Current Events in October 2011

Many rental car customers have lately complained the company charged them for alleged damage to the vehicle long after it was turned in. The case recounted by Graciela, of Winter Haven, Fla., is one of the stranger episodes.

Graciela says her son rented a small car from Budget in Roanoke, Va., back in August, returning it on August 8. He used a credit card that was in his name but on which his mother was a co-signer. His parents' name did not appear anywhere on the rental agreement.

“When the car was returned to Budget, I was told by my son that the car was checked by company's personnel and nothing wrong was found after the inspection,” Graciela told ConsumerAffairs.com. “During their three days rental my son and his girlfriend sat in the front seats and never used the rear seats.”

Seat belts

But just last week, Graciela says she received a threatening letter from a claims company, Khoury Alternative Claims, representing Budget Rent A Car. She said the letter included a bill for damage to the rear seat belts, totalling $1,114.73.

“The bill reads: Physical Damage 534.77 -- Anticipated loss of use (4 days @ 119.99) 479.96 and administrative fees of 100.00 total 1,114.73,” she said. “The total amount of the rental was less than $80.00 for a three-day rental but they charged on their bill $479.96 for anticipated loss of use of 4 days or 119.99 per day.”

Increasingly, consumers are vulnerable to these discovered-after-the-fact damage claims if they do not accept the rental car companies' expensive insurance coverage. Even if their own insurance policy covers them, the fine print on the rental agreements now say they will be liable, not only for the damage to the car but for the loss of its use while it is being repaired and the loss of its value because of the damage.

What to do

Graciela and others who run into this situation should dispute the charge if they are convinced it's unjustified. Graciela should send a letter, perferably via certified mail, to Khoury at this address:

Randy Harris, President

Khoury Alternative Claims

140 Heimer #740
San Antonio, TX 78232

In the letter, Graciela should explain that her son did not use the back seat and could not have damaged the seatbelts (assuming this is true) and, further, that absent any evidence to the contrary, she disputes the charge and will take necessary action if Khoury continues to pursue its collection efforts.

Graciela should be certain to keep a copy of the letter and she should refuse to discuss the situation by telephone.  If these efforts are unsuccessful she may need to consult an attorney.

Graciela's case is far from unusual.  We receive complaints similar to this almost every day.  The lesson to consumers is to never use an after-hours drop-off and to turn in rental cars only when the rental office is open.  

If time permits, ask the check-in attendant to walk around the car with you and take note of any visible damage.  If there is none, make a note to that effect on the receipt, initial and date it and note the attendant's name or employee number.  Be nice about it; politeness pays.  Chances are the attendant won't agree to sign it but you will still have your notation that can be used as evidence in disputes of this kind.  

About Khoury

Khoury Alternative Claims is just what its name implies -- an alternative way for car rental companies to pursue claims.  It is basically a collection agency that specializes in hounding customers for damage that allegedly occurred while a rental car was in their possession.

Like most collection agency, Khoury works on contingency, meaning that it gets a percentage of every successful collection.  If it doesn't collect, it doesn't get paid.  

Consumers should vigorously protest any incorrect or excessive claim but should also remember that, legally, they are responsible for all damage to a rental car while it is in their possession.  If a rental car gets dinged while parked and unattended, it's the renter's responsibility. 

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Truman Lewis assisted in reporting this story.

With real estate being in a prolonged slump, you wouldn't think that many people would be buying timeshares. Jeanne, of New York, N.Y., says she wouldn't have bought one expect for the strong sales pitch that, she says, didn't turn out to be completely accurate.

“I was suckered in to purchasing a Wyndham Vacation Plus plan,” Jeanne told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I was incorrectly told that the average number of points I'd need for a week's vacation was 75,000. I told them repeatedly that it wasn't for me, but they kept pressuring me until I said yes. I also told them that I get a week or two off in August. They repeated that for only 75,000 points I could spend a week away. They showed me photos of resorts in Australia, Orlando, and many other locations around the world, always repeating the lie that an average of 75,000 points I could take a week's dream trip each year. When I finally got home and looked more carefully at their materials I noticed that there were next to no vacations for 75,000 points and definitely not in August.”

Timeshare salesmen use pressure because, lets face it, without it they'd sell far fewer timeshares. If you ever find yourself in a high-pressure sales situation, simply say you need 24 hours to think about it. If someone isn't willing to give you 24 hours to make a decision, look out.

Two left feet

Que, of Indianapolis, reports a different kind of problem with Burlington Coat Factory, where he bought a pair of boots. It's not that he doesn't like the boots.

“I bought some boots at the store last year,” Que said. “I just went to put them on a few days ago to realize that they are two left shoes. I no longer have the receipt and there was no tag on the shoes, however i do still have the box “

Que is upset because the store won't take back the boots without a receipt. And he admits it has been a year since he made the purchase. That's why its always a good idea to try on a pair of shoes before you leave the store.

No help

The airwaves are full of commercials for companies that claim to be able to help you settle your debt to credit card companies or the IRS. Usually these companies can't help, but they will cash your check.

“I paid JK Harris more than $3,000 to help me with a debt to the IRS,” Alton, of Lancaster, Tex., told ConsumerAffairs.com. “After waiting for 10 months on an answer I got a letter October 16 saying that I did not qualify for them to help me.

As a result, Alton says his debt to the IRS has risen by $2,000, meaning he's another $5,000 in the hole.

Haunted by credit card ghost

Cari, of Detroit Lakes, Minn., says she closed her Capital One credit card about seven years ago, paying off the balance in full.

