The Real Deal

When you get the wrong Meds

2008-05-02T22:21:00Z

Your 4 year-old daughter was prescribed Zyrtec for her allergies. For three weeks she took the medication that had been given to her but wasn't getting any better. When she went the doctors office... you find out why. The pharmacist had made a mistake. Your little daughter had been taking Zantec, an acid reflex medication.

It's a true story that a friend of mine was telling me a few weeks back. The mistake didn't make the little girl violently ill but what if it could have? How often do these pharmacy foul-ups happen?

I started with a call to the State Pharmacy board, the agency in charge of making sure pharmacists are playing by the rules.

3-4 million outpatient prescriptions are written a year in New York State.
The head of the state pharmacy board claims most they never know about most pharmacy foul-ups because consumers don't file complaints and pharmacist, like doctors and dentists aren't required to report them.

When a complaint does come in, an investigator is assigned to it. If it's anything other than "The drug is the same, it was just a generic" they normally forward those complaints onto the board.

The State Pharmacy Board received 111 complaints last year about prescription errors for review. Not all of them end in disciplinary action but some do, it depends how severe the error was. The board has to prove gross negligence once, or a pattern of negligence for disciplinary action to be taken.

So what causes the errors?

55% of prescription errors in NY are caused by bad handwriting or bad oral communication. A pharmacist couldn't make out the script so he/she did their best, or mis-understood what the physician's office was calling in.

Another big problem... a lot of medications have similar names, only one or two letters off.

The push to get doctor's offices and pharmacies using electronic prescription systems to cut down some of these errors is on but consumers should ask plenty of questions to make sure what's in that bottle is what was prescribed.

By law, every time you bring a new script in to be filled, your pharmacist should tell you the name of the drug and what it's used fore before you leave the counter. That simple extra minute can catch mistakes.

Again, most errors go un-reported because they're dealt with in-house by the pharmacist but if you're not satisfied with the response you get. File a complaint with the State Board of Pharmacy.

Have you been the victim of a Pharmacy Foul-up? Tell us about it below:

When your Car is a Lemon...

2008-04-18T16:14:00Z

With the weather warming up, we're getting into prime car buying time. In most cases, people are very happy with the new or used car they purchase but occasionally the vehicle comes with problems you didn't bargain for.

If you're working with the dealer and they just can't seem to fix the issues with your new car, you may be able to get a full refund or a replacement. Under the state's lemon law, if you're having frequent problems and the dealer is unable to repair the car or truck after a reasonable number of attempts, they may have no other choice than to take it back. For your new car to be a lemon, it has to have less than 18,000 miles on it or you have to have had it less than 2 years.

If you bought a used car and it's breaking down all the time, you may be entitled to similar benefits. If you paid more than $1,500 and your car/truck has more than 18,000 miles on it but less than 100,000 miles you too could be eligible for a refund.

The best thing to do is try and work with the dealer but if all else fails you'll have to go through the state attorney general's office to get your car designated a lemon. The outline of who's eligible is just that, an outline. Once you get into the process you'll likely have to provide piles of paperwork and service records to prove your car is a dud.

Have you had success getting your lemon replaced? Tell us about the process below:

Making Some Extra Cash

2008-03-28T18:20:00Z

With the economy the way it is, most of us are looking for ways to make a little extra cash. If you've got a lot of "stuff" laying around your home that you really haven't used in years, maybe you're considering selling it off.

A few friends of mine have turned into e-bay entrepreneurs in the last few months... cleaning out the clutter in their closets and actually making good money on it. They've even starting offering their services (for a small percentage) to acquaintances. If you know how to use E-bay or Craig's List, that may be a great way to make a few extra bucks when you get home from your 9 to 5.

But what if you're not very computer savvy? Don't forget the good old garage sale. The weather will be getting nicer soon and if that doesn't motivate you to do some spring cleaning maybe a cash incentive will. Who knows what you can find hidden away that you could make some money on?

