Experienced consumer reporter, empowering people with information, getting results, always giving back.
Jun 02

A Welcome Note from Tracy

Posted By Tracy
Jun 02, 2009 / 12:06
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If you know anything about me or have watched any of my Consumer Alerts on NBC10, then you know I am passionate about getting people good solid information so they can make the best decisions for their money and their lives. I would shout it from the rooftops if I could! But I thought this website would be the next best thing.

Now more than ever I feel driven to deliver information about saving money, making money, finding jobs and really taking control of your finances. I developed this site for you. It’ll have the latest consumer headlines, plus resources I use all the time to find information. I’ll also post my most popular stories from NBC10 and all of the events that are on my schedule. And I want you to talk to me. Tell me what’s on your mind. Tell me about any issues you’re having and I’ll try to help. I’m here to serve and I hope you check in with us everyday here for the latest money saving- money making news.

I’ll have daily blog entries and a list of my upcoming events. And, if you want me to come to your event- just let me know. I love to talk about this crazy business, any kind of personal finance topic, and you may not know this about me, but I’m always available to talk about my faith journey.

And, what sets my website apart from others: Not only do I want you to talk to me, tell me your consumer complaints and issues you’re dealing with, but I will respond and be checking everyday to see what’s on your mind and how I can help.

Comments

Jon sanchez June 25, 2009 12:23

I love to see you on NBC10 you are so good and smart consumer wise and always tell us about scams, deals, and coupon plus extra ways to save.. You should be the official spokesperson for Consumer Reports…

U R THE BEST

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Danielle Mateu June 25, 2009 12:35

Good idea Tracy! Will be a wonderful resource. Danielle

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Jane Menarde June 25, 2009 14:50

Tracy,I love your new web page,easy to read.Thank You for keeping us up to date with Consumer Alerts,etc.,keep up the good work.

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Maureen McLaughlin June 25, 2009 14:59

Nice looking site.Lot’s of good info.
Congratulations on launching this web site.I will refer to this site often.
Maureen

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Sara Hamilton July 01, 2009 12:00

You’re doing a great job keeping us as consumers in the loop! We need more caring people like you in the world. Also, nice and informative website you have. Thanks for all your help!!!

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Jean Barclay July 01, 2009 12:22

Tracey, Just wanted to say thank you for all the info that you bring to us. You really try to keep us in the Loop

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Kate Jones July 01, 2009 12:41

Thank you for all you do for the community!

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Kristin Kane July 02, 2009 08:52

What a great resource for viewers! The best part is your website is interactive and updated daily. I have added it to my RSS feed and look forward to the updates. Thanks Tracy!

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Barbara Cusumano July 13, 2009 13:10

HI Tracy,

Are you going to do any stories on banks and lending? The reason I ask is that they are NOT lending. That is clear. I’ve waited 6 months for a re-fi on a home with Bank of America, Countrywide who already has the loan. Even with a 800 credit score, good job, good rental income I can’t get a loan. and on top of that Bank of America closed my credit card from 60,000 to 20,000. Needless to say that I told them where to stick it. I have also reached out to President Obama. These banks are getting money but not willing to spend any on us. Unless you fit into their little criteria of who to lend to, you just can’t get money.

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Jayne Thorsen July 21, 2009 13:08

I am struggleling with Comcast. I have spoken to 4 reps, no one calls back, they tell me they can’t understand the order (that they take) They send out people to make some changes but not all of them and i have documented my issues and still today it was wrong again. Every time you call you start with a new rep and go through the explanation.
First call was with Jacquelin PT2 over an hour
2nd Call with another rep who had to get Jacqueling PT2 to figure it out 45 min
3 Call to Erica – 1 hour, 4th Call to Ross, had to get Erica to figure it out, 5 th call to Erica 2.5 hours on the phone and on hold to have a installer come out with the wrong workorder. I am discussed and don’t know what to do. Can you help me shed some light on this?
Thank you
3

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Mark July 28, 2009 14:51

Last night on the 5:00 or 6:00 news you did a report on how to make some extra money from home by writing directions for different procedures on a website. I looked all over the NBC 10 website but could not find any additional information about that story. Can you tell me the website the women was using?

