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Consumer Protection

Consumer Protection: Advice from The Bucks County Consumer Advocates

January 2008

Q. I want to buy a puppy for my wife for Valentines Day.  This is going to be our first dog so I have been researching the best dog.  The dog would have to be great with kids and not so big it takes over our small home.  One thing that I have found in my research is that dogs don’t come cheap.  How do I go about buying a dog that is healthy and worth the money?  G.M., Richboro

A. The “Dog Purchaser Protection Act” is part of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.  Pet shops and kennels must be licensed by the Department of Agriculture.  This law requires that a seller must provide the buyer with a health record stating the dog’s breed, date of birth, sex, color, any markings, vaccinations and parasitical medicines given to the dog.  The seller must also sign a statement that all the information is true.  The seller has to provide either a health certificate from a veterinarian or a Guarantee of Good Health signed by the seller stating that the dog is free from disease and defects and does not appear clinically ill from parasitic infection.  If within ten days after purchase your dog dies from or is certified by a veterinarian to have an infectious disease or to be clinically ill; or within thirty days your dog dies from or is certified by a veterinarian to have a congenital or hereditary defect, you may return the dog for a replacement or a full refund, or you may keep the dog and be reimbursed for reasonable veterinary fees up to the purchase price.  Consumers should take their new puppy to their own trusted veterinarian soon after they purchase one.  For Bucks County Residents who already own a dog this is just a friendly reminder that January 1st was the time to get your dog his/her new 2008 dog license.  Consumers who have just purchased their puppy have until the puppy turns three months old before they require a license.  Be careful, because a dog that is caught without a license can cost their owners a hefty fine. Consumers can contact Bucks County Consumer Protection at 1-800-942-2669 for a free brochure on Dog Purchaser Protection.

Q.    It is that time of year again for us to buy firewood.  My husband wanted to try another supplier of seasoned and split firewood.  It was delivered yesterday and dropped in a large pile as per our request.  We stacked the pile and it looks short, although it may not be because my husband forgot the dimensions of a single cord of wood.  What does a cord equal?  J.S., Doylestown

A.    A cord of firewood should measure a total of 128 cubic feet.  To measure the wood correctly, stack it in rows with pieces parallel and try to leave as few gaps as possible.  Then multiply the height of the stack times the length times the width in feet or fractions of a foot.  The number should equal 128 cubic feet per single cord of wood.  An example of a stacked cord is 2 feet wide, 4 feet high and 16 feet long.  Multiply all the numbers and it equals 128 cubic feet.  Our office sent a Bucks County Weights and Measures sealer to your home.  You were in fact shorted almost a full one quarter of a cord.  They also discovered another problem.  The seller did not provide you with a receipt.  State law requires a receipt that contains the name and address of both seller and buyer, and the delivery date.  It must also show the price paid, number of cords delivered and kind of wood purchased.  Many firewood suppliers know the law and know what seasoned wood is and do a great job, but some claim they have been in business for years and never heard of such a law.  Regardless of their knowledge of the law or not, the Weights and Measures Department can take the seller to court for the violation.

At this point the seller is willing to give you several options to resolve the issue.  It is also extremely important to stack a delivery immediately so it can be measured correctly.  Then if there is a problem the buyer can contact the seller right away.  If the seller does not return a call within a day or two call your local Weights and Measures Department.  The Bucks County Weights and Measures number is 215-348-6060.  For a free brochure on weights and measures rules contact our office at 215-348-7442.

Q.    I received an e-mail from what looks like it may have come from my bank.  The subject line states “your account is temporarily suspended!”  The e-mail goes on to read “Dear customer, we temporarily suspended some accounts after upgrading our hardware.  You are required to complete an account update so we can unlock your account”.  Then it states that to start the update process to “click here”  It goes on to state “Once you have completed the update, we will send you an email notifying that your account is available again.  Afterwards you can access your account at any time.”  It also gives you the name of a local bank.  My question to you is could this be true?  A.N., Quakertown

A.  No, the bank or any other legitimate institution is not going to contact their customers though an e-mail.  If there was a problem with your bank account they would have contacted you to clear up the problem either through a phone call or a letter.  This type of scam is called phishing.  Phishing is the act of getting consumers or businesses to give up their personal or financial information.  When they do that, your identity and finances are clearly at risk.  It will easily allow them to clean out your bank account or create new accounts in your name.  If a consumer receives any questionable e-mail similar to the above e-mail, Bucks County Consumer Protection strongly suggests not to respond to the e-mail. Consumers who receive such an e-mail should immediately contact their financial institution themselves with a phone number that they recognize or visit their bank to find out if there have been any problems with their personal bank accounts. Consumers may also want to take a copy of the e-mail to their bank to make them aware that their name is being used in a scam.  

