What's On Your Mind? Allstate, Sprint, Hotels.com

Sigmund, of Hopehull, Ala., says he has been insured by Allstate for 26 years. Suddenly last year his renewal notice for his home insurance put the total cost at $2300, sharply higher than in previous years.

"I called their home office in North Brook Illinois and the lady readjusted my home location, fire department rating and location to local volunteer fire department, and the rates dropped to the regular $1100.00 per year," Sigmund told ConsumerAffairs.com.

But just recently open his renewal notice and saw the bill was for, you guessed it, $2,300.

"The lady last year readjusted everything and told me I would not have to worry about this happening again," he said. "Now I've got the same problem, what can I do?"

All Sigmund can do is call again and explain his situation. Obviously the changes weren't made in the system, so this time he needs to ask that the changes be made at the system level. When bureaucracies make mistakes, it sometimes takes a while to correct them. This may require some patience on Sigmund's part.

What's wrong with this picture?

Buying any HDTV is a big investment, even if you got it at a discount. So, when it doesn't work correctly, it's frustrating.

"I bought a Polaroid HDTV three years ago at Wall Mart on the Black Friday Sale after Thanksgiving,  and now the picture is distorted by blotching, mostly over people on the TV, but also on some back ground distortion of color too," Dale, or Erwin, Tenn., told ConsumerAffairs.com.

We get a lot of complaints about big screen TVs, and not just the Polaroid brand. But Polaroid is among the cheaper brands that seem to be prone to these types of problems. Yes, you'll save money on your purchase, but you could end up unhappy. It might be worth it to do the research and spend more for a better TV.

It may be better to just take your chances

Myti, of Fresno, Calif., signed up for an $84 a year insurance policy on her Sprint LG Lotus phone. After about three months she began having problems with the phone so she took it in for repair.

"They told me the battery was bad and that the battery wasn't covered by the insurance," Myti told ConsumerAffairs.com. "I could purchase a new battery for $44.00 or have the whole phone replaced for $50.00."

Myti later acquired a new battery, put it in her phone, and it still had the same problems. While Sprint misdiagnosed the problem, Myti had cancelled her insurance policy by then, so she was out of luck. It's one of the reasons we aren't big fans of cell phone insurance, or insurance on any electronic item. There always seems to be a way that the insurance doesn't have to pay.

No room at the inn

A lot of people book travel using travel websites, expecting they will save money. It doesn't always work out that way.

"I had planned a trip to Texas and booked a hotel with Hotels.com," Melissa, of Casper, Wyo., told ConsumerAffairs.com. "We prepaid for the room for two days."

But Melissa said when she got the itinerary, it listed the wrong hotel, wrong address, and wrong phone number.

"Therefore when we arrived after a long day of travel, we did not have a room and the hotel had no record of us and our confirmation number," Melissa said.

Melissa said she was unable to resolve the mistake on three calls to Hotels.com. She said she never received a refund.

You are much safer dealing with a hotel directly, rather than using a third party site, which you have to pay in advance. Once they have your money, they don't like to give it back. If you are willing to pay in advance, many hotels will offer you a discounted rate. Sometimes, you can even get a discount just by asking for one.