BBB San Diego President's Blog

My daughter came home from college this week excited that a guy offered her $100 to write a paper for him. Easy money, and she needs it.

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I just returned from my trip to Boston to the BBB national assembly. It was bitter sweet as we said farewell to the CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Steve Cole, and hello to the new CEO, Steve Cox.

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Finally!  Robocalls are illegal*!  Woo hoo!

I have not put myself on the “do not call” registry because as CEO of the BBB, I am interested in what telemarketers are telling consumers and how their pitches are evolving.  I admit, though, I rarely answer phone calls when I don’t recognize the number.  I let the answering machine pick it up and listen to the pitch over the speaker.  I find the recorded sales pitches THE most annoying.  Apparently, so did a lot of America, and the FTC listened.  Effective September 1^st, robocalls are illegal*.

*Yes, that’s an asterisk.  We, at the BBB, don’t like asterisks in marketing because they mean “not really.”  But in this case, there are just a couple of exceptions to the rule.  Robocalls are legal when used for information purposes.  So you will still get those calls from the school and the governator.  Also, if you give permission to, let’s say, your phone company to contact you with offers from time to time.  Permission in advance will allow them to robocall you.  Just remember, if you have the ability to grant permission, you have the ability to take it away.  Don’t be afraid to use your abilities.

The best part is not that the robocalls are illegal, but that you can do something about it when they interrupt your lovely evening.  You can ask them the name of the company, the address and phone number.  Then you can let them know that their call is illegal, and that you are going to report them to the FTC.  You can then hang up, log on to ftc.gov and file a complaint.  I did it, and it’s easy.  OK, so you won’t immediately hear sirens going off as they run to apprehend those doggone criminals, but you have done your part to see that the bad guys are getting on the radar screen.  And I have to admit, that feeling of defending my consumer rights mitigates the annoyance factor of another robocall. 

Try it.  I dare you.

Last weekend we were driving back from our FUN family vacation in Oregon and we came upon the fires.  We had been RVing up and down California, so we were intentionally disconnected to the news.  The glow in the distance caught my attention, and then my disappointment as we approached LA and had excellent visibility on the extent of the fires.  They were out of control and the flood of memories came back.  I remember standing outside my home in the middle of a windy night in Escondido watching the burning ball heading in my direction.  I remember my husband telling me not to worry, it was so far away.  I remember worrying because the winds were ridiculous.  Early the next morning we were packing for a quick evacuation.  The fires came within a mile of our home, and while our belongings were spared, our lungs were not.

It seems in the wake of that fierce fire, those who weren’t displaced had someone staying in their home that was.  I don’t recall anyone in the office feeling that they were unaffected.  Some of us knew someone who became suddenly homeless for an extended period of time.  Some folks are just now moving into the home they built to replace what was lost in that fire.  Some vacant lots still stand vacant.  These are the memories that cause our hearts to so immediately and openly go out to the victims of the recent L.A. blazes.  And please understand, it is this natural human response of compassion and empathy that con men are counting on to cheat you out of your charitable giving.

Natural disasters provide a great opportunity for a bad guy (or girl) to set up a website or otherwise solicit donations to support the victims of a tragedy.  It is compellingly attractive to them because there is no need to provide a product or a service or any follow-up whatsoever.  In other words, no accountability.  They tell you they are helping the poor innocent victims, and who are you to know otherwise?  So you give your hard-earned money out of the goodness of your heart, and they go shopping.  It’s disgusting.

Please check out a charity before you give.  Give with a check rather than cash so you can track your contributions for tax purposes.  Never trust a runner to take your money to the proper entity.  Don’t give in to pressure; a legitimate charity appreciates your giving at whatever time is good for you.  Keep in mind, some legitimate charities are not equipped to maximize donations for disaster relief.  Do a bit of homework and give to those charities that specialize in this kind of service.  Be caring, be generous, and please be smart.  Check the charity out at bbb.org.

I took my daughter to speak to the admissions departments at UCSD and UCSD Med School recently.  I admit, it was daunting.  The med school takes five-thousand apps, culls them down to three-thousand-ish that meet basic requirements, invites 600+ to interview and then invites 300+ to attend.   I’m pretty sure I was more nervous than she was.  And not because of the competition or the process or the challenge, but because I will not be there to hold her hand and point her in the right direction and, in short, to make sure some jerk doesn’t hurt her.

