A press release from the Insurance Commissioner:

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has ordered a California-based warranty company to stop selling unauthorized vehicle service contracts in Washington.

Consumer Direct Warranty Services, Inc., of Redding, Calif. was ordered to cease and desist “engaging in or transacting the unauthorized business of insurance in the state of Washington,” including advertising.

Kreidler’s office has received complaints about vehicle service contracts sold by the company, which has not registered as a motor vehicle service contract provider in the state. Neither the company nor any of the other parties listed in the order are licensed to sell insurance products in Washington.

The order also names three other companies and four individuals believed to be affiliated with Consumer Direct Warranty Services, including:

§  Warranty Administration Services, Inc.

§  Warranty Administration Solutions, Inc.

§  SafeData Management Services, Inc. and

§  Robert L. Chapman, James C. Sletner, Jennifer Shaw and Tamara Berbena.

All are based in Redding, except Berbena, who lives in Red Bluff, Calif.

The companies were also ordered to turn over a complete list of their Washington service-contract customers, and to notify those customers about the order.

Under Washington state law, the order notes, anyone selling unauthorized insurance in the state remains “individually liable for the performance of the contract and for the full amount of any loss sustained by an insured under such contract.”

The complete cease and desist order can be viewed at: http://www.insurance.wa.gov/oicfiles/orders/2010orders/10-0018.pdf

February is here  again, right on schedule. W-2s are arriving in the mail and you’re thinking, maybe this year I really will file my taxes early. Good for you.

But consumer activists suggest you think twice before succumbing to the temptation to take out a loan to get your hands on your tax return money a few weeks sooner. The interest rate and fees on many of these loans make them rather costly.

The Los Angeles Times reports on a warning to that effect from the California Attorney General.

Some days I get a half-dozen interesting items to post. Other days are like today. Maybe the epidemic of consumer fraud has peaked? Nah.

I’ll just put up a post so people can start free-associating if they so choose.

Seems that the parents of a U.S. bobsledder victimized by the phony rental scam are reaping a lot of financial consolation after their case got wide publicity. I’m hoping this case will help alert millions of people to the dangers of being scammed when renting a house or apartment.

This has become a very common fraud, with several instances reported to me locally–although the local fraud attempts I’m aware of did not succeed.

I also hope somebody made sure that thse folks REALLY ARE the mom and dad of an Olympic bobsledder. But that’s just me. I’ve been blogging scams too long already, perhaps.

The whirlwind week for U.S. bobsledder Steve Mesler’s parents has taken an another turn. They’re getting the money they lost by someone who scammed them on a rental home for the Vancouver Olympics back.

Procter & Gamble says it will give the Meslers every dollar they lost, about $7,300 by the family’s estimate.

Steve Mesler tells The Associated Press that his family is “so overwhelmed” by the gesture.

Ben and Lois Mesler tried to rent a house in Whistler, British Columbia, for the upcoming Vancouver Games from someone who responded to an ad they posted on a Web site. They found out late last week that the offer was not genuine, and have since found other places to stay free of charge.

Steve Mesler is a push athlete for the reigning four-man world and World Cup champion sled driven by Steven Holcomb.

Earlier today, we reported on surprise credit card charges that have hit people who sign up for “free trials” of health supplements. Here’s a report on another variety of surprise charge–this one at the hands of “discount clubs” that apparently have relationships with many well-known online merchants:

NEW YORK (AP) - New York’s attorney general warned Internet retailers Wednesday that they should stop funneling unsuspecting customers into “deceptive” Web discount clubs that have been accused of slamming people with hidden fees.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office has sent investigative subpoenas to 22 prominent merchants, including Barnes & Noble, Priceline and Pizza Hut, that allowed the marketing companies Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty to piggyback on their Web sites.

Those companies have been the subject of thousands of complaints in recent years from irate customers who say they were unwittingly enrolled in clubs while buying things such as flowers and movie tickets.

In many cases, the consumers clicked a box offering cash back on their purchase without noticing fine print warning that accepting the offer would enroll them in a club with a monthly fee. Many people learned the truth only when those fees turned up on their credit cards.

“We want it stopped,” Cuomo said. “We believe it is a classic consumer fraud.”

At least one retailer, the movie ticket seller Fandango, has already agreed to stop sharing customer billing information with the companies, Cuomo announced.

Fandango has also agreed to pay $400,000 in restitution and make better disclosures about any third-party offers on its Web site, the attorney general’s office said.

Cuomo encouraged others to follow suit, saying that while the sign-up system for the discount clubs wasn’t “illegal per se,” it could be considered a “deceptive practice.”

The companies getting subpoenas included Barnes & Noble, Orbitz, Buy.com, Ticketmaster, MovieTickets.com, FTD.com, Shutterfly, 1-800-Flowers.com, Avon, Budget, Staples, Priceline, GMAC Mortgage, Classmates.com, Travelocity, Vistaprint, Intelius, Hotwire, Expedia, Hotels.com, Columbia House, Pizza Hut and Gamestop/EB Games.

Some of those companies said  they have already taken action. Vistaprint, Priceline, Expedia and 1-800-Flowers.com said they severed ties with the companies last fall. Barnes & Noble confirmed that its Web site has directed customers to Webloyalty, but said it never shared credit card information with the company.

Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty, all based in Norwalk, Conn., have been accused of improper conduct many times before.

Webloyalty recently settled a class action lawsuit in Massachusetts. Vertrue and Affinion, which previously did business under different names, have both been sued by attorneys general in other states over their sales tactics.

