Read Part 2 of this series here

Together, we learned a lot in 2010 that can make 2011 easier. As we close out a year that has been difficult for many, here are lessons from Watchdog stories past.

As readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber column first learned, The Watchdog learned in 2010 that consumers should ask why a particular store or company sells a product or service at a price far below what others are asking. Watches, electronics and other items sold at lower prices are sometimes import models that cost less because they don’t come with a U.S. warranty. “Too good to be true” applies more than ever.

Similarly, if an investment adviser is hawking a financial product that offers much higher returns than other investments, investigate why. Every state has a government-run website where you can check the background of financial advisers. In my home state of Texas, check out Texas financial advisers and their records at www.ssb.state.tx.us. The U.S. government site is www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.

If a website showcases a TV reporter touting a product, do an Internet search to see whether the reporter and TV station are real. Creating fake media is a new tactic. Also, beware of websites that display logos of the major TV networks or Oprah Winfrey’s show and claim “as seen on TV.” Anyone can slap a logo on their Web page.

Adult children should consider keeping a closer eye on elderly parents, who can fall prey to swindlers. Stress that they shouldn’t make investments without consulting others. Tell them not to buy anything from salesmen who knock on their door or call or send come-ons by mail or e-mail.

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More Watchdog Nation News:

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Watchdog Nation Debuts New e-Book and Multi-CD Audio Book

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Beware of door-to-door salesmen selling alarm systems or trying to get you to switch electric companies and that evergreen scam, concrete guys who “just finished a job down the street.”

Skip reading the “terms and conditions” of any transaction at your peril. Donald Hufstedler thought he was getting a free book for only a $1.95 shipping charge. After he got a bill for $90, he called and complained. He was told that he had unknowingly agreed to the purchase. The ad stated, “You’ll get a free* trial.” Don’t ignore the asterisk. Fine print is never fine for you.

Watch for sales words and phrases that should scare you (not entice you): deep discount, pennies on the dollar, greatly reduced prices, promotional gift, prize, incentive, complimentary gift and, of course, that four-letter word, free.

For Texas readers: Instead of worrying about your smart meter, get smart about your electricity contract. Do you know the rate you pay per kilowatt-hour? Most people don’t. Do you know when your contract expires? If you are paying more than 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, you may be overpaying.

For Texas readers: Go to Google’s search page and type in “Dave Lieber Electricity Guide” to find my suggestions about how to shop for a better deal. Or for a hard copy, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Dave Lieber, Star-Telegram Watchdog, P.O. Box 1870, Fort Worth, TX 76101. Hundreds of Texans have saved using my guide.

Get your free annual credit report, as is allowed under federal law, at the government-approved website www.annualcreditreport.com. But once on that site, beware of links that offer other services for sale. No need to buy them. (And don’t get confused with freecreditreport.com, which sells a lot of information and isn’t government-approved.)

In financial disputes, explore small-claims court as an option. You don’t need a lawyer. And if you win, the other side usually has to pay your filing fees.

Don’t put outgoing mail in outdoor blue collection boxes. Go inside the post office to drop off your letters. It’s too easy to steal from the outdoor boxes. Even the post office advises this.

If a friend sends you an e-mail, especially from a foreign country, claiming that he or she is in trouble, don’t believe it. Check with relatives and friends. Usually it’s a con artist assuming your pal’s identity.

Once every six months or so, audit your monthly bills. Contact your credit card companies and ask for a lower interest rate. Ask for better deals from companies that provide your TV, land-line and cellphone service, electricity and Internet connections. Ask for specials. Tell them the competition is offering a lower rate. If you don’t get your price lowered, try again in a few weeks. Plans change constantly, and unless you ask, they won’t tell you.

Use your cellphone to take photos and videos of car accidents you are involved in, unruly salespeople, people you sign contracts with, anything to back your story later.

If someone pressures you to buy now before a “deal” goes away, run for the exit door.

If you have a problem with a collection agency, read the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and learn your rights.

No, sorry, but you didn’t win that foreign lottery. How do I know? Well, you should never be asked to send money to get legitimate contest winnings.

In Part 2, here, I’ll share a few simple principles that should help you avoid problems in 2011.

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover, as a CD audio book, ebook and hey, what else do you need. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Read Part 1 of this series here

Listen, I want to cut my workload. So my first action in 2011 is to show you how to avoid problems or quickly solve any you have. You won’t need The Watchdog.

As readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber column learned first, my methods are free and take mere seconds. The trick is to remember to do them. Here are my five core principles of Watchdog Nation.