Similar scams may also occur with phone calls.  The caller may state that they are from your bank or credit card company.  They may tell you that they are with the fraud department and ask you to verify account information, pin number, etc.  Again, do not provide any information.  Get the caller’s information and hang up and then follow the same steps by contacting the institution they claim they are from with a number that you are familiar with.  Then call the institution to verify if there is a problem or not.   

Q.  I have been receiving more and more bogus emails.  A lot of them appear to come from government offices like the Internal Revenue Service, The United States Treasury Department and several banking facilities.  I know they are bogus and know better than to click on their links or provide any information.  I am afraid that there must be millions of people getting similar emails and may take the bait.  Is there anyway to stop them, and what agency can look them over and possibly stop the sender?  J.D., Warrington

A.   The Internet is the new mail fraud scam.  People used to and still do receive regular mail on a regular basis that states they are winners of lotteries and need to pay a fee, or consumers get a check sent to them that is bogus and they are to cash it and wire a portion to a Western Union or other type facility.  Many of the scams come out of Canada, England, Spain and the Netherlands.  Now with the Internet, hackers and scammers send out thousands of emails from different computers.  Many computers that are not protected by anti-virus software or that run pirated software programs are at risk of being used by these mass email scammers.  The most important thing to remember is that government agencies do not reach out to people via the Internet.  Banks and credit card companies also will not contact you via email about a breach in security and ask you to provide your personal or financial information.  Many of the emails sent have attachments to them that contain viruses that, if opened, can install a program that can steal passwords and account numbers from the receiving computers.  Because the sending address on emails can be easily spoofed, they are often trying to mimic legitimate businesses or government offices hoping to make the message appear real.  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) state that they have received thousands of complaints about messages supposedly sent by them.  Many financial institutions have also received thousands of complaints and inquiries about their supposed emails.  The most important thing to remember is that caution should always be used when looking at an email or letter.  There is a government website that has great information about bogus emails.  The site is http://www.OnGuardOnline.gov and is a computer fraud site.  Our advice is to never click on a link or attachment.  Forward the email to http://spam@uce.gov. That is the FTC’s spam data base. 

Q.  The lease on our apartment will be ending in April.  My husband and I are thinking of moving our family to another apartment complex because of several issues that we cannot clear up with our apartment manager.  We would like to move to a better and cleaner apartment complex.  Can you give us some suggestions on making our move a good experience?  G.M., Morrisville

A.   First of all look for an apartment that will fit your family’s needs.  Check apartments in good areas.  Since you have children, check into the school district to see if that is where you would want to enroll your children.  You should be able to let your children finish out the year where you are now if you would be moving to a different school district.  Contact the school where your children are now to make sure you can do this.  Check the different apartment complexes that you are interested in to make sure they have an apartment with the number of bedrooms that you would need.  If none are open, ask how long the waiting list is for that particular apartment.  While checking apartments, ask around to see what the people who are already living there think of the accommodations.  Make sure the apartment’s rent is something you and your husband can handle.  Check what is included in the rent and what you would have to pay on your own. 

When you find the apartment you want to move to, make sure you give your current landlord the notice to vacate in writing in the amount of time the lease asks for.  Also keep a copy of your notice to vacate for your records.  When it becomes time to clean out your apartment, make sure you clean out all cabinets, the inside of your refrigerator, and inside the stove.  After all of your belongings are out of the apartment, repair any holes left behind, even where you hung pictures.  Take pictures or video of the whole place including inside the refrigerator, stove, shower area, counters, windows, rugs, etc.  You don’t have to develop the film, but hold onto it.  It’s like having an insurance policy in case management states that something is wrong with your apartment and tries to keep you security deposit.  Management has 30 days from the time you hand over the keys and your forwarding address to return your security deposit.  Consumers who would like a free copy of the Landlord/Tenant Act should call Bucks County Consumer Protection at 1-800-942-2669.

Department of Consumer Protection /
Weights and Measures
Michael D. Bannon
Director
50 North Main Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Phone: 215-348-7442
Fax: 215-348-4570
Canny Consumer Hotline 1-800-942-2669