Vermont courts found that Wyeth hadn't given adequate warning to doctors and patients that one particular injection method, the one used on Diana, greatly increases the risk of gangrene. Wyeth is trying to use Federal preemption to win the case, arguing that patients is that consumers can't sue a pharma company if the drug has been approved by federal regulators. The case, Wyeth v. Levine, is before the Supreme Court. The Alliance for Justice has made a 22-minute documentary about Diana Levine so you can learn more about her story. Watch it in its entirety, inside...

Access Denied [Alliance For Justice]
PREVIOUSLY: Big Pharma Goes Before Supreme Court To Get State Lawsuits Banned

We have quite a few stories now about Best Buy responding favorably to EECBs, which goes to show that if you can find a way to reach the company's executives—and you write a good EECB—your odds of having your problem favorably resolved improves considerably.

Here's Alicia's story:

I just wanted to thank you for running such a helpful website. A Best Buy employee recently damaged my car loading a TV into the back of it. My bumper suffered from several deep gouges due to the large staples holding the box together being scraped across it. Upon noticing the damage when I got home, I immediately called the store. The employee insisted that "no manager would ever be available to discuss the issue" with me, and insisted on transferring me to their "consumer relations" line only to be put on hold indefinitely. Rinse, repeat. Of course, this lead to a dead end.

I've been an avid reader of The Consumerist for some time, and immediately consulted the site for e-mail addresses to send an EECB out to (I've included the letter at the end of this e-mail). I used many of the tips listed on how to write a letter that will receive a response. Sure enough, the next day I received an e-mail from an executive office representative letting me know that their insurance company would be contacting me shortly. Within a few hours an insurance representative called me, took my information, and got the ball rolling. After submitting an estimate, I had a check for the full amount of the estimate in my hands less than a week later.

I can't thank you enough for having information readily available to help consumers fight back against endless streams of unhelpful processes. Please feel free to publish my story if you believe it would be helpful to other readers.

Sincerely,
Alicia

Happy to help, Alicia! Here are some of those links for other readers:

"How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb"
"Email Addresses For Best Buy Execs"

Below is the EECB Alicia wrote. Here are some things that are great about it:

• It's to-the-point; although you shouldn't feel the need to be too formal, an EECB is not the place for jokiness or overtly conversational writing styles.
• The structure of the email is easy to follow. If you're having trouble writing a clear EECB, try following her 4-paragraph structure:
  1. this is the shopping event I'm writing about;
  2. this is the accident that happened, and how it was not resolved;
  3. this is why I'm a customer worth keeping (a difficult concept to convey without sounding entitled, and Alicia nails the tone perfectly); and
  4. here is what I want you to do to rectify the situation.
• Emotions, insults, and grand statements against corporations/the decline of American values/humanity in general are kept out of the email.

Hello,

My name is Alicia. On the evening of September 5, 2008, my boyfriend
and I decided to take advantage of your 3-year no interest offer on
new HDTVs at store #204 in Austin, Texas. We selected a 46" Samsung,
which was sent to the front of the store to be loaded into my car.

A helpful employee loaded it into the back of my 2008 Honda Fit.
Unfortunately, in this process my car bumper was damaged. Paint was
scraped off, and several gouges were left. As soon as we noticed the
damage, we called the store we had just purchased the TV from, and
asked to speak to a supervisor. We were transferred to Consumer
Relations line instead. After speaking to a representative named
Renee about the issue, we were put on hold so that she could "process
some information." We waited approximately 30 minutes on hold before
giving up and hanging up. We then called store #204 back, and asked
again to speak to a supervisor, and were again transferred to Consumer
Relations and placed on hold for an extended period of time and again
not helped. We were told by the staff member answering the phone at
the store that there were no other options on whom we could speak to,
thus I am e-mailing you in attempts to receive some kind of resolution
to this issue.

We have been loyal Best Buy customers for upwards of six years. We
have easily spent at least $20,000 between us in that time. Needless
to say, we are very disappointed in the lack of customer service we
have received in this matter.

We would like to remain Best Buy customers, and would like to give
your office the chance to provide the superior customer service we
have received in the past. I am asking that a representative assess
and arrange for repair of damages to my bumper. I have included
several pictures of the damage.

I look forward to hearing from you in regards to this matter.

Thank you for your time,
Alicia

One of the best ways you can approach a company to resolve a problem is as a partner in the business transaction—that is, you are not a victim or (worse still) an opponent, but rather someone who has done business with them and plans to do business again in the future, provided you two can iron out some kink that has recently gotten in the way.

Not everyone has the great hand Alicia had to play, because that "$20k customer" detail she throws out there at the end is pretty steep, but even so we think Alicia's letter is a good example of how to approach a company on equal footing. Even if you're not a big spender with a company, there are other ways you remain valuable to them, including word of mouth and long term repeat business.

RELATED
"How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb"
"Email Addresses For Best Buy Execs"

Recent news reports have grossly mischaracterized an American International Group seminar for 150 independent financial planners held in Phoenix last week.

The financial planners are not AIG employees. In addition, the cost to AIG for this event was minimal. More than 90 percent of the costs were paid either by sponsors or by the independent financial planners themselves.

It is essential for AIG to conduct seminars of this kind to keep independent financial planners abreast of investment products and services including those offered by AIG. The financial planners are responsible for generating almost $200 million in revenue this year for AIG as of September 30th.

On October 10, I issued a directive to all AIG employees and subsidiaries to reduce expenses and conserve cash, including cancelling all nonessential conferences or meetings, unnecessary travel and excessive overhead. Since then, we have canceled more than 160 events. We conducted a top-to-bottom review of all expenses of the Phoenix meeting in advance and found that it was consistent with my October 10th directive. This conference was approved because it provides the kind of communication we must conduct with the people who sell our products if we are to be successful and repay the U.S. taxpayer.

