First, I love Privado.  It’s about the only unique place left on Second Street these days.  Sure, I enjoy Molly’s and Pep Grill and Ceoltas.  I’ve even occasionally been dragged into Spice.  But Privado, despite the best efforts of some of its former management, has largely remained my favorite spot.  So I’m understandably frustrated that they’ve failed to address this issue, despite the law being in effect since the earliest days of Noma. You see, back in 2001, Pennsylvania amended an existing law (the Credit Card Information Act) to protect consumers’ credit card information.  As amended, the act requires merchants to block out all but the last five digits of your card number on a receipt.  In 2003, the Fair Credit Reporting Act was amended by the Fair & Accurate Credit Transactions Act.  This basically reads the same as Pennsylvania’s law, but also provides for damages in the amount of $1000 plus actual damages and legal costs, per violation.  All merchants who use electronically-printed receipts (as opposed to handwritten or swiped receipts) essentially have to be in compliance no later than December 31, 2007; all of the grace periods have run out as of January 1, 2008. So I’m puzzled as to why Privado continues to print my card number on receipts.  With the law now made into a federal statute, there are no circumstances under which a merchant can electronically print a receipt containing my full credit card number, so I’m left to wonder why card processors even allow this functionality. Since I like Privado so much, I decided to send them a letter.  To be fair, they’re not the only merchant doing this.  I’m going to start sending out certified letters to the noncompliant establishments as I come across them, and I may not be as nice to everyone else as I’m being to Privado.  Hopefully they’ll decide to comply.  If they don’t, well, I’ve got a half dozen receipts here; I certainly wouldn’t mind paying down my car that much faster.

Privado

20 N Second St

Harrisburg PA  17101

September 29 2008

Dear Privado

This past Friday (9/18/08), I visited your establishment and ran two tabs on my Visa card.  Upon closing my tabs, I was given a receipt that contains my full, unmasked credit card number and expiration date.

I am certain you are aware that this constitutes a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15USC1681), which states in part “…No person that accepts credit cards or debit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of the sale or transaction.“  The act provides damages for noncompliance in the amount of $1000 per incident — not per consumer — as well as legal costs and actual damages.

I have enjoyed coming to Privado for the past half decade (despite its numerous name and management changes).  Given some of the recent changes along Second Street, Privado has become the last unique establishment in town.  As such, I have chosen to contact you directly in the hopes that you are able to remedy this matter before my next visit, or before a less understanding customer visits your establishment.  I urge you to update your card processing procedures and/or equipment immediately.

Sincerely

(me)

This consumer-safety alert was brought to my attention by a Gazette reader. I've seen articles about this tragic situation on national wire services, but I decided to post it here just in case parents of newborns in the greater Linglestown area are not in the know. ____ Attention parents of infants – If you are using a "close-sleeper/bedside sleeper" bassinet made by Simplicity, be sure to check out the two links below to see if your model is the one that has caused the death of at least two infants: * U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission press release (includes photo), dated Aug. 27, 2008 * Washington Post article, dated Aug. 29, 2008.

It’s 8:30pm.  I’m sleeping because all the overtime I work to pay down my student loans nine years early has the unfortunate side effect of occasionally requiring me to live on four hours of sleep.  My phone rings with a phone number I don’t recognize. 717-469-2211. That’s Grantville.  I don’t know anyone in Grantville, let alone anyone with that number, so I let it go to voicemail.  A few minutes later my voicemail alert goes off.  It can’t be a wrong number; who would call a wrong number and, after hearing the name in the greeting, leave a message?  And a two-minute message at that? It was Hollywood Casino.  “Come visit us,” the unbelievably excited voice on the other end of the voicemail said.  Something about some giveaway and some promotion and something else.  They were kind enough to play the pre-recorded message twice, in case I hadn’t gotten as excited as the announcer on the first time.  I was now fully awake two hours before I had to go back to work (which is to say, after two hours of sleep). I can only assume that they got my number from my membership in their “action card” program, and that they feel this gives them permission to spam me.  It doesn’t. EDIT:  Since Hollywood Casino has taken the stance that my enrollment in the “action card” program supercedes my rights under 47 USC 227, the “do not call” list, and the Telemarketing Sales Rule, I’ve removed a large part of this post that dealt with my arguments against Hollywood Casino and Penn National.  In the interest of not making their lawyers’ jobs easier, I’m keeping this information to myself for now.  Suffice to say, there is notable legal precedent — as well as the FTC’s opinion statements — that reflect a desire to protect consumers against unwanted marketing. Without such intent and precedent, “no-call” laws would be absolutely unenforceable.  After all, any business could call any consumer — regardless of that consumer’s status on the “do not call” list or any previous opt-outs sent by the consumer — by stating that they received the consumer’s phone number through “a trusted business partner’s trusted business partner’s trusted business partner’s trusted business partner who is a marketing firm who collected a signature from a consumer, thus opening a business relationship”.

A few months ago (has it been half a year already?) I bought a new car.  Paid around $14k.  Since getting it, I’ve saved about $1000 in reduced monthly payments and fuel consumption.  With fuel prices skyrocketing and no end in sight, demand for high-efficiency vehicles like mine has gone way up.  Used Priuses are selling for more than new ones.  Car companies are taking major hits on sales (except Honda, which, not surpsingly, saw a huge spike in Q2).  And, as I expected, AutoTrader is filling up with low-mileage high-MPG cars.  And they’re selling at a premium:   $19985:  2008 Honda Fit with 3200 miles (about $4000 over MSRP) $18995:  2007 Toyota Yaris with 12000 miles (about $3000 over MSRP) $17995:  2007 Honda Fit with 8000 miles (about $2000 over MSRP) I’m seriously thinking of selling mine for a $2k markup and buying something at auction for $2k cash.  I only drive 14 miles to work — soon to be 5 — so the prospect of puttering around in a ‘98 Intrepid isn’t exactly awful.  Especially when it frees up a few hundred bucks to put into killing those student loans a few years early. According the the aggregation of KBB, Edmunds, and NADA, my car is worth about $15900 in private sale.  And that’s using the 2007 model, because neither Edmunds nor NADA have figures for 2008 on my car yet.  That’s also not taking market demand into account.  Interesting.

Sigh. A friend of mine is going car shopping right now.  She did in fact read my posts on the subject, and said she felt prepared - aww, I feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside now.  One of the cars she was considering was a Dodge.  It just so happens that she was considering it because of Dodge’s “$2.99 Gas Guarantee”.  You know the one - this is where they sell you fuel at $2.99 / gallon for the next three years, up to 12,000 miles per year. A simple check of the math demonstrated that this wasn’t a very good deal.  Let’s assume that gas is $4.50 / gallon, averaged over the next three years.  If the Dodge vehicle in question gets 25 mpg: 12,000 miles / 25 mpg = 480 gallons per year that qualify for the $2.99 rate $2.99 times 480 = $1435.20 $5 times 480 = $2160 $2160 - $1435.20 = $724.80 $724.80 times three years = $2174.40 actual savings In reality, that figure will be slightly different.  Gas is likely to go up, but then again, it’s $3.75 / gal right now, and will probably sink a little lower as we approach November. So in other words, that’s similar to (but not quite as good as) getting a $2174.80 discount off the price of the car.  Considering that other, more fuel-efficient builders like Honda, Toyota, VW, and even Hyundai / Kia are all offering hefty multi-thousand-dollar rebates right now, the Dodge offer isn’t a very good competitive deal.  Of course, if you happen to like the Dodge for other reasons and already have your mind set, then it’s icing on the cake. As I was typing this up, I realized that I forgot to put up my final part in the car buying series.  I’ll whip something together over the next few days.  I know that more than one car dealership is reading this blog, and if any sales reps have any advice that they’d like to submit (anonymously, of course), drop me a line.