Annette Wrote
heh guys:While I was waiting in a bank today , Friday June 27, i was sitting opposite an ATM machine. About 25 persons used the machine and i could not believe my eyes.....At least 20 of them either did not read the receipt or threw it away after looking at it for a second....Come On guys ..Are we serious? Do we think that bank fraud only happen in the USA. That's the only proof you have of your withdrawal or deposit. If the bank claims the deposit never happened or the withdrawal was for 1000 and not 100 what will you do?The receipt is what is says.....You need to keep that receipt until you get a statement from the bank if it is a checking account, or until you check your balance with a teller ..Lets not wait until something happens...the purpose of the receipt is not to full up the waste basket.
Post #2
Kim Jacqueline Young
I keep my receipts because way back at CIBC (back then) Fontabelle, monies "went mising". The manager then had to speak to staff since the money was gone, staff at my then workplace and the money turned up but I had my receipt so had I not been reimbursed in full., well they would have a fight on their hands.What do people think about ATM charges?

I WANT TO COMPLAIN SO THAT WE CAN TAKE ACTION

What people don't want to complain. How about calling RBTT bank and having to be on hold for 20 mins; calling Pizza Man Doc and someone telling me "mek sure yuh send a good tip",; calling Pizza Man Doc and hearing the delivery guy did not come in because of "the rain"; I can write a book
Rip off prices - there is a convenience store in Thorpes selling a chicken for $30.10 cents the price of a pigeon. Every weeks Cavendish potatos are up by $1; The attitudes are horrible. there is a sense of entitlement in this country which makes workers believe they can behave any way. FIRE THEM! Why is N.I.S.E. there - as a silly joke?
How about leaving for Canada and being sexually harassed in security by G4S personnel and I reported it and got no answer (well no satisfactory one); how about the attitude of customs officers when they see my British passport but know I am a legal resident but stamp me a visitor anyhow.
How about the attitude when just shopping or in a bank. OMG, the service sucks, the attitudes suck, the people are angry and miserable and equate service with servitude. How about going to dinner and getting the wrong order everytime from a certain upscale restaurant. How about a barman stealing you change in 2nd St. I can go on. I am not the only one.I think I'll drink my martini at home and travel. I will not tip a soul for poor service! What is the purpose of NISE? C'mon Kim Tudor? I like you, what's up with this and Public Sector Reform or has that gone the way of all flesh!
How about lame journalism in both daily papers and the same on our airwaves. Where did all the tenets of journalism go to make way for sensationalism and the destruction of people in cou cou and flying fish and pudding and souse on Saturdays, is that "we culture" cos it is not mine. I mind my own business.

THIS WAS RECEIVED FROM A MEMBER OF THE CONSUMER WATCH GROUP ON FACEBOOK

DO WE NEED THIS FORUM OR DON'T WE

Hi Everyone:

I must say that although I know of the apathy of my country men, I was hoping that I would be proven wrong. From the response to this blog, it appears that everything is fine in Barbados with respect to consumers. We get great service whereever we go, there are no rip off prices, there are no charges which are blatently unreal etc. etc. You see guys..this is exactly why we are treated as we are. We can't take the time to do anything for ourselves. We are waiting for someone to do it. So we join a consumer group, and sit back and wait for it to work for us.HELLO..IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY...YOU HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE..IF YOU DON'T THEN LET US STOP MOANING AND TAKE WHAT WE GET. I am sure that at least 50 per cent of the persons who visited this blog, has a story to tell. If you don't want to tell it here for what ever reason then email it to us at Bdosconsumer@gmail.com

To those who have contributed so far, thanks and we look forward to your constant input. The comments about the tyres and banking are interesting. Our next step is to put up some actual banking costs for the services rendered so that a comparison could be done.

Thanks to the other blogs which have welcomed us, and we look forward to their input as we grow .

Now start typing!!!!!!!!