PREVIOUSLY: AIG Spends $343,000 On Secret Seminar

Another AIG Resort "Junket": Top Execs Caught on Tape [ABC] (Thanks to Andy!)

Now, she can't pay $260 a month and doesn't want to sign this document, but is looking for advice about whether she should or not. I haven't heard about this kind of affidavit so I'm just going to throw that part out to the readers, but I do know that collection agencies are not allowed to just keep calling you at your home and work to get you to pay. That's a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Inside, Sarah's story and what she can say to NCO to get them to stop calling.

Sarah writes:

I'm 27 and graduated with about $40k in student debt. Around the time my loans went into repayment, I got very sick and had to pay a lot of medical bills and ended up going into default on my student loans. Since then I've been trying to dig my way out of the hole. I recently rehabilitated my Sallie Mae loan. I'm in a rehabilitation program with collection agency Windham Professionals— I'm paying $335 a month for nine months, not a small amount on $38k a year. I've got one other loan with a collection agency, NCO Financial.

I've been making payments on time to NCO for 27 months, long enough that my debt should have been rehabilitated months ago. Here's the thing. They want me to sign a statement that says I am able to afford to pay $260 a month should my loans be rehabilitated, triple my current payment. I can't afford that. I sent them a letter three months ago explaining that I have a chronic medical condition that requires me to pay hundreds of dollars in prescription copays each month, and therefore I cannot afford another $260 a month. It's on record. Now they're telling me that if I don't sign this (false) legal document, they will never rehabilitate my loan. In fact, they told me that if I keep paying the amount I'm currently paying, they'll place me back into collections and step up their harassment. Repeat: I've been making my payments on time for 27 months! One representative told me that they're doing this to all of their victims— er, customers— because the company is in trouble. Guess they took on too many toxic debts... seems to be an epidemic!

I'm concerned that if I sign the document, I'll be held liable for the $260. Furthermore, I'll be signing a legal document that is (a) false, and (b) contradicts a statement I've already put on record. If I don't sign the document, though, I'll continue to be in default and may be subject to further penalties. Meanwhile, NCO is harassing me with daily phone calls to my work and home numbers.

My questions for you and your readers:

1. Is this legal? If not, do I have any recourse?
2. What happens if the company goes out of business?
3. What should I do? I could:
(a) sign the document, pay the triple amount, and stop taking my medicine and paying my rent;
(b) continue to pay the current amount, in the hopes that external circumstances (the election, the company going under) intervene; or
(c) stop paying anything, since they're telling me that the consequences will be the same whether I pay the current amount or nothing at all.

I'm at a loss here... has anyone faced a similar situation?

Next time they call, say this:

"I am requesting that you not contact me by phone in the future. I do not want to receive any more calls from you at home or at work and am asking you to communicate with me only in writing."

If they give you static, say this:

"The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires that you stop phoning me at home and at work once I request that you do so. I intend to send you a certified letter tomorrow putting my no contact request in writing. If you continue to phone me, then I will file a complaint with the FTC and the attorney general."

Then send them this letter by certified mail:

Date

Your Name
Address
City, State Zip

Debt Collector’s Name
Address
City, State Zip

Re: Account Number

Dear Debt Collector:

Pursuant to my rights under federal debt collection laws, I am requesting that you cease and desist communication with me, as well as my family and friends, in relation to this and all other alleged debts you claim I owe.

You are hereby notified that if you do not comply with this request, I will immediately file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the [your state here] Attorney General’s office. Civil and criminal claims will be pursued.
Sincerely,

Your Name

Any advice about the affidavit?

(Photo: Getty)

* Maintain a healthy credit score
* Inquire about discounts
* Increase your deductible
* Disaster-proof your home
* Monitor neighborhood changes
* Pay promptly

Simple tips for sure, but they can save you a bundle. Heck, the first tip alone can save you almost half on your homeowners insurance.

A few other worthwhile thoughts:

* Be sure to shop around every year or two for all your insurance needs. Many insurance companies slowly raise fees to the point where their competitors offer much cheaper options. And yet most consumers don't look around for alternatives because the increases are so gradual. Doing a little extra work to check prices can save you a boatload in premiums.

* If you raise your deductible, be sure to increase the amount in your emergency fund to cover the difference. This way, if you ever need to make a claim you'll have enough to cover your larger-than-average portion of the bill.

* Paying promptly is not only a good money saving tip, but can also keep your insurance from being canceled. Be sure you are never late on any sort of insurance payment or you could find your coverage dropped.

6 Ways to Save on Homeowners Insurance [Smart Money]

— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: Groovnick)

Dallas hospital bills woman who waited 19 hours and never saw a doctor [Chron] (Thanks to Chester!) (Photo: xxxlps)

At least one member of Congress was pleased at the news:

"I am somewhat relieved to hear that AIG has canceled their Ritz-Carlton conference, which was nothing less than a slap in the face of the American people," said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). "I cannot fathom how in the same day—the very same day—that AIG asked the government for another $37.8 billion loan, the company would even consider moving forward with plans to host another large conference at another luxury resort."

AIG's spokesperson said that the company will have to pay some cancellation fees, but admitted that the era of fancy conferences and $23,000 spa bills seemed to be over.

"We'll certainly lose some money in cancellation fees, but it's just beyond the point of trying to conduct these meetings given the uncertainty that's taking place," said Ashooh.

Outrage Leads AIG To Cancel Second Luxury Retreat [ABCNews](Thanks, WiglyWorm!)

• You can't lose money investing in bonds.
• Stay-at-home moms or dads need life insurance, too.
• Don't buy a red car — it'll cost more to insure.
• Dollar-cost averaging boosts investment returns.
• The percentage of stock in your portfolio should equal 100 minus your age.

If you're a longtime Consumerist reader, odds are you'll score pretty high, because in the past year alone we've discussed 80-90% of the topics covered in the quizzes. But if you're a new reader—or just bored at work and like to take quizzes—you should check it out and see if you learn something new.

Let us know in the comments how you did on the quiz, and which questions tripped you up. You know, so we can all laugh at you learn from your mistakes.

"Financial Truth or Bunk?" [Kiplinger]
(Photo: Getty Images)

The event, mischaracterized as an "Executive Retreat," was held by one of AIG's insurance subsidiaries for independent life insurance agents, not for AIG employees. These agents were top business producers for the company, and of the more than 100 attendees, only 10 were employees of the AIG subsidiary who were there to represent their company. No AIG executives from headquarters attended. The meeting was planned months before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's loan to AIG.

AIG went on to say that they are reevaluating their costs, but stressed that business must continue as usual.

"AIG is focused on doing what is necessary to address our capital structure, repay the Fed credit facility and emerge as a healthy global insurer. In the meantime, our insurance businesses continue to operate normally and satisfy the needs of our policy holders."

To that end, AIG will be holding another event for brokers at a Ritz-Carlton hotel in northern California (shown above).

Bloomberg says:

The event, in Half Moon Bay in northern California, is designed to ``motivate and educate'' about 150 independent agents that sell AIG coverage to high-end clients, spokesman Nicholas Ashooh said. ``These sorts of sales meetings are an essential function,'' he said. ``We have them around the world all the time.''

About 50 AIG employees will also attend the meeting. Ashooh said he didn't know the cost of the event or whether the agents AIG is hosting would stay overnight.

Rep. Henry Waxman, who chaired the hearings on AIG and objected to the expenditures has not responded to AIG.

If you're interested in looking over the receipts from the first event, The Smoking Gun has them.

AIG plans meeting at California Ritz-Carlton Resort [Bloomberg]
AIG clarifies agent meeting [AIG]
Rock Out With Your Bailout [The Smoking Gun]

When the drug program began in 2006, Humana's premiums were among the cheapest. Humana, Mr. Noland said, has provided the most cumulative value for its drug-plan members, saving them an average of $4,900 on drug costs during that time and that the premiums are still in line with rivals.

The drug plans are heavily subsidized by the federal government and are offered through private insurance companies. Insurers will begin advertising their plans Oct. 1, and the six-week enrollment period starts in mid-November.

It's unclear how the price increases will affect the market. Medicare beneficiaries tend to select a plan and stay with it, and the market is highly concentrated.

"Medicare Drug Premium on Rise" [Wall Street Journal]
(Photo: Getty)

From A.I.G. and credit default swaps to why Bear Stearns got a bailout but Lehman Brothers did not, this Q&A sheds some much appreciated light on the most nagging puzzles presented to us in the past week.

Here's a taste:

The Fannie and Freddie situation was a result of their unique roles in the economy. They had been set up to support the housing market. They helped guarantee mortgages (provided they met certain standards), and were able to fund these guarantees by issuing their own debt, which was in turn tacitly backed by the government. The government guarantees allowed Fannie and Freddie to take on far more debt than a normal company. In principle, they were also supposed to use the government guarantee to reduce the mortgage cost to the homeowners, but the Fed and others have argued that this hardly occurred. Instead, they appear to have used the funding advantage to rack up huge profits and squeeze the private sector out of the “conforming” mortgage market. Regardless, many firms and foreign governments considered the debt of Fannie and Freddie as a substitute for U.S. Treasury securities and snapped it up eagerly.

Fannie and Freddie were weakly supervised and strayed from the core mission. They began using their subsidized financing to buy mortgage-backed securities which were backed by pools of mortgages that did not meet their usual standards. Over the last year, it became clear that their thin capital was not enough to cover the losses on these subprime mortgages. The massive amount of diffusely held debt would have caused collapses everywhere if it was defaulted upon; so the Treasury announced that it would explicitly guarantee the debt.

But once the debt was guaranteed to be secure (and the government would wipe out shareholders if it carried through with the guarantee), no self-interested investor was willing to supply more equity to help buffer the losses. Hence, the Treasury ended up taking them over.

Diamond and Kashyap on the Recent Financial Upheavals [Freakonomics]
(Photo: shadowmancer76 )

These types of accounts are generally FDIC insured:

Checking, savings, trust, certificates of deposit (CDs), IRA retirement accounts, and money market deposit accounts.

A money market deposit account earns interest at a rate set by the bank and usually limits the customer to a certain number of transactions within a stated time period. Do not confuse a money market mutual fund with an FDIC-insured money market deposit account, which earns interest in an amount determined by, and paid by, the financial institution where your funds are deposited.

These investments are not FDIC insured:

Mutual funds, annuities, life insurance policies, stocks and bonds.

What type of insurance covers my investments?

Your investments (mutual funds, stocks, etc.) are not insured against market risk — their value may go up or down depending on the market. You are, however, likely insured against the failure of your broker, or a bank's brokerage subsidiary, by the Securities Investors Protection Corporation. This institution will replace securities that you own that go missing in accounts held by its members up to $500,000, including up to $100,000 in cash, if a member brokerage or bank brokerage subsidiary fails.

If you'd like more information, check out the FDIC's website.

Insured or Not Insured? [FDIC]

Each spot features precocious little urchins discussing topics like "risk management" (ha!) and their parent's perceived personal finance failures until eventually the name of AIG is invoked as a salve to soothe their worried minds. Each commercial ends with AIG's tagline "The strength to be there." We saw these running as recently as Sunday, two days before you, the taxpayer, bailed the company out with 85 billion of your dollars.

Enjoy.

