Question: I used my Capital One credit card to buy plane tickets for a trip to India through my neighbor, who is a travel agent. When I got the bill, I noticed I was also charged for the next customer’s flights - which cost $2,400! My neighbor quickly realized that there had been a glitch [...]
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Question: My husband and I bought a $300 hard drive from Best Buy, but when we opened the box, it was empty except for three bags of dried beans! We immediately called Best Buy, but the manager said the store wasn’t responsible and I should call the manufacturer. When I did, the manufacturer pointed blame [...]
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Question: I saw an interesting health book advertised on TV and bought it over the phone. When I got my credit-card bill, I noticed a mystery charge of $5.95 for an e-newsletter from the same company, Natural Cures. When I called to cancel, the lines were always busy or I was put on hold and [...]
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Question: I signed a two-year contract with Sprint for my cell phone. A year and a half later, I moved to a new home a few miles away in the same city. I can’t seem to get a signal inside my house, which is a problem since I don’t have a landline. Sprint told me [...]
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Question: My wife was contacted by a firm called Keane Tracers that told her my mother-in-law, who passed away in 2001, has a mutual fund worth $14,000. For 25% of that amount, Keane will do the paperwork to get us the money; for 15% it will tell us where the money is so we can [...]
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Qustion: Our rental car was sideswiped by a tour bus when my wife and I were on vacation. We rented the car from Dollar, but we declined insurance because we have an auto policy with Safeco and a rep said we’d be covered if we had an accident. Safeco paid most of the $4,000 claim [...]
Continue reading about Our auto insurance was supposed to cover rental-car accidents. It didn’t.
Question: I bought a cell phone from Alltel with a $100 mail-in rebate. I sent in all the paperwork but never got the money. When I called Alltel months later, the company told me it never got my form - and I could no longer submit it because the rebate had expired. Help! - [...]
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Question: I invested $1,000 with a company called MTE in 2006. At a church meeting, MTE claimed to invest in securities and promised a monthly return of 25%. Before I got any payment, the state froze MTE’s funds, saying it was a fraud. Will I get my money back? - Steven Collins, South Holland, Ill.
Answer: [...]
Question: My 20-year-old son applied for a Macy’s charge card but was rejected. When he ordered his credit report, we discovered that my ex-husband, who has the same name as my son, opened a Comcast cable account using our son’s Social Security number, then neglected to pay $453 in charges. How can we fix this? [...]
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Question: Because I haven’t used my oldest credit card for a year, HSBC says it’s closing the account. I’m afraid this will hurt my credit score. Help! — Nevena Georgieva, Chicago
Answer: Credit-card companies lose money on dormant accounts, and as they feel the economic pinch, they’re more apt to close them. Unfortunately, as you suspected, [...]