1. Check it out.

The single most important piece of advice. If you do your homework before you sign a contract, hire someone or buy something, you dramatically decrease the chance you’ll find yourself in trouble.

Always remember to take advantage of the greatest research tool ever: the Internet search box. Check the reputation of a company or person and look for any obvious problems through a quick online search.

In the search box, simply type an individual’s name, the company’s name or the product you are considering, along with the words rip-off and scam. Learn in seconds if angry customers can alert you to past problems. Why do I recommend those two words? When Americans get angry, those are the keywords they most often use to complain.

If you find a few negative comments, they could be from disgruntled customers with an ax to grind. But if there are hundreds, you found what you needed to know. If you don’t have an Internet connection, contact your local librarian for help.

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More Watchdog Nation News:

Watchdog Nation Partners with Mike Holmes

America meets Watchdog Nation/Listen to Fun Radio Interview

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2. Hold customer service people accountable.

When you have a problem with a company, don’t speak to nameless people in customer service on the other side of the world. They know who you are, so find out about them. On a blank sheet of paper — your “power sheet” — record the name, employee ID number and location of the person on the phone. Jot down the date and time of your call.

After getting this information, say the following: “Before I tell you my problem, I want to let you know as a courtesy that I am taping this call for customer-quality control.”

They are already taping you. Now they believe you are taping them. Suddenly, it’s an equal relationship.

You don’t have to tape the call. Just the idea is good enough. But if you want, go ahead. Taping a call is legal in many states. Find out your law here.

3. Find the company’s point of vulnerability.

If you have a problem, use a search engine to learn about how others are dealing with the same problem. You are not alone. Usually, someone else has already found and posted a possible solution that the company doesn’t want you to know.

Usually, it’s one of four possibilities:

A class action lawsuit you can join.

An attorney general in one of the 50 states who is investigating.

A regulatory agency in your home state looking into the problem.

A TV or newspaper reporter who has covered the problem.

Call the company and ask for a supervisor. Share with the supervisor the details of your power sheet (whom you previously spoke to and what they didn’t do). Tell the supervisor you are taping the call because if he or she can’t resolve your problem, you will take it to the regulator or TV reporter. In other words, serve up the company’s point of vulnerability.

Supervisors can make problems go away. You just gave them the reason.

4. Ask a bunch of questions.

Americans are usually two questions shy of getting the information they need. Sometimes, out of embarrassment (we seem pushy), we stop asking questions too soon.

Ask two more questions and find out what the salesman isn’t telling you. Penetrate the secrets, the fine print details, the good, the bad and the ugly.

5. Find their pressure point and squeeze.

The Watchdog doesn’t believe that anyone should complain to a company with more than three phone calls or one letter. Your first two calls can go to customer service. Then comes the supervisor. If that fails, move on to the pressure point.

Nearly everyone we deal with today has to answer to somebody. Businesses are audited, licensed, regulated, inspected, certified, registered or approved by some state or federal agency.

In the pre-Internet days, you needed to know your way around a law library to figure out who regulated what. Now all you have to do is ask a search engine.

Example: Let’s pretend a home warranty company won’t fix something it’s supposed to. A search shows that in my home state of Texas, these companies are regulated by the Texas Real Estate Commission. Every two years, the commission audits the financial records of each company and then renews its license. And hey, the commission also takes complaints. Find similar agencies in your home state.

Some companies are good at ignoring irate customers. Getting rid of a government overseer? Not so easy.

These principles are included in my book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong (watchdognation.com).

If you’d like The Watchdog to visit your community group in 2011 to share these lessons in detail, all you have to do is ask. My resolution for 2011 is to show you how to be your own watchdog.

Read Part 1 of this series here.

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Visit Watchdog Nation Headquarters

Like Watchdog Nation on Facebook

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover, as a CD audio book, ebook and hey, what else do you need. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber

Watchdog Nation is changing the way people protect themselves.

Watchdog Nation sets you up for the rest of your life. With simple steps that take only a second and are free, you can know that you are making the right decisions.

Terry Martin of Euless, Texas writes to Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber:

“I know you must get dozens of letters each day in regards to the big corporate  companies and their incompetence. I have read your book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation. And the one thing that struck a nerve with me is: never give up. The stories in your book had so much common sense, and I admired the way you helped the victims find a fair and ethical way or relief from all of their problems.

