Here at Consumer Protection BC, we receive hundreds of consumer inquiries each week. They come to us through our Call Centre, through our Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as through here, on our blog. For today’s post, we thought it might be fun to post a few consumer questions (and our answers!) about the hot topic of gift cards. We’ve gotten more than 20 comments on ONE of our posts on this topic alone!

Did you know that today is the Earth Day, an annual day that’s designed to mark environmental protection? While consumer protection is our main focus here at Consumer Protection BC, we wanted to share three easy ways you can “green up” your life – saving you money while helping to protect our planet. Happy Earth Day, everyone!

How many times have you received a text message from an unknown number, letting you know that you’ve won an all-expense-paid tropical vacation or expensive electronic, and that all you need to do is click on a link in the message to claim the prize? Seems a little too good to be true, doesn’t it? For our final Fraud Prevention Month-related blog post, we’re putting texting and app scams in the spotlight. 

We often get questions from consumers who are asking about the legitimacy of a certain business. There can be a wide variety of choices in any sector and sometimes it can be hard to know which business to frequent.  We know that here are many legitimate businesses out there who are commited to raising the bar in their industry and we want to help you make an informed purchasing decision.

It's Consumer Awareness Week this week (March 15-22, 2013). We thought we would share our top five tips of all time with you today.

Curious?

Well, it’s official. As of today, the Royal Canadian Mint has stopped distributing pennies to financial institutions, and businesses are starting to round cash transactions to the nearest five-cent increment. Even though the penny won’t completely disappear anytime soon (there is still an estimated $30 billion of them currently in circulation), there are some things you, as a consumer, may need to know.

Retail stores aren’t bound by any law to provide refunds or returns to consumers. Some consumers opt to use a credit card when making a purchase as it can add some extra protection (in comparison to using cash or a debit card). Check out this blog post if you’re curious to know what’s involved with requesting – and potentially receiving – a refund from a merchant or credit card provider.

As you know, our original Consumer Protection BC blogger, Michelle, left our organization in May. We are happy to introduce you to our new blogger, Melaina!

After years of searching, my friend has finally found the perfect house. Now comes the packing, cleaning and moving. When we imagine what our furniture will look like in our new home, we don’t pictures broken lamps, scratched chairs or dented bookshelves. But no matter how close or far you are moving, or how careful people are, accidents can happen. It is important to review your moving insurance before you move.

We have all had that knock at the door. You are usually just sitting down to dinner or are up to your elbows in dish water.   You answer the door to find someone “just happens to be in the area” and has extra material for paving your driveway, has a ladder handy to wash your windows, or has a vacuum that you just have to hear about. We often feel hesitation around starting a conversation with a door to door sales person but we do it anyway because we want to be polite. And then we don’t know how to end the conversation.