The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Recall of the Week: Crib and play yards tents due to strangulation and entrapment hazard

By Rita R. Robison

A voluntary recall to provide refunds to consumers who own crib and play yard tents made by Tots in Mind Inc. is being announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and five retailers. About 330,000 tents are included in the recall.

The commission is warning parents and caregivers who own these products that infants and toddlers are at risk of serious injury or death due to strangulation and entrapment hazards from these products.

Tots in Mind recalled the play yard tents in July 2010 and offered a repair kit that’s no longer available. The company has shut down and all sales have stopped.

The commission staff urges parents and caregivers to stop using these crib and play yard tents immediately. Don’t attempt to repair these products, the commission advised in a statement.

The commission is aware of 27 tent failures including one fatality and one serious injury that occurred between January 1997 and April 2012 from crib and play yard tents made by Tots in Mind Inc.

In 2008, a two-year-old boy died after becoming entrapped between the bottom rail of a play yard tent and the top rail of a play yard. The fatality was reported in a prior recall with the firm in July 15, 2010.

In 2007, a two year old boy had a catastrophic brain injury when the crib tent attached to his crib inverted and the product’s broken rod trapped his neck. The remaining 25 reports to commission involved inverted crib tents – entrapments between the tent and the crib or play yard or failures of the tent fabric and zippers.

Three of these 25 reports also resulted in injuries; in one such case, a parent reported finding her child turning blue and entrapped between the product and the top rail of the play yard.

Since Tots in Mind Inc. is out of business, retailers who sold these products are offering refunds or store credit to consumers.

The crib and play yard tents can present an entrapment and strangulation hazard to infants and toddlers if the dome portion inverts inside the crib or play yard or if the product becomes partially detached from the crib or play yard.

The recalled products were sold at many retail stores including Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby, Burlington Coat Factory, Toys R Us/Babies R Us, Wal-Mart, and online on websites including Amazon.com. The cost was between $60 and $85.

Consumers should contact the store listed below where the crib tent was purchased to receive either a refund or store credit, depending on the retailer. If the consumer is unsure of where the crib tent was purchased, see the return policy for individual retailers below on their website:

• Amazon.com [Amazon.com]
• Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby [bedbathandbeyond.com or buybuybaby.com or 800- GOBEYOND
• Burlington Coat Factory [burlingtoncoatfactory.com or 888-223-2628
• Toys R Us/Babies R Us [toysrus.com or babiesrus.com or 800-869-7787
• Wal-Mart [walmartstores.com or 800-925-6278

The recall includes various models of crib or play yard tents. Consumers can identify their tent by the 2 inch by 1½ inch label with Tots In Mind logo located on the non-mesh portion near the top of the tent.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What to look for at this year’s Memorial Day sales

Planning to hit the stores on Memorial Day weekend to look for great bargains?

Many times, holiday sales are a lot of hype with savings just average.

However, dealnews.com is reporting that Memorial Day is different for a few product categories.

For the past two years, dealnews.com has seen many retailers offer respectable sales that feature sizable stacking coupons. In many cases, these extra discounts were the best dealnews.com had seen so far that year. In fact, 50 percent of Memorial Day branded discounts from 2010 and 2011 were the best it had seen since that February, if not earlier.

What makes up the bulk of those "best of the year" offers?

Sales from apparel retailers and a few home goods stores top the list. The hottest sales from last year, for example, included discounts from Perry Ellis, Last Call Neiman Marcus, ShopEcko, Designer Living, Pottery Barn, and West Elm.

Memorial Day weekend sales are timed well if you're looking for clothes, as spring apparel is already starting to see late-season discounts. A large stacking coupon will make for some good bargains. Expect to see promotion codes that take up to an extra 50 percent off, but more regularly an additional 30 percent to 40 percent off.

However, despite the good news within the apparel category, that doesn't mean all Memorial Day weekend sales are great. It's always an awkward period for electronics and summer-specific items such as patio furniture and grills will see better discounts the longer you wait in the season.

So, as you prepare to shop at one of the many Memorial Day weekend sales, first consider what you're looking to buy. Apparel is more likely to see the best discounts. But, in order to know whether that sale or coupon is something special or about average, check the comparison information that dealnews.com offers.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Recall of the Week: Kennedy International folding step stools due to fall hazard

By Rita R. Robison

13-inch folding step stools

Kennedy International is recalling about 1.6 million folding step stools in the United States and 64,000 in Canada.

The folding step stools can break or collapse unexpectedly when in use, posing a fall hazard to consumers, the company and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a joint statement.