I know what you’re thinking, at least I think I know what you’re thinking, and I think that what I think you’re thinking is wrong … at least I think it is.

I’m not talking about the jerk boyfriend thing.  She’s already experienced the broken heart and found herself and her fortitude.  I’m not even talking about the jerk teachers, her family has conditioned her pretty well to stand up to abrasive personalities.  I’m talking about the jerk that deals her drugs in the form of an unnecessary credit card, encouraging her to buy all the shoes her little heart desires, helping her to dig a financial hole in her early years and risk this habit-forming bad behavior that has the potential to destroy her future marriage, happiness and life.  THAT’s the jerk I’m worried about.

And so, as a responsible parent, I’ll talk with her about her credit.  I’ll look it up with her at ANNUALcreditreport.com. I’ll give her examples of how a poor credit rating can affect her ability to get a car or a home in the future.  I will tell her that the stress of finals is NOTHING compared to the stress of debt and inability to pay bills.  I will tell her that credit is not free money, it’s debt; the only thing free is the associated stress.

As the CEO of the BBB I have the opportunity to take yet another approach.  The BBB now trains high school students to teach a program on their own campus about the financial considerations of a young adult.  Cell phones are getting them hooked on obligatory auto-renew expenses, and text messaging up-sells them.  They don’t care too much about us old fogies, but they still listen to each other.  The Student Ambassador Program, thanks to Union Bank, awards some terrific scholarships to high-achieving participants.  For more information, check out our Student Ambassador Program at http://sandiego.bbb.org/student-ambassador.  It sure looks good on the college resume!

I told the story about the mega-drama surrounding my son’s prom date to a committee of my board members.  I shared the story because I wanted to underscore the great solution the BBB cell phone search tool provided to me when I was looking for a limo driver and tux shop I could trust.  One of my board members emphatically suggested that I share that story, and so I started devising a 30-second BBB commercial in my head.  I wrote my son into the script.  He’s a teenager so, of course, he makes a point of ignoring me through the entire spot, complete with headphones on.  Here is my Richard: TheSanDiegoBBB on YouTube

I was very excited when I came up with this concept.  What I didn’t expect was the reaction from my kids.  My son said, “I don’t wanna do it.  Get some other kid to do it.”  Are you kidding, some other kid playing my son in a BBB spot?  Really?  And have you tried to coax a 16-year-old to do anything lately, especially stand in front of a TV camera?  And how about my daughter’s reaction: “Mom!  I can’t believe you didn’t write a commercial for me!”  So in the swimming pool the next morning, I thought and thought about her experience with the BBB and how that would play in another commercial.  Of course, I had to consider our existing cantankerous relationship to make it realistic.  So I wrote a commercial in which she discovers the resources of the BBB and, naturally, flips me a little crap at the same time.  Here is my Ashley: TheSanDiegoBBB on YouTube

My little “test runs” on these gems have been startling.  To a person, people cannot watch these spots without a grin, especially those who have raised kids through their teen years.  I have to admit, the Ashley spot seems to be the going favorite, even though that one happened almost by accident trying to please my kid.  She actually wants to go to med school.  She doesn’t yet know I am secretly plotting my new career as her stage manager in Hollywood.  Anyone got connections?

Brace yourself.  I’m going to wax a little philosophy.  I know this is dangerous turf and I will try not to stimulate your gag reflex.

First, you should know something about my parenting skills.  They are stellar.  Until the child becomes a teenager.  Then I am clearly pathetic at my job of being a mother.  So in an effort to boost my internal esteem and fulfill my need to be with a child who might actually appreciate me, I invited a foreign exchange student into our home.  What a breath of fresh air.

Martin is from the Czech Republic.  I was very excited to host him, planning some special events that he could enjoy as “firsts.”  His first trip to the beach.  His first hot air balloon ride.  His first visit to Disneyland.  I enjoy watching others enjoy their “firsts” as much as I enjoy experiencing my own.  Martin was to spend a few weeks with my son and then my son, in turn, would spend a few weeks in the Czech Republic with Martin.  Both, in my plan, would have fantastic experiences enjoying many “firsts.”

