Fixer pal raises flag on faux PayPal
Dear Fixer : I read your column all the time, and, thankfully, have never needed your help. However, I wanted to inform you of a scam that (almost) happened to me.
I have been selling a lot of items on eBay recently, and of course that means a lot of money transfers to my PayPal account.
Just yesterday, I received an official looking e-mail from PayPal security.
It was in my spam file (my first warning), but I was trying to do a million things at one time, and I opened it. It said that someone had tried to wire money from my bank account using a fraudulent charge card, and I needed to log into my PayPal account or risk having my account closed.
I clicked on the link, and it took me to a very official-looking PayPal site. After I logged in with my e-mail address and password, it asked me to verify my bank account numbers, my address and my charge card numbers, along with the security number from the back! At this point I became suspicious. I immediately called PayPal, and they told me that any e-mail from them would have had "service@paypal" as the origination address.
After hanging up, I realized I had used my password to log into the phony account. So I quickly changed my PayPal and eBay passwords.
So far my money is safe, and I believe I dodged this bullet. But as a reminder, if an e-mail is in your spam folder, it's there for a reason, and as you have told us time and time again, any company that asks for vital information is usually a fraud.
Just wanted to say thanks for all you've done for everyone and tell you about this scam.
-- David Emmerling, Antioch
Dear David: Well, thank you for sharing this. One of the best things about writing this column is seeing all the ways in which readers look out for one another.
We're going to put this in The Fixer's Tip Jar at www.suntimes.com (For those readers not familiar with the Tip Jar, Â it's an online compilation of readers' advice about how to avoid rip-offs and save money. You can add your own tips by going to www.suntimes.com/news/zimmermann/1171998,fixertipjar.article
Dear Fixer: I purchased two tickets to a White Sox game through Onlineseats.com on Sept. 9. I have used this broker close to 50 times over the past three years and have had good experiences. As the name implies, I ordered my seats via their Web site. Any time an order is placed, this particular broker gives a discount code for either 10 percent or $35 off the next order.
I placed my order and used the discount code to get $35 off the ticket price. The discount was applied on the computer screen. I then clicked to place my order, and after doing so, the next screen was my order confirmation. However, something went wrong and the $35 was not taken off the total price.
I immediately called Onlineseats.com and spoke to a customer service representative. He told me that unfortunately there was nothing they could do.
So I called my credit card company to try to delete the transaction, but they said it could not be deleted. They would not let me file a dispute.
The rep did, however, connect me to TicketNetworkDirect, the provider who actually sent me the tickets for my order. A customer service representative there told me there was nothing they could do.
I asked the rep at TicketNetwork to justify not giving me the discount when the code I used was valid. She had no answer. I asked if I could speak to a supervisor, but when they put me through, I was only able to leave a voice mail message. I have not received a call back.
-- Robert Guzzetti, Palatine
Dear Robert: Team Fixer is a big fan of online coupon codes. (We never hit the "order" button without first Googling the name of the merchant and the phrase "coupon code" to get the best deals. ) Too bad for you the computer gods weren't cooperating that day.
The good news is this got fixed in a hurry.
First we contacted David Jacobs, who we thought was the owner of Onlineseats.com. Turns out he sold the company at the end of July, but he promptly apologized for the problem you had with the provider, TicketNetwork. He promised to contact the new owner of Onlineseats.com.
A short time later, you heard from Larry Bernstein, chief information officer for the new owner, saying he'd already put a check in the mail for the discount you were supposed to get. (Thanks, guys, for handling that so quickly.)
Getting the runaround about a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer. If you don't have a computer, you can mail a brief description of your problem, along with your name, address and telephone number, to: The Fixer, c/o Lake County News-Sun, 2383 N. Delany Road, Waukegan, IL 60087. Don't send original documents. Due to the large volume of submissions, The Fixer can't make personal replies. Letters are edited for length and clarity.
Costly lesson: A consumer's tale of woe
The sales pitches always sound seductive, especially when you're looking at photos of blue Caribbean waters and white sandy beaches.
The problem is time share deals aren't always the paradise they're promised to be.
If you ask Ed of Homewood, he'd probably tell you he wishes he'd have stayed home in the 'burbs instead of getting mixed up with his time share.
Ed and his wife purchased their time share plan in 1999. Four years later, he said, the company changed things around and made them convert to a point system -- and pay $4,000 to do so. Now they've made another change, saying the points can't be used to buy airfare.
