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Showing posts with label Consumer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Consumer. Show all posts

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Why The Roberts Court’s Anti-Consumer Decisions Are Even Worse Than They Seemed

Today's post was shared by Take Justice Back and comes from thinkprogress.org


"Why The Roberts Court’s Anti-Consumer Decisions Are Even Worse Than They Seemed"
Thanks in part to several recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts, most consumers are bound to contractual terms that severely restrict avenues for holding corporations accountable. Arbitration clauses, for example, force consumers to enter the private conflict resolution proceedings as an alternative to filing a lawsuit in court. Many arbitration clauses also prohibit “class action” cases, meaning each individual wanting to challenge the same practice must file his or her own separate case even when doing so would be prohibitively expensive.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a new study out that tells us why these clauses are even worse: Consumers almost never use arbitration. Out of tens of millions of people subject to arbitration clauses in agreements for credit cards, loans, checking accounts, and other financial transactions, only 900 people used arbitration between 2010 and 2012. During that same period, and even with so many contracts prohibiting court challenges, consumers filed more than 3,000 federal court cases on credit card disputes alone, including more than 400 class action lawsuits, each involving potentially millions of consumers, according to CFPB Director Richard Cordray.
“One...
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Saturday, October 19, 2013

Target unveils sweeping changes to product safety standards

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.mercurynews.com

Target this week laid out a new policy that pressures manufacturers of beauty supplies and household cleaners to remove harmful chemicals from their products, one of the most expansive initiatives from a major retailer to give consumers safer options for what they use on their faces and kitchen counters.
The big-box retailer has revealed details of its new Sustainable Product Standard, a program to assess the safety of more than 7,500 household cleaners and beauty, cleaning and baby care products sold in Target's 1,700-plus stores. Target's crackdown on hazardous chemicals and its tough demands on the largely unregulated personal care products industry is yet another landmark in the movement for safer consumable goods, a global phenomenon driven largely by consumers and activist groups.
"Consumer demand for transparency and safer products has grown too loud for companies to ignore," said Stacy Malkan, a co-founder of the San Francisco-based Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which last month pressured Target to sell safer beauty products. "The largest retailers are now, for the first time, indicating in a very public way that they want their vendors to move away from the most hazardous chemicals and be more forthcoming about what's in their products."
Target also will collaborate with the campaign, a coalition of environmental and health organization, to create new safety standards for rating cosmetics beginning in 2014.
The personal care products industry maintains all its goods...
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Friday, October 4, 2013

Schneider Electric Recalls APC Surge Protectors Due to Fire Hazard

Today's post was shared by U.S. CPSC and comes from www.cpsc.gov

Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.
APC 7 Series SurgeArrest surge protector
APC 7 Series SurgeArrest surge protector
APC 8 Series SurgeArrest surge protector
APC 8 Series SurgeArrest surge protector
Model and serial numbers are located on the bottom of the surge protector
Model and serial numbers are located on the bottom of the surge protector

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience with the product on SaferProducts.gov

CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $900 billion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals - contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go...
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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Details Lacking on Prescription Drug Coverage in New Health Law

Today's post was shared by WCBlog and comes from www.nytimes.com


Among the most troubling questions facing consumers as they shop for insurance under the Obama administration’s new health care law is whether the plans will cover the drugs they take — and how much they will have to pay for them.

But with less than two weeks remaining until enrollment opens on Oct. 1, the answers are still elusive and anxiety is growing for consumers whose well-being depends on expensive medications.
States running the marketplaces where the plans will be offered have not released details about which drugs will be covered. Insurers have said little about how much consumers will be asked to contribute or what types of restrictions will be placed on certain medicines. Of the few states that have revealed specifics, some have plans that will require patients to contribute as much as 50 percent of the cost of the most expensive drugs.

“I’ve got to be honest and say I’m a little bit nervous,” said Jessica Thomas, a mental health counselor in North Carolina who takes the drug Tecfidera to treat her multiple sclerosis.
Ms. Thomas, 34, has been enrolled for two years in a program for people with expensive medical conditions that is run by North Carolina. But that program is ending in December, and she must select a new plan in the state marketplace. At the top of her mind is how much she will have to pay for Tecfidera, which costs more than $4,000 a month. “I think that’s the hard thing right now is that it’s...
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