While I was trying to meet my Sunday column deadline today, I got this urgent e-mail from Reader Rodney:

Hello, I'm in an auto repair shop and I'm very very concerned. The owner started alot of repairs on his own without any authorization at all. The vehicle is there because it wouldn't start. An injector pump was sent out and completed and when I asked the price for it; he told me he had no idea! When I pressed him that he must at least have a ballpark figure; he replied that they range from $500 to $12,000!!! Of course I should have never let that go. When I pressed for an estimate; he told me that he would know more later in the week. This guy scares me to death and I have a lot of experience with auto repair facilities. Isn'it there al law that work has to be athorized by the customer? Thank you very much.

Normally, when trying to meet a deadline, I avoid all e-mails. But Rodney sounded pretty desperate so I quickly e-mailed him back some information from the Maryland Attorney General's Web site. It's useful so I thought I'd share it with the rest of you, too, in case you find yourself in a similar situation.

Under Maryland law:

You're entitled to a written estimate for all repairs costing more than $50 and you can't be charged more than 10% over the written estimate without your consent. If the mechanic finds that the repair will cost more than 10% than the estimate, or that additional repairs are needed, the shop must contact you to get your authorization.

You also can't be charged for repairs you didn't authorize. Before signing a repair order, read it carefully. Ask for clarification of any item you don't understand.

Also, the AG's Office says, the invoice you receive should list all work performed, all parts supplied and any surcharges. Any used, rebuilt or reconditioned parts must be identified. Keep your invoice as a record. It may be useful if you need to return to the shop because the repairs weren't satisfactory.

Those records will come in handy should you need to file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Division or file suit against the shop in court.

Know your rights.

(Sun Photographer Lloyd Fox)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cars, Consumer protection, How To
        

In a nod to Liz's wonderfully sensible tips on savings, the September issue of ShopSmart, from the publisher of Consumer Reports, shares advice on how you can save money when buying organic food.

Organic anything is pretty hot right now since it's a good way to cut down on ingesting lots of potentially harmful pesticides. Of course, cutting down on ingesting toxins can be pricey so ShopSmart suggests limiting organic purchases to fruits and veggies that have the most dangerous pesticide residues when grown conventionally.

Produce with the lowest pesticide risk includes citrus fruits, bananas, pineapples and onions so you don't have to spend more to buy those grown organically, the mag says.

The worst of the bunch? Read on to see the list, in order of risk, based on a new analysis of government data by the non-profit Organic Center:

Riskiest Fruits: Buy These Organic

Imported Grapes

Cranberries

Nectarines

Peaches

Strawberries

Pears

Apples

Cherries

Riskiest Vegetables: Buy These Organic

Green Beans

Sweet Bell Peppers

Celery

Cucumbers

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Peas

Lettuce

Keep in mind, this list refers to U.S. produce. Some imported items have higher pesticide levels, the mag says. The "risk index score" for an imported peach is almost five times that of a domestic peach and 5 1/2 times as high as that of domestic sweet bell peppers. Other high-risk produce include imported grapes, nectarines, lettuce and cucumbers so you may want to skip those if you can only find imports. Overseas "organics" might not be as reliable, too, since oversight can be sketchy.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Food, Greenies
        

So I'm going to venture a little further into the Hints from Heloise territory I entered with last week's post about saving money on food. 

Thinking about freezing leftover coffee and pesto and other stuff for future use made me ponder how to eliminate waste even further. What's the best way, for example, to get the last remaining ketchup, shampoo or other viscous liquids out of their containers?

Here's an exhaustive comparison of the best ways to extract ketchup from a bottle, courtesy of the Times online.

Some of the ideas are entertaining methods to demonstrate inertia and other physics principles to your dining companion. For example, you can hold the bottle by its end and swing it around in a circle as fast as you can, letting the centripetal force push the contents toward the cap. 

If you lack a basic fear of sharp objects, you could also attempt this Instructable for getting that last load out of a bottle of laundry detergent, or this suggestion from a Consumerist reader. Of course, you could perhaps more easily just rinse the bottle out with some of the laundry water, or even let gravity do its thing by standing the bottle upside down so it gradually drains into the cap.

What about dish detergent? When a bottle is nearly empty, you can fill it with water and use that sudsy water to clean things.  

And those little slivers of bar soap? There are a bunch of options. Wet a new bar of soap and try to glue it to the old one. Or you could cut a hole in a sponge, insert the sliver and use it in the bath. Try the same thing with a bath mitt, if you've got one handy.

Or you could save a bunch of slivers to make your own body wash or liquid hand soap. Just put the soap slivers in a heat-proof container (a glass jar could work, or an old pot)and slowly add boiling water while stirring until it reaches the right consistency.

Now, full disclosure: any savings gleaned from these tips is likely to be small --- on the order of cents, not dollars --- but so is the expenditure of energy needed to employ these techniques. The virtuous feeling of reducing waste, however, is priceless.

(photo: stock.xchng)

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

A California judge has issued a tentative ruling ordering Sprint to repay $18.3 million to customers who sued over early termination fees, as well as credit an additional $54.8 million to those who were charged but did not pay the fees, according to the Associated Press.

The ruling comes weeks after Verizon settled a similar class action lawsuit with consumers who had been burned by the fees charged for canceling a contract early.

As these lawsuits were underway, three of the four major providers have established gradually decreasing early termination fees --- Sprint promises to get theirs together by the end of this year.

Still no word yet, however, from the FCC on regulation of early termination fees. Spokesmen for the four major carriers have said that federal regulation would be preferable to a patchwork of rules among the 50 states. But consumer advocates such as those at HearUsNow.org, a project of the Consumers Union, worried that such regulation would limit the ability of states to protect consumers.

(photo: JB Reed/Bloomberg News) 

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet
        

Now I can barely walk and chew gum at the same time so I'm kind of fascinated by the recent news that the American College of Emergency Physicians is worried about a dangerous rise in injuries and deaths related to sending text messages at inappropriate times, such as while walking, driving, biking and rollerblading.

“It’s tragic,” said Linda Lawrence, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), who noted that her colleagues across the country are anecdotally reporting cases, “among teens and young adults, in particular, who are arriving in emergency departments with serious and sometimes fatal injuries because they were not paying attention while texting.”

“We see this every day, since we are [in] downtown Chicago, with lots of people walking around,” said James Adams, professor and chair of the department of emergency medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. “People are texting and they trip and fall on their faces – usually people in their 20s. We see a lot of face, chin, mouth [and] eye injuries from falls.”

Even worse, they said, are injuries resulting from texting and colliding with bikers, rollerbladers and others.

Now before you laugh at the image of people falling while texting (I know. It made me giggle a little, too.), the emergency docs said that the injuries can be deadly.

“In March, [we] were driving and saw a woman in her twenties step off the curb and get struck square by a pickup truck,” said Matthew Lewin, an emergency physician at University of California San Francisco Hospital in San Francisco. “She was unconscious and it appeared she’d suffered a massive brain injury. You could tell she saw the truck at the last moment because her cell phone was dropped right where she was struck just off the curb, and she was thrown about 20 or 30 feet.. It was horrifying. The truck stopped. The driver was devastated. I was amazed to hear she survived all the way to trauma center but died [in] the ER.”

If you think this is a only problem among silly young, thoughtless people, think again.

ACEP suggests following these common sense safety measures:

Don’t text or use a cell phone while engaged in any physical activities that require sustained attention; such activities include walking, biking, boating, rollerblading or even intermittent-contact sports such as baseball, football or soccer.

Never text or use a hand-held cell phone while driving or motorcycling, and use caution even with headsets.

Avoid becoming distracted by rummaging through purses, backpacks or clothing by keeping cell phones and blackberries in easy-to-find locations, such as phone pockets or pouches.

Ignore the call or message if it might interfere with concentration during critical activities that require attention. Better yet, turn off the device beforehand during times when incoming calls or messages might prove to be a dangerous or even simply embarrassing or annoying interference.

Be mindful of the distraction and corresponding reflex-response delay that texting can cause, and don’t text in any environments in which excessive inattention can cause safety concerns, such as while sitting alone at night, waiting for a bus, or in a crowded area, where one could easily become a victim of a personal theft.

(AP Photo)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Consumer safety, Technology
        

An Associated Press story details some frugal lifestyle changes that Americans have made to cut costs in these trying times, and expect to continue even when sunny days are here again.

Biking or taking public transportation to work, buying store brand groceries, repairing things instead of buying new replacements ... the folks interviewed seem willing to put in the extra time to save a few bucks, even when they're not as pressed.

Then again, it's not clear whether we'll ever be able to enjoy again the same low prices on everything that we did just a few years ago when supplies of food, fuel and credit seemed limitless.

I know I'll probably be line-drying my clothes rather than using the dryer most of the time, in the near future, but what about you? What have you done to ease spending that you think you'll continue even if you find yourself in a better economic situation? 

(photo: Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

Do you have an old computer lying around? An old phone? The older version of the iPhone? Don't know what to do with all those gadgets?

Here's where Gazelle comes in. Gazelle, which launched Monday, will give you cash for your gadgets.

Here's how PC Magazine says Gazelle works:

Visitors to the site will be asked to type in their product's specs, answer a few questions about its condition and whether you have accessories like chargers, adapters or earpieces. Gazelle will then give you in instant quote. If you accept, the company will send you a pre-paid envelope or box, which you use to ship them your item.

Gazelle will inspect it, and if everything checks out, send you payment via check or PayPal within several weeks. There is also the option to donate the money to 23 charities like the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, or the Salvation Army.

If Gazelle does not agree with your assessment of the product and a counter-offer cannot be reached, the company will return your item free of charge. But Rousseau Aurelien, Gazelle's chief executive, said that 85 percent of products the company has received during its testing phase have been as described, and only 1 percent of the items have been sent back.

Other companies that do this sort of thing include: TechForward, CellforCash.com, and BuyMyTronics.com.

Here's what Gazelle says about what it's trying to do:

Gazelle wants to change the world – one cell phone, one laptop, one iPod at a time.

It is our purpose – and our promise – to provide a practical, rewarding way for people to finally rid themselves of all those old cell phones, digital cameras, and gaming systems that they no longer use, but can’t seem to find a way to let go of.

Too often when people think of recycling, they rush straight to smashing things into bits for parts. We believe that reuse should always come first. If your GPS unit still works, why not keep it in circulation AND get paid for it? If reusing isn’t in the cards, then let us recycle that vintage camcorder. We think of it as ReCommerce.

Yeah, we’re green.
Green for you with dollars in your pocket. Green for the environment with fewer electronics being trashed.

It’s good to Gazelle. That’s our promise.

Not bad, huh? Get rid of your electronic gadgets, be green AND make some green. Nice.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Consumer Web Site of the Week, Greenies, Technology
        

Celebrate The Cheesecake Factory's 30th anniversary tomorrow with a return to the dining garden's original prices. On Wednesday, July 30, slices of any of its more than 30 varieties will cost $1.50 for dine-in customers (limit one per customer).

They're also unveiling a new variety: Chocolate Cake Cheesecake, with 25 cents of the cost per slice this year going to benefit America's Second Harvest --- The Nation's Food Bank Network.

Check out more of The Cheesecake Factory history here --- now more than 140 locations nationwide.

(photo: Christine Cerutti/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Food
        

So I'm just catching up after a few days out of the office and read this Dining@Large post about hormones in milk --- or more specifically, a label that promised the milk lacked growth hormones, and an asterisk that stated that milk without hormones has not been found to be significantly different than milk with hormones.

Some local supermarkets, including Trader Joe's and Safeway, sell store-brand milk that is produced without hormones, despite pushback from the makers of those hormones, according to the Consumers Union.

However, the most humorous asterisk I've seen recently was the one on the hormone-free claim on the rotisserie chicken my mother purchased and gifted to me, the spoils of her new warehouse club membership.

Why so funny?

Because --- as the tiny asterisk-type pointed out, all chickens are SUPPOSED to be hormone-free --- it's prohibited by federal law.

“No hormones” claims don’t all mean the same thing. While it may be more valuable to buy beef and milk products that come from animals raised without synthetic hormones, federal law prohibits the use of synthetic hormones in chicken production. So while this claim is truthful, it may not be worth more than unlabeled poultry products, including eggs.

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Food, Greenies
        

So, a customer receives a package from Ann Taylor containing not only the pants and jacket that she ordered, but also two screws ... and something else.

Customer writes a polite note to Ann Taylor and receives appropriate compensation for the inappropriate packing materials --- as well as a letter of apology that definitely raised some eyebrows.

"Thank you for contacting Ann Taylor regarding the dead cockroach your received with your online order ..."

Continue after the jump to read the note and the response. Names and other identifying information (including sizes) have been redacted. And feel free to chime in with any of your own shipping nightmares.

(photo: stockxchng.com)

"I received my order from Ann Taylor.  However, besides the items that I purchased there were two loose screws and one dead cockroach in the box.

The screws are a little strange, but I didn't mind them.  The cockroach, on the other hand, is completely disgusting and probably some sort of health hazard, but definitely disgusting.  All of my purchases are in plastic bags so I am ok with keeping them.

I like shopping at Ann Taylor.  I also like shopping at anntaylor.com. I would like to continue shopping from the online store, but I should not be afraid of finding bugs in my packages.  I would appreciate it if you would consider crediting my credit card account a sum that you deem appropriate to compensate me for having a dead cockroach fall out from between by new jacket and my new pants.

Thank you in advance."

"Dear Ms. [redacted]:

Thank you for contacting Ann Taylor regarding the dead cockroach you received with your online order number [redacted]".  Please accept my sincerest apologies for any frustration or inconvenience this situation may have caused.  Ann Taylor aspires to provide you with a delighting client experience in all that we do, and the situation you described is inconsistent with our commitment to providing the very best quality and service for our clients.

Please be assured that I have issued a $25.00 E-Gift Certificate to the email address {redacted@redacted.com].  This E-Gift Certificate may be used towards a future purchase at www.anntaylor.com.  Additionally, I am delighted to offer you free Standard Ground Shipping on your next online purchase.  To take advantage of this offer, please call 1 800 DIAL ANN and a Client Associate would be happy to place your order for you, applying your E-Gift Certificate, and waive your Standard Ground Shipping.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. This is not the standard which Ann Taylor strives towards, and I have shared your comments with the appropriate Management Team for further review.

Thank you for choosing Ann Taylor.  We look forward to meeting all of your future wardrobing needs!  If we can provide further assistance or if you have any additional questions, please contact us via e-mail at clientservices@anntaylor.com or call us at 1 800 DIAL ANN (1.800.342.5266).  We are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm EST, Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm EST and closed on Sunday.

Sincerely,

[redacted]
Supervisor
Ann Taylor Client Services

Posted by Liz Kay at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

With airlines getting stingier with their frequent flier programs, does it make sense any more to have a credit card that rewards you with miles?

“For the average American consumer who typically flies domestically in coach, collecting miles doesn’t make sense,” says George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com.

In fact, we would be better off with a credit card that gives us cash back as a reward instead of miles, he says.

Consider: Credit cards that reward you with air miles typically carry a higher annual fee from $50 to $100, Horbica says. It takes about $25,000 worth of credit card purchases to rack up 25,000 miles. And 25,000 miles get you a domestic ticket worth about $200. “It really costs you $250,” if you count the annual fee, he says.

Plus, now that airlines are starting to charge a fee to use your frequent flier miles, that ticket might cost you $275.

