go into a diatribe on the all the sweetened, fatty, processed crap we diabetes-destined Americans eat. At least we know that we’re inflicting that garbage upon ourselves.

Household Chemicals

According to a University of Washington, Seattle, study published in Environmental Impact Assessment Review (I love their comics section), nearly a quarter of all chemicals emitted by 25 tested scented household products are classified as toxic or hazardous. But wait, there’s more! Over a third of all the tested products emitted at least one chemical identified as a possible carcinogen. So where are these fragrances to be found? Try detergents, fabric softeners, disinfectants, and air fresheners (SC Johnson’s website uses the term “Air Care”). How can filling the air with chemicals “freshen” it?

            In other words, a fart isn’t going to do you in, but fighting the odor enough times might. Why in the world do we need to make things smell at all? Keep your house clean, open some windows and clean with baking soda or unscented products.

Fabric Cleaning

            Now let’s move on to your clothes. Or better yet, you may want to move out of them. Microbiologist Myron W. Wentz is concerned about

Fabric softeners and cleaners are available unscented

one of the most common chemicals used by dry cleaners. Perc – short for perchloroethylene – is used to saturate fabrics in the cleaning process. After the clothes are cleaned, a residue of perc remains in the fabric. Researchers have linked perc exposure to liver and kidney damage and to cancer in laboratory animals (personally, I link lab researchers to cancer in animals). Even short term exposure has been known to cause headaches, dizziness and elevated pulse rate. California is one of several states that is requiring cessation of perc use by 2023. (Hey, why so impulsive?) Dr. Wentz recommends removing dry cleaned clothes from their bag and hanging them in the garage or outside for a couple of days – even longer if they still have a chemical odor – before wearing them. (Apartment dwellers, evidently you’re on your own.) He also recommends using a barrier layer like a T-shirt between your skin and dry cleaned clothes. Better yet, find a “green” dry cleaner that uses non-toxic cleaning agents. www.greencleanerscouncil.com is a good source.

 I’m a big fan of wrinkle-free, or what we used to call “wash and wear,” fabrics. At least I used to be. According to Wentz, beware of clothing and other fabrics that bear labels that say “wrinkle free,” “no iron,” “permanent press,” “stain resistant,” “static resistant,” or anything similar. Such fabrics are made with perfluorochemicals (PFCs). The problem with these chemicals is that they don’t readily wash out of fabrics and they are easily absorbed into the body through the skin. They actually accumulate in body cells. They can also be inhaled (Stephen King, are you paying attention?). Scientists have found a relation between PFCs and reproductive and developmental toxicity and cancers of the bladder and liver.

Wentz recommends natural fibers such as cotton, linen wool and the like. Even nylon and polyester contain harmful chemicals. Feeling scared? Maybe you need a good night’s sleep.

            But before you hit the sack . . .

 Mattresses

            Many mattresses are made with highly flammable polyurethane which is treated with flame retardant. The trouble is, such mattresses were treated with a variety of chemicals that are highly toxic. Dr. Wentz recommends replacing your mattress if you bought it before 2005 if it contains any polyurethane. If you buy a mattress that is synthetic, let it air out for a few days outside your house; the garage is OK.  And top it with a natural latex or natural fabric topper. Otherwise consider buying a natural latex – as  in rubber – or wool mattress.

Sleep tight and don’t let your underwear bite.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy

How can all of Those Insurance Companies be Cheaper Than Each Other – and a few More Tidbits?

June 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 How can every company have the lowest auto insurance rates?

Progressive Insurance spokesperson, “Flo,” (Where the heck does she work anyway? It looks like a Jean Paul Sartre version of hell.) says

Oh no! It's Flo!

Progressive will save you hundreds compared to other insurers. So do the GEICO Gecko, Allstate’s Dennis Haysbert and 21st Century.

Well, according to J.D. Howard of the Insurance Consumer Advocate Network – quoted in the newsletter Bottom Line Personal – it’s all about tweaking what it is they’re talking about. If Allstate gives divorced women in their 30s with full time jobs the lowest rates in Kansas, they may claim they “can” save you 300 bucks compared to other insurers.

Others may save you money by cutting out certain coverage or raising the deductibles or lowering the maximum benefits.

I find that a great way to find excellent coverage and lower rates is to take these steps:

  1. Check Consumer Reports for the highest rated companies in terms of consumer satisfaction;
  2. Go to a web site that offers rate comparisons, like Insweb.com or Netquote.com;
  3. Go to your state’s insurance department web site and check to see which insurers have the fewest complaints.
  4. Call your three top choices to see what deals they offer. But be sure to compare identical coverages and in terms of deductibles and limits.

 

You can also check satisfaction results at the web site of the consumer satisfaction research group, J. D. Power (jdpower.com).

            Oddly, in my own case I have found that AAA gives its members no particular breaks. They have always offered me the highest premium quotes of any company to which I have compared them.

  Lost your credit card?

            If you have lost or misplaced your credit card, or wallet here’s what to do. If you think you have not lost it somewhere “out there,” but merely misplaced it, let me tell you what I recently did when I couldn’t find my card during a recent visit to New York. I called the credit card company to report my concern. They offered to merely put a stop on the card, disabling it until I could determine if it was truly lost.

            In order to determine if anyone else used the card I asked for the last transaction for which it had been used. June 8th at Big Daddy’s Diner, was the reply. “Doh!” was my response. I must have left it there when I had dinner with my buddy Paul.