That makes the whole thing much less attractive. And apparently not only for Ed.
"I have gone online and am seeing time shares selling for 10 or 20 percent of value," Ed wrote The Fixer. "Where else can you lose 50 percent or more the minute you sign on the dotted line? With the maintenance fees over $800, there is no reason to own one."
Ed said he wrote in to educate the rest of you  so consider yourselves warned.
Have you been scammed by an UNFIXABLE problem? If you've got something to warn the rest of us about, e-mail it to szimmermann@suntimes. com with "Costly Lessons" in the subject line. And don't worry -- with Costly Lessons, we leave out last names to prevent further embarrassment.
Getting the runaround about a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer. If you don't have a computer, you can mail a brief description of your problem, along with your name, address and telephone number, to: The Fixer, c/o Lake County News-Sun, 2383 N. Delany Road, Waukegan, IL 60087. Don't send original documents. Due to the large volume of submissions, The Fixer can't make personal replies. Letters are edited for length and clarity.
[THIS IS RUNNING MONDAY IN THE SUN-TIMES] Dear Fixer: I have been a loyal Comcast customer for six years. Back in 2003, I opened an Internet account to go with my television account. Since then, I have been paying $42 a month for high-speed Internet, mostly because I have no other choice for service providers since I am in a condo building.
For over six years, I have had the same "@comcast.net" e-mail address. When I would log on to their Web site, I had a username and a password that was a random 11-digit alphanumeric password I have been using for years. The chances of duplicating it are higher than winning the lottery; it's just something that I used in college and it stuck.
Anyway, just this past year Comcast revamped their customer Web site.
Typically, all I had used their site for was to view my bill, since I used Outlook for my e-mail.
One night after the new Web site was launched, I logged in to see my new bill. I used my same username and password and as usual it was accepted.
Except this time in the upper right corner where I usually see my info, it said Michael Porcelli and had some Florida address.
So I clicked on billing and it said there were no bills, as this account was closed back in 2004. I called Comcast and told them there was some kind of mix-up.
They informed me that I couldn't possibly have my e-mail address because it belonged to this Floridian. I told them I have had that e-mail address for over six years. I even sent the customer rep an e-mail as we talked, so she would have proof.
After two hours, the rep had recorded everything about the problem. She even talked to a manager. She said my problem had to be escalated and she gave me a reference number and told me they would contact me.
After two months I still had no contact. When I would log in, it would still show the wrong residential address. I was still getting my e-mails, but I was worried that at any given time they could turn it off. Well guess what  it got turned off! Everyone I know has that e-mail address for me, and I am currently looking for employment. On the hundreds of resumes I have sent out, guess what e-mail address is on the top line?
It is not fair that this company has treated me like an outcast even though I spend over $100 a month with them. I have written letters, called multiple times and I am getting nowhere. PLEASE, please help me.
-- Michael Porcelli, Chicago
Dear Michael: By the time we got involved, this was halfway fixed, since you were starting to receive e-mails again. But the system was still apparently thinking you were that other Mike Porcelli in Florida. On top of that, a Comcast rep insisted that your e-mail address in their system was a completely different address that you had never heard of.
It was clear that we had only three courses of action: Change your name, move to Florida or try to get you disentangled from their other, former customer. We chose number three.
Like so many things, this was all about finding the right person. After we got in touch with Comcast, they located that person  a helpful guy named John in Internet support. You said they went through the whole account, and this time they made sure you are indeed you.
Now you won't have to worry about any wayward bills or sudden shut-downs in service. And good luck with the job search  let's hope for a quick happy ending there, too.
Update on stolen cash
In September, we ran a letter from Valerie Pace of Lockport, who had run into some trouble at Galarza Motor Sport in Crest Hill. Valerie said she and her 18-year-old son had given a salesman there $900 in cash as a down payment on a car, but when they came to pick up the car the next day, they found out that the salesman had disappeared  along with their money.
And the dealership's owner wasn't hurrying with reimbursement.
After The Fixer and the Will County State's Attorney's investigator got involved, the owner gave Valerie her 900 bucks. And now an update: the salesman, Novel W. Woods, 42, of Joliet, has been charged with felony theft by deception. Bail was set at $40,000.
Chat with The Fixer
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