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Consumer Protection: Advice from The Bucks County Consumer Advocates

February 2008

Q. Spring is just around the corner and I’m thinking about putting a Florida room on the back of my house.  What I’m looking for will be a large and expensive job.  I’m just a little leery about hiring the wrong contractor to do the job especially with the two separate contractors that were in the newspaper just recently that scammed the people out of their money and didn’t do the work.  What are some of the red flags that would point to a scam?   L.A., Warrington          

A.  It is important to recognize and avoid home repair scams.  There are good contractors out there doing business, but of course the bad contractors always leave a lasting impression.  Be wary of a contractor who:            

• solicits door-to-door
• just happens to have materials left over from a previous job
• only accepts cash payments
• asks you to get the required building permits
• does not list a business number in the local telephone directory
• doesn’t have a physical address
• only has a cell phone
• tells you your job will be a “demonstration”
• pressures you for an immediate decision
• offers exceptionally long guarantees
• asks you to pay for the entire job up front
• suggests that you borrow money from a lender the contractor knows
• gives you a vague contract

Before you sign a contract, get at least two other estimates from other contractors.  Also contact Bucks County Consumer Protection at 1-800-542-2669 to see if there have been any complaints lodged against a particular contractor.                 

Q.  I am tired of sales calls, junk mail and unsolicited e-mails.  The calls usually come in while I’m trying to make dinner after work and the junk mail is stuffing my mailbox.  It is driving me crazy.  I have sent a request to the Direct Marketing Association to be removed my address from the “lists”, but am still getting solicitations.  How can I be free of them all?  B.S., Morrisville

A.  Contacting the Direct Marketing Association was a major step in the right direction.  Because there are more than 15,000 consumer lists containing over two billion names available for marketing purposes, the only way to avoid being in any marketing databases is to have absolutely no contact with the outside world.  Birth records, property transactions, voter registration, and certain other activities are public record.  Are you in the phone book?  Ever filled out a warranty registration card, a contest entry form, make a charitable donation, subscribed to a magazine or applied for a loan?  These are just some of the non-public sources of information about you.  There are large companies whose business is compiling consumer information to help vendors target likely prospects.  To reduce the amount of unwanted solicitations, don’t provide more information than is absolutely necessary for the intended purpose.  Ask what the company’s privacy policies are and request they not share your personal information with others.  Contact the major credit bureaus and ask them to take your name off of the lists for prescreened offers of credit. The phone number is 1-888-567-8688.   Assert your right under Federal law and inform telemarketers not to call you again. Take control of the call and ask for the caller’s name, company and phone number.  Make a record of the precise time and date of the call.  Then say to the telemarketer “Do not call me again, put me on your do not call list”.  Make sure you are on the “do not call” list.  If you are, you can file a complaint.  Contact Bucks County Consumer Protection for additional information and assistance if needed.

Q.  I recently received a letter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  It is a form letter that stated PennDot is in the process of validating Social Security numbers to ensure the information on file is correct.  It also states that my Social Security number is not printed on the driver’s license or any other PennDot document; it is used to ensure my identity when interacting with their agency.  It goes on to say that they work with the Social Security Administration and that my information has inconsistency in it.  They go on to say that I must fill in the attached form and mail it within sixty days or I will have my license canceled.  Is this another scam?  A.G., Reigelsville

A.  The letter is signed by Janet L. Dolan, Director of the Bureau of Driver Licensing.  The letter is real and PennDot is in fact trying to ensure that the license they issue is to the correct individual.  It is another step towards making sure your identity is correct.  Most of the errors are due to marriage names not being changed or by not using your full name as it appeared on your Social Security card, or as the result of a typographical error.  Hard to believe, isn’t it? We are glad you brought this to our attention and glad that you are validating the request instead of blindly filling out a form and mailing it back to a post office box number.  There are several phone numbers on the letter that consumers can call, but we always suggest calling a local PennDot office to verify that such a letter is real.  You can find a local number in your phone book.  In today’s world it does not take much to produce an official looking letter.  We would suggest that you send the form back by some sort of tracking method so you know the information made it to the correct location.  We always want consumers to stop and think before providing any personal or financial information to anyone.

Q.  I recently received a postcard that had a Delta Airline logo on it.  There was a toll free number to call.  I called the company and they seemed to be a discount travel company.  I called the number and left my name and number for them to call me back.  When they called back I did not like what I heard so I declined their offers.  Now I have received a couple of calls from the company with more offers.  I told them I was on the Do-Not-Call list and to not call me again.  They said they would put me on their do not call sheet.  I think the whole thing is a scam.  I may be 70 years old but I like to think I am not stupid.  R.W., New Hope

A.  There are lots of scams like this running around.  The reason is there are about 150 million people on the Do-Not-Call lists around the country.  That has really frustrated marketers and sales people that depended on cold calls to generate sales, some of which were legitimate and others that just scammed people, especially seniors, out of their money.  Our office has seen a large number of postcards and letters that have many different logos on them. Many of them look like legitimate companies such as Delta Airlines, AARP, or have official government addresses on them to suggest credibility.  Once a consumer responds to one of these mailings companies can get around the Do-Not-Call-List, the reason being you responded to them and they usually have several affiliates that will call too.  Our advice is to make sure you are on the Do-Not-Call List and if you respond to an offer like this, be extremely wary.  If you do not, you may be talked into any number of scams.  You could end up with a salesman in your home, and then you become a captive consumer.  Then they wear you down until the deal is done, and the deal is never good for the consumer.  If the material has a logo or appears to be from a government agency, call the real company or agency to confirm the validity of the mailer.  AARP has won an injunction against ChoicePoint for using the AARP logo.  One thing about scammers and scams is that they will never go away, they just reinvent themselves.  Never trust anyone or anything that sounds too good to be true. There really are no free lunches, just bad food at an incredible cost.

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