elby

I have a contract with a company for periodic and emergency service on the central air conditioner/heating unit in my house. Almost all houses in my area have these types of contracts since we have very hot summers and without one it is almost impossible to get an independent contractor to fix a broken unit on an emergency basis. (My unit has had problems two times and it is fairly new, so I know I must have a service contract.) I'm not pleased with my existing company and since their contract expires in January, I've started contacting other companies for quotes.

I contacted one company and they said wanted to come to the house to give me a quote and also to inspect the unit, and they refused to give a quote over the phone. I told them that I was still under a previous contract so I couldn't have an inspection or service done until the existing contract expired in January, otherwise it would void the existing contract - which was already paid for and which I didn't want to do.

The representative showed up, verbally discussed prices (nothing was given in writing) and then insisted on servicing our unit. I refused again, due to our existing contract with another company. He then said that we had to pay him $70 for a house call even though he didn't do anything and we had no contract with him, but if I signed a contract immediately then the visit would be free. I refused. He kept insisting and called his boss, who also insisted. I refused again. He wouldn't leave and wouldn't give me anything in writing. I finally told him to send me something in writing, and he finally wrote up paperwork with an amount due on it, which he tried to get me to sign. He said the paperwork was just to confirm that he'd been in my house and didn't mean anything. (Yeah, right...) I still refused to sign and he got mad. He insisted on being paid immediately, and at that point I told him I didn't appreciate "strong arm" tactics and I walked him to the door and told him to leave. (By the way - he was a rather large guy, and I'm female, not that that makes much difference, but it was rather threatening and upsetting.)

So now I'm sitting here with a bill for $70, when he didn't do anything but sit at my dining room table for about ten minutes and talk about pricing. I know what I'd like to do with the bill, but realistically - I think the company will pursue this, and I think it would hurt any case I would have against them if I just ignore it and hope they go away (which is what I'd like to do, actually).

Does anyone have any (valid) suggestions or experience in handling this sort of situation ? Thank you.

I frequently pick up prescriptions at Walgreens for my father, who is elderly. Sometimes he accompanies and sometimes he doesn't. During the last few weeks, whenever I went to pick up a prescription for him, they showed me a screen on their computer that requires me to enter the last four digits of his telephone number. My father does not have a telephone and I have never given them my number and after a very bad experience with their e:mail system (and two years of contacting them) I was finally removed, at my request, from their computer system. Now, it appears that they are guessing at my telephone number since the digits that they show me (area code and first four numbers) are incorrect, which I have told them - they are telephone numbers I've had many years ago. When I tell them that they don't have my phone number, the druggist tells me that if I don't enter the last four digits then I won't be allowed to pick up my father's medication. (Today, this involved heart medication, which he must have and which has been prescribed by his doctor.) So, I tell them that their phone number is incorrect and I refuse to give them a phone number since my father doesn't have a phone and mine is unlisted. (My father does call in his prescriptions, but they haven't used that number in their computer system.) Then they stand there and refuse to do anything or give me the prescription without the number. Today, I just stood there and looked at them, and finally the druggist asked to see my picture ID (my address is the same as my father's, and our last name is the same).

Any ideas how I should handle this in the future? How can they refuse to fill a prescription (it is never for pain meds or any other restricted substance) unless I give up a phone number - that doesn't exist ? I can understand asking for ID (since I'm female and obviously not my father), but they usually just insist on me entering the last four digits of the phone number they have and they have refused to accept any other ID.

I know that different states have different laws for Medicaid. Does anyone know what the laws are for Florida, in particular - is there an amount (and how much is it) that a person has to spend down to in order to qualify for Medicaid. (For example, in Missouri a person could keep approximately $103,000 plus their personal possessions such as their house and car, and then they would qualify for Medicaid coverage.) Also, can they go after an immediate family member (other than a spouse) for payment of unpaid bills, if the person qualifying lives with the family member ?

