BeauBrendler posts

Last week we looked at Webloyalty's steps to address the flood of consumer complaints that helped trigger a Senate Commerce Committee investigation in May. This week we'll look at Vertrue, subpoenaed by the committee in late July when it didn't comply with Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W. Va.) request for internal documents.

First thing a consumer needs to know about Vertrue are the names of its various loyalty and other marketing programs, in case you have a mystery credit card charge you're trying to track down. Good luck! You'll be dealing with Vertrue's Adaptive Marketing subsidiary. Frankly, you might want to consider grinding your credit card through the laundry a few times, then reporting it lost to get rid of recurring charges. Sure, your credit rating may take a hit, but that may be better than enduring the frustration of trying to get these charges removed. And it probably beats your chances of getting through to somebody at Vertrue's corporate Web site.

If you've struggled with weight loss, it's possible a doctor may have prescribed you the drug phentermine.

It comes from the amphetamine family (its name is a composite of phenyl-tertiary-butylamine) and therefore is a Class IV controlled substance, putting it in the same league as Xanax, Valium and chloral hydrate, the stuff someone's always putting in James Bond's drinks to knock him out. No controlled substance prescription, no phentermine for you.

Remember the fen-phen scare from the 1990s? The combo of fenfluramine and phentermine may have helped some people lose weight, but it also gave them heart attacks, and litigation costs are still running into the gazillions.

Consumer Reports WebWatch, a well-known watchdog site that detailed web-based scams and schemes and worked to educate consumers about online perils, is being shut down by its parent, Consumers Union, Walletpop,com has learned.

WebWatch started eight years ago, and in its early years it was a grant-fueled project backed by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute. But that grant ended a few years ago and the non-profit advocacy group Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, had been shouldering the costs since.

"We've decided we're not able to continue it," Consumers Union Vice President Ken Weine said. "It was a dollars and cents issue."