Everyone knows that health care costs are going through the roof, and as a result so is the price of health insurance.  So when Kaiser Permanente advertised coverage for only $3 a day, it caught Mouse Print*’s attention.

Coverage for prescriptions, doctors’ visits, hospitalization, and emergency care for only $3 a day?  Wow!

After trying zip codes in Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois with no coverage available, a Maryland zip code finally yielded some policies and prices.  

*MOUSE PRINT:  A policy for one 50-something male would cost monthly:

No policy was anywhere close to the advertised $3 a day, and the best plan was seven times higher.  In fact, at least in Maryland, you would have to be in your 30s or younger to find a policy at the advertised price.  And what do you get for your premium dollar even at over twice the advertised price?  You must first pay $8,000 out of your own pocket (in addition to the premiums) before you get “free” doctors’ visits and hospitalization coverage.

Kaiser’s $3 ad is a come on without adequate disclosure that it applies with severe coverage limitations and applies to a narrow segment of customers.

Many major airlines (Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Airways) are limiting the number of bags you can check free to one per coach passenger, effective May 5, 2008. UPDATE: American Airlines just announced it will limit the free allowance to one bag for tickets purchased on or after May 12, 2008.

Some people will be exempt from the new charges. As one example, here is who gets a free pass at Delta:

*MOUSE PRINT: “Business Elite® and First Class passengers are allowed 3 checked bags at no charge up to 70 lbs. ” [see checked baggage rule]

What are the fees if you go over the limit at Delta for coach passengers?

*MOUSE PRINT:

So the first extra bag is $25 each way, but additional bags can be as high as $180 each way. And if you are flying overseas, forget it. They could ding you for as much $600 each way.

To add insult to injury, Delta still maintains other baggage rules that must be complied with, or you will be assessed an additional penalty:

*MOUSE PRINT:

*MOUSE PRINT: Delta actual says:

You’ll be charged an excess baggage fee each time you go over any one of the free allowances.

For example, if you have an extra piece of baggage that goes over the weight limit and the size limit, then you’ll be charged 3 times:

• once for the extra bag,
• once for going over the size limit, and
• once for going over the weight limit.

Fees are for each additional bag, each way.

In other words, you will be triple surcharged.  If that was your second bag, it would cost you $25 for going over the limit, plus $80 more because it was too heavy, plus $150 more because it was oversized.  That is $255 in all.  And the charge is each way.

The rules vary airline to airline. Here is a summary of airline baggage policies with links to the actual policy detail.

The friendly skies are looking anything but friendly these days.

1&1 is a big domain registrar and web hosting service, and they are celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2008. To attract attention, they have taken out full page ads in computer magazines offering a “50% off Everything*” sale.

The company has been known for low priced domains, typically $5.99 a year.  They just went up to $6.99, but given that they are having a 50% off sale, this would still be a quite a deal.   But the ad says that domains are $6.12 during the half price sale.  Huh?

Maybe the answer is that asterisk after the word “everything.” Usually that means that not everything is really on sale.  That is not the case here.

*MOUSE PRINT:

They are only giving you 50% off the first three months of the services they sell by the year.  With that kind of logic, a supermarket could advertise 50% off eggs, but in the fine print say that the discount only applies to three of the 12 eggs in the carton. 

One has to wonder if this company’s real name is 1&1 = 3.

There are certain things we take for granted when it comes to product sizes: a carton of eggs will have a dozen eggs; milk comes in quarts, half gallons, and gallons; and margarine and butter are sold by the pound.

Cross off margarine from that list. These two “3 pound” tubs of Country Crock margarine look identical:

However, checking the net weight statement reveals a surprise.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The three pound tub is now three ounces short. Mouse Print* asked the company why they downsized the product. They replied:

Unilever Foods takes great pride in offering the highest quality products at reasonable and fair prices, and we apologize for the inconvenience our recent packaging change has caused.

In order to maintain price, we have reduced the size of the container for several reasons:

- Increased costs of raw materials, including ingredients and packaging materials
- Transition to Trans Fat Free products
- Tamper resistant containers

[In a separate letter, the company added:] A redesign of the product line was undertaken which involved packaging changes that had an impact on the net fill weight of the products. Prior to implementation, the changes were thoroughly tested with consumers to ensure optimal consumer satisfaction.

Of course, I am sure consumers applauded the company for removing three ounces from the container and not calling that fact to their attention. This is how some sneaky manufacturers opt to pass on a hidden price increase by just shrinking the product a little, and keeping the price same.

Many animal owners love to pamper their pets.  Whether it is with special grooming products, cutesy outfits, or special food, nothing is too good for their little furry friends.

Purina One is inviting cat owners to “see the difference” in their “exciting new kibble mixture.” It is “great nutrition”, they say, and is “made with real ingredients.”  For their salmon and tuna flavor cat food, they use real salmon and real tuna, as pictured above [and in their Valassis ad, 1/28/07].