Then came my learning curve, the bad with the good.  Bear with me, I promise this relates to your business life.  I was dumbfounded to find that deep into the process of planning the exchange, my son actually had no interest in going to the Czech Republic… or anywhere else.  He is not an adventurer.  To my shock, he stated clearly his desire NOT to go to a foreign country.  I don’t see how he can be related to me.  The next surprise was much more pleasant.  I didn’t have to plan special “firsts” for Martin because EVERYTHING was a first.  He ate his first peanut butter and jelly sandwich, his first BLT, his first waffle and his first smore.  He roasted his first hot dog over a campfire and baked his first cookie.  It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed my daily routine this much, to see it through Martin’s eyes.  When he goes back to the Czech Republic, he will miss picking his orange juice from the front yard.

My misconceptions about these two boys are the same ones I’ve made in business so many times.  When will I learn?  You see, I had the arrogance to decide what each of these boys would enjoy.  Then I found I couldn’t please my son at all, and I didn’t have to go “over the top” as expected to make Martin happy.  After all, they are 17, so why didn’t I ask?  How often do you ask your customers what they expect from you?  If you make them happy, they will trust you.  If they trust you, they will come back.  One of my treasured accredited businesses has her employees answer the phone, “How can we make you happy?”  She gets it.  I’ll bet she’s a better mom than I am, too.  I’m going to send her my teenager.

I scored a date to the prom for my son.  Really.  This is one of those mother-of-the-year stories.

With his new license, my son drives between his father’s house and mine at will.  At 16, he’s not my most open and communicative kid.  I was so bummed to find out the week before prom that he didn’t have a date.  He was playing it cool, like it didn’t matter.  So I asked him if he would go if I got him a hot date from another school.  He doubted I could do it, so of course I rose to the challenge.

As it’s done in the modern world, I introduced them on My Space, and my son invited her via text messaging.  I cannot convey the flurry of stress and activity that ensued in the following 72 hours.  You must know that I achieved the fine moment of getting the girl to say “yes” just as I was leaving town.  How am I going to do this?  I am headed to the airport on an out-of-town business trip.  (Lest you strip me of my mother-of-the-year award upon discovering that I am out of town on prom weekend, remember that my son does not communicate.  I had one week notice on prom.  OK, OK, I should have checked the calendar myself.  Deduct some points.)

Now I have some serious tasks to accomplish in the next 48 hours, and his dad wants no part of this stress.   I need a tux.  I need a safe ride from Escondido to Petco Park.  I need flowers.  I run the BBB.  I have contacts.  I call my limo contact.  They are all booked up for the weekend.  Crap, now what do I do.

Well, Sheryl, how about doing what you tell everyone else to do?  At the airport, I pulled out my phone.  I accessed the internet (thank you teenagers for forcing me to text and look up movie times on my phone.)  I went to bbb.org and found a report on an accredited tux shop two miles from my house.  I called them and told them my son was on the way.  I looked for an accredited limo driver.  The second report I pulled up was close to home and they had an available limo at a lower rate than my sold-out buddy.  Two more phone calls and I was set.

I know I run the place, but I’m a believer.  My son had a great prom experience, and I didn’t worry whether the companies I chose would take advantage of him.  We both have pretty great memories of that flurry of a weekend.  Make some of your own.  Try it for yourself at bbb.org.

I guess maybe I have a little “sexist” in me because I often call it “a woman’s intuition.”  You know, that feeling in my gut that seems to know right from wrong, even when my brain is trying to rationalize an injustice.  After all, the business signed a contract with us, we are completely within our rights to hold him to it, but does being within “rights” make it “right?”

I took my daughter to Egypt last month.  We witnessed the beauty and awe of ancient history, and we witnessed the struggle and poverty of a third-world country.  On one of our group excursions, our host explained the art school we were going to visit.  It was a creative school that taught kids the beautiful skill of hand-knotting carpets.  These children would otherwise be on the streets, but instead were clean, well-fed and making a little bit of money on their daily projects.  They were eager to show us this new “school” concept.

