Carter Foster, an associate pastor at a Texas church for 25 years, says he can’t remember ordering the magazine subscriptions by phone. He can’t remember receiving a confirmation letter either.

All he remembers is that bills started coming for a handful of magazines, totaling $1,500. When he called to protest, he found out he had purchased five-year subscriptions.

“I can’t believe I did such a thing,” he says.

“They wouldn’t let me cancel. I told them that I just couldn’t believe it. Pay that much for magazines? For five years of magazines?”

His wife, Ann, called one of the magazines and learned that he had purchased the subscriptions from Heartland Inc., an Iowa-based telemarketing company that sells magazines by phone.

They protested the charges with their credit card company but were told the purchases were legitimate and wouldn’t be reversed.

The minister at Metroplex Covenant Church said he has prayed about it, but he can’t remember making the purchases.

“I just ask that they treat me fairly,” he says. “I can’t imagine doing this. That’s an enormous amount of money to pay for magazines.”

The Watchdog contacted Heartland. Company lawyer Allison Steuterman received permission from Foster to release to me the recordings of two of his conversations with the telemarketers.

In the first recording, a man asks if he agrees to subscribe to the magazines. Foster answers in a soft voice, “OK,” to the man’s questions.

But the salesman speaks so fast to the 67-year-old Foster that even after listening to the tape six times, I still can’t understand what he’s saying.

He rattles off the magazines’ names so fast, I can’t tell what they are. The salesman ends by saying, “The easiest way to remember our company name is, ‘We’re Heartland and we love you,’ OK?”

“OK,” Foster replies.

After Foster listened to the recordings, he wrote to me: “It sounds like me, and the information I gave was correct. As I listen to the recordings, I feel deeply heartsick. I have Parkinson’s and the medication I was taking left me less than alert.”

After listening to the tapes, Steuterman, the company lawyer, pronounced her verdict: “The sales are authorized, and the payments on the credit cards are authorized. Heartland Inc. employees identify Heartland, the magazines, the cost, the number to call for questions and the cancellation policy. Heartland Inc. complies with all federal laws.”

The Iowa Better Business Bureau gives Heartland a C-minus rating with 363 complaints in the last three years. All have been resolved or closed. Steuterman said the company works diligently with outside agencies to handle complaints.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller warns on his Web site that problems with magazine subscriptions ranked second for total number of complaints received last year by the Consumer Protection Division. While some amounted to simple mistakes, others involved illegal tactics by questionable telemarketing companies.

“Here are some typical problems,” the Web site states. “Telemarketers who trick you into paying hundreds of dollars for multi-year subscriptions to magazines you don’t want or can’t afford … so-called sweepstakes that sign you up for a subscription without your approval … solicitations for magazines at ‘pennies a day for shipping and handling’ that turn out to be very expensive … and ’special promotions’ for ‘free issues’ that actually sign you up for costly subscriptions that are difficult to cancel.”

The Heartland lawyer told me that the company faced legal problems in three states over its selling practices — Kansas, North Dakota and Indiana — but that those problems were resolved.

As for people who buy magazines over the telephone, the lawyer advises: Pay attention.

Sometimes, “people listen with half an ear to what they’re doing,” she says. “They may be watching television at the same time they’re talking to one of our sales representatives.

“That’s why we send out the confirmation letter and give them the right to cancel. Sometimes people believe that they have discretionary income that perhaps they do not. A month or two down the line they wish they hadn’t made the purchase.

“Now I understand that, but at the same time, they have made the purchase. It’s an authorized purchase, but then they turn around and point the finger at Heartland, who actually goes out of their way to work with customers to make them happy.”

The company budged a little in Foster’s case.

“They said that if I paid off the remainder of the fees I would get a 10 percent discount,” Foster said. “I did that in order to stop any further contact with Heartland. I had several tense conversations and then decided to politely end negotiations with Heartland Inc. It still makes me sick to think that I would pay over $1,500 for magazines.”