Then there's the pawn shops. If you've got jewelry, an old musical instrument or baseball cards, you might consider shopping them around at a few shops to see what you can get for them. Even if you've never stepped foot in a pawn shop, if you've got something you think you can make some cash on, it could be something to consider.

Have you tried selling off your stuff lately? How did you do it and did you make decent money? Share your experience below:

Flight Frustrations

2008-03-13T18:40:00Z

It seems these days, when you've finished paying for your plane ticket... you just need to keep your wallet out. As if fares aren't high enough, the big airlines now make us pay for the simple things that used to be free. What was once good customer service, now comes with a price tag.

Looking to check a second bag? That'll be between $25 and $100

Want more than just a bag of peanuts and a coke on an 6 hour flight? That'll be another $8

Just relax and watch the in-flight move... Not before you pay the $5 fee

You don't get nearly the amount of frequent flyer miles you used to and trying to use them once you've finally racked up enough points is no easy task. Inconvenienced last time you flew? Maybe the airline offered you a free voucher but again it can seem like there are more black-out dates and locations than available ones.

Once you're over all that... you're at the mercy of the airline to make sure they hold up their end of the bargain and get you where you want to go at the promised time. Considering the thousands of flights they're responsible for on any given day, their track record probably isn't that bad but a lot of passengers tell me about terrible experiences they've had with 6, 8, 10 hour delays...missed connections, stalled on the tarmac, "we're 10th in line for take-off," cancelled flights, ect.

For those of you who've never had a problem getting in the air...consider yourself lucky beacuse these days it seems to be becoming a rarity.

Share your airline experiences below.

Calls from Car Warranty Companies

2008-02-29T23:37:00Z

We've all pulled an advertisement or two out of our mailbox from an extended car warranty company but must be too many people are tossing them away because now these companies have moved to hounded us on the phone.

They're pressuring you big time for your business but if you're on the Do not call list, they're breaking the law!

If you're not interested in one of their warranties, ask to be taken off their calling list. If they persist, keep track of how often they call you, from what number and any other information you can collect about them and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov)

If you can't get through to a live person, trying to press the right buttons, is probably more frustration then it's worth.

So, how do these companies get your contact information? It could come from a variety of sources.. DMV records, lease or purchase information, other companies that you do business with. Bottom line, they have a product to sell, so if they know you're not interested it's not in their best interest to keep calling. Make it clear from the first phone call, you're not buying the warranty.

Have you been getting calls or mailings from Extended warranty places? Share your experience

Lowering your High Speed Internet Bill

2008-02-22T22:49:00Z

You probably haven't given it much thought because like most people you assume when a company tells you a price, they're probably not going to budge on it but the very opposite seems to be true when it comes to high speed internet.

A few days ago, I went knocking on doors in Syracuse and East Syracuse neighborhoods to encourage people to make a phone call to their ISP's and negotiate a lower price. It took one woman less than 5 minutes to get her bill knocked down 10 dollars a month. That's $120 a year she can now use for something else! What's the worst your provider is going to say... no?

This works particularly well in neighborhoods that have a lot of high speed options... tell them you're considering one of the competitors and see what they'll give you to stay. Even if you're stuck in an area with one provider, it can't hurt to ask for a better price. One gentlemen said he simply threatened to cancel and they lowered his bill. Customer service reps are trained to do anything they can to get you to stay, so why not try to a price reduction?

Have you dickered with your high speed provider? How did it go? Share your success story!

Junk Text Messages

2008-02-11T23:06:00Z

We're used to junk e-mails in our inboxes but now we have to worry about it on our cell phone? If you've got text messaging you've likely received at least a spam text message or two and unlike junk e-mail which is just annoying, junk text messages actually cost money! Verizon claims to block billions of spam text messages a month, as do the other major cell phone carriers.

How are these spammers getting your number? Sometimes websites or companies you do business with sell your information to a 3rd party, other times it's just the luck of the automatic dialers the spammers use to blast people with their junk. Putting your cell phone number on the Do Not Call Registry won't help the problem since that only prevents telemarketers from calling you, not texting you.