Kennedy International is aware of at least 15 reports of incidents involving step stools cracking or breaking, including three reports of injuries to consumers using the stools. Injuries included two reports of back injuries and one report of a fractured leg.

9-inch folding step stools

The recall involves 9-inch and 13-inch Kennedy International folding step stools. The step stools are plastic and have a handle for carrying the stools when they’re folded.

The style number is 3575 for the 9-inch and 3576 for the 13-inch step stools. The style number is printed on a sticker on one of the legs of the stool. "Kennedy Home Collection" is also printed on a label on some of the stools.

They were sold in blue, green, gray, red, purple, pink, orange, turquoise, aqua, white, plum, orchid, emerald, sapphire, sangria, ocean, sage, fuchsia, lime, and color combinations.

Manufactured in China, the step stools were sold at HomeGoods, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and other retailers nationwide from January 2010 through January 2012. The price was $8 to $12.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled step stools and contact Kennedy International to receive a full refund, the company and commission advise.

For additional information, contact Kennedy International toll-free at (855) 270-8301 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm's website at www.kennedy-intl.com.

For details on other recalls, see www.recalls.gov.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

FTC charges company put more than $70 billion in bogus phone charges on consumers’ bills

By Rita R. Robison

The Federal Trade Commission is charging that the nation's largest third-party billing company placed more than $70 million in bogus "cramming" charges on consumers' phone bills in violation of a previous court order. The FTC is asking a federal court to make the company pay more than $52.6 million, the total amount that the company billed consumers and failed to refund.

The FTC alleges that Billing Services Group placed charges on nearly 1.2 million telephone lines on behalf of a serial phone crammer. The charges were supposedly for "enhanced services," such as voicemail and streaming video, which consumers never authorized or knew about.

"BSG made it possible for con artists to steal people's hard-earned money by placing charges on phone bills for services they never ordered or used," David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "Under previous federal court orders, BSG cannot profit from the fraud of others and then deny responsibility for the harm they made possible."

Billing aggregators act as intermediaries between third-party vendors and the local phone companies by contracting to have the local telephone companies collect charges for the vendors' services from consumers. "Cramming" is the placement of unauthorized charges on phone bills.

In a contempt motion, the FTC said BSG failed to investigate either the highly deceptive marketing for the services or whether consumers used them. BSG kept billing for these services despite many complaints from consumers and after major telephone companies refused to do so, the FTC's motion said.

The FTC alleges that by putting the bogus charges on consumers' phone bills, BSG violated the terms of a 1999 settlement with the agency, which prohibits unauthorized billing, misrepresentations to consumers, and billing for vendors who fail to clearly disclose the terms of their services.

The contempt action is the FTC's fourth action on extensive cramming by BSG entities. In addition to the 1999 order, the FTC obtained two other cramming orders against BSG companies: Nationwide Connections Inc., which addressed $34.5 million in charges for collect calls that never occurred, and Enhanced Services Billing Inc., which addressed crammed charges for enhanced services.

From 2006 through 2010, BSG illegally billed consumers for nine crammed "enhanced services," including three voicemail services, one streaming video service, two identity theft protection services, two directory assistance services, and one job skills training service, according to the FTC's motion.

The FTC's contempt motion said that BSG billed tens of thousands of consumers for voicemail boxes each month from July 2009 through March 2010, but consumers used only 209 mailboxes during that time. The motion also stated that BSG billed more than 250,000 consumers for a streaming video service, but only 23 total movies were streamed, some of them by the crammers' employees.

Despite overwhelming evidence of cramming, BSG billed consumers more than $30 million for the voicemail services and more than $12 million for the video service, according to the FTC.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Recall of the Week: Banzai in-ground pool water slides sold by Wal-Mart and Toys R Us due to death, serious neck injuries

By Rita R. Robison

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys R Us Inc. are recalling of about 21,000 inflatable Banzai in-ground pool water slides.

During use, the slide can deflate, allowing the user to hit the ground underneath the slide and be injured. The slide is also unstable and can topple over in both still and windy conditions and carries inadequate warnings and instructions, the companies and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement.

The commission is aware that a 29-year-old Colorado mother died in Andover, Mass. after fracturing her neck going down a Banzai in-ground pool water slide which had been placed over the concrete edge of a pool. The victim hit her head at the bottom of the slide because it had partially deflated.

The commission and retailers are aware of two other injuries which have occurred in a similar manner, including a 24-year-old man from Springfield, Mo. who became a quadriplegic and a woman from Allentown, Pa. who fractured her neck.

The recall involves Banzai in-ground pool water slides designed for use with in-ground pools. The vinyl slides have a blue base, yellow sliding mat, and an arch going over the top of the slide. By connecting a hose to the top of the slide, water can be sprayed on its downward slope. The words “Banzai Splash” are printed in a circular blue, orange, and white logo, shaped like a wave on either side of the slide.

The recalled slides, which were manufactured in China by Manley Toys, Ltd, were sold at Wal-Mart and Toys R Us nationwide from January 2005 through June 2009 for about $250. The recalled slides have the barcode number 2675315734 and model number 15734. Both the barcode and model number appear on the original packaging but aren’t on the slide.

The commission urges consumers to immediately stop using the product and return it to the nearest Wal-Mart or Toys R Us for a full refund. Consumers can also cut the two safety warning notices out of the slide and just return that portion.

For additional information from Wal-Mart, call 800-925-6278 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's website at www.walmartstores.com. For additional information from Toys R Us, call 800-869-7787 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday and between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, or visit the firm's website at www.toysrus.com.

For details on other recalls, see www.recalls.gov.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Last-minute Mother’s Day gifts for your mom

By Rita R. Robison

Mother's Day is Sunday, and it's crunch time to get mom that perfect gift.

It’s getting too late to order from the Internet, but you can check out dealnews.com for ideas and to see what stores are offering bargains and coupons.

If you still haven’t bought Mom a gift, dealnews.com advises avoiding the traditional. That’s because, for the past two years, dealnews.com has seen a lot of jewelry styles actually increase in price at the beginning of May.

Your favorite department or discount store may be offering good last-minute bargains. Here are some examples:

Sears

• 50 percent off spring clothing.
• Up to 75 percent off on jewelry, plus 20 percent off diamonds and gemstones.
• Save 15 percent on Teleflora orders with use of your Sears card by using promo code: MOM15.

RitzPix

• 8 x 10 photos for $1 each.
• 20 percent off personalized photo books.

Nordstrom

• Jewelry, clothing, sleep wear, summer hats, purses, belts, scarves, and cosmetics suggestions for mom for under $50.

FTD

• Up to 25 percent off on Mother’s Day orders of flowers.

Best wishes with your last-minute shopping. And, I hope you and your mom have a good time on Mother’s Day, if you live close enough to visit her on her special day.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Better Business Bureau: Check out firms before you buy your Mother’s Day gifts from them

Flowers, candy, gift baskets, jewelry, and spa treatments may be at the top of the Mother’s Day shopping list, but consumers need to be careful.

“Mother’s Day shoppers should be thinking about ‘when’ and ‘where’ to buy, especially with online orders and last-minute purchases,” Robert W.G. Andrew, CEO of Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon, and Western Washington, said in a statement. “Whether it is days or months in advance – or even after the holiday – BBB can help buyers screen sellers.”

The BBB has had the following inquiries in the last 36 months:

• 6,609 on “Florists – Retail”
• 5,362 on “Candy & Confectionery – Retail”
• 7,785 on “Gift Baskets & Parcels”
• 71,335 on “Jewelers – Retail”
• 9,537 on “Day Spas”

Smart start: Search retailers, shops, and other services on bbb.org.

Online orders: Review guarantees, shipping policies, delivery dates, and charges on “rushed” orders. Provide contact information so companies can confirm shipping status.

Store shopping: Inspect products thoroughly and keep track of all purchase paperwork – including gift receipts.

Payment protections: Collect customer service information, save receipts, and pay by credit card when possible.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Recall of the Week: Christmas Tree Shops’ Farm Glass & Metal Spiral Tea Light Holders due to fire hazard

By Rita R. Robison

Christmas Tree Shops is recalling about 6,200 Farm Glass & Metal Spiral Tea Light Holders.

Due to the design of the product, the tea lights can burn with a high flame, posing a fire hazard to consumers, the company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement.

Christmas Tree Shops has received one report of a tea light burning with a high flame that resulted in a burn to a consumer's hand.

The recall involves a decorative spiral tea light holder made from a painted glass with a red, orange, and green floral design. The glass has a metal insert for holding tea lights. The metal insert is spiral shaped with places for three tea lights. The metal insert is placed within the glass container. SKU/UPC number 000015931955 is found on a label on the bottom of the glass.

Manufactured in China, the tea light holders were sold at Christmas Tree Shops in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest from July 2011 through March 2012. The cost was about $5.

Consumers should stop using the recalled spiral tea light holder and return it to any Christmas Tree Shops store to receive a full refund, the company and commission advise.

For additional information, contact Christmas Tree Shops at 888-287-3232 any time, or visit the firm's website www.christmastreeshops.com.

For details on other recalls, see www.recalls.gov.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Nine ways to stay protected on Facebook

Face book offers many privacy controls that may not be easy for consumers to understand.

Below are nine tips from Consumer Reports that will help users use privacy tools:

• Think before typing. Even if a user deletes his or her account, which takes Face book about a month, some information can remain in Facebook’s computers for up to 90 days.
• Regularly check Face book exposure. Each month, users should check how their page looks to others. Review individual privacy settings if necessary.
• Protect basic information. Set the audience for profile items, such as town or employer. And users should remember: Sharing info with “friends of friends” could expose them to tens of thousands of strangers.
• Know what can’t be protected. Each user’s name and profile picture are public. To protect one’s identity, consumers shouldn’t use a photo or use one that doesn’t show their face.
• “UnPublic” the wall. Set the audience for all previous wall posts to just friends.
• Turn off Tag Suggest. If users would rather not have Face book automatically recognize their face in photos, they could disable that feature in their privacy settings. The information will be deleted.
• Block apps and sites that snoop. Unless users intercede, friends can share personal information about them with apps. To block that, they should use controls to limit the information apps can see.
• Keep wall posts from friends. Users don’t have to share every wall post with every friend. They can also keep certain people from viewing specific items in their profile.
• When all else fails, deactivate. When a user deactivates his or her account, Face book retains the profile data but the account is made temporarily inaccessible. Deleting an account makes it inaccessible forever.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Million of Facebook users risk sharing updates beyond their ‘friends’ because they don’t use privacy controls

Nearly 13 million U.S. Facebook users don’t use or aren’t aware of the site’s privacy controls, potentially exposing personal information widely beyond their network of Face book “friends,” according to Consumer Reports.

Its report on Facebook and privacy also shows that more than 4.8 million people have posted about where they planned to go on a certain day, a potential tip-off to burglars, while 4.7 million have “liked” a Facebook page about health conditions or treatments, details that insurers might use against them.

Facebook is the largest social network with more than 900 million users worldwide and 150 million users in the United States.

Facebook makes it easy for people to keep up with friends, family, and colleagues, discover great content, and connect to causes. To deliver this service, Facebook and other social networks collect enormous amounts of often highly sensitive information and distribute it widely and quickly.

This data collection has risks. About seven million households using Facebook said they had trouble last year, ranging from someone using their log-in without permission to being harassed or threatened – up 30 percent from the previous year, according to the Consumer Reports Annual State of the Net survey.

Unless an individual chooses his or her privacy settings carefully, a friend who runs an app could grant it access to the person’s information without his or her knowledge, including information that was set to “friends” only view. Only 37 percent of users say they’ve used the site’s privacy tools to customize how much information apps are allowed to see, according to the Consumer Reports survey.

What does Facebook know? Americans feed all kinds of personal details into Facebook’s vast database by posting status updates on their “wall,” updating their profile, “liking a page,” or using other Face book features. The numbers below show how many people engaged in each activity during the past 12 months, based on projections from the Consumer Reports State of the Net survey:

• 39.3 million identified a family member in a profile.
• 20.4 million included their birth date and year in their profile.
• 7.7 million “liked” a Face book page pertaining to a religious affiliation.
• 4.6 million discussed their love life on their wall.
• 2.6 million discussed their recreational use of alcohol on their wall.
• 2.3 million “liked” a page regarding sexual orientation.

While some privacy or security issues arise from poor choices Facebook users themselves make, other problems can stem from the ways the company collects data, how it manages and packages its privacy controls, and the fact that users’ data can wind up with people or companies with whom they didn’t intend to share.

Some users might be surprised to know that Facebook gets a report every time they visit a site with a “Like” button, regardless of whether or not they click on that button, have a Facebook account, or are even logged in.

Better protections. Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, wants:

• A national privacy law that holds all companies to the same privacy standards and lets consumers tell companies not to track them online.
• Industry and privacy groups to meet to set clear rules for how personal data is collected and used, an Obama administration initiative.
• Consumers to sign a petition urging Facebook to improve privacy controls and address concerns about sharing practices.
• Facebook to fix a security lapse that permits users to set up weak passwords including some six-letter dictionary words and help users avoid inadvertently sharing status updates with the public, either by alerting them more prominently when they are about to do so or by changing the default audience for posts to the user’s preferred audience.

The report can be found in the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports, available on newsstands on May 8, and online at www.ConsumerReports.org. The issue also features a report on online security and what consumers can do to protect themselves.

My next post will offer information on Consumer Report’s recommendations on “Nine Ways to Stay Protected” when you use Facebook.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist