Hear ye. Hear ye. To all good citizens of my Watchdog Nation, I come before you in the public square with mostly positive news. If you’re looking for the usual fare of head knocking and face slapping of various evildoers, sorry, not today.
A full refund
Many readers were upset to hear the story of Devora Rubin, the 94-year-old widow who lost $586 to a medical transportation company that failed to show up to take her to her granddaughter’s wedding.
Integrity Medical Transportation of Plano denied a refund request. Rubin appealed to Citibank, whose credit card she used to prepay for the trips she never used, to and from the venue.
Citibank wasn’t helpful. Bank officials told Rubin that the company produced a credit card receipt, which was enough for them to close the case. Citibank did restore $135 to her account as a goodwill gesture, but Rubin didn’t give up on the remaining $451.
When I contacted the Integrity company owner, he accused the widow of being a thief. As I previously reported, when I asked the owner his name “he replies with one of the crudest four-letter words in the English language.”
After The Watchdog report (“How a company made $586 doing nothing, and a bank let them get away with it”) appeared, Citibank forked over the rest.
Rubin says, “This won’t stop unscrupulous business owners, but at least the credit card company came through.”
Early payback
The Watchdog was furious that state phone users faced a sizable increase on monthly phone bills because the state had not paid dozens of small phone companies money to string lines or lay fiber to rural communities in Texas.
The 3% taken out of our monthly phone bill for the Texas Universal Service Fund was supposed to jump a whopping 24%. We were set to help the state raise the $210 million needed to make up for the fee reduction.
Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill that would have replenished the fund. Like the Public Utility Commission commissioners he appointed, Abbott said he didn’t want to saddle Texans with more taxes during the pandemic.
I know. I know. One more added fee on a utility bill. Can you believe it?
The phone companies sued the state to get the money. The companies won. The Watchdog told the story (“Six things you need to know about the new charge on your phone bill.”)
The good news: PUC spokesperson Ellie Breed says, “No money is owed.” The PUC paid this last year, five months ahead of schedule. Plus, the PUC reduced the billing charge by half on monthly bills. The current charge is 12%.
Everyone who has voice capabilities on a phone is supposed to pay this.
Oncor rate
Ready for another utility bill cut? Of course you are.
The Watchdog wasn’t happy to share the story of an electric bill increase for the so-called Oncor rate (“Oncor breaks the nickel barrier per each kWh, costing consumers more on electric bill.”)
It marked the first time in memory that the Oncor charge for each kilowatt hour (kWh) got as high as a nickel.
If you used 1,000 kWh a month, then you multiply a thousand times 5 cents and your bill jumped up $50. Use 2,000 kWh and you paid $100. The previous rate was 0.038 or 3.8 cents.
The good news? As of March 1, the Oncor rate for a kWh dropped from a nickel to 4.5 cents.
Oncor says that for customers using 1,000 kWh, expect a monthly decrease on your bill of about $5.58.
Forever chemicals
Let’s switch from your pocketbook to the health of you and your family.
Becky Rader of Dallas felt she wasn’t being heard in her one-woman campaign to get the city of Dallas to care about so-called forever chemicals found in almost every product we buy. They can be harmful.
I told her story: (“Heard of forever chemicals? They are in almost everything, and they can make you sick.”)
Government studies show that close to half of U.S. tap water is contaminated with dangerous substances known also as PFAS chemicals.
Don’t think that if you only stop using tap water, it might solve the problem. These chemicals are found in air, soil, food and many consumer products such as some plastic packaging.
The chemicals have been linked to health problems like high cholesterol, a decrease in immunity from vaccines, risk of testicular and kidney cancer and thyroid disease.
The chemicals help products resist heat, make them waterproof or work with grease or other lubricants. They’re also found in some cosmetics.
There are 12,000 types of PFAS. Only a few varieties are being tested for.
Scientists say we’ll never get rid of them in our lifetime, but we can ban their use by forcing manufacturers to stop using them.
Rader, a teacher, took her one-woman campaign to the Environmental Protection Agency. She wants area water treatment plants tested, along with fish in area lakes and in the Trinity and Brazos rivers.
She cheered the EPA’s decision to put new limits on the chemicals in drinking water, among other measures.
The good news: Rader is enthused and much more positive compared to when I met her in December. She believes newly announced EPA rules requiring municipal water systems to test for six chemicals will help immensely.
JCPenney credit card rates
Synchrony Bank, which handles the JCPenney credit card, announced in a recent letter to our household that the interest rate for purchases is 34.99%. A late payment fee is $41 and, while they are hitting you there if you have two late payments within one year your interest rate will jump to 39.99%. Let’s not forget the $2 paper statement fee.
These numbers are astonishing and seem to be out of order with the industry. Wallethub shows the average credit card interest rate is 21.59% for existing accounts.
Synchrony spokesperson Lisa Lanspery said this is partly in response to a new federal rule on late fees. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has approved a rule that is supposed to cut the typical credit card late fee from $32 to $8. Federal regulators say this will save a typical family about $220 a year.
She said the bank is adjusting rates and fees “to ensure that we can continue to provide safe and convenient credit to our customers and continue to offer a full suite of benefits, tools and rewards.”
Pay in full and on time and you won’t have a problem, she added.
The American Bankers Association fought the new rule, saying it will reduce competition, increase the cost of credit, cause more late payments, higher debt and lower credit scores.
In a statement, the ABA said that capping late fees at a level far below a bank’s actual costs will reduce use of credit cards to low-income people who may need them the most.
I am confused about why JCP/Synchrony are lifting card costs instead of lowering them.
The Synchrony spokesperson explained it: “While the CFPB has announced a change to late fees, credit card companies have a period of time to make the necessary changes. This ruling is currently in litigation. Synchrony will implement any required changes to late fees by the required date and will inform our customers of changes via the usual channels.”
The good news: This is a reminder to check your credit cards and view the interest rates. You may be quite surprised.
Atmos billing practices
The Watchdog continues to receive questions about Atmos Energy’s billing practices, something I studied in my story: (“Is your gas bill high? Get the meter checked for accuracy”).
Atmos spokesperson Kristin Goodspeed says Atmos no longer does meter estimates during the heating season, which is November through April. Estimates may be made from May to October.
Under state law, a meter must be read at least once every six months.
What do meter readers do the rest of the time? They are cross trained to assist with construction projects.
The company’s practice, she says, is not to estimate more than two consecutive months, and there is never a month when all customers receive an estimated reading.
To challenge your bill, call 888-286-6700. You can ask for a supervisor.
You can also take a photo of your meter and submit it online through Atmos’ account center. An Atmos tech can visit your home to read the meter and check for actual consumption.
Hope that helps.
P.S. Atmos is seeking a rate hike for its customers to take effect Oct. 1.
Apple iPhone battery settlement
Patience truly is a virtue when it comes to proceeds from class action lawsuits. It’s been six years since I first complained about the quick failure of iPhone batteries.
As I reported in my 2018 story (“What do you do about Apple’s iPhone slowdown?”), Apple purposely slowed down older phones. But the company said back then it’s not to make you buy a new phone, but to protect your weakened battery struggling to keep up with the latest do-dads.
Whatever. Patience is a virtue. I recently received a check from the Apple Device Performance Litigation. The amount was $92.17.
Yee-haw!
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The Dallas Morning News Watchdog column is the 2019 winner of the top prize for column writing from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. The contest judge called his winning entries “models of suspenseful storytelling and public service.”
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* Helping a waitress who was harmed by an unscrupulous used car dealer