Say instead you charged $25,000 a year on the American Express Blue Cash or Chase Freedom card. Neither has an annual fee.

Hobica calculates that you would get $712 in cash back from American Express and $444 on the Chase Card. Those cash rebates are higher than the value of the domestic ticket.

It’s still worth hoarding frequent flier miles if you fly business class or internationally or like to upgrade your seat, Hobica adds. “Those are high-value transactions that make sense,” he says.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Credit cards
        

Never did I think I would have to call Apple out for failing its public, but I know you've been reading my esteemed colleague, David Zeiler and his Apple A Day blog, which has been chronicling the mishaps surrounding the iPhone 3G launch.

We told you on launch day that PC Magazine was reporting glitches in activating accounts for iPhone owners and then David wrote about the iPhone/MobileMe disaster, and the fact that MobileMe users couldn't access e-mail for days.

What a mess, right? 

Now Wired Magazine says that despite the launch fiasco that included "e-mail outages, inadvertent credit-card charges and web-app bugs, Apple isn't embarrassed enough about MobileMe to resist advertising it to iPhone users."

When you plug in your iPhone, iTunes fills up its window with an advertisement offering a free 60-day MobileMe trial. Fortunately, after clicking "No Thanks" the ad doesn't reappear every time you connect your iPhone (from my testing, at least).

It's understandable that Apple is advertising the service this way, since MobileMe synchronizes user information with iPhone among other devices. But it's rather poor timing: You'd imagine Apple would choose to wait to fix all of MobileMe's problems before flaunting the service in your face. Why encourage people to sign up when not everything is up and running yet? It's like the fire department telling people they can enter a building when there's still smoke coming from a room.

C'mon Apple. People aren't paying you chump change for your products. Many of us are fans (full disclosure: I am not buying an iPhone, but I do own a 2 GB iPod and I'm writing this on a MacBook). Don't take advantage of your devotees by treating us like tools. We expect better from you.

(Image courtesy of stockxchng.com)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW, Technology
        

If you're wondering how Cuil, the new search engine launched today stacks up against giant Google, check out the forum on slashdot, the news for nerds Web site.

I'm rather skeptical to believe that Cuil "claims to index three times as many Web pages as Google." Plus, in a search on Cuil for "The Baltimore Sun," it returned 119,047 results with some nifty images attached. Google found more than 1.8 million.

I'm definitely all for more options, but it will probably take Cuil some time to catch up to Google. It's only been a day so let's be patient and give Cuil a chance.

I'm going to expect a LOT more tomorrow.... heh... just kidding.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Computers, Technology
        

In a recent AAA Mid-Atlantic Web Poll that posed the question “Who’s to Blame for High Gas Prices?,” commodity speculators were ranked the No. 1 evil behind driving up gas prices.

Poll respondents also blamed Congress, Big Oil and unrest in the Middle East.

“It’s a question with no clear, concrete answer,” AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Ragina C. Averella said. “What is clear is that motorists are frustrated with increased costs and the lack of a near-term solution; thus creating plenty of blame to go around.”

Respondents were given seven choices and asked to pick only three. The list of choices followed by the percentage of people who selected each are:

Commodity Speculators 47%

Congress / Preventing more domestic drilling 40%

Big Oil 36%

Increased demand for oil by China / India 36%

OPEC / Oil exporting countries 24%

President Bush 21%

Unrest in the Middle East / war in Iraq 18%

er... How about blaming ourselves and our unchecked appetite for oil, too? Just a thought.

Anyhow, AAA says that the price for a barrel of oil makes up 75 percent of each gallon of gasoline, meaning that the first $2.95 of the current state average of $3.93 is directly attributable to the cost of oil sold on the commodities market.

“Even before state and federal taxes are added, a gallon of self-serve regular gas in Maryland costs $2.95,” Averella said. “When refining and after-market costs, as well as transportation costs are added, the price climbs quickly when oil is this expensive."

So who do you blame for this mess?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Complaints, Energy/Utilities, Gas prices
        

At the BP on Eastern Avenue where I filled up the tank yesterday, regular unleaded was selling for $3.89 (or $3.90 if you add in that 9/10s of a cent) a gallon.

How funny is it that I was actually excited about that?

AAA says that for the first time since June 7, the national average price of gasoline dropped below $4 a gallon on Saturday to $3.98, which is down 13 cents from the all-time record of $4.11.

Yesterday, the national average dropped another penny to $3.97.

You can thank the falling price of crude oil for the declining prices at the pump and Hurricane Dolly for not wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Mexico, which provides 25 percent of U.S. oil output.,/p>

Crude oil began the week trading at $129 a barrel before closing at $123 Friday, AAA says. That's $24 below the all-time high prices of $147 a barrel set on July 11. Even after the decline of the past two weeks, the price of oil is up 30% in 2008.

The interesting thing about this is that the U.S. Energy Department says that Americans used 2.4 percent less fuel over the past four weeks than we did a year ago. Experts say that's a significant shift in use, especially since the same energy department report says that U.S. gasoline supplies showed a bigger than expected increase.

Does that really mean we're all cutting back on driving?

In the week ahead, AAA expects the price of gas to continue to drop due to lower crude oil prices and declining demand for petroleum products in the U.S. How low do you think they'll go? AAA's Ragina Averella, manager of public and government affairs for the Mid-Atlantic, says that the "price of gas will continue to fall through Labor Day, and could drop an additional 25-cents a gallon by September 1st. This is certainly welcome news for motorists.”

Unless, of course, storm season hits the U.S. particularly hard this year.... Keep your fingers crossed.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Energy/Utilities, Gas prices
        

Score one for the little guy.

The state of Maryland won a favorable ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that could prevent stockbrokers from expunging arbitration information from state records.

Regulators rely on these records when deciding whether to grant a license or take enforcement action against a broker, says Melanie Senter Lubin, Maryland’s securities commissioner.

But consumers rely on this data too. It’s standard advice to investors that they check out brokers’ backgrounds before turning money over to them.

“If these records are purged of adverse information, it won’t be (possible) for us to do our job and for investors to make decisions about the professionals they hire to handle their money,” Lubin says.

The case involves Maryland stockbroker Joseph Karsner and his settlement with Pamela Lothian, a client who claims she lost more than $104,600 after Karsner convinced her to buy unsuitable investments and mismanaged her account. The complaint went to arbitration. But the before the arbitration hearing, the stockbroker and client settled the dispute for $47,000.

The settlement also said that Karsner could expunge this information from his record. A lower court agreed. Maryland regulators appealed.

The recent ruling sends the case back to the lower court and gives the state the right to fight to keep the information on the books.

Maryland’s Attorney General says there are 10 other requests by Karsner to expunge information from his record. All are stayed pending the outcome of this case, regulators say.

Separately, Maryland regulators are pursuing other action against Karsner.

Karsner could not be reached for comment.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Investments
        

Boy, this is bad news.

McDonald's might be putting its Dollar Menu on the chopping block.

Anthony Mirhaydari on MSN's MoneyBlog says:

Rising food and energy prices are forcing McDonald's to take aim at its popular Dollar Menu. "In this current environment, we've got to make sure we're pricing smart, not just pricing low," COO Ralph Alvarez said as the chain reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

For hurried moms, nocturnal teens, lunch-run dads, and anyone who appreciated the food-inflation hedge of one dollar double cheeseburgers, the news comes as a super-sized disappointment.

mmmmm. cheeseburgers.

McDonald's shareholders might want to take note of this, too. The chain boasted better than expected earnings... and part of the success is that the dollar menu brings a lot of traffic into stores.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Economy, Food
        

The college a student chooses to attend often depends on the financial aid award letters. Families compare the aid packages and go with the more generous college.

The problem, according to a new survey, is that many families don’t understand the difference between grants, scholarships, loans and work-study.

And what you don’t understand can cost you. You can end up turning down an aid package comprised of grants that don’t have to be repaid in favor of a package made up of loans.

Siegel + Gale, a branding company, surveyed more than 200 parents of college-age children. The group’s findings:

- A quarter of parents didn’t know grants generally don’t have to be repaid.

- More than two-thirds didn’t realize that student’s work-study paycheck is subject to income tax.

- Less than half knew that some student loans don’t require a credit check.

- Seventy-seven percent didn’t know the difference between a subsidized and unsubsidized loan. (Subsidized means Uncle Sam pays the interest on the loan while the student is in school.)

- Forty percent didn’t realize Pell Grants are not loans, but federal grants that don’t have to be repaid.

“All of America’s colleges and universities ought to adopt a simplified, standard financial aid award letter so parents can make comparisons across schools,” says Peter S. Cohl, Siegel + Gale’s Higher Education practice leader in statement.

Cohl also suggests schools rank the awards in order of value to the student, from grants and scholarships high on the list and pricey private loans on the bottom.

Good idea. But families can’t wait for schools to act. Parents and students need to educate themselves about financial aid terms. FinAid is a good resource. Also SimpleTuition allows you to search for and compare loans.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Student loans
        

Reader Laura is wondering if anyone else has had problems parking in city garages run by Central Parking?

I used to use a parking garage in Baltimore City run by Central Parking. For convenience sake (because I never carry cash), I used one of the garages that accepts credit cards. Only used it once in a while because I telecommute.

Then, months ago, I stopped altogether because of the price of gas. I take the light rail.

Two weeks ago, as I prepared to go on vacation, I checked my bank account. Central Parking Baltimore had hit my acount 5 times, all in one day, the day before. I called to dispute the charges with the bank. The original Customer Service person was so dumb she said, "Well, you must have parked there, I see you used your card in between trips to the garage."

First of all, who would make five trips in and out of a city garage at 9 bucks a pop each time? Secondly, I asked her, did you get the part about the garage being in Baltimore and those 'in-between' charges I actually made at the grocery store, etc., being in Annapolis? The next rep was a little brighter, saw the disparities and disputed the charges.

But those of you who use Central Parking, beware. They apparently store your credit card info. I can only guess that a worker figured out a scam to charge my card a number of times and 'refund' cash to themselves.

You gotta watch. all the time....

Excellent point, Laura. Anyone else notice shenanigans with city garage parking?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cars, Complaints, Technology
        

Good morning folks! Wanted to share this list of tips to cut your car insurance bills, courtesy of Bankrate ... lots of great ideas to pare down your premium while ensuring you are protected in the event of a real emergency.

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cars, Cheap/Frugal
        

With food prices skyrocketing along with everything else, there are an abundance of tips online for saving money on grocery bills. I've compiled the best available supplemented by reader-tested advice.

There's one common factor to all of this advice: time. To try some of these suggestions, you nee time to plan, time to shop, time to prepare foods. If you don't have time, you will need to spend money to make up for it. 

Grow it yourself: Julie said she minimizes what she needs to buy by growing produce herself. There's always going to be an initial investment, but think of how much you spend each week on fruit and vegetables. It adds up, especially when you consider that some of it may spoil before you eat it. With gardens, you only pick what you need.

But if you've got two brown thumbs like I do (seriously. I'm currently killing lucky bamboo and a spider plant) maybe you should stick with things that are easy to grow and expensive to buy.

Five foods it's cheaper to grow instead of buying are lettuce, herbs, fruit (on trees), vine vegetables (such as zucchini) and bell peppers, according to MSN Money. All of these are easy to grow but fairly expensive to pick up at the store or even the farmer's market. And it's guaranteed to be fresh.

Buy in season: don't pay a premium for fruit and vegetables that are grown in less-than-ideal conditions or shipped from very far away. Your produce will taste better and contain more nutrients. Here's a chart of what's in season in Maryland.

Make your own convenience foods. Why pay a premium for quick-cooking hot cereal when you can make your own instant oatmeal, as Trent at the Simple Dollar did? Just dole it out in individual packages yourself, nuke it and eat. Why buy breakfast bars when you can make your own --- and customize the recipe? The same goes for baby food and baking mixes and umpteen other things.

Plan your meals and use a list. Buy only what you need or will use up before it needs to be thrown away. I like this Wise Bread blogger's suggestion of building stores in her pantry when things go on sale, and making meals out of what's in the pantry. If planning meals seems too cumbersome, at the very least you should keep a running list of anything you've used up so you get everything in one trip and minimize your store excursions.

Don't shop hungry. As Dan Thanh pointed out, you'll be more tempted to make impulse buys when your tummy is rumbling. 

Start a price book and shop at multiple stores. When is a sale not a sale? When something is cheaper at another store!

We've told you before how to start a grocery price book, so you can track prices and sizes and thus recognize bargains when you encounter them.You can also use the price book to see if buying groceries online will work for you.

Consider alternative options for buying cheap staples such as convenience stores, as Eileen Ambrose discovered. Also try as limited-assortment grocers such as Aldi and Save-a-Lot. Those stores stock a limited variety of basic items in their basic brands, as Jelena advises. Did you know Aldi owns Trader Joe's? That's a store that knows quality private label stuff ... which makes me more inclined to take a chance on Aldi products. Salvage grocers may be an option to get name brands at closeout prices, especially for folks north of Baltimore.

Remind yourself of how much you are buying: You'll buy less if you ditch the cart or basket and carry your stuff in two arms, sez J.D. Roth at The Simple Dollar. You'll also be less tempted to pick up gallon jugs of bug juice if you walk or bike and have to schelp the groceries home yourself instead of loading them in the trunk.

Buy in bulk: compare unit prices of anything you buy and carry a calculator so you can easily do your own arithmatic when such labelling is not available. Check out warehouse stores with caution (again, don't buy what you don't need). If you buy perishables like meat in bulk, separate into smaller packages and freeze them as Holly suggested.

Read circulars and use coupons, especially on items on sale, as Holly does. Save your coupons to combine with store deals to get even more savings.

Don't be wedded to a brand: try private store labels as Susan WNAJ does, as well as what's on sale.

Don't buy beverages. Drink tap water (you definitely shouldn't buy bottled!) and avoid buying drinks. Make your own iced tea or lemonade or iced coffee. Whole fruit is healthier than fruit juice, anyway.

Check your receipt. That checkout scanner can magically overcharge you. 

Once you've got your food in your kitchen:

Substitute: Suddenly notice you're missing an ingredient for a recipe? Be creative and see what you've already got that you can use instead --- especially for seasonings or rarely used ingredients that can be expensive. Here's a list of common substitutions. Don't find it there? Google the ingredient + substitution to get some ideas.

You can also substitute cheaper versions of expensive products, especially if you're just going to cook something instead of eat it fresh. The classic example is frozen berries instead of fresh. I stockpile fruit in the freezer for smoothies and desserts. Plus it's convenient because they're already washed/pitted and more nutritious because they're frozen soon after picking.

Canned salmon is another option instead of fresh. It takes forever to spoil, it is a good source of calcium, it's supposed to be wild caught ... so many benefits, and at a fraction of the price.

Eat everything: Reuse leftovers or freeze extra servings for quick meals or brown-bag lunches. That way you're not eating something for too many nights in a row. You can even use ice cube trays to save leftover coffee, wine, stock, pasta sauce, cookie dough and other foods in small quantities for use in recipes later.

Whew. (ed note: That's a double whew from me, too, Liz. What a fantastic list filled with great advice. -- DD) I think that's it. Did I miss anything, or does something seem like more trouble than it's worth? Feel free to share below.

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Food, Shopping
        

Maryland is one of 10 states doing the most to wean its residents off a dependence on oil, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council study released yesterday.

The state earned praise along with New York for its smart growth policies, including allocating state funds as well as some federal dollars for public transportation. 

