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Topic : 12/24 Fighting the System

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Created on : Monday, September 22, 2008, 06:59:18 pm

Author : DrPhilBoard2

(Original Air Date: 09/26/08) To sue or not to sue, that is the question for today’s guests. If you’ve ever felt violated, wronged or scammed, it’s time to learn how to fight for your rights! Dr. Phil’s first guest, Robin, says she was blindsided by officers in an airport when she mistakenly went through security with a bottle of contact solution. She says she was beaten so badly, she thought she might die. See her ordeal caught on tape, and find out what she’s doing about it. Then, after Kate’s plane was grounded for nine hours, and the passengers were without food, water, medical attention or any information, she created the Coalition for an Airline Passenger’s Bill of Rights. Today show travel correspondent Peter Greenberg and longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader join the show with tips on how to travel safely and how to fight for your rights as an airline passenger. Next, Katerina says lingerie powerhouse Victoria’s Secret stole her design for a bra, and she’s not going to take it! Plus, have you ever bought a lottery ticket? Witness one man’s recent discovery within the Virginia State Lottery that has him steaming mad. Are lotteries just scams? Learn how you can fight back without suing, and what you should know before you decide to litigate. Join the discussion

Find out what happened on the show.

As of January, 2009, this message board will become "Read Only" and will be closed to further posting. Please join the NEW Dr. Phil Community to continue your discussions, personalize your message board experience, start a blog and meet new friends.

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jewelsf

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September 29, 2008, 10:27 am PDT

Wow!

Quote From: casasue

I was a very loyal customer of Victoria's Secret for years. I had the credit card and everything. I LOVED their "deals" where you buy so much merchandise and get $75.00 or more off the purchase. That is until I looked closely when I would want an exchange. They actually fudge things to take away the "offer" and then make it bigger, so when the next item is done, you don't get as much back. Why would they do this on an exchange???? No money was being refunded really, except a small credit after the exchange was done. It's so conveluted it ALMOST washes out in the laundry. But what happened was, I was suppose to get back about $3.00 after all was said and done in the exchange. The way they did it in their really messed up way, they charged my card $6.95. It's not a lot....for ONE person...but you add that up over the tens of thousands of customers and you got a nice chunk of change!!! The weird thing is it was an even exchange pretty much...$98.00 worth of merchandise returned for $90 of merchandise to be exchanged for....plus the $5.95 shipping charge. All from ONE ORDER in ONE PACKAGE. So we are talking about a $3.00 credit back to me, give or take a dime here or there considering taxes! And they did it so weird I couldn't HELP but notice. And when I wrote to VICTORIA'S SECRET...they stood firm. I had to threaten them with going to get help elsewhere. All of a sudden, without admitting they were doing something shady or wrong, they said they were going to refund the "shipping and handling changes" (something that is already on the ticket in the amount of $5.95) and the amount they were refunding for that was $11.95???? WOW. SO, any of you out there that does business with VICTORIA'S SECRET and does that OFFER DEAL with them and does the refund on 1/2 the order or an exchange....READ IT CAREFULLY!!!! VICTORIA SECRET more than likely will attempt to rip you off in my opinion from my experiences with them. They have done it with me several times and I am writing the NY State attorney generals office to file a complaint for unethical business practices. Sometimes you don't have to bring a suit to be heard. There are other ways to be heard. Buyers..... beware of VICTORIA SECRET!!! Anyone else have similar experiences like this....that you know of anyway?

At $3.00 or $4.00 it sounds like they are being so incredibly cheap on their part, until like you suggested, you add it up a thousand times over. There are many people who prefer not to deal with the hassle. That is what most of these companies depend on! I'm glad to see that you fought for what was your's and didn't give in. BTW, I stopped shopping with them a long time ago. Now when the catalog arrives, it goes straight into the trash. I wish they would stop sending them, save a tree! Maybe they assume they will wear me down? Not!

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jewelsf

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September 29, 2008, 11:16 am PDT

Someone with experience............

Quote From: sedmondson

I was an assistant manager at a convenience store and I handled the lottery a lot. It is true that the same game is put throughout a lot of stores and when the big or even the smallest prize is won not even the people behind the counters at the stores know they have been won. Once the roll is gone if there is another roll of the same game it is put out first. Im not saying its a scam like the prizes cant be won but something should be done about how they track what prizes have been won and what is still to be won.