The Watchdog saw one more play for Foster to get his money back. Heartland attorney Steuterman offered a clue when she wrote to me, “Heartland, Inc. has received no notice that he has complained to the Attorney General (Iowa or Texas), the BBB, or any other agency.”

Since we know that Heartland works to resolve its BBB complaints, Foster could file complaints with both the Iowa and Texas attorneys general, the Iowa BBB and the Federal Trade Commission. He could include a doctor’s note that attests to side effects of the medication he is taking for Parkinson’s. He can ask for a refund of all magazines not yet delivered.

After I called Heartland this week, the company called him again. But not to settle. It was another sales call.

“Since I paid off my credit on the magazines, I was in a premier position, and they tried to sell me more magazines,” he said. “I told them I was very unhappy and wasn’t interested in more purchases. They apologized and hung up.”

He asked to be removed from their call list. (Also, to stop telemarketing calls, he should verify that he is correctly listed on the state and federal Do Not Call lists.)

The other day, Foster got a phone call he wanted from Heartland. Steuterman offered a settlement: Foster pays for magazines already received and he gets reimbursed for the remainder. For that, he agrees not to sue or demand more money. The two parties are now trying to reach agreement.

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Former schoolteacher Maureen Gayle wanted to add eight place settings to her family china collection that she originally purchased more than 50 years ago.

When the Franciscan Desert Rose china by Wedgwood arrived, she saw that the new dinnerware was a poor match to her original set. The painted patterns were not nearly as detailed.

She turned the pieces over and saw three words:

Made in China.

Franciscan Desert Rose chinaware was used by Jackie Kennedy. It's a classic, but a buyer worries about the product because it's made in China.

“I am very worried,” she said. “I know there’s lead in some ceramic paint.”

Lynn Breaux, who has a doctorate in public health, saw the same three words on the label of the Milk-Bone Two-Toned Mini Knotted Bones his wife had bought for their dogs, Charlotte and Scooter the Magnificent.

Breaux remembers when some pet treats made in China were recalled in 2007 because they were tainted with melamine. He decided to call the consumer information number on the box and ask whether the treats are safe.

The first time, he left a message. No response. He left more messages, but nobody ever called him back, he says. He turned to WatchdogNation.com.

“I’d like to know about these dog bones,” he said.

As a dog lover, I worry about the safety of the products I buy for Saige, my loving chocolate Lab. I called the number Breaux gave me. Someone picked up right away.

The staffer said she represented Pet Brands, which makes rawhide and bones, among other products. I told her about Breaux’s concerns.

“I can tell you they are safe,” she said. “I tell customers that our products are tested by a couple of independent labs, and we have to pay for that test.”

She said she would ask an executive to call me, but no one did.

However, I found several sources that can give pet owners the latest information on product safety.

First and most important, the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for monitoring pet products, as well as dinnerware sets.

“Pet food products from certain companies in China have been placed on the FDA’s Import Alert list, meaning they will be confiscated at ports of entry,” FDA spokesman Ira R. Allen said.

“There are no recent confirmed cases of adverse effects from dog treats made in China,” he added.

The FDA maintains several Web sites that offer the latest information on product recalls. So, too, does the American Veterinarian Medical Association, which posts the latest alerts on its Web site and its Twitter feed for vets and pet owners. Those would be good sites to bookmark and check regularly.

Ceramic ware from other countries is routinely monitored at ports of entry for lead and cadmium leaching, Allen said.

The FDA reached an agreement with China in 1999 about standards for ceramics intended for U.S. import. But it turns out that pottery from countries that do not have standards can cause problems. The FDA looks at ceramics already in the U.S., too.

“Pottery made in small production settings or by craft potters tend to be more problematic for leaching lead into food because these producers are less likely to have adequate equipment,” the FDA spokesman said.

