The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Are you ready to go back to cable?

It's August, so I guess my Comcast TV contract has run out. How do I know? I got a bill for $185.65 instead of the usual $145.25.

When I first signed up for Comcast in 2008, I chose to get the $99 bundle: $33 for television, $33 for internet, and $33 for a landline phone. Every year or two since then when my contract runs out, I've had to beg, plead, and yell to get Comcast to offer me the $99 bundle again. I have to ask for the supervisor and/or call back another day to try. It's so frustrating. The price for the services should be the price for the services. Having hidden prices is unfair to all customers.

I haven't "cut the cable" because I don't watch much TV. In addition, there isn't a company in my area that's going to be any better than Comcast for providing internet services.

T-Mobile-Sprint merger still a bad deal for consumers

The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it wouldn’t challenge the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. The approval comes as the two wireless companies have reportedly agreed to a divestiture plan to sell some of their assets to satellite TV company DISH to help that company build a new wireless network.

Consumer Reports, which opposes the merger, said the DISH deal will do little to address the serious concerns that a combined Sprint-T-Mobile would harm competition, and harm consumers and others in the marketplace who depend on that competition.

“The reported deal would eliminate Sprint, an established competitor in the wireless marketplace, and replace it with DISH, an unproven newcomer that has no experience in building its own wireless network, which it will need to build essentially from scratch,” George Slover, senior policy counsel for Consumer Reports, said.

Baby boomers contemplate things big and small

Summer is in full gear and baby boomers are writing about topics ranging from retirement to tick bites.

Topics include:

• The best places in the United States for boomers to retire.
• How to remove ticks and prevent getting bitten.
• The difficulty in operating small switches and buttons and reading the directions about them.
• Why using cell phones and computer screens all day long interrupts our lives.
• How to use hypnotherapy to reduce pain rather than pain medication. 
• How a toddler sitting naked in a puddle reminded a boomer of an event that happened more than a century ago.

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting reports on these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #605. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure to give us your opinions on these topics. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

FTC halts huge Pointbreak Media robocall scheme

At the Federal Trade Commission’s request, a federal court judge ruled against nine defendants and approved six settlement agreements with 11 others ending the massive Pointbreak Media robocall scheme.

In May 2018, the FTC charged the Florida-based defendants with operating a telemarketing scam that targeted small business owners with false threats of removal from Google’s search engine and false promises of unique keywords to make the business appear prominently in search results. The FTC also alleged the defendants wrote themselves $100 checks from more than 250 businesses’ checking accounts without the business owners’ knowledge.

The FTC amended its lawsuit in July 2018 to add violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule, because the defendants robocalled more than 74 million consumers and called more than 14 million numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry.

Crowdfunding scheme operator who failed to deliver charged by FTC

The operator of a crowdfunding scheme who told consumers he was raising money to develop a high-tech backpack and other products, but failed to deliver any of the products and instead used most of the funds for himself, is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission.

In its lawsuit, the FTC alleges that Douglas Monahan and his company iBackPack of Texas, raised more than $800,000 from consumers through four crowdfunding campaigns. Monahan falsely claimed the funds would be used to develop products such as the “iBackPack,” which would include batteries for charging laptops and phones, cables, and a Bluetooth speaker.

“If you raise money by crowdfunding, you don’t have to guarantee that your idea will work,” said Andrew Smith, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “But you do have to use the money to work on your idea – or expect to hear from the FTC.”

Baby boomers begin April with reflections and suggestions

April is a great month. It starts with spring and April Fools’ Day, moves to National Beer Day, World Health Day, and National Empanada Day, rushes to Tax Day, then Earth Day, and ends with Easter and Arbor Day.

Baby boomers are in a reflective mood as April begins:

Tom Sightings at Sightings Over Sixty tells us that even though he's married, there are times when he go places by himself. The store, the coffee shop, the library, the movies. Now in “If You're Alone ...,” he offers some advice for people who are wondering about going out by themselves. And the advice – or the "rules" – come from an unlikely source,

This week, Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin asks a simple question. Simple, but sometimes difficult to think about. And yet this one question can help you plan your life and set your goals. What do you want your epitaph to say? Think about it, it just might change your direction.