            I called Big Daddy’s and sure enough they had my card. Case closed.

            If you cannot track down your card in a similar fashion, here’s what to do. If your card is missing, put a stop on it. If your wallet is missing, file a police report in the place where you lost it and get a copy of the report.

            Let each company from which you had a credit card in the wallet know that your cards are missing and file fraud alerts with the three credit reporting companies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.

            Notify your local department of motor vehicles so it can flag your file so that it becomes more difficult for a ne’er-do-well to impersonate you, and so that you can get a new license. Get a new debit or ATM card from your bank.

 Best Buy’s worst buy?

Best Buy has a great promotional offer going . . . not! Afraid your new state-of-the art electronic doo dad will soon be outdated? Fear not. Best Buy will buy it back within two years, four years for a TV. According to ConsumerReports.com all you have to do is pay upfront for the “protection;” $70 for a laptop, netbook or tablet; 40 to 60 smackers for a cellular phone; and 60 to 350 bucks for a television set. An item returned within six months gets 50 percent back; between 18 and 24 months you can get 20 percent back, depending on condition; and for TVs more than two years old, they give you 10 percent. The refunds are in the form of Best Buy gift cards, the idea being that you apply the refunds to a new purchase.

            Before you go for this “deal,” think twice, or thrice. In effect, you are paying for insurance with a very limited benefit.

            And remember, whoever holds the money has the power.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Extended Warranties, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Some Cool Consumer Tips

June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

            I l-o-o-o-ve when I run across cool stuff for consumers. Here are four new factoids that might help – or at least interest – you. 

1 – You know those nutrition labels on packaged foods that tell you about calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium, and the like? Well I think they Typical Nutrition Facts lbelare great. Better than great. They’re Gre-e-a-a-t! (I’m not sure if Tony the Tiger spells it that way). I check out what I buy to put into my body. And while I do not eat meat for a variety of reasons, here’s some good news for those who do. Starting January 1, 2012, raw meat and poultry will be required to come with nutrition labels; at least the most common cuts and ground meats will. If this is stuff you’re cut out for, check out the regulations at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/98-005P.htm.

  1. 2 – If you have purchased HDMI cables for your cool electronic equipment (or, as I like to call it, all that electronic junk that we think will make us happier but just drains our savings and makes our retirements that much more bleak) like flat screen TVs Blue Ray players and the like, you know how damned expensive they can be. I have seen them ranging in price from 15 to 40 bucks. It’s a damned cable for Pete’s sake, not that I even know who Pete is. So I did some fishing (not “phishing” or phooling around). And voila, I found a pair of six-phoot cables for less than six bucks, including shipping! There they were on display at Overstock.com, which I now believe is simply O.co (great, another thing to remind me of Oprah Winfrey). So you can spend less than three smackers for each cable (in a pair) or you can get them in a fancy box for 10 times the price. My 3-buck cables work great, thank you very much.

3 – Have you ever checked out government web sites for money that may be owed to you? If your answer is “no,” what are you waiting for? Most states hold money that is coming to folks for a variety of reasons. The most common types of unclaimed property are:

  • Bank accounts and safe deposit box contents
  • Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
  • Uncashed cashier’s checks or money orders
  • Certificates of deposit
  • Matured or terminated insurance policies
  • Estates
  • Mineral interests and royalty payments, trust funds, and escrow accounts.

California’s unclaimed property URL is http://www.sco.ca.gov/upd.html. I once found that the Consumer Gal had a modest amount of dough coming her way. Do an online search for your state. In addition, the IRS has nearly $165 million in unclaimed refund checks lying around somewhere. There are 112,000 taxpayers who have not received their 2009 refunds due to mailing address errors. So think back . . . “Hmm, did I ever get that refund from last year? . . .Doh!” If you are missing one, update your address at www.IRS.gov.

4 – Have you ever gone to an emergency room only to discover that the staff thinks that 27 other people’s emergencies are more emergent than yours? So you sit around for hours until you forget why you are there. Well, guess what. A lot of hospitals are okay with you going somewhere where the wait time is shorter. To find out a hospital’s wait time, check its web site or call the hospital. If you have a life-threatening emergency, make the call on your way to the hospital of first choice, providing you are not the one driving. Better yet, first call for an ambulance, then start calling or surfing for emergency rooms.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Food, Regulation and Laws, Taxes, Uncategorized

If you’re not Complaining, Quit Complaining!

May 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
He doth protest too much

(c) www.consumerguy.com

Complaining can be evaluated in two basic ways. You complain because you are a complainer – it’s just part of your personality – or you complain because you are mad as hell (for a valid reason) and you are just not going to take it anymore.

    I must own up to being a bit of the former. But I am also a lot of the latter. Some consumers don’t complaint because they just don’t have the moxie. But I haven’t been shy since I hit puberty (except around approaching females, but that ended when I met the Consumer Gal). For some, complaining isn’t worth the effort and upset. But allow me to explain why – if you get the short shrift in a consumer exchange – it often pays for several reasons. First, you get to feel that you have justly prevailed, in contrast to feeling like a wimp. Second, you get money, or some other consideration, back, which allows you to pay for more stuff.

            Let me give a few examples of the dozens, if not hundreds, of ways I have complained to great success.

