I have written before about the problems that The College Network has gotten into. The College Network arranged for its students to finance their contracts through various credit unions. The primary Credit Union appears to have been Southeast Financial Credit Union, but others include We Florida Financial Credit Union and City County Credit Union, Lifeway Credit Union and maybe others.
Despite repeated efforts to shut down this company by government agencies, The College Network is still doing business, still signing up new customers (victims), and still saddling these students with piles and piles of debt. What these students are not being told is that they don't necessarily have to blindly keep paying on these long term contracts to avoid ruining their credit for years. If the contracts are illegal as the New York and Indiana attorneys general have asserted, then claims and defenses that could be raised against The College Network can also be raised against the companies financing the contract. Moreover, the illegalities can be used. Please call my office at 317-662-4529 or find a NACA attorney in your area at www.consumeradvocates.org.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Monday, February 22, 2016
Information about the New Legal Services Benefit for UAW Members - or lack thereof
Having been a longtime attorney for UAW Legal Services Plans, I get asked by a lot of the UAW members and retirees about a new legal services benefit in the contracts with Ford, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors that were ratified in the Fall of 2015. In the Fall 2015, the automakers agreed to reinstate a legal services benefit for members, retirees and their families. Since then news has been scarce. Apparently a letter just went out to UAW retirees that the new legal services benefit is about a month away. All I know is that if this benefit is going to be operational in the March/April 2016 time frame, in my opinion, it is unlikely that it will be delivered through the remnants of the old UAW Legal Services Plan. My contacts at the remaining offices have indicated that they have not been advised as to plans for the new legal services benefit. If you have questions relating to the new legal services benefit, don't call me, contact the UAW at www.uaw.org. None of this is official information. I'm only posting it because people have been craving information of any sort.
I checked the website for the old plan at www.uawlsp.com, but it has no updated information. There is nothing on the UAW site at www.UAW.org.
I checked the website for the old plan at www.uawlsp.com, but it has no updated information. There is nothing on the UAW site at www.UAW.org.
Are you a Geico Insurance customer who has had a Geico check dishonored at PNC Bank?
If you have had a Geico refund check that you have had trouble cashing, you have company. The law relating to checks and drafts is complicated, but this is an area that we are looking into. If you have had this problem, please contact us.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Wonder why the Furniture You Ordered is Late - or Never Delivered - Blame China
For the past decade, I have handled a lot more calls from consumers who are unhappy because the furniture that they ordered is months late, or is never delivered at all. The problem seems to span all the major and most of the minor furniture retailers. The culprits: distance and container ships.
Until 20 years ago, most furniture sold in the United States was made in the United States. Since then manufacturing of "stick furniture" then upholstered furniture and bedding has steadily moved to China. It's not just low wages in China that has enabled the shift. Wages have always been low in China. What has accelerated the shift is the increased level of automation and modernity in Chinese factories, digital communications transferring orders to China, and most critically, the availability of container ships to move the furniture to the destination efficiently.
In the case of furniture, efficiently doesn't necessarily mean quickly. The ocean transport industry is a complex industry, and I'm not an insider, so there are many parts that I don't understand; but I do know this, time is money. The faster you want something the more it costs. If you are willing to wait longer, you ship cheaper. That's where the big container ships come in. The huge container ship that rescued Tom Hank's character in Cast Away was likely a Post Panamax ship that was about 1,000 feet long and could hold 8,000 standard containers. That was the biggest size coming to the United States in the year 2000. Ships of that size strained the ability of American ports to get the ships unloaded and get the cargo to the destination, and furniture, being unlikely to spoil, and worth comparatively little per pound, does not get top priority in loading and unloading.
Since the year 2000, several generations of cargo ships have been built with each topping the one before it. The current state of the art is the E3 ship which is about 1,300 feet long (about 200 feet longer than the largest aircraft carrier in the United States Navy), and which hold 18,000 standard containers. These ships may make it across the Pacific at 21 knots, but it takes a long time to load 18,000 containers and can take a long time again to unload 18,000 containers.
Here's a clip of the first E3 ship to come to the West Coast of the United States, the Benjamin Franklin.
<iframe width="476" height="270" src="http://abc7news.com/video/embed/?pid=1142294" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you want your furniture to be delivered when you expect it, consider making extra effort, and maybe paying extra money to make sure your furniture is made in the United States. That's easier said than done. I have had a hard time finding furniture made in the United States in recent years. When I bought some furniture from Ashley Furniture a number of years ago, the floor models were made in the United States, but the delivered items (delivered late) were made in - you guessed it - China.
