The sad illusion of happy customers
November 11, 2009
Customer satisfaction has become such a scarce commodity in the business world, it's now a selling point at a time when companies are increasingly desperate for shoppers' dollars.
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GOP healthcare plan isn't about helping the uninsured
November 8, 2009
Republican lawmakers issued their own healthcare reform plan the other day, and you'd have to look hard to find a more cynical document purporting to represent the best interests of the American people.
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Real estate company's pitch leads to unexpected bill
November 4, 2009
Maria Casanova, an assistant professor of economics at UCLA, toyed with the idea earlier this year of buying a foreclosed property near the Westwood campus. She signed up for a prominent listing service called RealtyTrac.
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Business leaders' opposition to public health insurance option takes chutzpah
November 1, 2009
Eastman Kodak Co. has said sayonara to about 22,000 workers over the last five years. Verizon Communications Inc. says it will have handed about 16,000 workers their hats by Dec. 31 -- and it is already looking ahead to the possibility of more layoffs next year.
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Health insurer profits even when denying coverage
October 28, 2009
Altadena resident Mike Freas was twice rejected for health coverage by Anthem Blue Cross because of a preexisting condition, forcing him into a costly state-run program intended to serve as the insurer of last resort for people turned away by the private sector.
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Citibank shows why credit card holders need protection
October 25, 2009
Ed Myska works as executive vice president of El Segundo's Bank of Manhattan, so it's pretty fair to say that he knows a thing or two about keeping his financial house in order.
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Health insurer tries to avoid owning up to error
October 21, 2009
Who should pay when a health insurer screws up? Not the insurer, apparently.
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DirecTV customer service leaves Station fire victim feeling burned
October 18, 2009
Ken Gray lost everything in August when his two-bedroom cabin burned to the ground in the devastating Station fire, the largest blaze in recorded Los Angeles County history.
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How about a bailout for student debtors?
October 14, 2009
Like many recent college grads, Los Angeles resident Steven Lee finds himself unemployed in one of the roughest job markets in decades and saddled with a big pile of debt. He owes about $84,000 in student loans for undergrad and grad-school costs.
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IPhone data roaming switch is problematic
October 7, 2009
Santa Monica resident Nathan Oventhal had heard the horror stories about people getting slammed with hundreds or thousands of dollars in roaming charges after traveling abroad with a smart phone. He was determined not to let it happen to him.
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Bank's refusal to refinance this couple's loan is astounding
October 4, 2009
One reason we got into our current economic mess is because banks handed out home loans to pretty much anyone with a pulse, regardless of their ability to, you know, actually make mortgage payments.
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Let's limit our intake of corn-syrup ads
September 30, 2009
News flash: High-fructose corn syrup isn't to blame for the obesity epidemic.
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Banks' changes to overdraft fees aren't impressive
September 27, 2009
When it comes to pesky overdraft charges, most leading banks seem determined to do everything they can to help customers -- except actually help them avoid the fees.
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Spammers quickly adapt in anti-spam territory
September 23, 2009
It's the sort of spam that gets your attention: an e-mail showing a topless woman offering drugs that promise to enhance a man's sexual prowess, illustrated with very naughty before-and-after photos.
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Let's dive into a healthcare insurance pool
September 20, 2009
The compromise healthcare reform proposal unveiled in the Senate last week accomplishes a number of things. But its main purpose is to maintain employer-based insurance plans as the bedrock of the healthcare system.
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If banks behave, Obama's watchdog agency shouldn't scare them
September 16, 2009
Millions of consumers got burned in the meltdown of the mortgage market. Yet the financial services industry remains adamantly opposed to President Obama's proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, intended to streamline and strengthen safeguards for the little guy.
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We can't be neutral on net neutrality
August 30, 2009
The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, didn't pussyfoot around last week when he was asked to explain the Obama administration's stance on net neutrality.
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Blue Shield hits health insurance policyholder with 54% rate hike
June 14, 2009
Los Angeles resident Ruta Miller, 44, prides herself on keeping fit. "I'm super-healthy," she told me. "I exercise all the time. I eat well. I haven't even had a cold in I don't know how long."
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Consumer advocates hope watchdog agencies get more bite
December 28, 2008
You'll be safer in 2009. At least that's the expectation of consumer watchdogs who believe the changing of the guard at the White House in a few weeks will mark the beginning of a new era in protecting people from stuff that can hurt you.
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Employer-based health insurance plans no longer work
December 10, 2008
It seems clear that change is coming to the U.S. healthcare system. President-elect Barack Obama wants it. Congress wants it. Even the insurance industry says the time is ripe to do things differently.
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Medical pricing makes the head spin
September 7, 2008
It began with a dizzy spell. Before long, though, what really had my head spinning was the inscrutable way that healthcare providers and insurers put a dollar value on medical services -- and how that leaves patients unable to determine a fair price for any treatment.
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Medical pricing makes the head spin
September 7, 2008
It began with a dizzy spell. Before long, though, what really had my head spinning was the inscrutable way that healthcare providers and insurers put a dollar value on medical services -- and how that leaves patients unable to determine a fair price for any treatment.
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Laboring harder, slipping behind
August 31, 2008
Every day is Labor Day for Ruben Rangel.
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Answers, not IOUs, for Social Security
August 24, 2008
Whatever happened to Social Security?
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On Rodeo Drive, the economy's booming
August 20, 2008
Steve Thorne, 54, watched approvingly as his girlfriend tried on a pair of boots at the Jimmy Choo boutique on Rodeo Drive last week.
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Caution is the right reaction to chemical
August 13, 2008
Maybe you've seen the ad showing an empty shopping cart in the middle of the desert. "Soon, many common, everyday products could disappear from grocery store shelves all across California," it warns.
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Give the doctor a checkup before ordering a house call
August 10, 2008
He refers to himself as Dr. House Call. In glossy brochures mailed recently to thousands of well-to-do households from Malibu to Brentwood, he said he was seeking to be a "caring, old-fashioned Marcus Welby kind of good doctor without the office hassles."
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Carcinogen worries stick to food packaging
July 30, 2008
The next time you make some microwave popcorn or cook a frozen pizza, consider this: The packaging of many of these products contains a chemical that the Environmental Protection Agency considers potentially carcinogenic and wants businesses to voluntarily stop using by 2015.
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'Smart meters' may soon be outdated
April 20, 2008
California's three biggest utilities are charging customers nearly $4.6 billion to install millions of "smart meters" at homes and businesses. These newfangled meters, the utilities promise, will revolutionize energy usage by giving consumers far greater control over how much they pay for power.
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Too much contact at this Reunion
April 16, 2008
The name of the game for social-networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook is to draw as many users as possible into the fold. Typically that's done by creating a community and features so irresistible that people feel they just have to join.
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Mortgage payoff on steroids
April 9, 2008
When Stockton resident Kevin Byrd refinanced his mortgage a couple of years ago, he figured he'd need the full 30 years to pay off more than $300,000 in debt.
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ZIP Code still a factor in auto insurance
April 6, 2008
A lot of drivers probably thought they were finally getting a break when then-California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced in 2005 that he was requiring insurers to stop using ZIP Codes as a main factor in determining car-insurance rates.
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Cellphones may do a number on Cuba
April 2, 2008
The Cuban government made headlines worldwide when it announced the other day that its citizens would finally have unrestricted access to cellphones, ushering in a new era in telecommunications for the economically challenged island.
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Things are looking up -- at the pawn shop
March 23, 2008
The economy is tanking, banks are scrambling for cover, the Fed is repeatedly cutting interest rates . . . and business is booming at pawn shop Crown City Loan & Jewelry in Old Pasadena.
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Cellphones to keep track of your purchases -- and you
March 16, 2008
You might not know it, but as of January it became illegal in California for companies to require workers to have devices implanted under their skin that would reveal their whereabouts at all times.
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Curbing our need for oil
March 12, 2008
With oil prices at record highs and gas heading to the $4-a-gallon level, I was set to come roaring out of the gate today with a proposal that all vehicles be slapped with a conservation-promoting surcharge based on mileage, with proceeds going to public-transit projects.
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Renters priced out of L.A.
March 9, 2008
Deanna Corbin, 46, would live in Los Angeles if she could. But she can't, at least not with a modicum of space and safety, not on her $38,000 salary as an administrative secretary.
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Cost is the real drug threat
March 5, 2008
In his weekend radio address, President Bush warned of rogue pharmacists making potentially dangerous prescription drugs readily available online.
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Housing upheaval: a tale of two homes
February 27, 2008
Just when it was looking like things couldn't get any worse in the housing market, government officials announced Tuesday that home prices had their biggest fourth-quarter drop in 17 years.
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Firms round up; we pay the price
February 17, 2008
We live in an age of supercomputer-driven, lightning-fast digital technology that can determine the time of day down to the nanosecond.
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Shadow victims of the mortgage crisis: renters
February 13, 2008
The Bush administration's announcement Tuesday that it would put the foreclosure process on hold for 30 days to rescue struggling homeowners came several weeks too late for Mike Salgado.
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Columnist roots for Microsoft. Huh??
February 2, 2008
If there's a sentiment that crops up with frequency in this column, it's that bigger is seldom better when it comes to how businesses treat consumers.
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The joke is on cellphone users
January 23, 2008
Keith Fitzgerald, a concessions manager for Los Angeles International Airport, was in the middle of a meeting last month when his cellphone suddenly emitted an unfamiliar ring. He'd received his first-ever text message.
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Up a tree over dead cat's health plan
January 16, 2008
When Sarah Harper took her cat, Pete, to Banfield, the Pet Hospital, she was encouraged to sign up for one of the company's "optimum wellness plans."
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Free news online will cost journalism dearly
December 26, 2007
I don't pretend to understand all the minutiae of the writers strike, but I do know this much: Hollywood scribes want to be compensated fairly when their work is accessed on the Internet, which is increasingly becoming a venue to watch movies and TV shows.
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Best Buy kiosks not connected to Internet
December 23, 2007
The Connecticut attorney general's office sued Best Buy in May, charging the electronics heavyweight with using deceptive in-store websites to trick customers into paying higher prices than available on the company's actual site.
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Airline descends to a new low: a death fee
December 19, 2007
We all know that some airlines nickel-and-dime you with fees -- fees for baggage, fees for food, fees for blankets and pillows. But fees for death?
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Trump's a grump about column on his 'priceless' tips
December 16, 2007
Donald Trump wasn't happy with Wednesday's column about his seminars on profiting from the foreclosure market.
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Trump spins in foreclosure game
December 12, 2007
When I heard that President Bush wants to bail out homeowners caught up in the sub-prime mortgage mess, I figured I better move fast if I want to profit from other people's misfortune.
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Southland transit is in need of big ideas
December 9, 2007
The traffic in L.A. bites -- you know that. The question is: What are we going to do about it?
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Next cell trend lets users hold the phone
November 28, 2007
First people were allowed to take their phone numbers with them whenever they switched wireless providers. Now, Verizon Wireless is handing consumers greater clout by allowing them to use their own handsets, not just Verizon's, on the carrier's network.
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Tribal question a matter of dollars
November 2, 2007
The United States Mint -- you know, the guys who make your money -- issued a news release this week declaring that $130 refunds were being offered to anyone who bought a 2004 Lewis and Clark commemorative coin that was accompanied by a handcrafted pouch produced by Ohio's Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band.
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I knew you were going to read this
October 28, 2007
I'll call her Crystal. She's 19, dark-featured and really concerned about my aura.
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Insurers taking risk out of the equation
October 26, 2007
You buy a Band-Aid. You get a scrape. You use your Band-Aid. And the next time you go to the drugstore, you're told that you have to pay more for Band-Aids. Or maybe they won't sell you another Band-Aid at all.
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Insurance claims could haunt houses
October 24, 2007
If past history is any measure, many homeowners affected by the wildfires burning throughout Southern California will find that claims they submit to insurers will result in higher rates or even dropped policies.
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Locked in a cell: Wireless users punished for canceling early
October 22, 2007
Lawndale resident Julian Torres' cellphone experience will be familiar to many wireless customers.
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Rebate check is not in the mail
September 30, 2007
Let's say you're shopping for a new cellphone. Let's say that, like me, you thought it'd be kind of cool to own one of those sleek Razr handsets. So let's say you go to T-Mobile's website and there it is, for the nifty price of $49.99.
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Press 1 if you hate talking to a device
September 9, 2007
As the man generally regarded as the father of the automated switchboard, Peter Theis knows he has a lot to answer for.