My microwave is emitting large amounts of electromagnetic radiation - whether or not it is in use. It is a new model, made within the last year. I've had several microwaves before this, and only one really old one (over 30 years old) ever emitted anything (and I immediately replaced that). I am a chemist and have an electromagnetic detector, which is how I know it is emitting, and it is so high that it is off scale. I've contacted the manufacturer and tech support and repair and they all act like they have no idea and won't do anything to fix it.

Are there regulations for the amount of EMR a microwave is permitted to emit ? If so, where would I find them ? (The repairman is coming tomorrow, again, so I'm looking for a quick answer and will give points to anyone who gives me enough info so I can do battle tomorrow.)

When I my friend got her driver's license in Florida, they had her look into a machine and tell them which side a dot was on. The people at the dmv said it was an eye test, but they only did it once, her head had to be pressed exactly against a forehead rest, and there were no letters or anything - just the dot. I think it was a retinal scan.

Is it a retinal scan? The dmv wouldn't tell me, and I can't find anything out about it on the dmv websites. I've talked to other people who had to do this, too. And, can I refuse to do it and still get my license ? Or can I insist on a regular eye test instead ?

Are retinal scans being done in Florida when a driver's license is issued, and is a person required to submit to one in order to get a driver's license in Florida or can you opt out ?

I've heard both good and bad about them. Does anyone live there ? Best good or bad, with justification, gets the points.

I have private pay health insurance and I live in New Jersey. I lived in NJ for years, spent several years in another state, and then moved back to NJ a year ago. I have never been without health insurance, and I had private pay Blue Cross/Blue Shield in the other state and now have it again in New Jersey.

On my one year anniversary in NJ, BC/BS raised my rates by over 20%. Supposedly, they can't raise it more than 15% if you have had continuous coverage (which I have had) since 2009, however they are saying that my having BC/BS health insurance in another state (where I lived at the time) doesn't count, even though it is the same company. I've gotten a real runaround from them, and get different answers every time I call (answers such as - the other state is on a different computer system and we can't access it, we can't be bothered to confirm everyone's previous insurance coverage (even though I offered to send them proof of previous coverage), etc). Can someone help clarify the actual rules? Can they raise my rates by over 15%? And if not, how do I fight it?

A friend of mine recently passed away. Before he died, he gave a friend of his some items which he wanted me to have, and he put this in his will. The friend has refused to give me the items. I've been asking his friend for the items for months, and he has ignored me.

Now, the friend suddenly contacted me and said he will either send me the items immediately, or he'll pay me a small amount of money for them which is much less than they are worth. I believe that he kept a number of the items but I have no way to prove it without seeing all the items, and he won't let me see them before he sends them to me.

I'm unemployed and I had to move in with a friend for a while, so I don't have room for the items (that's why I was asking him to give them to me for months - so I could sort them out and deal with them while I had the room) and I'm unemployed so I can't afford to put them in storage. I have no place to put them now.

He says he doesn't care if I don't have room for the items, he's going to ship them immediately if he doesn't hear from me, and if I refuse to accept them then he says I've given up all rights to the items and he won't pay me anything, either. I can't take the items now, he won't wait, and he won't negotiate on the amount of money he offered. And if I take the money, he says I have to sign a paper stating that I accepted the money in exchange for all of the items, which I know won't be true and I can't do because I won't lie.

What should I do?

I recently inherited a large collection of science fiction books. I am looking to sell them. They are located in my friend's house, on his bookshelves. I've been very ill and I'm unable to pack them up or move them, and it is not feasible for me to sell them individually on ebay or the internt since it is a large collection. I've even contacted charities to donate them, but they want the books packed up and delivered to them. (I'm rather not burn them - the house doesn't have a fireplace, so I'd still have to pack them up.)

Does anyone know where I could get rid of them, without having to spend time or any money on my part ?

How can I find out if a lawyer is licensed to practice in a state other than the one where he resides and has his office ?

If there is a website, I'd appreciate the address.