Besides the knots in the carpets, upon entering the “school,” I certainly had a knot in my stomach.  While they were all smiles and eager to show off the mastery of their skills, the scene could not have been more clear in my mind.  I was witnessing child labor disguised as education.  After watching the children “perform” their craft, we were shuttled upstairs where the men in suits worked hard to sell us the wares crafted by the kids downstairs.  I wandered away from the group and back downstairs where one of the children begged me for money, which we were strictly advised before entering NOT to give the children.  Of course we shouldn’t.  Then the children might beg instead of work.  The quickness of their minds and dexterities of their fingers were certainly a benefit to getting the job done quickly. 

The “teacher” explained how fortunate these children were to be learning this enterprise, and how so many children are living dirty on the streets of Egypt.  Capitalism and competition sometimes allows us to reason that something wrong could possibly be right.  I tried to reason it, but my gut was clear and unwavering.  Profiting at the hands of working children is wrong.

I had one of those spectacular weekends with my family.  The kind where it’s snowing on the mountain every day and the powder at Mammoth is so deep that you hardly have to work at the sport, you just get to glide down the slopes.  Evenings were spent at the condo eating, drinking, talking, and on Valentine’s Day, watching sappy love movies. 

In one of those particular movies, a love struck Jack Nicholson declares “I have always told you SOME VERSION of the truth!”  And she gives him the look.  One of those looks that women give when they no longer trust you.  That comment was a deal-breaker.

That’s because earning trust is not just about telling the truth, or some version of it.  It is really about honesty and integrity in a relationship.  When someone withholds information intentionally, knowing it would improve your situation but not their own, that is a breach of trust, even when they are truthful.  When someone tells you only part of the truth to cause you to behave in a way that benefits them, it is a breach of trust, even when they did not lie.  When we discover the whole truth, we still feel deceived.

I reflected this weekend on how many times I have discovered that I had been told SOME VERSION of the truth.  And I realized that every time the relationship seriously deteriorated, if not broke.  And I realized that rebuilding that relationship was long and hard, and never quite complete.

Another important reflection for me: I spend significantly more money with people I trust.  I know a lot of business people, and I don’t always go for the cheap deal, because in the end I find it costs me more.  I have found people I trust to do a good job and take care of me, and I spend money with those people.  Most of them give me a very good deal.  Because they are good people.  Because they are people you can trust.

Right now it’s all about staying connected.

And sometimes staying connected requires really hard work.  Especially when you need to be ever mindful of with whom you are connecting.  As a business person traversing rough waters, reaching out to reinforce old connections or establish new ones can be a critical survival technique.  This is not a time to be shy.  This is a time to pick up the phone and ring your vendors.  Ask them what recommendations they have for making their product more successful.  Call past customers.  There’s nothing like the feeling of receiving an unexpected phone call from a business you respect checking in to make sure you are still a satisfied customer.  When the customer reassures you they are pleased, don’t be afraid to ask for a referral.  Make a cold call to another market, to a business of a similar type in a similar sized market.  Have a chat.  Ask them what they are doing differently this year that is making an impact.  You are not a competitor, and you might learn something that your customers would really value.

And when you find yourself in the shoes of a consumer, keep in mind that this is a time you need to be particularly cautious, and can afford to be particularly picky.  Don’t forget to check out a company’s grade with the BBB before you pay them a visit.  Those grades are dynamic and you might find that the company you relied on for the last decade isn’t so trustworthy in tough times.

The BBB is helping consumers connect with businesses by providing communication tools right on the website.  Go ahead, send our accredited businesses an e-mail.  Ask them a question or ask for a quote.  Or even ask for a phone call so you can have a conversation with someone you trust.

The BBB is also helping trustworthy businesses stay connected with each other with our new businesses mixers beginning in February.  Remember, these businesses have the potential to become your business’ consumer.  If you’re looking to bring more revenue in the door, making more contacts and connections is a good place to start.  Look for details in a BBB e-mail coming to Accredited Businesses soon.

And if you are a BBB Accredited Business and we don’t have your e-mail address, give us a call and we’ll add it.  We want you to stay connected.

