Posted on Thu, Jul. 02, 2009  Comments   (0)

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The Watchdog: New advice -- if your TV converter box gets poor reception, try foil first

You’re not going to believe this. For months, I wrote about expected reception horrors related to the digital television conversion. My advice was always to go to hometown hero RadioShack and ask for help. The clerks should know what antenna is best for your neighborhood.

But when D-Day finally arrived in June and I hooked a TV set to one of those dorky converter boxes, Channels 8 and 11 were gone.

So I followed my own advice and went to the Shack. The clerk recommended a better quality indoor antenna. Cost? $50. But they were sold out. When I returned, they were still sold out.

This week, my wife, Karen, put a sheet of aluminum foil around the indoor antenna’s rabbit ears. Reception for most channels turned perfect.

I’m changing my advice. Before you go to the store, try the foil.

Paying for Oncor’s error

Oncor wants its customers to pay $93 million to help cover the cost of smart meters it installed several years ago. Turns out these meters aren’t smart enough.

Oncor, the Energy Future Holdings company that maintains the power lines that deliver electricity, bought the smart meters before the Public Utility Commission changed the specs on what kind of meters they want us to have.

About 250,000 of these early meters were installed, but they don’t allow remote automatic disconnects and reconnects. They also don’t monitor electricity usage at 15-minute intervals. Both are state requirements for the next generation of meters.

Two administrative law judges recently ruled that Oncor should pay some of the costs because the initial purchases were "imprudent."

But Oncor spokeswoman Carol Peters says: "You really can’t go back and rethink history. Those were the standards at the time."

The extra charge that Oncor wants us to pay is unrelated to the new $2.21 monthly surcharge that we began paying this year. That surcharge will be collected for the next 11 years and pay the cost of future meters that are coming to your home and business.

Consumer groups are fighting Oncor’s request. They say the for-profit company should make up its own losses. The PUC is expected to rule later this year.

'Constable Alert’

Tarrant County Constable Clint Burgess of Mansfield has issued a "Constable Alert" e-mail about an Arlington company that sells ads to area chambers, schools and police departments for calendars and other promotional items.

I reported in May that salespeople for Universal AdCom and its affiliated companies say they are working with civic and government organizations and agencies when they aren’t.

Company officials say they do not engage in deceptive sales practices.

The constable warns that salespeople from Premier Impressions were falsely stating that they represent the Kennedale Chamber of Commerce and the Kennedale Police Department.

The company also operates using these names: Premier Map Co., Hometown Productions, Multi Marketing Corp., D&L Map Service, Gildenblatt Enterprises and Texas High School Publications, according to the Better Business Bureau.

Burgess asks anyone who has been contacted by these businesses in the past year to call his office at 817-473-5110.

Not in your corner

I bet you got a notice from a company asking you to let it fight your property taxes.

O’Connor & Associates of Houston sent me a copy of my property tax statement with a handwritten note: "Your property taxes are too high! Call me, Carol."

I didn’t call.

A week later, the Texas attorney general’s office sued the company for filing tax protests without taxpayers’ consent, failing to appear at clients’ tax protest hearings and submitting fraudulently notarized documents.

Company President Patrick O’Connor issued a written statement saying that the Harris County Appraisal District was behind the AG’s investigation because of all the tax protests his company leads in that district.

A second company official acknowledged mistakes: "For any known errors, we sincerely regret the inconvenience it may cause, and wish to apologize to our clients."

Their inconvenience is somebody else’s horror.

Two praises to sing

Some good news. Two problems we’ve followed have been resolved. The Watchdog has criticized, so now I must praise.

Four years ago, The Watchdog reported that Fort Worth had fallen years behind in conducting its required annual financial audits. City officials never informed the City Council and mayor until I requested details of the failure.

Now after four years and more than $9 million in taxpayer costs, the audits are current. Thank you to the anonymous tipster who alerted The Watchdog four years ago.

And three cheers for state lawmakers who worked with the Texas departments of banking and insurance, the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Texas and the industry to pass pre-need funeral contract reform laws. The new laws should bring transparency and sound fiscal practices to buying a funeral contract before you need it.

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For fun, follow The Watchdog on Twitter — user name is DaveLieber. I do live coverage with photos of events, conduct research, find sources and share information in my tweets.

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