What's On Your Mind? Enterprise Rent-A-Car, American Reader Services, Security Networks

Dustin, of Indianpolis, Ind., is another rental car customer who believes he is being taken advantage of and dinged for damage to a vehicle he did not cause. He reports returning the Enterprise vehicle on January 29 at 11 am and conducting a visual inspection with the Enterprise personnel and the truck checking out fine. In February he said he was notified of damage that he says he could not have caused.

“In the damage report the date and time of the loss was noted as January 27,” Dustin said. “This would have been a Friday during my rental time. I did not report any damage or issue. The first opportunity Enterprise could have noticed any damage was January 29 at 11:00AM when the truck was returned.”

Usually it's just the consumer's word against the company's, but in this case Dustin has an interesting bit of documentation. He might want to contact his local or state consumer protection agency for assistance.

Magazines from nowhere

Emily, of Darien, Illinois wants to know her rights when it comes to debt collectors. She says she is now receiving calls from American Reader Services saying she owes over $700 for magazine orders in 2008. She says she has no idea what they are talking about.

“I currently receive only two magazines, which are paid for,” Emily told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I inquired what magazines this bill was for and I was told I could not have that information, that it was private. I did order magazines from my nephew in high school, about that time, but they were for one year and were paid in full. I could not receive detailed information, but was threatened to being turned over to the credit bureau? What is this all about, and how can I contest this?

Under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, Within five days after first contacting Emily, the collector must send her a written notice telling her the amount she owes; the name of the creditor to whom she owes the money; and what action to take if she believes she does not owe the money. She should also contact someone in Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office.

Insecure

Elderly consumers need to be warned not to take everything a door to door salesman tells them at face value.

“A salesperson arrived at my elderly mother's door telling her her security system had bad batteries and is not compliant with 2012 laws,” said Catherine, of Salinas, Calif. “My mother allowed them to change out her equipment and signed the paperwork they provided. The paperwork turned out to be a contract with Security Networks AKA Vision Security for a five year contract.”

But Catherine says her mother's security company was ADT and that she had no intention of changing.

I called the salesperson and demanded they remove their equipment and put back the ADT system,” Catherine said. “ After several calls to the salesperson demanding the equipment be removed, someone showed up to remove the equipment. When he left, he left a note on my car calling me a very nasty name.”

Catherine said she was able to resolve the situation, but also filed a police report, complaining that the sales personnel entered her mother's home under false pretenses.