Consumer Blog

Identity Theft Protection?

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:47:51 GMT

CONSUMER ALERT! HAVE YOU PAID A COMPANY TO PROTECT YOU FROM IDENTITY THEFT? HAVE YOU BEEN HAPPY OR DISAPPOINTED WITH THE COMPANY? HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY? HAVE YOU HAD ANY HELP? EMAIL WEBTEAM@KDKA.COM AND LET US KNOW!! WE MAY CONTACT YOU FOR AN UPCOMING STORY!

OVARIAN WALK! WHAT A DAY!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:53:49 GMT

Sunday, September 14, 2008! What a beautiful day. Thousands of walkers turned out at North Park Sunday morning. They walked in honor of those they lost and of those they pray will stay a part of their lives for years to come.

The best part for me was meeting so many ovarian cancer survivors. I met a woman who was a 30 year survivor, 22 years, 17 years. It gives me and so many other women who are just months or perhaps a year into this journey ..hope that we too can look forward to years of life.

My big bosses walked. The General Manager of KDKA, Chris Pike. John Verrilli, my news director, and his family walked. He even had a tee shirt on his dog.. a beautiful rescued boxer. My family walked. My friends walked.. Sally Wiggen from WTAE, Beth Dolinar who used to be an investigative reporter and now writes wonderful stories about raising children..Mary Robb Jackson showed up with a pulled ham string. Brenda Waters walked.

Olga George, a co-worker of mine at KDKA who also fought ovarian cancer, and I felt the support of those we work with and the support on Sunday of those we walked with. Thanks.

OUR STORIES OF SURVIVAL

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:56:26 GMT

Since I have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I have met so many amazing women. I am inviting them to share their stories by emailing me at zanos@kdka.com. With their permission, I will post them on my blog in the hopes that women will learn more about a cancer that seems to fly beneath the radar until it is in late stages. We can't let this continue. It is up to each of us to demand attention and ask to be checked for ovarian cancer. It can truly save your life.

BERTHA'S STORY, AN OVARIAN CANCER SURVIV

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:52:37 GMT

BERTHA'S STORY BEGINS FIVE YEARS AND EIGHT MONTHS AGO. THAT ALONE IS AN INSPIRATION TO MANY NEW OVARIAN CANCER PATIENTS WHO FACE AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE.
BERTHA'S STORY ALSO SHOWS YOU THE LENGTHS MOST WOMEN WITH OVARIAN CANCER HAVE TO GO TO FOR RECOGNITION OF THEIR SYMPTOMS. OVARIAN CANCER IS MEASURED FROM LESS SEVERE CASES AT 1a(b,c,) THROUGH STAGE 4 WHICH MEANS THE CANCER HAS SPREAD TO VITAL ORGANS. BERTHA AND I WERE AT STAGE 3c BEFORE WE WERE DIAGNOSED WITH OVARIAN CANCER. OUR CHANCES OF SURVIVAL WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH GREATER IF SOMEONE HAD THOUGHT TO TEST US FOR OVARIAN CANCER WHEN OUR SYMPTOMS FIRST SURFACED AND WHEN WE FIRST BEGAN TO COMPLAIN. HERE IS BERTHA'S STORY.

Five years and eight months ago, I began a journey that I wish no one else will ever have to make. I began having problems with vague abdominal and pelvic pain. I went to my Primary Care Physician and was told I was too fat and that I needed to lose weight.

That's when I began a nine month search for what was wrong with me. I knew in my heart something wasn't right. I was told I had irritable bowel syndrome with a nervous stomach and chronic constipation.

Meanwhile, I had developed abdominal swelling, severe back pain, continued pelvic and abdominal pain. I had bowel problems and if I ate a teaspoon of soup, I would immediately vomit. I had, pain in the upper thigh area and finally severe dyspnea.

This whole time I was being dismissed as a drug seeker (so not true), a nurse that complains about anything or an "oh no here she comes again" patient!

Finally August 31, 2003 I went to the emergency room with severe dyspnea and back pain. They made me wait 1 hour to be seen. Finally an intern came in and said they were going to do a flat plate of my abdomen. It showed I was constipated. My electrolytes were very abnormal so they started an IV and gave me 1 liter of fluid. They took the IV catheter out and sent me home with Mag Citrate for chronic constipation. I took both bottles, one on Monday & the next on Tuesday.