Fed to Loan A.I.G. $85 Billion in Rescue [NYT] (Photo: Getty)

Merrill: If your broker leaves, you have to decide whether you want to go with him. Whether you come along or wait for Bank of America to take over, you will lose access to your funds for a week or two until the new computer systems take over.

Lehman: The brokerage unit didn't file for bankruptcy, the parent unit did. So for now, customers' brokerage accounts remain as normal. Eventually, though, they will get transferred.

AIG: While the situation is dire, they're still in business. Your life insurance policies are still good. If they go bust, state bodies known as guaranty funds will step in and cover unpaid claims and pay out policies.

The integration of different computer databases is always an opportunity for accounts getting messed up or lost. Make sure you have printouts of your recent statement and have all your account numbers and access codes memorized or written down somewhere.

What Changes in the Financial World Mean to Customers [NYT]

I wanted to follow up with you about my situation with Advantage Rent-A-Car and the "diminution of value" charge. I called Lauren Wilson [the director of sales and Marketing]. Lauren listened to my story, took down my info, and said she would look into it and get back to me.

Within minutes, she emailed me saying that she had spoken with the Chairman and Owner of the company, Denny Hecker, and that he was interested in speaking with me. We scheduled a call for the following day.

When I spoke with Denny he was polite and understanding. He understood my frustration, but was concerned about my perception that "diminution of value" was a scam. He explained that when cars are damaged, they are unable to sell them back to the dealer under their contracts, and that they can lose money. I listened, explained that I understood the principle, but that I felt that the charges were unreasonably high. Denny said that he wanted to look into the situation on his end, which was understandable since the issue had just been brought to his attention the day before.

Long story short, Denny and I spoke again and Denny decided that he was going to wave the entire thing - not just the ~$2500 in diminution of value, but the ~$4500 in repair charges as well. He said that customers are very important to him, and that he wanted to ensure that I left a happy customer. I thanked him, but insisted that I (through Visa) cover the damages to the vehicle. After all, the vehicle was damaged and I had no problem being responsible for the physical damage. Denny and I had a laugh, he explained that he wouldn't turn my money down, but that he wanted to be clear that he was willing to walk away from the the entire thing. That it was that important to him. I said I understood, but would pay the damages, just not the diminution of value. Done.

While obviously I would have preferred to have never gone through this, I was impressed with the way Lauren and Denny handled it. At the end of the day everyone makes mistakes, people and businesses, and in many cases what's important is how the mistakes are handled. Advantage's mistake here was contracting with Subrogation Management Team, which profits off Advantage's customers, and not keeping close tabs in the impact this has on their reputation. In this case, in my opinion, Advantage made a mistake but when confronted with it, Denny went above and beyond by offering to wave the entire charge, including the physical damage. He also indicated that he would be reviewing their relationship with SMT.

All-in-all I will probably give Advantage Rent-a-Car another shot and rent from them again, though this time I will probably buy the insurance :)

It's always interesting to see how the people at the top behave when confronted with unfair business practices. Now if only they could find a way to pass that one-to-one sense of customer service downstream to every customer.

We're glad Paul was able to get the outrageous $2500 charge waived, because it was calculated by assuming that 49 hours in the shop somehow equaled 22 days of labor. We just hope that whether the fault lies with Subrogation Management or Advantage, they fix it so others aren't hit with the same high fees.

(Thanks to Paul and Debbie!)
(Photo: Getty)

His response was "Whatever, somebody needs to come deal with this because I'm about to go off..."

"You're about to 'Go off?', I asked him."Do you really think that's the best thing to say to a paying customer?"

And at this point, with his back turned to me, the young man muttered "Fucking AIDS freak."

Read J's full story of how it got to this point, and CVS' meager response, below.

Here's J's full email, for those of you who want a more detailed story:

In what has been one of the most horrifying experiences of my entire life, I have had a dreadful recent encounter at my local CVS. Ironically one of the other worst customer-service related mishaps I've ever had was at a CVS as well, though not the same one...

I was in my local CVS in Philadelphia getting my partner's prescription filled. We are a gay male couple and my partner is HIV+. The medication, Atripla, is HIV related. We are both currently on a medicaid-related health insurance plan, a situation that is new to us and directly related to his current health issues.

I had in hand a coupon from the local paper that awarded me a $20 gift card if I transferred a prescription to CVS. I had actually used the coupon the day before for another prescription, as it says you can do use it multiple times (just not on the same day.)

On this particular day they were having a very hard time getting through to the other pharmacy to put the transfer through. The staff was also particularly snide and unpleasant; more so than usual, at any rate.

After the fiasco of getting the actual transfer put through, when the young man attempted to ring me up and process my coupon, something went wrong in the computer. Another employee came by to try and figure things out, and they determined that the coupon was not acceptable for those with Medicaid.

I got a little agitated because they weren't being particularly polite about it, and I tried to explain that I wasn't specifically on Medicaid proper, but on a related plan. I also pointed out that I had just used the same coupon the day before. They then called over another young man who was apparently a manager. His actual position in the store is still up for debate; he appeared to be a front-of-store manager who was doing some work in the pharmacy area.

He walked into the situation with an extremely aggressive attitude. He wouldn't allow me to actually SAY anything or discuss the situation with him, and it was clear he was taking an "I know what I'm talking about, I know what you're up to, and I'm going to nip this in the bud" kind of stance with the whole thing. I was getting impatient, embarassed and frustrated. The whole of the staff back there were just glaring at me, and I was extremely perturbed.

My inclination in these situations, which seem to happen more frequently these days, is to try and be rational and direct without being rude. I said to this young man "You know what? I don't think you're handling this very well or being very polite, and I'd like to speak to someone else about this."

His response was "Whatever, somebody needs to come deal with this because I'm about to go off..."

"You're about to 'Go off?', I asked him (probably exacerbating the situation, I admit.) "Do you really think that's the best thing to say to a paying customer?"