Home test kits that check for lead on surfaces such as pottery and also in paint and water are available for as little as $10 at hardware stores and elsewhere. Many of these promise immediate results. That’s what I would recommend for Gayle and her eight new settings.

Carolyn Lucas is an expert on antique china who owns Dishes From the Past in Fort Worth. She says that updated versions of traditional sets often look different from the original.

“They’re made differently. They probably don’t have the same glazes. That’s why we’re in business,” she said. “People can come here and get the older china, and it will match what they have.”

Her advice on handling fears of lead content in modern china sets? She likes the idea of using a home test kit. But she says she doesn’t believe that eating off these plates poses a health risk. To be safe, though, she advises against storing food on them.

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Imagine that you use valet parking at one of your city’s best known hotels. When it comes time to fetch your car, the valet pulls your vehicle under the overhang, steps out and walks away.

As you step toward your car, another man swoops in from nowhere, jumps into the driver’s seat and speeds away.

Your car is stolen.

This happened to Hunter Wilder of Azle, Texas in August.

He went to a wedding reception at the Fort Worth Hilton and left his 1997 Lexus with the attendant.

The front of the Fort Worth Hilton is known as the last place where President Kennedy made a public speech on Nov. 22, 1963. It's also where two cars in recent months were stolen in valet parking -- the same way.

When it came time to get his car, the attendant stepped away and another man jumped into his car. The driver almost ran over a group of girls standing near the traffic lane, Wilder recalls. “They had to jump out of the way.”

He yelled, “Hey, that guy just stole my car!”

“The guy runs the next red light, goes down a couple of blocks, hangs a left and it’s gone,” he said.

Then it happened again. Three weeks ago. Same situation. Same hotel.

Paul Carpenter, a minister from Gainesville, Texas told me how his Toyota RAV4 was stolen Jan. 29 while his wife waited for it: The valet attendant “got out and left it running,” he said. “Somebody ran up from the shadows on the driver’s side and drove off.”

Wilder filed an insurance claim with Towne Park, the outside company that runs the Hilton’s valet operations. But Towne Park’s insurance carrier denied the claim.

The reason? Towne Park was not responsible because the car thief shoved the attendant out of the way and thus assaulted him, using force, to take control of the car, the carrier told Wilder.

Wilder says it didn’t happen that way. He says the attendant walked to the other side of the car and left the path to the car wide open for the thief.

Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Ralph Swearingin could decide who is responsible. Wilder filed a small claims lawsuit against Towne Park, seeking $4,000 in damages. The court has invited both parties to mediation, but Wilder says he wants a trial.

He said that his car was damaged and that he suffered losses.

“I lost my laptop and laptop bag, radar detector,” he says. “My identity information was stolen off my laptop, along with my checkbook. Somebody tried to make a debit from my account, but I had already gotten LifeLock and locked everything up.”

He said he believes that Towne Park employees “had control of my vehicle at the time it was stolen, and we witnessed them leaving it running and unattended.”

Carpenter says he’s upset with the hotel because officials there passed the buck to the insurance company. The same happened to The Watchdog. When I tried to interview the Fort Worth Hilton’s general manager, Stan Kennedy, he said he could not comment since the hotel hires the outside company to manage its valet parking. He directed me there.

Towne Park, based in Annapolis, Md., has 6,000 employees who will park 10 million cars this year, says Tom Wickert, the company’s vice president of administration.

Although the two car thefts occurred at the same hotel within five months, Wickert said it was out of the ordinary. He questioned whether it was of importance to Watchdog readers, saying, “It’s like getting snow in Fort Worth on the Fourth of July. It’s so uncommon it’s probably not even worth telling them about it.”

Fort Worth has two ordinances that could apply here. It’s against the law to leave an unattended vehicle running. And leaving a key in a parked car is also against the law. Fines for each are $100.

The city renews the license of valet parking companies annually. A license can be denied if the city decides a parking company “endangers the safety of persons or property or is otherwise not in the public interest.”

How do you check out a valet parking company? Fort Worth police spokesman Sgt. Pedro Criado came up with a good method to test the professionalism of the service.

Criado says every valet attendant must carry a driver’s license because, obviously, he or she is going to drive your car. But he has learned that some attendants don’t have one.

He suggests asking an attendant who is going to take your car, “Do you have a driver’s license?” Follow up with, “Can I see it?”

It’s against state law to let anyone without a license drive your car, so Criado says you should ask the question to protect yourself. The fine for that violation is $152.

# # #

Valet parking safety tips

Don’t leave a car with the engine running. Turn it off. Step out and hand the key to the attendant.

Customers should use valet keys given to them by the car manufacturer.

Valet parkers are responsible for securing locks, windows and the alarm. Stored keys must be kept in a locked box, inaccessible and away from public view.

Always remove valuables or, if that’s not possible, place them out of sight.

Sources: National Valet Parking Association, Towne Park, Fort Worth police

# # #

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

President Barack Obama’s proposal to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency came in with a bang. But it appears to be going out with a whimper.

Before the proposal was introduced in Congress last year, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said of the economic meltdown. “This crisis was caused, in part, by a lack of consumer protections.”

And?

Watchdog Nation checked in with several Washington, D.C., sources last week to learn what’s happening to the proposal in Congress.

The answer? Not much.

The bill passed the House but is stuck in the Senate.

“Opposition to financial reform is intense, coming in particular from big banks and other monied interests that seek to protect the status quo,” the Consumer Federation of America said in a recent statement.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says a new agency would hurt small-business owners that rely on credit cards, home-equity loans, auto-title loans and other sources of consumer lending to finance their businesses.

“The idea sounds great on its face, but we need to have a serious discussion about what the CFPA would actually do and what authority it would have,” Ryan McKee of the chamber told me. “The potential for unintended consequences is great.”

The CFPA would give federal regulators power to oversee mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, finance companies, payday lenders and other nonbank providers. Businesses would be blocked from offering financial products that charge prepayment penalties, unjustified fees and excessive interest rates.

Supporters say the agency would provide the public with better information about how to avoid so-called abusive lending and credit problems, and would improve disclosure to borrowers.

It would merge the enforcement divisions of several government agencies into the new agency.

The chamber says it worries that small businesses would lose access to credit, something they already struggle with because they are either too small or too new. The predicted result? Business closures, fewer startups, slower growth and the loss of jobs.

The chamber is also concerned that the proposal would ban products that are abusive but doesn’t clearly define abusive, said McKee, senior director for the chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.

Another sticking point for the chamber: The bill requires “too much disclosure” to consumers.

“Having too much disclosure is like having no disclosure at all,” McKee said, adding: “We need to simplify the disclosures so people get straightforward information.”

The chamber’s solution: Close gaps in existing laws that kept regulators from finding major problems; increase authority for regulators to enforce existing rules; and make sure regulators from various agencies communicate better.

The proposal for a CFPA was first floated in 2007, a year before the meltdown, by Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren. She noted that federal regulators won’t allow a toaster that could burst into flames to hit the market. But mortgages and other “dangerous financial products,” she wrote, are not similarly regulated.

Elizabeth Warren

With questionable loans, she wrote, families can suffer from “wiped-out savings, lost homes, higher costs for car insurance, denial of jobs, troubled marriages, bleak retirements and broken lives.”

Warren is considered a strong candidate to head the agency — if it ever comes into existence.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is carrying the ball for the CFPA. But he’s running into a strong defense put up by Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on that panel. Shelby has called the proposal “a folly and dangerous.”

It all comes down to whether Dodd and Shelby can agree on a compromise.

“We have reached an impasse,” Dodd said this month. “While I still hope that we will ultimately have a consensus package, it is time to move the process forward.” Dodd says he hopes to release a new proposal this month.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., explained last year why he believes it’s tough to get a proposal through: “The banks — hard to believe, in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis, that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Susan K. Weinstock, director of financial reform for the Consumer Federation, said she views that as the major hurdle.