This was very interesting coming from someone with experience who knows how the tickets are displayed. Although I would never assume that you or any of the other employees would have any idea what is going on behind the scenes. I personally have never bought the scratchers but I admit that I play the regular Lotto. That I happen to know is OK, because we won almost $4,000. one time. Actually it's my husband who buys the tickets and he never spends more than $5.00 a week on it. Not too much to worry about! And you're correct, they should be able to track what prizes that have already been won, if they don't do it already. The funny part of this entire story on the show? I already knew about this from watching a news program about it a couple of years ago. It was on one of those investigative shows like Dateline or 20/20, can't remember which one. But this situation (the scratcher/prize issue) "was" brought out into the open.

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jewelsf

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September 29, 2008, 11:27 am PDT

Concerning Lotto Scratch Off Tix!

This may be a "little" off topic but is something that I feel is still pertinent to this thread. I happen to know a woman who had become addicted to the Lottery scratch off tix. She had worked for my husband's employer for many, many years as his trusted office manager. She was in her late 50's to early 60's at the time. One time my husband had gotten into her company truck to go to lunch with the office staff and he happened to notice this "HUGE" pile of stuff on the floor below the ash tray. At first he assumed it was an unbelievable amount of ashes from her cigarettes but on closer inspection, realized that it was the debris from scratchers, that stuff that comes off when you scratch away? This pile was about 10 inches high and just a huge pile, he was in shock! Come to find out, down the road, that she had embezzled over 1/4 million dollars from their employer just to buy the tickets. Can you believe that? I'm sure that she never won more than $5.00 to $20.00 at the most throughout this whole time. She was convicted and ended up going to prison. She must not have had to stay there long though because we happened to run into her a couple of years later. Of course she pretended that she didn't know who we were, even though she had know my husband for more than 30 years. My point to this story? They can be just as addictive as any other vice. If you happen to like your money, keep it in the bank or your wallet. Don't pin your dreams on a ticket! Oh, and don't steal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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khammar

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September 29, 2008, 9:12 pm PDT

Airline Incompetency

I was not surprised to hear about the airline misconduct based on my most recent experience with an airline. I sent my 8 year old son on an airline by himself to visit his grandparents. We were required to pay an additional $75 per leg of the flight because of the additional work required by the flight attendant monitoring an unaccompanied minor. At the beginning of the flight, my son was told that he needed to remain in his seat at the end of the flight until the flight attendant took him to meet his grandfather. He was never reminded towards the end of flight to remain in his seat. He was so excited to see his grandparents and so when the plane landed, he got up and got off the plane with everyone and met up with his grandfather. My son and father-in-law were on their way to the baggage claim when someone from the flight came and told them to return to the gate because the airline employees were looking for them. When they returned to the gate, the flight attendant began to tell my son that he had done a bad thing by getting off the plane by himself. I could not believe this when I heard it because it was not his fault that he got off the plane. He is eight after all and we paid them to take care of him and they did not do what they were suppose to do. It wasn't as if there were multiple exits off the plane or an attendant at the front of the plane saying goodbye to every passenger as they got off the plane. My child was at risk because they did not do their job and tried to blame him instead of taking responsibility for their actions. All they needed to have done was remind him to remain in his seat as the plane was landing. We called to complain and the person we talked to told us there was nothing they could do except give us a travel voucher for a future flight. However, a few weeks later, we received a letter from the airline returning the $75 fee for that flight. We believe that this was to prevent us from suing them for child endangerment. Fortunately, the return flight went much smoother and he was told to wait and did wait for the flight attendant to take him off the plane. It certainly soured us on this airline!!

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jewelsf

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September 30, 2008, 1:13 pm PDT

They must charge for ..................................

Quote From: khammar

I was not surprised to hear about the airline misconduct based on my most recent experience with an airline. I sent my 8 year old son on an airline by himself to visit his grandparents. We were required to pay an additional $75 per leg of the flight because of the additional work required by the flight attendant monitoring an unaccompanied minor. At the beginning of the flight, my son was told that he needed to remain in his seat at the end of the flight until the flight attendant took him to meet his grandfather. He was never reminded towards the end of flight to remain in his seat. He was so excited to see his grandparents and so when the plane landed, he got up and got off the plane with everyone and met up with his grandfather. My son and father-in-law were on their way to the baggage claim when someone from the flight came and told them to return to the gate because the airline employees were looking for them. When they returned to the gate, the flight attendant began to tell my son that he had done a bad thing by getting off the plane by himself. I could not believe this when I heard it because it was not his fault that he got off the plane. He is eight after all and we paid them to take care of him and they did not do what they were suppose to do. It wasn't as if there were multiple exits off the plane or an attendant at the front of the plane saying goodbye to every passenger as they got off the plane. My child was at risk because they did not do their job and tried to blame him instead of taking responsibility for their actions. All they needed to have done was remind him to remain in his seat as the plane was landing. We called to complain and the person we talked to told us there was nothing they could do except give us a travel voucher for a future flight. However, a few weeks later, we received a letter from the airline returning the $75 fee for that flight. We believe that this was to prevent us from suing them for child endangerment. Fortunately, the return flight went much smoother and he was told to wait and did wait for the flight attendant to take him off the plane. It certainly soured us on this airline!!

Unbelievable! They really must be charging for everything now! It's not like it would actually cost the airline $75.00 for such a small amount of time to watch your child. And both ways yet! I have a niece who used to fly down to stay with my mom all of the time, there was never an additional charge for the service of a flight attendant to be in charge of her. It must somehow use extra fuel for this, I have no idea how, but it must.

I happen to agree with you that the flight attendant or airline was in the wrong here. Who in the world would expect an 8 year old to remember to stay in the seat without a reminder? Not me! And then to scold the child after wards? Wrong! Yes, I can understand the parents scolding the child just for the fact that it would be so dangerous to leave the plane without an escort, children need to be reminded that it is a dangerous place out there. But that should come from the parents, not the flight attendant.

Not only was this an example of irresponsibility, but personally, I still can't get over the idea that they now charge an additional $150.00 on top of the cost of the ticket for a child to visit grandpa! Ludicrous!

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yahweh1

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October 3, 2008, 1:21 pm PDT

Editing

Saw the repeat of the Show "Fighting the System". I saw that the show had been edited to remove Mr. Hoovers embrassed red faced emotion about being refereed to as 'anal'.

Dr. Phil, when we make an honest comment on a show and you revise it; "doesn't it discredit our original response"?

So I must say, "you and Mr. Hoover looked much better in the show today".

Sincerely,

Pastor YahWeh_Eahoue

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yahweh1

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October 3, 2008, 1:44 pm PDT

spell check

Quote From: yahweh1

Saw the repeat of the Show "Fighting the System". I saw that the show had been edited to remove Mr. Hoovers embrassed red faced emotion about being refereed to as 'anal'.

Dr. Phil, when we make an honest comment on a show and you revise it; "doesn't it discredit our original response"?

So I must say, "you and Mr. Hoover looked much better in the show today".

Sincerely,

Pastor YahWeh_Eahoue

referred not "refereed"...

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yahweh1

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October 3, 2008, 2:14 pm PDT

Many do know

Quote From: jewelsf

This was very interesting coming from someone with experience who knows how the tickets are displayed. Although I would never assume that you or any of the other employees would have any idea what is going on behind the scenes. I personally have never bought the scratchers but I admit that I play the regular Lotto. That I happen to know is OK, because we won almost $4,000. one time. Actually it's my husband who buys the tickets and he never spends more than $5.00 a week on it. Not too much to worry about! And you're correct, they should be able to track what prizes that have already been won, if they don't do it already. The funny part of this entire story on the show? I already knew about this from watching a news program about it a couple of years ago. It was on one of those investigative shows like Dateline or 20/20, can't remember which one. But this situation (the scratcher/prize issue) "was" brought out into the open.

I have often seen many Senior Citizens tell the lottery sellers to, "give me one off of the new roll". The store owners once hearing this often reply, "Oh yeah, right!"

Many have "told me" to always buy off of the new rolls even though I am not a ticket buyer.

Since this is a well known practice, I don't believe that it is effective or profitable.

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sheilasmom

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October 3, 2008, 7:58 pm PDT

we need to remember

it is very sad to me that we have forgotten already why we have airport security. these people are not there on a whim. they are not there to get their jollies from taking shampoo or other toiletries from people. these items can be easily used to create problems for airflight. is it likely to happen on every flight...absolutely not but do you want to be on the next plane that is used by an unstable person as a means to their end???/complacency is what breeds the grounds for evil people to do as they please.....i think the death of all those people Sept. 11 should be reason enough to be willing to give a little of our time...THEY LOST THEIR LIVES!! i for one do not find it invasive of my rights to have someone make sure the person next to me is not carrying something they shouldnt...i am happy to be your next to person checked.do you really think all those nut jobs who want to use our planes and people ....possibly your family member or you to make their point have gone away??? of course not they are just waiting for your complacency to set in. these people live by the old standard..patience is a virtue.

as to the woman abused at the airport by the airport metro>>>> we do nothave the whole story and it was not TSA that manhandled her.

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trigreen

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October 5, 2008, 2:07 pm PDT

Thank You

Quote From: jewelsf

What an excellent point you made about the CEO's!

Well, and it has only gotten worse since we last talked. Now our tax payer dollars are going to be going to corporate welfare for CEOs who ran their companies into the ground.

Seriously, we need Ralph Nader now more than ever to be put in charge and fix this mess that we call our government.

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