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Trish Caufield July 28, 2009 15:07

Dear Tracey, I need your help and the investigators if necessary. I need someone to help me within the next 3 days. I was told for the past few weeks that I won the Microsoft Sweepstakes from London, England. Three different representatives from the same web sight are telling me that since I haven’t responded I only have about less than a week to claim my money. It is almost $5,000,000.00. Actually they said, 5,500,000.00 pounds. They want around $500.00 to defray shipping expenses. No account was asked for. Which I wouldn’t give anyway. They say to wire the money and give the addresses and tracking numbers are to be given. If this is a joke Fed Ex needs to know about it. I don’t have any money – none – our husband and I declared bankcruptcy – so if this is legitimate wow!!!! If it is not I need your help to find these guys. Sorry for the first letter, words all came out wrong because I was talking with another person at the same time. I love your show and your dedication. Pleae reply ASAP if possible. I have names and numbers and alot of info. Sincerely, Trish Caufield

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Trish Caufield July 28, 2009 15:09

Dear Tracy, this is a separate issue. Could you possibly find someone who is either giving away a used wheelchair accessible van or do you have any sources that could help me. Sincerely, Trish

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Tracy July 28, 2009 19:51

Hi Mark- Sure, it’s a website called eHow.com and the video is now posted on my website under the “As Seen on NBC10″ tab

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Kathy Williams July 30, 2009 14:55

I have a both a complaint and a question regarding the banks. I am putting my last daughter through college and to date I have been unable to secure a student loan for her. This is her junior year the bank Chase with whom I have used for the past 4 years (with my other 2 children as well)has denied me along with a couple others I have tried. they state its not my credit but they are in “crunch time” and only have written a few loans. Too the best of my knowledge haven’t we bailed out all the banks so that they could free up the credit for the consumers. they require a co-signer and then state with even a creditworthy co-signer they won’t write the loan. What are these kids and parents supposed to do?? If there are any companies out there writing loans I would appreciate some feedback. Most of all the credit card and banks have been sending notices about raising our rates trying to get it in before the law goes into effect. It almost seems to me that Obama allowed them this time to be able to do this instead of making the law go into effect immediately. Once again it is the little guy just trying to make ends meet that suffers. It is disgusting that after all the bailout money that I essentially gave to the banks that they are allowed to do this in return. I’ll bet they don’t have any trouble putting thier kids through college they probably just write a check with their bonus money they still seem to be getting!!!!The legislators and government should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to occur.

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Tracy July 31, 2009 11:03

Hi Trish- Unfortunately, there are so many scams out there- and wiring money is never a good idea. It’s great that you’re investigating the situation before sending any money. Even if they don’t ask for your account information, you may not get the money they are promising after wiring the $500. I would recommend NOT wiring the money and filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which can be done at http://www.bbb.org. Also, file a complaint with the Attorney General at http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.

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Tracy August 07, 2009 18:11

Thank you to everyone who signed up for my email newsletter this week and congratulations to Monika Kaur whose name was drawn to be the lucky winner of an Express package to Salon l’Etoile & Spa… Enjoy!

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Jennifer Walker November 09, 2009 18:59

Hi Tracy, I need your help which I hope you can. I have been living in the Lehigh Valley for the past 7 years now and I was working in NJ since I lived here in Bethlehem, PA I had two jobs in NJ one full-time and one part-time job, I lost my full-time job and now I am baffling from job to job. Tracy I just need you to see if you could either direct me into where I could go to seek employment or what website I could go to or what can I do to get help. I am getting unemployment but it seems as if I can hardly make it with my bills the way I used to work. Please tell me what can I do to get help. I would appreciate it if you either email me back or call me at home because I am not sure if I want to be on TV right now. I already have a few applications out there but I just needed more information to see if I can get something fast enough. My home number is 610-974-8010 or you could email me at the above address. Things are very bad right now I have no family of my own. Thanks Tracy. God bless.

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Margie & Bob November 27, 2009 11:22

Tracy: Help please! We contracted with Lets Get Stoned in Warrington, PA for granite kitchen counter tops. On the Friday before the week of installation, we went to their facility to inspect and layout our templates on the granite we had selected. This process is to insure customer satisfaction. The granite we selected and inspected had no large brown streak or splotches. On the evening of installation I arrived home as they were finishing up. They forgot our faucet and we were missing a strip of granite behind the stove. There was about a 2″ gap.

The next morning before leaving for work I glanced over at the main island and a large brown streak jumped out at me in the sunlight. Then same kind of streak was also by my sink These markings were not on the granite we selected.
My husband was out of town but spoke to him that day and
he confirmed the granite we selected had no brown markings. We stopped payment on our second check and have been trying to get the owner to come down. We have a trail of emails to kirk@lgsgranite.com trying to resolve our problem. This has been going on for over 3 weeks. We have made numerous phone calls and he is never available. We finally got to speak to his wife. She said she spoke to her husband and they want us to come up with $500. additional dollars to rplace just our main island top.
What should we do?

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Bobbi Balchunas December 02, 2009 22:57

Dear Tracy:
I would like to bring to your attention a situation that I experienced this evening at Walmart in Lancaster. I was shopping for a digital camera, and after looking online, I found that Walmart had the best price. However, that is not the case. When I went to Walmart to purchase the camera it was not on sale as mentioned online. I asked to speak to a Manager and asked if I could have the same price that Walmart was advertising this product for online. I was informed that they DO NOT HONOR their online prices, even though it was the same company. They will however, match a price from an ad from a competitor. I found this to be outrageous that they don’t even honor their own price differences? The sad thing is it was only a small difference of about $20.00. Then I was informed that they don’t even honor price differences between Walmart stores. They will however allow you to order products from them online and have your order shipped to the nearest store for pickup. That would have worked if I didn’t need the camera for a family function this weekend.

I of course left the store very unhappy and went to the nearest Target. Fortunately, they had a better product and they too do not honor their online prices. However after hearing my story about Walmart they went above and beyond and called the manager of this store and he did honor the price considering it was only $20.00. The Manager and staff were very understanding to my situation and did not want to lose a customer over $20.00.

I have shopped at Walmart for a very long time and I have never heard of this policy – I wonder if the public is aware of this very (I find) unacceptable policy that they follow so strongly.

I hope that you have not had to deal with this unfortunate situation. In these depressing financial times, one might think that major stores would go above and beyond to keep their customers happy and make a sale. I hope that your viewing public is made aware of these ridiculous practices.

Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to hear about this situation.

Happy Holidays to the entire Channel 10 staff.

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Kim Barnard December 17, 2009 12:46

Tracy,
I know you did a report on booking air travel on line. I recently canceled a trip to Fl. I have run into the problem of my credit card charging me for a trip I did not
take. I sent them the cancelation info. I was told it is a third party issue. I contacted everyone from Expedia to the Gm at the hotel to Southwest. The only people that have my info is the credit card charging me. How can I get this off my bill???? PLEASE HELP !!!!!!

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Tracy December 18, 2009 15:02

Kim please send an email to kristen.celins@nbcuni.com

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Danielle Y January 13, 2010 20:21

Hello Tracy, I’m writing because I think I have run out of options. My Husband and I started falling behind in our finances last February. Contacted our mortgage co. because we found it hard to keep paying for everything not to mention gas and food for our family. We were told to contact a credit counselor and with that the credit counselor told us to contact a bankruptcy lawyer. Do to the fact that we used credit cards to buy food, gas and pay for what we were short for the mortgage. Well needless to say we were told to file chapter 7 and to continue working with the mortgage co. for a modification. But as soon as we filed, the mortgage co. declined our case after no warning. We were told to make sure our mortgage was re-affirmed and to re-apply after discharge. Well that’s what we did and we are still not getting any help. We have followed everything to do that we were told and I have phone logs with no replies, or someone wondering why I was connected to them, I have faxed letters of concern and still no answers, it was told to me we were the next to be reviewed and that there was help for us but that was the last time I spoke to the gentleman that was handling our case. My husband has been with his employment for 19 yrs. and I have been with mine for 9yrs. It just seems that we are getting the run around. We just need alittle help to get our feet back on the ground and with all the research we have done and all the reports I’ve seen, it just seems that people aren’t getting the help that is said to be out there. We have two children and the one thing that we stressed the most is that we don’t want to lose our home! We started in Feb.2009 with being 2 months behind in our mortgage and did everything that has been advised but we still haven’t gotten any assistance. Is there anyway you might advise us who to talk to? Thank for listening, Danielle

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Wellington E. Watts II January 21, 2010 12:11

Your “next best thing” is a great service to your viewing area — wonderful web site — Wellington

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Irma January 22, 2010 13:45

Hi, Tracy. I watch your show everyday and find it very informative. I also like the portion of survive and thrive. Although I am currently employed, I often check the posted jobs, in case someone ask me if I know of any avaialable jobs. You are doing an excellent job in this economic crisis, and I want to thank you for it. Keep up the good work.

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STEPHEN VALENTE January 27, 2010 19:50

HELLO TRACY. LET ME START BY SAYING THAT YOU ARE DOING A FANTASTIC JOB. I WISH THERE WERE MORE LIKE YOU. FRIENDS OF MINE RECENTLY ADOPTED A NEWBORN BABY FROM AN ADDICTED MOTHER WHO IS STILL ADDICTED AND HAS HAD 4 OTHER CHILDREN THIS WAY AND ALSO GIVIN UP FOR ADOPTION. MY FRIENDS HAVE SPENT OVER 15000 PLUS LOST TIME FROM WORK DOING SO. NOW THE MOTHER WANTS THIS CHILD BACK. THEY HAVE ALREADY FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS CHILD AND HAVE MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO TAKE HER HOME. I CAN’T BELIEVE THE ADOPTION AGENCY CAN DO THIS. IS THERE SOMEONE YOU KNOW THAT CAN HELP OR CAN YOU POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THANKS IN ADVANCE AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. STEVE VALENTE

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Lenore Snyder February 03, 2010 18:22

Hope for the Animals (HFA) is a no-kill animal rescue organization located in Bucks County. Its mission is to rescue as many animals as possible, to find permanent homes where possible and to provide loving temporary foster homes for those animals waiting to be adopted and permanent foster homes for those that cannot.

I began fostering animals for HFA 6 ½ years ago. Our agreement was that all costs would be covered by HFA. I now have 3 remaining cats for over 5 years. They are all seniors (ages 10 1/2, 11 1/2 and 15), all have severe litter box problems, 2 have medical conditions and require prescription food and one is on injectible insulin for diabetes. The board, on 2 separate occasions, decided that the cats were unadoptable. Upon my request, the board tried unsuccessfully to find alternative foster homes and decided that they should stay with me until they died. I agreed.

After 5 years, HFA refuses to pay for or supply the prescription food, even though they have been doing so for the entire 5 years AND their newsletter stipulates that as well. The series of reasons given were untrue and inconsistent. When I complained, the president demanded that I relinquish the cats within a 5-hour window 2 days later when there was a snowstorm. I was instructed by another board member to disobey this order since there was no cage space available and she feared that the cats would simply be killed, which is against HFA’s charter. Since vets will not board animals requiring injectible medication, the one with diabetes most certainly would have been killed, as would the one who, after being kept in a cage, was so vicious that she would attack anything that got near her. In the interim, the president issued impromptu “Executive Orders” to close all future meetings which had been open to the public as well as to insist on a home inspection within the next 2 days, without any objective pass/fail criteria and refused my suggestion of an impartial inspection performed by the SPCA.

The cost per year to board the cats would be at least $5,000 per cat per year (if they even made it that far) instead of the $960 per year they had been giving me for all of the cats. In addition, they would have almost no quality of life living in cages, simply waiting to die, instead of the home that they have known for years with 600 square feet of space, with toys, beds and carpeted window sills on which to sit and look outdoors and where they feel safe and secure

I believe that a non-profit organization owes its very existence to its donors and has an obligation to follow its charter and to do what the public expects of it. I think the public should know what is happening with their hard earned donations to this non profit organization. If you would require additional information, please feel free to contact me since all of this has been memorialized in emails.

Thank you very much,

Lenore Snyder

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Janice Owens February 04, 2010 09:15

Hello, Tracy
Several months ago you featured a trip to Jamaica with a women’s travel group. I believe it was called Travel with a Purpose.

Can you supply the correct name and address of the organization?

I am very interested in using my vacation days with this type of travel in mind.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Janice Owens

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Nancy Brzyski February 21, 2010 10:23

Tracy,

I have some questions that I have not seen addressed anywhere.

The beginning of January my husband bought a dress shirt from Macy’s for $27.99. We put it on our Macy’s charge (that we haven’t used in a while).

When the bill came in it was for $29.99. Upon further inspection I found in small print a $2.00 “interest” charge. And then in even smaller print was the note that if the bill was paid by Feb 2, a $2.00 credit would be added to my next bill. So this means that if you use their store credit card you will always have a credit on your account.

I don’t know if this is legal, as it has never happened before with any other charge cards. I did not pay $29.99, but paid what the shirt originally cost.

Four questions. 1) Can they do this? 2) Should I have paid the interest up front, even though I paid the bill on time? 3) Will I get a bill in February for the $2.00 and another “interest” charge on this amount? 4) Will this ruin my credit?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

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patricia bohn February 26, 2010 17:25

i am looking for some help and advice on landlord tenant issues. I am a tenant with 2 years of documented and unresolved maintenance issues. Some opf them are rather serious. The most recent being that i have spent the last week reporting my heat as being broken, 3x someone came out nd didnt fix it and now they dropped off a small spaceheater for a 2 floor apartment. i also have holes under my carpet on second floor where carpet is only thing keeping me from falling throught to first floor. My rent is paid so that is not a problem. i have gone to township and not much support there either. The name of the complex is Thunder Hollow in Bensalem, Pa. Please contact me asap. I hope you can help.

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Bob Johnston March 01, 2010 18:34

During the last major snow storm I lost my power for more than 2 days. My land line phone is Fios which I usually love. However since I was stranded until the snow plow arrived the next day and I lost all forms of communication. Fios must have electricity to run and its backup battery only lasts about 8 hours. They do not tell you this until after it is installed! Needless to say I was without any form of communications until I was able to leave my house and go where I could recharge my cell phones. I also use a c-pap machine when I sleep and had a major heart procedure the Friday before. Thanks for your time.Bob Johnston

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Ruth Davis March 04, 2010 14:22

Tracy,

I need your help. My 19 y/o granddaughter has a severe pulmonary condition for which we do not have a confirmed diagnosis. Several tests are needed and she does not have health insurance. She is a full-time student so she does not qualify for some of the social services availble (ex. Community Volunteers in Medicine)for those in need. She is slipping through the cracks and we don’t know where to turn for financial aid. Do you know of an agency or someone who might be able to direct us? My granddaughter lives in West Chester, Chester County.

Sincerely,

Ruth Davis

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Cindy Whittenbury March 04, 2010 15:14

Tracy,
Like many others I suffer with poor resume writing skills and I know it’s not helping with my job search. Last night I saw you mention something about a free resume writing seminar….. I can’t find the link to sign up. AND I NEED AND WANT to attend.
Can you help me out, please?
Thank you so much.
~Cindy

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marie March 08, 2010 09:50

i need an answer and i need it quick. i have a bank credit card in my name only. i have $33. past due. they phoned me and i was not available so thay talked to my husband who knows nothing about my finances. they gave him all this information that i owe, etc. is this legal? how did they know they were’nt talking to my plumber. please get back to me asap. i would appreciate it so much. thank you. you are the best–watch you all the time.

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