“Around six months ago, I got a letter from a bill collector for this card, to the tune of over $900,” Cari said. “They could not tell me why I owed this. I called Capital One, and they said they could not help me because it had been turned over to a debt collector. I have talked to another person from the collection agency, and it is over $1,000 now. They are still tacking on interest on an account that I paid off, closed, and heard nothing further on for over 6 years. I'm at a loss as to what to do about this, but I will not pay it. I have no credit cards now, nor will I ever again.”

If Cari is one of those people who never throws a credit card statement away and still has a statement showing her account closed with a zero balance, she might be able to settle this. If not, it could be tough. It sounds like there was a very small balance – maybe less than a dollar – remaining when she closed the account. If the total were still under $1000 Cari could sue in small claims court and probably win.

For reasons that are a little hard to understand, it's been fashionable for TV's talking heads and the dead-tree columnists to denigrate the Occupy Wall Street protests, jeering at the protesters for not having a hierarchical top-down structure like, oh, say, CNN and lacking a knowledgeable staff of lobbyists, log-rollers and influence peddlers.

Politicians of all stripes have generally run the other way, giving the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is rapidly spreading worldwide, about as much face time as they initially gave the Tea Party, which some would say is the Occupy Wall Street movement seen from a different socio-economic perspective.

There's really only one thing you can say about the Occupy Wall Street movement: it is striking a chord with consumers (i.e., voters and taxpayers).  

The latest evidence is a Quinnipiac University poll that found New Yorkers back the movement by a ratio of nearly 3-to-1.

Agreeing with the protesters views are Democrats 81-11 percent and independent voters 58-30 percent, while Republicans disagree 58-35 percent, the pollsters found.

A free country

"It's a free country. Let them keep on protesting as long as they obey the law, New Yorkers say overwhelmingly," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Critics complain that no one can figure out what the protesters are protesting. But seven out of 10 New Yorkers say they understand and most agree with the anti-Wall Street views of the protesters. 

Not wanting to take the Quinnipiac poll's word for it, ConsumerAffairs.com conducted a computerized sentiment analysis of about 3.5 million comments about Wall Street on Twitter, Facebook and other social media and blogs over the last year.

We found public sentiment lukewarm, at best, hovering in the 20% positive range for most of the year before plunging to zero in August, where it remains today.

Both positive and negative comments erupted in September, going from about 8,000 comments monthly to more than 50,000 as the protests got underway. Though the volume of comments exploded, the ratio of positive-to-negative remained about evenly divided, as seen on this timeline:

How does this square with protesters' claims that they represent "the 99 percent,"  a reference to economist Joseph Stiglitz’s study showing the richest 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth?

Keeping in mind that a zero percent approval rating represents an even, 50-50 division of opinion, it may be that some of the 99 percent still have at least some sympathy for the wealth-burdened 1 percent, although Quinnipiac's Carroll said his polling found much stronger support for the protesters. 

“Critics complain that no one can figure out what the protesters are protesting,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Hamden, Connecticut-based poll. “But 7 out of 10 New Yorkers say they understand and most agree with the anti-Wall Street views of the protesters.”

Back to the world of social media for a minute.  We scoured the last year looking for positive comments about Wall Street and came up with this:

While some of the comments are a little opaque, it's clear that at least a few consumers were discussing the movie "Wall Street," which they apparently liked a lot more than the industry that was its subject matter.

And what about dislikes?  Here are the top 10 for the year:

Obviously, by a huge margin, many of those holding negative views blame Wall Street for crashing, destroying, ruining and crippling the economy.  This is causing something of an identity crisis on the Street iself, whose denizens see themselves as being the grease that makes the economy go.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,068 registered voters by phone Oct. 12-16. The results had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Alison, of Fayetteville, Ark., says she was shocked when she opened her December 2010 AT&T Wireless bill to find it totaled more than $900.

“Upon inspection, it appears I was charged for 14 hours of cellphone service beyond my contractual minutes allotted,” Alison told ConsumerAffairs.com. “This wasn't 14 hours here and there. Allegedly, this was 14 hours of continuous cellphone usage they claimed I had used.”

Many consumers have complained of so-called “bill shock,” receiving their wireless bill and discovering it is substantially more than they expected. Many say it would be nice to get a heads up from their wireless carrier when they are in danger of incurring extra charges. From now on, they will.

An alert

In an agreement between the wireless industry and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), major wireless carriers will warn customers who are in danger of going over pre-set budget limits.

Some have already adopted this practice. For example, Verizon Wireless sends customers a text message when they have used 50 percent of their minutes or data budgets during a billing cycle. It's then up to the consumer to alter their usage in order to get through the remainder of the cycle without incurring extra charges.

These extra charges can occur when a customer exceeds established plan caps for voice, data or texting. They can also occur when U.S. consumers travel overseas, unaware that their plans don't cover international roaming charges, which are extremely high.

Voluntary agreement

The FCC was on a course toward drafting rules requiring “bill shock” notices when major wireless players offered to work with the agency. The result is not an actual rulemaking process, but rather a voluntary agreement. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the agency would susped the rulemaking pollicy as long as wireless companies implement the alert system.

“This solution will give consumers the information they need to save money on their monthly wireless bills,” Genachowski said. “Consistent with the FCC's ongoing efforts, these actions harness technology to empower consumers, and ensure consumers get a fair shake, not bill shock.”

