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 in her computer, so together we contacted Capital One. The company asked us to fill out a dispute form. We did, but the charge hasn’t been removed. Can you help? - Michael Ryan, Nine Mile Falls, Wash.
Answer: Since your travel agent copped to the error, this issue should have, under normal circumstances, been resolved relatively quickly. Ah, if only.
Turns out your forms got misrouted in Capital One’s paper chain. The company’s reps admitted to us that they dropped the ball. “We sincerely apologize,” says spokeswoman Pam Girardo. The firm reopened the investigation, but the airline [...]
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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 back at Best Buy. Finally, I called Best Buy’s corporate office; the customer service manager said there was nothing he could do. Ugh! Can you help? - Maja Chiesi, New York City
Answer: A box of beans, huh? Sounds like a booby prize from Let’s Make a Deal - only less funny, since you’re out $300. You’ll probably never know what happened here; perhaps an employee stole the hard drive or maybe someone else bought it, kept it, returned the box and got his money back. Best Buy likely took a hard line because it had [...]
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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 never helped. I’ve been charged for six months for a newsletter I never wanted! - Fred Mandato, Huntington, N.Y.
Answer: Businesses just love hooking us into memberships and subscriptions, which provide them with steady revenue that’s cheap to maintain. Cheap, in part, because of our own inertia - once we’ve signed up for a product or service, we often stay signed up because we don’t want to bother with the hassle of canceling. And as you discovered, “companies make it way harder to cancel than to enroll,” says Alison Preszler of the Council of Better [...]
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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 to upgrade the software on my phone, but that didn’t help. So I switched to Verizon - and now get perfect service in my home. But am I stuck with Sprint’s $150 cancellation fee? - Dan B. Lindeman III, Fort Thomas, Ky.
Answer: It’s not impossible to get out of a cell-phone contract without paying an early-termination fee - it’s just that historically, carriers have made it incredibly difficult. Ever since cell phones were invented, wireless providers have tried to lock in customers by wooing them into long-term contracts and levying fees as steep as $250 [...]
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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 recover it ourselves. Then the company sent us a contract quoting 35% for full recovery and 25% to do it ourselves. Either way, the fees seem high. What should we do? - Robert Chaplow, Chester, Va.
Answer: It’s true that more than $33 billion in unclaimed assets are floating around in forgotten bank accounts, old 401(k)s and dormant brokerage accounts. But scammers frequently make bogus inheritance claims, offering to “recover” nonexistent assets for an up-front fee. Once you pay, the con skedaddles. So never respond to an offer like this before checking it out with the [...]
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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 but refused to cover charges for what Dollar said was the car’s diminished value, loss of use and administrative fees. Those totaled $1,050. Help! - Jeffery Fear, Los Angeles
Answer: What a rotten way to end your vacation. You were smart to check your auto policy beforehand so you knew whether you needed the rental company’s pricey insurance (called the collision/loss damage waiver, or LDW), which runs $15 to $30 a day.
Problem is, rental-car firms are increasingly tacking on new fees when a car is damaged, including diminished value (to reflect the reduced resale potential of [...]
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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! - Geert Audiens, Cary, N.C.
Answer: Businesses lure consumers with billions of dollars in rebate offers every year. Yet 40% of them go unredeemed, according to consulting firm Vericours, partly because it can be a pain to fill out all the paperwork and send it off in time (typically within 30 days of purchase). This is why it’s so annoying that although you apparently followed the rules, you still got stiffed.
I called Alltel’s corporate communications manager, Scott Morris. He said that the company doesn’t have any proof you sent in the rebate, suggesting that it may have [...]
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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: Oh, dear! You let yourself get snared in a classic pyramid scheme, where scam artists recruit investors with promises of humongous returns, pay the early investors using money from the later ones - and spend the rest on themselves. Usually, by the time you realize you’re involved with no-goodniks, they’ve skipped town.
But thanks to the Illinois attorney general, you may get something back. According to prosecutors, Roy Fluker Jr., the founder of MTE (short for More Than Enough Wealth Creation Institute), and his cohorts hosted recruitment meetings at African-American churches on the South Side of [...]
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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? - Name Withheld, Fla.
Answer: Identity theft is frustrating enough to deal with, but even worse when a family member or friend turns out to be the culprit. Sadly, it’s not uncommon. Of ID theft victims who know how their personal information was taken (and fully half do), the most common factor cited is that someone they know - a relative, friend or co-worker - stole it, the Federal Trade Commission says.
In any ID theft case, as soon as you spot something amiss, go directly to the source - in this case Comcast. Alert the credit [...]
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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, closing your oldest card can lower your credit score. The length of time your accounts have been open is the third most heavily weighed factor in your FICO score (after timeliness of payments and the amount you owe). Plus, eliminating a card reduces your available credit, which could also lower your score.
I contacted HSBC, and after checking your credit history, the bank agreed to reopen your card. Spokeswoman Cindy Savio says HSBC will consider reopening inactive accounts, especially if the account was recently closed and the customer had been with the bank for a long [...]
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