Maryland and other mid-Atlantic/northeastern states dominated the list:

1) California
2) New York
3) Connecticut
4) Washington
5) Pennsylvania
6) New Jersey
7) Rhode Island
8) New Mexico
9) Colorado
10) Maryland

So which states are most at risk, according to NRDC? 

Posted by Liz Kay at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cars, Gas prices
        

When I'm confronted by a problem I don't always know how to solve myself, I always try to find someone with more knowledge, power or leverage to assist me when I want to Get-R-Done, a handy phrase coined by that lovable Larry the Cable Guy.

In the case where I was getting annoying telemarketing calls about extended auto warranty offers on my cell phone, out of curiosity, I contacted my provider and asked them if they received a lot of complaints from their customers about these calls.

What Verizon's Leigh Schachter told me, warmed my heart.

Turns out, these auto warranty calls annoy A LOT of Verizon Wireless customers, which in turn, annoys Verizon Wireless a great deal, too, said Schachter in a phone interview with me yesterday. Schachter is assistant general counsel for ligitation for Verizon.

How annoyed is Verizon? Annoyed enough to file suit in state and federal court to stop these shenanigans.

Said Schachter, "It's been a huge problem in the last several months. In March, we had filed a John Doe complaint in state court in New Jersey, trying to identify the source of who is making these calls. As part of discovery and an investigation we've done internally, we filed a new complaint in Federal court last week which names two companies."

The first company is Explicit Media, which does business with Voice Solutions (www.myvoicesolutions.com), Schachter said. The second company is National Auto Warranty Services, which does business as Dealer Services, which operates out of Missouri (where the AG there says numerous auto warranty companies reside).

Verizon said it is not sure where some of these companies are getting your cell phone numbers to harass you. It could be a random auto-dialer or they could be buying phone lists. Schachter says it is definitely not coming from Verizon.

"These guys are pretty good at hiding themselves," Schachter said. "It takes some work to find out who they are. By filing the John Doe, it allows us to issue subpoenas and take discovery. In the past when we've gone after companies, we get an injunction to stop these people from making calls. That's our primary objective. We're also looking for information to see if others are involved. We want to shut down all avenues."

Schachter says if you want to contribute any details on the annoying calls you get, he said the most helpful information includes: a customer's phone number, caller i.d. number that shows up, the time and day you got the call and most particuarly, if you talked to anyone, get information and details on who was making the call.

You can send that information to Sherri Cunningham, a consultant to Verizon, at scunningham@starpower.net or write the old fashioned, snail mail way to John Johnson, Verizon Wireless, 7600 Montpelier Road, Laurel, MD, 20723.

Cunningham also says that if you believe these calls have caused you to go over your monthly calling plan, you can also call Verizon customer service to get a credit on the warranty calls or text messaging spam.

Any other cellular companies out there fighting back against these auto warranty calls?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Complaints, Consumer protection, Marketing/Advertising, Warranties
        

I was so glad to hear I'm not the only one annoyed by pesky extended auto warranty offers in my mail, my home phone and cell phone. After the column ran, my colleagues here in the office were quick to send me the numbers annoying them, too.

Marvelous Marcia over on the Metro Desk received several. She's been taking down numbers:

562-288-7125

517-931-2516 (not warranty, but low cost healthcare)

866-788-9833

The great and wonderful Real Estate Wonk-esse herself, Jamie, sent me this number: 402-562-8737. "Please don't make the mistake of driving without a warranty," the recorded voice urged.

Steve from North East said he got rid of one company, but now he's getting a number from outside of the country: 011-50622377029 Costa Rica!!!

Said Steve:

These same idiots were calling me also before lunch and around 6:00PM There is no caller id per se but only an area code that began with 7. They were calling me cell phone # which mad it even worse. They called me when I was shopping at the Food Lion. In total they called about 20 times. I have a fleet car, the car is not registered in my name, and I am about 10K miles beyond the regular Ford warranty.

Finally late last week I got a call and picked it up and pressed the button to speak to someone and got Ben. I told Ben I had a fleet car and to stop calling me all the time. He just hung up, but no calls since.

Carolanne Kapus told one company calling her to buzz off:

I just want to thank you so much for your article regarding those harrassing warranty calls. We have been harrassed as well. Even after hitting the option to remove our telephone number the calls still came. I have clipped this article and have in my computer room. Today, I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the companies and told them about yesterday's article. Needless to say they were shocked.

Chris Miles share how difficult it is to file a complaint with the FTC:

I read , with great interest, your last column on the junk phone calls.

For many months we have been getting calls from a company, that will not identify itself, offering to refinance our credit card debt. (The joke is on them, we carry no balances.)

If you listen to their recording, you have 2 options –Press 1 to connect with the person. This person will be very rude and demand your credit info and will not tell you the name of the company or how to contact them.

If you press 2 to be removed from their call-list you are immediately disconnected. My husband and I have tried this numerous times. They still keep calling, sometimes 3 times a week.

Now we are starting to get the calls about the auto warranties too. (The joke is still on them as all of our cars are from the 1990s and 1980s.)

I spent several hours one day calling Verizon (world’s WORST customer service and hold music too) and the FTC.

Verizon’s only suggestion was for us to subscribe to CallerID but my friend has that and gets the same calls and it appears as ‘unavailable’ so that would be no help to me. The FTC said that unless I know what company is calling, they cannot/will not do anything. I also believe that these companies are flagrantly flouting the do-not-call-list laws

Peter Bell of Monkton "hears" my pain and agrees about the FTC:

Never mind the warranty messages, how bout the "repair your credit" calls!?!

We have 3 lines, all of which were put on the do not call registry upon it's very first week of existence. While most seem to be respecting it, the warranty and credit scammers do not. What's more, if you "patiently" follow the automated directions to a human being, they're unapologetically rude to you and hang up!

Calls to any of the bureaucracies you indicated only result in either a bureaucrat wringing their hands on the other end, agreeing w/ how horrible and unfortunate it is or, in the case of the FCC, a bureaucrat who felt he had far more important issues to deal with and, alas, "they weren't really breaking the law and there's not much to be done about it."

I "hear" your pain!

William Sheldon immediately placed his cell number on the Do Not Call Registry, but of course, that's no guarantee that the calls won't continue since we've already determined that by sending automated telemarketing calls to your cell phone, these companies are already breaking the law. Said William:

Your column in the 13 Jul Sun came at a welcome time. I suspected that I was not the only one who is being harassed by these robo-dialed calls and this confirmed my suspicions. My experience has hit all the points that your column mentioned, to include attempting to get to the tel # that shows up on the cell phone. This reminded me to do something I have been putting off for some time which is to list my cell phone on the National Do Not Call List--now done. There is a very good article on the extended auto warranty business in one of the recent Consumer Report issues. It is worth reading for everybody.

Sean Dakin, founder and CEO of National Political Do Not Contact Registry, a non-partisan, non-profit program by Citizens for Civil Discourse, wants to remind everyone that you "can punch in the number (if available) of these firms and at least register your complaint as well" on callercomplaints.com.

Stay tuned for some interesting news about who else is extremely annoyed by these auto warranty calls.

UPDATED, May 2009: The Federal Trade Commission has sued two Missouri companies responsible for extended auto warranty robo-calls.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Complaints, Consumer protection, Marketing/Advertising, Naughty businesses/NBotW, Warranties
        

I mentioned this group the other day when I was telling you this is Auto Theft Awareness Month. What is the National Insurance Crime Bureau? It's a nonprofit organization that receives support from approximately 1,000 property/casualty insurance companies and works with law enforcement agencies to help identify, detect and prosecute insurance criminals (sounds sexy, doesn't it? like CSI for insurancegeeks).

The cool thing about this Web site is that you can tap into its database for vehicles that were stolen, but not recovered, or declared totaled by cooperating NICB members. Unlike other companies that charge you for this service, NICB offers it to you for free. We love free stuff here.

If you're looking to buy a car, you need to check out the car's history. Don't buy a stolen car because you didn't check.

Also, you can check for flood vehicles on NICB's site, too. Millions of cars are declared totaled every year and every year, millions of those cars end up back in the market. Now keep in mind that this relies on honest dealers and insurance companies reporting on the history of cars accurately and honestly, but still, it's worth the check.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cars, Consumer Web Site of the Week, Consumer protection, Consumer safety, Insurance
        

In today's Q&A on a complaint about T-Mobile's payment policy, reader Patricia Hall was told she needed a Social Security Number and driver's license to pay her daughter's cell phone bill.

When Hall asked why, she was told something about an FCC law, but couldn't get a clear answer from T-Mobile. So I tried and received a muddled response from some unnamed person at T-Mobile USA Public Relations. Since I couldn't get T-Mobile to respond, I contacted other cellular companies to try to make sense of what Hall encountered.

Well, someone higher up at T-Mobile noticed the less-than-stellar response we received and contacted me this morning to offer help should we receive complaints about T-Mobile in the future.

Sounds like Hall received bad info from the Marley Station T-Mobile store. Here's the proper policy, according to Graham Crow, account director Waggener Edstrom, the PR firm for T-Mobile, who also apologized for the person who didn't answer the question more clearly the first time:

It turns out the information provided at the store was simply a misunderstanding of T-Mobile's policy. We have reached out to the store to correct that.

Although the information provided in the prior e-mail was in fact correct insofar as it related to the policy on inbound telephone calls -- unfortunately it did not actually address the question that was asked about payments in a store.

T-Mobile's policy allows account payments in its retail stores without the need to verify identity. If, however, the person making the payment is seeking access to account information beyond the balance due, FCC regulations mandate that the person physically present in the store produce their government issued photo ID matching the name of the customer (or a person the customer has previously designated as an authorized user on the account). Even if the person knows the customer’s Social Security Number or Driver’s License Number, T-Mobile’s policy is to refuse in-store account access without the photo ID.

T-Mobile takes great pride in providing the very best in Customer Care experience for its customers. It’s something they treat very seriously and they take great pride in the numerous validations of this with their J.D. Power Awards for outstanding Customer Service.

Thanks for the clarification, Graham.

Anyone else with T-Mobile problems should write in to us. We've got a good pipeline to the company now to help you resolve those issues.

(AP Photo)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Complaints
        

My colleague Andrea Walker's front page article about Giant Food's efforts to revitalize its stores, elicited lots of e-mails. People are passionate about their groceries.

Here are some edited e-mails. Let us know your take on Giant.

Angela Balsamo of Glen Burnie: My concern, which no one has been talking about, is the slow demise of the shopping centers where Giant was the only anchor store. There are 2 shopping centers in Bowie where Giant was the only anchor, but has since left. Now almost 2+ years later stores in each shopping center are closing left and right because Giant is gone and hasn’t been replaced by anything.

Normally this would be the responsibility of the management company, however in both cases Giant still holds the lease and refuses to give it up. They pay the rent each month, content that their former spaces are sitting empty. Meanwhile the “mom-and-pop” stores that pay rent based off the fact that Giant is the anchor are struggling.

From Stan Sirody: Unfortunately, those changes miss the biggest problem I've noticed in over 40 years of shopping at Giant: their selections have diminished greatly, and many former favorites of mine are now gone. It's obvious to me that they're trying to consolidate their offerings into fewer choices, whether for the economy in price or the convenience of having fewer suppliers. I can no longer find my favorite lunch meats, barbecue sauce, toothpaste and dozens of other items, nor can I stand their poor produce quality. It looks as if they're now at the bottom of their suppliers' lists when it comes to fresh produce. Anyway, I've moved on.

Bob Davis of Columbia: I enjoyed reading your article in the Sun today (online). But I tend to agree with David Livingston's opinion that the current changes won't do much. We pretty much gave up on Giant several years ago. The closest Giant (River Hill in Columbia) was regularly charging higher prices than the Hickory Ridge Giant for the exact same items. And the service on both stores was heading straight down hill. I wrote a letter to Giant management and they essentially blew me off. They could not have cared less. Since then we do large shopping at Safeway, Harris Teeter and sometimes even drive to Wegman's in Hunt Valley to avoid Giant. The newest changes to the River Hill store are mostly cosmetic. We anxiously await the Wegman's slated for Colubmia.

Mike Singer writes: Sorry to put you in the middle on this. Have you read the comments attached to this article? These are the real thoughts and issues surrounding Giant. I respectfully ask that you do your best to contact Ms Michel and implore her to read these comments. All this money spent on new uniforms, and paint jobs, all customers want are good prices, selection, and customer service.

From Brad Schwartz: Giant has been losing market shares because of very questionable management decisions by Royal Ahold. Store managers used to have flexibility to order items specially requested by their customers and they also were able to customize their store to meet the tastes and preferences of each neighborhood they were located in. They don't anymore. Also, the musical aisles have enraged many customers. People like to be able to get in and out of the grocery store as quick as possible.

Dolores Schmitt says: Perhaps you can forward this to Robin Michel, since her e-mail address was not listed, I have been going to the Giant at Chatham for l4 years, and it was a very clean, nice store. All the employees were friendly and we all got to feel like friends. Once Ahold bought the company, the changes were apparent immediately. Less employees, mostly all new younger employees, different managers, usually no checker at the fast line. the seafood is all prepacked so that if you want a small piece of salmon or just a few shrimp, you cannot shop there. Also, many items are not stocked on the shelves.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Shopping
        

My story today about salvage grocery stores will inspire this week's Cheap Trick Thursday. With food prices soaring, along with gas prices, how are you curtailing your grocery spending?

Lots of people are taking a hard look at what they buy and how they use it to create healthy meals. The food adventures of The 99 Cent Chef, who creates dishes with the best offerings from dollar stores in southern California, are interesting, for example. (My personal, untested hypothesis about dollar stores is that some of the products they carry would normally sell for less than one dollar, so you spend less on some items but more on others. But, I digress.)

I'm more intrigued by what a blogger over at Wise Bread pointed out about healthy, frugal eating: 

... that most diets around the world don't include as much meat and sugar as the American diet. In essence, he argues that Americans have been conditioned to follow eating habits that people elsewhere would consider a luxury.

It's the kind of luxury promoted by food porn purveyors in the media, said a Slate writer, who points out that processed foods may be artificially cheaper because the price tags don't reflect the agricultural subsidies that ushered it into being.

So, please share your methods for keeping your grocery bills in check. Are you avoiding a kind of food? Stocking up on another? Shopping in a different way? We'll post the best reader suggestions on Thursday.

UPDATED: Looking for a surplus or closeout grocer near you? Here's a list of salvage grocers around the country, maintained by a Virginia store owner. It doesn't include chains such as Amelia's Grocery Outlet, however.

UPDATED AGAIN: Don't miss our follow-up post loaded with ideas on how to save money on food!

(photo: Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Food, Gas prices, Shopping
        

Here's one for the "D'Oh!" file.

CNet.com reported that for the second time, AT&T mistakenly published a notice on its Web site telling Apple iPhone users that they would get free Wi-Fi access to the wireless carrier's 17,000-plus hotspots around the country.

Once tech bloggers picked up on it Friday morning (after it was discovered that a notice had been posted on AT&T's Web site and stayed up there til about 8:30 a.m.), the notice was removed by 9:30 a.m., CNet reported. The notice said:

"AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation's largest Wi-Fi hot-spot network with more than 17,000 hot spots, including Starbucks. Now users can relax and access music, e-mail, and Web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their favorite location."

 Turns out, it's not true, though. AT&T posted it by mistake.

