Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 324, Ed. 1 Monday, June 22, 2015 Page: 4 of 21
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LOCAL/NATIONAL
4A
Monday, June 22, 2015
Denton Record-Chronicle
Finding vulnerable spot can get you out of a pinch
avid M. is having an
emotional
about his roof problem.
His insurance company won’t
pay him a promised $8,000.
Around dinnertime, he writes
I got good enough with my
advice that I created a consumer
rights movement based on this
philosophy
tion. I show you how to do what
I do.
exposed the problem, or a TV re-
porter filed a clip on YouTube.
Maybe an attorney general in
the home state of the offending
company is taking complaints.
Maybe a lawyer has a class-
action lawsuit against the com-
D
ABOUT THIS COLUMN
meltdown
The Watchdog Desk works for you to shine light on questionable practices
in business and government. We welcome your story ideas and tips.
Watchdog Na-
Contact The Watchdog
Email: watchdog@dallasnews.com
Call: 214-977-2952
Write: Dave Lieber, P.0. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265
In previous columns, I’ve
showed how to use search en-
gines to protect yourself and
fight back. I’ve stressed the im-
portance of telling difficult cus-
tomer service people that you,
like them, are recording the call
so they behave better.
me.
He sends The Watchdog the
name, phone number and email
address of the claims agent who
denied his claim. “I hope this
qualifies for your help.”
Sure does.
An hour later, I write back
with detailed instructions.
pany.
Maybe a state agency in Aus-
tin is investigating.
Something is usually up.
You find it. You call the com-
DAVE LIEBER
company is owned by One Tech-
nologies of Dallas, ordered by
the Federal Trade Commission
to repay $22 million in restitu-
tion to victims.
“Hello, One Technologies? I
want a refund today or I will let
the FTC know what’s going on.”
Bam.
plained the problem, but they
were not willing to fix it,” she
says. “I decided to fix it myself by
telling everyone that called that
they had won a new car and to
come down to the car lot to
claim it.
THE WATCHDOG
pany. You ask for the supervisor.
You ask for their identifying in-
formation. You tell them you are
recording the call. Then bam.
You lay out the surprise.
“I see The Watchdog at The
Dallas Morning News exposed
this a few months ago. I’m sure
he’s interested in knowing you’re
still doing this.”
“I see your company is under
investigation by the Utah attor-
ney general. If we can’t resolve it
in this phone call, I’m going to
contact them.”
Bam.
Let’s say you tried to get your
free credit report from annual
creditreport.com but you typed
in an incorrect letter and end up
at a website that is trying to take
your credit card information.
You accidentally pay, then try to
get a refund. But you can’t.
You research and find the
take care of business and not get
frustrated. You know how to at-
tack problems with your own
skills and determination. Use
those skills now to protect your-
Today’s lesson
I want to show you the next
step in Watchdog Nation power:
how to find a company’s point of
vulnerability. That’s defined as
the one fact about your problem
that the company doesn’t want
its customers to know. It’s Kryp-
tonite to them. You can bring
them to their knees.
When you have a problem
with someone you hired or some-
thing you bought, your first job is
to research your specific problem
on Internet search engines.
There’s no such thing as an
original problem. Somebody
had the same problem before
you. Often, they are happy to re-
port a company’s vulnerability
and a solution online.
Maybe a columnist like me
“There are two routes for you.
The first is to file a complaint
with the Texas Department of
Insurance. You can do that right
away.
“In no time at all, we stopped
getting those calls. I guess I
found the car lot’s vulnerable
spot.”
self’
His reply: “Thanks. I needed
that. I truly have a deep hatred
for bullies. Since the greatest
number of bullies is in govern-
ment and big business, I’ll rest
my brain and start again tomor-
row.”
Other ways
Be inventive.
Sara James in Garland kept
getting phone calls on her home
phone for a car dealer who acci-
dentally printed her number on
its brochures.
“I called the car lot and ex-
“The second is to get a lawyer
and sue. Insurance companies
make lowball offers and then
Bam.
Check out The Watchdog at
11:20 a.m. Mondays on NBC5,
talking about matters impor-
tant to you.
Follow Dave Lieber on Twit-
ter at @Dave Lieber.
pay more when forced with the
threat of, or an actual lawsuit.”
He doesn’t like the answer.
“I’m 71 and cannot make
sense of how to file a complaint,”
he quickly emails back. “Why
does this have to be so difficult? I
cannot make sense of any of
these choices. Nothing I click on
is what I need.”
I send him the TDI com-
plaint link and write: “If you’re
71, then you’ve been around
awhile and you know how to
So David, today’s Watchdog
report is for you. I want to show
you how much power you have.
You don’t even realize.
I get dozens of letters like Da-
vid’s every month. In most cases,
I lay out an easy-to-follow strate-
gy of self-help, showing the Da-
vids of the world how to fight the
Goliaths and win with minimal
effort and expense.
SHOPPING SURVEY
Enter to Win $2,000
Pulse of America research
arded
Construction of $1.4 billion telescope to resume
Cash
prise will be
and limited use of this precious
land, which will allow us to ex-
plore the heavens and broaden
the boundaries of science in the
interest of humanity.”
The telescope is planned for
the summit of Mauna Kea on Ha-
waii’s Big Island. It would be one
of the world’s largest telescopes.
The company suspended
construction in April after law
enforcement arrested protesters
for blocking the road to the sum-
mit and refusing to leave the
construction site.
Kealoha Pisciotta, one of the
protesters, and one of six plain-
tiffs challenging the telescope’s
construction permit, said Sun-
day she was shocked by Yang’s
Yang in his statement said
most of Hawaii’s people support
the TMT project.
‘We deeply respect and are
mindful of those who have con-
cerns, and yet, we hope they will
permit us to proceed with this
important task while reserving
their right to peaceful protest,”
he said.
Pisciotta said protests will
continue. Yang’s announcement
triggered an island-wide alert
for protesters, she said.
“It means that our people are
going to have to be arrested, and
arrested for actually trying to get
the TMT to follow the law, not
arrested for disobeying the law,”
she said.
By Dan Joling
Associated Press
Construction of a $1.4 billion
telescope on land considered sa-
cred by some native Hawaiians
will resume Wednesday, accord-
ing to the nonprofit company
behind the project.
Henry Yang, chairman of the
Thirty Meter Telescope Obser-
vatory Board, in a statement
said the board decided to move
forward after more than two
months of consultations.
“Our period of inactivity has
made us abetter organization in
the long run,” Yang said. We are
now comfortable that we can be
better stewards and better
neighbors during our temporary
announcement.
“I believe that it demon-
strates a lack of good faith,” she
said by phone from Seattle,
where she was on her way to give
a talk on sacred Hawaii sites.
The telescope is receiving
major funding from the Gordon
& Betty Moore Foundation. The
announcement came a day after
the Supreme Court of Hawaii
announced it will hear oral argu-
ments Aug. 27 on the case chal-
lenging the telescope permit,
she said.
“I’m sorry to say that Mr.
Moore and the Thirty Meter
Telescope board are demon-
strating their lack of willingness
to follow the law,” she said.
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 324, Ed. 1 Monday, June 22, 2015, newspaper, June 22, 2015; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124948/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .