The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) has revised and updated its Senior Guide, long a trusted source of information on consumer issues and scams that our state’s elderly residents face. Larry Meiller finds out what’s included and how to access the information.
Featured in this Show
-
Officials Offer Consumer Advice For End-Of-The-Year Shopping, Giving
In the course of an average week or month, people act as a consumer many times. But the period between Thanksgiving and the end of the year is often the busiest for shopping, making contributions, travel and much more.
Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) provides advice on safe holiday shopping and end-of-year charitable giving.
DATCP officials recently released an updated version of their Senior Guide. In it, they offer these tips for making sure that your charitable gifts are going to reliable organizations:
Be very cautious of:
- Any organization that pressures you to donate on the spot.
- Groups sending you free gifts in order to get you to donate.
- Charities or organizations that do not disclose how much of the money collected is used for charity and how much goes for salaries and administration.
- Sound-alikes and look-alikes that are very similar to those of legitimate, well-known charities.
- Charities or organizations that use excessively tearful or emotional appeals.
- Thank you letters that include an appeal for additional money.
- Fraudulent fundraising often pops up after natural disasters or other tragedies strike. Only donate to organizations that you know and trust.
Before you donate:
- Make sure the charity is registered with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, 1-800-452-3328.
- Check out a charity through the Better Business Bureau.
Sandy Chalmers, the administrator of the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection, said people should look to long-running organizations.
“Organizations that you know have been around for quite some time, that’s the best way to go,” she siad.
Beyond charitable giving, there are a lot of purchases being made at this time of the year as well. Michelle Reinen, the director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, said that if a person is planning a purchase based on an advertised sale price, “take those advertisements and flyers with you so you know the details of the ad and what you’re looking to purchase. Then you can verify that the lowest advertised price is what’s coming up on the scanner.”
Reinen also recommended taking along a pen and pad of paper to make note of the shelf prices to check them when making your purchase.
Other advice from DATCP for shopping in stores includes:
- Read sales fliers and online advertisements closely to make certain that you understand any terms and conditions that come along with the deals that you are seeking. Pay attention to the price, not the discount.
- The special pricing will apply only to specific items, so be sure that you have the correct product and model name or number.
- Keep an eye on the register as you check out to ensure that you receive the advertised deal you are after. If you see a pricing issue on your receipt, bring it to the store’s attention immediately. If the store will not correct the error, file a consumer complaint (608-224-4942) with DATCP and our weights and measures inspectors will follow up. If there is a discrepancy, Wisconsin law requires stores to charge the lowest advertised price and refund any overcharge.
- DATCP’s weights and measures team is responsible for checking on stores to make sure Wisconsin consumers get what they are paying for. Last year, DATCP tested more than 35,000 items for price accuracy across the state. During these tests, consumers were charged the correct price or undercharged for an item 98.7 percent of the time.
- Make sure you understand return/refund/exchange policies before you buy. Retailers may have stricter policies in place for Black Friday purchases. Keep your receipts.
- Be prepared when you are at the register. Have store ads with you and take notes as you shop of any special prices or sale signage.
Of course more and more shopping takes place on-line today. Chalmers reminded shoppers to make sure that their computer’s operating system, firewalls and security software are up to date.
DATCP shares specific advice for shoppers making purchases on the Internet:
- Even when you’re shopping with a well-known online retailer, carefully check return policies and restocking fees and find out who is responsible for any return shipping costs before submitting your order.
- Before you check out, know exactly what items you are purchasing, when the items should be delivered and who to contact if they do not arrive when expected. If that information is not clearly stated on the website, consider shopping elsewhere.
- Make sure a website is legitimate before ordering. Check for the company’s name, physical location and contact information. Beware of deals that seem too good to be true, particularly from websites with which you are not familiar. ID thieves can create websites that mimic a legitimate company’s site. Do not trust a site based solely on its appearance.
- If you find an item you want to purchase, make sure you are using a secure site before you enter any personal or banking information – secure sites start with “https” rather than “http” (the added “s” stands for “secure”).
- To help protect your home connection from identity thieves and hackers, update your device’s operating system and anti-virus software and install a firewall in your online setup before you even start your web shopping.
- Pay by credit card for extra protection. Consumers have the right to dispute charges if they find errors in their credit statement and report them to the credit card company within 60 days of receiving the statement.
- Keep a paper trail. Print or save records of online transactions, item descriptions and copies of emails sent between you and the seller. Carefully review credit card statements after the holidays to look for unauthorized charges.
Chalmers reminded shoppers that scammers take advantage of what is popular that shopping season.
“Crooks know what the hot gift items are, whether it’s an iPad, or a Leap pads for kids. Beware advertisements on social media sites or through email or texts with links that are supposedly to enter a contest to win those items or to order them. Quite frequently, clicking on them will download malicious software onto your computer or device. And then there’s no end to the trouble,” Chalmers said.
-
New Senior Guide Available To Help Prevent Scams
Anyone can be the target of a consumer scam, but senior citizens are often one of the most vulnerable groups. And sad to say, scammers know that and are happy to take advantage of the situation.
Sandy Chalmers, the administrator of the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection in the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), said that the Federal Trade Commission did a statistical survey of fraud in the U.S. According to that research, senior citizens aren’t necessarily scammed more often than other age groups, but there are scams that target them specifically.
DATCP officials recently released an updated version of their Senior Guide.
“We put this guide together in a way that we hope is most helpful to seniors,” Chalmers said. “It goes through some red flags to help you identify a scam, and then what to do.”
Chalmers said that the complaints most often lodged by seniors include “robocalls,” since they are more often home during the day to get them. They also express concern about scams involving government services like Medicare or Social Security benefits.
DATCP officials said that “at nearly 50 pages, the guide provides a comprehensive look at the scams and consumer issues that seniors encounter in this state, and the tips and information in the guide can help them through difficult issues or help them identify possible scams.”
Chalmers added that the goal was ease of use.
“We tried to cover a lot of issues, common scams, and give people just the bare minimum that they need to identify a scam and what to do. So, it’s a very easy to handle format, something that you could just put near your phone and have it available to use as a reference,” she said.
The PDF version of the guide is interactive, so that if the reader clicks on a chapter heading in the table of contents, it will take them right to that section.
Michelle Reinen, the director of DATCP’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said they wanted the guide to help those seeking assistance.
“We tried to make it very user-friendly,” she said. “If you have a specific topic that you are dealing with … you can go and grab that information instead of having to look through the entire book to find it.”
Reinen also noted that it’s a good resource for adult children to have handy as well.
“That way they can be on the look-out for things that their parents may fall victim to and help head some things off as well,” she said.
The guide also includes general consumer protection topics such as landlord/tenant laws, filing a complaint with DATCP, protecting personal information and registering for the state’s No Call List.
Consumers can download a PDF version of the Senior Guide from the DATCP website. Consumers can also call DATCP’s Consumer Information Hotline at 1-800-422-7128 to have a print copy mailed to them.
Episode Credits
- Larry Meiller Host
- Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
- Michelle Reinen Guest
- Sandy Chalmers Guest
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2024, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.