Under the agreement, wireless providers will:

• Send voice or text alerts to notify consumers when they approach and when they reach monthly plan limits for voice, data, and text that would result in overage charges.
• Send alerts when consumers are about to incur international roaming charges that are not covered by their monthly plans; and
• Clearly disclose any tools that mobile providers offer to let consumers set their own usage limits and monitor their usage balances.

Lowes Companies, Inc., which operates home center stores nationwide, says it is closing 20 underperforming stores in 15 states. The closings will result in the loss of nearly 2,000 jobs.

Half of the 20 stores closed at the end of business Sunday. The other ten will close over the next month, the company said.

“Closing stores is never easy, given the impact on hard-working employees and local communities,” said Robert A. Niblock, chairman, president and CEO. “However, we have an obligation to make tough decisions when necessary to improve profitability and strengthen our financial position.”

Lowes has been a victim of the three-year and counting housing recession. Home center stores like Lowes and rival Home Depot thrive when the real estate market is doing well because more consumers are purchasing homes and making improvements.

The closed stores are in the following markets:

• Los Banos, CA;
• Westminster, CA;
• Denver, CO;
• Biddeford, ME;
• Old Bridge, NJ;
• Ellsworth, ME;
• Batavia, NY;
• Ionia, MI;
• N. Kingstown, RI;
• Aurora, IL;
• Rogers, MN; 
• Emporia, VA;
• Oswego, IL;
• Claremont, NH;
• S. Tacoma, WA;
• Chalmette, LA;
• Hooksett, NH; 
• Brown Deer, WI;
• Haverhill, MA; and
• Manchester, NH.

In addition, Lowes is scaling back the number of new stores is plans to open in the future. The company announced it has discontinued a number of planned new store projects and now expects to open 10 to 15 stores per year in North America from 2012 forward, compared to a prior assumption of approximately 30 stores per year. The company is on track to open approximately 25 stores in 2011, as planned.

The oil price spike of the past year, which saw gasoline prices increase by over $1 from the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2011, will drive household expenditures on gasoline to a record average of $2,900 this year, according to a study by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

Crude oil is about $30 higher than costs or historic trends justify, CFA found, generating needlessly high prices for petroleum products that will drain about $200 billion out of the economy.

This $200 billion drain is over one percent of gross domestic product and almost 2 percent of consumer spending.

“Since consumer spending is the main driver of the U.S. economy, when speculators, oil companies and OPEC rob consumers of that much spending power, the inevitable result is a dramatic reduction of economic activity and employment,” said Mark Cooper, CFA’s Research Director and author of the report.

The report notes that every oil price spike since World War II has caused an economic recession and the spike of 2010-2011 has been worse, on a sustained basis, than even the price spike of 2007-2008, which contributed to the worst recession since the great depression.

A 2% reduction in consumer spending on goods and services translates into the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Demand down

The spike in oil prices has not been caused by natural market supply and demand, the study found. In fact, U.S. demand for oil has declined since 2005, while global demand has grown less than 4 percent. In addition, global oil reserves have been growing faster than consumption and the reserve-toconsumption now stands at a higher level than it has been in a quarter of a century.

Today, OPEC spare capacity is almost three times as great as it was in 2008.

At the end of 2003 the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil (the “benchmark” for U.S. oil) was a about $30/bbl and the value of outstanding futures contracts (called “open interests”) for WTI was less than less than $20 billion.

Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and hundreds of hedge funds led the charge into the oil markets, creating products that “financialized” commodities. Index funds and pension funds soon followed. In July of 2008, when WTI hit its peak price above $140/bbl, the average value of open positions at the peak in 2008 was over $150 billion, the study found.

Eight times as much money chasing the same amount of oil is a prescription for price escalation, CFA said.

CFTC lumbers into action

In the third quarter of 2008, as pressure from Congress and the public outcry over oil prices forced the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to begin investigating excessive speculation, speculative money fled the market.

By mid-September, before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt precipitating the financial meltdown, the value of open interests had declined by about 50% and the price of oil had fallen over 50%. By the end of the year, oil prices were below $40/barrel, a decline of 75%.

“That is a classic bubble,” Cooper said, “but Federal regulators moved slowly to make permanent changes in the rules governing oil trading, so the bubble began to reflate in late 2010. The value of open positions has doubled in the past two years, while U.S. demand has continued to decline and global demand remains flat. Speculation has pumped the price of oil up again, putting the brakes on economic growth.”

Job killers

“We have been hearing a lot of over-heated rhetoric recently about job-killing regulations,” Barb Roper, CFA’s Director of Investor Protection, said. “This report provides a timely reminder that it was weak regulation that landed us in our current economic mess, and it will take a strong policy response to restore the economy to health. Restraints on excessive speculation are just one component of that policy response, but they are a necessary component.”

The complete report is available at www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/SpeculationReportOct

Sometimes broccoli is just broccoli, which isn't necessarily bad news.  It means basically that your mother's advice to eat your broccoli is still worth following, scientists report.

A study performed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and published recently in the journal Crop Science has demonstrated that mineral levels in new varieties of broccoli have not declined since 1975, and that the broccoli contains the same levels of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and other minerals that have made the vegetable a healthy staple of American diets for decades.

"This research provides data on the nutritional content of broccoli for breeders to consider as they further improve this important vegetable," said Edward B. Knipling, administrator of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA's principal research agency.

About the same

"Our studies show that not much has changed in terms of mineral content in the last 35 years in a crop that has undergone significant improvement from a quality standpoint and that was not widely consumed in the United States before the 1960s," said ARS geneticist and research leader Mark Farnham.