The only way to really stop spam text messages, is to block all messages from an e-mail address. Spammers normally use a different e-mail address to target you each time, so blocking individual senders wont help. If you choose to do it that way, you'll still be able to get regular phone to phone messages.

What's your experience with spam text messages? Have you had any luck stopping spammers from targeting you?

Paying for copies of your records

2008-01-31T22:48:00Z

If your switching doctors or dentists you may need to bring some of your medical records with you but when you ask for copies make sure you have your checkbook! In New York State, physicians are allowed to charge you up to 75 cents PER PAGE for copies. Technically, according to the law, the doctor who took the records, owns them even though your insurance has likely paid for them 10 times over.

Just this week, I spoke with a woman who had to folk out $256.00 for her and her husbands records simply because they wanted to try someone new. It doesn't seem fair since the information is all about us, the paperwork is just going to sit in a filing cabinet after we leave anyway.

X-rays can be even more expensive. Some insurance companies only cover dental x-rays once every few years so if you switch after just having them done, you may have to request copies of those as well. In this case, the law states dentists can charge a "reasonable" amount, reasonable to whom?

Have you been charged? How much? Share your experience

Shopping for High Speed Internet?

2008-01-24T16:07:00Z

We're getting the The Real Deal on high speed internet options in CNY. With the influx of several new companies, we now have a choice when it comes to access the world wide web at home. Have you shopped around? What's the best deal you've found? If not, we'd love to help you lower your bill. E-mail us at yourstories@9wsyr.com and let us know about your success or if you'd be willing to work with us to find The Real Deal from your internet provider.

The Cost of Staying Warm

2008-01-18T21:25:00Z

While we've had what most consider a mild winter so far, it's still costing us big bucks to keep our homes warm. It doesn't really seem to matter how you do it, be it natural gas, electricity, heating oil or propane..keeping up with the heating bills as they continue to rise isn't easy.

Take for example the cost of home heating oil. In October, the going rate was around $2.65 per gallon. Today, it's $3.40 cents. That's a 75 cent jump in just four months and with fuel prices the way they've been over the past few years, we can only expect to pay even more as winter goes on and the demand goes up. That's why it's so important to shop around. Suppliers set different prices. Just in the past few weeks we've done stories about Suburban Propane charging 50-70 cents more for heating oil and propane than their competitors. Customer loyalty doesn't get you very far these days so even if you've been with a company for years, make a few calls to the competitors, every time you need a fill-up, to make sure you're getting the best deal.

Also, it's too late to do it now but next heating season... seriously consider locking into a fixed price. It can be a little risky depending on the market but if you'd have done it this season, you'd be saving anywhere from 60 to 75 cents a gallon! Multiply that by say, a 250 gallon tank and you'd have paid nearly $200 less.

When it comes to Natural Gas, believe it or not, National Grid's price per therm dropped by three cents from December to January but you're probably not going to notice a huge difference on your bill and the season is still young.

How are you handling home heating costs?

Work-at-Home Offers, Have you tried one?

2008-01-10T17:02:00Z

Whether you saw the ad in a newspaper, on-line, or on a poster nailed to a utility pole... if you've ever tried a Work-At-Home offer, we want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience, what you had to do, how much you made for doing it and if you thought it was worth it.

Feel free to respond here but also, e-mail us at yourstories@9wysr.com

Do it on your own for less or free!

2008-01-08T22:54:00Z

Nothing irritates me more than when a company tries to fool you into thinking you have to pay them for something you can get on your own for cheaper or free. A company called NY Record Retrieval is sending out letters to Central New Yorkers recommending you get a certified copy of the deed to your home--not a bad suggestion, it's just they want to charge you $59.90 for it. That's 12X's the price you'd pay if you went down to the County Clerk's office and requested one yourself. It costs $5.00, save yourself the $55!

