Food Complaints

Where consumers can report their concerns on food, especially the raw, grocery-type ones?

• For food products: Report to FDA
• For general goods: FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection – Consumer Information which will lead you the Complaint Assistant site.
• NM Attorney General site, http://www.nmag.gov/consumer/file-a-complaint

This “Food Labeling Chaos” report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest has more in-depth information.

…. for other consumer complaint issues and avenues, you may want to be more creative. Examples:

• Call the company: They may provide a replacement for you, give you a refund, and mail you coupons.
• Talk about it: Never underestimate the impact of Word of Mouth. Besides alleviating the stress caused by the problem, talking about it to others may lead you to a fruitful solution.
• Share it via Social Media outlets: Via blog, tweet, forums, FB posting, Pinterests … . Many have use online videos to vent their frustrations and they seem to work – an example of confronting a dissatisfaction with a credit card:

… or they can be entertaining. Others suggestions?

Why Gift Card?

OK, let’s cut the chase – this is why I think gift cards are not so good for consumers:

• Possibility of not using them: 6%, as noted in a recent Today coverage. This could be due to losing it, forgetting about it, and not liking the card-related products. That’s like consumers donating millions to the industry. According to the Today coverage, $100B gift card sales with $6B unused + most popular gifts, 5 years running. I remember a time where I had an w’aay extendedholiday trip only to realize a lot later that I had an outdated rebate check.
• Tie Consumers to the Stores/Products: Gift card issuer should sell them for lower value. Companies lover the, because it ties consumers to those products/companies (e.g. Lowe’s gift cards mean that recipients need to go to the store to get those money cards used). In addition, to use the full benefits of the card or to maximize the card’s value, one need to get products that are higher price that the cards’ values. For instance, if you have a $25 Target gift card, ideally, you’d spend on something that is $25, but c’mon, seriously, find something that is $25 … with sales taxes plus nd while you’re there, you might as well buy those other stuff.
• Why not Give Cash?: New taboo? Behavioral – as in most Americans like to put those on the cards? I like the subtitle Daniel Gross put on his article: “They’re the best insult money can buy.”

Currently, I have a $10 gift certificate from Kohl’s (valid after Christmas) and a $10 off coupon for gift cards sold at Albertson’s. I’m likely to use the Kohl’s gift certificate … and the Abertson’s – guess what? The cheapest gift card is a $25 ones. I’ll use the Albertson’s for something that’s I’ll use anyways (Hint: not Starbucks one).

Link My Site Please

They are coming to you at every direction. Scams & piggy-back marketing.Some of these may be neither, but I doubt it.

The webmaster in our department has been getting e-mail on efforts to get certain websites linked via the my site at the university. They look so real. Unlike typical “Nigerian” scam, the e-mails that we have been getting looks professional – no spelling mistakes, professional looking websites, etc.

This is one that I got today:

From: __webmaster@nmsu.edu
Date: March 4, 2011 ______
To: __webmaster@nmsu.edu
Subject: Tech Web issue

This is an issue report from the college web server.
From: ______@______charterschool.org
Type of issue: Tech Web issue
Referrer: http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/mymoney/links.html
IP Address:

Comments: I just wanted to comment on the great teaching resources you have compiled here: http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/mymoney/links.html. My students will be embarking on their first ever stock market game experience which everyone is excited about. I found many of your suggested financial links helpful for our preparation and I wanted to share another with you that I found some great ideas from: http://valuestockguide.com/tools-for-teaching-the-stock-market-game/ I figured other teachers could also benefit from it being added.

To this e-mail, the expert in the Stock Market Game commented, “I am not familiar with this web site, but it looks interesting. Looks like someone is trying to make a buck on the Stock Market Game“

Another example

—–Original Message—–
From:  [mailto:      ]
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 _____PM
To:
Subject: compliment and suggestion

Hello,

Just wanted to thank you and let you know I’ve been using your page (http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/mymoney/links.html) for some research.  I often do outreach to community youth on topics like debt, investing, and financial responsibility.

As a thank you for your helpful site here is another (credit_____.net) that you you may add to your page. It helped me break down topics like investing and money  management to young adults.

Hope this is helpful,

Perhaps, the first one

> From: ___webmaster@nmsu.edu
> Date: September 22, 2010
> To: __webmaster@nmsu.edu
> Subject: Personnel Correction
>
> This is an issue report from the college web server.
>
> From:
>
> Type of issue: Personnel Correction
>
> Referrer: http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/mymoney/links.html
>
> IP Address:
>
> Comments: Hi, I came across your listing of links for shopping. I
> noticed you had not provided a link to \”__________.org\” which is a
> free online shopping site providing free shipping to over 3,100
> different online shops. We would greatly appreciate being added to
> this listing.