Broccoli florets in the study were tested for levels of calcium, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, phosphorous, sulfur and zinc.

Results indicated significant differences among different varieties -- called cultivars -- in floret concentrations of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, sodium, phosphorous and zinc, but not of potassium, manganese, molybdenum or sulfur. There was no clear relationship between mineral concentration and release year.

"For broccoli cultivars grown during the past 35 years, when hybrids became the standard cultivar, evidence indicates that mineral concentrations remain unchanged," said Farnham. "As broccoli breeders continue to improve this crop in the future, data from this study can serve as a very useful guide in helping breeders understand the variation in mineral concentrations they should expect among their breeding stocks and also provide a realistic baseline that should be maintained as other characteristics are manipulated in the future."

While policymakers besieged by industry lobbyists move slowly in their study of the health effects of cell phone radiation, a new study finds that cell phones carried in the shirt or pants pockets exceed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) exposure guidelines and that children absorb twice as much microwave radiation from phones as do adults.

The study is published in the journal Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine.

The paper notes that the industry-designed process for evaluating microwave radiation from phones results in children absorbing twice the cellphone radiation to their heads, up to triple in their brain’s hippocampus and hypothalamus, greater absorption in their eyes, and as much as 10 times more in their bone marrow when compared to adults.

Based on 'large man'

The existing process for measuring mobile phone radiation's effects on the human body is based on a large man whose 40 brain tissues are assumed to be exactly the same.

The researchers, who include three team members Environmental Health Trust, say a far better system relies on anatomically based models of people of various ages, including pregnant women, that can determine the absorbed radiation in all tissue types, and can account for the increased absorption in children.

It allows for cell phones to be certified with the most vulnerable users in mind—children—consistent with the “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” (ALARA) approach taken in setting standards for using radiological devices.

FCC sets standards

In the United States, the FCC determines maximum allowed exposures. Many countries, especially European Union members, use the “guidelines” of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), a non-governmental agency.

A number of recent studies have raised questions about cell phone radiation's effect on humans, but the studies have mostly focused on adults. Earlier this year the Environmental Health Trust convened a meeting of researchers in Turkey who reported what they called “stunning proof” that pulsed digital signals from cell phones disrupt DNA, impair brain function and lower sperm count.

Motorists have probably noticed in the last week or so that the break at the gas pump they were enjoying has begun to disappear.

Gasoline prices, which dipped nationwide to an average price of $3.39 a gallon, are climbing again. The average price is now over $3.45 a gallon, up about six cents in the last week.

What happened? The financial markets have decided in recent days that maybe we aren't headed for another recession after all. As a result, crude oil prices, which dipped below $75 a barrel two weeks ago, are now back up over $87.

Prices fell because, if there was going to be a recession, the future demand for oil would be significantly less. But now with a recession nearly off the table, traders have concluded that energy demand may be greater that what was perceived just a couple of weeks ago.

Changing circumstances

What's happened to change people's minds? It started with the September employment report. It wasn't great, but it showed that the economy added 103,000 jobs during the month. If the economy was heading toward recession, it wouldn't be adding jobs.

The latest piece of clarifying news came late last week in the form of stronger than expected retail sales. Yes, consumers were spending again, and not just on necessities. Car sales were up nicely.

Businesses adding jobs and consumers spending money seems to indicate, in the minds of traders, that the economy may still be week, but it's not headed for recession.

Jobs going begging

While the unemployment rate is too high, a number of business executives have complained they have openings they can't fill because they can't find qualified applicants. Some estimates put the total of unfilled jobs as high as three million.

All of this suggests that recent worries about a double dip recession have more to do with economic problems in Europe and less about what's happening in the U.S. economy.

While a stronger-than-expected economy is good news, for consumers it's likely to mean that gasoline prices have stopped their slid toward the $3 a gallon mark and will probably start heading up again.

Last week Sony said it would recall 1.6 million Bravia flat-panel TVs sold worldwide since 2007 because they may melt or catch fire. 

Sony said it instituted the recall after a September incident in which a customer in Japan noticed a small fire and smoke. It was one of 11 such incidents in Japan since 2008.

"Sony has sold nearly 400,000 of these TVs in the U.S. and no incidents have been reported to date," Elizabeth Boukis, a Sony spokewoman, told ConsumerAffairs.com.

Other brands

But ConsumerAffairs.com has received numerous complaints of potential fire hazards in many other brands of flat screen TVs. For example, Shirley, of Emerald Hills, Calif., recently reported her 47 inch Philips flat screen, barely three years old, started turning itself on and off by itself.

“This went on for about a week or so and on Sept 30th smoke spewed out from behind the TV that filled the whole room while emitting a plastic burning smell,” Shirley told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I quickly turned off and unplugged the TV. I was totally shaken as I've never heard nor encountered such a scary thing realizing this could have easily caught fire.”

Sarah, of Temple, Tex., reported a similar incident.

“I was watching my Samsung DLP television and a large amount of foul smelling smoke came out of the back of it,” Sarah said. “This television is a fire hazard.”

Possible explanation

While puffs of smoke billowing from the back of your expensive TV set is cause for alarm, a TV repair technician says it may not be caused by an actual fire. It has to do with the well-known, and increasingly common occurrence of these sets blowing capacitors.

“It's fairly common for TVs to smoke when components go bad, but I have never heard of anyone's LCD or Plasma TVs actually catching fire as a result,” Dave Maltz, owner of Dave's TV Repair, in Grants Pass, Ore., told ConsumerAffairs.com.

Maltz says most modern TVs are designed to shut down or blow a fuse if a short is detected, long before anything catches on fire. But he understands how consumers could think their set was about to burst into flames.

“Capacitors can emit quite a bit of smoke without there necessarily being a fire hazard,” Maltz said, “I would be curious as to how many TVs actually did catch on fire versus the people who referred to the smoke as being a fire.”

Intrigued by the reports, Maltz, who'se been in the business for 17 years, said he planned to investigate further. As for the fact that expensive TVs seem to blow capacitors after two or three years of use, that's another issue.

Consumers often mistake the government's truly free annualcreditreport.com with freecreditreport.com and other sites that enroll you in a credit monitoring service in exchange for a copy of your credit report. Ken, of Chippewa Lake, Ohio, insists he was on AnnualCreditReport.com when he encounted a strange problem with the Experian report.

“After answering identity verification questions the next page that came up was an unable to honor request page, which included dollar amounts to purchase the report and/or receive credit report overnight,” Ken said. "Seemed like an attempt to get money out of someone for supposedly free credit report. Maybe I answered their vague security questions incorrect, but had no trouble with other two credit reports. Anyhow, went ahead and called the phone number given on AnnualCreditReport.com site and order my "free" credit report from Experian via that method. We will see.”

This is, indeed, odd. It doesn't seem like Ken should have been asked to purchase anything when dealing with this site. If anyone else experiences something similar, let us know.

Unplayable

Netflix unleashed a number of consumer complaints recently when it separated its streaming video service from its DVD rentals, charging a fee for both services instead of providing both for one fee. Louise, of Erieville, N.Y, has a different complaint.

“Over and over again I receive unplayable, scratched DVD's,” Louise told ConsumerAffairs.com. “You call to complain they are a little sympathetic and send you a freebie but that's not what I want. I want a DVD that will play flawlessly. They tell me that it's up to the customer to tell them the DVD is damaged. As part of customer satisfaction they should check the DVD before they send it out to the customer.”

Quality control is a big part of any successful business. DVDs offer something of a challenge, however, since they are easily damaged. Probably the only way to ensure that the DVD being sent out is flawless is to burn a new copy each time, something that likely doesn't fit the business model.

In the 1990s, when the Internet was only beginning to be part of the mainstream media, online travel booking sites began springing up with the promise of making travel booking easier, less frustrating and cheaper.

So, how has it worked out over the years? For many consumers, it appears to have made travel more frustrating and in come cases, more expensive.

Denise of Doylestown, Pa., recently used Hotels.com to book a hotel in New York City. After making her reservation, Denise said she discovered the hotel was offering the same room at a much lower rate than she paid Hotels.com.

“I called Hotels.com to cancel so I could book directly with the hotel,” Denise told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I was put on hold several times for 20-30 minutes. In the end, I was told that since I booked it online, I would have to cancel it online. I hung up and immediately went to their website to cancel. After entering all information and pressing submit, I received the response that my request cannot be processed, call customer service."

Paying twice

Denise said she was given various reasons why her reservation could not be cancelled but finally spoke to a Hotels.com rep she says told her the reservation was cancelled. She then booked her hotel room directly. After her stay, which she paid for directly, she opened her American Express bill and discovered Hotels.com had, in fact, charged her for the room. So, instead of saving money, she paid for the same room twice.

Nicole of Toronto, Ont., used Expedia to book a room in Chicago but quickly realized her trip had to be moved up by a day. She said she called Expedia and agreed to an extra charge of $331.73 to make the change in her itinerary. Upon arriving in Chicago, she made her way to her hotel, looking forward to resting after a 10 hour trip.

“I tried to check in and the the person at the front desk told me that there was a booking under my name, but that it wasn't until the following day, September 3,” Nicole told ConsumerAffairs.com. “She recommended that I call Expedia to have the issue corrected.”

Change not in the system

Nicole says when she called Expedia, the representative she spoke to said the system did not show that she had updated her itinerary by a day, that she was still scheduled to arrive the following day. That might be an understandable lapse, except that Nicole says when her Mastercard bill arrived, it had the $331.73 charge for the change in itinerary that somehow never made it into the system.

Consumers often think of booking first with an online travel site thinking they will save money, and perhaps in the early days of the Internet, these sites were the most efficient way to do that. But these days hotels have their own, very sophisticated websites and sometimes offer good values to travelers who book online. When you deal directly with the hotel, there are fewer opportunities for mistakes.

Also, many consumers may still not understand how these travel sites work. They book unused rooms in blocks, well in advance, and must sell them or lose money. Once booked, a reservation can almost never be cancelled. If schedules are subject to change, it's usually not a good idea to use an online travel site.

Conducting searches on Google and other search engines for hotels can usually provide a wide choice of places to stay, at a wide range of rates -- as long as you are certain your actually on the hotel chain's site, not the site operated by someone who pays Google a truckload of money each month for ads aimed at unwary travelers.

Remember travel agents?

Time-pressed travelers might consider going “old school” and calling a travel agent. Yes, travel agents are still around, and according to industry statistics, are thriving in the Internet age.

A website operated by Rand McNally, Tripology.com, says travel agents still sell 51 percent of all airline tickets, 87 percent of all cruises, 81 percent of all tours and packages, 45 percent of all car rentals and about 47 percent of all hotels.

