Consumer Blog

AG Nixon issued a consumer alert today reminding veterans and their families that they don't have to pay when trying to qualify for veterans benefits.

There are a number of companies - "Veterans benefits specialists," insurance companies and others - who charge a fee (or get some other kind of gain) from helping consumers wade through the complicated process of applying for benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA.

But there are accredited organizations who will provide that service for free. They'll help with the paperwork, make sure you provide all the info required, hit your deadlines, etc.

There's nothing illegal about charging veterans / family members / widows a fee for this help, but just know that the help is available for free. Pass this along to veterans who may be appyling for benefits in the near future.

We've added some new features to our KnowMO service that lets you search online for consumer complaints. When we launched a year ago, we showed you how many complaints there had been against a particular company.

We believe the new version is even more helpful. You'll see "complaints" and "complaints resolved successfully." We think it's informative to consumers to know which companies try to work out problems when they arise.

So if a consumer files a complaint and the company does nothing, that will obviously not go into the "Resolved successfully" category. But two scenarios that we classify as successful:

1. Consumer files a complaint, we contact the company, and the company grants the consumer's wish (refund, credit, perform requested services, redo a job, etc)
2. Consumer files a complaint, we contact the company, and the company makes a good offer to resolve the problem. Even if the consumer refuses to accept the offer, we will call that successful.

If you have friends or relatives without Internet access, they can still get this information by phone at our Consumer Protection Hotline, 1-800-392-8222.

Missouri consumers like their No Call list. So when a telemarketer violates the law by calling them, those consumers file complaints. Many times those complaints lead to lawsuits by AG Nixon. And those lawsuits lead to court orders requiring telemarketers to pay.

Our enforcement efforts have now hit the $3 million mark with those court orders. So as I've written before - you can't say it doesn't do any good to complain.

File your complaints against telemarketers with us here.

Financial exploitation of the elderly sometimes happens at the hands of those they love and trust - children, in-home caregivers, etc. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has released a video (on DVD)to help seniors understand that those they least expect to cheat them may indeed be the ones to do it. You can order this video for $10 or watch it online for free.

For example, a deadbeat son convinces his mother to routinely withdraw money from her bank account to help him out - while leaving her with little left over to pay her bills.

This video is part of the MOSAFE project, which had input from a number of different organizations and state agencies (including ours). The acronym stands for Missourians Stopping Adult Financial Exploitation.

It's the second video put out by MOSAFE. The first was a training DVD for bank and credit union employees to help them to see the signs of when their customers are being taken advantage of.

We often say that doing business with a stranger is a dangerous thing to do - but unfortunately sometimes the ones we know best do it to us as well.

AG Nixon has sued a timeshare seller on consumer fraud charges, based out of Branson.

Almost every day we get complaints from seniors and others being victimized and sold a bill of goods while vacationing in Branson. Timeshare companies and travel clubs are the biggest sources of complaints. Consumers enter a high-pressure sales presentation, buy, then regret it.

Or if they don't regret it right away, they do as soon as they realize they're not getting what they were promised.

For those of you who vacation in Branson or have friends and family who do, tell them to think long and hard before accepting one of these travel pitches. At the very least, consumers should take a day to think about it, rather than signing right away.

As you read in yesterday's post, AG Nixon has taken legal action against several companies that send out those extended warranty offers in the mail, claiming your car's factory warranty is about to expire.

Here is a column by a consumer reporter at MSNBC about these companies. While this is a national problem, we are discovering that for some reason, many of the companies in this business are based in the St. Louis area. Our sweep of lawsuits, BTW, was called Operation Taken for a Ride.

How many of those mailings have come to your house that say your car warranty is about to expire?

AG Nixon just announced lawsuits and settlements with several companies in that business. The violations we're alleging:

• They mislead consumers into thinking their warranties are about to expire, when they're not. These companies don't know when your factory warranty expires.
• They mislead you into thinking they're with the manufacturer, when they're not. They're 3rd-party companies.
• They don't cover what they say they will.
• They fail to disclose important requirements - including one example where a consumer found out he had to use a certain brand of oil to get reimbursed for repairs.

Anybody selling these "extended service contracts" has to be registered with the Missouri Department of Insurance. If you're considering one of these companies, you can check with Insurance to see if they're registered at 1-800-726-7390 or here.

FYI, these are technically not warranties. That term applies to the free warranty that comes when you buy a product. Extended warranties should actually be called extended service contracts.

Low-income Missourians may be able to save money by finding free or discounted medications, thanks to some grant money made available by AG Nixon last week.

