Elizabeth Jacus' refrigerator has been fixed by Sears and she received compensation for food that spoiled due to the malfunction

AMANDA BROWN/THE STAR-LEDGERElizabeth Jacus' refrigerator has been fixed by Sears and, with some help from Bamboozled, she received compensation for food that spoiled due to the malfunction.

Elizabeth Jacus has had a very rough summer.

She's been caring for her husband, 83, who is recovering from bypass surgery.

On July 10, her husband was readmitted to the hospital with complications.

On that same day, Jacus' refrigerator died.

The refrigerator, purchased at Sears in 2001, was covered by a warranty contract for which she pays $58 a year. Jacus, 67, called customer service before she and her husband were due at the hospital.

Sears told her the next available service date was in 14 days.

Fourteen days?

Jacus couldn't wait 14 days. Her husband, a diabetic, keeps a three-month supply of insulin, worth more than $1,000, in the refrigerator. She requested an earlier appointment, which the customer service rep entered into the computer as a medical emergency because of the insulin.

She put her husband's insulin in a mini-fridge she had, relieved that her pharmacist said the insulin wouldn't spoil if it was a little warm. If it had been frozen, she would have had to throw it away, like the $335 worth of food already in the trash.

''I had thrown out what was smelly and left the rest,'' Jacus said. ''They told me to take pictures or take off the labels of the food, so I saved the labels."

She then headed to the hospital.

Customer service

Her daughter received a call that a service technician could be there in three days. Jacus, who had been in the hospital day and night with her husband, returned home to meet the technician.

A small spring - the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen - needed replacing.

He fixed the spring, but accidentally ripped the gasket - the part that forms a tight seal when you close the refrigerator door. The tech ordered that part and said he'd return when it came in.

''He left and set the thermostat on 7 and he said it would take 24 hours to cool down, so I shouldn't put in anything if it had to stay cold,'' she said.

Jacus returned some bottles and cans to their rightful places. For safety, she sealed some items in plastic bags.

A few hours later, before leaving for the hospital, Jacus checked on the refrigerator. It was very cold. Too cold. She lowered the setting to 4 and she left.

She returned home 24 hours later to find everything in her refrigerator was frozen solid.

''A can of soda exploded and the lid came right off. I had a quart jar of holy water, and the glass broke and the holy water was standing there in a block of ice. My Brita pitcher cracked top to bottom,'' she said. ''It's a good thing I didn't put the insulin back in there.''

She estimated the food loss at $100, not counting the Brita pitcher ($28) or the holy water (to her, priceless).

It was after 5 p.m., so Jacus called the 24-hour customer service scheduling line. A recording said to call back during business hours.

She couldn't call in the morning because she was back with her husband in the hospital. When she finally brought him home, she called again.

A few days later the technician came and jiggled the spring, fixing the freezing problem, but he couldn't fix the gasket. He didn't have the part. It was being delivered to the Jacus' house, he said.

When Jacus finally received the part and got an appointment for a technician to come the next day, a Saturday, between 8 and 5 she was frustrated. The representative said Sears would call the next day with a more precise time.

''I was even going to the bathroom with a cordless phone,'' she said, fearing she'd miss the call. ''Then I had to run out and get milk. That's when they called.''

Her husband said Sears said someone would call the next day, but they were not told a technician wasn't coming. No one showed.

Jacus called yet called again, and was told someone would be there three days later between 8 and 5.

That was the Jacus' 47th wedding anniversary.

''That's when it finally got fixed. That's how we celebrated our anniversary,'' she said.

When the work was all done, the technician said without the warranty coverage, the fixes would have cost $460.79.

She then learned her service contract covered one annual food loss of $250. She lost $335 the first time around and more than $100 the second time.

Jacus felt she should be reimbursed for the second food loss because the freeze was caused by the technician. She was so frustrated at the idea of calling customer service yet again, so she contacted Bamboozled.

Making things right

Bamboozled contacted Sears to see if they could do something to remove the sour taste from the mouth of this longtime customer, whose family has been buying Sears appliances since she was 9.

Sears wouldn't give Jacus a new refrigerator because the service contract states it must break four times in one year to be eligible for a replacement. The company, which didn't respond to requests for comment, did send Jacus a check for $450 to help cover her food losses, and it gave her a $75 coupon to purchase a small box refrigerator (which typically costs $75) to keep as a spare.

Jacus said she'll probably remain a Sears customer.

"I've always liked their appliances," she said. "Most likely I wouldn't bother with warranty service anymore. I thought with the warranty, I'd get quicker service and obviously you don't really," she said.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Dan Romeo, 58, is trying to be a good big brother. He serves as legal guardian for his brother John, 49, who is mentally disabled and resides in an assisted-living facility in Warren. When John needed new furniture, Dan Romeo helped him with the transaction.

PATTI SAPONE/THE STAR-LEDGERDan Romeo, left, with his brother, John, who is a resident at an assisted living facility in Warren. Bamboozled helped Dan Romeo to sort out a furniture delivery problem.

Dan Romeo, 58, is trying to be a good big brother. He serves as legal guardian for his brother John, 49, who is mentally disabled and resides in an assisted-living facility in Warren.

When John needed new furniture, Dan Romeo helped him with the transaction.

The brothers visited Raymour & Flanigan in Bridgewater in February and purchased a bedroom set and a recliner. The bedroom set was a floor sample and sported some minor scratches, but was in relatively good condition. They paid by check and arranged for delivery to the assisted-living facility.

''The furniture arrived within a week, as promised, in the same good condition it was in on the floor, except for the dresser, which had a severely damaged right front corner,'' said Dan Romeo. ''I told the delivery driver that I would not accept the damaged furniture and was told that I had to take the order and then register my complaint with Raymour & Flanigan.''

The start of the pursuit

The next day Romeo called the salesperson to register his complaint. He said he was told the store would arrange an exchange.

To be sure the transaction got attention, Romeo e-mailed the company's headquarters. Two days later, corporate customer service responded, saying it couldn't help because the purchase was made in an outlet store.

Then Romeo was told by the salesman said it would take a few months to get a new dresser because the store didn't keep them in stock, and the store couldn't make exchanges with other stores.

Romeo was patient.

March passed. Then April. Then May. Finally, Romeo got tired of waiting and he sent an e-mail reminder to the salesperson, who didn't respond.

A little more waiting.

On July 2, Romeo went back to the store to attempt an in-person resolution. The salesman said store policy had changed, and it could now get the dresser from another store. The new dresser would be delivered in a week.

A week passed. No delivery.

A few weeks later, Romeo returned to the store. There was a dresser at a store in Rochester, N.Y., Romeo was told. They'd get it to him.

More promises. Still no delivery. That's when he contacted Bamboozled.

The no-shows continue

Before Bamboozled had a chance to pick up the phone to ask about the dresser drama, Romeo received the phone call he had been waiting for. The salesman said a new dresser had been delivered to the store, and it would be delivered to Romeo's brother the following business day -- a Monday -- at 1 p.m.

Monday came. Monday went.

''The dresser delivery never came after three hours of waiting,'' Romeo said. ''I called three times between noon and 12:30 p.m. and no one in the store could confirm the order for my brother's dresser, who the contract trucking company was or how to reach them by telephone."

Romeo doesn't want to pursue legal action over a damaged dresser. He just wants what his brother paid for, and he wants the company to do the right thing, Romeo said.

The call and the resolution

Bamboozled called the store manager to try to get to the bottom of the dresser drama.

''We deal with the customer directly,'' said a man who identified himself as "Shawn," a store manager, but he wouldn't reveal his last name. ''There's no point to have a middleman like you in between.''

If the store could come through on its promise -- its many promises -- for the delivery, absolutely, there would be no need for a middleman like me.

Shawn continued, saying Romeo would receive the piece. When? He said he'd have to follow up with the salesperson. I offered to hold on while he investigated the matter.

''We'll contact the customer with the information,'' said Shawn of no last name. ''The situation has been resolved.''

If it's been resolved, when will the customer receive the piece?

''My understanding is he will be getting it in the next few days,'' said Shawn. ''I'll reach out to him.''

Ten minutes later, Romeo received a call from the store, saying the dresser was already on the delivery truck and they'd bring it by that afternoon.

Fabulous. But Romeo couldn't get to the assisted-living facility to accept the delivery that quickly, so they arranged for a 10 a.m. delivery the next day.

The dresser came, as promised, but not in the way Romeo expected. The salesman delivered it himself -- in an SUV -- not a delivery truck. The maintenance person at the assisted-living facility helped the salesman get the dresser out of the SUV.

Then the salesman borrowed some tools from the maintenance guy.

''He realized he needed pliers to switch the mirror from the damaged dresser to the new dresser,'' said Romeo. ''I helped him change the mirror because it is a two-person job. Meanwhile, he was doing damage control, telling me how Raymour & Flanigan salesmen and managers will make deliveries like this one to make sure the customer is satisfied.''

Damage control or not, Romeo got the dresser he was promised. Thanks to Raymour & Flanigan for finally doing right by this customer.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Nasty storms are nothing new to Allamuchy Township in Warren County, and resulting power outages are common in much of this heavily wooded area. But power surges that light up a home like a Christmas tree, pop light bulbs, fry appliances beyond repair, melt electrical meters and leave behind an electrical stench aren't everyday occurrences.

SARAH SIMONIS/FOR THE STAR-LEDGER Dan and Suzanne Chamberlin and children, Scott, 16, and Grace, 12, at their Allamuchy home with the surge protector from their electric meter that was fried when power was turned on after an outage.

Nasty storms are nothing new to Allamuchy Township in Warren County, and resulting power outages are common in much of this heavily wooded area.

But power surges that light up a home like a Christmas tree, pop light bulbs, fry appliances beyond repair, melt electrical meters and leave behind an electrical stench aren't everyday occurrences.

That's what happened to the home of Suzanne and Dan Chamberlin in late October 2008.

Their neighborhood was hit with a freak fall snowstorm, and inches of heavy, wet snow fell onto power lines and leaf-laden tree limbs. The Chamberlins' power went out, as did power for some 50,000 other customers.

A JCP&L crew came to restore service. When the crew flipped the switch, a power surge went into the Chamberlin's home, with the couple and their two kids inside.

Most of their appliances died on the spot. They lost a refrigerator, a range, a microwave, a television, cordless phones and more.

"The furnace controls were fried so we had no heat. There was also a distinct smell of electrical burning over the entire exterior of our home. A surge protector on our electric meter was literally blackened, melted and fried," Suzanne Chamberlin said.

The Chamberlins called JCP&L, and the couple were told to shut off their main circuit breaker, which they did.

For the next two days, Chamberlin said she tried to get JCP&L back to the house.

"We didn't mind being without power. It has happened before, it will happen again," she said. "We did mind not knowing if we had damage to our wiring. We did not know what would happen when and if we threw the breaker back on."

Finally, on the third day, Chamberlin said several JCP&L trucks came. Smelling the electrical odor, she said the crews immediately dismantled the electric meter, took out the fried surge protector, replaced the meter, repaired the wiring problem from the road to the house and told them they were good to go.

Chamberlin said workers told her she'd have an easy claim with JCP&L for the damage. But it wasn't so easy.

The couple sent several letters to JCP&L, detailing the damage with repair estimates. After an investigation, correspondence from JCP&L said the utility wasn't at fault.

"It comes down to this: No other entity could have sent a power surge into our house. We couldn't have done it to ourselves," Chamberlin said. '"No one else is responsible for the power lines."

In the meantime, they turned to their homeowner's insurance for some relief. They received partial payment toward their costs of $756.95 to repair their furnace and $3,602.84 to replace and repair appliances. That amount was low, based on the original cost of 10-year-old appliances and for some items, just the cost for repair.

The Chamberlins sent a letter of complaint to the Board of Public Utilities, but BPU said in its response that it doesn't "adjudicate claims for damages," and it recommended the couple "contact the appropriate court of law."

Chamberlin estimates they're out $1,100, plus a $500 insurance deductible.

"JCP&L should recognize its responsibility in this matter, admit its horrific service in trying to get this resolved, pay our insurance deductible and reimburse us for any amount not covered by insurance," Chamberlin said, "not to mention something for nearly burning our house down."

Following the current of responsibility

There are several different wires that conduct power down the street and into homes. After this storm, JCP&L fixed lines on the street. When they flipped the switch to restore power, yes, there was a power surge to the house. But it's not because of something the utility did. An additional line, called the neutral wire, was also damaged by the same storm.

The neutral wire serves as a reference point for the voltage that enters a home. Without the neutral, voltage can be too low, or elevated, potentially knocking out appliances.

JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said during a storm, the company works to restore the primary service to an area.

"There was not a report of damage to the service that comes into the house, and that includes the neutral wire," Morano said.

Had there been obvious damage to the line, such as a leaning tree limb, the crews would have checked it.

But given the importance of the neutral line, shouldn't they be checking?

For an objective opinion, Bamboozled asked Jeff Sargent, a senior electrical specialist at the National Fire Protection Agency. Sargent said it's not customary to check a neutral line during a widespread power outage, nor is it part of the NPFA's recommended codes or standards.

Sargent said if an individual home had an outage from a downed tree, the company would probably check the neutral wire -- but not when there's an outage in a neighborhood.

A review of JCP&L's Tarriff basically said as much.

