Guest guest Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 Consumer Affairs <newsletter wrote:Sun, 16 Mar 2003 23:33:06 -0500 (EST) Consumer Affairs Consumer News & Alerts CONSUMER NEWS & ALERTS March 17, 2003 The best way to read this newsletter is in your Web browser. Click on the link below to do so. http://consumeraffairs.com/newsletters/20030317.html WAR ON THE WEAK: WHO WILL BE NEXT? Tens of thousands of federal employees lost their right to appeal forced transfers, demotions and dismissals when the so-called Homeland Security Department was created. The Bush Administration has been working from Day One to limit individuals' access to the courts in medical malpractice cases. Now, Bush and HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson are cruelly and cynically conspiring to revoke the rights of frail elderly citizens to appeal denials of their Medicare claims to an independent judiciary, it was learned over the weekend. http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/bush_appeals.html The Bush plan for health care reform, as far as we can tell, is basically the neutron bomb approach: bankrupt the middle class and the states, leaving only the federal putsch and the pharmaceutical and insurance companies standing. Physicians who have naively signed on to the effort to unconstitutionally deny the right of injured patients to seek justice should ponder what their next move will be after the individual has been dispossessed and malpractice insurance premiums are still through the roof. Or as poet Martin Niemoller once summed it up, " Then they came for me ... " (Google this if it's not familiar to you). BUSH SIGNS DO-NOT-CALL BILL Despite spirited lobbying by telemarketers (which did not include calls to Congress members at dinner), Do-Not-Call legislation was passed by Congress and last week was signed into law by President Bush. When it's operational later this year, consumers will be able to call a toll-free number or sign up on the Web to block calls from hucksters. Violators will face fines of up to $11,000. Next stop: spammers? http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/dnc_law.html Of course, some types of calls -- like, oh, calls on behalf of candidates for Congress -- are exempt from the do-not-call rules. WON'T MAKE IT TO GUNNISON Forget about competing SUV safety claims for a minute. Dodge Durango owners have bigger problems to worry about. They need to find a way to keep enough clean oil in their engine to prevent it from chewing itself to pieces. Fact is, something bad is happening to many Durango engines at about the 60,000-or-so-mile mark. Taking its cue from Ford's landmark mishandling of Windstar engine failures, DaimlerChrysler is looking the other way. As Automan, our automotive consultant, sees it, this adds up to nothing but trouble for Durango owners. Might just be they should get out of Dodge. http://consumeraffairs.com/automotive/dodge_dur_oil.html NHTSA DECREES RECALLS ARE RECALLS In certain Southern backwaters, the Civil War is still known as the War Between the States. In Detroit, safety recalls have lately been coyly referred to as " safety improvement campaigns. " The difference? There's no nationwide press release for a " campaign " and it's not entered into the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's recall database, referred to daily by thousands of consumers. But last Tuesday, NHTSA -- feeling its oats lately under its new impresario, Jeffrey Runge, M.D. -- waved its wand and commanded automakers to henceforth call a recall a recall. http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/recalls.html LITTLE LIGHT RATTLETRAPS We were admiring a neighbor's shiny new Subaru mini-SUV as it climbed over a snowbank a week or two ago and realized that we had no Subaru complaints posted on our site. Thinking that perfection might have sneaked in when no one was looking we checked the database and found that, not surprisingly, not all was well. http://consumeraffairs.com/automotive/subaru.html UGLY CELLULITE CLAIMS ELIMINATED Rexall sold more than $40 million worth of " Cellasene, " a supposed remedy for cellulite. It will have to pay back as much as $12 million to consumers to settle Federal Trade Commission charges and a couple of consumer class action lawsuits. It's part of the FTC's crackdown on phony health and weight-loss cures. http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/rexall.html CELL PHONE SUITS DISMISSED A federal judge has thrown out five class action suits charging that cell phone manufacturers didn't adequately warn big talkers of the possible risk of brain tumors. The judge didn't address the question of whether the infernal devices are possibly harmful, ruling instead that the state courts lacked jurisdiction in the matter. http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/cell_suit.html DOUBLE WHAMMY The hair on the back of our neck rose the other day as we perused the latest complaints of fraudulent transactions involving PayPal and its new protector, Ebay. We sort of admire PayPal. It makes it very easy for small businesses to take online payments. Unfortunately, the other side of that story is that it presents a big temptation to those with larceny in their hearts, a few of whom may have figured out how to clean out the bank accounts of small businesses and individuals of all shapes and sizes. Buyer and seller beware! http://consumeraffairs.com/online/paypal_fraud.html SUBSCRIPTION SCAMS SAIL ON Nothing stops a determined telemarketer. The Federal Trade Commission and other agencies have been cracking down on shady magazine subscription schemes but, to be quite honest, we've seen no change in the number of complaints we receive. If anything, they've increased. Best course of action: buy nothing from telemarketers, infomercials and in-home salesmen. http://consumeraffairs.com/scam_alerts/cms.html CURRENT INTELLIGENCE What are consumers interested in? Besides analyzing the complaints we receive, we keep an eye on the server logs to see which pages on our site consumers are looking at. It's interesting reading. Here are the top pages this month, as of a few days ago: Page...............Hits.....Percent (of total visits) Good Guys..........15,389...2.18% Rogues Gallery.....10,816...3.81% Dodge Durango......10,229...0.81% Comcast............10,186...0.80% Bestbank............9,684...0.76% ExxonMobil Credit...7,817...0.62% Martz Bus Lines.....6,364...0.50% All of these are repeats from last month -- except for the Dodge Durango. If we were DaimlerChrysler, we'd be scrambling to deal with this issue fast, before it gets out of control and does serious damage to what remains of the company's reputation. Chrysler isn't exactly synonymous with reliability. Further erosion of its image could be devastating. RECALLS -- Trudeau Fondue Set. The plastic handles on the fondue pot can crack and melt, causing all kinds of problems. http://consumeraffairs.com/recalls_03/trudeau.html -- IBM Computer Monitor. They can catch fire. http://consumeraffairs.com/recalls_03/ibm.html ONCE ON A SNOWY HILL ... Compliments about New York movers are rare indeed. But compliments about a New York mover conducting a move on a narrow, winding street at the top of a hill during a snowstorm in Brooklyn? Get outa here! Yet we received just such a Good Guys nomination for Big John's Moving. It's among the new additions in the Good Guys section. http://consumeraffairs.com/good_guys/bigjohn.html -- ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER Consumer News & Alerts is published by ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. You are on the list either because you asked to be or because you filed a consumer report at our site. See removal instructions below. The editor is James R. Hood. You can reach him at jhood. He does not handle subscriptions. SUBSCRIPTION & CONTACT INFORMATION * To , go to http://consumeraffairs.com/newsletters/newsletters.htm * To cancel your subscription, see instructions below. The information provided in this newsletter and on our Web site is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace or substitute for sound legal advice from a qualified attorney. The newsletter and Web site may be considered advertising under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and other states and localities. You should not make legal hiring decisions based upon promotional materials. ConsumerAffairs.Com News & Alerts is published by ConsumerAffairs.Com, Inc., which is solely responsible for its content. ----------------------- Gettingwell- / Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc. To , e-mail to: Gettingwell- Or, go to our group site: Gettingwell Web Hosting - establish your business online Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.