There are hundreds of programs out there that make drugs available for low-income folks, but because there are so many, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. The best way to find them is through the Internet, which is unavailable to many poor and elderly.

The grant money will go to clinics, hospitals and advocacy groups who help these folks with their medication needs. It will allow them to buy software that helps find medications available for free or at a discount for the people they serve. These organizations are encouraged to apply for this grant money.

We have a handful of applications in so far, but we have room for many more. Any group that consults seniors and low-income consumers with their medication needs are encouraged to apply.

I recently gave a talk at a seminar for small business owners, reminding them that they are consumers as well. Anyone who pays bills, hires vendors, signs contracts for services, etc, is a consumer.

So that means they can be victims of fraud, and they can file consumer complaints with our office. We filed around 60 lawsuits in consumer cases in 2007, and 15 of those involved businesses as a victims. Highlights of the last couple of years:

• Yellow-page companies sent checks for small amounts to companies. When cashed, these activation checks obligated the business to an online yellow-page ad they didn't want or even know about.
• Junk fax company busted for sending faxes to businesses. Sending unsolicited faxes is illegal.
• Company charging businesses for posters that say "Employees must wash hands." All such required government posters can be obtained for free from government agencies (OSHA, Family Medical Leave Act, employment rights, etc)
• Company charged businesses to build Web sites and didn't deliver.
• Another company charged for Internet advertising and didn't deliver.
• Company grossly overcharged businesses for credit card processing machines.
• Fire extinguisher inspectors who didn't perform. 2 different inspection companies left a lot of businesses not only ripped off but in grave danger of fire. This one could have lots of victims we don't know about yet.

Watch for a piece next week on the common scams that target businesses.

We continue to be amazed at the explosive growth of readership on this blog. We had well over 100,000 page views in December. So I'm curious as to what brings you here. Are you having a problem, and found us in an online search? Are you a regular reader of the blog? We've had a number of people say these blog posts have helped them avoid a scam. I can't imagine a more rewarding piece of feedback. We want to keep this as useful as possible to you, so please comment below and let me know what brought you here.

At our first ever Get the Lead Out event in St. Louis, we had quite the learning experience. Consumers on Friday and Saturday brought in more than 300 toys to be screened for lead content. About 30 of them (10 percent) tested positive.

Here is a shot of one of the screeners using his X-ray gun on a coloring kit. (Before you get any ideas of buying one of these for home, I should tell you they cost $40K.) The toy with the highest lead content was actually an old metal tractor that's a hand-me down from my wife's family. This thing may be 60 years old or more. It had 85,000 parts per million of lead. Some perspective: no amount of lead is safe for children. The federal government allows lead content up to 600 parts per million in consumer products. So this tractor had 140 times the legal limit. Another hand-me down tractor had about 5,000 ppm. That one was probably 35 years old.

Interestingly, people brought in some coffee mugs that were off the charts with lead. The biggest hazard is to kids under six years old, but still it was startling to find lead in things designed for oral contact like a mug. Check out AG Nixon's Recall Clearinghouse to find the latest items recalled in several different categories.

AG Nixon is warning consumers in southwest Missouri that the phishers are up to it again - this time sending text messages, hoping to trick customers of Empire Bank into giving out their personal info. This is the first phishing scam we've seen using text messages to people's cell phones. They send consumers to a bogus Web site that looks just like the bank site. Here, by the way, is the official Empire Bank site.

Get the lead out! Are your kids' new toys among the millions that have lead in them? As you know, recalled toys were all the talk in 2007 because of lead content. Now you can bring up to three toys to events AG Nixon is co-sponsoring Friday and Saturday, to have them screened for lead. The events are at two different St. Louis Community College campuses - Friday at Forest Park and Saturday at Florissant Valley.

Last week, our office announced its annual "Top 10" list of consumer complaint categories. Here is that list again along with some helpful links that will give you tips on how to recognize and avoid becoming another victim of consumer fraud:

1. Financing, credit, and debt collection
2. Auto sales, repair, odometer fraud, title and towing
3. Gasoline prices and storm-related price-gouging
4. Telephone slamming, cramming and billing
5. Home repair and remodeling
6. Lotteries and sweepstakes
7. Identity Theft
8. Travel Clubs, timeshares and travel related promotions
9. Computer software, online services and internet auctions
10. Charitable organizations

The St. Louis office of AmeriCorps, the federal volunteer program, is staffing a toll-free hotline to help find warming locations near you in Missouri. 1-888-377-2100, open 8a - 9p seven days a week.