By Dave Lieber
watchdog@star-telegram.com
Lots of positive news to share. The Watchdog is working for you:
Insurance reversalTexas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman has apparently reversed a decision that removed from her department's website the list of the latest enforcement actions against insurance agents and companies who violate state laws. Without that list, consumers couldn't figure out which to avoid.
Details of wrongdoers and their offenses are again listed on the website.
Insurance Department representatives won't discuss the policy reversal, except to say the names and offenses are publicly available. When I asked about the reversal, my questions were ignored.
The Watchdog asked Texas readers last month to write Kitzman demanding that the information be placed back on the public site. Some critics said the decision to remove the names proved Kitzman's cozy ties with the industry she regulates.
"That information is vitally important to consumers who are trying to make informed decisions about their insurance," department critic Alex Winslow of Texas Watch said. "I'm pleased that the commissioner saw the light and decided to make that information public again."
Note to those who helped: Your letters made the difference. Thanks to Thomas Bazzone of Granbury for the heads-up about the policy reversal.
Tri-County refundsThe Watchdog first reported Tri-County Electric Cooperative's mistake of collecting crime district taxes from customers in Fort Worth and Keller. Turns out customers in four more cities were affected, too.
By now, Tri-County customers in Fort Worth, Azle, Colleyville, Grapevine, Keller and Southlake should have received refunds.
In some cases, the refunds were about $10 per household, Tri-County Comptroller Philip E. Colvin Sr. said. The funds come from the state treasury, which is where Tri-County sent the tax money.
The error was caused by the state comptroller's office, which inaccurately advised Tri-County several years ago to collect the tax. After Fort Worth customer Steve Wallach complained to the state, the co-op was told about the error, and the comptroller's office acknowledged its mistake.
AT&T snafuIn January, I recommended that customers call AT&T and ask for third-party bill block. That's supposed to prevent outside companies from cramming -- tacking illegal charges onto your phone bill. I recommended that this be done for landline and cellphone numbers in two procedures.
Afterward, readers kept telling me that they called AT&T but that no one knew what they were talking about. This went on for months.
The final straw came with a complaint from Andrew Bauer of Arlington: "I talked to five different reps this morning trying to request the bill block you described. I actually read your entire article to the last AT&T rep I spoke to."
Instead, they gave him a purchasing block under parental controls. I told him that was wrong. Bless him. He called again.
The sixth rep told him that she entered the phrase "third party bill block" and that her system didn't show anything. She even checked with her supervisor.
At that point, I realized it was a companywide problem. The free service definitely exists. AT&T now says the third-party bill block is for landline but not wireless phones. For cellphones, ask for purchase block.
If you ask for it and they say they don't have it, they are wrong. Let me know.
Jason, we see youAfter I reported how Jason, a used-appliance dealer who advertised in the
Star-Telegram classified section, sold a broken dryer and refused to take it back, readers began providing more information.
Jason refused to tell me his last name. One reader provided that. Another sent me a 5-year-old police mug shot. Others told me how he also sold them appliances that didn't work.
After my report, Jason changed his phone number, and the ads continued for another week. I alerted the ad department. They discovered that Jason was buying his ads online and giving fake names. Busted! Time to move on, cowboy.
Parking our wayFollowing that theme, here's what makes the city where the West begins a might bit special.
Drivers in New York and Fort Worth are getting used to new parking meters that accept credit cards. I've reported on how confusing these things can be to first-time users.
Aside from taking credit cards, the machines produce stickers that drivers must put on their window showing how much time they bought. These stickers are transferrable. So if a driver is pulling out of a spot and her sticker shows 10 minutes left, she can give that sticker to another driver.
Or in the case of New York, she can sell it. A new city law there allows drivers to sell stickers showing remaining time as long as the amount paid is equal to or lower than the original cost.
And in Fort Worth? Michael Westbrook of Azle tells me he was looking for a parking spot outside the Tarrant County Courthouse. A driver leaving one offered to give him her sticker with remaining minutes. "She even showed me how to put it on my window," he said.
Cost? Zero. The Fort Worth way.
The Watchdog column appears Fridays and Sundays.Dave Lieber, 817-390-7043Twitter: @davelieber
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