What do we hold on to that was never ours to carry? In a short article, Carol Cassara at A Healing Spirit invites us to stop and reflect about the reasons that hard things happen.

Baby boomers also offer suggestions:

Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com spent an afternoon at the Festival of Tea in Pasadena, California, and participated in an authentic Japanese Tea Ceremony. She learned a few things about Matcha and Pu-erh teas and now has a better understanding of how to drink them.

It’s the little annoyances of everyday life that at times consume our time, energy, and patience. Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting experienced one of these issues recently. A problem with Baer’s iPhone resulted in misdiagnoses and the suggestion to spend hundreds of dollars in lieu of repair. Read about her efforts to resolve the problem in “I-Phone I-Repair.”

On my blog, my guest blogger Sean M. Cleary, attorney, writes about the dangers of drowning during spring and summer fun.

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #591. Click on the links above to read the articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from their readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Personal Finance Writer

Rechargeable power banks are being recalled by Daniel M. Friedman & Associates due to fire hazard

Daniel M. Friedman & Associates is recalling about 170,500 universal rechargeable power banks in the United States and about 6,900 in Canada.

The firm has received three reports of the charger overheating including one report of a house fire causing up to $150,000 in property damage.  No injuries reports have been received.

This recall involves universal rechargeable power banks for use with smart phones and tablets. The recalled chargers came in a variety of colors and shapes, including a unicorn head, a cat with sunglasses, and a rainbow between two clouds.

Vizio, Element, RCA, and Hisense TVs get low marks from Consumer Reports, while Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, and Google cell phones receive praise

Vizio, Element, RCA, and Hisense are no longer being recommended by Consumer Reports due to new information that shows that those brands have lower reliability compared to other TV manufacturers. In addition, survey data from the testing organization also showed that smartphones by Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, and Google are among the most reliable and most satisfying.

For the first time, brand reliability and owner satisfaction are being factored into Consumer Reports’ overall scores for televisions and smartphones, along with the data gathered during the organization’s lab testing. For reliability, Consumer Reports surveys its members about the products they own, then uses that data to make projections about how new models from brands will hold up over time. Brands that rate “fair” or “poor” for predicted reliability aren’t eligible for Consumer Reports’ recommended lists of products.

“As we incorporate reliability into our overall score for more product categories, we continue to see discrepancies in how products perform in our rigorous lab tests versus how well they hold up over time,” said Liam McCormack, vice president of research, testing, and insights at Consumer Reports. “But we know that consumers want products that both perform well in their daily lives and are reliable. Products that earn our recommendation are more likely to offer consumers the performance they demand and the longevity they expect.”

Facts and figures for the 2018 holidays

It’s that time of year. The holidays are upon us. Hanukkah has been celebrated and today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the day with the least daylight and the longest night. Christmas is approaching rapidly as is Kwanzaa, Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

Celebrants

Nine-in-ten Americans — and 95 percent of Christians — say they celebrate Christmas, according to a Pew Research Center survey. These figures have generally held steady in recent years. Today, 46 percent of Americans say they celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious rather than cultural holiday.

Five companies settle charges that they had mobile apps that didn’t keep sensitive user information secure

Five companies settled charges Friday that their mobile apps failed to keep sensitive user information secure when transmitted over the Internet.

The mobile apps of Western Union Financial Services, Priceline.com, Equifax Consumer Services, Spark Networks, and Credit Sesame had a security problem that could have allowed sensitive information entered by users – such as passwords, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers – to be stolen by eavesdroppers using simple techniques, tests by the New York Attorney General’s Office showed. Although each company told consumers that it used security measures to protect their information, the companies failed to determine whether their mobile apps had this problem.

The settlements with the New York agency require the companies to carry out comprehensive security programs to protect user information.