“Dave, your book inspired me to fight AT&T. I never gave up. It was a long and tedious fight, but I feel I won the battle. Thank you again for all the help and inspiration you gave me. Sincerely, A Huge Fan, Terry Martin.”

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More Watchdog Nation News:

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Tim Durkin writes to Watchdog Nation:

“I just finished listening to your multi-CD audio book of Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation, just in time to learn how to handle an emergency where I live, thank goodness.

“My next door neighbor rang my bell at midnight. She told me the glass on her front door was shattered and the wood was splintered. She worried that someone had broken into her house.  We called the police.

“The robbers had torn off her electric meter to disable any alarm, and then kicked in her door and helped themselves to everything they wanted. They did this in broad daylight.

“Because I had finished the Watchdog Nation audio book and was enjoying my new honorary citizenship, I knew what to do. I immediately began an Internet search to find the strongest deadbolts and locksets. I kept reading until I found a video for Strikemaster Pro II which affords steel protection to any door frame, which is the weakest part of a door. I was amazed when I placed and order and the owner of the company called.

“Ed Anderson is passionate about trying to keep the bad guys out of your house. Anyone who has been robbed will tell you that losing their possessions is one thing but losing their piece of mind is really the bigger thing.

“I installed my Strikemaster in about 10 minutes. And when I told Ed about my neighbor and how she lost her family photos in the burglary, he asked if it would be OK if he sent my neighbor a free Strikemaster.

“My point is that your Watchdog Nation inspired me to quickly search for the  best and most inexpensive solution to solve my problem and my neighbor’s. I buy into it. It works. I can’t wait until the next problem. OK, not really. Best wishes, Tim Durkin.”

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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new revised and expanded edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover,  an e-Book and a multi-set CD.

Save time, money and aggravation. This book changes lives. That’s why it won two national book awards in 2009 for social change.

Shop at three exclusive locations for the new revised edition: Amazon.com, Dave Lieber’s Yankee Cowboy Store and, of course, world headquarters at WatchdogNation.com.

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Visit Watchdog Nation Headquarters

Like Watchdog Nation on Facebook

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Twitter @DaveLieber

Many of us carry a device in our pockets and purses every day that can protect us, but when trouble comes, we forget to use it.

It’s your cellphone, especially those smartphones that can take photos and record sound and video.

I bring this up because Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Martin recently complained at a fraud conference I attended that she has trouble prosecuting some cases because it’s difficult to accurately identify the bad guy.

Sometimes when victims claim that a con artist got them to sign a fraudulent contract, she can’t show that the con artist was even in the room.

So before you sign any expensive contracts, why not ask the other party if you can take a photo to commemorate the occasion? If the person balks, that’s a warning sign.

The Watchdog’s phone is set so one button turns on a video camera and another button leads to a voice recorder.

The other day on a highway, when a rock-hauling truck dumped a load of pebbles on the Watchdog Nation mobile’s windshield, I dictated the truck’s license plate and state registration number into my phone. At the next stoplight, I took a photo.

If I find a windshield crack, I’m ready.

Twenty years ago, when I was in an auto accident, the other driver later told his insurance company that he wasn’t even there. After that, I stored a disposable camera in the glove compartment. That’s no longer necessary.

You have to remember to use this wonderful tool when needed most. Often, though, in the heat of the moment, people forget to pull out their backup. This is your Watchdog Nation reminder.

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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 Maggie Dwyer [This review originally appeared on author Maggie Dwyer's Two Cents At A Time website here.] Yankee Cowboy Publishing, Keller, Texas, 2010, Second Edition (Revised & Expanded) $20, and worth every penny. ISBN-10: 0970853025 ISBN-13: 978-0970853028 I’ve been meaning to write this book review for a while, and kept putting it off. Partly because I was busy using the book myself. Since I started following these tips of Lieber’s closely I have changed my phone company, my electric company, and my Internet service. In those few acts alone I’ve paid for the book several times over. But the thing that set me to writing finally was a story a friend told me last week that made me want to kick something. Like a crooked roofing contractor. My friend has been living in straightened circumstances for a number of years, getting by, but putting off a lot of things that needed doing. Finally, he could no longer put off having his flat-roofed Frank Lloyd Wright-style bungalow re-roofed. I had a real good one to recommend, who has done work for me a couple of times, and came to me via a contractor friend who has also worked for me a couple of times. My neighbors have also used and liked him. Word of mouth and satisfied customers is a good way to find a roofer. But my friend was trying to cut corners so he took the lowball bid from a guy who knew someone he knew. . . not a great introduction. That job was slow, it was sloppy, and when torrential rains during the job got the house wet, everything turned musty and damp, and tar dripped down spots the inside walls. They didn’t finish promptly, they actually didn’t finish it. The rocks that need to be taken onto the roof are still in the side yard. The roofer had no insurance to pay for the damage to the house. The worst (you mean, that’s not bad enough?) was discovered last week. The roofers (the only people allowed in this otherwise locked yard with very tall fences and gates) stole several expensive items. The theft was disguised by simply leaving behind the boxes and cases. A new pool pump, a good circular saw, the only evidence of their original habitation there are their empty boxes. Had my friend followed my recommendation, he would have had the job done for about the same quote as this fly-by-night roofer. And he wouldn’t have been out the hardware around the house or all of the time and expense of repairing the house now. I’m sorry I didn’t write this review earlier, because I would have sent a copy of it to my friend and said “Do what Dave suggests – look at the local reviews, check with the BBB (Better Business Bureau), get personal recommendations from people you trust.” The bid price isn’t a bargain if the job isn’t done right, isn’t done at all, or is done so wrong as to cause more damage than a simply leaking roof will do. I’ve sent copies of pages of this book to people. My brother received the pages (114-15) to do with complaining to the post office. It turns out that you CAN complain, you don’t have to take the desk clerk’s shrugged “that’s tough, you only paid for Priority, it wasn’t insured,” when you complain about something that went wrong that was under their control. (It seems the Artesia, CA, post office has a special drop-kick-and-thrash machine for both envelopes and packages, and special delay of weeks on delivering Priority mail.) There was a woman at Lowe’s hardware in Fort Worth, TX, who was buying fans, and mentioned, “I have to set up an electric company in this new house. I suppose I’m stuck with TXU.” The clerk and I simultaneously said “NO!” but I was the one who was able to tell her how to do a good search to make a choice – “Go to Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation (watchdognation.com) web site and look for his articles about how to choose an electric company.” Dave Lieber is the consumer advocate columnist with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and he solves this kind of problem and shares the whys and wherefores with his readers for a living. This guy is good. He’s smart, he’s efficient, and I bet when he phones and has someone by the short hairs because of their company’s poor customer service, he’s a bit of a pain in the ass (though I do believe him when he says he tries really hard to be super polite, because he records his calls and if he needs to use them as evidence, he doesn’t want to sound like the bully in the conversation). And that old honey versus vinegar thing. I wish I had his discipline – I’ve had to hang up on some of these folks, telling them “I’m so angry at you I can’t be polite any more. Goodbye.” At least I learned from Dave to stop before I became rude, not slog forward and accomplish little. Early in the book Lieber notes that 15 minutes a day to solve some of these problems may be the way to pace yourself, to not feel overwhelmed if you have several issues to solve. That’s a good strategy. And keep a separate folder and page of notes for each business and each call. Take names, real names, if possible. I’ve glossed over a few of the tricks that Dave Lieber discusses in this little gem of a book. You’ll have to read it to find his descriptions of how to make these techniques work. His chapters are each no longer than a typical newspaper column, so you can read through this book a short chapter at a time, or read through it cover to cover in one sitting. I still have work to do – my local Fort Worth cable company has the most obtuse billing system and the most inefficient customer service clerks I’ve ever encountered. Just try to get a credit to show up on your bill. They apply it to the “taxes and other charges” but it never seems to actually make the balance drop. So I’m still working on that. And on that, my best contact method is another one of Dave’s recommendations (and at least they’re pleasant to talk to, if their efforts still go for naught) is to type my frustration regarding this company into a line of my Twitter feed. Use the pound sign (hashmark) # with no space before the company name to make it easier for them to find your remarks. They’ll usually figure out who you are and actually call pretty quickly. I’ve heard from them within 30 minutes. Who knew? One of the other really important things Dave comments on is to say “thank you” when it due. I’ve used tweets and written blog entries where appropriate to do just that. So this book review is also a blog entry and a “thank you” to Dave Lieber for a job really well done. I’m happy with the choices I’ve made, but I don’t feel obligated to stay with these companies forever and ever, if they do me wrong. That’s a good lesson! Now, go ask a bunch of questions! # # # Maggie Dwyer of Fort Worth, Texas is a writer and web designer at University of Texas at Arlington Library. She’s a former park ranger naturalist and an avid organic gardener. Follow Maggie Dwyer’s blog here. Follow her “A Woman of Many Parts” blog here. Follow Maggie Dwyer on Twitter @Maggie_Dwyer