And at this point, with his back turned to me, the young man muttered "Fucking AIDS freak."

I have to be honest with you: I'm 30 years old, and in all of my adult life - with all of the bigotry and hatred I have encountered in various forms and situations - this was the absolute most shocking and flabbergasting thing that has ever happened to me.

It was one of those situations where I was so stunned and slack-jawed that I had no real faculties to handle the situation. It's the kind of anger that silences you while your body tenses up and you try to control the shaking that's coming from the inside out.

By this point a woman, the manager of the pharmacy, had approached me and asked - stone faced - if she could help. I told her that if her employees felt comfortable speaking to customers they way they just did, and in her presence, that I didn't think she COULD help because obviously they felt doing so was okay. I asked her to void my prescription transfer and I left.

When I got home I immediately called a different CVS location and asked for a number to call to file a complaint. I called a local "headquarters" number and left a complaint on a voicemail for a district manager. I also called the general 800 number for CVS and left a complain with the customer service person. I was told the general manager of the store, Anthony, was on vacation until Monday.

On Monday, Anthony did call me back. Our conversation was brief and typical of what I expected. I was told that he would investigate the situation, and that if what I described did, in fact, happen, it would be dealt with. But that basically he couldn't promise anything other than that if I ever came into the store again and something similar happened, I should ask to speak to him directly.

I can tell you now that nothing really came of the situation. The young man still works at that CVS, and I have done my best to simply not go there anymore. As it is located only 2 bocks from my apartment, and is the only 24-hour estalishment in the area, I do still go occasionally, hating myself every step of the way.

I don't know what I expected CVS to do. I suppose - and I say this laughingly - an apologetic gift card might have been nice. But the real point is, is there any real resolution to a situation like this? Other than having the guy on video or audio tape, he's obviously going to deny that it happened, and his co-worker chums - presuming they heard what he said (as that one part is probably the only "fireable" part of his lousy customer service) - didn't seem the types inclined to get involved.

There's no real great way to wrap up this report. I guess the great lesson is, people can still be complete douchebags, and sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.

J, you may want to try writing a complaint letter and mailing it to the executive headquarters in Rhode Island—here's a list of their executives. (We looked for executive phone numbers and email addresses in their SEC filings, but couldn't find any.) Some people will never stop being complete douchebags, but it's likely your complaint never made it past the district manager, and since it wasn't adequately resolved at that level, you should take it higher.

(Photo: Getty)

Medical Bills You Shouldn't Pay [BusinessWeek] (Thanks to Eric!) (Photo: jgodsey)

Dear Disney,

My name is Jane [redacted]. On September 28th, 2007, my husband, Daniel, and I went to California Adventure on the 2nd day of our two-day Disney pass. Around 11 a.m. we rode the Maliboomer. After our ride was over, I got off the attraction, but Daniel stayed to ride again. While I waited on a bench, Daniel went to get back on and in the process fell and hit his head on the ground, knocking him unconscious and cutting his forehead open. Almost instantly, numerous park officials were at the ride helping him. The care he was given at the park was comprehensive and prompt, and for that we are appreciative. While waiting for the ambulance, he and I had a conversation with a very kind Disney nurse. We discussed the process of how Disney would handle this incident, and she said not to worry, that we should give the hospital Daniel’s health insurance information and Disney would reimburse the insurance company (United Health Care). In addition, she said Disney would send us two passes to the parks to make up for the day we missed due to the incident. I don’t remember her name, and I apologize for that, but I’m sure you can understand I was distraught. We went to Western Medical Center where Daniel was treated and released several hours later.

Several months later, we started receiving bills from the hospital and ambulance service for the co-pays and deductibles that Daniel’s insurance did not satisfy. Thinking what we were told about the billing to be the truth, we called the companies and advised them that they would receive payment from Disney. We kept receiving bills, so finally in February we were able to get in touch with Disney Guest Claims, and they advised us that the claim had been assigned to Mr. Garth Steever.

From February to August, we tried over and over to get in touch with Mr. Steever to have a complete conversation about Disney’s position on the incident. Mr. Steever would occasionally return a call or email and ask when a good time was to call us back to discuss. We would give him a date and time, but he would not call back. This finally came to a head last Friday (August 15th) when we were contacted by a collection agency. Daniel and I are both hard workers and have spent our entire lives building good credit, so to have our credit harmed by something that should have been settled almost a year ago is absolutely unacceptable. I left an urgent voicemail for Mr. Steever, and when I still had not heard back from him after several hours, I got in touch with his manager, Mr. Bob Weise. Mr. Weise apologized for Mr. Steever’s continuous lack of response and scheduled a teleconference for Mr. Steever, my husband, and myself for 1:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, August 19th.

By the time Mr. Steever did call on the 19th it was almost 2 p.m. EST. He advised us that Disney investigated and decided that it was not liable for the incident, so they would not pay the lien the insurance company served them (which occurred on Feburary 20th, but coincidentally we heard nothing about until this phone conversation), and therefore could not make a good faith payment to us. He also explained that if the insurance company had not served a lien against Disney, then Disney would have more “flexibility” to pay the claim. We asked him if that meant that if Daniel didn’t have insurance that Disney would pay the claim, and he said “yes.”

Does this make sense to you? It doesn’t to us. Essentially, Disney is punishing us for being hard-working, conscientious people who have the foresight to protect ourselves by purchasing health insurance.

We asked how Disney determined that it was not liable, and Mr. Steever advised that he researched a state inspection of the ride (that was conducted a few days after the incident occurred) and also interviews with Disney employees. This was the first we heard about any of this, and when I told him that we would need copies of the state inspection and the employee interviews, he told me that we are not allowed to receive copies of the interviews because they are confidential Disney property. Once again, this does not make sense. We are not allowed access to documents concerning my husband and his injury?

