OT: A nation of scammers (US Capitalism gone wild?)

The Stolen Valor Act applies only to the unauthorized wear, manufacture, sale or claim (either written or oral) of any military decorations or medals. Link:

So, it wouldn't apply to idiots in traffic wearing camo with "Veteran" plastered on the back of their tee-shirts. But maybe it should...???!

I got scammed by Nextel* on our cellphone. I had a Cingular* cellphone with base price of $39.99, with all the extra charges it came to about $53.00** Sprint came out with a $36.99 plan, I decided to reward them for this new price tier. I switched companies, I thought my new bill would be $50.00, three dollars cheaper. It wasn't it was $56.00 or three dollars more. I inspected the bill and found "additional Nextel Charges" this caused the bill to be more than my original Cingular charges. So, they had an advertising campaign keyed on the $36.99 and then just added two lines on the bill called "additional Nextel Charges" to bump it up and make it more expensive than my original bill. So much for rewarding competition!

Just recently I got a check in the mail ($6.25) from "Processing Center" I figured it was a rebate check, my wife takes advantage of these. I was about to put it in the checkbook for deposit but decided to see who it was from. I was about 5/8 of the way through the verbage when it said, "by cashing this check you agree to a $12.99 charge on your credit card, which we already have on file." I was about to sign up for some cash back on credit card purchases deal. This was Budget Car rental, I rented a car a few months ago. This to me was a blatent effort to steal money. I sent emails to 5 different divisions of Budget and didn't get any response. Mike

Is there no equivalent in the USA of the unfair contract terms act? Or trading standards (not that they are much good at enforcement) ?

UK scams along these lines are typically scratch cards in magazines and newspapers where if the three symbols match (about half of them do) you just have to ring a premium phone number and hang on for 10 minutes at £1.50/minute to collect your "£10 winnings".

Regards, Martin Brown

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I use Sprint too. My contract expired in 2007 and I've been thinking about either re-upping, possibly getting a new phone (this battery should die any minute?? - it's amazing it's lasted this long!!!), If I switch, the closest thing they offer to what I have now costs about $10 more.

That said, since Skype, I really don't use cell or LD as much as I used to, so I'm probably a good candidate for pre-paid, or maybe a very low-minute plan postpaid.

I'm going to add that whole Verizon Map vs. AT&T Map advertising to my scam list as well. Why? Because AT&T took Verizon to Federal District Court and the Judge threw the case out because Verizon's ads were truthful!! Duh?!

But I hear you on the whole wireless bait-&-switch. I follow FCC wireless issue pretty closely. Yesterday, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn directly questioned pricing, affordability, and whether or not any meaningful competition exists in the wireless industry. What, with Verizon and AT&T dominating the industry.

See Link:

-mpm

Yea, (regarding the phone) I did contact some agency, but by the time I got it together I wasn't so pissed anymore. When my contract was about to expire they called me to renew and I laid into them about the "additional Nextel Charges" They dropped them for a short time. Now I see "Sprint Surcharges" $2.66. So, $36.99 + $2.66 = $39.65 :-( Mike

I love tomatoes, I just can't handle ketchup, mustard and a lot of other 'dressings' without getting sick. I think it is all the vinegar. Some jerk gave me some potato chips once with vinegar without telling me. Just one taste made me sick for the rest of the day.

I use a lot of diced, crushed, juiced and sauced tomatoes in my meals. I buy some of them in the large restaurant sized cans to make soup or chili. :)

Have you ever tasted sugar free syrup? It was NEVER as good as the real thing. :(

That depends on what you use it for. Right now I am watching a tornado pass through the area, and you can't do that with a radio. They are disrupting radio & TV broadcasts form 60 miles away because of it. Hail has been reported, along with the heavy rain, high winds and the rotating winds. I've already had one power outage. If it follows the usual pattern, I will probably be offline for a few hours before it's over

They can be arrested for fraud, if someone complains. there have been a few news stories lately about this issue.

They can't drive 25 miles an hour down this dead end street, and most of the lots are .5 acres. :)

Send the emails to the Federal Trade Commision. or buy a plane... ;-)

Call me on Skype some time. Look at this message's headers.

And has a horrendous amount of sodium :-( ...Jim Thompson

I don't know if it's a national thing, probably is, but here in AZ, the shelf tags have to give price AND cost per measuring unit, so you don't even have to carry your calculator with you :-) ...Jim Thompson

That isn't an issue for me. I have to use quite a lot to replace what is removed by some of my medications or I get dozens of open pressure sores. I need at least five times normal to prevent the sores. :(

It's too much trouble to leave my head at home...

In general the cell phone companies all seem to add about 10% in "junk fees." I'm pretty sure their strategy is that, since they want to be able to advertise a "price" that's as low (competitive-looking) as possible, they set the junk fees at a level just below where the government would get involved and charge them with false advertising.

They should be required to advertise their actual price, including the local taxes.

Welcome to the early local effects of Global Climate Change. Weather is expected to continue to be more extreme and chaotic. A few more Katrinas in US population centers, along with other natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, fires, floods, and water shortages will deplete our emergency funds, bankrupt insurance companies, and require more deficit spending. Our illusion of great wealth, based on the artificial value of non-tangible assets such as stocks and bonds, and the neglect and ultimate decay of our aging infrastructure, will cause many (most?) of us to accept a reduction of our lifestyles.

Our choices will be to hang together and cooperate, or be hanged separately by continuing with business as usual. In a sense, our economy, based on untenable economic growth without tangible, productive, and honest work, is a huge Ponzi scheme or bubble. We have been scammed by our own big business and government.

Paul