Exactly how much salmon and tuna is in this cat food?

*MOUSE PRINT: According to the product label, which lists ingredients in the order of predominance, there is more fat in Purina One than fish. In fact, salmon and tuna are the seventh and eighth ingredients down the list, just before dried yeast.  The product is actually mostly poultry-by product meal and other ground grains, rather than what the picture depicts — lots of fish and a little bit of grain.   

Poultry by-product meal, whole grain corn, brewers rice, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), salmon, tuna, brewers dried yeast, non-fat yogurt, calcium carbonate, phosphoric acid, animal digest, caramel color, salt, potassium chloride, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, choline chloride, calcium phosphate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, taurine, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.

To try to better understand exactly how much salmon and tuna are in Purina One, MrConsumer asked the company.  They responded that “the exact amount of ingredients used in our formulas is considered proprietary.”

Their website indicates that one cup of Purina One is 106 grams, and that is the largest daily portion recommended for the largest cat.  Assuming all the other ingredients comprise at least 80% of the product (and that is probably a conservative assumption), then only about 20 grams — about a tablespoon and a half — of dried fish is actually in it.

Funny how some products can be fishy and not fishy at the same time.

When it comes to shopping for travel, the price that catches your eye is not always the price you pay.  And rarely is it lower than advertised.

Hotwire.com is a site that offers discounted airfares, hotel, and car reservations by not disclosing what airline, hotel or car rental agency you are contracting for until after you pay. (It is like Priceline without the price guessing games.)

On it website, Hotwire advertised car rental rates as low as “$13.95 with no hidden fees.”  Just beneath that it listed Boston with rates as low as $5.95.  What a deal!  Clicking on that link brings up the typical pricing form where you enter dates of travel.

For a one day rental from March 28 to March 29, the system returned the following price:

Yes, it is $3 higher than the lowest price, but it still a great deal.  The asterisk after “$8.95 per day” goes to this:

*MOUSE PRINT: 

* Rates are shown in US dollars. Total cost for Hotwire Discount rates includes applicable tax recovery charges and fees.

Indeed, this is more good news — $8.95 is price you really pay.  Or is it?

*MOUSE PRINT: On the next screen, the truth is revealed:

Adding the taxes and fees makes the total cost of the car triple the advertised price!

Unfortunately, the problem of advertising incomplete prices is not limited to Hotwire.  Most car rental companies, airlines, cell providers, and cable companies attract you with seemingly low priced packages only to relegate to the fine print or your first bill what the true total and complete price really is.

All these services have extraordinarily high fees, charges, and taxes added to the promoted price which can bring the total to 30%, 40% or more than advertised.  Here’s a novel idea: companies should make the price you see be the price you pay! 

If you live in one of the cities where Smart for Life has offices, no doubt you have seen their TV commercials touting their cookie diet.  “I lost 35 pounds in three months by eating cookies,” says one now slender client.

They say their cookies are made from extracts of fruits, vegetables, wheat and dairy, and their commercials show all those produce and grain ingredients being loaded into their cookies.  But, they only provide ingredients listings for three of their six cookies on their site. Here is their recipe for blueberry cookies.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Triple Filtered Water, Vegetable Glycerin, Doctors Protein BlendTM (Milk Protein, Egg Protein, Organic Whey Protein), Hydrolyzed Collagen (Gelatin), Organic Whole Oats, Organic Crisp Rice (Organic Brown Rice Flour, Organic Molasses, Calcium Carbonate), Organic Invert Sugar, Organic Dried Blueberries, Organic Whole-Grain Wheat Flour, Vegetable Gum, Organic Soybean Oil and/or Enriched Organic Golden Flax Meal (Organic Flax, Fish Oil), Vegetable Gum, Organic Fractioned Palm Oil, Raw Organic Oat and/or Wheat Bran, Organic Oat Flour, Organic Pure Tahitian Vanilla Extract, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Sea Salt, Natural Flavoring, Organic Nutmeg. Contains at least 60% Organic Ingredients.

Yum.  Notice that water is the first ingredient, meaning there is more of it by weight than another other ingredient.  And the only “vegetable” listed for the three cookies online is “vegetable glycerin” and “vegetable gum”.  No wonder some people around the country are selling 12 days’ worth of leftover cookies on Craigslist.  Worse, the cookies are not particularly nutritionally dense considering they will account for most of the food you will be eating daily.

The diet requires you to eat six cookies a day instead of breakfast, lunch and snacks.  For dinner, you are only allowed six ounces of protein and two half-cup servings of vegetables.  According to one of the company’s doctors who is interviewed, clients generally eat only about 800 calories a day.  So, at 105 calories per cookie, that would only leave 170 calories for dinner.  Eat hearty!

The commercial also claims “it will save you a fortune over other plans.”

*MOUSE PRINT: A two week supply of cookies is $129!  That is over $1.50 per cookie. (NutriSystem says their real food is about $10 a day, or about $140 for two weeks.)

In addition to the cost of the cookies, there is an initial evaluation and program fee,  including medical tests, and vitamins. That adds hundreds more to the cost.

The company’s website does, however, have good news for would-be clients:  ”No exercise needed to lose weight” and “Eating habits improve automatically and permanently”.

Sure.

With tax day less than a month away, cash-strapped consumers may be tempted to charge the balance they owe to a credit card, such as through the offer above (or via the electronic payment services approved by the IRS that accept credit cards).

The promotion says you could earn rewards for every dollar you charge.  The fine print, however, says:

*MOUSE PRINT: “Tax payments made with your credit card will be subject to a service fee…”  How much of a service fee?  It is 2.49 percent, or about $25 per $1000 charged.

But what about the rewards they promised?  Most reward credit cards only offer 1% back, so that would reduce your service fee to 1.49 percent or about $15 per $1000 charged.  The good news is that most credit card companies will treat this tax payment as a purchase rather than a cash advance (thus giving you a 20-25 days grace period with no finance charges or cash advance charges if you pay in full every month).  If you don’t pay it in full, regular finances charges will accrue on top of the 2.49 percent fee.

Some credit cards like Citi’s CashReturns card offer 5% back on everything for the first three months. Were you to use this card, you would actually make 2.5% on your tax payment.

A little known alternative to charging your taxes to your credit card is to put that charge on your debit card through a company called Link2Gov.

*MOUSE PRINT:  The fee is only $2.95, but your card must be a member of the NYCE, Star or Pulse networks.

Don’t charge more than is your bank account, or that will trigger overdraft fees, and/or finance charges from your bank.

Most experts, however, suggest paying your taxes the old fashioned way — by check.  You will enjoy a week or two of float, and not pay a penny extra in fees or finance charges.

Everyone has probably seen the commercials for Airborne — the cold remedy “developed by a school teacher who was sick of catching colds in class and on airplanes.”

Clearly, this sounds like a product that one would take to prevent catching a cold.

Even their website back in 2001 gave that impression and more:

“Crowded environments like Airplanes, Offices, and Schools are spawning grounds for germs that cause colds and sickness! AIRBORNE’S unique natural formula of seven Herbal Extracts, Antioxidants, Electrolytes, and Amino Acids, offers maximum vitamin and herbal protection for hours! Plus its natural ginger component helps fight nausea caused by motion sickness. Take at the first sign of a cold symptom or before entering crowded, potentially germ-infested places!  [It then quotes a user as saying:] A miracle cold buster!”

And a few years later they touted the results of a clinical trial on their website.

*MOUSE PRINT: Though there is page after page of mumbo jumbo, it does suggest a reduction in symptoms by those who took Airborne.  However, only 48 people actually took the product.

Fast forward to 2006.  ABC reported that Airborne’s clinical trial was conducted neither by scientists nor doctors, but rather by two guys hired to conduct this particular test.  The company then dropped references to it on its website.

Fast forward again to 2008.  Airborne just settled a class action lawsuit claiming that the company misrepresented the product, and it agreed to pay over $23 million back to purchasers.  [Get claim form here.]

The settlement agreement is lacking at least one key provision, however:

*MOUSE PRINT: There is no requirement that they refrain from making unsubstantiated claims in the future.

When MrConsumer’s dentist advised him that a new cavity might be in its earliest stages of development, he checked out fluoride rinses that claim to restore minerals to weak spots in tooth enamel and prevent cavities.

The granddaddy of brands is Act, formerly owned by Johnson & Johnson, and recently acquired by a company called Chattem.

Act comes in two sizes: 18 ounce and 33.8 ounce. Luckily for MrConsumer, Rite Aid had the large size on sale last week, and there was a rebate. It was a seeming no-brainer to buy the big size.

Upon closer examination of the ingredients label, MrConsumer found a shocker:

*MOUSE PRINT: The larger bottle has less than half the strength of fluoride compared to the smaller one.

Now who would ever expect that a different size bottle would have a different strength of the active ingredient? In fact, if you look at the larger bottle, there is a “2x” on it. Without reading carefully, one might assume that “2x” means twice the strength or twice the size, but certainly never half the potency. A closer examination reveals that is says “2x a day”. Okay, so you can use the product twice daily.

As it turns out, the company says the smaller bottle is a once a day product, and the larger one is a twice a day product. Apparently you get the equivalent amount of fluoride using the diluted version two times a day.

Nonetheless, with such an inconspicuous but important difference, countless customers in the habit of using the product once a day may buy the large size, rinse as usual, and unwittingly not get the protection they expect.