It’s officially Happy New Year for me, which means a concerted effort at shaving off those holiday indulgences.  I’m Bohemian, so that means I’m sitting on them, and now hauling them to the gym on a daily basis.  And yes, like many of my girlfriends, I’ve put myself on an eating plan.  Diet is a four-letter word.  Eating plan has the connotation that I am actually planning to eat.  See how that positive spin works?

Positive spins, by the way, are something we could all use more of these days.  Not to get all “karma” on you, but I do take stock in “The Secret,” in “The Power of Attraction,” and basically in our control of our own situation when we can’t control the world around us.  I was struck by a letter from an Accredited Business sent to me personally.  I called Bruce, the author, and requested his permission to reprint the text:

“Thank you for your persistence regarding my renewal.  I’ve realized that I let fear get the best of me for a while.  I have decided to reverse my decision to not renew.  During these trying times I need to focus on positive ideas and people, which the BBB has both.”

Bruce, like most of our Accredited Businesses, is a small business owner working hard through increasingly tougher circumstances.  His message rings so true in keeping priorities straight with an intense positive focus.  That message will come through to Bruce’s potential customers, who I’m sure are more critical and discerning than ever.

And remember, Bruce, you can’t fail until you quit.  I hope you send me another letter in a couple of years when you are riding that shooting star.

Oh, and if you, too, have made a New Year’s resolution to get some help with that curvaceous figure of yours, please be careful.  There are weight-loss scams galore this time of year and piles of complaints on aggressive gym sales tactics.  Check out our report on any company from which you are considering purchasing or contracting, and read our tips on contracting with a gym.

Be smart, stay positive and let your BBB know what we can do to help.

I was so impressed Tuesday by the quality of company sharing the stage with me at our 11th annual Torch Awards.  Thank you, George Chamberlain, for emceeing our event EVERY year.  For those of you who missed it, I was limping and had some very funky sandals on, but it was the first day out of my boot cast, and that allowed me to share my broken foot experience this year and how it correlates with the BBB.

Okay, so now I have you curious.  You see, both my husband and I got to wear that lovely boot this year and putz around on crutches.  Mine was elective foot surgery, and I wore that boot for ten weeks.  There were some advantages.  I got to take the short security line at the airport.  I got to pre-board.  I got to enter the rides at the exits at Disney World.  And I got to meet a lot of strangers who would introduce themselves to me everywhere I went, and tell me THEIR story about when they wore THEIR boot and what caused THEIR pain and how long it took for THEM to get over it.

Well, it's very similar to working at the BBB.  We get more than 2500 complaints a month.  People sharing the pain they've experienced working with a company.  But in this event, the outcome is usually very good.  The vast majority of the time, the company is responsive and resolved the complaint with the consumer in a timely manner.  More importantly, it helps us to support PAIN PREVENTION.  That really is our mission.  We would prefer that folks not do business with bad companies and avoid some of these bad experiences altogether.  That's why we are constantly putting the message out in the community: Start With Trust.

And it's working.

Your BBB will serve up more than 3 million reliability reports this year.  That's more than 3 million times that one of our reliability reports is getting checked out.  Consumers want to know the track record of a company before they do business with them.  They are losing trust and confidence in the businesses that they do business with every day.  And so they are coming to a third party that they trust, the BBB, to help them decide who they can trust with their money.

The equity in the BBB brand, that "trust factor," is more relevant in the marketplace than ever.  And doing business with a BBB Accredited Business is more important than ever to consumers.  People want to do business with companies that will take care of them, that they trust.  It's our job #1 to connect consumers to trustworthy businesses.

And it's working.

 We did it.  We launched ratings.  It's been a project more than four years in the making and we think we got the formula right.  Why aren't we making a bigger deal out of it on the website and in the media?  Because right now we are working diligently to make sure we got it right.

It's not the formula we are worried about at all.  In fact, that's a very big point of pride.  We have sixteen elements going into the calculation.  Sixteen objective measurements of a company's performance.  That's a very robust measurement of a company's performance.  Some of the areas are pass/fail only, designed to help us get a big red "F" to the bad guys as soon as possible.  For example, operating without a license?  You fail.  Operating in an illegal industry?  You fail.  Operating in a suspect industry?  Well, we are going to throw some big cautionary flags to the consumer because we have discovered a significant number of problems affecting consumers in your industry.  So if our calculations are so great, what are we concerned about?  Our formulas are only as good as the data.  And in some cases, we are discovering we'd like to have a little more data.