Consumer Intervention

Fellow consumers and customers of Cable & Wireless, it feels good to be able to announce to you that, "WE WIN" for the second time, with the announcement that land lines will be frozen. However, the increase through the Price Cap back door gave C&W a fair bit of what it wanted. I think we pricked the conscience of the FTC because there were unconfirmed reports of a ding dong battle between C&W and FTC over Price Cap.

While it is good news that the domestic landline users will not experience an increase in their telephone bills, it is still a fact that the cost of telephone and communications in general, is high.

About 6 years ago, the average household budget for communications, namely landline was about thirty dollars. Between then and now the average household which uses all the telecommunications services at minimum is on average $160.00. This represents a 530% increase in your telecommunications bill.

In light of this, I would like you to consider the following:

1. The cost of the network is already absorbed by the domestic and business customers using landlines and out of this income C&W earns a reasonable rate of return or profit.
2. C&W is also using the network to sell internet which they get dog cheap and charges more than twice what they charge for the landline that is already paying for the network.
3. When you use a cell phone to call a landline on the network that is already paid for, you pay three times the amount for each call as you would pay for a phone booth which also accesses the same network. Why the difference in price?

These are the factors that allow C&W to earn super profits. Bleed the people of Barbados and then start crying about inflation, when in truth and in fact, this quest to earn super profits has contributed significantly to inflation.

If our communications bill had simply doubled to about $50 - $80 per month for everything inclusive of cell phones and internet, we could not complain too much, but think about the number of tins of milk, bread and cheese per month that the extra $80.00 could buy?
Think also of your gas bill (or even bus fare) and the fact that the extra $80 could have helped cushion the impact of the oil increases we are now experiencing.

When you are done, please answer the question, are you feeling the cost of communications in real dollars or missing dollars to fulfill some other important commitment because you had to pay a phone bill? If you did not have to pay that extra $80, wouldn't the commitments fulfill easier?

Even if it does not impact you, think of poorer families where children need the internet to gain the edge in the absence of having a library or other means of access to information and guidance. Also of the small business that could be more competitive if the cost of technology was not so high?

What is most damaging about this exercise is that the only perceived reason that prices could be so high is to deter competition and this is very insensitive to consumers who are being asked to pay to keep out competition.

Fellow consumers! That is madness! Why would we pay through our noses to keep out competition when competition is in our interests? One can only conclude that C&W has no sense of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Price Cap news

Well, the Fair Trading Commission has announced its decision on rates for the next few years.
The apparent good news is that for ordinary residential telephone users there will be no increases until December 31st, 2009. From January 1, 2010 to March 31st, 2012 the rate can only be increased to a maxium of 4.5 per cent.
Sounds like good news?
For those residential folk who make long distance calls from their homes there will be an initial 20 per cent reduction on our rates to be implemented on or before August 1st this year.
More good news?
I have started this discussion because one of the purposes of this blog is to educate people or at least provide them with contrasting arguments so they can have a look at the various sides and take a stand.
For example, I contend that the seven per cent cumulative inceases over the past three years were unjustifiable in the frst place. There was no clear explanation from the FTC how it arrived at this decision.
It seemed like a figure was pulled from a rabbit's hat.
If we argued that the rates were unjustified in the first place, then do we argue that they are ok until December next year?
Or is it just possible that we should be arguing that rather than a freeze those unjustifiable rates should have been in fact reduced for the same period ending December 31st next year.
Are we citizens entited to a recovery on unjustified increases over which we had no chocie?

Hallam

Death By Modern Medicine

Part of the Consumer domain is medical services. This Doctor has done lots of research on the medical services and have found persons diagnosed with chronic diseases to be perfectly healthy. She has exposed the reason for asthma in children and why children suffer heart attacks, cancer and other diseases associated with the middle-aged and the elderly.
Most startling is the contraction of diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis by healthy persons seeking immunity from health issues. More on this later but suffice it to say that we have been observing similar patterns right here in Barbados; cases of people entering the hospital for routine things who end up dead for no rhyme or reason.
These matters must fit squarely into the domain of the consumer, who is paying for medical services which cannot provide the guarantees that the medical profession would like consumers to believe and the law is clear about causing consumers to believe you can deliver what you can't deliver.
I really don't want to tell you this. I would like you to find out for yourself, so here below is a little snip and it may serve you well to follow the links.

Dr. Carolyn Dean is a medical doctor, naturopathic doctor, herbalist, acupuncturist, nutritionist, as well as a powerful health activist fighting for health freedom as president of Friends of Freedom International. Dr. Dean is the author of over a dozen health books, the latest of which is “Death By Modern Medicine”.
Web Site:www.deathbymodernmedicine.com

Car Tyres

Talking about difference in prices....

Here is the story....A friend of mind had a flat tyre this morning and was very upset as she had a ten o'clock appointment and several other things to do, none of which included getting a tyre patch.

Off she went to a brand name tyre repair store, to be told that she had a problem as the tyre itself was no longer usable...she had to get a new tyre.

She ask the price of one and was told that a 14 Michellen Tyre was $245.00 (175) as they did not have 185. She said in her nicest voice thanks and put down the receiver.

She then called an establishment in the Bagatelle area and was told that the tyre she wanted costed about $170.00.

She then asked one of the guys on the block in her neighborhood and they sent her to the tyre place there in Cave Hill.

She got two new tyres for $320.00 dollars, and the guys put them on and move around her tyres too!!!!!!!!!!!

The moral of this story.....do not buy the item at a price that your instincts tell you is unreasonable..shop around..go to a telephone and call around.

Cheers

Cheaper long distance calls

You no longer have to pay more than a dollar for that overseas call to a friend in the U.S, Canada or the U.K.
Simply find an outlet for Blue Communications or Cable & Wireless and you can buy a card that allows you to make that call at 49 cents Barbados. The card can be used over a fixed line phone, namely the one in your home or at any other residence or business or at a pay phone.
It cannot be used via your cellular phone where that same call could cost up to $1.30.
Question?
If the monopoly an afford to offer 49 cents with a card from you home why can't they do the same without a card from your residence or business?
Based on information I have access to I believe these companies could easily be going to 35 cents.
What do you think?
Speak up, write your newspaper, call the call-in programmes, talk to your parliamentary representative and participate in this blog.

Hallam Hope

It's Your Turn

Hello consumers,

We have suffered for very long at the hands of the banks, the insurance companies, the car dealers, monopolies, etc.

Many unhealthy practices have prevailed and in some cases although there is legislation there is no policing of the legislation. Hence a lot of automarts and supermarkets display goods on their shelves without the prices; which is against the law. I always argue that the customer should not get any surprises when they reach the checkout counter.

It is expected that the three advocates on this blog will bring their own approaches. Mine would be to do the research on the issues raised and present the findings for your assimilation and decision to take action.

Input from visitors are welcomed. Remember that this is a national effort to empower consumers and not continue to simply take all that is being dished out.

The success of this blog depends on you. It is the place where you can get help and education as a consumer. Did you know for example that every gas pump should be calibrated often and that each should carry their calibration certificate with an expiry date that should be clearly visible to customers... and that if a pump does not have the certificate you should not accept gas from it?

So, let' s go!

Lets use this forum to the fullest

Finally ...somewhere to vent about the poor customer service, high professional fees, ludricrous bank charges, extremely high interest and insurance premiums, we won't even mention the irrational way in which everything is going up in this country.

But listen...we are consumers and we do have some control. What we need to do, is learn how to exercise that control. We are spending the money, so we deserve to be heard and in some cases, our wishes ought to be demands.

Let's use this forum to kick start the process... All you are required to do, is write your grievance by clicking on the word comment or email your complaint /comment to Bdosconsumer@gmail.com
Then we post it on the site and along with the consumer family, we find and seek the answers .
When we have to be very specific, we will be, when we have to be general we will be...at all times we will be guided by professionalism and facts.

Therefore lets do it