When I asked Mr. Steever when they determined that Disney was not liable and therefore not willing to pay the claim, he advised it was “sometime in April.” Again, this conversation took place on August 19th, so that is a full four months that we were left in the dark about this. When I asked him why it took him so long to let us know, he said he was sorry, but he “dropped the ball.” I’m sure you will agree that any “dropped ball” that damages someone else’s credit is a pretty serious ball to drop. Is it standard Disney practice to wait four months to let an injured party know that their claim has been denied? Clearly we are infuriated. If we had not been told in the first place that Disney would pay the costs arising out of the incident, this never would have happened. But more importantly, if Mr. Steever had done his job and notified us promptly about Disney’s decision, our credit would not have been harmed.

Daniel and I are not out to gain financially from this. We want the bills paid and this situation to be rectified immediately as we were told it would be from the beginning. So we expect Disney to reimburse Daniel’s insurance company for what they have paid and to pay the deductible amounts that have been billed to us. A summary of the totals is below.

Billing Company | Amount Paid by Insurance | Amount Billed to Us

Pacific Shores Radiology Medical Group | $120.00 | $80.00
CARE Ambulance Service, Inc. | $379.20 | $344.80
JJ&R Emergency Medical Group of California, Inc. | $214.81 | $53.70
Western Medical Center Anaheim | $897.26 | $299.31
TOTAL | $1,611.27 | $777.81

In addition, we expect Disney to cooperate and provide any documentation we may need in order to repair our credit. Coincidentally, we never received those park passes we were promised, either.

I am copying this email to several companies that make customer service a priority. I can be reached any weekday after 4:30 p.m. EST and any time during the weekend at [redacted]. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to a quick and satisfactory resolution to this issue.

Sincerely,

Jane [redacted]

This email did just the trick and we got a call the next day. Disney advised they will pay all the bills AND give us the passes to Disney.

We got the idea from your website. Thanks so much!

It's easy to send an EECB like Jane and so many other Consumerist readers have to done, solving the seemingly irresolvable. Here's how to get started.

(Photo: sanctumsolitude)

Nate says:

Approx. 4 Months ago I found my dream home, however, my dream home is more than likely far less extravagant than what most people might consider their dream home, as I'm a recent college graduate and as of 2 months ago, a newlywed. That being said I don't have much money, but I managed to find a decent older 2 story home that I loved. More importantly my at the time wife-to-be loved it as well. Needless to say we purchased the home as soon as we could.

We were approved in no time to purchase our $60,000 home. We of course chose Chase as our mortgage lender because my wife had previously done all her banking through them and they seemed to have their act together, boy was I ever wrong. We did everything cautiously. We hired a top notch inspector to come out and check everything out, despite the home being 90+ years old everything was in tip top shape, save for a few windows here and there. No problem.

This is where things get interesting. Because of a previous home we had looked at that had fallen in a flood plane we were certain to write in on our offer that if the home was found to be in a flood plane we withdrew our offer. However, we were happy to find that the house was in the clear. We closed on the home May 29th.

One fine day whilst sitting at my dinner table eating lunch with a friend of mine and my soon-to-be wife (at the time), my soon-to-be wife began screaming in the other room (where our mail came in). I ran in to see what the problem was, and there in her hands she held a note from Chase stating that they were "Sad to inform (us) that your home NOW lies in a flood plane and requires flood insurance." (my own emphasis added) We were shocked and devastated. However, life goes on right?

I went to my insurance agent a few days later to get things taken care of (mere weeks before my wedding). When I went in to talk to him we discovered that chase was demanding we carry $185,000 worth of flood insurance. I was blown away... There was no way i could afford that sort of coverage which came out to be around 200 a month. I immediately began investigating. Within a few days of investigating I discovered that there had been no changes to the FEMA flood maps in my area since 2002, which means there was no way my house had JUST been put in a flood plane, it had been in one all along but Chase failed to tell me so before I closed on the home. I decided to look into how they could make such a mistake, turns out they were using a flood map from 1990 to determine if I was in a flood plane or not... a map that was over 18 years old. How could they do such a thing? I was Irate.

After some talking with some "higher ups" at Chase I agreed I would pay flood insurance on the home at $60,000 worth of coverage which ran me around 45 a month. I only agreed to this because they told me nothing else could be done.

Fast forward 2 months-

I'm now happily married, and I thought things were going great until...

I received yet another letter from Chase stating that we failed to purchase an appropriate ammount of flood insurance and that we needed $185,000 worth of coverage....

I'm at my wits end, I cant afford that much insurance and I never would have purchased the home had i known it was in a flood plane... Its neither my wife or I's fault that our home is in a flood plane, so how can Chase be doing this to us? Adding that much extra a month to our bills will seriously put us in a financial strain. We both are recent college graduates and both have student loans to repay, hence why we went after such a cheap home. Please help us get this out there and in the public eye.

We took a look at what the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the agency that regulates national banks, like Chase) had to say about flood insurance, and we have good news and bad news.

The good news is that you're only required by law to have as much flood insurance as you have outstanding principal on your mortgage:

At a minimum, the insurance coverage must equal the outstanding principal balance of the loan. Coverage must be obtained and maintained throughout the term of the loan.

The bad news is that if your house really is in the flood plain, there's not a lot you can do about it. The OCC recommends that you contact FEMA's Flood Map Assistance Center if you dispute the maps your bank is using.

National banks determine if flood insurance is applicable based on a review of the appropriate flood maps. If you believe that the flood map used by your bank incorrectly identified your property as being in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), Federal law allows the lender and borrower to jointly apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to request a review of the decision.

Visit FEMA's Flood Map Assistance Center or call them at 1-877-336-2627.

As far as dealing with Chase's general incompetance, we're afraid this might be a job for a consumer lawyer.