Wednesday I went to another emergency room with increased abdominal swelling and back pain. They took a flat plate and I was told you need to take these enemas home and give myself one tomorrow and one Friday. You have chronic constipation, I was told. I did as I was told and used the enemas. This entire time I was very close to getting fired from the company I worked for because I was calling off so much.

Five days later, my daughter had to call the medics because I felt like I was dying. I could not breath and was scared to death. When I was taken into the ER. the doctor came over and yelled at me for coming in an ambulance. He said people that come in an ambulance are a priority and he was sure I could have waited. He asked me why I came in the ambulance and I told him because I can't breath and I think I am dying. At that point I was so very angry I looked at him and said "I have done everything every doctor has told me to do for the last 9 months and have gotten much worse. Now I am telling you that I will NOT leave this ER until you find out what is wrong with me. Do a CT Scan and find out what is happening to me. He said to me "I am the doctor and I will do what I feel is necessary". That doctor let me sit in the ER for 12 hours and finally said "you're really not leaving are you?" I told him I would leave when he gave me a definite diagnosis. He reluctantly sent me for an abdominal & pelvic CT Scan. The technician was very nice. He told me to take a deep breath. I looked at him and started to cry because I couldn't take a deep breath. I cried because I was so scared of what was to be found.

Thirty minutes later, that same doctor came into the room and said to me that he had bad news for me. He said, "You have metastatic ovarian cancer."

I remember saying to him that he had just given me my death sentence. To this day I will never forget what he said to me. He looked at me with the deepest steel blue eyes and said "Don't ever say that again. There is never a good time to have ovarian cancer but now is the best time because there are so many different chemo's and other treatment options." He then sent me home in a courtesy van.

The next day I called my boss and told her I had good news and bad news. The good news is they finally know what is wrong with me and the bad news it is stage 3 ovarian cancer. I had heard of a gynoncologist named Dr. Beverly Jaramillo. She worked at AGH. I did not know her but I knew she did a lot of debulking surgeries and was very well known. Many doctors referred patients to her.

I then called Dr Jaramillo's office and I was immediately given an appointment and was told, "Don't worry, Dr. J will take good care of you."

I hung up the phone,nd for the first time in 9 months, I felt a wave of peace come over me. I knew I had just found the doctor who would help me. I immediately told a few friends and before I knew it I was on prayer lists all over the world.

When I was finally in the hospital in Dr. J's hands, I was taken the x-ray department and they drained 10 liters of ascites fluid from me and it was like a miracle. I was able to breath. Dr. J operated on me two days later, Sept 19, 2003. She found the primary site as left ovary with mets to the right ovary, the uterus, a 17cm omentum tumor, seeding on my rectum and diaphragm. I was staged officially at 3C, very extensive disease.

The next day she came to the ICU and said to me that"women with as much ascites as I had always did well. I had a port placed one week later and two weeks later, I started nine months of IV chemo and then 13 months of an old oral chemo that not many used because it was too expensive.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month and this coming Sept 19, I will be 5 years out from my diagnosis. I have been blessed and so far I have not had a recurrence. I pray every night asking God to continue to help me with this fight, I thank him for being there for me and to have guided me to Dr. J.

I try to make every woman and man (I explain that if there is any women in their life it could happen to them) aware that if they feel something is wrong they need to insist or demand that tests be done and a diagnosis be made. Had I finally not done that I feel I would not be here today to tell you my story.

Bertha Campbell
Dx Stage 3C September 19, 2003

NATURAL GAS PRICES

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:13:43 GMT

natural gas prices

For the first time in many moons, there is a reason to look at gas choice. Because of an unusually high spike in natural gas prices in July and then a sudden drop of prices on July 4th, gas choice suppliers were able to jump in and lock in some prices that will take us through the winter.

If you are already a gas choice customer with Dominion Peoples Plus, remember, you don't get if you don't ask. If you are two dollars over the latest price, you will stay there if you do not call and ask for the lower price.

The number to call is 1-800-400-5648. Check your price and ask about the latest price for new customers. If you ask for it, the savings is yours.

What are the prices? Remember that each gas company gets its own price. If you are a Dominion Peoples Gas customer or an Equitable Gas customer, you can't take advantage of a Columbia Gas offer.