We would normally just laugh this off, but same thing happened in May when AT&T first launched free Wi-Fi access to its Laptop Connect customers, who subscribe to the company's 3G data service for laptops. CNet said AT&T also posted a free Wi-Fi notice and then took it down after confessing that it was published in error.

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. (I know I know, that's not the exact line, but I was in the mood to say something hokey and cheesy).

How goofy is that? When you're launching a sophisticated product like the iPhone, I can't imagine it's a good idea to tick off consumers with bad info about what's available to them as customers. Also, it's never good to dangle free stuff in front of customers and then take it back. This might not matter to iPhone devotees, but for the rest of us, it would make us think twice. 

I've told you before, I don't have an iPhone. Part of the reason why I don't have an iPhone, even though I think it's a very, very pretty technogadget I wouldn't mind owning, is due to the fact that I like my cellular carrier, which is not AT&T.

I don't have anything against AT&T. Many people I know swear by AT&T. I used to be with AT&T many, many years ago, but the service was spotty and I could never get a signal in my home. That made my cell phone pretty useless. So my big issue with the iPhone is that it would force me to do business with one specific carrier and I don't like being forced to do business with anyone. I like to have a choice, so I choose not to get the iPhone until it opens itself up to other carriers.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Naughty businesses/NBotW, Technology
        

We've had a lot of questions about Comcast moving some channels from analog to digital TV. We covered this in the Tuesday Q&A in the print paper, and then Bruce Voelker and other readers asked some more questions about the Comcast channel move on the blog, and finally, Liz shared some tips on how to get Comcast's attention online.

Well, I got news for you guys. It works. Bruce Voelker wrote back to share his story with us:

I sent a nasty gram to the We-Care@Comcast email address you mentioned in your post, and in under 2 hours, I got email responses from Comcast Corporate and a customer care representative for the Baltimore area, as well as a phone call from the same customer care rep. They sure didn't fool around.

So, this is what I found out:

1.) Yes, channels in B'more County are being migrated and Comcast Corporate doesn't even know about it until a day or two in advance. There apparently are only going to be a handful more channels that will be migrated soon and then that's it for the migration.

2.) When the digital switch occurs next February, Comcast customers who use a coax cable plugged into cable ready tv sets will continue to be able to watch the tv channels they currently enjoy (unless the channels have been migrated), and will continue to be able to do so until sometime in 2012.

Here's what they offered to do for me:

1.) Give me a free digital converter box for one tv set, and for $2/month more, I could add one to a second tv set in my house. I decided to stick with the one box and see how that works out for me. If I find that my other tv set needs to have the same set up, I'll either buy a box instead of renting one or I'll buy a tv w/a digital tuner installed already since I'm one of the few out there who hasn't bought a LCD or Plasma tv yet and use the free box on the other tv set.

2.) Free installation of the converter box.

3.) Free upgrade to enhanced basic cable where I get all of the channels back that I have/had, as well as, the price per month of the package remains the same as the extended basic cable package and it's won't increase significantly after 6 or 12 months.

So, since the extended package tends to go up by a dollar or two every year, this will also. The two packages apparently will always have the same price. I couldn't have been happier. I get a slight upgrade for free and I get back the channels I lost. It looks like complaining does work.

Maybe your readers in Howard County can do what I did and get the same level of service? I'm scheduled to get my upgrade on Friday, so we'll see how that goes since that is usually an adventure in itself.... Thanks for the contacts you mentioned in your blog- they really did help!

hooray. Take Bruce's advice. Let Comcast know you're confused or mad or unhappy. You'll likely hear from them. You can put your comments here and Comcast will find you or you can write to us and we'll pass your info along to Comcast, like George Peterson here, who is also really confused. How do I know that? Because he said so:

Now I am really confused.  I see commercials for the switch over to digital in February 2009 and if you have cable you don't need to do anything.  The other day I noticed some channels (i.e., AMC) that were included in the Basic/Expanded Service are not available anymore.  All I got was blue screens and I called Comcast to find out what was going on.  The person told me that in preparation for the switch over to digital some channels are being moved to digital cable.  I said "wait a minute" I am paying for the channels now I can't watch them?  The person told me that even though I have cable I will need a converter box.  She sent me one (gratis) but said that additional converters would rent for $3.95 a month and you need a box for each television set.  So now in order to get channels come February I am going to have to shell out $3.95 a month for each of the three converter boxes I will need.  Who is telling the truth here?  Is this another prime example of the government sticking their noses into something and having it cost the consumer more money?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I have a routine every night when I get home from work. I empty my car of any change, CDs or any personal items. Save for a doggy blanket, I pretty much empty my car every night and then put the club on and lock it. Why? Because I've had my car broken into four times in Baltimore.

Once, there was nothing in the car to steal so they took off with my car battery. That was lovely. But the one that left me pretty disturbed was when they tried to jimmy the ignition to steal it.

So why am I telling you all this? Because July is Auto theft Awareness Month and whether you want to prevent someone from swiping your car or just ransacking it, there are steps you can take that might help. The Insurance Information Institute says the number of cars stolen has decreased between 2004 and 2007, but drivers should remain vigilant because auto theft continues to be a major problem with a million vehicles stolen annually.

To prevent your car from being stolen the I.I.I. recommends taking the following precautions:

Use a security device like a steering wheel lock or a gear shift column lock.

Keep your car in a garage and lock the garage door.

If you have to keep valuable personal property in your car, leave it in the trunk.

Park only in well-lighted areas. Never leave your car running while it is unattended.

The I.I.I. and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) advises using a "layered approach" to auto theft protection. Beyond using anti-theft and vehicle immobilizing devices, such as fuel cut-offs and smart keys, the NICB recommends installing a Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to assist law enforcement in tracking a stolen vehicle. They also recommend checking the NICB's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) before purchasing a used car; this can be done free of charge via the NICB's VINCheck.

If your car is stolen, have the following information ready to give to the police:

The year, make, model and color of the car and the license plate number.

The approximate time the car was stolen.

A description of anyone you may have seen loitering around your car before it was stolen.

The names of any witnesses.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer protection, Consumer safety
        

Many of my colleagues here at The Sun, plagued by feelings of uncertainty, said they found themselves buying lots of stuff. I know I have ...

If you, too, indulged in a little retail therapy this weekend, you might be interested in this LA Times article about compulsive shopping.

This is not to say that the occasional shopping spree warrants therapy and support groups, but if this has become a crippling problem, options are out there to help.

Their experts say that understanding why you shop can help you stop. 

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Shopping
        

With money being tight these days, it may be tempting to borrow against your 401(k).

Many workers do, figuring it’s better than borrowing from a bank. You repay yourself with interest, not the bank. But is it really a good option?

Now there’s an online calculator that helps your show why you might be given on by borrowing.

 “The primary disadvantage of taking a 401(k) loan is the loss of compound interest and dividends that would have accrued if the money had not been borrowed,” says the National Center for Policy Analysis which created the calculator. “Moreover, the interest paid back into the account is unlikely to equal the interest earned by 401(k) investments.”

Check it out. You can plug in your balance, how much you want to borrow, how many years to retirement and the expected rate of return on your investments.

For example, take the case of a 35-year-old with $50,000 in her account. She contributes $500 a month, and her employer kicks in $250. She repays her loan over five years at an interest rate of 6 percent. Her investments are earning a rate of 7 percent a year.

That loan makes a huge difference. By borrowing, her account is $316,443 less than if she didn’t take the money out.

The calculator assumes that you stop making contributions to the plan while you’re repaying the loan. Some companies prohibit contributions from those with outstanding loans, the NCPA says. Sometimes people don’t have enough to money to make both contributions and repayment.

Still, the message that NCPA is trying to get across comes in clear. Borrowing against a 401(k) is far costlier than workers realize and should be avoided.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Retirement
        

Planning to escape the high temperatures this weekend by checking out Batman or some other blockbuster?

Pick up your Discover card on the way out the door.

The offer is valid through Aug. 31, according to Bargainist. 

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

AAA Mid-Atlantic members believe that gas prices will shoot up to $5 a gallon sometime this year. (Continue reading for my prediction.)

Did you hear that sound? That was the sound of millions of drivers groaning.

In a recent AAA Mid-Atlantic member survey, seven in 10 members said they have had to cut spending from other parts of their household budget to make up for the continued spike in gas prices.

Those who are reallocating household funds to pay for increased gas costs are spending fewer dollars on entertainment (87%) and personal shopping (81%) – such as for new home technology or work clothes. Leisure travel (62%) and home improvements (43%) took the next biggest hits as households move money around to pay for gas. Those surveyed were allowed to choose all that applied among six common household budget areas. More than four in 10 (41%) said they had cut back on food shopping.

Was was most disturbing, though, is that many expect gas prices to climb even higher with nearly 90 percent of those surveyed believing that the Mid-Atlantic region will see $5 a gallon gas prices this year.

Nearly half of those who completed the survey (48%) believe it is very likely they will pay $5 per gallon for self-serve regular this year, while almost four in 10 (39%) believe it is likely.

Many Maryland areas are already averaging $4 or more for a gallon of gas for over a month. Today the state average is $4.05 per gallon for self-serve regular and has been holding steady at that price for the past 10 days, AAA says.

I'm a pessimist so I'm going to agree that it's likely we'll hit $5 a gallon this year. I have no data to back up my guess. Just pulled it out of thin air. But if you've got some good reasoning, I want to hear it. What say you? What's your prediction? Will it go higher than $5 or will we hover in the mid-$4 range? Or are you one of those silly optimists who thinks that we'll drop below $4.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Gas prices
        

Ignorance is bliss, right? Well, health officials in New York City think ignorance will kill you. So recently, the Big Apple became the first city in the country to force chain restaurants to post the calorie count of each food in the same size and font as the price.

Yikes.

As this msnbc story on calorie sticker shock says, consumers aren't so sure they want to be jarred into awareness when their tummy is growling for food.

Here's the top of the story:

Nora Cara was flabbergasted.

She was about to order her usual morning coffee and muffin at Dunkin’ Donuts when she saw the new calorie labels. The chocolate chip muffin she had her eye on was 630 calories.

“I was blown away,” said Cara, a 27-year-old homemaker from Forest Hills in New York City. “I’m not a no-carb type of person, and I usually don’t even think about it. But you pick up a little muffin with your coffee, and it has 630 calories in it? That’s a bit extreme!”

In another example, a 45-year-old owner of a construction company said he was quitting Dunkin Donuts corn muffins — 510 calories — for good.

Double yikes. I have to say, I like to eat. I'm not sure I want to know how many calories I'm consuming every time I eat. I will confess that it would make me make different decisions, for instance nibbling on a garden salad instead of wolfing down a cheeseburger.

I want to say this is a good idea. I want to say good job New York City for informing the public. I want to say this is a step in the right direction in the fight against obesity. I want to say this is great news to help us all make healthier food choices. My head wants to say all those things.

But my tummy? My tummy wants to take Midnight Sun Sam's Four Meat Burrito Challenge. mmmm mmmm. burritos. (and I'd do it without looking at Evan's daggone nutrition calculator, too, daggonit.)

(AFP/Getty Images)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer protection, Food, Healthcare
        

Get Rich Slowly had an intriguing list of items to make or do yourself rather than buy or pay others to do.

I agree that making greeting cards is a great idea, and I infinitely prefer making my own gift wrap instead of buying packaging that if used as directed will be destroyed. And don't get me started about DIY microwave popcorn.

However, often the DIY trade off is time (it takes a while for bread to rise, even no-knead bread) and convenience (it can get messy to change your own oil). Growing your own produce or making your own cheese requires an initial investment of money for tools --- not to mention the real estate. You could also brew your own beer ...

Frankly, there are a lot of things you could make for yourself -- and the pursuit of these DIY delights could be very rewarding. But where do you draw the line in the cost-benefit analysis?

Here's a few ideas:

Laundry detergent: click this link to find 10 homemade laundry detergent recipes. You may need to hunt around to find the ingredients, such as washing --- not baking! --- soda. But you'll be rewarded with a fragrance-free soap that does not suds up a lot.

Popsicles: Don't be tempted by the alluring melody of the Mister Softee truck. You may have read the ice pop cookbook review last week in The Sun's Taste section, but the Internet is also full of icy inspiration.  Check out this list of homemade popsicle recipes --- note the dripless one, made with gelatin --- that could easily be frozen in paper cups or empty yogurt containers.

Baking mixes: why do people reach for pancake mix or pre-packaged spice blends? Because it's quick and easy to open a box and dump. But with a little advance work, you could stir up dry ingredients and put them aside until you need and want them, to save yourself the measuring later. Allrecipes has this homemade pancake mix recipe and lots of cookie and brownie mixes that are suitable for gift-giving.

Okay, I just read over these ideas and realize some sound like they were pulled from a home economics textbook from a previous century. Most of us probably don't live in a Little House on the Prairie. If you've got something better in your back pocket, please share below.

Posted by Liz Kay at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Shopping
        

Have your 26 weeks of unemployment benefits run out?

You may be eligible for another 13 weeks of benefits under recent action from Congress.

Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation will start sending letters tomorrow to 46,000 Marylanders who may qualify for extended benefits. The extension took effect July 6.

To qualify, you must be unemployed and must have exhausted your benefits on or after May 1, 2007, according to the state. You must also be actively seeking a full-time job.

The letter will explain how to file for extended benefits.

If you think you may be eligible but haven’t received a letter by Aug. 5, contact an unemployment insurance claim center, state officials say.

Don’t quit a job to get these extra benefits. The state says your claim will be denied.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Economy
        

Did you see the news about the Baltimore City Council moving closer to banning plastic grocery bags, which was written by my wonderfully talented colleague and friend John Fritze? (fyi, Fritze's behind the recent series of stories on Mayor Sheila Dixon and her Furs)

Anyhoo, Annapolis tried to pass a similar measure last year, but decided to study it further.

Fritze says reps from from several Baltimore grocery stores said they oppose the legislation because paper bags are more expensive and because they require more energy to manufacture.

One grocer said he pays would have to pay about 10 cents per biodegradeable paper bag and 2.3 cents per plastic bag.

I can see both sides of this. I sorta think we should ban plastic bags (although I'll have to start buying bags, I guess, to pick up my dog's poop) because I see them in water, streets, in trees, pretty much everywhere. But I also don't think we should force grocers to take on the added expenses.

Write in if you disagree, but I would be for the ban as long as people realize that they'll have to pay for a paper bag. (sorta like IKEA's policy charging people for plastic bags.) That would either force consumers to pay up or bring in their own bags to avoid the added expense.

And you thought San Francisco was so much more hip and cool than we Baltimoreans when the Golden Gate city was the first in the country to pass a plastic bag ban last year.

So what say you? Yay or nay on the plastic bag ban? Would you be willing to pay extra for a bag?

(Sun Photographer Monica Lopossay)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Greenies
        

Ever wonder how much it costs for you to cool a room? How about how much electricity it takes to dry a load of laundry?

Mr. Electricity (discovered via Get Rich Slowly) offers an online electricity cost calculator for you to compute how much it would cost to run certain appliances. You can use this info to compare incandescent to fluorescent light bulbs or even decide whether to employ a solar clothes dryer instead.

The calculator lets you plug in some data for simple calculations, and the page below lists instructions for doing the computations yourself based on the usage info printed on the appliances' tags.

It's the kind of thing that might make you swear off that hair dryer (natural is more beautiful, anyway) and ditch that ancient refrigerator.

The bottom line, according to Mr. Electricity:  

"Appliances that create or remove heat use the most electricity."