            For the first time in our lives, the Consumer Gal and I decided to give the post-Thanksgiving “black Friday” early morning sales a shot. We got up at 3:30 a.m., went over to Sears and got in line to buy a name brand, 46-inch flat screen television for 500 bucks. We waited patiently in line for 20 minutes at the cash register, paid for the TV, went downstairs to the pickup area and waited interminably. The clerk then told us the TV we bought wasn’t in stock. We went back upstairs to find a manager and told him of our plight. He went into the warehouse and came back 10 minutes later to tell us he found the set and that we should return back to pickup. After a short wait we got our television.

            The receipt had one of those requests at the bottom that asked for us to log onto the Sears web site in order to let Sears know about our shopping experience. I did so and explained how disappointed we were. A few days later I got a call from a store manager; the very same one who found the missing set. He apologized and credited our credit card with 75 bucks. So what’s better, being pissed off, or being pissed off and getting 75 smackers back?

            Example number 2: We ordered a range and a microwave oven at a regional appliance chain store. We were promised delivery on a particular day within a four hour time window (don’t you just love those?). I won’t go into the whole story, but they didn’t have the microwave and they didn’t let me know until the last minute, even though the appointment was made five days before scheduled delivery. I got a hold of the customer service rep at the store. She apologized, rescheduled with a two-hour window, and gave me a 50-dollar refund.

            But this is my favorite, and it is an object lesson for all of you who are afraid to put your foot (feet?) down.

            We were flying from Anchorage to San Jose, changing planes in Seattle. Due to a mistake on the airline’s part, we arrived late in Seattle. We ran to make our connecting flight. And even though we made it to the gate before the plane pulled away, we were denied boarding. It seems the airline did not bother to hold connecting flights five minutes so the delayed passengers from Anchorage could make their connections.

            We went to the customer service desk where we encountered disinterested and surly personnel. They informed us that the remaining flights to San Jose were full. And so were flights through other connecting cities. And so were flights on other airlines. Some of the passengers in similar circumstances settled with airline by accepting a meal voucher a hotel room.

            The airline would put us up in a hotel. Our baggage, however, was lost. I asked the agent if they would please deliver the baggage to the hotel. “We don’t do that,” was her response. They would notify us when the bags arrived and we would have to return to the terminal to retrieve them – at our own expense.

            Fortunately, one of my best friends lives in Seattle. They picked us up and took us to retrieve our bags and we were able to have dinner with them.

            Upon returning home, I called the airline and asked for compensation. They expressed compassion as deep as window frost and denied our request. I filed in small claims court for, well, to be honest, I can’t remember how much, as compensation for our air fare, the Consumer Gal’s salary for the day of work she missed and miscellaneous expenses. And guess what. Voila! The airline called me. They wanted to make the law suit go away. I demanded the following:

¨       Reimbursement of court costs;

¨       A flight to Fairbanks

¨       A connecting flight to Victoria, BC

¨       A return flight home

The airline’s agent said she doubted she could do that. I asked her to think it over. It’s either my way or the court way. She capitulated. Our next vacation was a trip to Fairbanks, from which we visited Denali National Park. Then a trip to lovely Victoria and a flight home. Beautiful.

My point is, it’s the complainers who make the difference for consumers. I am unhappy with my cable TV service about 25 percent of the time. I pay a full cable bill about . . .  well . . . 25 percent of the time (don’t ask why I don’t change providers – it’s a long story). When they screw up, I demand compensation. And I get it.

So when you get crappy service, complain. Don’t just sit there, unhappy, frustrated  . . . and complaining.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy

Tips About Tip Jars

May 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

    

Photo courtesy Bottoms Up Restaurant & Bar Supply - http://bottomsup.com

        On Saturday, we went into a restaurant. Someone put our order in. This person put napkins and flatware on our table. He brought our food and filled my glass with ice tea. He even made my payment at the register. So does the restaurant staff deserve a tip?

            No!

          Why? Let me reframe the way I presented the above story. Cheryl (The Consumer Gal) and I walked into a restaurant and approached the cashier. We perused the menu and made our dining selections. We told the cashier what we wanted, he  rang up the bill, and we paid him. He handed us our beverage tumblers and a pager. We went to the condiment/flatware station and loaded up on napkins, condiments and flatware. Then we headed for the beverage station and filled our tumblers with ice and drinks. When the pager went off, we headed to the pickup area and retrieved our tray full of food and carried it back to our table. When we wanted drink refills, we fetched them for ourselves. In other words, The Consumer Gal and I were the “someone” in the original version of this story.

            Now, here’s the question: Why is there a tip jar near the register? A tip jar! There are all kinds of stories about the derivation of the word “tip” or “tips,” but its purpose is clear. You reward an otherwise (usually) underpaid service provider for giving you good or better service. An earned tip, therefore, requires an essential element: personal service. Cashiers have never been part of the tip gestalt.

            Before I go into the second tip jar issue, I’ll create another scenario, one that most people have been through many times. You stand in line at a coffee establishment. You order your jumbo double-shot, cocoa-raspberry, Ethiopian, fair-trade espresso with whipped cream. While paying your $5.25, you notice the tip jar. “What the heck,” you think, “the person making my drink deserves some reward.” So you plop your 75 cents change into the jar. Ten minutes later you get your coffee, only to discover you are sipping a Sumatran, decaf, cinnamon macchiato. Damn! Back to the cashier. Re-order. Another 10 minutes lost and wishing you could fish that tip out of the jar.

            So what did you do wrong? You tipped for a service before you actually received it. Tips are for after service people have carried out their duties . . . and did a good job of it.

            Let’s sum this up with a few tips on tips. As savvy consumers we need to put a stop to this. First, no tipping for non-service. Cashiers do not get tips. If there’s a busboy, busgirl, or bus-hermaphrodite who cleans up and/or refills your water glass, leave a buck or two on the table.

            Second, never, ever, ever leave a tip in advance. If you are satisfied with your order and service, go back to the tip jar before you leave.

            Let’s not reinforce cheap employers or service people who have no incentive to earn that reward.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Will the new Federal Consumer Protection Agency be Protected?

May 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Warren - photo courtesy Harvard School of Law

The first time I saw Elizabeth Warren being interviewed – by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show – I was stricken by her unique ability to combine a soft-spoken approach and a stereotypical schoolmarm appearance on the one hand, with a tough-as-nails, coherent delivery on the other.

President Obama has selected Warren as his special adviser to get the new CFPB, or Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (do government agencies get funding based on how many syllables they have in their names?). The bureau was established by the Dodd-Frank financial regulation legislation that became law at the end of last year, before so many Democratic representatives packed their bags.

In Warren’s January 26, 2010 Daily Show interview she described how there are seven different federal agencies that supervise consumer lending, as in credit cards, mortgages, consumer loans, and the like. It will be her agency’s job to coordinate those agencies, get the fine print out of the loan agreements, summarize almost everything a consumer needs to know on one page of the loan agreement, and, overall, protect consumers from nefarious practices on the part of the financial big boys.

Do you know why there is so little illegal graft in Congress? It’s because Congress legalized it. And who is “donating” to all those congressional election campaigns? You? I? Please! It’s he big corporations. Warren, a Harvard Law School professor and former chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program), is quick to remind banks, “What part of ‘we bailed you out’ do you not get?” as she so pithily remarked on that January 2010 show.  If you remember, mortgage backed securities are the mortgages that were sliced, diced, and minced twice mortgages that were divided up and distributed into various securities that were then sold and resold until no one could figure out who homeowners actually owned money to.

            The banks apparently don’t like Elizabeth Warren because she is on the side of consumers (you know, the people whose grandchildren will be carrying the burden of our national debt, including the money paid to the banks by TARP) who should never get screwed again if the economy tanks and foreclosers move in.

            In an interview with Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine (January 2011), Warren gives an example of how her agency, which will not officially open for business until next July 21st, is already operating. Two years ago Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 or Credit CARD Act of 2009 (another example of a long title just so they can come up with a clever acronym) that eliminated some bad practices aimed at milking as much moolah out of unwary consumers as possible. The industry has modified its practices in order to comply, but sometimes in order to evade the spirit of the CARD Act. “What usually happens . . . is the industry then shifts slightly and the agency is called upon to write a new round of regulations. Thus grows a regulatory thicket that couldn’t be penetrated with a howitzer.”*

Warren’s agency has contacted the Federal Reserve, which currently has jurisdiction over credit card issuers, to seek redress. The Fed, in turn, added some rules under its powers to correct the shortfalls in the CARD Act.

            The CARD Act bans or curtails certain bad practices. But if you have ever read your credit card agreement – and it amazes me how many cardholders are clueless – you know it can be difficult to decipher their complexities. That’s where CFPB has a mission to boil it down to plain English that can be read in a few minutes.

            Warren wants to boil down the actual price of the card, usually buried in the fine print, to a list or table showing the interest rate, penalties and explanation of any bonuses that would enable the consumer to compare offers simply.

            As for mortgages, CFPB is aiming to condense the information borrowers need early in the process – not just before closing – to one page in order to understand the costs and the risks, and to make comparisons. It also aims to get rid of some of the documents now required by law. The one-page sheet would include the down payment, monthly payments, closing costs, cash at payment and length of the loan.

            Warren says she is hearing from people in both the credit card and mortgage industries that they are willing to try the reforms.

            She sees a day in the near future when technology will allow consumers to report things that need fixing a sort of rapid-response policing – and to give input for ideas on reform.

Her best advice to credit consumers? Pay off your credit cards. If you are carrying a balance month to month, you are in financial trouble.

I’m a big fan of Elizabeth Warren. I suspect anyone in Congress who is hostile to her goals is a fear-big-government or a “free market must prevail” hypocrite. While it’s okay to fear big government, we must also fear unrestrained corporate power. Three years of America on its financial knees is enough. To reiterate to the banks, whose officers are raking in obscene bonuses, , “What part of ‘we bailed you out’ do you not get?”

Please visit the CFPB web site at www.consumerfinance.gov. They’d love your input.

* Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, p.62, January 2011

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Ohm my Gosh: The Shocking Hidden Costs of Electric Vehicles

May 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Hybrid Car

2011 Honda Insight hybrid

For most consumers, the idea of a vehicle that uses only, or mostly, electricity seems like a good way to save money in this time of high gas prices. But if you live in a state with high electricity rates, as I do, all-electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, or mostly-electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt, may cost you more than driving a hybrid like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight. And maybe even more than an economical traditional small car.

 Here in California we pay about 35 percent more than the national average for electricity. We also use a multi-tiered system that charges households higher rates each for using more power.

 A Purdue University study released in January shows that the energy consumed by rechargeable vehicles is likely to mean that households that have these cars could be in for a shock, and I’m not referring to electrons. Where I live, in San Jose, we pay Pacific Gas and Electric12 cents per kilowatt hour, or Kwh (that’s equal to burning one watt for a thousand hours or a thousand watts for one hour) for the first 294 Kwh each month. Additional watts, up to 382 Kwh each month, are charged at the Tier 2 rate of 14 cents, . If a customer moves into Tier 3 pricing, the rate goes up to a whopping 29 cents. Yikes! That’s 2 ½ times the Tier1 rate. The idea is to discourage households from wasting all that energy, and PG&E isn’t grousing about the windfall either.

 That’s where the problem with rechargeable vehicles comes in. At Tier 3 and higher rates in the summer, it could cost customers in my area as much as 40 cents per Kwh to charge their cars. And even with rate plans that charge less for nighttime usage, it can be expensive to charge your car.

 California’s idea is to get folks to use less power in order to save on the state’s energy demands may backfire when it comes to inducing consumers to move to low-polluting electric cars. According to the Purdue study the plug-in Chevy Volt would increase average Americans’ electrical usage by 60 percent.

 In California, once you figure in the high sticker prices of electric vehicles – even after the income tax breaks that currently come with them – you would save money by instead buying a Prius, Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid, or even a regular high-mileage subcompact.

On the other hand, if gasoline prices rise to astronomical levels based on crude oil prices of over $170 per barrel, the picture will change in favor of all-electrics. In the meanwhile, Indiana, where households pay a flat eight cents per Kwh, might be the best example of places where electric vehicles make the most sense and the most cents.

 A bright note: California utilities are experimenting with programs that would charge – and, uh, bill, electric vehicles at a different rate from the rest of household use. This would encourage consumers to buy low-polluting vehicles and might even lower demand to the point where gasoline prices would moderate a bit.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Environmental impact, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

PlayStation or PlagueStation? Another Lesson to be Learned About Internet Privacy

April 28, 2011 By 1 Comment

PlayStation equipment bundle

There’s a lesson to be learned from the Sony PlayStation Network debacle. When a high-tech company like Sony can’t keep subscribers’ personal information confidential, how can we trust relatively small businesses to do so? Sony announced, after keeping its corporate mouth shut for a week, that someone hacked into its data base and gained access to, oh, just about 77 million personal files that include names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, passwords, login IDs, and may have also have grabbed credit card numbers and expiration dates. In other words, their PlayStations may turn into “PlagueStations”.

In a moment I’ll offer some advice to PlayStation Network users. But first let’s talk about what kind of information people should be sharing with commercial companies.

            In 1998 or thereabouts, when I was the consumer reporter for a TV station here in the Bay Area, I received a call from a distraught viewer who, while passing a dumpster, noticed that the bin was overflowing with bundles of what appeared to be application forms. It turned out they were forms for consumers who wanted to rent tapes from Blockbuster Video. Each form contained the customer’s name, address and credit card number. The forms also asked for driver’s license and Social Security numbers. Remarkably, most of the applicants had filled in those spaces as well, although doing so was optional.  Anyone passing that dumpster could have obtained personal information on thousands of people and gone to town exploiting this vital info. Many of these applications had been completed by educated and professional people.

            Fortunately, as soon as we aired the report “live,” both Blockbuster’s regional manager and the Campbell, California police force showed up to secure the site. The upshot is this: your information is never secure. So the more of it you share, the more likely you’ll have your identity stolen and by nefarious nabobs of negativism (shout out to the late Spiro Agnew). Why would Sony need a person’s date of birth or phone number?

            This is the advice, in part, that Sony is giving its customers:

“At no charge, U.S. residents can have . . .  credit bureaus place a “fraud alert” on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file.”

Users are advised not to respond to emails and phone calls that ask for personal information and that they carefully monitor their credit card statements for irregularities; unfamiliar charges in particular.

Last week, I wrote that OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) stores in California now require that customers allow OSH personnel to run consumers’ driver’s licenses or military ID or passport through a card reader when returning purchases. When challenged, OSH says its database is secure. Evidently, OSH is doing this in order to track customers who return a lot of purchases. After all, it could be tempting for someone with compromised ethics to “borrow” tools or pieces of furniture and return them after briefly using them. But why does a retailer need my name, license number, address, birth date, hair and eye color, and weight in order to credit a purchase back to the same card I used to begin with?

And how trustworthy is OSH’s security? The Pentagon has suffered several cyber breaches of security during the last four years. Four years In December of 2007, a hacker gained access to the personal information of 800,000 UCLA students, staff and alumni. I guess OSH knows something about security that Sony, the Pentagon and UCLA have been unable to master.

My advice is not to give out more personal information than is necessary. I’m not sure why Sony would need anyone’s date of birth or address, for instance. Social Security numbers should rarely be required, usually only where and when required by law, as with financial records.

As for OSH’s driver’s license requirement for returns, it’s goodbye OSH, hello Ace Hardware.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy Tagged With: , , , , ,

Are you Willing to Swap Convenience for Privacy?

April 20, 2011 By 1 Comment

 

Orchard Supply Hardware

An OSH Store

I am downright paranoid about privacy. Getting my Social Security number from me is less likely than a cow jumping over the moon. It amazes me how easily, even in this day of rampant identity theft, consumers are willing to turn over their personal information to any web site or merchant who asks for it.