Unfortunately for the Chamberlins, unless they choose to pursue legal measures, they're at a dead end. But for the rest of us, there's still a lesson to be learned.

Know that overhead lines are susceptible to damage in a storm. If you fear your neutral wire could be damaged -- something the average homeowner won't be able to eyeball -- notify the power company that there could be a problem.

"Shut off your main circuit breaker if you suspect the lines are damaged," Sargent said. "If power is restored to the neighborhood and you lose your neutral, you'll end up with potential damage to your electrical equipment.''

Like the Chamberlins.

They still hold JCP&L responsible, and Suzanne Chamberlin likens the company's response to an inattentive motorist.

"It's like you drive down the street and you hit someone with your car," she explained. "But then you say it's not your fault because you drive down the same street every day, and that person wasn't there last time. It galls me every single month when I pay my electric bill."

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@astarledger.com.

Bamboozled reported the plight of Gary and Susan Marcello, Verizon customers whose outgoing Caller ID read "Golf Tee House" whenever they called Optonline phone customers. No number of calls to Verizon (which said it was Optonline's error) and Optonline (which said it couldn't help because the Marcellos were Verizon customers) could correct the problem.Then Bamboozled got involved.

Bamboozled reported the plight of Gary and Susan Marcello, Verizon customers whose outgoing Caller ID read "Golf Tee House" whenever they called Optonline phone customers.

No number of calls to Verizon (which said it was Optonline's error) and Optonline (which said it couldn't help because the Marcellos were Verizon customers) could correct the problem.Then Bamboozled got involved.

Batches of e-mails came in from other Verizon customers who were caught between phone service providers with similar tales of Caller ID foul-ups. Then Bamboozled received an e-mail from Tom Maguire, president of the mid-Atlantic area for Verizon. He wanted to contact the Marcellos to apologize for their experience.

"Though I am convinced that we did what we were supposed to, this does not excuse the fact that you are our customer and we should have worked with Cablevision to correct this issue in their system,'' Maguire said in an e-mail to the couple.

Bamboozled asked Maguire to step in to correct the Caller ID problems reported by four other Verizon customers who contacted us, and he came through. Verizon contacted the telephone service providers, and together, they made the fixes.

Many thanks to Maguire and to Verizon for stepping up and doing the right thing for their customers.

Lawyers aren't always right

A reader contacted Bamboozled about a billing dispute she was having with an elder-care attorney who was hired to help with her ailing father's affairs.

The reader paid $4,000 upfront for 10 hours of the attorney's time. Unfortunately, her father passed away several weeks later, and the attorney, by his own billing statements, had only worked about two hours on the case.

The reader was happy to pay for the time served. Indeed, she thought the attorney was very helpful during a tough time for her family. But once her dad passed and no further work was done on his case, the reader thought her father's estate was due the remainder of the upfront fee.

After months of e-mails with the attorney, she contacted Bamboozled for help. But then she got scared.

Calling herself "a big chicken," she said she was afraid the attorney - who she hired in part because of his strong personality and his apparent knowledge of the system - might sue her if she went on the record about the dispute.

Bamboozled examined the contract and had several reputable attorneys review it, too, and we all seemed to be in agreement that the attorney should return the fee for the unworked hours.

The contract specifically states that he works by the hour, even if the contract didn't specify what would happen in a case like this. One might think professional ethics would dictate an attorney wouldn't keep a fee for work that wasn't performed.

Sometimes attorneys are right, and sometimes they're wrong. Don't let someone in a nice suit with a strong personality scare you into backing off if you think you've been wronged.

If you have a disagreement with an attorney, you can file an ethics grievance or dispute fees via the state's Office of Attorney Ethics. Call (800) 406-8594 or go to judiciary.state.nj.us/oae. That's what this reader chose to do.

About six weeks after Bamboozled first contacted the attorney about the dispute, he sent his client a revised statement showing many more hours of work on her father's case. Bamboozled wonders why it took so long to show a revised statement and if there's some creative after-the-fact billing going on. That will be for the Office of Attorney Ethics to decide when our reader presents her case.

And, hey, Mr. Big Stuff: Return the money. You're giving lawyers a bad name.

Sears strives to make it right

Last month we reported the sub-par customer service by Sears experienced by Elizabeth Jacus after her refrigerator malfunctioned. Since the story ran, Sears has been making an effort to repair the damage -- not to the refrigerator, which had already been fixed -- but to its reputation.

Jacus received a phone call from Craig Slater, a technical manager for the Sears Service Center in New Jersey

"He asked me exactly what happened, saying it's to their advantage to try to correct customer service problems," Jacus said. "He also gave me his cell phone number and said if I ever have another problem, I should call the 800-number to set up a service appointment, then call him so he can make sure it goes correctly."

Other reps from Sears also called Jacus to make sure she bought the backup box refrigerator for which Sears had given her a $75 credit. When Jacus went to the store, she decided to buy a slightly larger model, costing about $125, and she planned to pay the difference out of her pocket.

When Jacus checked her statement, she saw Sears credited her for the entire cost of the larger refrigerator, plus tax. Another welcome surprise. "I'm happy about it,'' Jacus said. "No one did anything except say they were sorry until after you got involved. Then everyone stood at attention.''

One more postscript: After reading that Jacus lost a jar of holy water when the contents of her refrigerator froze, reader Elaine Mastropasqua offered to share her holy water, acquired from the spring at Lourdes.

Jacus and Bamboozled both thank you, Elaine, for your generosity.

When Karen Muller divorced almost three years ago, the court awarded her alimony payments of $1,600 a month. Muller (no relation to the writer) originally wanted her alimony to be direct deposited into her checking account, but because of a paperwork mix-up, she was instead given what's called the EPPICard: a debit card that can be used to access monthly...

When Karen Muller divorced almost three years ago, the court awarded her alimony payments of $1,600 a month.

Muller (no relation to the writer) originally wanted her alimony to be direct deposited into her checking account, but because of a paperwork mix-up, she was instead given what's called the EPPICard: a debit card that can be used to access monthly payments.

Noah K. Murray / The Star LedgerKaren Muller received alimony payments on a debit card called EPPICard. Nearly $10,000 went missing from her account.

EPPICard is supposed to make life easier. It helps recipients avoid costly check cashing joints, bank lines, waiting for checks to clear and so on. But there are fees. (More on that later, with a spanking for the state.) Muller, 49, works in a nursing home by day and goes to nursing school at night, so it was hard to make an in-person appearance to make the change to direct deposit.

She didn't love the EPPICard, but she was willing to live with it.
Until nearly $10,000 went missing from her account.

The fraud

It happened in April, when Muller checked her balance before withdrawing money to give to her son, who is getting married.

"When I heard the balance, I almost choked," Muller said. "They charged K-Mart five times in one day, Macy's, there were nine charges to Duane Reade, McDonald's, gas stations, you name it. Oh yeah, and a beer distributor for more than $900."

She immediately called EPPICard, spending hours on the phone reviewing all the fraudulent transactions with a customer service representative.

"When she realized how many, she said, 'We should have caught that. You've never used the card this way and we should have caught it,'" Muller said.

But the money wasn't restored right away. Muller was sent to the fraud department, which said she had to fill out a form detailing the more than 300 crooked charges.

Finally, in the middle of May, Muller received a letter saying the money had been restored. The compromised account was canceled and Muller was assigned a new account number.

All was well.

For about 10 days.

Muller checked her balance on the new card and found many of the same original fraudulent charges -- totaling more than $5,000 -- were once again debited from the account.

"I was shocked. Ten days after they redeposited my money, they let these charges go through,'' Mueller said. "I was like, you've got to be kidding me!''

She called to report the fraud, spending hours on the phone. More hours on hold. She was told she had to open a new fraud claim, even though this was directly related to the original claim, and that meant more hours on the phone.

Then she was told by an EPPICard rep that it was her responsibility to contact each of the merchants, and that it wasn't EPPICard's responsibility to withhold funds from the merchants even though the charges were made with a stolen card number.

That's when she contacted Bamboozled.

Restoring the funds

EPPICard is issued by Comerica Bank, which directed Bamboozled to Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, or ACS, which processes EPPICard accounts for the bank. Bamboozled asked for proper attention to be given to Muller's plight.

Within two days, her account was made whole again.

"Ms. Muller's account has been adjusted correctly so she is not impacted by the fraudulent charges,'' said Ken Ericson, spokesman for ACS Services.

OK, mistakes happen. We're glad it was fixed. But what about the rep who told Muller she'd have to check with each merchant individually, and that EPPICard wasn't responsible? Ericson never directly answered the question, which we asked multiple times, nor did he explain why no warning bells went off when these 300-plus fraudulent charges were made.

"The EPPICard comes with the same federal consumer protections that govern traditional debit cards,'' said Ericson.

That means, Bamboozled presumes, that Muller should have never been told to contact the merchants directly.

Muller is pleased that the funds are back in her account, but she said she's done with EPPICard.

"I absolutely never want to deal with them again,'' she said. "I want to have direct deposit and just keep the money in my own account.''

EppiCard is no bargain

EPPICard users get a PIN number and they can withdraw cash from automatic teller machine (ATMs) or at bank tellers that have a MasterCard logo in the window. They get one free ATM withdrawal per month at either a Wachovia or PNC ATM, and every subsequent withdrawal costs $1.25. Non-Wachovia ATM withdrawals cost $1.25. Subsequent bank teller withdrawals cost $2. Unless you sign up for online account access, there's a charge for balance checks: the first two are free, and after that there's a $0.40 charge. We won't even go into the over-the-limit fees.

These cards are also accepted anywhere MasterCard is accepted. If a purchase or a "cash back" transaction requires the user to input their PIN, there's another $0.20 fee.

The state of New Jersey is one of 16 states that use EPPICard to distribute benefits. Today, some 72,000 residents use it to collect alimony and child support payments -- or roughly 20 to 25 percent of all state beneficiaries. Add up all those little fees, and EPPICard earns a nice profit in New Jersey.

Many bank accounts have fees like these, and sure, companies should be paid for providing a service. But this is pure nickel and diming. If my bank charged fees like this, I'd find a new bank.

Can't the state of New Jersey, which offers healthy business to EPPICard, get a better deal?

"The Division of Family Development negotiated the best deal available,'' said Suzanne Esterman, spokesperson for the Department of Human Services Division of Family Development, the agency that contracts for the EPPICard. "We understand that for some people the fees make an impact in what they receive in their child support funds but we do offer the choice of the debit card or direct deposit.''

Esterman said the current contract with EPPICard expires February 2010.

So come on, New Jersey, negotiate a better deal. You're giving EPPICard more than 72,000 customers who I'm sure the company would like to keep, so you have the upper hand. Insist on lower fees. Tell EPPICard that even with cheaper costs, it would benefit from economies of scale as more of New Jersey's 300,000-plus child support and alimony recipients will be attracted to the card.

You've got the power in this deal, New Jersey. Use it for the good of your citizens.
Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

The Treasury Department reported last week that only 12 percent of eligible homeowners have struck new deals on their mortgages via the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, which is supposed to help troubled borrowers with loan modification plans. The Criscione family wasn't part of that 12 percent. Getting a modification on their second mortgage was a mass of red...

PHOTOS BY ED MURRAY/THE STAR-LEDGERJohn Criscione, at home in Somerset, lost his job and his son was later diagnosed with cancer, so John put his job search on hold to care for him. Bamboozled helped him renegotiate his loan with CitiMortgage.

The Treasury Department reported last week that only 12 percent of eligible homeowners have struck new deals on their mortgages via the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, which is supposed to help troubled borrowers with loan modification plans.

The Criscione family wasn't part of that 12 percent. Getting a modification on their second mortgage was a mass of red tape, unanswered queries and questionable responses from their lender, CitiMortgage.

John Criscione lost his job as a residential property manager in January. He started to hunt for work immediately and the family slashed expenses, but it wasn't enough.

''We aggressively cut wherever possible and considered sale of all assets,'' said Criscione, who lives in Somerset. ''Unfortunately, lack of equity in our home and vehicles eliminated that option. Payments on everything fell behind.''

The family of four relied on Sharon Criscione's salary and John's unemployment benefits while he searched for a job. Still, there wasn't enough money to go around.

The family contacted CitiMortgage in early February in an effort to modify their $147,000, 9.75 percent loan.

''We spoke with loss mitigation specialists and sent in financial worksheets. We never received return calls or communications,'' Criscione said. ''We remained persistent with our calls and at one point in April, we are able to defer two payments to the end of the loan.''

After researching mortgage modification guidelines on the federal website MakingHomeAffordable.gov, Criscione was sure the family qualified. Still, CitiMortgage wasn't responding to the couple's efforts.

John Criscione wears a wristband in support of his son Alex.

Then things got worse. In early June, their 18-year-old son fell ill, seemingly overnight, and doctors said it was cancer. He was rushed to emergency surgery to treat a bleeding brain tumor. It was successful, but further tests found more masses around his body.

For two weeks, John and Sharon Criscione spent day and night in the hospital with their son. Everything else was pushed aside. They received a few collection calls from lenders, but the lenders gave the family some space when they explained their son's health.

Then, a cell phone rang. It was a CitiMortgage rep.

''Barely able to speak, Sharon advised him that she was in the hospital with her son who has just been diagnosed with cancer, was receiving chemotherapy at the moment and that she had not been home in 12 days,'' John Criscione said. ''She stated that she would send a payment in as soon as she returned home.''

Criscione said the rep insisted on a phone payment right then and there, said he'd call every day until they made a payment arrangement.

''We had been contacting CitiMortgage regularly at least every 14 days, but never received any tangible type of response,'' Criscione said.

That's when they contacted Bamboozled.

THE MODIFICATION

We contacted CitiMortgage and asked for a review of the Crisciones' loan.

The next day, Criscione received a call from CitiMortgage. The company required more paperwork, but the rep gave Criscione hope that something could be done about the interest rate on the loan.

It took the entire summer, but CitiMortgage came back with a deal: a 23-year graduated rate loan with a balloon payment at the end. For the first five years, the interest rate would be 3 percent. The rate would then rise yearly through the eighth year, at which time the rate would be capped at 5.29 percent. After 23 years, in 2032, a balloon payment of more than $50,000 would be due.

"We are pleased to have arrived at a solution for this family's situation, although we cannot comment on specifics due to privacy concerns," said CitiMortgage spokesman Mark Rodgers.

Criscione said the deal lowered their monthly payment from $1,268 to $518 a month,

''Short-term, we just need to keep payments on time and keep food on the table. This modification definitely helps that goal,'' Criscione said.

But they need to watch the long-term, too. The family will have a balloon payment of $50,000 in 2023, but they hope it never gets to that point. As their son's health improves, John Criscione plans to get back into the job market. In time, as the family's finances recover, they can refinance to a loan that doesn't involve a balloon payment.

Criscione is still sending resumes out and trying to network, and he says he'll find a job.

''In the meantime, I'm helping my son beat cancer. He needs me 24/7, and we expect to prevail,'' he said.

ABOUT MODIFICATIONS

CitiMortgage customers aren't the only ones who have experienced delays like the Crisciones.

When loan modification programs were first announced, homeowners flocked to get help but many loan servicers were not yet equipped to handle the caseloads. Rodgers said Citi, along with the rest of the industry, experienced quickly escalating and unprecedented levels of borrowers needing assistance, especially in the first part of 2009.

While he couldn't comment specifically on the Crisciones' situation, that could be a reasonable explanation for the delays (though it doesn't excuse the phone reps behavior when the Crisciones were in the hospital).

The process should go more smoothly today, now that lenders have had time to hire and train additional staff to handle modification requests.

If you're having trouble with your mortgage, start at the MakingHomeAffordable.gov website. Use the self-assessment tools to see if you qualify for one of the many legitimate programs available to modify mortgages.

Also keep your guard up. If you see or hear an ad from "mortgage experts" who promise to help you with your mortgage, be suspicious. Not all offers are scams, but plenty are.

Beware of anyone who charges a hefty up-front fee for counseling (HUD-approved housing counselors are free), run from mortgage experts who pressure you to sign papers right away and start screaming if anyone suggests you sign your home/deed over to them as part of a program to prevent foreclosure.

Before you turn to an outside company, contact your lender and see what it can offer. Be persistent. Hopefully your lender will be more responsive than CitiMortgage was to the Crisciones' initial requests for help. If not, let me know.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Imagine going to the doctor for a check-up. Or for a sprained ankle. Or for the sniffles. After you check in with the receptionist, you hear the dreaded words: your health insurance policy has been terminated. You’d be surprised. Confused. Worried. For the past two years, that’s what doctor’s visits have been like for Theresa Gonnella, a 74-year-old Bloomfield...

MITSU YASUKAWA/THE STAR-LEDGER

Theresa Gonnella, 74, of Bloomfield was repeatedly told her Medicare Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage was termina-ted because of an ongoing paperwork mix-up. Bamboozled sorted out communication problems between two bureaucracies.

You’d be surprised. Confused. Worried.

For the past two years, that’s what doctor’s visits have been like for Theresa Gonnella, a 74-year-old Bloomfield widow.

Gonnella is covered under a Medicare Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, and her premiums are paid by the Newark Housing Authority. Gonnella’s husband Peter worked for NHA for 40 years before retiring in 1994, and as part of his benefits, health insurance premiums for his wife would be paid for her lifetime.

He died in 2001. And the premiums were still paid.

Then something happened. Or changed.

Gonnella started receiving notices the coverage was terminated. Unpaid doctor’s bills rolled in.
‘‘I was a nervous wreck,’’ Gonnella said. ‘‘Some of my bills were already going to collections. I just couldn’t get it off my mind.’’

The circus begins

Gonnella’s daughters have been on the case. Every quarter when termination notices come in, they call NHA. They call Horizon. The account is reinstated. But not permanently.

It happens the next quarter.

So each quarter, a circus of phone calls begins. Doreen Gonnella, the daughter who helps Theresa Gonnella with her paperwork, contacts Horizon to find out why the policy was terminated. Each time, records indicate the policy was terminated for non-payment.
Then Doreen Gonnella contacts NHA, which always finds a copy of the cancelled check. NHA faxes it to the Gonnellas and the Gonnellas fax it to Horizon.
The policy gets reinstated. But by the time the paperwork is straightened out and the account is properly credited, the next premium is due, and it’s invariably not credited to the correct account.
‘‘It starts all over again for the next quarter,’’ said Maria Rosamilia, Gonnella’s other daughter.

It goes beyond frustration about all the phone calls.
‘‘My mom had a lot of sleepless nights and she was afraid and ashamed to still go to the doctors,’’ Doreen Gonnella said. ‘‘We really had to push her.’’

The daughters can’t understand why no one has found a lasting fix. That’s when they contacted Bamboozled.

The solution

Bamboozled contacted the Newark Housing Authority to see what was going wrong.
After looking into Gonnella’s account, NHA spokesman Tory Gunsolley said because of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which protects patient privacy, Horizon was unable to discuss the case with NHA. Therefore NHA was unable to learn if the premiums were credited to the correct account.
‘‘On the check stub is her name and her ID number so I don’t understand what we can do from a processing standpoint to help Horizon,’’ Gunsolley said.

Next, call: Horizon.

As Gonnella’s daughters suspected, the solution was simple.
Horizon’s billing system has been sending bills to Gonnella even though she doesn’t directly pay the bill. Gonnella would fax the bill to NHA, which would send a check for the payment. But one little thing was missing when NHA paid: the coupon.
The coupon, found on most bills you probably receive, is the part that you detach and return with your payment. It includes information about your account, and it’s used to credit payments, sometimes electronically, to the proper account.
‘‘The coupon is important. The premium checks go to a vendor, whose system is set up to read the coupon itself. Even if the member provides additional information, the vendor wouldn’t see that because the system is designed to read the coupon directly,’’ said Horizon spokesman Dan Emmer.
When the Gonnellas faxed the bills to NHA, it included the coupon part of the bill. But when NHA sent the payment, it didn’t attach the coupon — in-house accountants probably didn’t notice the perforation marks on the faxed copy. When Horizon would receive NHA’s payment for Gonnella’s policy, without the coupon, the payments were not credited for Gonnella. Ergo the delays. And the unsettling termination notices.

Horizon contacted the Gonnellas, and together they decided Horizon would directly send the bill to NHA, and therefore NHA would have the coupon.
‘‘We’ve also taken further steps internally,’’ Emmer said. ‘‘We essentially put a flag, an alert, in our system, so if the Housing Authority sends the check without the coupon we’re able to flag it so that the bills will be paid on time.’’

The Gonnellas are relieved, and hopeful.
‘‘I do feel like it’s finally been fixed, but I’m still a little wary until I see that it is going to get to the point where she’s not terminated every quarter like she has been,’’ said Doreen Gonnella.

We’ll let you know how it turns out.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Dave Peterson of Warren County read our recounting of the Crisciones — the family that struggled to get a modification on their second mortgage. Peterson had a story, and a question, of his own. Working in sales, Peterson earns as much as 50 percent of his salary from commission. In this economy, he’s watched his income drop. In March,...

MATT RAINEY/THE STAR-LEDGERDave Peterson of Knowlton Township pulled back his request for a mortgage modification when he couldn’t find out how it would affect his credit score. An adverse impact would probably raise his cost of future borrowing.
Dave Peterson of Warren County read our recounting of the Crisciones — the family that struggled to get a modification on their second mortgage. Peterson had a story, and a question, of his own.

Working in sales, Peterson earns as much as 50 percent of his salary from commission. In this economy, he’s watched his income drop. In March, Peterson’s wife lost her job. She’s since found work, but the couple still had great concerns about meeting financial obligations.

Back in February, the Petersons requested a modification from their lender, Chase Home Financial. They filled out forms and wrote a hardship letter. After many follow-up calls, faxes and e-mails, they were offered a modification that would significantly reduce their mortgage payment.

The couple were thrilled. Then they asked the $64,000 question: what would happen to their credit scores?

“Considering our predicament, we figured that a slight hit to our score was worth it in return for the lower payment,” Peterson said.

They had concerns because their daughter would finish high school in two years, and then, they were planning to downsize. They’d need to maintain their high credit scores — in the 700s — for favorable terms on a new mortgage.

“We wanted, in fact demanded, that before we took this modification any further, that Chase explain what were the potential short- and long-term ramifications to our credit scores,” Peterson said.

No one at Chase could tell them, so they withdrew their application.

THE IMPACT OF THE MOD SQUAD

There is no clear answer to Peterson’s question.

There are guidelines by the Consumer Data Industry Association, a credit reporting trade group. These recommend lenders report modifications as “partial payments.” Not good for credit scores.

John Ulzheimer of Credit.com called the guidelines “horribly premature’’ because no studies have indicated people who modify are actually higher credit risks than those who don’t.

“They sentenced hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of consumers to lower scores. And, scared others out of taking advantage of the loan mod programs,” Ulzheimer said.

To confuse consumers even more, not all lenders follow the guidelines.

That may change on November 1, when lenders can use a new code to report them as a “loan modification under government program.” The code will clarify which borrowers have taken modifications, but because the modification process itself is not streamlined, it won’t be the only worm squiggling out of the can.

The bigger impact on credit scores may depend on how the loan was modified.

A loan can be refinanced through the same lender with the same account number, said Jennifer Costello, a spokeswoman for the credit bureau Equifax. The updated account status, including the new loan amount and any term changes, would be reported to the file. (Probably a negative credit mark.) Or a lender may close the original account to refinance the loan, Costello said.

“Sometimes the decision is made to close the original account in order to refinance the loan,” she said.

Costello said in this case, the credit file would reflect two loans: the original account number showing the account has been closed, and a new account number for the new mortgage.

If the old account is closed and the lender doesn’t report it as a modification, it may appear on a credit report like a traditional refinance — not a bad mark at all.

It makes sense for credit scores to take a hit after a modification, said Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Chase, Peterson’s lender.

Because of privacy concerns, Kelly couldn’t specifically discuss the Petersons, but he offered this story: Say two borrowers purchase homes on South Main Street on the same day, for the same amount, with the same mortgages. The borrower at 2 S. Main St. pays his mortgage every month, but the borrower at 6 S. Main St. is having a financial hardship. He gets a modification lowering his monthly payment by $600 a month, or $7,200 a year, or $72,000 over 10 years.

“The family at 2 S. Main St., in fairness to them, they should have a better credit score than the family at 6 S. Main St.,” Kelly said.

But no one can say exactly how your score would be affected. It seems even the credit-scoring companies aren’t sure.

“Whether a loan modification affects the borrower’s FICO score depends on whether and how the lender chooses to report the event to the credit bureau, as well as on the person’s overall credit profile,’’ said Tom Quinn, vice president of global scoring for FICO.

Like every modification, every borrower is different. Some may have scores in the 700s, like Peterson, while others may have less-than-desirable credit from the get-go. Because scoring companies like FICO treat scoring formulas as a trade secret — think KFC’s special recipe — lenders can’t simply plug in a few numbers and tell a borrower what impact a modification would have on their score.

TO MODIFY OR NOT TO MODIFY?

Credit score concerns are valid because future scores will have an impact on your future borrowing abilities. A lower score will mean higher borrowing costs on loans of all kinds.

But given the choice between a hit to your credit score or losing your home — which will also hurt your score — it makes sense to keep your home at all costs.

Ask your lender how it plans to report the modification, said Steven Katz, spokesman for the credit bureau TransUnion.

But don’t be surprised if the lender can’t tell you, just like Chase couldn’t tell the Petersons. It’s not that they were keeping a secret. They simply don’t know the answer.

UPDATE ON THE CRISCIONE FAMILY

There’s more to report on our first frustrated modification family, the Crisciones. Bamboozled helped nudge CitiMortgage to refocus on the Somerset family’s request for a modification on their second mortgage, and they got a deal lowering their monthly payment from $1,268 to $518 a month..

The couple said they had similar problems with modification requests on their first mortgage, so Bamboozled contacted their lender, Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo said it lacked a document or two, and once those papers were in, within two weeks, the Crisciones had a deal: the mortgage balance will be reamortized into a 39-year fixed-rate loan at 4.25 percent, reducing payments from $2,728 to $1,979.

“We think this is great,” said John Criscione. “Between the two, Citi and Wells, we’ve reduced monthly payments by $1,498 per month or an average of 37.4 percent between the two loans.”

John Criscione doesn’t know what will happen to his credit score in the wake of two modifications.

“Realistically, it’s the price to pay for survival,” he said. “In time, credit scores are repaired. It’s always give and take; should I have abandoned property and assets or ended up homeless for a good credit score? I don’t think so.”

