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Posted
Jul 01 2008, 11:46 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. When large corporations face tough times, they often hire "efficiency experts" who come in and tell them how to save money. Households, struggling under the strain of higher gasoline prices, could use the same kind of service right about now. Playing the role of an efficiency expert, Consumer Reports magazine says it has looked for and found ways for the average consumer household to trim up to $500 a month from its budget. Even at $4 a gallon, that buys a lot of gas.
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Posted
Jun 13 2008, 07:12 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Truman Lewis at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Safeway will begin offering $4 prescriptions on hundreds of generic drugs at stores in the eastern United States and parts of the Midwest, becoming the latest supermarket chain to follow the trail blazed by Wal-Mart two years ago. The discounted prescriptions will be available at stores in the Chicago area, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. The list of $4 drugs includes the antibiotic amoxicillin, blood-pressure medication atenolol, and levothyroxine for thyroid disease.
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Posted
Jun 12 2008, 12:28 PM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Martin H. Bosworth at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. The digital-television transition took center stage at a House Commerce subcommittee hearing this week, just as the Government Accountability Office released a new report indicating mixed progress in preparing households for the change. The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet used its fifth DTV hearing to focus on the results of the $40 coupon vouchers offered through the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The coupon program has been criticized for issuing vouchers that expire within 90 days, without opportunity for replacement or renewal.
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Posted
May 15 2008, 03:40 PM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Lisa Wade McCormick at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. A family of five now spends an average of $135 a week on groceries, according to the Food Marketing Institute's U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report for 2008 released this week. Rising fuel costs and other economic concerns could force that grocery bill to climb even higher. Consumers are already feeling the pinch of high food costs on their pocketbooks, and many have changed their eating and shopping habits, the survey found. Consider:
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Posted
Apr 30 2008, 10:38 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from Lisa Wade McCormick at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Consumers who buy professional hair-care products at major retailers -- or at grocery stores and drugstores -- are not getting the bargains they may think they are. They're also fueling a grey-market industry that deals in counterfeit, stolen or outdated merchandise. That's the warning issued by hair-care giants like Paul Mitchell, Redken and Matrix, which are trying to crack down on an industrywide problem known as diversion.
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Posted
Mar 31 2008, 04:42 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from Joseph S. Enoch at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Five years after the Federal Trade Commission barred a magazine-subscription company from fraudulently signing up consumers for pricey magazine bundles, a collection agency is trying to collect on those debts and those from other magazine peddlers. In 2003, the FTC essentially closed the door on Consolidated Media Services and the network of companies under the Cross Media Marketing name after they settled for $350,000 and agreed to end the myriad of alleged deceptive sales tactics they were accused of. Although CMS appears to have dissolved, consumers write that a collection agency -- Luebke Baker and Associates of Peoria, Ill. -- has been trying to collect on CMS debts, some as old as 11 years. "Back in November 1997 I received a phone call from Consolidated Media Services asking to purchase magazines," wrote Darla of Catasauqua, Pa. "I cannot remember the deal they had offered, but agreed to one year. One to two years later I received a phone call from Consolidated Media stating the balance was past due. I apologized and paid my account in full with a check by phone. "Now 11 years later I receive a call from Luebke Baker and Associates stating that I owe $140 and that they would be more than happy to take money over the phone."
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Posted
Mar 28 2008, 11:33 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from Mark Huffman at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Unauthorized charges and negative-option marketing traps continue to plague consumers, judging by the number of complaints received at ConsumerAffairs.com. One company in particular, Columbia House, seems to get under consumers' skin, producing 41 complaints in the last 30 days. Will, of Locust Grove, Ga., says he has no idea how he became a member of Columbia House, but now says he is receiving a steady stream of DVDs -- and bills. "I canceled my account, but nothing happens," he told us. "You can't call and talk to anyone. I fear they are going to ruin my good credit for something I never signed up for." Columbia House is one of the oldest "record of the month" clubs in the U.S., offering its members inexpensive CDs or DVDs in exchange for an ongoing commitment to keep buying its products. Book and record clubs like Columbia House pioneered "negative-option" marketing, where a lack of response from a consumer is taken as implied consent. But while some negative- option plans are well-run, many others are questionable.
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Posted
Feb 19 2008, 08:38 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from Mark Huffman of partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Master marketer and infomercial maven Kevin Trudeau has a new book out, but he hasn't strayed far from his successful diet and health book formula, which critics say panders to consumer paranoia. His new book, coincidentally introduced during the current credit crisis, is "Debt Cures They Don't Want You To Know About." Consumers who called an 800 number to order a copy are reporting experiences similar to those relayed to ConsumerAffairs.com by people who called to order "Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know About." They're finding it very hard to buy just the book. "I only wanted to order the book, but the young lady kept telling me about a trial for 30 days, and I kept telling her 'the book only, please,'" Cynthia, of Mexia, Texas, told ConsumerAffairs.com.
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Posted
Feb 17 2008, 10:54 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from Joseph S. Enoch of partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com.  What do presidents have to do with mattresses? Whatever the answer, each year consumers are bombarded with Presidents Day weekend mattress sales. Those who heed the call often find themselves subjected to confusing, high-pressure, fast-close sales techniques seldom seen outside a used-car lot. While larger department and furniture stores sometimes take a sedate, hands-off approach to mattress sales, mattress discount chains -- like Mattress Discounters, Mattress Warehouse, Sleepy's and others -- are more likely to tout their "sales blowouts" with insistent commercials and overwrought print ads. In the Mid-Atlantic region, Mattress Warehouse has a knack for generating consumer grousing, accounting for about 10% of all mattress-related complaints to ConsumerAffairs.com. The complaints cover the gamut, including bait-and-switch tactics, disputed charges, poor service, delivery delays and deceptive sales tactics.
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Posted
Feb 13 2008, 05:22 PM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from D.O. Volente at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. Shakespeare wasn't thinking of the Internet when he suggested killing all the lawyers. But the bard's idea has staying power, and some Web surfers are coming up with novel ways to seek justice -- without ever having to drag themselves to the steps of a courthouse with a pricey lawyer in tow. Ironically, it was a retired judge in suburban Maryland who dreamed up a way for warring factions to resolve their petty issues online. The judge started what he calls VirtualCourthouse.com, a Web site that allows parties to work out their differences online with an arbitrator or mediator. You might call it "JudgeJudy.com." The judge estimates that 70% of civil cases can be resolved this way, in less time and at lower cost than traditional litigation.
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