Check the graph on the EnergyStar Web site for a comparison of the energy usage of different appliances.

And remember, some appliances are energy vampires, sapping energy in a standby mode, even when they're technically turned off.  So plug those wall warts into a surge protector and shut them off when not needed.

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Consumer Web Site of the Week, Greenies
        

Funny how fast you can go from an interesting business people are talking about to a business people should avoid, huh?

Of course, I'm talking about MyGallons.com, that site that promised to help consumers hedge rising gasoline prices.

Reader Bob first tipped us off to this MyGallons... and while it posed some interesting concepts, readers were quick to alert us to major red flags, including the fact that the Better Business Bureau rated MyGallons an F for failing to have a bank in line to process payment transactions. (we love our smart, savvy readers and the power of the Web)

Now, Consumerist says that MyGallons might be refunding membership fees.

Ouch. It's a "doggie dog world," my friends. Rise fast and fall hard.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

Dan Thanh alluded earlier to the fact that Comcast monitors the Internet, looking for disgruntled customers.

The Sun ran an Associated Press story in its business section a few months ago about the phenomenon, which the Boston Globe reprised last week in an article about companies using Twitter to keep tabs on what customers say about them --- particularly those who have technical difficulties.

Twitter defines itself as a quick way to tell lots of people what you are doing, at any given moment. You can either log onto the site to send a message, or a "tweet," or text- or instant-message it into the system.

So how do you use Twitter to contact Comcast? 

You can send a msg to "comcastcares" via Twitter. The site also posts a special e-mail address, We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com.

Critics seem to agree that this approach is a good move to forestall discontent among the segment of Comcast subscribers who are Internet-savvy enough to take advantage of the forum provided by the World Wide Web to broadcast their service problems (see Comcastmustdie.com for a classic example).

It may be an expensive way to deliver customer service, but as others have said, it's a good investment to placate those irritated enough to threaten to cancel their service --- and convince all of their Facebook friends to quit, too.

Of course, the flip side is those without cell phones or Internet access --- either because they can't afford it, or just have cable modem problems --- can't take advantage of this executive customer service and are forced into telephone-tree hell, desperately pressing "0" for an operator. Depending on your outlook on life, you can either relish or feel guilty about your ability to advocate for yourself in a way others cannot.

You can also do your part! Tweet on behalf of your lower-tech friends and relatives!

UPDATE: looks like DirecTV is also monitoring blogs and Twitter for comments ... have you had experience being contacted directly by a company because of an online missive? Feel free to share below?

Posted by Liz Kay at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Cable/Satellite/TV/Comcast/FiOS, Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Computers, Technology
        

We recently wrote about Comcast moving Washington D.C. channels from analog to digital for the Howard County and Carroll County areas, and had quite a few people express anger about losing those channels. But Voelker believes he's been losing channels in Baltimore County, too.

I am a Comcast subscriber who lives in Towson, and have noticed that in the past couple of months, I have lost ION, CMT, and this past weekend, AMC. None of those channels are essential to me, but I was always able to find something to watch on them as an alternative to the reality shows and the formulaic programming that can be found on the network stations that I can't stand watching.

Like one of your readers pointed out, I am now paying the same price as I always have for fewer channels and that infuriates me. Do you know of any alternatives so I can dump Comcast once and for all? I always receive junk mail from DirectTV and one other similar company, but they don't seem to be offering me anything different for an extra $10/month (not including all the upfront costs).

I don't have an answer for Bruce. I don't live in Baltimore County and I am not a Comcast subscriber. But I know some of our wonderful Consuming Interests readers might be more familiar with this issue and possibly even have a response for him.

I also know Comcast monitors the World Wide Web in its quest to improve interactions with customers, so if you've got a good response for Bruce's question, please comment below.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Cable/Satellite/TV/Comcast/FiOS, Complaints
        

Have you spotted any funny charges on your credit card bills lately?

In the last 12 months, the Better Business Bureau received nearly 1,800 complaints on Connecticut-based Affinion Group after people discovered unwanted charges on their credit card for membership services, such as "Shoppers Advantage," "Privacy Guard," or "Great Fun." Affinion used to be known as Trilegiant.

Charges range from $12 to as much as $59.99 per month. Some complainants had been charged by Affinion every month for years, racking up hundreds of dollars in charges.

“Consumers who get signed up for Affinion’s programs never actually provide their credit card information and therefore don’t suspect that the company will immediately begin charging their credit card every month,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson. “The large volume and pattern of complaints BBB has received indicates that Affinion is not taking enough steps to ensure consumers understand exactly what they’re getting into when they click on enticing pop-up ads – and that’s why they have a longstanding unsatisfactory record in BBB’s book.”

I wrote about something similar recently regarding Restaurant.com. I'd link it to you, but our silly archives system won't let me because it was published more than two weeks ago. If you'd like to see it, write in the comments and I'll paste the Q&A on Restaurant.com in another post.

Anyhow, the BBB said that in most cases, consumers had purchased items online – such as movie or airline tickets – from a reputable Web site. At some point in the transaction process, pop-up ads or chat boxes appeared offering incentives, such as $20 rebate cards for the Web site or claims like, “Click here for your 10% savings.”

The Restaurant.com offer clearly stated that you'd be charged monthly if you answered a survey for a 10 percent coupon, but if you glanced at the disclaimer, you probably missed it.  The BBB says most complainants allege they were signed up for unwanted services simply by clicking on pop-up ads or replying to chat windows, even though they ultimately declined the offers. Complainants never provided their credit card information to ads or chats because the company with which they had just made their online purchase had a pre-established agreement with Affinion Group to automatically transfer consumer information when they clicked on the ad or chat.

As we've warned you about earlier, watch out for those sneaky pop-ups, online surveys and free stuff offers. Most of the time, much of that stuff does not come for free.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW, Shopping
        

Right on the heels of my Sunday column on those pesky extended auto warranty calls people all over the country have been receiving on their home phones, work phones, cell phones and mailings, the Office of the Attorney General issued a warning on them today.

The OAG says to be "wary of a marketing campaign attempting to sell extended auto warranties that is targeting countless citizens nationwide on their cellular phones and landlines, as well as through postcards, letters and emails. The marketers offer to sell expensive extended warranties, and often 'phish' for personal information about the consumer.

Just hang up if you're getting unwanted telemarketing calls, the OAG says. Beware of extended warranty offers.

If you're getting calls on a phone that has been registed with the Do Not Call database, you should take the number down and the identity of the caller and file a complaint with the OAG's Consumer Protection Division.

Remember that these offers don't just come through the phone. The OAG says the marketing mailings "may appear to be an important notice from the consumer’s car dealer or auto manufacturer. There is always an eye-catching warning on the front of the card, such as: Final Notice: Expiring Auto Warranty.”

Both the calls and mailings will warn you that your car warranty is about to expire, and then urge (or frighten) you to call a toll-free number or push a button to be connected to a representative in order to renew their warranty.

Don't fall for it.

If you do seriously think about signing up for a warranty, Maryland consumers should please remember that the Maryland Telephone Solicitation Act generally prohibits a telemarketer from charging your charge card before receiving a written contract signed by the you. Therefore, there is usually no legitimate reason for the telemarketer to ask the consumer to provide account information.

Tell those bozos to buzz off.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Complaints, Consumer protection
        

You might know your credit score, but do you know what it means?

An annual survey by the Consumer Federation of America found that while our understanding of credit scores has gone up in the past year, our know-how is still substantially lacking.

Less than one-third, for instance, knew that a credit score indicates the likelihood of you not repaying a loan and not how smart you are about credit. Twenty-eight percent knew that 700 is about the lowest credit score you can have to still qualify for a low rate mortgage. Nearly three-quarters mistakenly believed income influenced credit scores while 40 percent erroneously thought age was a factor. And 59 percent didn’t know that maxing out a credit card would lower their score.

Washington Mutual Bank, which conducted the survey with the consumer group, says that you can reduce your finance charges on credit cards by $105 a year if you can rise your credit score by 30 points. If every consumer did that, the total annual savings would be about $28 billion.

How can you raise your score? The groups say:

Pay your bills on time each month.

Don’t max out your credit cards, or even get close to maxing them out.

Pay off debt, don’t just move it from one card to another.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Credit cards
        

In last week's Q&A, we covered Comcast Cable moving Washington D.C. channels from analog to digital. Apparently, there are quite a few people who weren't too happy about the switch. We heard from several.

Liz Hartley wrote in to say:

Re your column of 7/08/08 about Comcast push to digital, they are doing the same thing in Anne Arundel County. In effect, they have removed four stations (3 of which I watched most of the time) but are still charging the same monthly fee. And, in order to get these channels, they want to charge us $48.00/yr more!

Further, the ads on TV keep promising that those of us who have cable will have "no problems", which sounds like false advertising.

They say that they are removing the Washington channels because they are duplicates. Well, that is not entirely true. Some of their late morning programs and the evening news programs come on at different times -- it certainly has messed up my evening news watching.

If I switch to digital, they say I'll get more channels, but I do not watch 90% of the channels I currently get so why would I want more channels.

Since we're paying the same amount of money for fewer channels, in my book they're cheating us. And the sad part is that there is nothing we can do about it. If there is, please let me know.

Ken Wachter of Ellicott City is less than pleased about the move:

I too am very upset by the push from Comcast to digital cable. I live in Howard County and received the same notice about the Washington D.C. channels being dropped from the analog service. Several channels were already moved earlier this year and now we have one TV with a digital cable box so my wife can get one of her favorite channels that was moved. I don't like it. It performs very slowly changing channels and if two TVs are turned on to the same channel (one digital and one analog), there is a very annoying two second delay on the TV with the digital cable box.

I agree that this is a big push to increase revenue by Comcast. The new services you mentioned at the end of today's article were all "High Definition" services which cost even more than the standard digital cable service. I was upset enough about this change that I wrote a letter (snail mail, not email) to Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia with copies going to the "Cable Administrator" of Howard County and "Consumer Protection" of Howard County. But because Howard County will benefit from the increased fees, I doubt that they will do anything to address this.

One thing that hasn't been taken into consideration is the energy wasted. I have a meter that measures the amount of energy used by house hold equipment. It doesn't matter whether the digital cable box is turned on or off. It uses the same amount of power (16 watts) either way. That's $20 per year at today's electric rates including all the charges listed on my BGE bill. That's $20 per box, so you have to multiply that by the number of boxes to get the total cost. That is a huge energy waster. If you feel the top of the digital cable box you will realize it's being wasted as "heat" which increases the air conditioning load in the summer. Perhaps our "green" County Executive Ken Ulman will take a stand on this. Multiply this across the number of house holds in the county and the amount of energy wasted is significant.

The only reason I keep Comcast now is because I don't have to have a cable converter box on every TV in the house. I can just connect them directly to the cable. No extra energy wasted for a box that's doing nothing most of the time. Once Comcast drops the analog service, I may switch to Verizon FIOS. I'm no fan of Verizon either, but I think they may have a superior technology.

Thanks for the article today. Unfortunately you have no answers and I suspect you will never see a satisfactory answer at least satisfactory to me. My answer is to make the TVs so they can directly interface with the cable system. I think some manufacturers are working on such a system, but don't think it's available yet. That's what the TV manufacturers did years ago when cable started to become popular. TVs became "cable ready". Now the only "cable ready" TVs will be the ones still on analog service.

Ken says he received a response from the company last week, but "His only response was 'I’m sorry for the inconvenience this is causing you.' I wasn’t nasty to him, but I did give him an ear full and let him know that I was not a happy customer. He repeated that same sentence over and over as I laid out my complaints."

Maria Alvarez of Columbia said the cost of switching to digital couldn't come at a worse time:

You really think additional fees of $3.95 a box and you didn't include the $17.95 for the technician to come to your house is easy and inexpensive in these times of everything going up and companies continuing to screw their customers.

DC stations are just as much a part of the households in Howard and Carroll counties as Baltimore stations as a lot of us commute to DC and at times the stations do show different programs at a drop of a dime.

This is just another ploy by Comcast to continue to shovel in the money while the rest of us get less service. It's highway robbery and a travesty.

(AP Photo)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Cable/Satellite/TV/Comcast/FiOS, Complaints
        

Do you have any methods you use to help you sock away money for big-ticket items or just a rainy day?

Multimedia editor Mary pointed me to this Lifehacker post about tricking yourself into saving money. it goes beyond the usual "pay yourself first" tips, which recommend things like automatically transferring money from each pay check so you don't even notice it's missing. If you get a raise, you could also bank that money or direct it automatically toward your outstanding debts, continuing to live at your original income level.

Some of the Lifehacker tips use psychological means to discourage you from spending, such as making a picture of what's motivating you to save (your kid, your dog, your dream car or vacation destination) into a credit card sleeve so you have a visual disincentive every time you are tempted to buy buy buy.

Others are more practical ...

You could also freeze your credit card in ice so you have to wait to defrosting before using ... microwaving it like so much chicken breast is not recommended.

Do you have any methods for banking your money -- low-tech, high-impact or otherwise? Please share!

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Personal finance
        

Here's yet another update about MyGallons. Consumerist alerted us that MyGallons has stopped accepting membership fees.

The Better Business Bureau had given the company an F because MyGallons had no vendor to process transactions for pre-paid gas with participating gas stations.

Now the BBB has removed the F and has instead given it "no rating".

Here's what the BBB had to say: 

This company first came to the Bureau’s attention on July 1, 2008. According to the company's website they are offering a gas card program whereby you may “ buy your gallons in advance at your MyGallons price at the time of purchase and then redeem your gallons at the pump after the prices have risen”. There is an annual membership fee ranging from $29.95 to $39.95, depending on the program you choose.

Florida corporate records show the company is located in Miami, Fl. The Better Business Bureau challenged the company’s advertising regarding their offer, and the company met with the Better Business Bureau on July 9, 2008 and has modified its claims.

The company’s merchant services provider, PowerPay, has assured the Bureau that membership fees processed by them on behalf of MyGallons.com customers have been placed in a non-interest bearing escrow account. As of this date Mygallons.com acknowledges it does not have a contract in place with a vendor who can process transactions with gas stations across the country, and they have suspended accepting membership fees. The Bureau will issue a new report as the company’s evaluation continues.

The BBB encourages consumers to carefully read and understand all of the terms, conditions and risks of this offer. This information can be obtained from the company website: www.mygallons.com.

Posted by Liz Kay at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer protection
        

Faithful reader Bob shared a wonderful warm-weather cheap tip for your Friday evening:

Participating 7-Elevens are offering free Slurpees today.

What's the occasion? Why, it's July 11, or 7-11. The convenience retailer has declared it customer appreciation day, otherwise known as National Slurp Day.

In honor of 7-Eleven's 81st birthday, participating locations are offering free 7.11-oz cups of frozen delight while supplies of the cup last.

The drinks, however, have not been around for that long. Slurpees --- named for the sound the carbonated treat makes when it moves through a straw --- were first sold in 1967, although they didn't come up with the name until two years later.

UPDATED: You could also dress up like a cow today to get a free combo meal at Chik-Fil-A ... It's Cow Appreciation Day, apparently. Click the links for tips on how to dress like a cow. Chik-Fil-A will even reward partial attempts with a free entree.

Posted by Liz Kay at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

I got one word for you: GROSS.

and: ewwwwwwwww.

That's all.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Odds & Ends
        

There's trouble afoot in the wonderful land of Apple, dear readers.

In a chat I had with PC Magazine Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff, he said that they've heard word on the street that activations for the iPhone are slow, taking 45 minutes in some cases.

