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Show BETTY FURNESS, THE PRESIDENTS CONSUMER AFFAIRS SPECIALIST, TELLS SHOPPERS WHAT THEY High Prices . . . Repair Gyps . . . ! salesMi'm Furness, a man has offered to fix my roof at a bargain price. Should I tako him up on it? door-to-do- or Not without checking him out first. We've all heard stories of slick who've salesmen door-to-do- or un- loaded shoddy goods or goods that never arrived on unsuspecting consumers. Of all of these swindles, the racket is the worst. Perhaps the man may offer you a special factory deal, a bargain price, or some similar gimmick. Often, halfway through his work, he will "discover" something else that needs fixing at an additional "bargain" price. When he's through, it may turn out you've paid an exorbitant sum for shoddy improvements you really may not have needed in the first place. Or he may quickly sell the contract you've signed to someone else. When you complain, these new people tell you they're not responsible. No doubt there are shady businessmen whom you have to telephone yourself or see in their own offices. But the people seem to have the most offenders. That's why, before you siicn anything, you should double-chec- k with the Better Business Bureau and also compare prices with the established business people in your area. home-improvem- door-to-do- or What can swindled? I do if I think I've boon You should contact your local trict attorney or the Better Busi- ness Bureau. You may not be able to get your money back, but at least you can help protect other people from the same frauds by alerting authorities. The way the law stands now, these people can go on doing business even if you or the government has brought action against them. We have asked Congress to give the Federal Trade Commission new powers that will enable it to stop the swindles immediately, rather than having to wait while court action is pending. Congress passed a "T rut ending" bill last month. Will this make shopping for money simple and safe? Simple, yes. Safe, no. Whether it will be safe or not depends on whether Family Weekly. June IS, 1968 people take advantage of it. Briefly, it requires finance com-pa- ni d, banks, and other lenders to tell borrowers and credit customers of the cost of their loans. You can see in a moment what the credit costs are, and you can do comparison shopping. The bill also redollars-and-cen- ts stricts garnishment of wages for debts and makes extortion by loan sharks a Federal offense. Congress recently passed a Truth- -i repackaging bill, but when I go to the supermarket I still see so many different sizes of the same thing that I feel I need a slide-rul- e to choose. What's going on? No wonder you're confused. We know that there are 57 sizes of toothpaste, 30 sizes of hair spray, and 200 sizes of paper towels. The bill hopes to end this chaos. The bill calls for voluntary standards to be set by business. When it was passed, two industries the instant-coffe- e and instant-potat- o people volunteered immediately to get to work on setting their standards. There are indications that other inTruth-in-Packagi- ng : (S lHf J. dustries will follow suit. The government would prefer voby business. luntary But if it fails to act, then the bill calls for the Secretary of Commerce to advise Congress at the end of a year as to whether new legislation is needed. What information do I have a right to expect from the manufacturer of a product? I think the consumer Bfcould be told what a product will do, what it contains, how long it will last, and what it costs to operate. You should be told all the do's and don'ts that go into using the product. For fc, the refrigerator people will tell you the total cubic footage of the refrigerator, but this doesn't take into account the special features that may take up some of this space. I think they should tell you the actual usable capacity. We're working with industry to get them to provide this sort of reasonable information. They tend to hesitate, especially about giving the life expectancy of a product because it i . i After careers in films and to, Betty Furness now protects the American shopper. - this does depend on who uses the product, how they use it, and where But I think an educated they use guess, based on average usage, would be reasonable. it Why can't I ever buy an appliance and expect it to last at least until I've finished paying for it? That's one of the most common complaints and a fair one. The President has instructed me, the chairman of the FTC, and the Secretaries of Commerce and Labor to work with industry on solving this. The major problem seems to be that, although almost every appliance comes with a warranty or a guarantee, they're written in such complicated language that consumers can't understand them. What we need are guarantees that are simply written, that say what they mean and mean what they say. They should tell you exactly what ill parts are guaranteed and for how long. They should state who's responsible the store or the manufacturer. They should tell you what the limitations are, such as accident, misuse, fire, flood, or act of God. A major washing-machin- e company rehas done this cently and, to boot, just it simplified the warranty into a letter that anyone can understand. We're hoping that other manufacturers will follow their lead. When my nephew came home from Vietnam, he found that his premium had been raised because he'd been out of the country. Is thi j fair? auto-insuran- No, it's not. We are now undertaking a major survey of auto insurance, and there seem to be a lot of things that need looking into. The time lag between filing a claim and getting action is often terribly long. Some people are not paid enough for damages and injuries, and others . |