U.S. Fidelis, the auto warranty company that’s currently being investigated by 40 state attorneys general for questionable business practices, has hired the law firm headed by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. The firm won’t represent the company in litigation, but is supposed to provide an internal review of their practices. They’ll also provide draping cloths for any immodest statuary, and wiretap kits for employees of interest. Hey, it’s hard to do topical humor on someone who’s been out of office for 4 years.
bbb
Don't Buy Your Magazines From Door-To-Door Salesmen This Summer
By 5.5.09
A couple of years ago, the New York Times did a piece on the poor treatment of teens hired to travel the country and sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door, but they’re not the only ones getting the raw end of the deal.
Big Publisher's Clearing House Scam Drop Hits Mailboxes
By 4.7.09
Call your grandma: the BBB reports a big mailing of Publisher’s Clearing house scam letters went out on March 6th and March 20th, promising people big bucks in exchange for a hefty up-front fee. The fraudulent letters use the name Publisher’s Clearing House and Reader’s Digest but are sent by flim-flammers, not these organizations.The prize never materializes and the scammers dematerialize after you stop forking over bogus processing fees. One grandma, thinking she won $1 million, got taken for over $4,000. The fraudsters sent her a “downpayment” check of $6,000 and told to deposit it and send $3,700 of it elsewhere to claim her million-dollar-prize. Inside, what the scam letter and check look like so you know what to call your grandma and tell her to watch out for.
Dell Hasn't Refunded Money For 45 Days
By 2.23.09
Rob bought a monitor from Dell. Not just any monitor, a defective one. Ok, he didn’t specifically request it to come defective, but that’s how it did. So did its replacement. “The backlight was flickering constantly and it made me feel nauseous just looking at it,” writes Rob. He’s returned the monitors but Dell has yet to give him back his money. Every time he calls, they tell him it will be just 7-10 days more and that he paid with two credit cards is complicating things. So far it’s been 45 days.
FedMod.com: Loan Mod Scammers Advertising On Network TV?
By 1.14.09
Matt at SteadFastFinances tipped me off to a possible loan-modification scam running ads on network TV.
BBB Will Now Give You An "F" Just Like Your Algebra Teacher Used To
By 1.8.09
Gone are the days of “unsatisfactory” ratings by the BBB — they’ve switched over to a letter grading system designed to provide consumers with “more detailed insight into a business’s track record.”
Scams 101: Do Not Buy Things From The Internet Using A Wire Transfer!
By 12.9.08
The BBB has given us a heads up about a new scam that targets holiday shoppers — pop-up internet electronics stores that only accept payments via wire transfer.
Credit Cards Scammers Pretend To Be From BBB
By 10.22.08
Robo-scammers are ringing up consumers and pretending to the Better Business Bureau, saying, “We’re from BBB – Because of bailout, we can offer you a low-rate credit card.” In this iteration, we see several three common scam characteristics combined: *Unexpected communication * Automated communication * Mention of topical event * Use of recognizable institution’s name * Money-saving opportunity. Investigators were unable to tell the exact nature of the scam. It could be been to steal your account numbers, or it might have just been a marketing affiliate’s sleazy way of generating leads for a credit card company trying to get people to transfer their balances. Complaints have been received about the scam at a BBBs serving Washington, West Oregon and Northern Idaho, as well as Midland,Texas.
Fun With Scammers: Golden Retriever Receives Check For $150,000
By 10.16.08
Congratulations! Your dog is rich! Oh wait, no. It’s a scam. Meet Bruce Gadansky of the Louisville BBB. He got an email from some internet scammers and decided to reply — as his dog. The email was from a “company” looking for help cashing a check.
By 9.19.08
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This Saturday (September 20th) is the Better Business Bureau’s “Secure Your ID” day: in select cities, “bring up to three boxes or bags of paper documents that contain your personal information and we’ll shred them.” Or, you know, just do it yourself all year long. [BBB]
BBB Warns Consumers: Stay Away From TicketsMyWay
By 9.9.08
[Parent company] Event Tickets LLC has an unsatisfactory rating from BBB due to its performance, which includes nearly 100 instances of non-delivery of tickets, nearly another 100 complaints involving refunds and exchanges, and on about 200 occasions, the company has failed to even respond to BBB or consumers to resolve issues.
First Air Conditioner Guy Says Replace It For $5,000, Second Air Conditioner Guy Fixes It For $250
By 8.4.08
Reader F.’s air conditioner was broken, so he called the company that installed it when the house was built. They came out, charged him $100, and told him that he could repair the unit for $3,000 or replace it for $5,000. It’s a good thing he got a second opinion, because the second repair guy fixed the problem for $250.
Beware The "Fannie Mae" Prize Draw Scam
By 7.30.08
Scammers love to tap into national trends to put a new face on an old scam, and the “Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Equity Prize Draw” scam spotted by the Louisville, KY BBB is no exception.
Careful, That Red Lobster Coupon Could Cost You $7,500
By 7.25.08
How do you define a scam? Does your definition include anything where you have to put down money upfront in order to get discounts later? Maybe it should. Meet Stephen and Jean Liang of Kansas City, Missouri. They went to a presentation for a travel club, and ended up joining for $7,500– with the condition that they could cancel after 3 days. Before they left, they were offered a discount for Red Lobster. They thought it was a bonus for joining the club. It wasn’t.
UPDATE: MyGallons Refunding Membership Fees?
By 7.15.08
Consumerist commenter doireallyneedausername forwarded us an email he got from MyGallons.com, claiming that his membership fee will be refunded because MyGallons.com cannot find a credit card processor. The email, signed by CEO Steve Verona, says that current members will get a free year of MyGallons.com when (if?) they are ever able to process transactions. Read the email inside.
BBB Says: "Anything With 'Gas' And 'Deal' Should Set Off Alarm Bells"
By 7.11.08
The BBB says the consumers should be wary of advertisements claiming to offer cheap gas for visiting a website. Paying $2.49 a gallon just for “clicking” sounds too good to be true– and it probably is.
UPDATE: MyGallons.com Suspends Accepting Membership Fees
By 7.11.08
After acknowledging that it did not have a contract in place to process transactions, gasoline-hedging service MyGallons.com has suspended accepting membership fees and placed the current fees in a non-interest bearing escrow account, says the BBB. Read the BBB’s findings inside.
BBB Says MyGallons.com "Omitted Fact" In Advertising, Has No Contract To Process Transactions
By 7.3.08
The BBB says its concerned about gasoline-hedging company MyGallons.com and its ability to live up to the advertising claims on its website. A spokesperson for the BBB tells us that the biggest “red flag” they’ve discovered is that MyGallons claimed (in their press release) to have partnered with US Bank. However, when the BBB called US Bank to confirm this, they found out that it wasn’t true. US Bank had discussed the opportunity with MyGallons, but had declined. According to the BBB, despite the fact that they have no contractual agreements in place to process transactions, MyGallons is still signing up new customers.
