Consumer alert!

State officials are reminding investors to be wary of fraudulent or high-risk speculative investment schemes in the wake of recent negative economic news and stock market volatility.

 “Scamsters follow the news and often prey on investors’ fears to promote bogus investments with promises of high returns and little or no risk,” said Ken Ross of the state’s Office of Finance and Insurance Services. “We are concerned that investors may allow uncertainty over current market conditions to lead them into fraudulent investment schemes that could weaken or devastate their financial position, potentially wiping out the retirement security they worked so hard to build. A hasty decision often can make a bad situation worse.”

 OFIS reminded Michigan investors to:

 ● Contact OFIS toll-free (877) 999-6442 or online www.michigan.gov/ofis if they believe that may have uncovered a fraudulent investment scheme.

 ● Hang up on aggressive cold callers and delete unsolicited e-mail messages promoting investments opportunities with little or no risk.

 ● Request written information about any investment; carefully review it or ask your financial adviser to evaluate it.

 ● Use common sense, get-rich-quick promises are usually signs of investment fraud.

The Bloomfield Hills law firm of Howard & Howard said today cable television service in Michigan is monopolistic and the service relatively poor, though prices keep rising.

“Our firm has practiced in the area of cable and communications law for nearly three decades,” attorney Jon Kreucher said. “We knew this was a good time to take a snapshot of cable competition because it’s been a year since our state legislature passed a new cable franchising law.” That law, regularly referred to as “Public Act 480,” eliminated most regulation of cable systems at the local level of government. When the statute was passed, many state legislators believed that such deregulation would mean a rapid increase in cable competition, better customer service and lower cable prices for Michigan’s residents.
But the law firm’s analysis shows the benefits of the new law haven’t yet materialized. “By our estimate, wireline cable competition exists in fewer than 110 of Michigan’s 2,000 communities.” When considering Michigan’s households, the numbers get no better: Just a little more than one out of every 20 Michigan homes appears to have a choice in wireline cable providers. ”

2007 also proved to be one of the worst customer service years for cable in recent memory. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, the cable industry scored the lowest level of customer service out of the forty- three industries tracked. Comcast and Charter, Michigan’s two dominant cable providers, were the lowest-scoring companies in the lowest-scoring industry.
“Unfortunately, cable companies scored the triple-play last year: Very poor levels of new competition, exceptionally bad levels of customer service, and prices that often increased 10 times faster than the national consumer price index for other forms of recreation,” Kreucher said. In many parts of southeast Michigan, Comcast’s prices for the lowest level of cable service rose between 25 — 50 percent, while the CPI for recreation logged an increased of just .8 percent in the same period.
“Given the very low levels of wireline competition in the state, the decline in customer service, and rapidly increasing cable prices, we have to rate the current situation in cable service as ‘very poor,’” Mr. Kreucher said.

A federal judge has ruled against a company that sold customer telephone records to third parties for a profit. It’s a ruling that should please privacy advocates.

Check out the details here.

Users of Quicken 2005 find that this year their financial software package is becoming obsolete, something they might not have realized before on-screen messages began popping up when they tried to use the software this month.

MousePrint. org has details of the quick changes.