Some of you may also be familiar with companies that send you letters claiming "the government is holding money with your name on it!" For a fee, they're willing to help you get it but if it's true you've got unclaimed funds, you can retrieve them on your own for free. Just go to the New York State Comptrollers website, type in your name and see if anything comes up. If it does, you'll have to go through a few steps to prove you are who you say you are but then they'll hand over the money.

Sometimes, it's a matter of convenience and I can relate with that IF the price is reasonable but in a lot of cases it's not and you can save some serious cash by doing it yourself. What's your experience been when it comes to these type of offers?

Store Return Policies

2007-12-24T20:11:00Z

Didn't get exactly what you were hoping for this Christmas? Don't worry, you'll be able to return it... right?

You might think it's tacky to ask someone for a receipt for a gift they bought you but really it's the only way to ensure you get the full value of it back.

Retailers don't give you a ton of time to make returns and many of them want the paper proof it was purchased in their store.

The law says a store must have their return policy posted either right by the cash register or on the receipt *but* they can come up with whatever policy they want. Meaning, if they only want to allow returns for 15 days, that's okay as long as they post it in their store, if they don't want to accept returns at all...again it's legal as long as they tell you about it upfront. That's why it's important to know what to expect before you try and bring something back and end up frustrated.

What have your experiences been with retailers after Christmas? Do you find most times they'll fork over a refund?

Changing Energy Suppliers, Is it worth it?

2007-12-21T21:32:00Z

Most all of us have gotten at least a phone call, if not many from Energy Service Companies (ESCO's) looking to get us to switch from National Grid or NYSEG. They want to supply you with electricity or natural gas and they offer a 7% discount to get you to switch. But the real deal is that the discount normally only lasts for a few months and these companies only supply your energy, National Grid or NYSEG will still deliver it.

Which means you'll get one bill with two charges on it, one to the ESCO and the other to National Grid or NYSEG. The utility companies are okay letting these smaller suppliers step-in on their businesses because they make most of their money in the delivery anyways.

So, is it a good idea as a consumer to consider a switch? If you're going to do it, now is the time. You only get that 7% discount for the first few months, so why not get it during heating season. Keep in mind though, when the discount is gone, you're going to be paying the going rate for the commodity...which will likely be within a few cents of what you'd pay to the Utility.

Have you gone with a different supplier? How has it worked out?

Useless Gift Cards and Memberships

2007-12-14T22:35:00Z

Your health club went bankrupt and you had just paid your membership fee, you got a gift certificate a month ago for a tanning salon that just closed without notice, or you've been waiting to use that $50 gift card at a local restaurant and now there's a sign on the door saying "out of business"

It can be so frustrating when you've paid for something you can't use and most of the time you'll never get an apology from the person who took your money. In most cases they close up shop and disappear, leaving you with very little recourse. If they do stick around it's only to go through the bankruptcy proceedings and 9 times out of 10... there's not enough money left in the end for you to get your money back.

Customers are at the bottom of the claim pool when it comes to bankruptcy. All of the assets get liquidated and the major creditors get paid off first (mortgage company, business loans and credit card companies) and it's very rare there's even enough to settle with them, let alone pay customers back $50 or $100 bucks.

It's not fair by any means but it's one of those things there's not much that can be done about. Perhaps the most aggravating thing I've heard from people is that it was just a day or two before a place closed that they accepted your money!

Have you ever been left with a useless gift certificate or a membership to a closed club? Did you have any luck tracking the owner down for a refund?

Airline Ticket Name Changes

2007-12-06T22:40:00Z

Tis' the season for holiday travel and if you purchased your plane ticket on-line... you better hope you weren't distracted.

In the past few weeks I've heard from some folks who used one of the discount web-sites to get a better price on their flight (Expedia, Cheap Tickets, Orbitz, ect) and have been left with nothing but headaches. Basically, they made a mistake. While distracted, they inadvertently used the wrong last name or typed in a nickname instead of what's on their ID. Simple mistakes but they are ending up to be very costly!

One man told me he spent hours on the phone with Orbitz to try and correct the last name on a ticket he purchased for his son, only to be passed on to US Air, who told him to call Orbitz back..who directed him back to US Air...you get the point. He fully admitted he made a mistake and was willing to pay a fee for it but everyone he talked with said he had to cancel the ticket and buy a completely new one.

Cheap Tickets and Orbitz's web-sites claim "Name changes are not allowed" as do United Airlines and U.S. Air.

But is this really a "Change" or just a correction, I mean it's not like you're giving the ticket to someone else.

What are your thoughts on it? Have you ever been in a similar situation? Did the airline or site come through for you or were you stuck buying a new ticket?

That e-mail is Not from the IRS

2007-11-29T21:43:00Z

We've gotten quite a few e-mails on the Your Stories line from folks who've received what looks like an e-mail from the IRS, telling you that they have money with your name on it...all you've got to do is follow a link to update some of your personal information and they'll send you a check. This is a scam! Although the site that the link brings you to has what looks like an official IRS logo...it's not. Once you "update your information," your identity is stolen by the scammers who put together this fake site.

The IRS will never e-mail you asking for personal information and although we'd all like to think there's money with our name on it out there, chances are, there's not. If you get one of these e-mails, just hit delete or you can forward it to IRS at Phishing@irs.gov so they can keep track of who's trying to use their name to steal your social security number and bank account information.

This spam really never seems to end. You'd think by now the scammers who send out these "Phishing" e-mails wouldn't be having much success but apparently they still are. Whether they claim to be from the IRS, your bank, credit company or whatever, enough is enough! How many spam e-mails do you get a day? Have you had any success in blocking most of them?

Checking your credit

2007-11-28T22:52:00Z

Knowing what's on your credit report, not only lets you know where you stand with creditors but it can protect you from identity theft. More and more ID Thieves are opening up new accounts in their victims names...if you don't know about it, you can stop it. That's why it's so important to pull a copy of your report a few times a year.

It's free but you must use this site: annualcreditreport.com

That's the one site that the three credit reporting agencies have put together to pull free reports for you. You're entitled to one free copy of your report from each of the three bureau's every year.

Don't be fooled! Sites like freecreditreport.com and freecreditreportinstantly.com are NOT free. The sites try drawing you in with that claim but then tell you to pay for monitoring, your score and all that...stay away from them.

Again, annualcreditreport.com is the place to go. You will have to provide your social security number to get your report. I know we're always telling you never to give that out but in this rare case, you have to. The credit bureau's use it to confirm you are who you say you are. You may also be asked for your credit card number on annualcreditreport.com....again, you will NOT be charged to get a copy of your report, it's used to verify your identity. I've done it several times before and have never been charged. If you don't like giving that information over the internet, you can call them at 1-877-322-8228

It takes 10 minutes to pull your report. Even if you're not looking to buy a home or car...it can't hurt to review it a few times a year, so that when you are ready to make a major purchase you don't find inaccuracies or fraud that will prevent you from getting a loan.

What's your experience been with checking your report? Have you ever found any inaccuracies that you've had to clear up through the dispute process?

What's the Real Deal?

2007-11-25T14:30:00Z

Everyday we get dozens of phone calls and e-mails from folks who've been ripped-off, scammed or taken advantage of. It seems there's always someone looking to get their hands on your money. Sometimes it's a bogus e-mail from a scammer looking to steal your identity, other times a counterfeit "lottery" check with your name on it, or a bad business taking your money without delivering. How can you tell if an offer is The Real Deal?

On this page you'll find resources you can use to investigate questionable material before you get ripped off . We've also put together steps you can take to make sure you're covered before becoming involved with a business.

I hope you'll take the time to look around the site, and let me know what other resources we can provide by responding to this blog. Feel free to share some of your experiences in the "what's your deal ? " section . And let me know how I can help you find The Real Deal by e-mailing me at yourstories@9wsyr.com.