If you are a Columbia Gas customer and never joined gas choice, you are paying Columbia Gas $1.42 per ccf or hundred cubic feet of gas. Call the

number above and you can lock in a price of $1.09 through September, 2009. That sounds like the kind of savings that makes the switch worth while. If you were already a Dominion Peoples Plus customer, you are probably on a variable rate now and should definitely make that call and lock in the new lower rate.

Dominion Peoples Gas customers? You can lock in $12.45 per mcf or thousand cubic feet of gas, instead of the $13.43 you are paying now.

Equitable customers? It's your choice, but if you aren't already a gas choice customer, I think you might want to stay put at Equitable. I don't see an advantage for you.

If you are an Equitable customer and already a Dominion Peoples Plus customer, call, check your price. You can lock in $14.00 per mcf as opposed to $13.59. That may not look like a great price but it is. If you have been with a choice company for more than a year, you no longer have to pay that gas cost adjustment charge on your bill. Equitable's gas cost adjustment charge right now is $2.87 per mcf. So, in fact you are comparing the DPP offer of $14.00 per mcf with Equitable's $14.00 plus $2.87 or $16.46. That's a nice savings through the winter. All of these offers are good through September, 2009.

INTERNET SCAM..YOU AREN'T THIS LUCKY

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:27:40 GMT

INTERNET SCAM WATCH OUT

If only we could be this lucky! A woman we don't know from another company is dying and leaving her money to us.. all of us.. hundreds of thousands of us probably. Don't follow up on this one. You won't get rich.. only poor.

"Hello Dear

My name is Mrs. Elena Morris; I am a dying woman who has decided to

donate what I have to you and the charity organization around your community. I am 62 years old and I was diagnosed for cancer for about 2 years ago immediately after the death of my husband who has left me everything he worked for and because the doctors told me I will not live longer than some weeks because of my health i decided to WILL/donate the sum of $5.700.000.00 to you.

Here is the Contact information of my Attorney below:

VAN DER JOEL ADVOCATEN

ANTWOORD 1070 AM PARNASSUSWEG BOULEVARD

AMSTERDAM NETHERLANDS

Email: advocaatvander@aol.co.uk

Barr: Van Der Joel Advocaten

Tel+31 616947937

and tell him that I have WILLED $5.700.000.00 to you I know I don't know you but I have been directed to do this.

Best Regards,

From Mrs. Elena Morris."

CREDIT CARD BILL OF RIGHTS

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:59:51 GMT

CREDIT CARD BILL OF RIGHTS

Here's a first. There's a proposal that would try to curb credit card companies from ripping off consumers with ever rising fees and tricky policies.

It's call the Credit Card Bill of Rights Act. It would require credit card companies to stop

*Applying unfair interest rate hikes retroactively to balances incurred under the old rate. (That's one many of us wouldn't even notice, but we should.)

*Assessing hidden and unjustified interest charges on balances already paid off. ( Ever tried to pay off some of these credit card balances only to have them continue to bill for months afterward?)

*Piling on the debt that consumers owe by requiring them to pay off balances with lower interest rates before those with higher interest rates (Put this one right up there with banks who pay our checks from the biggest to the smallest amounts to maximize overdraft fees.)

*Charging late fees even though consumer mail their payments seven days in advance of the due date. (or how about this, paying on the due date and still getting a late fee because the consumer should have known that Saturday isn't a banking day.)

DOOR TO DOOR MAGAZINE SALES

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:37:23 GMT

Q: I need help warning others not to do what I did. These young people came to my door selling magazines. They said they worked for Face to Face Technology. Profits from the two year subscriptions were supposed to be split between a Diabetes group and the kids who were saving to go on a trip. I bought the magazines and later learned I've been scammed.

Danielle of Penn Hills

A: It's hard to say at this point if this group will or will not deliver your magazines. There are so many traveling groups of young people selling magazines. Some deliver, some don't.

It's hard to say no when you are "face to face" with attractive clean cut young people at the door. They are obviously out working for something rather than just goofing off during the summer. That's the pitch that can cost you money for magazines that never arrive.

"Face to Face Technologies, inc." is a Colorado based company with a post office box for an address. That's a bad sign.