Don't travel agents cost more? Some do, but Tripology describes the average fee as “marginal.” And sometimes it might be worth paying a little more to have a human being you can reach out to when travel snafus occur. Travel agents can also call a place directly to see if they can work out other kinds of special deals for you, something an online site can’t do.

Just something to think about the next time you need to travel.  

A class action lawsuit says there's something missing from General Mills' Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Gushers. What do you think it is?

That's right.  It's fruit.  There basically isn't any, the suit charges.

The lawsuit says the so-called fruit snacks are mostly sugars (some from fruit concentrate and some from corn syrup), artificial additives, and potentially harmful artificial dyes.

While labels state that the snacks are “fruit flavored,” “naturally flavored,” a “good source of vitamin C,” and low in calories, fat, and gluten, they're really little more than sugar, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of a California mother by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest and the law firm Reese Richman LLP. 

“General Mills is basically dressing up a very cheap candy as if it were fruit and charging a premium for it,” said CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner. “General Mills is giving consumers the false impression that these products are somehow more wholesome, and charging more. It’s an elaborate hoax on parents who are trying to do right by their kids.”

Citing an example, the suit charges that Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups are made from pears from concentrate, corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, citric acid, acetylated monoglycerides, fruit pectin, dextrose, malic acid, Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), unspecified “natural flavor,” and Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 1.

No fiber

Even with the pear ingredient, the product provides little of the beneficial fiber or nutrients associated with real strawberries, the suit alleges. While labels tout the naturalness of the added flavorings, CSPI says that many of the ingredients are artificial by anyone’s definition, including the partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil and the acetylated monoglycerides.

The side panels on some General Mills "fruit" candies read "Made With Real Fruit." At least one variety of Fruit Roll-Ups has pictures of strawberries and oranges on the box. But despite the names of the products, there are no strawberries in Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups, nor watermelon in Fruit Gushers Watermelon Blast, according to the suit.

The bright colors of those products come from synthetic, petroleum-based dyes that can impair some children’s behavior, CSPI said.

“Defendant is conveying an overall message of a healthful snack product to parents when, in fact, the Products contain dangerous, non-nutritious, unhealthy partially hydrogenated oil, large amounts of sugar, and potentially harmful artificial dyes,” the complaint states.

You love the kind of food you get at restaurants, but with the economy the way it is, your food budget has seriously curtailed your dining out.

This dilemma for a growing number of consumers has created opportunities for food producers, who have shifted gears in recent years to produce restaurant-style food products consumers can prepare at home.

Pop-up toaster hamburgers, microwaveable cans, sauces and spreads that turn everyday sandwiches into gourmet restaurant-style meals are currently just some of the trends that are sweeping the food marketing arena. Elizabeth Sloan, writing in Food Technology magazine, says the craving for restaurant-style food is driving the newest products and, despite a lagging economy, sales of food and beverage products are projected to reach $1.74 trillion by 2015.

Ready-made meals

It's not just taste that is driving this trend. With more than half of woman in developed countries feeling squeezed for time while holding a job and caring for their families, food products that make meal preparation easier and faster continue to grow in demand.

Burgers that you can heat in a toaster along with spaghetti Bolognese that can be microwaved in its own can are just two common examples of foods that are becoming popular in the UK and Europe.

Dried spice blends that double as measuring cups, marinades/stocks sold in six-pack tubes and cooking sauce pouches are designed to make cooking easy without the mess and keep food and seasoning fresh longer.

Some products allow home cooks to make easy additions such as pastry toppings for a pie or noodle base to create a meal that is their own. In addition to regular home-style cooking, the fresh and organic options are also becoming more popular when it comes to ready-made options. Sandwich fillers, sauces and spreads also turn ordinary sandwiches into gourmet, restaurant-style meals.

The main course

Whereas chicken used to be the top choice for a dinner or lunch protein in the low-fat and calorie category, fish is gaining popularity fast from the US to China. Fish from specific regions such as the Tasmanian Salmon and less-know individual species such as the Blue-Eyed Cod are also getting more attention. A new twist for breaded fish (and chicken too) is to include a layer of vegetables under the crust. Toppings crusts of herbs, spices, and different size crumbs are also becoming popular for fish, chicken and beef dishes.

In addition to proteins served at meals, carbohydrates are also getting an upgrade. Traditional sauces for pasta such as carbonara and Bolognese are being ousted by more sophisticated and worldly sauces like arrabiata, boscaiola, and puttanesca.

New pasta styles are also making an appearance like orechiette and panzerotto, upstaging classics like penne and spaghetti. Sides like potatoes are going healthy with cholesterol-free fried potato sides like Israel' Bisball Crispy Mashed Potato Balls with Vegetables. Gluten, lactose, and cholesterol-free waffle fries in Finland are among the exciting international potato trends.

Favorites

Italian, closely followed by Indian were the two most popular ethnic flavors among global products in 2010. Indian flavors like tikka, jalfrezi, masala and korma variations are appearing in snack, soup and ready-made products worldwide. In addition, ethnic flavor descriptors are becoming more specific.

Instead of a product touting the Indian food flavor description of "curry", it's now becoming more specific to the different kinds of curry available, like masala or korma, (one spicier than the other).

More tropical flavors and "super fruits" are also becoming more popular among today's consumers. Coconut, mango, and mandarin and veggie/fruit combo flavors are gaining recognition along with less known berries like gooseberry, cloudberry and loganberry. Colorful and edible flower petals are also being added to bagged salad mixes to add aromatic components to foods. Extreme seasonings like McCormick's Screamer Buffalo Wings Seasoning Mix along with fusion sauces that join two or more cuisines are also appearing more on shelves.