Answers About Flood Insurance [OCC]
(Photo: mistaken poet )

Anthony writes:

My name is Anthony [redacted], and I was just robbed at knifepoint in Queens, NY, for my iPhone. I was walking home fairly late at night and a man walked up to me wielding a 10-inch or so blade and demanded my money and my iPhone.

I am writing you because after reporting the robbery to the police, I called AT&T – my service provider for 3 years – and asked if they could possibly work with the NYPD to track down my phone via the iPhone 3G's GPS. They said it was not possible to track any closer than the closest cell tower if the iPhone's functions were used, which kind of defeats the purpose of GPS in many ways. Given the Patriot Act and everything, I figured they can track down where we're taking a piss at this point.

But the big problem came when we started talking about replacing my iPhone 3G. Now I was an early adopter of the original 8GB iPhone and I just purchased the iPhone 3G in July. So when I asked if there would be a free replacement or a discount of sorts, the woman at customer service responded that since I just purchased the iPhone 3G that I would have not qualify for the discounted $199 iPhone 3G and I would have to purchase the phone at the higher price point of $399.

So after being such a long time AT&T customer and supporter of Apple's marquee product of the moment, I have been told that despite the fact that I was robbed by someone brandishing what was essentially a mini-machete I am now being robbed by AT&T.

I feel insulted as a customer, and appalled by the customer service at AT&T. This is beyond poor customer service; this is a lack of basic human compassion.

It's a shame that you're stuck in a 2-year contract because of a phone that you now no longer have. Ugh! AT&T is probably a dead end, but if you bought the phone with a credit card, you might want to call your credit card company. Many credit cards have 90-day "purchase assurance" or "purchase protection" programs that protect your recent purchases from loss, damage or theft.

Most people don't think to call their credit card company when something like this happens, which is a shame because they can be very helpful, and certainly more pleasant to deal with than your cellphone company. Don't delay, however, once the 90-days is over, so is the coverage.

(Photo: jetsetpress )

They're not the same after all. The Target generic on the right is 1/2 the strength of the name brand on the left. How? Check the dosing...your recommended intake of the generic is twice as much as the name brand. So in this case, the generic is not only cheaper, it's inferior.

It's not enough to just read the price tags, also check out the product labels to make sure you're really comparing apples with apples.

(Thanks to Bruce!)

1. Enter all of the email addresses in the "BCC" or Blind Carbon Copy field.
2. DO NOT enter them in the "To" field.

(Photo: Getty)

From NBC 10:

Fire victims from the Riverwalk at Millennium condominium complex told NBC10 and the property management of the apartment complex that Comcast is going to charge residents to replace any cable boxes destroyed in the fire.

NBC 10 contacted Comcast and the company said it's true.

Fire victims will have to cover the cost, but residents should get reimbursed by their insurance companies, whether they are renters or homeowners.

How much will fire victims have to pay?

"We don't share specific information about our costs, but they can vary depending on the type of box — HD boxes, Digital Video Recorder, etc. We're doing all we can to accommodate our customers who were affected by the fire," a Comcast spokes person said.

“They have agreed to extend the due date for charges related to the damaged boxes until Nov. 15, which does allow the insurance companies for these residents time to process the claim and provide residents with funds for which to pay that due," said Lauren McDonald from Riverwalk Property

Comcast says they're not going to bill the fire victims for the cable they're not watching and will waive future installation fees.

Comcast Charging Residents For Equipment Lost In Condo Fire [NBC 10] (Thanks, Steve !)
Conshohocken Apartment Fire Ruled Accidental
[MyFoxPhilly]
(Photo: WTXF )

7 reasons to review term life coverage [Bankrate] "There are several life events that may modify your need for term life insurance coverage."

Seven Tips for the Newly Unemployed [Wise Bread] "Here are some tips that could be helpful for those [facing unemployment]."

Four Habits of Financially Peaceful People [Yahoo Finance] "Some people who have found financial peace — and the habits they share."

4 Ways to Save on College Textbooks [Smart Money] "Here are some other ways students can save [on textbooks]."

— FREE MONEY FINANCE
(Photo: balotto)

But taking that line of thinking one step backwards, CNN Money suggests that your health is actually your most important financial asset. Why? Because if you're not in good health, your career is either worthless or likely very limited! So Money suggests six ways to protect your finances by protecting your health. Their list:

• Spot problems early - Make sure you get the tests recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
• Pop your pills - Compared with treating disease, medication is an inexpensive lifesaver.
• Don't miss this drug - Aspirin can seriously reduce a man's chances of heart attack and a woman's chances of stroke.
• Floss - A recent study in the Journal of Periodontology found that patients ages 40 to 59 with severe gum disease had cumulative healthcare costs 21% higher than those who had healthy gums.
• Get more Z's - An insomniac's health-care costs can be $4,200 more than those of someone who sleeps well.
• Go for a walk - Just 30 minutes a day [of moderate exercise] can lower your risk of cancer, stroke, diabetes and a host of other ills.

Live a longer, happier life and contribute to your bottomline at the same time. Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it? Now, who's up for a quick walk around the block?

6 investments in your health [CNN Money]

— FREE MONEY FINANCE
(Illustration: Getty)

The additional biopsy was recommended by the doctor because of Marc's girlfriend's family history of breast cancer.

Some helpful information for Marc: an insider once walked us through how to appeal an insurance company's denial of care. Consumer Reports has a good appeal guide too.

Our health insurance system truly is sick.

Whether it says CD, CR, ER, LA, SR, XL, XR, or XT, the letters really stand for a version of the drug that releases differently into the body. By coming up with different variations on old drugs, pharmaceutical companies can keep the profits rolling on drugs whose patents have expired. Best of all, if they can get the doctor to write one of these letter sequences after the drug's name, the pharmacy can't substitute a lower-priced generic (unless a generic of the extended release version is already on the market).