CONSUMER TIPS WHEN BUYING FURNITURE
When you are buying furniture, understand make sure that your contract has a date by which time you expect the furniture to be delivered. Make sure you are clear what the policy is if that date isn't met. Will you get an extra discount? When can you cancel the contract? Make sure it is in writing. Usually furniture stores offer some X MONTHS SAME AS CASH financing. How does a 6 month delivery fit in that contract? Ask up front. What if only some of the merchandise is delivered? Understand that you generally have the option to accept a partial delivery but generally not the duty to accept a partial delivery. If they can't deliver the whole order, you have the right to reject the whole lot and buy a matching set elsewhere. There are a number of confusing situations that can come up though when there was a group price for the furniture but not an individual price. Try to get the merchant to commit to individual item prices by email when you are considering accepting a partial lot. If a furniture store or finance company tries to keep you in a contract that includes furniture that wasn't delivered, you probably have a case that warrants the involvement of a consumer attorney. Go to the NACA website at www.consumeradvocates.org and find a consumer attorney near you.
Until 20 years ago, most furniture sold in the United States was made in the United States. Since then manufacturing of "stick furniture" then upholstered furniture and bedding has steadily moved to China. It's not just low wages in China that has enabled the shift. Wages have always been low in China. What has accelerated the shift is the increased level of automation and modernity in Chinese factories, digital communications transferring orders to China, and most critically, the availability of container ships to move the furniture to the destination efficiently.
In the case of furniture, efficiently doesn't necessarily mean quickly. The ocean transport industry is a complex industry, and I'm not an insider, so there are many parts that I don't understand; but I do know this, time is money. The faster you want something the more it costs. If you are willing to wait longer, you ship cheaper. That's where the big container ships come in. The huge container ship that rescued Tom Hank's character in Cast Away was likely a Post Panamax ship that was about 1,000 feet long and could hold 8,000 standard containers. That was the biggest size coming to the United States in the year 2000. Ships of that size strained the ability of American ports to get the ships unloaded and get the cargo to the destination, and furniture, being unlikely to spoil, and worth comparatively little per pound, does not get top priority in loading and unloading.
Since the year 2000, several generations of cargo ships have been built with each topping the one before it. The current state of the art is the E3 ship which is about 1,300 feet long (about 200 feet longer than the largest aircraft carrier in the United States Navy), and which hold 18,000 standard containers. These ships may make it across the Pacific at 21 knots, but it takes a long time to load 18,000 containers and can take a long time again to unload 18,000 containers.
Here's a clip of the first E3 ship to come to the West Coast of the United States, the Benjamin Franklin.
<iframe width="476" height="270" src="http://abc7news.com/video/embed/?pid=1142294" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If you want your furniture to be delivered when you expect it, consider making extra effort, and maybe paying extra money to make sure your furniture is made in the United States. That's easier said than done. I have had a hard time finding furniture made in the United States in recent years. When I bought some furniture from Ashley Furniture a number of years ago, the floor models were made in the United States, but the delivered items (delivered late) were made in - you guessed it - China.
CONSUMER TIPS WHEN BUYING FURNITURE
When you are buying furniture, understand make sure that your contract has a date by which time you expect the furniture to be delivered. Make sure you are clear what the policy is if that date isn't met. Will you get an extra discount? When can you cancel the contract? Make sure it is in writing. Usually furniture stores offer some X MONTHS SAME AS CASH financing. How does a 6 month delivery fit in that contract? Ask up front. What if only some of the merchandise is delivered? Understand that you generally have the option to accept a partial delivery but generally not the duty to accept a partial delivery. If they can't deliver the whole order, you have the right to reject the whole lot and buy a matching set elsewhere. There are a number of confusing situations that can come up though when there was a group price for the furniture but not an individual price. Try to get the merchant to commit to individual item prices by email when you are considering accepting a partial lot. If a furniture store or finance company tries to keep you in a contract that includes furniture that wasn't delivered, you probably have a case that warrants the involvement of a consumer attorney. Go to the NACA website at www.consumeradvocates.org and find a consumer attorney near you.
Monday, February 8, 2016
Do you have a Virgin Mobile Supreme Phone that is displaying an error message - "FTM" in a white box on the display? - Try this before a hard reset.
You may look on the web and read advice that you need to perform a hard reset and lose all the data on your phone - don't believe them. Try this first: Remove the back cover of the phone, take out the battery for a few seconds, say 10, put back the battery, close the case and restart the phone. In my phone, it came up perfectly normal.