Most of the companies calling us concerned about their grade right now find that when they provide us with the start date of their company or the size of their business, it improves their grade.  You see, we expect larger companies to get more complaints.  But in order to apply that scale, we need the information.  That was not the case in the past.  So, while we have asked for this information from companies from time to time, they weren't necessarily motivated to provide it.  Now they are.  There is the additional benefit for the consumer now that they will have even better quality information when choosing who gets their money.

There are many sources in the marketplace now to help provide you with information on a company's performance.  It is our mission to provide you with the most robust and objective evaluation to consider.  The information you receive from the BBB is not based on someone's subjective opinion, but on facts and data that the BBB has evaluated.  Ultimately, BBB Accredited Businesses have contractually made the commitment to operate with trust and integrity.  But whoever you choose, we can't encourage you enough to avoid the big red "F"s!

Election season is heating up and a lot of Americans who have never seen a ballot box are finally registering to have their vote counted.  Unfortunately, during election season, we often see voters become victims of identity theft.  The most unfortunate part is if the voter isn't paying attention, it could be years before the fraud is even discovered.

Here's how the con works.  A very savvy and articulate con artist will call you posing as the voter registrar's office.  They will say they are confirming information in their database and ask if you are the individual by your name who has registered to vote.  They will then ask you to confirm your address, birthday and social security number.  This is the key information required to establish credit in your name to get, oh let's say a cell phone or even a credit card.  If the con person uses your social security number with another address, you may never even get the notices that you have defaulted on the account in your name.  Rest assured, the affected companies will report "your" bad debt, affecting your credit rating, but how will you know?

Well, this happened to me.  And it was before the FTC made a free annual credit report mandatory without penalty.  I didn't check my credit on a regular basis, and I did not find out until four years after the crime was committed that someone had used my social security number, which they had stolen from my employer, to lease cell phones and default on the bill.  I discovered my bad credit when I attempted to refinance my house.  I tried, in vain, to contact the cell phone companies and a department store to let them know the debt was not mine.  They did not want to hear my story; they only wanted a police report.  So, I took the time off work and went down to the station and filed a report.  Once I provided that to the defrauded companies, they corrected my credit report.  It took numerous letters and 1/2 day off work so yes, it was a pain.  For one company I had to provide three forms of proof that I did not live in Atlanta four years ago.  It sounds easy, but it wasn't.  Could you do it?  Do you save your bills for four years?

The bigger question is, have you looked at your credit report lately?  How about your kids’?  Sadly, a family member is the number one identity thief and more and more children are having their credit affected by desperate family members.  Do yourself a favor.  Check out the family's credit today at www.annualcreditreport.com.  It’s safe, quick and easy.  If you find a problem, report it.  And if the voter registrar's office calls asking for your social security number (not just the last four digits, which they will sometimes do,) don't hesitate to hang up.

Listening to Warren Buffet speak on PBS last week, I related to his visual description of the state of our economy.  The US economy is a stellar athlete, and that athlete just hit the floor.  He is strong enough to survive, indeed strong enough to heal relatively quickly, but it is up to us to revive him and get him off the floor.  That is our priority now.

Mr. Buffet's description is striking to me because I believe the events causing the athlete to "hit the floor" as he has described it have occurred in the past few months.  Let me get to the "striking" part.  The BBB just finished its second annual survey of American's trust in the companies we do business with.  We found that in the past year, consumer trust has declined 14 points on average.  Keep in mind that this survey was done April 07 to April 08.  Therefore, what "strikes" me is how much has trust in business continued to erode now that Americans are aware of the condition of our star athlete?  I suspect a significant amount.

It is this set of unfortunate circumstances that tends to significantly increase what I call "trust equity."  That is, how important and valuable trust is becoming in the relationship between a business and its customer.  At the very least, this economic environment will cause people to become wary and skeptical.  At the very worst, it brings out a litany of con artists posing as the FDIC to conduct identity fraud, or posing as a concerned lending consultant to strip struggling consumers of what little they have left.  Now more than ever, it's important that we know the reputation of the company taking our valuable dollars.