Could that be due to the long lines of people looking to buy one or could it be some technical glitches?

Fellow blogger and Fabu Guru of Dating Maryann , confirmed that there are some problems for activation, and shared her own experience today with upgrading her iPhone:

As an iPhone user who has spent the better part of her morning freaking out, here's an interesting problem that it seems Apple should have foreseen: Traffic overload.

I have a first-generation iPhone and downloaded the 2.0 software for my phone. However, right now I essentially have a bricked phone because it needs to access the iTunes store to finish its download and, well, the iTunes store is overloaded with traffic. I've found a few sites that have detailed the problem, including on a blog that has more than 300 comments on the problem, but the only solution is to keep trying. What about people who are expecting important calls on their phone? Who are traveling soon?

I know that server problems have already been an issue this morning for people who bought the 3G phone (activations taking long, some stores even sending buyers home to finish the activation process).

Surely Apple should have predicted the stress that the release of a new phone and a BIG software upgrade would have on them?

All this makes me think we should be taking PC Mag's advice not to run out and buy one, unless you're an early adopter of all tech gadgets, you can't live without it or you worship at the altar of Apple.

Ulanoff says "there is no compelling reason to run out and buy one. Our suggestions is, don't."

There are many new killer features, but the cost alone (especially when you sign up for a 2 year service plan) isn't worth it. That $199 price is not what you'll end up paying in the end, once you sign up for the service plan.

Ulanoff says the other negatives are that the camera is still 2 megapixels, there's no flash, you still can't do video, and no cut and paste for text. "That's what kills me," Ulanoff says. "Most of the phones, the really good ones, you can add memory. The iPhone 3G has 16 gigabytes. That's a lot but not unlimited."

Ulanoff isn't totally bagging on the iPhone 3G. He says, it's a cool phone and the applications take it to a different level, but...."The new design... I held one last night. It's not an aluminum back. It's a plastic back, which helps with call quality. The metal was hurting call quality. So the plastic makes the phone look a little fatter and the plastic isn't quite as sexy as the metal."

Anyone else have iPhone 3G stories? Thoughts? Problems? Comments? Applause?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Technology
        

Drumroll please!

Prepare yourself for the latest --- and possibly final! --- tax rebate update from the U.S. Treasury Department.

This week, they sent out the last of the mass distributions of paper checks for the stimulus payments so many have been waiting so long to receive.

How much was sent out? About 7.530 million economic stimulus payments to American households, totaling $5.755 billion.

That brings the grand total, based on 112.405 million payments, to $91.834 billion. 

Sure, the treasury be sending out more checks until everyone who has applied for them (and is eligible) has been paid, probably before Oct. 15. But no more giant mailings. And maybe no more updates!

So don't forget, in your travels ... 

to ask your friends and neighbors --- particularly older adults who might not have filed taxes in years --- whether they have received their money. More than 97,000 Marylanders hadn't received their rebate checks, as of the end of June.

And if you've been tapping your foot in front of your mailbox for weeks, you can always call the IRS's Stimulus Payment Hotline at 1-866-234-2942 to see what's the deal.

Posted by Liz Kay at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Tax rebates
        

Ah, summer. It's often a time of major life changes for young adults: graduating, starting new jobs, getting married. A recent column by Maureen Dowd about finding a good husband reminded me that finances, or at least discussing them, should be an important part of preparing for this kind of milestone.

Here's a quote from Dowd's expert, a Catholic priest and marriage counselor: 

“Does he use money responsibly? Is he stingy? Most marriages that founder do so because of money — she’s thrifty, he’s on his 10th credit card.

This thought was reinforced by a recent Marketplace segment on financial infidelity, where one spouse spent lots more than the other, and hid the bills (and the creditors' demands) from their better halves:

"... Some credit counselors who are reporting that in the last few months they've noticed an uptick in calls from one half of a couple. The caller asks the counselor to send all the forms to, say, their mom's house or their personal email account. "

The folks at lowcards.com have some tips for the newly married or soon-to-be-married. These include:

1. Before you ever say "I do," be honest with each other about the debt you are bringing into the marriage. At least one of you will probably have credit card loans or a student loan. One of your first priorities as a couple should be to pay down your debt. Your debt should be less than 35% of your income.

Write down all of your loans, the date due, interest rates, and minimum payments. This should include credit card debt, auto loans, student debt, wedding/honeymoon debt, mortgage, family loans, etc. Then create a plan to pay off each bill. If it is overwhelming, start by paying off the loan with the highest interest rate. Pay that, then move on to the loan with the next highest rate. (This technique is called snowballing, and Eileen told us more about it yesterday.)

2. Before your union begins, make the commitment to avoid credit card debt. If you can't pay for the item with cash, you can't afford to pay for it with a credit card either. Do not use a credit card to finance your honeymoon, furniture, home remodeling, trips, or your entertainment. A mortgage or auto loan is the only new debt you should consider.

3. Talk about finances. You will be financially tied together and you can build a nest egg together, but you must share financial goals. If one of you is a saver or a spender, admit that and create a budget that allows for spending and saving. (See examples above)

4. Get a copy of your credit reports and credit score. This will show all accounts that are open, where you stand in the opinion of creditors and what you can expect from loan offers. Aim for a FICO score of over 760 to get the lowest interest rates.

5. It is important to build a good credit history for both partners. Put major purchases, loans and savings accounts in both your names.

6. If you can't afford to pay with cash, avoid the urge to make major purchases immediately after your marriage. Each new loan including a home mortgage, financing new furniture, opening new credit cards, auto loans, etc. is reported on your credit report. Too many loan applications at once will be a red flag to creditors and could lower your credit score and increase the interest rates that you pay.

Married and cohabitating folks, I'd love to hear how you make the financial decisions in your households. What lessons do you now know about money that you wish you knew way back when, before you joined your hands --- and your credit histories --- in matrimony?

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

OK OK OK, I know the Apple iPhone 3G hits stores today. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know, right?

I don't own an iPhone. I'm not sure I want to own an iPhone, especially since I'm pretty happy with my cell phone provider right now (and it's not AT&T). But I do know those of you out there who want to rush out and buy one of these pretty babies are wondering if it's worth the $200 to $600 for the actual handset and then another $70 or so for the monthly service fee.

Well, since I don't own one and I'm not planning on owning one, I thought you might want to hear what some reviewers thought of the iPhone 3G:

(By the way, those are people camped outside New York waiting to buy the 3G.)

Over at Tech Life, blogger Kris Abel says "it continues to be the best of my cellphone experiences. Information is so clearly laid out and features so easy to use, it’s comforting." Check out his pretty thorough review.

Dan Costa at PC Magazine says don't buy a iPhone 3G.

David Pogue at the NYT warns that "you don’t get that speed or those features unless you’re in one of AT&T’s 3G network areas — and there aren’t many of them." His advice:

So the iPhone 3G is a nice upgrade. It more than keeps pace with advancing technology, and new buyers will generally be delighted.

But it’s not so much better that it turns all those original iPhones into has-beens. Indeed, the really big deal is the iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store, neither of which requires buying a new iPhone. That twist may come as a refreshing surprise to planned-obsolescence conspiracy theorists — and everyone who stood in line last year.

Walter Mossberg from the WSJ says:

If you've been waiting to buy an iPhone until it dropped in price, or ran on faster cell networks, you might want to take the plunge, if you can live with the higher service costs and the weaker battery life. The same goes for those with existing iPhones who love the device but crave faster cellular data speeds. But if you already own an iPhone, and can usually use Wi-Fi for data, you probably should hold off and get the free software upgrade before deciding whether it's worth getting the new hardware.

Edward C. Baig at USAToday says, "Extra, extra: iPhone 3G: The Sequel, is worth the wait."

The UK Daily Mail says, "If you can find one, it is highly recommended."

Hope that helps. Happy shopping.

(AFP/Getty)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Technology
        

For the next installment of Cheap Trick Thursday, savvy and stylish online shopper (and Baltimore Sun reporter) Kelly Brewington shared links to two fabulous methods to use RSS feeds to search Craigslist and Amazon for you.

That way, you can keep tabs on sales of items that may go quickly yet avoid the temptation of wading through lots of stuff you don't need.

Both require using a feed reader, such as Google Reader, Google's personalized homepage or Bloglines. (P.S. You could always use one of these to subscribe to Consuming Interests as well!)

The Craigslist tip comes courtesy of Get Rich Slowly, a great blog for financial tips and frugal living. J.D. says to search for the item you want, such as a crock pot. Then, scroll down to the bottom-right corner of your screen and click on the orange "RSS" button there and add it to your reader.

Then, you can monitor sales conveniently by checking your reader, rather than performing the same search over and over again.

Super-mega-bonus application: looking for a new place to live? You can also use this method to search through apartment listings.

And now for Amazon:

Trent at The Simple Dollar (another wonderful site for tips on frugal living) has a similar trick for sorting through Amazon's Gold Box specials --- items sold at colossal discount each day, kind of like the loss leaders at the supermarket.

But again,  you don't want to read through every discount, in case one lures you into buying something you don't really need. So Trent suggests filtering the feed using a tool called Feedsifter.com.

You pop the link to the RSS feed in the top box, and add search terms for items you're interested in in the box below. Hit the "Filter My Feed" button, subscribe to your new feed by clicking the link, and you're ready to go!

Remember, as a commenter pointed out on The Simple Dollar, that you should verify that an item promoted at a discount is actually a great bargain. Search around online first to gauge how much an item actually retails for before proceeding to checkout.

Any other savvy online shopping tips? Please share!

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Shopping
        

TerraCycle has been getting all kinds of good press lately so I'm sure it needs no help from us. But really, I just want to jump on the fan bandwagon because it's pretty cool what this little New Jersey company is doing.

Two Princeton grads had a simple plan: take waste, process it, and turn it into a useful product.  They now make totes out of Capri Sun juice pouches, bags out of plastic grocery bags, and shower curtains out of Oreo cookie wrappers. Their fertilizer made out of worm poop (ha. poop!) is sold at Home Depot. I found their totes on Target's Web site.

What I like even more is the Bottle Brigade or Wrapper Brigade aspect of this venture.

According to this WSJ story on TerraCycle:

The company has set up nearly 4,000 trash-collecting brigades across the country, mostly from schools, churches and other nonprofit groups. They are paid two cents per wrapper or pouch. TerraCycle covers the cost of collection, including shipping, by securing sponsorships from the various food manufacturers; typically $150,000 to $350,000 per year depending on how many brigades are sponsored. TerraCycle then sends the trash to its factories in Mexico to be refashioned into new products for retail.

So everytime you save a wrapper that was destined for the big old stinky landfill, TerraCycle and the company it is partnering with (for instance, Nabisco) donates from 1 to 5 cents (depending on the item) to the school or charity of your choosing.

According to the TerraCycle Web site, if you sign up for the Cookie Wrapper Brigade, for instance:

TerraCycle will mail out 4 prepaid collection bags to your address. Once a collection bag is filled with at least 50 wrappers please seal and drop off the filled bag at a UPS drop off location near you, the shipping is courtesy of Nabisco.

The Cookie Wrapper Brigade program will allow almost any individual and organization to save this non-recyclable packaging from taking up space in our nation’s landfills. To help motivate people, Nabisco will donate $0.02 to the charity or school of your choice for every cookie wrapper you collect. If you don't have a charity currently in mind, you may choose from a list of existing charities! There are no signup fees, no shipping charges and the program will never cost you a single penny!

Pretty cool Cheap Trick, don't you think? You get to be environmentally aware and you get to donate to a charity. A double feel-good whammy. Gotta love that.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Greenies
        

Check out what the second-prize winner of the Florida Lottery's "Summer Cash" drawing will win: free gas for life!

Well ... not free gas, but 26 pre-paid gas cards, worth $100, every year for the rest of his or her life, according to the New York Times. Sure, that would buy less gas if prices keep going up, but still!

Funny --- I saw this article the day after Consumerist posted a link to this CNN story about scratch-off lottery tickets that are sold after the top prizes have been won.

That is to say, the top prizes are randomly distributed among the tickets ... they could be on the last ticket printed and sold. They could be on the first one! A Virginia professor has filed a class-action lawsuit about the lottery ticket problem, charging that the state sold $85 million in tickets for which no top prize was available, according to CNN.

The Maryland Lottery does post the number of remaining prizes on its Web site (click on this link for "scratch-off tickets" in the left menu bar). But if you're spending your money on lottery tickets instead of Internet access, you may think your chances of winning are slim, but not know that that they are in fact zero.

(photo: John Makely/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Gas prices, Odds & Ends
        

Not to step on any toes over at What's the Deal, the travel blog run by my very good colleague Michelle, but I thought we would share with you news on how other airlines performed in the Department of Transportation's most recent consumer report on air travel.

Michelle already told you that BWI's on-time performance was almost tops in performance in May, saying, it was "the second-best airport for flight on-time arrival performance in May, second only to Salt Lake City. Nearly 87 percent of planes arriving at BWI were on schedule. On-time departures were not quite as high, about 86 percent, but still good enough to rank the airport in the Top 5."

That's good news for BWI. But if you're anything like me, I know you're wondering who was lousy and which airlines performed the worst. (Heh. I'm all about spreading the joy, aren't I?)

Nineteen carriers reported on-time arrival rates of 79 percent in May, that's higher than the 77.7 percent in April and 77.9 percent in May of last year.

Airlines with the lowest on-time arrival rates were American at 67.3 percent, United at 72.4 percent and Continental at 75.4 percent.

Oh, and this should come as no surprise, the New York area still boasts some of the worst delays. New York's LaGuardia ranked second to last and and Newark Liberty International in New Jersey came in dead last among major airport.

I haven't flown anywhere lately so I can't speak to any of this myself. Anyone feel like the skies are more pleasant these days?

(AP Photo)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Airlines, Travel
        

The Consumer Web Site of the Week comes from Jim Ludwick, a financial planner with MainStreet Financial Planning in Odenton.

It’s called “What’s the Cost?” and the feature on the site that Ludwick recommends is  “Snowballing.”

By snowballing, you’re repaying debts in the order that minimizes the amount of interest you’ll owe over time. That means paying off the debt charging you the highest interest rate.

Use the site's snowball calculator to figure out which of your debts you should pay off first and how much you should pay each month. Start by plugging in your debts and their interest rates into the snowball calculator. You also must put in the total amount you can afford to pay toward these debts each month. (The Web site is based in England, so you will have to click on the American flag to switch from pounds to dollars.)

The calculator will display how much you should apply toward each debt each month to save the most on interest. The whole process takes a few minutes. Ludwick says he used to spend an hour doing similar calculations on spreadsheets for clients.

Ludwick says he’s used the calculator for a couple who had $290,000 in student loan and credit card debt. They could afford $2,000 a month to put toward their debt, about $400 than the minimum payments required. The calculator figured it would take them until 2026 to pay off that huge amount. But by paying off the most expensive debt first as recommended by the calculator, the couple willl save about $60,000 in interest over those years, Ludwick says.

What's the Cost? suggests using the snowball method almost always is cheaper than a consolidation loan.

Of course, there are those who argue that you should pay off the debt with the lowest balance first. That way, you pay off a debt quicker, feel good about yourself and are more likely to continue paying off debt.

But math-wise that doesn’t make sense. You could end up paying more iin interest over time.

“Do you want to feel happier or make somebody else richer?” Ludwick says. “It’s a false send of happiness.”

Check out the site and calculator and let us know what you think.  

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Consumer Web Site of the Week
        

Consumer Reports' August issue has all the info about buying tickets through ticket resellers.

If you've bought tickets online, you've probably seen ads for sites such as StubHub and RazorGator. CR found that when shows sell out in record time they can often be found on resale sites such as these --- at inflated prices.

The article includes smart tips for getting a deal to see a popular show:  

1. Buy early. If you're a fan, try to sign up for pre-sales, through venues or promoters or the artists' Web sites or fan clubs. According to CR, sometimes they offer a discount as well! You can also pay to play, by paying for access to alerts  about presales and the passwords themselves at  PresalePassword.net or Presalenow.com.

2. Credit-card promotions. CR sez cards such as  American Express, Visa Signature, and MasterCard snag choice seats and discounts to events such as "The Lion King" on Broadway and the U.S. Open tennis tournament for their cardholders.

3. Go direct to the source. You can usually avoid fees by paying for tickets in person. The magazine points out that the fees are also probably lowest at the official Web site of your team or venue. (P.S.  Sometimes this holds true for airline tickets as well!)

4. Hit reload. Ticketmaster lets customers take their time before finalizing their purchases, which can make it appear as if events are sold out, according to CR. But if they change their minds, those seats become available again.

Still seatless? Then here are CR's tips for going the reseller route: 

1. Supply and demand. It's easier to get tickets to see losing teams or pre-season NFL games --- as well as games with competitors who have not made the playoffs, CR points out. You can usually find cheaper seats for concerts at larger venues or in less popular tour destinations, as well as matinees and weekday shows.

"A good time to buy concert tickets is just after a performer has added extra tour dates," according to the article.

2. Track prices and be patient. Don't buy from a reseller immediately after striking out through other means. Wait for a while and see how the prices change over time by tracking prices at reselling sites. According to the article, tickets to the 2008 baseball All-Star game started at $29,500. Super Bowl tickets, on the other hand, sank to $1,000 with only hours left to kickoff. No matter where the prices start, the items aren't worth much after the events begin, so you can take advantage. If you can get electronic tickets or pick them up on site, you can make a game-day decision about weather or other potential issues.

3. Know what you're getting into. Many venues tack on plenty of ticket fees that really make you wonder what the base price of the ticket actually pays for, according to CR's breakdown. The resellers are no different, charging tons for delivering the tickets or even to print electronic versions.

Posted by Liz Kay at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

Here's the most recent list of violators spanked by the Maryland Department of Environment:

Lead Cases

Omar Osman, Maryland – 4 affected properties – On June 6, 2008, MDE issued a Settlement Agreement and Consent Order to Omar Osman equaling $8,000 for properties that were out of compliance with lead risk reduction standards.

Joseph L. Russ, Baltimore, MD – 4 affected properties – On June 3, 2008, MDE issued a Consent Decree to Joseph L. Russ equaling $7,000 for properties that were out of compliance with lead risk reduction standards.

Air and Radiation Administration actions

Constellation Energy – Perryman, Harford County -- On April 30, MDE received a penalty payment of $19,000 from Constellation Energy, from a penalty issued on March 17. The penalty action addressed violations of the emission standard for nitrogen oxides (NOx) at Constellation’s Perryman facility. The Perryman facility consists of five combustion turbines that mainly operate during times of peak electrical demand, such as hot summer days. Based on Continuous Emission Monitor (CEM) data reported by the company in their quarterly report, MDE determined that one of the combustion turbines violated the established NOx limit on four different days.

Fil-tec – Washington County -- On April 22, MDE received payment in the amount of $17,500 from Fil-tec to address violations of air quality requirements. Fil-tec receives and stores methanol, a VOC, along with applying it to threads using coating machines. VOC emissions are controlled by two thermal afterburners, which were discovered to have not been in proper operation during multiple days of production. The estimated excess VOC emissions during this time were estimated to be about 1.5 tons. The penalty was issued April 4, and the company paid the penalty within 30 days as required in the Notice of Assessed Civil Penalty.

Isaacs & Nawy, DDS – Baltimore County -- On May 1, MDE issued a letter of violation assessing $1,000 to Isaacs & Nawy, DDS for six violations of Maryland radiation control regulations pertaining to dental facilities.

Boston Street Dentistry – Baltimore City -- On May 1, MDE issued a letter of violation assessing $500 to Boston Street Dentistry for a violation of Maryland radiation control regulations pertaining to dental facilities.

A Frederick County Circuit Court Judge, making it a final Decree, signed Essroc Cement Corporation –Frederick County -- on April 15, the Consent Decree signed between MDE and Essroc. The Decree was filed on March 28 and addresses violations of Essroc’s Title V air quality operating permit and of federal air toxics requirements. Essroc Cement Corporation operates a Portland cement manufacturing company in Buckeystown, Frederick County. The violations include failure to perform monitoring and record keeping, and violation of parameters set to limit dioxin emissions from the cement kiln. The Consent Order includes a $100,000 penalty and requirements to address and correct the violations.

Water Management actions

Alan and Maryanne Meyers – Worcester County -- On June 10th, 2008, Eastern Shore compliance issued a Site Complaint and Order to Alan and Maryanne Myers of 2104 Riverbank Park Drive, Pocomoke, Worcester County. Compliance observed that Mr. Myers had constructed a 250-foot long timber bulkhead channel ward of the mean high water line without the required tidal wetlands authorization. We have requested that a plan and timetable be provided to the department outlining how the bulkhead will be removed.

Askew W. Gatewood, Jr. – Anne Arundel County -- On June 2, 2008 a Consent Decree was filed in Anne Arundel Circuit Court requiring Gatewood to correct violations of Title 16 that occurred at his property located at 8401 Bay Road, Pasadena, Anne Arundel County. Gatewood is required to remove unauthorized fill material from State tidal wetlands and replace it with a properly designed and constructed stone revetment in accordance with a remediation plan to be approved by MDE. Gatewood must also pay $10,000 to the Maryland Tidal Wetlands Compensation Fund within 30 days of execution of the Consent Decree by the Circuit Court.

Dennis Porter – Anne Arundel County -- On April 14, 2008 a Consent Decree was signed by Judge Hackner in Anne Arundel Circuit Court requiring Mr. Porter to correct violations of Title 16 that occurred at his property located at 316 Magothy Bridge Road, Pasadena, Anne Arundel County.

T.R. Weaver, Route 144 LLC, Waterway Construction Violation, Washington County- On May 29, 2008, the Maryland Department of the Environment issued a Site Complaint and Order to the owner, Route 144 LLC for unauthorized placement of concrete rubble within the 100-year floodplain of the Potomac River. The Order requires removal of all concrete rubble from the 100- year floodplain of the Potomac River placed at the site since the former Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Waterway Permit expired. The Order further requires stabilization of disturbed areas resulting from the removal. This site is located along Route 144, along the Western Maryland Rail Trail, east of the Town limits of Hancock.

Concrete Restoration and Protection, Inc. – Anne Arundel County -- On April 10, 2008 penalty settlement was executed for a total of $5,400 for violations of Title 4 that occurred at the Annapolis City Marina, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County. The company had de-watered an excavation without the appropriate sediment controls installed into Backwater Creek. Payment was received on May 9, 2008 in full settlement.

Ridge Valley Construction Company – St. Mary’s County -- On May 19, 2008 a settlement agreement was executed for penalty settlement of $5,200 for Title 4 violations and $1,200 for Title 9 violations that occurred at the Hermanville Addition to Greenbriar, Lexington Park, St. Mary’s County. The company had failed to maintain and implement an erosion and sediment control plan.

New Germany State Park, Dam Repair Project Violation, Garrett County- On June 2, 2008, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) issued a Site Complaint and stop-work Order to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Permittee and Carl Belt, Inc., the contractor for the dam repair project for failing to comply with conditions of Waterway Construction Permit 03-MR-0024 issued by MDE. DNR requested MDE assistance since the contractor installed the dam’s toe drain and temporary by-pass channel without having the Engineer-In- Charge (EIC) on site and present during these critical phases of construction and without prior MDE Dam Safety Division approval for modifications to the by-pass channel that would have impacted lake levels within the impoundment during construction. Follow-up engineering submittals by the consulting engineer in consultation with DNR and the contractor resulted in lifting the stop-work Order on June 4, 2008.

Mirant Maryland Ash Management, LLC – Charles County On May 29, 2008, the Attorney General filed, on behalf of MDE, a civil Complaint for Injunctive Relief and Civil Penalties against Mirant Maryland Ash Management, LLC for alleged unlawful discharges of pollutants to waters of the State at Mirant’s Faulkner Fly Ash Disposal Facility located in Faulkner, Charles County. The order seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day and remedial action to address groundwater contamination and violations of Maryland water quality standards in a tributary of Zekiah Swamp.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland provides us with this installment of Naughty Business of the Week: Un-Sun Tanning Salon.

This purveyor of artificial sunlight appeared to have closed up suddenly, leaving customers holding worthless gift cards and tanning packages, according to a story in the Catonsville Times.

Unfortunately, the Catonsville salon is not affiliated with stores of the same name in Reisterstown and Columbia, so those locations will not honor cards prepaid elsewhere.

In a pun-laden warning about customers "getting burned" by the Catonsville salon, the BBB also notes that personal items such as googles and lotions left at the salon before it closed can probably never be retrieved.

What should a consumer do?

1. File a complaint with the state attorney general's office by calling 410-528-8662 or at the consumer protection unit's Web site. The office can try to get some of that money back for customers "left in the dark." (sorry, you can thank the BBB again for that one!)

Raquel Guillory, the spokeswoman of the AG's office, told the Catonsville Times that it's harder to recoup money when businesses such as tanning salons close because they aren't bonded --- required to put up money to reimburse consumers if they close suddenly.

"Ideally, a business owner should leave instructions or information for their customers, if they must close their business down," says Angie Barnett, the BBB's president and CEO. "But consumers need to exercise due diligence when paying upfront for products and services. Read the fine print, ask questions, and look for policies regarding refunds, cancellations and store closings before you buy." 

This isn't the first time we at Consuming Interests have given you gift card tips and warnings, as well as ideas of how to sell gift cards. Check them out. 

(photo: Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

I often joke that if businesses stopped screwing up, I wouldn't have a column to write anymore. But I hope you know from reading Consuming Interests columns, that I'd just as soon take a consumer to task for bad decisions as I would a business. Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt and a chance to correct the record.

That's why I was glad Loyal Reader Beverly wrote in recently to say this:

While I thank Beverly for being such a loyal reader, I do want to caution her and everyone else who reads to know that I'm not telling you to shop or not to shop at these businesses that happen to pop up in a complaint.

I am, however, warning you about the pitfalls you might encounter should you decide to do business with the company. Most importantly, in each of the complaints I write about, I want you to keep an eye on how the company handles complaints that are brought to its attention. The mark of a good company isn't how they treat you when you buy something from them, but how they handle you when things go wrong.

And finally, coming to Beverly's second point, there are most definitely good companies out there. The recent column I wrote about Target is a good example of a company that listens to its customers. I'd love to write a column just about good customer experiences. The problem is, few people ever share good stories with me since I'm all about consumer complaints. Aye, that's the rub.

So if you've got one, an honest-to-goodness-above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty-customer-service-experience-with-a-business, please write in and share it here or directly to my e-mail address. I'll use the best ones in a future column. Why? Because we could all use a dose of good news.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Above and Beyond, Complaints
        

I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you, that you guys let me off so easy. Here it is, Monday afternoon and I haven't heard a peep out of anyone about the pitiful fact that I completely and undeniably FAILED you.

How did your fearless Consuming Interests leader fail you, you ask?

I was too busy participating in, and enjoying, the city's smallest and (in my opinion) sweetest Fourth of July parade ever (I can't tell you where or else it won't qualify as the smallest anymore), and forgot to share the Treasury Department's Tax Rebate update last week.

So here it is, that special post you wait for every week...

At the end of last week, the Treas sent out 10.025 million economic stimulus payments to American households totaling $7.775 billion.

So far, the Treas has sent out 104.875 million total economic stimulus payments totaling $86.079 billion.

That's alotta dough.

Forgive me for the delay. I am beside myself with guilt.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Tax rebates
        

This is the beauty of the Internet. No sooner had I posted the MyGallons info early this morning, alert readers like Robert and Kelly Murphy pointed us to the problems related to this deal.

Said Kelly:

I found the below information from my second favorite site on consumer items.

http://consumerist.com/tag/mygallons/?i=5022061&t=bbb-says-mygallonscom-omitted-fact-in-advertising-has-no-contract-to-process-transactions

Consumerist takes us to the BBB of Southeast Florida, which rated MyGallons an F for ommiting material information on its Web site that would help potential customers decide whether to join. The BBB said:

According to the company's website they are offering a gas card program allowing consumers to purchase a chosen number of gallons of gasoline at the current average rate in their area. The company further claims that by investing its members money in a hedge fund the card will be good for future purchases at participating gas stations even if the price of gas should increase. There is an annual membership fee ranging from $29.95 to $39.95, depending on the program you choose.

Florida corporate records show the company is located in Miami, Fl. The company’s website FAQ states that “the card is currently accepted by more 95% of the filling stations in the United States”, however on July 2, 2008 the BBB was informed by MyGallons founder Steve Verona that their negotiations with US Bank’s Voyager program have broken off and they currently do not have a vendor to process transactions with the gas stations listed on their website.

Other reports indicate that similar programs instituted in the Northeast last year for pre-paid natural gas purchases resulted in several companies leaving their customers holding worthless paper. The BBB encourages consumers to carefully read and understand all of the terms and conditions of this offer.

That last paragraph about companies leaving pre-paid natural gas customers high and dry is true. I remember writing about it when it happened about eight years ago. There were clauses in those contracts that gave companies the right to just close up shop without warning. I didn't notice any similar language on MyGallons Web site, but the fact that they don't have a bank lined up for these transactions would give me pause. The founder told Consumerist that the company is in the process of signing up a different banking partner. Until that happens, I'd hold off on signing up with this company and take the BBB's advice, read the contract carefully before you sign up.

Thanks to Kelly and Robert for tipping us off. We love the extra eyes and ears out there helping us all be better consumers.

UPDATED: MyGallons has stopped accepting membership fees, and the BBB removed MyGallon's F rating and replaced it with "NR" or no rating.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Gas prices
        

We're all looking to save money on gas. Short of not driving or limiting the amount of time we spend driving, Faithful Reader Bob and his lovely wife, Leslie, gave us a pretty interesting tip about MyGallons.com, which would allow you to lock in gas prices.

The way it works, you sign up for and pay an annual membership fee (the cost of annual membership is $29.95 when enrolling in the auto-refill program, which pre-purchases more fuel for your account when your balance drops below 15 gallons. Cost of annual membership is $39.95 for the manual refill program.) A MyGallons card will be sent to you.

Once you log in, you can access your account to see how many gallons of fuel you have available, your transaction history, th current price for purchasing more fuel, etc. You can also pre-purchase fuel to add to your account at the current price at that very moment in time.

The good thing behind that is that you could lock in a MyGallon price for as many filler ups as you want, while the actual price at the pump keeps climbing. Or you could be unfortunate enough to lock in a price and see real gas prices go down, I guess. At this rate, though, it doesn't really seem like prices are dropping.

When you're ready to pump gas, MyGallons says you can visit any of more than 200,000 participating filling stations. It's a pre-paid debit card, which will need a PIN number for use.