Healthful helpings

When it comes to snacking, healthier snack bars are on the rise. Especially if they incorporate ingredients like super fruit fusions, yogurt, dark chocolate, real fruit pieces, and multiple nuts, seeds and grains to add flavor and function.

Among consumers top 10 global health issues, avoiding cancer, maintaining mental sharpness and heart health are all influencing what kind of products they buy. Fortifying kids food are also becoming a trend. Samyang's in South Korea has created a product called Our Kid Wellbeing Cookie Mix which is fortified with nine vitamins and calcium.

Sugar-free diet coffees, special energizing breakfast coffees and coffees flavored with Asian ginger, mocha or chocolate are also up and coming trends. Green tea with more than the normal number of antioxidants and Lassi, a traditional Indian dairy drink is gaining popularity.

Walmart has reportedly given up on Marketside, its experimental small grocery stores featuring prepared meals and fresh food.

The company launched the format in 2008 with stores in Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe, Arizona, hoping to recreate the "bodega" feeling that characterizes many small mom-and-pop stores in urban areas.

Just what went wrong isn't known but Mouth by Southwest, a regional publication, reports that the Arizona stores will close next Friday, Oct. 21.

Walmart continues to operate a handful of Walmart Express stores in test markets in North Carolina, Arkansas and Chicago.

It is also experimenting with a concept called the Walmart Neighborhood, about twice the size of Marketside stores and emphasizing low-cost groceries, prescriptions and household products.  It opened its newest Neighborhood store in Orlando earlier this week.

“With our smaller format, our store is perfect for those on the go. Whether they’re stocking up or need to pick up just a few items, our customers will be able to find what they need quickly and easily,” said Orlando store manager Paula Heath. “Our customers will be able to find familiar brands and local products at great values, right in their own neighborhood.”

Sour economy

The Marketside stores perhaps fell victim to a sour economy that is making consumers less prone to spend a few more dollars on convenience and time-saving products and services.

As far back as June 2009, Walmart was cautioning that it was proceeding cautiously with the concept.

“We’re pleased with it, but at this point in time given the current condition in the marketplace … we are not accelerating that effort until we have better data to make a decision,” Walmart Vice-Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright told reporters after the retailer’s annual meeting, Reuters reported.

Britain's Tesco has been experimenting with a similar concept in the U.S.  Called Fresh & Easy, the stores are similar to Walmart's Marketside, emphasizing fresh produce and prepared foods.  Tesco said last month that it would open six stores in the Sacramento area next year, in addition to 13 stores already operating in California.

With increased competition and a tougher sales environment, Gap, Inc. is closing about 200 stores in North America – mostly the U.S. - as it focuses more attention in building its brands internationally.

“The company is making progress on its goal of reducing square footage in North America and is on track to achieve a 10 percent reduction in overall store square footage by fiscal year 2012, when compared to 2007,” the company said in a statement to analysts.”

That means Gap plans to reduce the number of its stores to about 700 Gap specialty stores and about 250 Gap Outlet stores by year end 2013. That would represent a 34 percent decrease in the Gap specialty store fleet when compared to the end of 2007.

Gap, Inc. operates the various Gap brand stores, as well as Old Navy, Piperlime, Athleta and Banana Republic. Its products include wardrobe basics, such as denim, khakis, and T-shirts; fashion apparel; casual apparel and accessories; maternity apparel; women?s underwear, sleepwear, lounge wear, and sports and active apparel; and shoes and accessories.

At Old Navy, the brand’s strategy is to have roughly the same number of stores in North America with a smaller footprint. The brand plans to continue downsizing its fleet in North America, and expects to potentially remove another 1 million square feet by fiscal year end 2013.

Shifting overseas

While downsizing in the U.S. and North America, Gap is setting its sights on expanding overseas. There are about 3,100 company-operated stores and about 200 franchise stores in 36 countries and online orders are shipped to over 90 countries. The company hopes to achieve 30 percent of its sales outside North America and online by the end of fiscal 2013.

“The combination of our global strategy and formidable growth platform puts us in a strong position to expand our reach into the top 10 apparel markets worldwide,” said Glenn Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer of Gap Inc. “In North America, we’re taking a number of steps to improve sales in the near-term, and I’m confident that with a strong management team in place, we’re well positioned for sustained growth across the business.”

On Wall Street, Gap shares moved lower Friday despite a Commerce Department report showing unexpectedly strong retail sales in September, especially for apparel. Apparel sales were up 1.3 percent, the largest increase in seven months.

Encouraged by TV and Web ads promising as much as 95 percent off of retail, swarms of people are signing up for the piece of auction action at sites like Bidcactus, Bid Rivals, HappyBidDay and QuiBids. These sites hawk items like an $1,800 high-definition television for $73 or a $15 store gift card for 28 cents.

But Consumer Reports magazine warns that actually winning a big-ticket item for pennies on the dollar from one of these sites can take an extraordinary amount of effort and is hardly a given.

“You could get a bargain, but generally, you stand a very small chance of winning the amazing deal they advertised,” said Tony Giorgianni, associate editor, Consumer Reports. “For everyone who gets an amazing deal, many others spend a lot of money only to be disappointed.

There are scores of penny-auction websites. The ones Consumer Reports investigated work and look pretty much the same, although the rules and costs differ. The sites typically run dozens of auctions at the same time, with items of different value, such as gifts, electronics, and appliances, all of which are offered by the site itself.

Like traditional auctions, participants bid on items, with each bid increasing the price. To bid, you click a bid button. Auctions are timed so when the clock runs out, the last and highest bidder wins the item at final price. Often that price is ridiculously low.

That’s because bidding starts at or near $0, and each bid raises by a fixed increment, usually just a penny or two. So an item that gets 1,000 bids in one-penny increments sells for $10, even if it would cost you hundreds or thousands at retail.

Bidding isn't free

But unlike with traditional auctions, bidding isn’t free. You must buy bids up front—typically for 50 cents to $1 each. To get bids, you register a credit or debit card or use PayPal. Bids are sold in packs, with the minimum pack costing around $25 to $60, depending on the site. Unused bids are refundable on some sites though sometimes within only 30 days of when you buy them.

One key difference between traditional and penny auctions is that any bids you make are gone, whether or not you win. So if you’ve made, for example, 100 60-cent bids on a $2,000 computer but you aren’t the winner, you’re out $60. If you wind up the winning bidder, you and only you would have the right to buy the computer for the winning price.

So if the bidding ends at $14, the computer would cost you $74: the $14 plus the $60 you bid. If you lose, some sites give you the option of buying the item at a higher retail price, minus all or part of the amount you’ve bid. Not every site has this option.

Whether you’re buying a product at the winning price or at retail, you also have to pay for product shipping and handling, which varies by product and by site. Return policies also differ from site to site. BidCactus.com has only a seven-day return policy. And ArrowOutlet imposes a 15 percent restocking fee on some returns.

Learn more at www.ConsumerReports.org/cro/pennyauctions

The welcome decline in gasoline prices at the pump appears to have ended, at least for now. Despite global economic worries, gas prices are now rising again.

The national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.443 per gallon, down from $3.390 last Friday, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. That's about 18 cents a gallon less than consumers were paying a month ago.

The average price of diesel fuel today is $3.801 per gallon, up a fraction of a cent from $3.800 a week ago.

As far as supply and demand goes, U.S. stockpiles of crude oil rose by 1.3 million barrels the previous week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But gasoline supplies fell by 4.1 million barrels. Gasoline demand over the last four weeks was down almost a full percentage point from the same period last year.

The price of oil has risen sharply off its lows of two weeks ago, which may be responsible for some of the sharp increase in retail gasoline prices. The biggest price spike occurred in states that have been enjoying the nation's lowest gas prices.

According to the AAA survey, the average gas price in the last seven days is up 12 cents a gallon in Missouri, while rising nine cents in South Carolina and eight cents in Tennessee.

The states with the most expensive gas this week are:

• Hawaii ($4.217)
• Alaska ($4.030)
• California ($3.840)
• Washington ($3.803)
• Oregon ($3.762)
• New York ($3.708)
• Connecticut ($3.701)
• Idaho ($3.669)
• Nevada ($3.619)
• Montana ($3.582)

The states with the least expensive gas this week are:

• South Carolina ($3.220)
• Missouri ($3.226)
• Texas ($3.259)
• Tennessee ($3.269)
• Mississippi ($3.290)
• Oklahoma ($3.293)
• Virginia ($3.294)
• Louisiana ($3.316)
• Alabama ($3.329)
• Georgia ($3.333)

Is the flat-screen TV a disposable product? More and more consumers have come to the conclusion that it is.

“I bought a plasma LG TV from Best Buy for $1300 in 2007,” John, from Sheffield Lake, Ohio, told ConsumerAffairs.com. “Also bought an extended service plan for four years at a cost of $250. Less than two years later, Best Buy replaced the TV after the picture tube went out. Said it was cheaper than fixing it. Imagine my surprise when the new TV would not turn on or show any signs of life today, nine months after the extended warranty ran out.

John said he complained to the manager at the Best Buy store and got an amazingly candid response.

“He explained that the TVs are made on a foreign assembly line and put together with cheap parts, so I should not expect longevity from my purchase,” John said.

Well, it's one thing to toss a $40 toaster oven after three years, but a $1,000 to $2,000 TV is a different story. Consumers just expect them to last a little longer than three years. After all, the old tube-type TVs could last decades.

One technician told us last month that flat screen TVs are “designed” to last forever but are not manufactured that way.  Dave Maltz, who owns Dave's TV Repair in Grants Pass, Ore., hears many of the same complaints and is very familiar with the problem.

For starters, Maltz, who has been repairing TV sets for 17 years, isn't a big fan of how most of these sets are designed.

“If you took apart one of these things, you would be amazed at how many components they're trying to compress into a six inch space,” he said.

And because they are so many, they are extremely small, making it hard – and expensive – to work on these sets. Maltz has produced a number of YouTube videos about repairing flat screen TVs, including the one below in which he conducted a poll on how long flat-screen TVs last. Six years was as long as anyone owned a trouble-free set.

Up in smoke 

Not only can flat-screen TVs burn through a lot of money, they can burn your house down.  Just this week, Sony recalled 1.6 million Bravia TVs because they're a fire hazard. Samsung TVs are also noted for their propensity to go up in smoke, as Sarah of Temple, Texas, told us earlier this year:

"I was watching on my Samsung DLP television and a large amount of foul smelling smoke came out of its back. This television is a fire hazard," she said.

Read more ...

• What's Wrong With Flat-Screen TVs
• Sony Recalls Fire-Prone Bravia TVs
• Readers Review Home Electronics

How about you?  What's your experience been?  Speak up!