Can you trust the companies you do business with?  Well, you can certainly get a better sense of their reputation by checking them out at bbb.org.  If they've been around awhile, they probably know how to weather this kind of storm.  If they have a few RESOLVED complaints, they probably care enough about their customers to work through issues when they arise.  Do remember to take the size of business into consideration when you are evaluating the volume of complaints.  Remember, there is only one sure way to a complaint-free report: if the company has no customers.  There are bad consumers just like there are bad businesses, and we can't prevent them from filing a complaint.  So the key is ... whether or not the company has resolved the complaint.

Track records of trust are more important than ever.  If you have one, shout about it from the mountain tops.  If you are getting ready to put your money anywhere, allow the BBB to help you be cautiously responsible.  Check the company out and see how they're doing today.  Warren Buffet says, "Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful."  There are a lot of opportunities out there, and taking advantage of them now will keep our economy headed in the right direction.  Happy shopping!

I had surgery on my foot last week and got to spend the weekend with my leg propped up on the couch.  Fortunately, my husband had a busy weekend planned so I actually got to handle the remote control.  And still, I landed on football.  What a come back those Chargers made.  My Cornhuskers didn't do so well.

There are so many great sporting events luring fans and their money in the fall season, I just want to remind you to be on the cautious lookout if you are planning to go through a third-party source to get your tickets.  This is the time of year we hear from people who get duped trying to purchase event tickets from online brokers or auction websites.  Often, phony tickets are displayed right on the website, designed to separate you from your money.  Even more often, con artists demand that you wire the money rather than use your credit card or Paypal, where you have some recourse.

The usual playing rules apply: don't do business with someone you don't know.  Now, of course it's impossible to get to know these people personally, but you'd be surprised how much you can "get to know" them by doing a little research.  Who else has done business with them?  Were they happy with their transaction?  Are they affiliated with an organization that has conducted a third-party review of their business practices?  Don't be afraid to ask these tough questions.  If the other party gets offended in any way, don't just walk away, RUN away!

However, if you do get "stuck," don't blame yourself.  It happens to the best of us.  Please let us know and give the District Attorney's office a call.  Maybe, just maybe we can save the next guy.

I am the victim of an after-market auto warranty scam.  I decided to tell my story to San Diego on television, during our regularly-scheduled scam-of-the-week.  The issue is not resolved and the reporter asked me, "Are you worried about your credibility as an advisor?"  I wasn't.  I'm more worried that people don't come forward because they are embarrassed about becoming a victim.  Well, next time just remember that I am right there with you.

Another reporter called me after seeing the story to share his reaction.  He said, "I told my wife ... SEE ... it even happened to HER!"  I think it's happened to most of us.  Why do we feel bad when someone takes advantage of US?  Why do WE feel responsible?  Why do WE feel stupid?  Because we are responsible, smart, caring people who have learned to take care of ourselves.  And when we can't, we blame ourselves.  We feel that we've been too trusting.  So what is the remedy for that?  Not to trust anyone?  What would that world look like?  I don't think I want to live in it.

We have so many resources available to us, it is a real bummer when a seasoned con man takes advantage of us.  One took advantage of me.  I thought I looked in the right places for the information.  But the truth is, I missed something.  Sometime you are going to miss something, and then you will be the victim.  That's not because you are stupid, it's because you are human.  So when it happens, let someone know.

I filed a complaint with the BBB.  Due to the structure of the company, that complaint has been bouncing from BBB to BBB.  That wasn't a fun experience.  But when it finally landed, I cherished the phone call from the Attorney General's office in Florida.  It turns out there is a multi-state investigation on the company.  The company is volunteering to shut themselves down and pay restitution to all the nice folks that filed those BBB complaints.

Well, I'll believe it when I get my check.  After all, the company has been nothing but misleading in their relationship with me.  But I do have an ounce of hope now.  

I "fell" for a phone solicitation for an automotive after-market warranty.  I'm telling you so that you don't do it, too.  So, what's your story so you can help the rest of us?