Every time you pump, the number of gallons is deducted from your balance. If you choose to pump a more expensive/higher grade fuel, an adjustment in gallons will be made to the account. Keep in mind, if you fill up at a price significantly lower than the average price in your home area on the same day, you will receive a credit in gallons [or a debit in gallons if you fill up at a price significantly higher than the average price in your home area on the same day].

Here's the good news: There's no time limit for how long you can hang on to the gas price you locked in (it doesn't disappear after 30 days or anything like that), so if prices shoot up to $5 a gallon three months from now or six months from now, you're golden.

Things to watch out for: It might be better to go with the auto refill option since if you choose manual and you go over your account balance, you get charged the full price of gas being sold at the pump and an overdraft fee. There is also a $1.95 fee for processing the reload of your MyGallons Card when using a credit card to pre-purchase the fuel

The Web site says that if you do not save money on at least one redemption throughout the subscription year, we will refund 100% of your first year's membership fee. I'd advise reading the the Q&A and the rest of the Web site carefully so you know what you're getting into.

I think, and I emphasize the word think since I haven't tried this out myself, this might be useful for people who have long commutes, or people who prefer some stability in their expenses. Anyone out there use this? We'd like to hear from you.

(AP Photo)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Energy/Utilities, Gas prices
        

Happy Fourth of July, folks! Celebrate by exercising your rights to freely assemble and to speak your mind.

Remember if you're tempted by sales over the long weekend not to buy a lot of stuff. Resist the urge to stimulate the economy with unnecessary things, as we discussed in this post about The Story of Stuff.
 
And if you are in or around fireworks during those assemblies, take these firework safety tips from the Consumer Product Safety Commission to heart.

And don't use Screech and Scream Fountain Fireworks, because the CPSC recalled them yesterday!

Now, about those tips:
 

1. Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks.

2. Make sure fireworks are legal in your area before buying or using them. Here's a list of state fireworks laws.

3. Avoid buying fireworks that come in brown paper packaging, as this can often be a sign that the fireworks were made for professional displays and could pose a danger to consumers.

4. Adults should always supervise fireworks activities. Parents often don’t realize that there are many injuries from sparklers to children under five. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees – hot enough to melt some metals.

5. Never have any portion of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse. Move back a safe distance immediately after lighting.

6. Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not fully functioned.

7. Never point or throw fireworks at another person.

8. Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishap.

9. Light one item at a time, then move back quickly.

10. Never carry fireworks in a pocket or shoot them off in metal or glass containers.

11. After fireworks fully complete their functioning, douse the spent device with plenty of water from a bucket or hose before discarding to prevent a trash fire.

(photo: Gene Sweeney Jr./Baltimore Sun)

Posted by Liz Kay at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Thanks to Reader and Blogger Chris of Fly The World blog for this great tip:

Real has a special offer for a limited time, they are giving a $10 credit for new or old customers at their new MP3 store.

Chris says on his blog that

Real has started a new MP3 Store, where they sell DRM-Free MP3 songs for $0.99 per song. The first 100,000 accounts (new or old) get $10 credit discount.

Real is selling music for a number of years now much longer than Apple’s iTunes, but they previously offered only licensed music downloads. After Amazon, iTunes and others started selling MP3 songs, Real wanted to be a part in it as well, so they have started a new MP3 Store today.

To kick start their store, Real is offering $10 credit to purchase either a full album or 10 songs. However, this offer is available only for the first 100,000 customers (99,999, I already downloaded mine) and the deadline for this is July 4, 2008.

Very cool. Thanks for the tip, Chris.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

I know you guys love free stuff so here's one for ya:

You can reach the Little Italy restaurant by calling 410.986.4445 or e-mail at velleggias@gmail.com. There's a Web site, too, at VelleggiasItaliano.com.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

Planning to celebrate our nation's independence by imbibing at a Baltimore bar?

Do everyone a favor and program this number into your cell phone first: 1-877-963-TAXI.

AAA, Yellow Cab and the Maryland Department of Transportation have partnered for this year's Tipsy?Taxi! program, giving revelers a free cab ride home from bars this weekend ... up to $50. If you live farther away, you'll have to cover the remaining cost. 

Anyone 21 years or older can take advantage of the program for a ride home ONLY ... they won't take you to another party. Don't try to pretend you live at Mother's Federal Hill Grille!

The free rides are available from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday, July 3; from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. Friday, July 4; and 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. July 5July 6.

Remember: Tipsy?Taxi! ... it's the only number you want to drunk dial.

(photo: Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun) 

Posted by Liz Kay at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Consumer safety
        

Dan Thanh's earlier post shared ideas for saving money using Consumer Reports' six easy steps for reducing bills by such actions as shopping for new insurance policies, avoiding bank fees and paying off your credit cards.

Nora Dunn over at Wise Bread expands on these thoughts with some great tips to save money the easy way.

Some of her thoughts:

1. Change your withholding on your taxes: It's better to have all that money on your paycheck now -- and save it in an interest-bearing account, or use it to pay down debt --- than give the government an interest-free loan.

2. Lower insurance premiums: Shop around for cheaper policies, or at least increase the deductibles on your car and home insurance, which should lower your premiums.

3. Lower credit card payments by transferring credit card debt to cards with lower rates.

4. As Eileen Ambrose suggested, consolidate your student loans.

5. Lower health and child care costs. Set up health and dependent care spending accounts, so you can take pre-tax dollars and set them aside for medical or babysitting bills you are expecting.

And let's not forget Bob's excellent suggestions ...

... such as eliminating unused subscriptions and memberships to things such as magazines, cable, gyms and more.

This is something I've personally been toying with, especially with recent reminders that we shouldn't take employment for granted. I share a Netflix subscription, but before I got it I probably didn't rent movies more than once a month, and even now I probably only watch two or three a month. Definitely not getting a lot of value out of this equation!

Same goes for my fairly inexpensive gym membership. I first joined because I wouldn't maintain any sort of pace without the threat of falling off a treadmill. I've since discovered it is in fact possible to jog outside, sans technical assistance, so I only get over to the gym about once a week at most. Although I like supporting a fitness and community center in this neighborhood, it may be an expense I can cut.

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

If you could shave $500 from your every day spending without really feeling it, would you do it? C'mon. You'd be crazy not to do it, right?

Consumer Reports Money Lab uncovered six tips that can help you shave oodles of dough from your budget. Consumer Reports, the magazine, will share the news with you in its August issue on sale this week. But me, I care about you readers so much, I'm going to share it with you now (well, mostly because CR gives me permission to).

So, for the Cheap Tricks Thursday, CR says you can save:

$65 by finding cheaper auto insurance. Annual surveys of CR readers have shown that many have stayed with the same auto insurer for 15 years. Depending on people's profiles and where they live, you might be able to save hundreds a month by shopping around. For example, a married couple without violations or accidents but with a driving-age son in Los Angeles can save $380 per month on standard coverd by switching to a lower-cost auto insurer.

How to do it: Start at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Web site, click on NAIC States and jurisdictions to find your state's insurance department. Most provide comparative premium quotes based on standard customer profiles.

$110 by optimizing your life insurance. Life insurance premiums have dropped dramaticaly since the 1990s. It will probably pay for you to replace a policy bought years ago with a comparable new one. A $500,000 20-year guaranteed level term from Prudential, for example, would have cost a 50-year-old about $2,125 a year in 1998. Today, the same guy, now 60, could pay Prudential $1,385 a year for the same coverage over the next ten years, saving $60 a month.

How to do it: Get premium quotes at www.accuquote.com and www.lifeinsure.com. Don’t cancel your existing policy until you have a new one already in place.

How to do it: Plan menus around sales of fresh poultry, fish, meat, dairy, and produce, and make use of leftovers. Avoid costly prepared meals. Eat more low-priced high-nutrition foods like beans and potatoes. Try less expensive store brands, and sign up for store discount cards.

$25 by forcing yourself to stop paying bank fees. Banks collected some $39 billion in account fees and penalties last year. That works out to an average of $28 per month per household. But with some planning, you can pay zero.

How to do it: Bank at large institutions with lots of ATMs in convenient locations. Shop for free checking and strictly adhere to provisions for a minimum balance, direct deposit, or other conditions to avoid monthly fees.

$35 by calling up phone savings. When CR’s experts examined real phone bills they uncovered savings from $15 a month for budget callers to $55 per month for heavy users.

How to do it: Peruse your last few month’s phone bills to assess how many minutes you typically use on landline and wireless calls. Comparison shop among cellular service providers, the local phone company, and your cable TV company. Don’t buy more than you need, such as an unlimited cellular plan if you rarely go over 900 minutes per month.

$65 by paying off your credit card. On average, consumers who carry a balance owe $2,200, on which they pay 15.2 percent in annual interest charges. Eliminate that and save $28 per month. Some 15 percent of consumers carry balances of $10,000 or more; they can save $125 per month by paying off their debt.

How to do it: Stop charging, then pay more than the minimum required each month until it’s paid off. Dig up cash for this from your U.S. Treasury stimulus check, garage sales, or extra work part-time.

Even if you adopt just a couple of those ideas, you could save a bundle so what are you waiting for? Snap to it.

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal
        

Baltamour blogger Maryann James highlighted some choice bits from Joe Burris' story about the Denver couple, who, despondent after leaving happenin' Baltimore, decided to have sex for 101 days in a row. It hit bookshelves right on the heels of another book about a couple doing it 365 days in a row.

These books about sex could be a natural response to couples' desire to stay at home during the market's low points, according to psychotherapist Barton Goldsmith.

"Recession is good for relationships," he said. "People don't want to go out so they can cocoon, and sex can be fun for many couples. It beats the hell out of Monopoly. ... Reclaiming the spark of romance is always a timely subject."

... in that it forces you to count your blessings and appreciate what you have.

(ed note: hear hear. Why spend money out when you can entertain yourself at home for free? Sounds like good, sensible, fun consumer advice to me. -- DTD)

Posted by Liz Kay at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Odds & Ends
        

If filling up your gas guzzler is eating up half your paycheck, you likely have thought about ditching it for a more fuel efficient vehicle.

Imagine, for instance, the savings if you traded in a Hummer for a Prius!

Well, Edmunds.com, an online provider of auto information, has come up with a reality check. Its online calculator allows you to plug in the make, model and year of your car and what you want to trade it in for. Then it figures if there's a savings or not.

"Car buyers think they can save money by dumping their gas-guzzler and purchasing a gas-sipper," says Edmund's Philip Reed in a statement. "But when you look at the big picture -- total cash out of pocket -- a very different situation is often revealed."

Edmunds uses the example of ditching a 4-year-old GMC Yukon worth $13,483 for a spanking new Toyota Prius worth $21,647. That's an $8,164 difference. If the consumer drives 1,200 miles per month and gas costs $4.07 per gallon, the monthly fuel savings will be $201.34.

Sounds good, but is it? It will take 41 months - more than 3 years - to pay back the extra cost of the Prius over the trade-in value of the Yukon, Edmunds reports.

I plugged in the information on a 2005 Hummer vs. 2008 Prius. As it turns out, there's no cost savings.

Play around with the site yourself. Let us know if you think it useful or not.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Gas prices
        

The online auction site EBay will have to pay $61 million to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, home of brands such as Fendi and Marc Jacobs, after the company claimed EBay hadn't done enough to prevent sales of counterfeit goods, according to the Associated Press.

According to court documents cited by Bloomberg News, 90% of the Louis Vuitton and Dior-labeled perfumes, watches and handbags on EBay were fakes. 

A spokeswoman for eBay said they plan to appeal, and the protesting brands disapprove of the site's sales techniques even for legitimate goods, because it allows them to distributes products directly to consumers without going to exclusive shops.  

This isn't the first time EBay has been sued --- Tiffany, Rolex and L'oreal have all taken the auction site to court. The site relies on the companies to report when counterfeit items are posted for sale.  

According to Bloomburg News, the ruling also bars the sales of the company's perfumes on eBay.  

(photo: Gene Sweeney Jr./Baltimore Sun) 

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Shopping
        

What's not to like about a place that has the word "FREE" in its name?

For this week's Consumer Web Site of the Week, we're directing you to our very own local star, the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Web site.

Seriously, not only can you search the catalog on-line to find a book, but you can also find job and career resources there if you've suddenly found yourself without a job... er... not that we're worried about that. OK, I'm lying. We are worried about that.

The cool thing on this site is its Recession Busters page, which gives you tips ranging from how to save your home to 66 ways to save money.

For instance, if you're wondering about fuel economy, the Free Library points you to FuelEconomy.gov so you can find out how much gas that Hummer sucks up every time you go to the grocery store. (hehheh. I shouldn't laugh. My little American made car, while I do love him, drinks gas like there's no tomorrow.)

Or, if you're wondering how there could possibly be 66 ways to save money, the Free Library directs you to the government Web site, where you can find a gem like this: 

Leasing a car is very complicated. When shopping, consider the price of the car (known as the capitalized cost), your trade-in allowance, any down payment, monthly payments, various fees (excess mileage, excess "wear and tear," end-of- lease), and the cost of buying the car at the end of the lease. A valuable source of information about auto leasing can be found in Keys to Vehicle Leasing: A Consumer Guide, which is published by the Federal Reserve Board and Federal Trade Commission.

Try it out and you'll find that those excellent researchers at the library have done most of the heavy lifting for you. I've always loved librarians.

(1994 Sun Photo of Chef Jan Bandula of Baltimore Culinary School with his cake of the library for a fund raiser.)

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Consumer Web Site of the Week
        

It’s July 1, and that means several changes for student borrowers.

The Project on Student Debt has posted details of the changes online. Here are some of the highlights:

The interest rate on new subsidized – meaning the government pays the interest on the loan while you’re in school – drops from 6.8 percent to 6 percent for undergraduates. Unsubsidized Stafford loans remain at 6.8 percent interest.

Undergrads can also borrow an extra $2,000 a year in unsubsidized loans. That means the new annual limit for dependent students is $5,500 for freshmen, $6,500 for sophomores, and $7,500 for juniors and seniors. Independent students or those whose parents don’t qualify for a government PLUS loan will be able to borrow up to $6,000 in each of the first and second years, and $7,000 in the third and fourth years.

The maximum you can borrow under the Stafford loan program during your college years also is going up. Undergraduate dependent students will be able to borrow a maximum of $31,000, up from $23,000. The new limit for independent students will be $57,500, up from $46,000.

Also, the new variable rate for Stafford loans taken out before July 2006 is going down to 4.21 percent. But new graduates who consolidate a variable-rate loan can lock in a lower rate of 3.61 percent.

Posted by Eileen Ambrose at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Student loans
        

What's the easiest money you ever made?

Did you negotiate with the cable company or your cell phone provider for a lower rate? Argue your way out of bank fees? Sell a prized movie or CD collection for some fast cash?

Like Dan Thanh, the news that big job changes may be coming for us at The Sun has put the fire under my heels to find new ways to cut expenses and direct more money to the rainy day fund.

So, please share any ideas you have for battening down the hatches during rough times. I'm particularly curious about low-impact changes ...

... that allow you to maintain a semblance of comfort while still saving.

For example, it might not be feasible for everyone to ditch their cars entirely ... though it's tempting, given the rising cost of fuel and ever-present insurance. But you might not miss it if you cut down on your driving --- and convinced your insurance company to lower your auto premium because you're spending less time on the road.

So, please share any hints you have for making your dollar go farther. I'll combine the best secrets in a master list on Thursday.