Check with the Better Business Bureau and things get worse. The BBB gives this company a D-, that's a D minus. Why? In the last eight months, the BBB has had fifty five complaints about this company concerning from billing, collection and delivery problems. However, it does appear that the company tries to resolve some complaints, so if you have a problem, call 1-888-888-9025 and at least give it a shot.

That call will take you to a company called American Cash Awards, who claims to represent or do business with several similar companies. Check the BBB on this company and it's a little better, a D plus.

What doe these scores mean? According to the BBB, it "assigns grades from A to F with pluses and minuses. A+ is the highest grade and F is the lowest. The grade represents BBB's degree of confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve any customer concerns."

If calling the company doesn't work, file a complaint with the BBB.

Another way to check out a company (maybe even while those kids are at your door) is to go to your computer, go to google and type in "FACE TO FACE TECHNOLOGIES RIP OFF".

You'll read complaints from many consumers who complain about this being a scam as well as my favorite, a response supposedly (remember this is the internet, it may or may not be true) from an employee who seem exasperated that we just don't seem to get it.

"Bob,Evergreen, Colorado,U.S.A.

SIGH

I'm sorry, but I just have to say: It's not a scam, it's a lie. There's a difference. If it were a scam, we would take your money, and never give you your magazine. A scam could go so far as stealing your account information. GLC nor F2F do that! All they do is lie about it. It's called a sales pitch. If you ever buy something from somebody, you'll get one of those, and chances are, there'll be a lie hidden in it. A good sales pitch is not a scam!"

That's kind of scary, isn't it. Maybe more sad than scary. The lesson I would take from all of this is don't buy from kids at your door unless they are local. If you recognize the kids, if they have identification from a local organization and in many areas, the necessary permission from the police to be going door to door, then it may be okay.

You could just politely say "Sorry, I've been burned before by kids at the door." If that's not true, no problem. As that magazine salesperson taught us, that may be a lie,but maybe that's okay when responding to a sale pitch full of them.

SUSPICIOUS SURVEY

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:34:16 GMT

Q: I am concerned about a survey I received in the mail. It is called the American Community Survey. It is supposedly from the US Department of Commerce. My concern is that it asks for a lot of personal financial information and I seem to be the only one in my neighborhood or family to get one. Is this legitimate?

Catherine

A: It's legit, Catherine. According to the US Department of Commerce, "America is changing, and so is the census."

The American Community Survey isn't sent to everyone, just a small percentage of the population on a rotating basis. That's why you couldn't find anyone else who received this survey.

The purpose of the survey is, in part, to help determine how more than $300 billion per year is distributed.

That said, Catherine, there is no law that says you have to give more information than you feel comfortable giving. Although you should feel safe sharing your financial information with the US Department of Commerce, to my knowledge, there are no census police who will come after you.

NEW PHONE AND INTERNET COMPETITION

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:10:32 GMT

Q: I Just had a disturbing call from a company called Cavalier. The salesperson told me that Verizon didn't own their own phone lines and that I could cut out the middleman and get cheaper phone rates. Is this a scam? Is this on the up and up? It just sounded very strange to me.

Carol from Pittsburgh

A: It's not a scam, but not entirely on the "up and up" either.

Here's the deal. I received the same call. Cavalier is a competitor of Verizon's...It's located in Richmond, Virginia. The telemarketing call you received offered phone service and hi-speed internet service for $50 a month.

I talked to a representative who said that the company just started offering service in our area about two months ago. In January, it will be competing with Comcast and Verizon with a bundling package of its own. Cavalier says it will be offering TV, internet and phone service for $95.95 a month.

"That is not an introductory short term price," the rep said.

"That's a set price."

So far so good. Verizon verified that Cavalier is a competitor. Is it a deal worth considering. I checked my area and found out that since I have fiber optics, I couldn't get hi-speed internet. I could, however, get dial-up service.

It might be a good idea to wait to see how this new competitor stacks up. Let's see if there are many complaints before jumping our local ships.

One more thing. Why are Cavalier's telemarketers calling my house? I don't know about you, but I am on the "Do Not Call" list. I have not done business with Cavalier before. I did not give this company permission to call my house. I suspect Cavalier's telemarketers are in violation of state and national laws governing telemarketers. Keep track of when the telemarketers call and get their telephone number if possible. Report the telephone call to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection at attorneygeneral.gov. If Cavalier is convicted, there could be money in your future.