Q&A with state Attorney General Rob McKenna
When it comes to consumer concerns, state Attorney General Rob McKenna has heard them all. He sat down with me to answer some of the most common questions.
A: If a store puts the wrong price in its ad, do they have to honor that price?
A: "No, they don't. If it was a typo and an honest mistake, they don't have to give you that price. But if they do it on purpose to lure you into the store and we see a pattern of that, we'll go after them, because they're not allowed to do that. It would be misleading, unfair and deceptive."
Q: Does the three-day "cooling off period" apply to both new and used cars?
A: "Trick question. It applies to neither new nor used cars. There is no three-day cooling off period on a car. Every Monday, people call our office, and they say, 'Hey, I went out looking for cars. I didn't really mean to buy one. But I'm looking in my driveway, and I have a car there now. It's OK, though, because I have three days, right?'
"No, you don't. When you signed the papers, you made a commitment. The only cooling-off periods are for things like timeshares - when you go out to visit a timeshare condo, things that are sold door-to-door, just a few items. As a rule, when you sign the papers, it's yours."
Q: What's the number-one thing I can do to protect myself from identity theft?
A: "Protect your wallet from being stolen. Stolen wallets and stolen purses are still the number-one source for identity theft, surprisingly, often stolen out of cars, stolen out of gym lockers, people's desks at work, even out of their homes when they leave their doors unlocked during the middle of the day.
"We think the Internet accounts for 10 percent of identity theft, but we think stolen wallets account for 30 to 40 percent of identity theft."
Q: What can your office do for me if I file a complaint?
A: "Well, we can look into it, and if we find there's some basis for it after we've talked to the business, we can offer formal mediation. We're not allowed to provide legal representation to consumers, or for that matter, to businesses.
"We're there to try to mediate, and over 60 percent of the time or two-thirds of the time, we're able to reach successful mediation between the consumer and the company because most businesses really want to have happy consumers, and they're willing to work, and having us as mediators really facilitates that.
"We rely heavily on consumer tips to tell us where the problems are. So we encourage people to contact us if they feel they've been treated unfairly or ripped off."
Q: What's the number one question you get asked?
"Well, especially when I talk about identity theft, I'm always asked whether or not to buy credit monitoring or some sort of insurance against identity theft, like Lifelock.
"And the answer is, look at it, but read all the fine print. Be very careful about what you're buying, especially if it sounds like insurance, like, 'We guarantee you'll never have any losses,' because those offers are usually too good to be true.
"And if you're buying credit monitoring so that you can get reports if somebody else is accessing your credit history, make sure you know how often they're checking for you, so you know it's really worthwhile to you."
A: If a store puts the wrong price in its ad, do they have to honor that price?
A: "No, they don't. If it was a typo and an honest mistake, they don't have to give you that price. But if they do it on purpose to lure you into the store and we see a pattern of that, we'll go after them, because they're not allowed to do that. It would be misleading, unfair and deceptive."
Q: Does the three-day "cooling off period" apply to both new and used cars?
A: "Trick question. It applies to neither new nor used cars. There is no three-day cooling off period on a car. Every Monday, people call our office, and they say, 'Hey, I went out looking for cars. I didn't really mean to buy one. But I'm looking in my driveway, and I have a car there now. It's OK, though, because I have three days, right?'
"No, you don't. When you signed the papers, you made a commitment. The only cooling-off periods are for things like timeshares - when you go out to visit a timeshare condo, things that are sold door-to-door, just a few items. As a rule, when you sign the papers, it's yours."
Q: What's the number-one thing I can do to protect myself from identity theft?
A: "Protect your wallet from being stolen. Stolen wallets and stolen purses are still the number-one source for identity theft, surprisingly, often stolen out of cars, stolen out of gym lockers, people's desks at work, even out of their homes when they leave their doors unlocked during the middle of the day.
"We think the Internet accounts for 10 percent of identity theft, but we think stolen wallets account for 30 to 40 percent of identity theft."
Q: What can your office do for me if I file a complaint?
A: "Well, we can look into it, and if we find there's some basis for it after we've talked to the business, we can offer formal mediation. We're not allowed to provide legal representation to consumers, or for that matter, to businesses.
"We're there to try to mediate, and over 60 percent of the time or two-thirds of the time, we're able to reach successful mediation between the consumer and the company because most businesses really want to have happy consumers, and they're willing to work, and having us as mediators really facilitates that.
"We rely heavily on consumer tips to tell us where the problems are. So we encourage people to contact us if they feel they've been treated unfairly or ripped off."
Q: What's the number one question you get asked?
"Well, especially when I talk about identity theft, I'm always asked whether or not to buy credit monitoring or some sort of insurance against identity theft, like Lifelock.
"And the answer is, look at it, but read all the fine print. Be very careful about what you're buying, especially if it sounds like insurance, like, 'We guarantee you'll never have any losses,' because those offers are usually too good to be true.
"And if you're buying credit monitoring so that you can get reports if somebody else is accessing your credit history, make sure you know how often they're checking for you, so you know it's really worthwhile to you."