Each company says their practices are legal, but all have recently promised changes.

After a U.S. Senate committee in November accused them of acting unethically, all three began requiring customers to re-enter all 16 digits of their credit card number before they are signed up as members.

Previously, that billing information was automatically forwarded by retailers without the knowledge o f customers.

“We have listened to consumers, lawmakers and regulators and have led the industry in evolving our practices,” said Webloyalty spokeswoman Beth Kitchener. She said the company also introduced new language on its offering page to clarify that people will be billed for joining a club.

Vertrue said in a statement that its marketing practices “are not only clear,” but also “provide consumers with access to significant and realizable benefits.” Affinion said that while it believed its marketing material “has always incorporated clear, prominent and unambiguous terms, we are constantly evaluating our offers to consumers.”

A report issued by the Senate’s Commerce committee in November said the three companies have taken $1.4 billion from customers in a little more than a decade. Retailers that gave the companies a spot on their Web sites got a sizable cut of that cash, often worth millions of dollars each.

The report said managers at the compan ies appeared to be aware that customers were being deceived. One Webloyalty employee noted in an e-mail that “90 percent” of the people getting billed “don’t know anything about the membership.”

Each company also has call centers staffed by workers whose primary job is to process membership cancellations.

Some companies appear to be sticking with the clubs, despite complaints. Orbitz.com said in a statement that it had improved its sign-up process with Webloyalty in a way that will ensure consumers know they are consenting to membership in a paid club.

We’ve gotten a couple of email reports from readers complaining about door-to-door magazine subscription sales in the Bellingham area.

The solicitors apparently are affiliated with Fresh Start Opportunities, a company with a sales pitch that leads customers to think it’s a charity to benefit troubled young people. But the company is not registered as a charity, according to AG Rob McKenna, and it routinely ignores complaints from its customers, the BBB and state regulators.

In my experience, an awful lot of “free trial” offers for all kinds of products come with a catch: You give the seller a credit card number to cover very reasonable shipping costs. The problem? Fine print often specifies you will be billed for a very substantial amount to cover future shipments of said product, unless you cancel or “opt out” of that product or service.

Reader Doug Lomas was kind enough to share his recent experience. (I would consider it a personal favor if commenters refrained from snarking at him. Most of us old enough to read have made some unwise purchases over the years, and I want people to step forward and offer their experiences to educate others, without too much fear of being publicly mocked by anonymous commenters.)

Anyhow, Doug responded to an offer for a free 14-day trial supply of acai supplements. He was billed just $3.95 for shipping. He did notice the cancellation requirement, and did call to cancel. He was told he would have to mail back his unusued portion. When he objected to that and mentioned filing a complaint with the BBB, the customer service rep obligingly waived that requirement and even agreed to put a $3.95 refund on his credit card. He even got an email confirming all this.

So far so good.

But then his credit card bill came in the mail, and lo and behold, he was STILL charged $79.95 for a new shipment of supplement. He contacted the company again and got an apology and a promise that the charge would be taken off his card. That’s where things stand as of now.

Some of you may remember that Washington AG Rob McKenna and his counterparts in some other states have been trying to put pressure on companies who market supplements this way.

Here’s a followup to yesterday’s post about the parents of an Olympic bobsledder, victimized by the phony rental scam.  Sounds like a happy ending for mom and dad. Of course, the scammer got a happy ending too, but …

VANCOUVER - A New York couple scammed out of thousands of dollars in a rental fraud in Whistler will get to see their son compete at the upcoming Olympic Games.

Lois Mesler confirms her family has accepted an offer of accommodation at a Whistler home — one of several offers made after the Mesler’s plight became known.

A large contingent of the Mesler clan planned to travel to Whistler to see U.S. bobsled team member Steve Mesler go for gold.

RCMP say the family paid $8,000 to rent a home in the resort town, but just weeks before the Games they learned they had nowhere to stay because the man who took their money didn’t own the condo.

Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair says a fraud investigation has been launched but no arrests have been made.

The Meslers placed a classified ad online and a man named Jason responded, asking the Meslers to wire cash, but the suspect wasn’t registered with the site, making him difficult to track down.

We’ve had several posts about people who collect rent money on homes and apartments they don’t actually own. One of these crooks made a pretty big score in Vancouver recently–big, at least, by the standards of this petty fraud:

VANCOUVER - RCMP have launched a fraud investigation after a New York couple hoping to see their son go for gold at the Olympics lost $8,000 in a rental scam in Whistler.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair says Ben and Lois Mesler thought they’d rented a home in the resort town after placing a classified ad on Rent2010.net.

But he says the place didn’t belong to the supposed homeowner and now the Meslers have nowhere else to stay.

They’d planned to watch their son Steve Mesler compete on the U.S. men’s bobsled team.

Mark Szekely, who operates the online rental site, says a man calling himself Jason Hartlen responded to the Meslers’ ad and collected the money.

Szekely says the man wasn’t registered with the site so he can’t track him down.

You would never fall for this, would you?

Bottom line: If a “census worker” comes to your door and wants a credit card number, call the cops.

GREELEY, Colo. (AP) - Weld County Census officials and the Colorado Attorney General’s office are warning residents about scammers claiming to be Census workers who ask people for their credit card and bank account information.

Weld County’s Census office said Monday they’ve had two reports of such scams where people go door-to-door and say they’re Census workers. Census officials are reminding people that workers will not be visiting residents until March and even then they won’t be asking for Social Security numbers, or bank and credit card information.