Orchard Supply Hardware, commonly known as OSH, has 85-plus retail outlets in California. Their stores are smaller than big box stores like Lowe’s but considerably larger than the typical Ace or True Value location. Some years ago OSH became a subsidiary of Sears.

There is an OSH just three blocks from my house and I have often joked that if I had an employer I would ask for direct deposit, not to my credit union, but to OSH. I have bought everything from power tools to screws to plants at that store.

I recently returned a 2 ½ gallon jug of driveway cleaner to the store and was asked for my driver’s license. I showed the license, still in my wallet, to the staffer. “I’ll need you to take it out of the wallet,” she remarked.

            “Why?” I responded, as if I didn’t suspect what was coming, much to my chagrin (I brought my chagrin along on this trip as I always do. My chagrin hates to be left alone at home).

            “I need to run it.”

            “Gee,” I thought, “She’ll definitely win that race. My license has no legs.” But what I said out loud was, “No.”

            “Excuse me?” she interrogated.

            “If I let you enter the information on my driver’s license into your computer, it will go into a data base. There, anyone who works for your company can access all my personal information. And if a hacker gets into your system they (Ed. note: yeah, I know, bad grammar) can steal my identity.”

            “We use a company to maintain the database and it’s secure,” she politely retorted.

            “If the Pentagon can’t keep its data bases secure, and UCLA had 300,000 personal records hacked, I somehow believe that OSH’s database can be hacked into as well,” I rejoined, not that I ever joined anything to begin with.

            Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of this rest of this epic tale. Store policy: no refunds without driver’s license.

            “But California requires that all such restrictions be conspicuously posted near the cash register.”

            “But the new policy is on the back of the receipt.”

            “Did anyone point it out when I made the purchase?”

            Here comes the store manager.

            I explain my concerns, i.e., giving OSH my name, address, date of birth, driver’s license number, hair color, eye color, etc. And since you did not make me aware of the return conditions, you have to pay up.

            “May we at least copy down your license number?”

           “OK.”   Here’s the upshot. Most people I know say they would never hand over this info, but they don’t have the cojones to stick to their guns. Because I stick to my guns, I often complicate my life, like when my new dermatologist’s staff said they could not process my insurance claim without my SSN, even though my health insurer does not even want to know my SSN. So I had to seek reimbursement through a claim to my insurer, which claim they lost, then forgot to act on the second submission, then had to reimburse me through payment back to the doctor. And it took seven freakin’ months!           

         So I called OSH headquarters. Mind you, this is a company that was started in 1931 as an orchard farmers’ cooperative in the town of San Jose. San Jose is now America’s tenth largest city. Company headquarters is just a few miles from my home. I want to support a business that employs local people. And I expressed this desire to Barbara, the company customer service gal. Why, I wondered out loud, do I not need show my driver’s license when I use my credit card before walking out of the store with $200 worth of stuff, but I do need to have my personal information recorded when I ask that the return be credited back to the very same card?

            Barbara was flummoxed, if that means what I think it means. And when I told her that although I had shopped at this OSH hundreds, if not thousands, of times, I would not be likely to shop there again, until they dropped the driver’s license requirement. She said she would pass my concerns onto management. I’ll be writing more about that type of process in large corporations in an upcoming blog.

            So here I am, about to leave for The Home Depot to pick up a dishwasher discharge hose, lamenting my trial separation from OSH, the local company swallowed up by the big-name retailer; the company that was once my local hardware store and is now just hard.

            But I rest assured that my ID will not be stolen, at least not because of OSH’s unreasonable demands.

  • P.S.  – I am a commissioner on the all-volunteer Santa Clara County Advisory Commission on Consumer Affairs. I have just requested that this issue be placed on our next meeting agenda and that we ask the county board of supervisors to recommend to the state legislature (after all, what else does the State of California have to worry about?) that they outlaw this type of invasive refund requirement. So there.
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YOU CAN BANK ON BANKS BANKING ON YOUR FEES – or, how to get more bank for your buck

April 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

           Until a few years ago I was a Washington Mutual Bank customer. The branch was close to my house and there were no fees for the services I used, with the exception of a safe deposit box. (No, it’s not a “safety” deposit box. It’s a box in a safe.) When the banking scandal hit in 2008 Wamu went bye-bye. Seems it was in the illegitimate mortgage business that eventually bit it on the ass.

            That’s when JP Morgan Chase got into the picture and picked up Wamu’s business for a song (I think the song was George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun”). So my Wamu branch became a Chase branch.

            Then three things happened. I became uncomfortable with all the money Chase got as part of the federal bailout. Then Chase had a few more scandals. And as I waivered as to whether I should take my money and run because of ethical considerations, Chase announced its new fee schedule.

            Hasta la vista baby. I moved my money, primarily deposited in a checking account, across the mall parking lot to a credit union. And I’m glad I did. As if the big banks aren’t making enough, they’ve come up with some pretty sneaky fees. According to USPIRG and California PIRG (PIRG is the acronym for Public Interest Research Group) here are some fees and how you can avoid them.

            Some banks will allow you to withdraw more money from your automatic teller machine (ATM – that’s why it’s bad English to say “ATM machine”; “machine” is already in there; if you say “ATM machine,” I will report you to the FBI of investigation) than you have in your account. Then you get hit with an overdraft fee.

Solution: Check your balance to make sure you are not withdrawing more money than you have in the account.

            Many financial institutions are now charging several bucks for non-customers to use the banks’ ATMs to make withdrawals from the user’s bank. On top of that, the user’s bank may charge a fee as well. You could end up paying five dollars or more in fees for a 20-buck withdrawal.

Solution: Use only your own bank’s ATMs or become a credit union customer and use an ATM that’s a member of its affiliated network. Some groceries will allow you debit additional cash as well, when you make a purchase .

            Here’s a swift one, and to me it’s just a rip-off. Let’s say you inadvertently write several checks in a short period for which you have inadequate funds in your checking account. What many banks do is deduct the largest check amounts first from your account. This causes the most checks possible to bounce. At the usual $29 to $39 returned check fees, plus the potential penalties levied by the offended merchants, you are getting – as they say in the financial industry – screwed big time.

Solution: Keep track of how much money is in your account. That’s why there’s a register in your checkbook. And don’t forget debit card expenditures. If you’re not sure of how much is in there, check with your bank. It’s a good idea to use a check book that makes carbon copies of checks as you write them. I wonder if that’s last situation left where we make carbon copies.

Some banks are now even charging five to 10 smackers if you deposit a check you received from someone else and that check bounces.

Solution: Don’t accept checks from someone you don’t know to be trustworthy.

            There are banks and credit unions that charge fees for not having a set minimum in your account unless you use direct deposit from your employer. Others charge dormancy fees for not actively using your account

Solution: Find a financial institution (I think that term is so pompous; institution?) that doesn’t levy those fees.

Here’s a cynical one. Fortunately for Californians, it’s a no-no in that state: You buy a gift card at a bank. After a set minimum period the bank charges non-use fees of two to three dollars a month.

Solution: Move to California. Or, if that’s too drastic, buy gift cards from retailers that don’t attach such fees to their cards.

            If your bank charges a fee for your talking to a teller or a telephone representative (or even an automated telephone system!), ask yourself: “Why am I doing business with people who charge me to check on the money I am, in essence, lending to them?”

Solution: If this situation isn’t enough to motivate you to look elsewhere for a bank, at least ask the leaches how many free teller visits or calls you are allowed each month. If you call or visit to correct a bank error, be sure that you are not charged a fee.

            Since I don’t use – or even have – a debit card, I was not aware of this one. If you choose to use your personal identification number (PIN – see grammar lesson for ATM at the top of this article) instead of signing for a debit card transaction at a merchant,, your bank may charge 25¢ to $1.50 for each transaction. Really?

Solution: If your bank imposes such a fee, use your credit card instead of a debit card, providing, that is, you’re not carrying a balance on your credit card account. You don’t want to add to the balance for which you are already paying interest. Otherwise pay cash or by check. Or find another bank that appreciates your business. By the way, I don’t carry a debit card because a debit card is like cash. If you lose your wallet or purse, you could be in for a heap of hurt.

            In conclusion: Know your bank’s policies and fees. When you get those occasional notices that describe changes in bank policy, take a few minutes to read them. They may be significant enough to prompt you to change financial institutions. And keep in mind, the big bank bailout that cost the American taxpayer so much did not involve credit unions.

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Are you an Environmentally Conscious Consumer?

April 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

(The first in a recurring series on consumers’ impact of on the environment)

Going to a coffee place? Bring your own mug. Photo courtesy www.GreenEarthBamboo.com

We hear it time and again. Americans make up less than five percent of the Earth’s population and we consume approximately 25 percent of the world’s goods. Why and how? In a word: money. We have lots of it. And even when we may not have quite enough moolah to satiate our families’ desires for material goods, there seem to be few limits on how much we’re willing to borrow in order to satisfy our collective hunger. Credit cards, home equity loans and refinanced mortgages fuel our materialistic society.

And with those financial resources, we indulge ourselves in all sorts of stuff that strains our ecosystems, the air we breathe and our very lives. How many times have we seen so-called soccer moms driving around town alone, after they’ve dropped the kids off at . . . fill in the blank: school, soccer practice, dance lessons, Little League, etc. – in their Chevy Yukons or Ford Excursions? And as they go about their shopping chores they’re guzzling down (or is it “up”?) a gallon of gasoline every ten miles, give or take.

The law of supply and demand is going to change all that and more quickly than most of us think. Petroleum and natural gas are not renewable sources of energy. And prices at the gas pump are just beginning to show that. As countries like India and China (accounting for almost one half of the world’s population) modernize, the demand for fossil fuels, lumber and water is skyrocketing. One projection sees the price of gasoline in the U.S. to ratcheting up to eight dollars per gallon in the next ten years. And that’s in 2005 currency, not adjusted for inflation.

So what are you willing to do in order to contribute your fair share to – if not turn things around – at least slow the pace of consumption and the strain on Mother Earth? After all, at two-and-a-half bucks a gallon, a 40-gallon SUV gas tank now costs 100 bucks to refill.

There are waiting lists for 50 mpg Prius and Civic Hybrids now. When the cost of refilling large SUVS goes to over 300 dollars, where will you be? And a 20-mpg minivan is no bargain either.

Lumber and paper prices are rising as well. Virgin (i.e. not recycled) paper may soon be at a premium. That would be especially true if the current American administration runs into roadblocks from so-called tree huggers, a phrase loosely used these days as a term of derision for anyone who wants to place a priority on environmental protection over unfettered materialism and corporate profit.

What I’m driving at here is this. We can each play a part in reducing the stress on our planet and on each other. Let’s start with a few examples. You know all that paper that comes spewing out of your printer at home (and at work too, for that matter)? Do you toss it after you no longer need what you printed? It seems that most of what we print is stuff we really don’t need anyway. How about saving paper whose reverse side is blank and using it to print out the other stuff that doesn’t require pristine paper, like first drafts, email jokes and Web site purchase receipts? Using this simple method I’ve cut my paper use almost in half. If we all did this we could save gazillions of trees – give or take a zillion – each year. And are you meticulous about recycling paper? Come on! Big deal! For a provocative article on effects on the environment of Starbuck’s coffee cups, check out http://blog.greenearthbamboo.com/20100823/green-is-grand/the-starbucks-dilemma-continues-recycling-rewards-and-the-consumer/.

If you’re driving a gas guzzler, think about a different choice next time. After all, what is an SUV? A sport car? Ha! Most of them are jacked-up, modified station wagons that car manufacturers equip with big tires and call sport utility vehicles. Can you say, “marketing to the gullible”? How many people ever take them off-roading? So where does the “sport” come in? For most folks a car with similar interior room will do just fine.

In the months ahead I will from time to time share more specific ideas on this topic. For now, please ponder the issue of an indulgent consumerist society for a few minutes before you kick back and crank up your DVD player or TiVo or VCR.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Environmental impact Tagged With: , ,

Money Saving Tips – and What to do With That Tax Refund

April 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

Looking for ways to spend that tax refund? Whoa! Not so fast.

If you’re not saving money each month, here are some things to consider in order to stash some cash..

1. If you carry a balance on your credit card accounts, use that 600 or 1200 bucks to get rid of it. The monthly interest – and any late fees – is costing you a fortune. You’re giving your money away!

2. Cut back on air conditioning. First thing in the morning, open up your doors and windows and turn on a fan. Cool the house down then close it up, including shades and blinds. Let nature cool the place for free. A whole house fan can cool your home at night or in the morning in just 15 to 20 minutes.

Restaurants

3. Brown-bag it to lunch. A piece of fresh fruit makes a healthful dessert.

4. If you must eat out, get the larger sandwich at places like Subway. Have half the sandwich today and half tomorrow. For an extra buck and a half you get two lunches.

5. You’ll be paying at least three times as much for a restaurant meal as for one made at home. But if you must eat out, try these money savers:

A. If dining as a couple, order one appetizer and an entrée and split them.

B. Restaurants make their biggest profits on drinks and desserts. Order tap water (or iced tea if you must – it’s usually refillable, but ask first). Why order a $6 or $9 glass of wine? At Trader Joe’s I can get three bottles of decent wine for 9 bucks.

C. Stop at the market on the way home and get a half-gallon of ice cream or frozen yogurt for less than the price of dessert at most restaurants.

D. Before you order a “special” that’s not on the menu, ask the price.

6. Don’t be embarrassed about looking cheap in front of your friends. Affirm that you are a cheapskate and let them be envious of your self-confidence.

Discount and big box stores
7. Buy vitamins and minerals at places like Trader Joe’s or Costco. You’ll save a bundle buying store brands or specials.

8. If big box stores sell in quantities that are too large for you, ask your neighbors if they would like split a case of mangos and a twin pack of dishwasher detergent with you.

Entertainment

9. If you must have cable TV, drop the premium packages that cost so much extra. If you can’t be entertained with a mere 100 channels, you’re watching too much TV.

10. Shop around for lower cost TV/Internet/and-maybe-phone packages. But be careful about packages that save money for a limited time only.

11. Shop around for insurance. This can save hundreds a year. Comparison shop on Internet sites and find out what’s available, especially if you combine auto and home insurance.

12. Raise the deductibles on your insurance. You don’t need to insure for small damage claims. Insurers could raise your rates if you make such claim.

13. If you go to the movies a lot, how about waiting six months longer for those new blockbusters and renting from Netflix or Blockbuster.com? You can get four movies a month for less than 10 bucks.

14. Get DVDs from the library.

Auto Savings

13. Drive slower. You’ll use more time but less gas. And cut your engine when waiting at a light during the daytime, if you're expecting to idle for more than a minute.

14. Unless you do a lot of desert driving, you don’t need to change your oil and filter every 3,000 miles. Check your owner’s manual.

15. If your car uses premium gasoline, try switching down a grade. If it doesn’t ping, you’re good. And you’ll save 10 cents per gallon.

16. If you need a new car, think twice. A two-year-old car under warranty can save you a bundle. Just be sure you have it checked out before you buy. Check Carfax.com and take it to a reputable diagnostic repair place.

17. If you don't need your cell phone except for urgent situations, switch to a pay-as-you-go service like T-Mobile To Go. I spend about 8 dollars a month on cellular service.

18. Use a discount long distance service such as ECG for your home phone. You can pay less than 3 cents per minute for interstate calls and 4 cents in-state.

Ellis Levinson has made a career of helping consumers with their complaints against businesses that don't meet customers' expectations. Your business might be employing money-saving strategies in the short run while alienating customers day after day.

Filed Under: Consumer Guy, Taxes Tagged With: , ,
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