#consumer-protection

#consumer-protection

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Budget should have inspected the van when you returned it and quickly given you a detailed invoice explaining the $450 fee. Budget's own policy states that its cleaning charges will be reasonable (although it reserves the right to determine what is reasonable). California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act also prohibits deceptive claims, including vague fees. You should've taken photos of the van at pickup and return, even if you thought nothing was wrong,

"And then that's when I got the shock of my life," McLaren told the I-Team. "That tank of gas that I put in wasn't $79.34 like I had thought. It was $7,934."

In a frenzy of last-minute gift shopping and travel bookings, we can be more anxious, more distracted and more vulnerable. "There's a lot of hustle and bustle during the holiday season, so there's a lot more opportunities for scammers to steal from us," says Amy Nofziger, senior director of Fraud Victim Support at the AARP Fraud Watch Network, a fraud prevention service.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The broadband label framework was designed to work like nutrition labels, giving consumers a clear, consistent way to understand what services they are buying before they commit. After years of development and a bipartisan vote to implement these protections, we are now at the point where providers have integrated these labels into their systems and consumers are beginning to rely on them. This is not the moment to reverse course,

According to the lawsuit, Uber charged consumers for the Uber One subscription without their consent, billed them before the end of a free trial, and shared misleading claims about how much consumers can save with the subscription. Uber One subscribers were allegedly forced to go through a lengthy and difficult process to cancel the subscription, which could mean tapping through up to 23 screens and taking 32 actions.

The NCRC announced on Wednesday a tip line for anyone who believes fair lending laws have been violated, saying it has the expertise to investigate and the resources to take action when warranted. Individuals can submit confidential complaints regarding potential violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Housing Act, redlining, or unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices. Advocacy organizations have a key role to play in filling the gaps this administration is creating, Van Tol said.

The AGs have given Meta, Google, OpenAI, and others a deadline of January 16th, 2026 to respond to demands for more safety measures for generative AI, saying innovation is not "an excuse for noncompliance with our laws, misinforming parents, and endangering our residents, particularly children."

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

Boston police said the skimmers can be hidden inside or placed over an ATM's card reader, allowing them to copy information from a card's magnetic stripe or chip. In some cases, thieves also set up tiny cameras to capture a PIN as it's typed into the ATM. At store checkout counters, criminals may use plastic overlays on keypads or card readers that secretly collect card data.

Outrage has erupted among Independent readers after the UK energy watchdog Ofgem approved a 28bn investment to upgrade gas and electricity networks, which is expected to push household bills up by 108. Many pushed back at the idea that consumers should bear the cost, stressing that energy companies are already highly profitable and that past underinvestment is a result of prioritising shareholder dividends over infrastructure.

Mayes said the app deceives customers about the quality of its low-cost products and collects what she described as a shocking amount of sensitive data without the consent of users, including GPS locations and a list of other apps on users' phones. According to the lawsuit, prosecutors are concerned about Temu being subject to laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government, and that its code is designed to evade security reviews.

'selling air package holidays in the UK must hold an ATOL (Air Travel Organiser's Licence)'

We have a daily flight to Prague, during the draw, all the remaining seats on those flights on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday were all sold out. So before the draw was even concluded yesterday, we're completely full on our daily flight to Prague. What do we do? We added, within an hour of the draw yesterday, we had an extra 15 flights going out to Prague and returning from Prague on that week. Now the reality of those flights is the returns are empty

Reselling tickets for more than face value will be made illegal in the United Kingdom, The Guardian and BBC report. Set to be announced this week, the plans will make good on the Labour Party's 2024 election pledge to crack down on touting, amid the debate over rising concert ticket fees. Platforms reselling face-value tickets will be allowed to add service fees, but these will be subject to new limits, according to The Guardian.

The cases involve contracts bundling handsets with services. The contention is that customers who continued using the service after the minimum term ended were charged the same monthly fee, and not a SIM-only fee for continued use of the network. Plaintiff Justin Gutmann - understood to be a former executive at Citizens Advice - said he was seeking damages of more than £3 billion ($4 billion) as the "class representative" on behalf of millions of subscribers he claims were overcharged.

"It's all about the privacy of the data. And it's a very common practice that the businesses use your personal data. In many cases, without your knowledge, to be able to set prices or target you for advertising material," Ersin Uzun, executive director of Rochester Institute of Technology's Global Cybersecurity Institute, said.