With a huge tropical storm, Hurricane Sandy, set to hit the East Coast in mere hours, it is expected that thousands of flights to and from the area will be impacted, causing a ripple effect of disruption for other travellers as their originating or connecting flights are cancelled, delayed and/or diverted. While we cannot control the weather, we can be prepared for what to do if our air travel plans are impacted by weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

Recently I was furniture shopping and found a perfect dining room suite. I thought to myself that even though it was expensive, if I purchased it on credit I wouldn't have to pay interest for a whole year. It sounded like a great deal but was there a catch? What did the interest start adding up and what was I responsible for?

As this is the time of year that people begin working on their new year’s resolutions, we thought it would be useful to provide some more information around gym membership contracts. Gym memberships as well as other types of memberships for fitness purposes (i.e. yoga, or swimming lessons) all fall under the category of continuing services contracts.

Do you know what a continuing service contract is? Do you think it is a contract which:

a) Provides for instruction, training, or assistance in body building and exercising
b) Applies to weight loss facilities and self defense lessons
c) Includes dance lessons
d) Gives the consumer access to membership to a health studio or gym
e) All of the above

We were recently contacted by a BC media outlet to speak about time shares and offer tips to consumers.  We wanted to share that interview with you as we think it has some good information.

Around this time of the year when it gets nicer outside, the Inquiry team begins receiving more calls about direct sales contracts.  Why might this be so you ask?  Typically direct sales contracts are made when a salesperson comes to your home (uninvited) and sells you a good or service.  This however does not apply to sales under $50.  Picture a door to door vacuum cleaner salesperson or someone offering a lawn care service.

Did you know that March is Fraud Prevention Month?  Last year, Consumer Protection BC wrote four columns for this national initiative.  The columns were all based on situations experienced by BC consumers who had contacted our organization for help.

Have you “liked” our Consumer Protection BC Facebook page?  If not, come find us!  On our facebook page, we like to start the day off by posting a “call of the day” tip and keep everyone up to date on the latest consumer trends. We also like to keep consumers up to date on Twitter so follow us @ConsumerProBC.