Have you been bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Claire and John Cook decided it was time for new windows for their Hopatcong home. In July, they ordered seven new windows and half-screens from Castle Windows of Mount Laurel. They signed a contract and gave a down payment of $1,500; the balance was due upon completion of the job. It’s now October, and the job isn’t complete. A...

JENNIFER BROWN/THE STAR-LEDGERClaire and John Cook, with son Mark, had a dispute with Castle Windows of Mount Laurel. Claire and John Cook decided it was time for new windows for their Hopatcong home.

In July, they ordered seven new windows and half-screens from Castle Windows of Mount Laurel. They signed a contract and gave a down payment of $1,500; the balance was due upon completion of the job.

It’s now October, and the job isn’t complete. A combination of communication lapses, a manufacturing holdup and what the Cooks call a “rude” manager has left the couple less than satisfied.

“My husband and I are very reasonable people. We understand that mistakes can be made,” Claire Cook said.

This is a tale about how it doesn’t take much for a customer experience to go very, very wrong.

THE TIMELINE

After the Cooks signed the contract, things moved quickly. The windows arrived two to four weeks earlier than expected. The couple received a call Aug. 10, and installation was scheduled for the following day.

“I called the main office to be sure how I could make the final payment: Cash, check or money order,” Claire Cook said.

She said she was told to get a bank or certified check, so she did.

John Cook took the day off to meet the installers. When the job was near complete, he was told the screens would arrive in a separate shipment in two days. Cook said they’d pay the balance for the job when the screens came in.

That’s when it got ugly, according to the Cooks.

Claire Cook, who was at work, called the office and spoke to installation manager John Belamonte.

“He explained to me that the screens were ordered from a different manufacturer because they are not white,’’ she said. "He said they didn’t realize until this morning that they didn’t have them.”

Claire Cook said the company should have told her the screens weren’t in.

“It was 95 degrees that week so I would have said, ‘No, don’t install until you have the screens,’ ” she said. “I don’t have central air so I need to open my windows.”

The conversation turned to payment. Claire Cook said Belmonte asked if they’d pay most of the balance, but withhold a small portion until the screens were delivered.

“I told him if I wasn’t instructed by one of their customer service representatives to get a bank check I would have considered giving them another third of the amount, but since I had a bank check for the total amount due, I couldn’t split that,” she said.

She said Belmonte said they don’t require bank checks, but Cook maintains that’s what she was originally told.

Back at the Cook home, the installer called another manager, and soon John Cook was retelling the story.

“At that point, the manager on the phone got very angry and threatened my husband by saying they would ‘rip out the new windows’ if they had to and it would be our problem to secure our home if they couldn’t put back the old windows,” Claire Cook said. “My husband then asked the installer to leave our property.”

After taking a day to cool off, Claire Cook called the office. They didn’t have a delivery date for the screens. So the Cooks waited. And waited. A month later, they got word the screens were in.

They scheduled installation for Sept. 18, and John Cook took another day off. At 4:10 p.m. that day, Castle called, saying the installer was on the way with five of the seven screens.

“I told them to stop the installer from coming to my house and that I would only take delivery of all seven screens,’’ Claire Cook said. ``I didn’t want my husband to get into a confrontation again with anyone.”

The last the Cooks heard, there was an Oct. 1 delivery date set for the screens. In the meantime, Claire Cook went to a hardware store and purchased temporary screens so she could open her new windows.

Then she contacted Bamboozled.

THE RESOLUTION

Bamboozled contacted Castle Windows to get the lowdown on the missing screens.

Director of operations Ed Jones said the Cooks probably should have been notified that the screens were not in.

Installation manager John Belmonte explained all window orders stay wrapped until they’re at the installation site to avoid damage, so the company didn’t know they weren’t with the order. By that time, the Cooks’ old windows were already removed.

Belmonte said the couple wouldn’t be pressured to pay until the job was complete, and he’s offered to pay for the temporary screens the Cooks purchased.

That’s all great news.

But what about the Cooks’ claim that the other manager threatened to take out the new windows unless they paid?

“If someone did that I imagine he’d be arrested before he got back in the truck,” Belamonte said.

Belmonte said he talked to the manager, who said he didn’t remember the job at all. Owner Rod Arsey said he also talked to the manager, and “he absolutely didn’t say that.”

“I can’t rip windows out of a house and leave a house exposed. That is insanity and probably borderline illegal,” Arsey said.

Bamboozled didn’t witness the conversation, so rather than play out the “he said, she said,” we turned to the Better Business Bureau to see how Castle Windows stacks up.

Castle Windows is a BBB-Accredited business with a grade of “B-.” In the past 36 months, BBB reports 126 complaints against company, and the majority were resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

Owner Arsey said in three years, the company probably had between 18,000 and 20,000 customers. That means the BBB complaints were just a small fraction of the company’s business.

Castle Windows seems to be on the way to doing the right thing. It’s reimbursing the Cooks for their temporary screens and it doesn’t plan a pressure-play for payment until all seven screens are in.

We’re still not sure when that will be. At the time of publication, the Cooks were still waiting with their Aug. 10 dated bank check in hand.

“I think my frustration is more with the way they handled the situation rather than the fact that the screens were missing from the order,” Claire Cook said. “They did do a good job on the installation.”

To all you businesses out there: communicate with your customers. They’re more likely to understand delays if you keep them posted.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

In July, we shared the story of Murli and Sunita Kalro, Bridgewater residents who hired Right-Way Paving and Masonry of Morristown for a driveway redo. The $6,000 job was a disaster: There were cracks and material crumbled. Despite a three-year guarantee, Right-Way and its owner Tom Magill didn’t live up to promises to repair the damage. Murli Kalro took...

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerMurli Kalro and Sunita Kalro of Bridgewater hired a contractor to repave their driveway, but the company did a shoddy job. The Kalros won a $2,950 judgment, plus court fees, in small claims court.In July, we shared the story of Murli and Sunita Kalro, Bridgewater residents who hired Right-Way Paving and Masonry of Morristown for a driveway redo.

The $6,000 job was a disaster: There were cracks and material crumbled. Despite a three-year guarantee, Right-Way and its owner Tom Magill didn’t live up to promises to repair the damage.

Murli Kalro took his complaint to small claims court and was awarded a $2,940 judgment, plus court costs, against Magill and Right-Way Paving.

A victory, for sure. But there’s a new challenge: collecting the judgment.

‘‘Collecting on a judgment awarded by the small claims court is arduous and very difficult,’’ Kalro said. ‘‘Once I receive the court order, I will be requesting the Ocean County Courts to help me in recovering the monies.’’

Enlisting help from the court is a smart way to go. For example, if the plaintiff can identify that the defendant has a New Jersey bank account, the court may collect the funds from that account. Or the plaintiff could ask for a wage execution — garnishing the defendant’s wages — but that may prove tough in this case because Magill, as far as we know, doesn’t collect a regular paycheck from a larger employer.

If none of those options bears fruit, uh, cash, Kalro can ask for a docketed judgment. That would prohibit Magill from selling real estate in New Jersey with a clear title until the judgment is paid.

Kalro said Magill is no longer returning his phone calls, and he did not respond to calls from Bamboozled.

You can learn more about collecting on the New Jersey Judiciary website (www.judiciary.state.nj.us).

When the Kalro’s story was first published in this space, Bamboozled was contacted by Supreme-Metro Corp., a paving company that works exclusively for commercial and industrial properties. Company president Jason Ciavarro offered to install a new driveway for the Kalros, donating the labor and equipment if the Kalros would pay for the materials and trucking costs. The two are talking about a possible job in the early spring.

Yes, Ciavarro just got his company a little positive publicity, but Bamboozled thanks him for stepping up to help.

We’ll let you know if the job gets done and if Kalro collects his judgment.

Bamboozled by the Ledger?

Bamboozled received an e-mail from reader Tom Avagliano of Summit.

‘‘Maybe you can help me, but the problem I have is with The Star-Ledger,’’ he wrote.

Oops.

Avagliano renewed his subscription to The Ledger in March, and was told he’d receive a $25 gas card as part of a promotional deal. The card didn’t come. He called several times. He waited longer. The gas card never came.

We poked around and our circulation and subscriber services departments acknowledged the error, caused when the wrong entry code was used to place Avagliano’s order. The Ledger overnighted Avagliano the gas card, plus a second card as an apology.

Thanks for calling us out. We’re not going to take others to task without pointing a finger at ourselves when it’s warranted. We’re sorry it happened, Mr. Avagliano, and we’re glad we could make it right.

Caller ID Finger-pointing

The Caller ID story is back. We first reported in July that some Verizon customers have complained their Caller IDs give the wrong name when they call Cablevision’s Optimum Voice customers.

Verizon has stepped up each time, making about a dozen fixes, most recently for a West Orange dentist Gerard Freda, whose business phone for five years displayed the name of another dentist. The carrier also made a fix for Barbara Lehmann, who had been trying to remove her late husband’s name from her Caller ID since October 2006.
Bamboozled asked Verizon why these errors keep coming. The carrier maintains what it has said from the beginning: Because their customers are having the Caller ID problems only when they call Optimum Voice customers, there must be a database, or something, on the Optimum side that’s not properly updated.

Bamboozled took another shot at this irritating issue, and we asked Cablevision to investigate again. After several weeks, we didn’t get much of an answer.

Spokeswoman Sarah Chaikin said Cablevision works with phone providers and Caller ID database firms across the country to regularly update Caller ID information systems.
‘‘When the error is related to another carrier’s customer, our ability to correct the information depends upon the cooperation of the company that is providing phone service to that customer,’’ Chaikin said. ‘‘While Cablevision’s policy is to quickly resolve any discrepancies in a manner that is most convenient for our customers, some companies unfortunately take a less responsive approach.“

Then, the real cheap shot. Chaikin said Cablevision’s ‘‘commitment to quality’’ includes making sure customers’ Caller ID information is correct in its database and with the third-party companies that collect Caller ID info.

‘‘This is an important step that some phone companies may be neglecting, particularly if their customers seem to be prone to displaying incorrect Caller ID information to homes served by other providers,“ she said.

With that, Cablevision is saying it’s Verizon’s fault for not having updated records for its customers. But what Bamboozled has always found interesting is that this happens to Verizon customers only when they call Cablevision customers. Not Comcast customers. Or AT&T customers. Only Cablevision customers.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young said Cablevision’s explanation is flat-out wrong.
‘‘In each case that has been brought to our attention, we’ve determined the cable company has not kept their information up to date,’’ he said. ‘‘This has nothing to do with Verizon, but even when we’re not at fault, we’ve worked quickly, on behalf of the consumer, to resolve the issue.’’

Which carrier is correct? Bamboozled doesn’t care. It’s obvious that even after months of questioning Caller ID mishaps, someone’s database, somewhere, isn’t up-to-date.

Finger-pointing won’t fix the problem.

Can’t something be done to make a permanent fix? Bamboozled relishes the day we can hang up on the Caller ID story for good.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

It’s a common scam, but you hear the ads on radio and television all the time. They can’t all be lying, right? “Let us dramatically reduce your debt!” “We can save hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars on your high interest credit card bills!” “Find financial freedom!” Hogwash. OK, it’s not all hogwash. But all too many companies make promises...

WILLIAM PERLMAN/THE STAR-LEDGERPat Trematore of Nutley said she fell victim to a debt relief scam that didn’t provide much help. Then her credit card was charged for a service she said she didn’t authorize. With Bamboozled’s help, the charge was dropped.It’s a common scam, but you hear the ads on radio and television all the time. They can’t all be lying, right?

“Let us dramatically reduce your debt!” “We can save hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars on your high interest credit card bills!” “Find financial freedom!”

Hogwash.

OK, it’s not all hogwash. But all too many companies make promises they can’t keep, or they sell services that you could perform yourself for free.

Pat Trematore fell victim to one of these scams. The 77-year-old Nutley woman shares her home with two grown daughters and their five children. The large family lives on Trematore’s Social Security and her daughters’ part-time paychecks.

So when Trematore received a call from someone promising to lower the interest rates on her credit cards, she was eager to learn more.

THE PITCH

The telephone representative was from a company called Accelerated Debt Relief. The firm first contacted Trematore a year ago in October 2008.

‘‘It sounded like a good deal, and I agreed on our initial conversation,’’ she said. ‘‘She called back about a week later, and she then told me the fee would be $895 on an existing credit card.’’

Trematore thought the price was exorbitant but as a woman of her word, felt obligated to continue because she already said yes the week before.

A few weeks later, the rep called Trematore and initiated several three-way calls with Trematore’s credit card companies. Of four credit cards, the rep was able to secure a rate reduction for only one card.

“Nothing much gained there,’’ Trematore said.

Shortly thereafter, Trematore received a very professional-looking folder with a printout of all her credit card accounts and interest rates. The name on the folder was “IXE Accelerated Debt Relief.” The company name was different, but Trematore didn’t notice. She decided to eat the $895 and put the error behind her.

Then the whammy: In February 2009, she received her Capital One credit card statement. It had a charge for $895 — a new charge. She immediately wrote a letter to the company saying she never authorized a second charge. The letter was returned undeliverable. Phone calls were unsuccessful.

So, she turned to Capital One. Trematore completed forms detailing what happened. The charge was put in dispute.

She requested Capital One change her card number to avoid further unauthorized charges, but she said they never complied. She then cancelled the card.

Then in June, Trematore received a letter from Capital One saying the company received new information proving Trematore agreed to the $895 February charge.

That’s when she contacted Bamboozled.

THE DEBT RELIEF COMPANIES

Phone calls by Bamboozled to every phone number we could find associated with these companies were answered with, “The number has been disconnected,” or “You have reached a number that is not in service.” We also found other companies with similar names, and those, too, had telephone numbers that were not operational.

Suspicious, for sure.

We checked the Better Business Bureau.

Accelerated Debt Relief had a grade of “F,” with a total of 73 complaints to BBB Nationwide in the last 36 months. Of those, the company failed to respond to the complaint in 54 cases, and the remainder were ‘‘unpursuable,’’ which means the company could not be located.

No better for IXE Financial Services. The BBB of Central Florida recorded 44 complaints since January 2008. Indeed, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum filed a lawsuit against the company in October 2008, and against the company principals. The charge: making misleading promises regarding credit card rate reduction services.

‘‘We began investigating IXE Accelerated Financial Center after receiving a continuous flow of consumer complaints against the company,’’ spokeswoman Ryan Wiggins said.

The Florida case is still pending.

Wiggins said the AG’s office received complaints from residents of Florida and at least 23 other states, including New Jersey. But IXE isn’t on the radar of New Jersey law enforcement officials — at least not yet.

Those who have had bad experiences with the companies should file a complaint, said state Consumer Affairs spokesman Jeff Lamm. (You can file online complaints with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs at njconsumeraffairs.gov.)

If this company is being investigated, at least in Florida, and it’s apparently not kosher, we wondered what kind of evidence it presented to Capital One to show Trematore approved the second $895 charge. Capital One couldn’t say.

‘‘We’re bound by the disputes process and guidelines as established by Visa/MasterCard, which indicated that the customer did authorize the merchant to bill her credit card,’’ said company spokeswoman Pam Girardo. ‘‘However, we’ve credited Ms. Trematore’s account with $895 as a goodwill gesture.’’

Thank you, Capital One. But that’s not completely satisfying. The $895 isn’t a refund from the debt relief company. It’s out of Capital One’s pocket. Because the debt firm gave some kind of “proof” that Trematore approved the charge, Capital One is bound to accept the charge.

Girardo couldn’t speak specifically about the allegations against the debt relief firms, but the refund makes it seem as if the credit card company has its own doubts about the debt firms’ authenticity.

THE DÉNOUMENT

Pat Trematore was surprised to hear Capital One would refund the second $895 charge.

‘‘Are you kidding? It’s like I won the lottery or something. That’s $895 plus interest that I don’t have to pay to the credit card company,’’ she said.

She also vows never to answer the phone if her Caller ID doesn’t identify a caller she knows.

If you want to lower the interest rates on your credit cards, there’s no need to hire an overpriced and questionable firm. Do it yourself.

Start by asking the representative to lower your interest rate. If you’ve been a solid customer, say so. If you’ve had some payment blips, own up to them, but explain how a lower rate will help you meet your obligations. Use the same methods to ask your card company to lift late fees or annual fees.

They may say yes. They may say no. If the answer is no, ask to speak to a manager, who may be authorized to offer a different deal.

If that’s not enough and you need professional help, don’t turn to one of those debt relief companies you hear about on the radio. Find someone reputable. Contact the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at debtadvice.org or call (800) 388-2227 to find a counselor near you.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Carmen Velez lost her job as a dental hygienist in November 2008. Without steady income, she had to cut expenses. Velez stored a lifetime of possessions at U-Store-It, a storage facility in Linden, and moved in with a friend. With unemployment payments, Velez, 45, was just getting by, but money wasn’t her only worry. Her father, who lives in...

JERRY MCCREA/THE STAR-LEDGERCarmen Velez of Elizabeth in front of the U-Store-It facility in Linden. Velez was late on a U-Store-It bill, and U-Store-It auctioned off what Velez said was more than $30,000 worth of furniture and other items. Carmen Velez lost her job as a dental hygienist in November 2008.

Without steady income, she had to cut expenses. Velez stored a lifetime of possessions at U-Store-It, a storage facility in Linden, and moved in with a friend.

With unemployment payments, Velez, 45, was just getting by, but money wasn’t her only worry. Her father, who lives in Puerto Rico, was ill. Velez started to travel: she helped move her dad to her sister’s home in Florida. He wasn’t happy there, so before long, she traveled again to move him back to Puerto Rico.

During the back and forth, Velez let some bills slip, including the rent on her storage unit.

On Tuesday, Sept. 9, Velez received a message from U-Store-It. When she returned the call the next day, she was told her belongings would be put up for auction if she didn’t pay $300 for three months of back rent.

She told the phone rep that because the banks were closed for the Monday holiday, her unemployment check would clear a day late, but she’d pay the bill first thing.

‘‘The gentleman that I talked to seemed to understand the situation. ‘Yes, ma’am, okay ma’am,’ he said, so I was relieved,’’ Velez said.

When she called on Wednesday to pay her bill, she received a shock.

‘‘I was told that it was too late. Everything was sold,’’ Velez said.

The sale had occurred the day before.

TRYING TO GET WHAT'S HERS

Velez was stunned.

‘‘Everything I owned was in there,’’ she said. ‘‘Three rooms of Domain furniture, leather couches, three original serigraphs and other pieces of artwork, an antique desk, Lenox china from 1960 worth over $5,000, and more,’’ she said. ‘‘It had all my medical records, diplomas, books and lifetime pictures, including the only existing picture of my deceased grandmother.’’

It even had Velez’s only copy of her storage contract.

She asked the office if she could recover the personal items — records, paperwork, family photos. Those would be of no value to the purchaser of her unit, she thought, but invaluable to her.

‘‘I was told that absolutely everything was gone,’’ she said. ‘‘There was not one paper, one item left. Absolutely nothing left. In a matter of a couple of hours, my lifetime possessions were all gone.’’

Desperate, she called everyone she could think of: the manager, the corporate office, regional offices, an attorney. She couldn’t get any answers.

That’s when she contacted Bamboozled.

CAN THEY REALLY DO THAT?

Velez admits she was late with her payment, but she felt an auction of her possessions was a dramatic move. It just didn’t seem right, she said. Can they really do that?

While it might not seem fair, U-Store-It seems to have followed the law.

According to the Self-Service Storage Facility Act (N.J.S.A. 2A:44-187), the owner of a storage facility has a lien against the property contained in the unit as soon as the space is rented, said Mark Blount, an attorney with Coppel, Laughlin, Blount & Lavin in Chester.

‘‘When a bill becomes more than 30 days late, the owner has certain rights including the sale of the property,’’ Blount said.

Before a sale, the storage facility must take several steps.

The renter must be given a detailed notice that includes, among other things, a demand for payment within a specified period of not less than 14 days, and notification that unless the amounts are paid, the personal property will be sold, Blount said. The notice must include the time and place of the sale. Then, the facility must advertise the sale once a week for two consecutive weeks. Finally, the sale may occur not sooner than 15 days after the date of final publication.

At the auction itself, bidders are not allowed to enter the unit or open boxes, but can only view the contents though the unit’s open door. They’ll generally offer a very low price based on what they can see, and the bidding often starts at the amount the renter owes on the unit. Some bidders get useless items they can’t resell. Others win big, getting units filled with items that will catch a hefty price when resold, and that’s how the bidders make their money.

After the auction, the facility may take the proceeds to cover the owed rent. Any leftover money must be placed in an interest-bearing account and the renter must be notified, or the facility can send a check to the renter.

The facility has no obligation to reveal the winning bidder, nor does it have to help the renter recover personal items.

That’s the law. Here’s what we know about this particular transaction.

‘‘We’re not in the business of selling goods. We’re a storage facility,’’ said Milt Coslit, the U-Store-It district manager who covers the Linden facility.

U-Store-It said it did everything it’s required to do by law.

Tried several times to notify Velez by mail, but the letters were returned undeliverable. (Velez said each time she moved, she called the Linden facility to give a forwarding address, but it seems it was never entered into the computer.)

Took out newspaper ads for public notification of the sale. U-Store-It declined to give the publication name or dates the ad appeared.

What about the phone conversation Velez had with the U-Store-It employee who said it was okay for her to pay the bill once her unemployment check cleared? That person didn’t have the authority to tell her that, the company said.

‘‘I would have sent someone over to pay that bill,’’ Velez said. ‘‘You think I’m going to risk losing all that for just $300?"

WHERE SHE IS NOW

Velez requested the facility ask the winning bidder if he’d hand over her personal belongings. U-Store-It said it has requested that everything of a personal nature be returned, but it can’t force the bidder to do so.

Velez and Bamboozled have asked the facility several times for a copy of her contract. U-Store-It said it would not give her a copy, and that she was told at signing to keep the contract in a safe place.

Two weeks ago, Velez received a check for $33.51 — what was left over after the overdue bill was paid. (Apparently while Velez’s verbal change-of-address wasn’t properly recorded before, the facility accepted the change of address she gave after Bamboozled called.)

Come on, U-Store-It. We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you ran the ads and tried to contact Velez by mail. But at the very least, give Velez a copy of her contract.

If you have a storage unit or you’re thinking of renting one, make sure you understand your contract and what can happen if you miss payments. Store the contract in a location other than your unit. If you move, notify the storage facility in writing, (certified mail, return receipt requested.) Most important, pay on time.

‘‘I want people to realize this can happen. It’s just not right,’’ Velez said. ‘‘I don’t want this to happen to anybody else.’’

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

In September, we reported a case of fraud against Karen Muller, a user of the EPPICard, a state-sanctioned debit card used for child support and alimony benefits. After dozens of phone calls, Muller was unable to get nearly $10,000 of counterfeit charges reversed on her account. Until Bamboozled got involved. That’s how we learned about Edna Pilch, 54, who...

ED MURRAY/THE STAR-LEDGEREdna Pilch, with daughter Melanie Good, discovered several fraudulent charges on her EPPICard account. When she tried to get them removed, she was told — incorrectly — that she would have to contact each merchant directly.In September, we reported a case of fraud against Karen Muller, a user of the EPPICard, a state-sanctioned debit card used for child support and alimony benefits. After dozens of phone calls, Muller was unable to get nearly $10,000 of counterfeit charges reversed on her account.

Until Bamboozled got involved.

That’s how we learned about Edna Pilch, 54, who receives child support benefits on an EPPICard.

In April, Pilch discovered more than $3,500 of fake charges on her account. All of the charges were for shops in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island. Pilch lives in Sayreville.

Pilch followed the proper procedures to file a dispute and the charges were reversed — at first.

‘‘But in a couple of months, they were debited again, and that’s when it became extremely frustrating,’’ she said.

About $2,900 of fake charges remained. Pilch was then told, as was our first EPPICard user, that she’d have to contact each merchant directly to have the charges reversed. She searched online for help and found our story, which said fraud victims do not have to call merchants directly.

Sounds an awful lot like the first EPPICard experience we reported.

Could ACS, the company that processes transactions for the EPPICard, still be giving customers the wrong information? The company told Bamboozled last time around that EPPICard users have the same federal consumer protections given to traditional debit cards. That means there’s no need for customers to call merchants in a fraud case.

Late on a Friday, Bamboozled alerted ACS of Pilch’s problems, and at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Pilch received a call.

‘‘$2,900 back in my account!’’ a very happy Pilch reported, saying the ACS representative told her ‘‘she is using this to have extra training sessions for her people because they handled it wrong.’’

But what about calling the merchants? We turned back to ACS spokesman Ken Ericson.

‘‘We’ve identified the problem and have taken steps to ensure the proper processes are followed so this type of situation does not happen again,’’ Ericson said.

Let’s hope so.

Pilch’s tale reminded Bamboozled to check if the state of New Jersey plans to negotiate a better deal, with lower fees, for EPPICard’s 72,000 users when the current contract is up in February 2010.

‘‘Yes, it’s definitely under consideration,’’ said Suzanne Esterman, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services Division of Family Development, the agency that contracts for the EPPICard.

Glad to hear it. We hope New Jersey can strike a better deal, as the state of Mississippi is poised to do. Mississippi is renegotiating its next contract with EPPICard, which will expire Oct. 31, 2010.

We’re eager to see New Jersey push for lower fees, but if the state can’t do better, maybe it’s time for EPPICard users to protest with action, like Karen Muller did, and like Edna Pilch is planning to do.

‘‘I do not plan on keeping the EPPICard. I am currently in the process of switching to direct deposit,’’ Pilch said. ‘‘I just don’t trust it anymore.’’

SHUTTING THE WINDOWS CASE

We reported last month Claire and John Cook’s customer service troubles with Castle Windows of Mount Laurel. The couple were dissatisfied when Castle installed new windows without the screens, which unbeknownst to the Cooks, wouldn’t arrive for many weeks. The Cooks needed the screens because they don’t have central air conditioning and they didn’t want to give summer bugs a free pass into their home.

The ink on the Bamboozled report was barely dry when the Cooks received a call from Castle Windows. The screens were in. The appointment was set. The screens were installed. The Cooks handed over the payment for the remaining balance — a bank check dated Aug. 10, when the job was started. Case closed.

Castle also sent the couple a check to cover the cost of the temporary screens Claire Cook purchased while they were waiting for the delivery.

Thanks, Castle, for finishing the job right.

JOB SEARCH SCAM

In this challenging economy, thieves look for new opportunities to hustle, and struggling consumers are ripe for the picking. Desperate. So desperate they forget to use good sense on occasion.

Bamboozled was alerted by an unemployed reader, "Andy," about a job scam that almost tempted him. Almost. (He requested anonymity to protect his job search.)

Andy visits half a dozen legitimate job search websites daily while he hunts for work. He posts his résumé, applies for jobs and e-mails lots of people, hoping that something will stick.

For a brief moment, it seemed his hard work may have paid off. He received an e-mail from an Anthony Davies, personnel manager for a company called International Design Center.

The e-mail said: ‘‘You have successfully completed the first stage of recruiting process.’’

The e-mail said the company would check his credit history, criminal record and employment history, but Andy had read enough. He didn’t remember applying to the company, and certain phrases in the e-mail were written awkwardly. It didn’t feel right.

Good for you, Andy.

The job in question — and many like it — are a common scam in these days of high unemployment. Someone is "hired" to process customer payments. The employee deposits these payments into a personal account. After deducting a commission, the employee sends a check for the remaining amount to the "home office." Weeks later, the original check bounces and the employee is on the hook for the funds he sent to the "home office."

To protect yourself from similar scams, avoid job offers that involve moving money into and out of a personal account. Be suspicious of e-mail solicitations from companies you haven’t contacted. Significant grammar and spelling errors, or notes written by those who speak poor English, should be treated warily.

And never, ever send money. If a potential boss requests you pay for training manuals, say no. Never share your credit card or bank account numbers with prospective employers you meet online. Real employers may need your Social Security number to perform a background check, but make sure this employer is legit — and that you can meet in person in a real office — before providing any information.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Everybody makes mistakes. It’s how you act after the mistake is brought to your attention that shows your character and your will to do the right thing. But every once in a while, someone makes mistake upon mistake upon mistake. At that point, we wonder why. In recent months, Bamboozled has received several complaints about Elizabethtown Gas and errors...

STEVE HOCKSTEIN/FOR THE STAR-LEDGEROutside an Elizabethtown Gas substation in Vernon, Elizabethtown customers Michael Cipolla, left, Chuck Pierce, both from Hackettstown, and Sandy Bagni of Vernon trade stories of billing problems they’ve had with the company.Everybody makes mistakes. It’s how you act after the mistake is brought to your attention that shows your character and your will to do the right thing.

But every once in a while, someone makes mistake upon mistake upon mistake. At that point, we wonder why.

In recent months, Bamboozled has received several complaints about Elizabethtown Gas and errors surrounding its billing and meter accuracy. Here’s a sampling.

THE REVERSE BAMBOOZLE IS BACK

Who can forget Chuck Pierce? The Hackettstown man was featured in this space during the summer after Elizabethtown Gas stopped sending him bills. Pierce was receiving gas, knew he must owe money and tried to pay. Over and over he called, but reps insisted his account had a zero balance.

Bamboozled asked EG to take a closer look, and it discovered it had been unable to read Pierce’s meter. EG revised his bill, Pierce paid what he owed and all was well.

At least all was well for his June and July bills. Then came August, when he received a "final bill" for 11 days of service. The bills stopped but the gas continued to flow.

‘‘Do I assume that this is the gas company’s way of thanking me for pointing out a problem in their billing system?’’ said Pierce, 59. ‘‘Am I the recipient of a lifetime of free gas? Or are they setting me up for the mother of all gas bills at some point down the road?’’

Bamboozled called EG to see what the problem was this time.

‘‘We determined that a customer called to inform us they were moving, and wanted gas service transferred into his name. This customer gave us Mr. Pierce’s address,’’ said Tami Gerke, spokeswoman for EG parent company AGL Resources.

EG will back-bill Pierce for his consumption.

‘‘Wouldn’t you have thought that there would have been a big note on my account warning everyone not to touch it without permission from the company president, or God maybe?’’ Pierce said.

A PROGRAMMING ERROR

Sandy Bagni of Vernon has been struggling with EG since January when she received a bill for $1,213.34. After many calls, she learned there was a problem with a new meter that was installed in 2006. The high bill was a back charge for three years of usage.

‘‘I paid every bill they sent me on time and I would have paid whatever it was,’’ Bagni said. ‘‘I could see if after six months they realized something was wrong, but why did it take three years?’’

Bagni, a 43-year-old single mother of two, continued to pay for current service, but she ignored the back-billing amounts.

In mid-October, EG sicced a collection agency on Bagni.

That was the last straw.

Bamboozled contacted EG spokeswoman Gerke, who called off the collection agency. Gerke said EG fixed the programming error on Bagni’s meter, is sending an apology letter and offering a long-term payment plan for charges equal to one year of back bills. Bagni is still waiting for official notice from the company.

‘‘If I have to pay it I’ll pay it, but I still feel it’s their fault,’’ Bagni said. ‘‘I feel that it is completely unjust for me to have to pay for one of their employee’s mistakes.’’

AND A DYSFUNCTIONAL METER

Michael Cipolla, who lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment in Hackettstown, doesn’t use much gas. So getting bills for $10 in summer months didn’t raise any concern.

In September, he received a letter saying his EG meter hadn’t been registering since December 2007. The back bill: $713.56.

‘‘This total was consistent with my average consumption and I was more than willing to pay,’’ Cipolla said. ‘‘Two days later I received another bill for $1,826.44.’’

Customer service told Cipolla the bill was based on something called "premise consumption,’’ which Cipolla said the rep couldn’t define. He said he asked the rep to look at his average consumption, but the rep refused.

Cipolla sent a letter to EG with a breakdown of his first year’s payments and consumption. He offered to pay $773.70, his calculation for his actual usage for the period when the meter wasn’t working.

No response. But a week later, he received another bill for $1,835.71. Then a few days later, a bill for $1,529.55. Another week, another bill, this one for $1,211.36.

He sent some money to EG, hoping it would stop his account from going to collections, and then he contacted Bamboozled.

And we called Gerke, who said Cipolla had a non-registering meter and had been billed only the minimum service charge during those many months.

‘‘The revised billing was based on the consumption history of the home prior to the metering issue,’’ Gerke said.

But Cipolla’s past annual consumption was in the $700 range, so why a more than $1,200 bill? Something didn’t add up, so we asked EG to take yet another look.

After significant back-and-forth, EG agreed to accept Cipolla’s original offer of $773.70, and the two parties agreed to a reasonable payment plan.

‘‘I didn’t want a freebie. I just wanted to pay what I owe,’’ Cipolla said.

TIME FOR A SELF-EVALUATION?

We thank Elizabethtown Gas for taking steps to correct these errors, but we’re starting to see a pattern.

A quick look at consumer complaint message boards shows EG is a popular target of consumers who say they’ve had wrongly programmed meters, which has led to back-billing disputes.

How common? EG said it doesn’t have complaint statistics but spokeswoman Gerke said customers who believe a meter isn’t working correctly should contact EG immediately.

The Board of Public Utilities has recorded 29 complaints about meter or remote reader malfunctions since 2006. To be fair, for a company with about 273,000 customers in New Jersey, that doesn’t sound like many complaints. But based on what Bamboozled saw on those message boards, plus the e-mails we’ve received, we suspect there are others who haven’t gone on the record with the BPU.

One would think EG would take a preventive look at its meters, or at the very least create a system to put a red flag on accounts that suddenly have a large drop in usage.

EG, if you can correct some of these issues before any more frustrated customers come to Bamboozled, we’ll all be better off. And if you add some kind of alert to your system, I’d love to tell our readers about it in a future column.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

• Same EPPICard problem, new victim

• Union County woman loses a lifetime of belongings

• Beware credit fakery

There’s no way to describe the feeling when you lose someone you love. In addition to the swell of emotion, those left behind have to cope with a mess of paperwork. That’s what’s haunting Michael Sorrentino of Lakewood, who recently lost his wife, Mary. They were married 33 years. Mary was the one who took care of the household...

ANDREW MILLS/THE STAR-LEDGERMike Sorrentino found an unpleasant surprise in his Verizon bill after his wife died.
There’s no way to describe the feeling when you lose someone you love.

In addition to the swell of emotion, those left behind have to cope with a mess of paperwork. That’s what’s haunting Michael Sorrentino of Lakewood, who recently lost his wife, Mary. They were married 33 years.

Mary was the one who took care of the household bills.

After her death, Michael Sorrentino, 71, took over the family finances. One day, he read his Verizon bill and found a few surprises.

"Upon analyzing the current statement, I discovered that there was an additional charge of $13.84 from AT&T for state-to-state calls," he said. "We have the Verizon Freedom Essentials Plan, which includes calls within the country.’’

He called Verizon to find out why he was seemingly being billed twice for long-distance coverage. That’s when he learned it wasn’t his main line that had the AT&T service. It was a second line, and he was told the charges for that line had been on the account since 2005.

Sorrentino said he remembers his wife calling Verizon in 2006 about a charge she wanted to question, but he couldn’t remember the details. After many calls about the current costs, Verizon agreed to refund a year of charges and AT&T, three months of charges. But Sorrentino still had questions.

"We’ve never had a second line," he said. "I feel that not only have I been Bamboozled but also double-whammed."

THE INVISIBLE LINE

Bamboozled contacted AT&T and Verizon to learn more about the phantom line and the related charges.

Unfortunately, because of the way phone carriers keep records, this is one of those cases where we’ll never know the full answer. Only Mary Sorrentino would know.

Records show the second line dates to at least 1999, and that it was changed from Verizon to AT&T long-distance service in 2005. Exactly why, or how, no one can verify, because the carriers don’t keep those records.

It’s possible the couple mistakenly switched service because they didn’t read the fine print on an offer. Back then, long-distance companies commonly sent promotional reward checks to potential customers, and the fine print would state that by cashing the check, the customer is agreeing to change long-distance carriers. The same carrier-switch method, via fine print, was popular for promotional one-month gym memberships and the like.

No activity for this line was recorded "for some time," said Verizon. While it keeps phone bills for at least two years, it doesn’t keep records of each and every call because most customers have some form of unlimited calling package, it said.

Verizon confirmed Mary Sorrentino did call in 2006 about downgrading her service package, but Verizon’s notes don’t indicate a second line was discussed.

Verizon records also show someone claiming to be Michael Sorrentino called in April 2007, but the caller was unable to verify the account, and no changes were made.

Mary Sorrentino called again in September 2008, and she told Verizon she was not aware of the second line, and she was going to discuss it with her husband and call Verizon back. She never did, according to Verizon records.

"Mary called to ask questions about her bill or to verify that we received payment a few times over the years" said Tom Maguire, Verizon’s president of the mid-Atlantic area.

"This would lead me to believe that she saw the Verizon and AT&T charges associated with the second line at some point. Strangely, though, she did ask about the line in September of 2008, the charges appeared on next month’s invoice and no one called to question it. They paid it as usual.’’

What’s missing from the paper trail is the how, who and why the line may have been established.

It’s possible that Mary Sorrentino had knowledge of the second line, and because she was the family bill-payer, it’s possible Michael Sorrentino was unaware. But it’s equally possible Mary never noticed the second line on the bill.

The line has been disconnected and Verizon gave Sorrentino credits back to Mary Sorrentino’s September 2008 call. AT&T also credited Sorrentino for the same time period.

Sorrentino is happy to see the credits. Still, he thinks he shouldn’t have to pay any charges for this line, which he maintains he and his wife never had.

"I feel since there was some sort of inquiry in 2006, they could have gone back to 2006, but 2008 is better than nothing,’’ Sorrentino said.

The lesson here is that it’s important to always read your bills, and read them thoroughly, even if the monthly charge seems to be the amount that’s usually due. If there’s a charge you’re unsure of, call and ask. Otherwise, you could be paying for months, or even years, for a service you don’t want, need or even realize you’re receiving.

NO PARKING, PLEASE

Bamboozled received an anonymous letter from "A Few Disgusted Taxpayers," a group of Jersey City residents frustrated with the municipality’s slow response to what seems to be a relatively simple request.

Several "no parking/street cleaning’’ signs were removed from Erie Street between Eighth and Ninth streets about two years ago during the demolition of Saint Francis Hospital, which was replaced by a condo complex. The signs have not been reinstalled.

"The construction has been completed," wrote Disgusted Taxpayers. "Now, vehicles can park on the western side of Erie Street, and pedestrians may use the sidewalk. The problem is that the street has not been cleaned in months."

Additionally, people who don’t have proper parking permits leave their cars in those spaces, Disgusted said, so now residents with the proper permits can’t find spaces.

Disgusted said residents have been making the sign replacement request for the past nine months.

Bamboozled called Patricia Logan with the Jersey City Division of Engineering, Traffic and Transportation. She said the work orders were submitted in October.

Logan said the job was a priority, noting rainy weather had caused delays for the work schedule. When the weather finally cleared enough last Friday, the signs were installed, she said.

Bamboozled hasn’t made it out to Erie Street, so Disgusted Taxpayers, please confirm the signs went up.

Nobody wants to burden loved ones with money problems when they die. Life insurance payouts won’t take away the grief, but they can help relieve the financial strain on those left behind. That’s what Albert Mayerfeld, 75, was counting on for his family. When he was 59, the Elizabeth man purchased a whole life insurance policy from American General...