For example, Wellbutrin (bupropion) came out in 1985 requiring 3 pills a day. In 1996, 36 months before the old patent expired, they came up with Wellbutrin SR, only 2 pills a day. In 2003, 5 months before the SR patent expired, Wellbutrin XL was released, only one pill a day.

A 3 month supply of 300 mg of bupropion per day retails on average for $270. You'll have to pay $693 and $656 for Wellbutrin SR and XL, respectively. Over the course of a year, that's $1080 extra dollars. Is it really worth paying 2.5 times as much just for one fewer pill?

There are exceptions where an extended formula works better, like short-acting calcium channel blockers like nifedipine, or Parkinson's treatment drug Sinemet CR. Luckily, in both cases, the extended release versions are available as lower-costing generics. Furthermore, a certain medication might otherwise be too hard to time correctly if several pills are needed a day at specific intervals. As always always always, any change in your medication needs to be discussed with your doctor.

[source: How To Save On Prescription Drugs]
RELATED: 14 Ways To Save On Drugs Big Pharma Doesn't Want You To Know

ELIMINATE NONESSENTIAL PRESCRIPTIONS
1. Eliminate medicines that are no longer needed
2. Eliminate medicines that no longer work
3. Eliminate medicines that have never worked
4. Eliminate medicines that were never needed

THINK OUTSIDE THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BOTTLE
5. Treat with lifestyle changes
6. Use nondrug treatments
7. Prevent disease naturally

STEER CLEAR OF OVERPRICED REDUNDANT DRUGS
8. Don't "Ask Your Doctor" (for Advertised Drugs)
9. Insist on generic drugs
10. Insist on cheaper medicines with the same class
11. Insist on a cheaper class from the same treatment goal

PLAY IT SMART!
12. Cut costs by splitting tablets
13. Don't treat side effects of one drug with another
14. Comparison-shop

Be sure to talk to your doctor before changing anything about your medication. In fact, that's the very first thing Jardini wants you to do, schedule a "treatment review" visit where you discuss the efficacy and cost and ask the right questions about the treatment you're getting. "It is not just tough luck if your doctor chooses costly medicines for you," writes Jardini, "The system is designed this way....a health care revolution...needs to take place in the United States...but it will only start when patients enlist physician support and refuse to be denied affordable care...prohibitive cost is an intolerable side effect too."

How to Save on Prescription Drugs: 20 Cost-saving Methods [Amazon]

(Photo: xysmas (Aaron))

A sad tale to illustrate the perils of walking around uninsured, and the cold-blooded and illogical arithmetic of our health care system.

Janne in Norman, OK [Consumer Reports]

"As soon as we became aware of the mailing error, we worked to determine the exact cause, and we have made changes to prevent it from happening again in the future," said a Blue Cross Blue Shield spokesperson.

BCBS's parent company also said that it is in "the process of removing all Social Security numbers from such future mailings." The state of Georgia is requiring the insurance company to notify all those whose information was compromised and offer them one year of credit monitoring. You know, at the rate these data breaches are happening, we'll all have free credit monitoring pretty soon.

Here's what the AJC says you should do if this breach affects you:

Policyholders who received an incorrect EOB should contact Blue Cross's dedicated toll-free number at 866-800-8776 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Members who may have received an EOB of another individual should return it to Blue Cross. The company will provide a postage-paid envelope.

Private medical data exposed [Journal-Constitution](Thanks, Matt!)

Here's the line of blame as tracked down by WBAL:

1. Maryland State Fairgrounds said they only rented the space.
2. Contest sponsor Recreations Unlimited said they were unaware the payment hadn't been made; a spokesman for the company said it "was out of his hands."
3. The company that brought the golf simulator to the state, World Golf Center of Orlando, Florida, "claimed it is having difficulty getting the insurance company that backed the contest to make the payment" even though all requirements have been met.
4. Kevin Kolenda, CEO of the insurance company called both HoleInOne.com and Golf Marketing Worldwide, says not all requirements have been met.

WBAL writes that they "discovered Kalenda and the company haven't always paid as promised. Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon and other states issued cease and desist orders, claiming they were not licensed to sell insurance in those states." That got us curious about Kalenda and his company, so we did a quick search on Google to see what we could dig up. This 2002 article from a Connecticut business journal shows that Golf Marketing Worldwide has done this before:

Both the [Connecticut] Insurance Department and the state attorney general received complaints in 1995 that accused Golf Marketing of not paying when contestants sunk their shots.

...

In May 2000, Woody Harford sunk a 100-foot putt in New York City's Central Park for $1 million at the launch party for the now defunct Maximum Golf magazine.

Golf Marketing disputes the logistics of the shot, and did not pay Harford his prize.

"Man Wins $25K Contest; Insurance Doesn't Pay" [WBAL Baltimore] (Thanks to Stanton!)

RELATED
"Golf insurer happy with 'minimal' fine" [AllBusiness]

100 Things to Do During a Money Free Weekend [The Simple Dollar] "One hundred fun ways to spend a money free weekend."

8 Home Improvements That Pay Off [Smart Money] "The home improvement projects that offer the biggest payoff."

10 most and least expensive cars to insure [Bankrate] "Stay away from small, fast cars."

— FREE MONEY FINANCE

(Photo: me and the sysop)

Here’s how it works: Many health insurers contract with PBMs to administer their drug plans. Among other functions, the PBMs negotiate lower drug prices with pharmacies. But some PBMs, under a practice allowed by Medicare, then charge a higher price to health insurers and, ultimately, both the government and patients. Though the opaque practice is common in the private insurance market, Medicare currently has a proposal to curb it, because the agency is worried the tactic, by inflating patients’ drug costs, is speeding their pace toward the “doughnut hole” coverage gap.