This one even point out a broken link on my site:

> From: ____webmaster@nmsu.edu
> Date: October 26, 2010
> To: ____webmaster@nmsu.edu
> Subject: HTML error
>
> This is an issue report from the college web server.
>
> From: @____deals.com
>
> Type of issue: HTML error
> Referrer: http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/mymoney/links.html
> IP Address:
>
> Comments: Hello!
> My name is ______ and I came across your site\’s list of ; I noticed
> there were a couple broken links in the list and there are as follows:
> Cash Course – http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/mymoney/www.cashcourse.org
> Spendster – http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/mymoney/Spendster.org
> Every link under \”FTC
> U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)\” (Minus the
> link attached to \”state\”)
>
> I also wanted to let you know that my company BradsDeals
> (http://www.bradsdeals.com
> ) offers a variety of online coupons and discount codes for a wide
> variety of stores. I noticed you listed other online discount sites,
> so I wanted to put _____Deals on your radar.
>
> I hope that our site is something you\’d like to include in your list,
> and thank you for providing me even more resources to look through
> myself!

Legal? But …. .

More on Quibids

Since I’ve been getting so many hit and responses on myprevious Quibids post, I’ve decided to do extra researches on this small-increment auction, which is better known as Penny Auction. To summarize, from my short website research I still cannot determine its legality and whether the government has this issue studied.

Popularized by swoopo.com (according to Associated Content), other Penny Auction sites include bidray.com and gobid.com . I haven’t studied their terms and conditions but their reviews are not great. Note: People who put reviews tend to be market mavens and those who were not satisfied with their products plus it’s difficult to verify their information. Guess what? Quibids‘ are on that website too!

Wow! There are also Penny Auction sites such as pennyauctionwatch.com, pennyauctionlist.com, and pennyauctioninfo.com that list items on this type of auction from various sites. These Penny Auction companies most likely pay these sites to list their products.

…. one of commentors of my previous Quibids post, Irina, was a computer programmer. Her comment was what some had predicted. A more elaborate comment by a programmer is available in this codinghorror.com blog posting.

Important Consumer Protection People

I plan to present a piece on consumer protection in the US. So, these are some important people/events.

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle

Rachel Carson & her DDT chemical pesticides 1962 book Silent Spring

Ralph Nader – An Unreasonable Man & the Man with Excellent Memory

QuiBids: Cheap Quality Goods and the Catch …

Qui Bids Website

I am trying to purchase on Mac type product. While shopping on-line, I came accross dealmac.com, which upon reasearc was found to be reliable. But then, on top of this website was a very catchy advertisement on high-tech products being sold at a very low price. It’s:  www.quibids.com

For instance: An Apple MacBook Pro 13.3″ was sold less than $200 [11/3/2009 @ 3.06pm MST], which is about 1/5 of the market price. The catch …. [insert drumroll] …

“Each bid costs just $0.60, available in Bid Packs of 40, 75, 300, 600 and 800 bids. Click ‘Buy Bids’ to get started. QuiBids accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, & Discover.”

Legal … and slick. At least, they explicitly stated this in the registration page – not with small fonts. With many people bidding, I’m sure they are making money. I am pretty sure that they used statistics and probability to get to the $0.60-per-bid cost.

Internet Scam – An Improved Version

…. don’t believe everything you get on the internet …. even from e-mails that you recognize.

This is why you cannot just go to websites or click on links …. they may be virus that can get information on what you type. Thus, these crooks may be able to get you login names and passwords.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33189545#33189545

- Me -

On a lighter note (as in helium light):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33189545#33177513

Legalized Salvaged Lemon

How to Spot a Wreck ABC News – Thu Sep 24, 10:01 PM ET

Many of these people could not detect the lemon. Tips …

1. CARFAX
2. Ask an expert to help out.

Perhaps many of these cars got into the clunker program, but there are still many out there.

There’s too much tricks involved here … once bought, nonrefundable; huge amount of money, safety.

Debts of a Deceased Relative Anyone?

Paying the Debts of a Deceased Relative: Who Is Responsible?

If you know the answers to these following questions, you don’t have to read the article:

• Who is responsible for paying the debts of a relative who has died?
• Am I legally obligated to pay the debts of a deceased relative?
• What should I do if a debt collector contacts me about a debt of a relative who has died?
• Do I have to speak with a debt collector who contacts me about the debts of a deceased relative?
• Can I stop a debt collector from contacting me about the debts of a deceased relative?
• Can debt collectors tell anyone else about my dead relative’s debt?

FTC to Stop Fraud and Help Distressed Homeowners

This is based on an e-mail I received from Employee Benefit Research Institute.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC.gov) is cracking down fraudulent activities that supposedly help people out to save their house from foreclosure. Mortgage modification fraud companies are offering help and pressuring people to use their service which comes at a price.

Help is available from your mortgage company and reliable financial counselors, usually at no cost. As I have written in my Extension publication:

In reality, homeowners may request a mortgage modification from their loan officers or lenders at no cost. Mortgage companies actually do not like foreclosures because they will lose money. Fraudulent mortgage loan servicers who promise to work wonders may use pressure tactics such as making you sign a stack of documents that includes handing over the house ownership, emphasizing that the fraud solution is the only out, and singling out the need to act fast.

FTC (youtube collection) has come up with some videos to explain these issues and contact information for help.

Link: youtube=http://www.youtube.com/FTCVideos#play/uploads/0/BnnvD946y9o

(View in English)

1-888-995-HOPE or www.hopenow.com