JENNIFER BROWN/THE STAR-LEDGER Yoel Mayerfeld with family photos. His father's life insurance company canceled his father's policy after the elder Mayerfeld was late on a payment as he cared for his dying wife.

Nobody wants to burden loved ones with money problems when they die.

Life insurance payouts won’t take away the grief, but they can help relieve the financial strain on those left behind.

That’s what Albert Mayerfeld, 75, was counting on for his family.

When he was 59, the Elizabeth man purchased a whole life insurance policy from American General Life Companies — AIG — with a $100,000 death benefit.

"It gave my father peace of mind to know his final expenses would be taken care of,’’ said Yoel Mayerfeld, 34, one of four Mayerfeld children.

But a series of catastrophic health issues threw the family into turmoil and a life insurance premium was paid late. The family was left with nothing — until Bamboozled stepped in.

Here’s how it happened.

FAMILY BEFORE BILLS

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MAYERFELD FAMILY Albert Mayerfeld and his wife, Liesel, in a 1961 family photo.

In December 2008, Liesel Mayerfeld was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. She was given less than a year to live.

Albert Mayerfeld stopped working to care for his wife, and the couple’s days were spent at doctor’s appointments and chemotherapy treatments. By June, Liesel was in the hospital full-time, and Albert remained by her side.

During an early July visit, Albert Mayerfeld showed his son a letter from American General Life Companies. The letter acknowledged a payment of $1,003.68, but said because it was late, Albert’s policy was canceled.

Yoel Mayerfeld called American General, which said Albert could complete a reinstatement form with a medical verification stating that Albert’s health had not changed. The policy would then be reinstated.

Albert saw his doctor the following day. The doctor verified there was no change in Albert’s health, except that he was older. (Albert had been a diabetic since his youth, so that was already on record with the insurer.) They mailed the form the next day.

On July 8, the check for $1,003.68 was cashed by American General. The Mayerfelds thought all was well.

In the meantime, Liesel’s health was deteriorating, and at the end of August, she started hospice care.

On Sept. 19, while celebrating Rosh Hashanah with his family in Ohio, Yoel received a phone call. His father died suddenly of a dissected aortic aneurysm, an uncommon and often fatal heart ailment.

After the family sat shiva for their father, Yoel Mayerfeld went through his parents’ mail, finding an unopened letter from American General, dated Sept. 17, two days before Albert’s death, rejecting the policy reinstatement.

"I thought my grief was making me hallucinate,’’ Mayerfeld said. ``I thought this company cannot be that heartless and unethical. I just kept thinking, ‘They cashed the check! How could they do this now?’" Mayerfeld called American General but got nowhere.

He filed a complaint with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. He sent letters of support from the nonprofit CancerCare and from Saint Barnabas’ Hospice and Palliative Care unit. Both organizations confirmed Albert Mayerfeld had been caring for his wife, noted the stress of caregiving and asked that the insurer show compassion.

The insurance company told Yoel Mayerfeld it was reconsidering the policy cancellation.

On Oct. 21, he was told the answer was no.

Five days later, Liesel Mayerfeld succumbed to her cancer.

Yoel Mayerfeld said he was barely able to mourn before the implications of the canceled life insurance policy became clear.

There were bills. Lots of bills: more than $80,000 for funeral home expenses, medical equipment for Liesel and other health care costs, unpaid property taxes, roof repairs and more. The $100,000 policy would have covered it.

HAVE A HEART... PLEASE?

Bamboozled contacted American General Life but it refused to talk details, citing confidentiality concerns.

"We believe we have acted fairly and consistently within the provisions of the contract,’’ said American General spokeswoman Shayna Schulz.

We called around to see what standard procedure is in cases like this. Several life insurance companies and brokers said it’s common for companies to accept late premiums, especially when there’s evidence the insured had a reasonable explanation and no change in health status.

Albert Mayerfeld’s health, according to his doctor, had not changed, except that now he was 75. Perhaps the company decided Mayerfeld’s age made him too great a risk, and it took this opportunity to drop him.

Of course American General isn’t in the business of giving money away, but we’re not talking about a multimillion-dollar policy. It’s $100,000 — not much to a company with billions of dollars under management, but it’s everything to the Mayerfelds.

Was the premium late? Yes.

But American General Life cashed the check. That bears repeating. The insurer cashed the check. A reasonable person might think that by accepting payment, the insurance company implied the policy was in good standing.

We asked again. The answer was no. Yoel Mayerfeld started researching attorneys.

Then, we got the phone call.

"We decided to reinstate the policy and will be paying the claim,’’ said American General’s Schulz, who didn’t offer any more detail.

Most awesome. Thank you, American General, for doing the right thing.

Mayerfeld was relieved when he heard the news.

"I thought it would go to a lawyer and we’d eventually get some kind of settlement. I feel vindicated,’’ he said.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

To Deborah Cogill, the study of family history – genealogy – is more than an interesting hobby. It’s an investigation into her health. Cogill, 55, was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. While talking to her doctors about how genetics may play a part, the Brick woman recounted the story of her great-aunt Marion. Marion fell off a swing as a...

JERRY McCREA/THE STAR-LEDGERDeborah Cogill, who is researching her family tree, was shocked to learn of hefty fees charged by Hollywood Memorial Park and Cemetery in Union to get plot and lot locations for her ancestors gravesites. Here she searches the cemetery for her family name, with no success.

To Deborah Cogill, the study of family history – genealogy – is more than an interesting hobby. It’s an investigation into her health.

Cogill, 55, was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. While talking to her doctors about how genetics may play a part, the Brick woman recounted the story of her great-aunt Marion. Marion fell off a swing as a child, and from that time on, suffered epileptic seizures.

‘‘My neurologist advised me that Marion most likely fell off the swing due to an epileptic seizure, not the reverse,’’ Cogill said.

Cogill wanted to investigate how many of her ancestors may have been similarly afflicted.

Her family research was going well. With help from cemeteries in New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois, Cogill tracked down the final resting places of her epileptic great-aunt, her paternal grandparents, maternal great-grandparents and two sets of great-great-great grandparents.

Then she moved on to Hollywood Memorial Park and Cemetery in Union, where she knew at least 12 maternal relatives, including her grandmother and grandfather, were buried or interred.

Her quest was stopped short by high fees.

THE REQUEST, THE REBUFF AND THE REALITY

Cogill contacted Hollywood Memorial Park and Cemetery to learn the specific locations of her ancestors. After no one returned her telephone message, she submitted her request in writing.

A few weeks later, Cogill received a letter back. It said the cemetery would be happy to assist her for an upfront fee of $70 for the first person and $45 for each additional person.

‘‘The charges to search these records are preposterous,’’ Cogill said.

The fees took her off guard because she wasn’t charged for information at the cemeteries she’d worked with previously.

Cogill called Hollywood. The representative told her the records are not computerized, so an employee would need to search manually through record books.

Cogill offered to search the books herself, but she was told no.

‘‘The absurd expense of acquiring my family records now prevents me from doing so,’’ Cogill said.

Bamboozled suggested Cogill write to Hollywood again, clarifying that she’s researching her own family. Sometimes cemeteries charge for-profit professional genealogists who do research for others, in which case the fees would make sense.

We called Hollywood’s parent company CMS Mid-Atlantic, which according to its web site owns five cemetery properties in New Jersey and one in Penn.

After no one returned a week’s worth of messages, we called Hollywood directly. They hung up on us.

Undeterred, Bamboozled did a little research to make sure we weren’t crazy in thinking these fees were, well, crazy.

‘‘That’s a very basic level of service that you provide to distant family members and it seems to me that should be included in the price of the plot,’’ said Jim Tipton, founder of FindAGrave.com, a free website that allows members to search more than 38 million grave records.

Tipton said it’s not uncommon for family members to face small charges for information, but he’s never heard of a $70 charge.

Non-religious cemeteries such as Hollywood fall under the regulations of the New Jersey Cemetery Board. But the rules don’t cover this.

‘‘There are no state regulations covering it,’’ said Jeff Lamm, spokesman for the Division of Consumer Affairs.

To be fair, manually searching records can be time consuming.

Many old records are fragile, which makes the search take even longer, said Judy Welshons, executive director of the New Jersey Cemetery Association. Still, she said she’d never heard of a fee of that magnitude for a plot or lot number.

FINALLY, A CALLBACK

Bamboozled made one last-ditch effort to contact execs at Hollywood’s parent company. We received an email response which included a three-page letter to Deborah Cogill.

The letter, from CMS Mid-Atlantic exec William Passodelis, said as part of everyday service, when a family member comes to a property, employees try to provide the location of a family member immediately. But when a genealogy request like Cogill’s is received, the cemetery would have to devote an employee and a substantial amount of time to the task. He said they generally charge a fee for this service, and they respond within four to six weeks.

He did offer, as long as deadlines are not an issue for Cogill, to ask employees to undertake the search during periods of free time.

‘‘If you are under no deadlines and have the luxury of time, this service can be provided without charge and would be completed at some point in the first quarter of the calendar year 2010 barring any complications or personal issues,’’ Passodelis wrote.

That would save Cogill at least $565 for the 12 relatives she knows are buried or interred at Hollywood.

HERE SHE COMES

Cogill was pleased with Passodelis’ offer, and she was willing to wait for information.

In the meantime, Cogill took a ride to Hollywood with her husband Jim to meet our photographer. When she was there, she visited the office to see if she could get the location of her grandmother. She was met with a pleasant surprise in employee Walter Braun.

‘‘He provided maps of the park and mausoleum and directed us to the correct resting places,’’ Cogill said. ‘‘He was also kind enough to give me copies of file cards with family information concerning the plot, lots and mausoleum numbers.’’ She left with specific locations for seven relatives.

‘‘I am so delighted," she said.

Cogill still has several relatives whose locations have not yet been found, but Cogill expects Hollywood will find them. She promises to keep us posted.

YOUR FAMILY HISTORY

To research your family tree, ask the cemetery if it can provide the information you need.

Any and all fees must be on the cemetery’s price list. Check the New Jersey Cemetery Board’s website, state.nj.us/oag/ca/cemetery, for more on fees.

If you can’t or don’t want to pay, you may be able to find grave information online. Some services are free while others charge fees, so ask before you agree to anything.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Ram Kappera and his wife, Lakshmi Potluri, welcomed a new baby boy to their family in early October. But in sharing their joy with family in India, the Maple Shade couple also greeted a jumbo phone bill. The Kapperas are Verizon FIOS Triple Play customers, but connect their phone to Vonage for international calls — an important distinction that...

NOAH ADDIS/FOR THE STAR-LEDGER From left, Lakshmi Potluri, Saharsh Kappera, 7 weeks, and Ram Kappera at home in Maple Shade. Ram Kappera and his wife were hit with high long-distance charges for calls to India after their baby was born in October.

Ram Kappera and his wife, Lakshmi Potluri, welcomed a new baby boy to their family in early October. But in sharing their joy with family in India, the Maple Shade couple also greeted a jumbo phone bill.

The Kapperas are Verizon FIOS Triple Play customers, but connect their phone to Vonage for international calls — an important distinction that got lost in the baby delivery rush.

While Ram Kappera, 29, was at the hospital, his brother called family in India with news of the family’s first grandchild.

The calls were made on the Verizon connection.

"I could not believe that Verizon charged $432.64, excluding taxes, for a total of eight calls to India, which totaled to 64 minutes of talk time. That’s $6.76 per minute," Kappera said, wondering how the carrier could justify such high per-minute charges.

Kappera called Verizon, trying to understand why the charges went through even though his phone doesn’t have an international calling plan.

"Since I did not have an international calling plan on my agreement, shouldn’t Verizon automatically block any international calls?" he asked.

A customer service rep told Kappera that any phone with Verizon service can call anywhere in the world. He’d have to put a block on international calls if he didn’t want them made from that line.

Kappera was told if he signed up for an international calling plan, adjustments would be made so those calls would be charged at the lower calling plan rates. Kappera agreed.

But when the new bill arrived, the full charges were still there. This time, Verizon told the couple that because the calls were direct-dialed, no adjustments would or could be made.

While Kappera continued to try to have the bill adjusted, as was promised by the first rep, the full amount was deducted from his checking account as part of his automatic bill-pay with Verizon.

We called Verizon to see if something could be done.

"After speaking to Mr. Kappera and looking at the facts in the case, we decided to make a one-time adjustment to the charges," Verizon spokesman Rich Young said.

Young agreed that per-minute charges for calls to India are high. That’s because phone companies in many foreign nations charge Verizon termination fees — fees that are essentially the cost Verizon pays to use communication networks in other nations, he said. In some locations, such as Canada, termination fees are "reasonable."

"When a customer sees high fees in calls to a particular nation, there’s a good chance the termination charges are quite expensive," Young said. "In these cases, Verizon is only seeking to recoup its costs."

To avoid unexpected high charges for international calls, Young said customers can choose an international calling plan for a monthly fee. The customer would "have the ability to purchase buckets of minutes to other nations at a reasonable cost." If customers want to avoid all international calls, they can add an international call block for no additional fee.

"The lesson I learned from this experience is to be very specific about the kind of service being requested or provided," Kappera said.

Kappera is right. Understand what calls can be made from your telephone and block unwanted services. Otherwise, a well-meaning family member could add hundreds of dollars of unexpected charges to your bill.