“How much are senators hearing from individual consumers about this? How much do consumers know about this?”

What do you think? I’m most interested in your comments on this.

Better yet, contact your congressional representatives and let them know what you think. If you don’t know who they are, visit www.votesmart.org and type in your zip code — and you’ll quickly find out.

# # #

Do you want to learn more?

House Resolution 4173, known as the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is now in the Senate.

It merges regulatory powers of the Federal Reserve, Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Trade Commission and the National Credit Union Administration.

Here is where you can read more about the actual bill.

Here is where  you can watch videos and read more to learn about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s opposition.

Here is where you can learn about the Consumer Federation of America’s support.

# # #

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

By Dave Lieber

Fifteen states don’t allow payday lenders to operate within their borders, often because of outrageous interest rates charges to customers.

Other states allow them to do business, but many have some kind of state regulatory agency that oversees the business.

Then there’s Texas.

The payday loan business in Texas is unregulated.

Payday loans are usually small loans with high interest rates taken out by consumers until their next paycheck. Customers are often poor, lack credit cards and are unable to secure low-interest loans at banks or other lending institutions.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Cash America, for example, charges a $20 fee on each $100 borrowed. Customers are allowed to extend the loan up to four times if needed, a process that tacks on more fees. Interest rates, if calculated for an entire year, can reach more than 1,000 percent. But payday lenders say that calculation is unfair because the loans often last for several weeks or less.

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, co-sponsored several bills in the Legislature last year that would have imposed regulations on the payday loan industry, but none got out of the Business and Commerce Committee.

State Sen. Wendy Davis wants to regulate Texas payday loans.

During a hearing on Davis’ bills last year, Leslie Pettijohn, the state’s consumer credit commissioner, testified that no state agency has regulatory oversight of payday lending. According to a summary of the hearing distributed by Davis’ office, Pettijohn said: “We don’t have any jurisdiction [over complaints]. We often try to pass them to the Attorney General’s office. They often try to send them back to us.”

At that hearing, Davis recalls, the room was packed with industry lobbyists. Few consumers attended.

“It’s the mighty against the weak, and as you can imagine, the mighty are winning out,” Davis says.

State law was changed several years ago to allow payday lenders to operate as credit service organizations, which allows them to avoid state lending and usury laws. Because of this, critics say, Texas payday loans are among the most expensive in the nation.

Cash America spends about $30,000 a year on political donations to Texas candidates, estimates Alex Vaughn, the company’s vice president of governmental affairs. Cash America’s vice president of government relations, William J. White, was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to chair the Texas Finance Commission, which ensures that banks, savings institutions and consumer credit grantors operate as sound and responsible businesses. White’s term expires this month.

William White of Cash America has been chairman of the Texas Finance Commission.

Referring to that appointment last year, state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said: “The fox is not in the henhouse. The fox owns the henhouse.” Shapleigh introduced several bills with Davis trying to regulate the industry.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh warns about the fox guarding the henhouse.

Cash America’s Vaughn says that because White was appointed as the designated industry representative, it’s unfair to paint his position as anything negative.

Predatory lending is an unfair term, Vaughn says, because customers are not forced to do business with payday lenders.

“Our customers are intelligent,” he says. “They may not be the best in financial management, but they know the costs and the alternatives.”

Last year, legislators estimated that Texas payday lenders annually lend about $2 billion and collect $400 million in fees. But those numbers are difficult to pin down since payday lenders are not required to report their numbers to the state, something one of Davis’ bills would have changed.

The Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities has estimated that a $500 loan can end up costing a borrower $4,000 if it is not paid back immediately.

I asked Davis whether she plans to reintroduce her bills next year.

“Absolutely,” she replied.

# # #

Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber