Like many resort hotels, the Marriott San Juan Resort and Stellaris Casino in San Juan, Puerto Rico, adds a fee to its daily room rate to cover amenities such as bottled water, a casino coupon, local phone calls and wireless Internet.
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We live in a world of schemes, swindles and shady deals. I know. I’ve been navigating its dark waters most of my career. The average consumer is slammed with fraudulent offers every day, from “You may already be a winner” sweepstakes to impostors trying to steal your hard-earned cash.
It’s easy to fall for these scams, despite the fact that most of us know better. Or should know better.
You probably realize, for example, that there’s no such thing as a “free” product, that if an offer looks too good to be true, it usually is, and to always, always, shop around.
“But this one will be different,” you say to yourself before wiring money to Nigeria.
No, it won’t.
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One of the great tragedies of the Great Recession of 2008 was the way in which many of the victims were victimized again. I’m talking about the millions of hardworking Americans who fell for a bogus mortgage modification or foreclosure relief service.
The predatory companies that offered these services charged distressed homeowners up-front fees and made false promises that they could get their loans modified or prevent foreclosure. Sadly, vultures like these are still everywhere, waiting for an opportunity to take your money — or your house.
It’s taken almost two years, but now the government is finally doing something about these fraudulent operations.
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Hi, I’m calling from the Federal Trade Commission to tell you that you have won $250,000.” Oh, really? The FTC — as in, the nation’s consumer protection agency — is having a sweepstakes?
It’s a scam, says the agency. As if it needed to.
To receive the prize, all you have to do is pay the taxes and insurance. The caller asks you to wire money or send a check for an amount between $1,000 and $10,000. What should you do? Don’t send money or account information, and immediately report the incident to the real Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The FTC sweepstakes con only the latest in a series of scams that begin with a memorable come-on.
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These are hard times for “robocallers” — the companies with those annoying automated systems that call you at the exact time you sit down to dinner, with a prerecorded message. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed new rules limiting unwanted telephone solicitations. And the Federal Communications Commission tomorrow plans to announce a crackdown on companies making robocalls. (Update: Here’s the announcement. Details at the end of this post.)
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It’s been nearly a decade since the Federal Trade Commission launched Operation Travel Unravel, a sweeping program that targeted travel industry fraud in America. Since then, the agency’s only major travel-related initiative — apart from an enforcement action or two — appears to have been to launch an interactive game designed to increase consumer awareness of travel industry mischief.
Did the good guys win, or are the fraudsters unraveling travel while the watchdogs sleep?
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Air travel sure can be a confusing experience.
Just ask Patricia Lapadula, who recently bought a ticket on United Airlines through Cheaptickets.com. At least that’s what she thought.
The itinerary I chose was with United but operated by US Airways — whatever that means.
Cheaptickets asked me to choose seats (they even had a lovely plane seating chart showing what was available). I chose a window seat for all flights. So there I was thinking I had a window seat for my long flight, only to check a week or so before, and realize that I did not have a seat assignment.
Lapadula checked with Cheaptickets and United, but was ultimately referred to US Airways, which was operating the flight under a “codesharing” agreement.
They told me that they couldn’t assign seats over the phone, unless I was willing to pay for a “preferred” seat. So I’m supposed to pay $15 extra dollars for the “privilege” to sit in the emergency row and be responsible for the exit of hundreds of people while the plane is burning? I don’t think so.
They also told me that these sites, like Travelocity and Cheaptickets, don’t really have accurate and updated seating charts, so that choosing a seat with them is pretty useless. Why even present the chart during check out, and give people the impression that they are selecting their seats?
At this point, I need to clearly state my own bias: I think codesharing is dishonest and should be illegal. It’s like opening a box of Cheerios but finding Corn Flakes, buying a Chevy but getting a Ford, ordering a Coke but getting a Pepsi.
It’s wrong, wrong, wrong.
Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (PDF), which declares “deceptive acts” to be unlawful, puts these kind of codesharing practices on shaky legal ground.
Lapadula asked her father, who works at an airport, to help with the seat assignments.
He was told that because my reservation showed the tickets were bought through Cheaptickets, that I had no right to a reserved seat in advance. To quote my dad “they made it seem like you were not very important to them.” Just because I didn’t buy my tickets straight from them, and I’m not one of their frequent fliers.
Weirdly enough, the guy sitting next to me had bought his tickets through Orbitz, and on the print out of the reservation he had a confirmed seat for 24C (literally, it said “confirmed seat”), yet his actually boarding pass said 18E, a middle seat. It seems it is the norm to assign irrelevant seats when you purchase through these travel sites. That’s plain deceiving.
And also, my free drink selection on my four-hour flight? Delicious airplane tap water. Ludicrous.
Certainly, Cheaptickets shouldn’t be displaying seats that aren’t available. But beyond that, I think it’s time to stop this codesharing madness.
Maybe that’s something the next administration will take an interest in.
