How we saved readers $560,000
The companies ranged from hospitals and cable providers to contractors and solar installers. The refunds stretched from as low as $10 to as high as $194,000. The solutions included helping save a college student’s life and a disabled veteran’s home.
In total, more than 650 readers contacted Call For Action at The Arizona Republic this year seeking assistance solving problems with businesses and government agencies.
Call For Action reporters Rebekah Sanders and Robert Anglen worked with about 20 volunteers to save readers more than $560,000.
Here are some of the cases we solved for Arizonans.
If you have a problem that needs attention, find our contact information on Page 2D.
1. Rescuing home of a disabled veteran — and 75 others
When a stranger knocked on Jim Boerner’s door and said his Mesa mobile home had been auctioned because he was late to pay a few hundred dollars in property taxes, the disabled veteran thought there must be a mistake. He was right.
Boerner had paid by the deadline, but a county paperwork mix-up caused his home to be sold anyway. After the story gained international attention, a judge invalidated the sale and saved Boerner’s home.
The story prompted the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office to visit other mobile home owners before their homes went to auction. As a result, 75 people settled their accounts and kept their homes.
2. College student’s life saved
Caitlin Secrist, a southern Arizona college student, needed surgery to fix the pancreatitis that doubled her over in pain and threatened her life.
But when her local hospital went bankrupt, Secrist’s medical records, along with hundreds of other patient records, were held hostage as creditors argued over who would pay to release them. The quarrel delayed her surgery for months.
An investigation by Call For Action resulted in a change to state law that
strengthened protections for medical records. And Secrist finally received her file, allowing her to proceed with treatment.
3. $17,000 refund for botched kitchen remodel
A botched Home Depot kitchen remodel left Filomena Parra with nowhere to cook or wash dishes except her garage. Her daughter, Alejandra, who is blind and autistic, had to be confined to back bedrooms for fear of tripping over unfinished construction and boxes of materials.
“We are extremely sorry for this, and it is not representative of the work we do,” Home Depot spokeswoman Margaret Smith said after Call For Action notified her of the problem. “We will make every effort to resolve this for the Parra family.”
The company refunded Parra the full $17,000 she had spent on the remodel. She hired another company to do the job.
4. Teacher charged twice for same medical procedure
What one Glendale woman thought would be a simple surgical procedure turned into a fight to get an explanation for a nearly $1,000 bill that she said made no sense.
Brooke Alonzo, a math and science teacher in Glendale, was charged for two CT scans at Banner-University Medical Center on the same day, even though she only needed one.
She tried for months to get a refund, with no success. Then Alonzo contacted Call For Action, whose volunteers reached out to Banner. The company admitted its mistake and canceled the charge.
5. A new home for women’s volleyball team
A group of senior women who played water volleyball for fun and exercise thought they had struck a deal with LA Fitness to move locations because the company’s gym in Scottsdale was scheduled to close.
But not long before the doors were to be shuttered, the friends learned the company didn’t want to keep its promise.
That decision was reversed when a reporter reached out for comment. LA Fitness promptly told the women they were welcome to play at the new location anytime.
6. Verizon honors $940 in discounts previously denied
Sue Casey made sure to clarify the deal with Verizon Wireless representatives: She could upgrade the family’s phones and cut her monthly phone bill roughly in half. She signed up.
But the discounts never came, and customer service officials said they couldn’t honor the original deal, Casey said.
The company told a Call For Action volunteer that the offer should never have been given. But as a show of good faith to its longtime customer, Verizon said it would honor $940 in discounts for her.
7. A new pool fence for adoptive mom
The pool-fence giveaway seemed like a godsend. Nya Johnson, a registered nurse who recently adopted an infant and had fostered more than 40 children, won a contest through Fulton Homes, KMLE Country 107.9 FM and A Safe Pool
to install a security fence around the pool in her backyard.
The problem: The fence that was installed didn’t meet Peoria code for a pool fence and it couldn’t pass Arizona’s rigorous suitability standards for foster and adoption homes, threatening to derail Johnson’s adoption proceedings.
Questions from Call For Action prompted the radio station to cover the costs to install a new fence that met safety requirements.
8. Solar company donates to pastor after he was scammed
Jason Feeser, a church pastor who builds furniture on the side, was hoping to save money and help the environment when he paid AEOS Energy almost $24,000 to install rooftop solar on his family’s home.
But the company did no work, closed its doors and told Feeser and at least six other Arizona homeowners that it would not give their money back, according to state officials.
After Call For Action wrote about the scam, a different Arizona solar company, Our World Energy, donated and installed a rooftop system worth about $30,000 for the family.
9. Making sure Marine Corps veteran gets his passport
Manuel Martinez was born in California in 1941 in a shack no bigger than his living room today. His parents, who were field workers, raised seven children in the wood-slat home.
Martinez joined the Marine Corps, became a truck driver, bought a home in Phoenix and raised a family.
Then he tried to apply for a passport and discovered the family doctor who delivered him at home 78 years before had never recorded his birth, so he did not have a birth certificate. Martinez’s passport was denied.
A Call For Action volunteer followed up with him as he submitted rounds of documentation to state and federal agencies. He finally received a delayed birth certificate and got his passport.
10. Snowbird gets $500 back for cable company’s mistake
David Wiegand alerted his cable company, AT&T, that he was returning to Arizona after visiting his home in Wisconsin. He asked to transfer his cable TV service.
But the company never turned off his cable in Wisconsin, leaving Wiegandwith hundreds of dollars in bills, he said.
After a couple of calls from the Call For Action team, Wiegand received $500 back from AT&T.
Reporter Rebekah L. Sanders investigates issues of fraud and abuse involving businesses, health-care entities and government agencies. Contact her at rsanders@azcentral.com or follow her on Twitter at @RebekahLSanders.
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