A SCAM WE HADN'T HEARD OF BEFORE

Scams are a dime a dozen these days. Here’s one we hadn’t seen before, and it’s timely if you plan to send holiday packages overseas.

An e-mail came to my personal account from "United States Postal Inspection Service.’’ It said my package, mailed from Europe, had been intercepted by customs.

Funny coincidence. I sent one package to Sweden and another to Switzerland the week before, and it’s not uncommon for my relatives to send packages to me. When I sent my packages, I had to complete a bunch of newly required and quite lengthy Customs forms. I figured Customs was getting more vigilant.

So I read on, but I didn’t have to read far.

It seems my parcel contained an ATM card with $1.5 million available, the writer said, and I’d need to complete a foreign affidavit to receive the package.

I stopped reading. I’m not sure bank account number, Social Security number or other private information requests were next, but I’d seen enough.

Curious about what would happen to a package that actually was intercepted by Customs, we turned to John Saleh, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"Typically, the recipients of parcels are notified in writing by mail that their parcel has been detained and a reason for detention," Saleh said. "Also the letter will give information on how to petition for their parcel or other possible avenues for reconciliation."

Paper letters, dear readers, not e-mail. If you send international packages this holiday season, ignore any e-mails from the Customs service.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

After our story last month about Elizabethtown Gas billing problems, the office of state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Hunterdon) e-mailed to let us know that, earlier this year, she introduced S-2612, a Senate bill that would prohibit public utilities from recovering certain charges from customers. There’s also companion legislation in the Assembly, A-3588, with Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Warren) as the primary sponsor. Both bills are now in committee.

If you’d like to see this legislation advance, you can contact your legislators via the New Jersey Legislature website, njleg.state.nj.us.

THE SIGNS ARE UP

Remember "Frustrated Taxpayers," the Jersey City residents who for months asked for the replacement of street signs that had been removed from Erie Street during the demolition of Saint Francis Hospital, which was replaced by a condo complex?

The residents sent us a note to say the street signs are up.

"Now the street is cleaned and parking tickets are being issued," they wrote. "You got the job done!"

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Earline Turner, 71, tries to keep her Plainfield home in proper working order. One of her annual tasks is to have her home’s chimney inspected. When workers knocked on her door in October 2008, saying they were there to check the chimney, she welcomed them. “They said I needed a top to the chimney because animals could get in,’’...

Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger Earline Turner holds a cap that blew off the chimney of her Plainfield home due to poor workmanship. She was having no success getting it fixed until she contacted Bamboozled.Earline Turner, 71, tries to keep her Plainfield home in proper working order. One of her annual tasks is to have her home’s chimney inspected.

When workers knocked on her door in October 2008, saying they were there to check the chimney, she welcomed them.

“They said I needed a top to the chimney because animals could get in,’’ Turner said.
She also agreed to some work on her chimney’s venting system. The total bill was $1,300.

The work was done, and she paid the bill. In the summer of 2009, she received another visit from a different chimney company — the one she had been using for years. That’s when she realized her mistake. The $1,300 of work Turner had agreed to was from a new company that just happened to knock on her door.

When her regular company came calling, workers said her new chimney cap was installed incorrectly. Installers used tar instead of cement.

Turner was told the cap might not hold, so she called the installers,
Masters Touch Maintenance.

Every time she called, she got voice mail. She left messages. No one called her back. Finally, after half-dozen calls, someone answered the phone. Turner was told that Masters Touch was out of business and a new company, Tri-County Maintenance, had taken over.

‘‘I told her the problem, and when she put this man on the phone he told me that everything was fine and if I had a problem I could call them,’’ Turner said.

Turner waited. Then the “problem” happened.

A storm blew the chimney cap off the house and it landed in Turner’s backyard.
Turner called Tri-County, and after leaving many voice mails, she reached a representative, who promised to send someone to fix the cap.
Weeks passed, and no one showed.

That’s when Turner contacted Bamboozled.

The new company
Bamboozled reached out to Tri-County Maintenance to see if it would make good on its word to Turner.

Manager Fran Martin said there was a delay because the company tries to schedule its jobs geographically, and they hadn’t been back to Turner’s area. She said the company wasn’t contractually bound to do the repairs, but she’d send someone within the next week anyway.

Martin agreed the workmanship done on Turner’s chimney wasn’t right.
Chimney caps “are either bolted or cemented,’’ Martin said. ‘‘A few years ago, they had some workers here that weren’t great, and that’s why they shut down.’’
She promised her workers would do a better job.

Within a week, a Tri-County contractor was at Turner’s house to inspect the damage. He told Turner he didn’t have the right cement for the repair, but he’d return in a few days with the correct supplies.
He did.

‘‘He put on a different chimney top because the old top had a broken piece,’’ said Turner. ‘‘They put cement around it.’’

Thanks to Tri-County for fixing Turner’s chimney.
Another company, another mishap

Shortly after the Turner case was resolved, Bamboozled received an e-mail from an exasperated Joan Muller.

The Pompton Plains woman said in March 2008, she called AAA Reliable, a Fair Lawn chimney company, because her chimney top had blown off.
Muller said workers told her the inside of her chimney was rotting and needed to be fixed. Muller agreed, and for $4,100 the company installed a stainless steel liner and did some other work.

Because it was spring, Muller didn’t use the fireplace for months, not until New Year’s Day 2009.

‘‘As my son-in law started the kindling, all black smoke came into our living room, but nothing was going up the chimney. And yes, the flue was open,’’ she said.
She made several calls to AAA Reliable. When a worker finally arrived, Muller said he recommended a glass front for the fireplace to block the smoke. Muller didn’t agree, saying that wasn’t a real solution, and asked that the work already done on the chimney be fixed. She said she called an additional half-dozen times, was promised someone would come, but no one came.

Muller then had other contractors assess the job.

‘‘They said he installed too small a steel pipe and never finished the job properly, and I still cannot use the fireplace,’’ she said.

Muller contacted the Better Business Bureau of New Jersey, the fraud unit of the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, the Attorney General’s Office, and finally, Bamboozled.

‘‘We don’t want any problems. We just want it fixed,’’ Muller said. ‘‘We’ve been here 55 years and used it beautifully, then the wind blew the cover off and they said we needed all this fixing, and they left us in a lurch. That’s not good business.’’

Bamboozled talked to AAA Reliable manager Tammy Alexander, who sent a crew that week.

The crew placed a turbine on the roof to suck up the smoke, which Muller said made her home look like a restaurant. But when the crew built a fire to test the turbine, no luck.

‘‘The smoke started coming in and we opened all the windows,’’ Muller said. ‘‘Then he picked up the logs and threw them, burning, out the window onto the lawn.“
That was after walking 4 feet across the carpet, she added.

The worker told Muller he’d have to dismantle her chimney to make the needed fixes, and he’d return the following week.

But Muller’s confidence in the company was shot. She told Bamboozled she’d prefer a refund and she’d get someone else to repair the chimney.

Bamboozled talked to AAA Reliable owner Lee Lita, who immediately agreed to return Muller’s money.

Lita said the company takes 50 service calls a day, and it services about 15,000 customers a year, with perhaps 10 complaints a year.

‘‘At the end of the day I have to make sure the customer is happy, because if the customer isn’t happy, it doesn’t help me,’’ he said.

Muller can expect her refund check sometime this week — we’ll let you know when she receives it — and Lita offered to service the chimney if Muller changes her mind.
Thanks to Lita and AAA for doing the right thing by Muller.

Your chimney
Before you hire a chimney contractor to do any work on your home, make sure you understand the basics of your chimney and what work it might need.
To learn, the Chimney Safety Institute of American (csia.org) offers online tutorials to teach you about how chimneys work, what kind of maintenance chimneys require and what you should look for in a chimney contractor.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.

Harriet Buono was excited to buy a new car. She decided to turn in her 2004 Chevrolet Impala for a 2009 model of the same car. In late August, the 85-year-old woman took her trade-in to Ayers Chevrolet in Dover. The trade, plus $16,500 cash, got her a new set of wheels with 200 miles on it. Within a...

SARAH SIMONIS/FOR THE STAR-LEDGERHarriet Buono, of Dover, bought a new Chevy Impala in August. She tried to return it under a 60-day return guarantee, but was told she didn’t qualify because she purchased the vehicle before the program began.
Harriet Buono was excited to buy a new car.

She decided to turn in her 2004 Chevrolet Impala for a 2009 model of the same car. In late August, the 85-year-old woman took her trade-in to Ayers Chevrolet in Dover.

The trade, plus $16,500 cash, got her a new set of wheels with 200 miles on it.

Within a few days, she was unhappy.

"The seat won’t go up and down, only front to back," she said. "I have to put a cushion under me so I’m comfortable seeing over the steering wheel."

She had other complaints, but she figured she had to live with it.

But on Sept. 13, she opened The Star-Ledger and saw a full-page Chevy ad that read, "Buy any new Chevy and if you don’t absolutely love it, return it. We’ll take it back. It’s our 60-Day Satisfaction Guarantee."

She immediately took the car, which now had 400 miles on it, along with the ad she found in the newspaper, back to the dealership.

She was told no, she couldn’t return the car. It was purchased before the start of the 60-day return program, which kicked off Sept. 10.

"But the ad didn’t have a start date,’’ Buono said.

She wrote a complaint letter to Fritz Henderson, at the time the CEO of General Motors, Chevy’s parent company. By the end of October, she didn’t hear back so, frustrated, she contacted Bamboozled.

We went back to review the ad, and Buono is absolutely right. There is no start date. It does say delivery of the car must be by Nov. 30, 2009, and it says other restrictions may apply.

Buono did purchase her car before the program started, but what about the ad, which misled at least one reader?

"When GM launches a campaign of this nature our public communications, including advertising, begin on the day of the launch — in this case Sept. 10 — or in the days that follow," said GM spokesman Tom Henderson. "That is why a ‘start’ date is not included in the ad."

That makes sense, but still, Buono has a point. If there’s no start date in the ad, it’s reasonable for consumers to misunderstand the program.

We can’t make Chevy take the car back, but we can ask it to be more specific in future ads so misunderstandings like this one can be avoided. And Mr. Henderson — CEO Henderson — we’re sure you get lots of mail. You may want to ask your staff to beef up its response time.

Keeping loyal customers

When a company makes an error, it’s irritating. When you call that company over and over and no one responds, it’s downright insulting.

Peggy and Ed Connelly of Seaside Park are big fans of Hyundai. They’re on their third Hyundai lease in seven years, and each time they’re ready for a new car, they return to Brad Benson Hyundai in South Brunswick.

The dealership has an incentive to bring in business. It offers a $200 referral fee to any customer who recommends the dealership to a friend who later buys a vehicle.

Pretty good deal.

The Connellys told a friend about the dealership and, in June, that friend bought a Hyundai. But months later, the Connellys were still waiting for their check.

"After five calls to the dealership — the sales managers were always busy — I left messages relating my referral but never got a return call or any money," said Ed Connelly. "I spoke with four different Hyundai consumer affairs people, and none of them were able to help."

So Bamboozled called.

Sales manager Jason Ostrowsky checked the paperwork and found that, indeed, the Connellys were due a referral fee. He said it seems the salesman forgot to put in the referral slip.

"It’s an honest mistake and I’m taking care of it," Ostrowsky said.

We were told it would take 10 to 14 business days for the Connellys to get their check. That deadline came and went. It took 18 days and a few more phone calls, but they finally got their $200.

The couple was happy to get their check, but they’re still soured by the experience.

‘‘I will mention this unfortunate circumstance to as many people as will listen,’’ said Ed Connelly.

Going up?

Robert Latzer, 82, and his wife, Julia, 80, frequent New York City for Broadway shows and Lincoln Center performances. But lately, when their travels bring them to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, it hasn’t been easy.

Robert has emphysema and five stents in his heart. Julia has two repaired femurs. They say the escalator to Track 222 has not been working for weeks, forcing the Chatham couple to climb 48 steps to the platform, a feat that leaves them so winded, they can barely speak, he said.

"It’s not just that we’d prefer an escalator. It’s really that the lack of one poses a moderate health risk to both of us," Robert Latzer said. "After all, we are both in our 80s and although pretty healthy, not as young as spring chickens."

Latzer couldn’t get answers, so he contacted Bamboozled.

Port Authority spokeswoman Jen Friedberg investigated and said there’s nothing wrong with that escalator.

‘‘It does occasionally go off for maintenance and routine cleanings — they all do — and in other cases it could happen that a passenger hit the emergency button by mistake,’’ she said.

In that case, the escalator will stay shut until it’s restarted by an employee. Friedberg said there’s a house phone near the escalator, so problem-finders can call the operations center and they’d send someone to check.

We hope it’s working next time, Mr. and Mrs. Latzer. Please let us know what happens on your next visit, and paint the town red!

Chimney company does right

We reported last week Joan Muller’s dissatisfaction with work done on her chimney by AAA Reliable of Fair Lawn. The company was going to send Muller a refund check for $4,100.

But instead, owner Lee Lita rang Muller’s doorbell to hand-deliver the $4,100 check and offer an apology. He asked that Muller allow Lita to come back personally to try the repair, at no cost to Muller. She agreed.

Thanks again to Lita and AAA for doing the right thing by Muller, and we’ll let you know how the repair goes.

Have you been Bamboozled? Contact Karin Price Mueller at bamboozled@starledger.com.