Friday, February 5, 2016
Are you an Indiana Resident Who's Being Sued on an American Express Charge Account?
We have some new theories for defenses (partial or total) on American Express claims. Please contact us for an evaluation.
Are First Data Global Leasing and Coastal Pay targeting Vietnamese Nail Salons for Rip-off Credit Card Processing Contracts?
There are about 17,000 nail salons in the United States. Nationally, 51% of the nail technicians are Vietnamese, and in some areas, like California, the percentage is much higher, perhaps 80% The workers in these salons are especially vulnerable, because they are not fully assimilated into US culture. Even the salon owners are vulnerable because they often just work their way from the shop floor into ownership by pure hard work and thriftiness.
I have just been made aware of a practice that could be ripping off Vietnamese merchants to the tune of thousands of dollars each year per shop and millions of dollars collectively. Every retail business needs credit card processing, and nail salons are no exception. The big daddy of credit card processing is First Data, a company that has credit card processing arrangements with most major banks. First Data has an equipment leasing division called First Data Global Leasing. First Data Global Leasing uses outside marketers to sign up customers to lease credit card processing equipment from them. One of these companies is Coastal Pay, LLC out of Carlsbad, California. The world be better off if the company crawled into Carlsbad Cavern and hibernated there for a million years. Coastal Pay has numerous Complaints with both the BBB and Yelp plus some interesting stuff on ripoffreport.com. The complaints involve both pushy sales calls and bad contracts. In one contract I reviewed, sold to a Vietnamese immigrant businesswoman, for credit card processing equipment worth less than $500, Coastal Pay set up a 48 month lease with a payment of 235.08 for a total payments of $11,283.84. In my client's case, the salesperson cold-called her shop and conducted the sales pitch in Vietnamese before having her sign something in English. It has come to my attention that Coastal Pay actively recruits Vietnamese-speaking employees. This makes me believe that Vietnamese shop owners are being specifically targeted.
The more I research this industry the more it appears that fraud and decptive practices may be commonplace trhough out the industry. In 2013, another credit card equipment company, Northern Leasing Systems, Inc. paid millions of dollars in a settlement with the New York attorney general settling claims for multiple deceptive practices by the company. The agreement covered Northern's affilliates: Lease Finance Group LLC, MBF Leasing LLC, Golden Eagle Leasing LLC and Lease Source-LSI, LLC. One of the alleged abuses was that the companies debited their customers bank accounts up to eleven years after they ceased doing business together.
If you feel like your small business has been ripped off by any credit card processing company, please contact my office. If we can't help you directly we will refer you to an attorney who can.
I have just been made aware of a practice that could be ripping off Vietnamese merchants to the tune of thousands of dollars each year per shop and millions of dollars collectively. Every retail business needs credit card processing, and nail salons are no exception. The big daddy of credit card processing is First Data, a company that has credit card processing arrangements with most major banks. First Data has an equipment leasing division called First Data Global Leasing. First Data Global Leasing uses outside marketers to sign up customers to lease credit card processing equipment from them. One of these companies is Coastal Pay, LLC out of Carlsbad, California. The world be better off if the company crawled into Carlsbad Cavern and hibernated there for a million years. Coastal Pay has numerous Complaints with both the BBB and Yelp plus some interesting stuff on ripoffreport.com. The complaints involve both pushy sales calls and bad contracts. In one contract I reviewed, sold to a Vietnamese immigrant businesswoman, for credit card processing equipment worth less than $500, Coastal Pay set up a 48 month lease with a payment of 235.08 for a total payments of $11,283.84. In my client's case, the salesperson cold-called her shop and conducted the sales pitch in Vietnamese before having her sign something in English. It has come to my attention that Coastal Pay actively recruits Vietnamese-speaking employees. This makes me believe that Vietnamese shop owners are being specifically targeted.
The more I research this industry the more it appears that fraud and decptive practices may be commonplace trhough out the industry. In 2013, another credit card equipment company, Northern Leasing Systems, Inc. paid millions of dollars in a settlement with the New York attorney general settling claims for multiple deceptive practices by the company. The agreement covered Northern's affilliates: Lease Finance Group LLC, MBF Leasing LLC, Golden Eagle Leasing LLC and Lease Source-LSI, LLC. One of the alleged abuses was that the companies debited their customers bank accounts up to eleven years after they ceased doing business together.
If you feel like your small business has been ripped off by any credit card processing company, please contact my office. If we can't help you directly we will refer you to an attorney who can.
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