In 2009, I'll have the lowest earnings that I'll probably ever have in my life (bad year). But, I'm expecting a substantial tax refund. I would rather use the refund to pay taxes on a IRA to Roth IRA conversion (My income is low enough to permit the conversion in 2009). However, I would just like to use the money in the refund and not have to add to it.

I know how much the tax refund will be. How can I find out how much I can convert to a Roth IRA so that I just use up the refund? (In other words, for example, if I convert $5,000 from an IRA to a Roth IRA, how much would that cost me in taxes, assuming I am in the lowest tax bracket?)

If anyone can answer this - to give me a guideline on how much to convert based on the refund, or point me to a website that can calculate this, I would appreciate it.

I recently moved to a single storey condo, and I hear a humming noise every night which sounds like a transformer, or maybe a capacitor discharging. It seems to occur around the same time each night (around 5:30AM), although this can vary. The noise (a constant, very low pitched humming) can also be heard near the meter box outside. I've had our electric company check it but they can't find anything, have no idea what it is, and won't do anything. I also had a plumber check (the electric co. suggested this) but he found nothing, and I've had electricians from the condo maintenance check and they can't find anything (although they only work during the day, when it doesn't happen). The noise is fairly loud and wakes me up every night, and other people have heard it inside the condo, too. There are also "vibrations" and when I put a compass near the areas - all on a straight line inside the condo from the meter box, the needle deflects and vibrates. What could be causing this, and how can I get this fixed/stopped? Is there some type of electrical engineering company (with more sensitive meters, etc.) that can check this type of thing out?

I have a humming noise in my condo, and I would appreciate any help in finding the source and stopping it.

Six months ago, I moved into a single storey duplex condo. At approximately 4:30 AM every day (time may vary slightly, but there's no pattern to it), a low pitched humming noise starts. It usually lasts until around 8:30 AM, but this may also vary by several hours, although it never lasts past about 9AM. It is a very low pitched hum and once it starts there is no interruption of the noise until it suddenly stops. I live in a retirement area and no one else has been able to hear it, however I have always had exceptional hearing and can sometimes hear transformers, high pitched alarm systems in stores, etc. So you don't think I'm crazy, I have two master's degrees and worked as a chemist in quality control until I retired, so I spent my career being paid to notice things that were out of the ordinary. I told our maintenance crew about the noise, but the noise starts and stops before anyone is on duty and they won't send anyone in early. I am not on any medication and am in perfect health (verified by a doctor). This noise is sometimes also accompanied by a vibration (the vibration only occurs later in the morning) which can cause my bed to vibrate very slightly. (I stood a glass of water on the mattress during one particularly strong incident and I could see the standing waves form on the surface of the water - and I had a witness who also saw it.) I've tried turning off all the circuit breakers in the house, but the humming continues unaffected. My neighbors who live in the other side of the duplex have never heard the noise, and they recently closed down their house and went to Florida, so nothing is on there. Several months ago the humming was much worse and maintenance tracked it down to our automatic underground water sprinker system which went on every morning at 4:30AM, so they changed the timer on my house to come on at 10:30 PM. Now, the water system has been flushed and emptied and is turned off for the winter.

I don't know what else to try to find the source of this humming. It wakes me up almost every night, and some nights it is a bit intense and it wakes me up with a headache. I really like the house and don't want to move and don't want to permanently sleep in the living room. I want to resolve this problem.

To summarize:

1. The humming occurs every night starting sometime around 4:30 AM and usually lasts until 8:30AM, although it may stop sooner than that. Times may vary slightly, and I can't see a pattern to it. Also, it is low pitched and it just starts - there's no bang or anything else, so it is hard to really hear it start. It's just quiet one minute and the next minute the humming has already started. It goes off the same way.

2. The humming mainly occurs in my bedroom and bathroom (front left corner of the condo, with a window in the front and two windows on the sides. It doesn't matter if the windows are open or closed - the humming remains the same). The humming is always at the same pitch and usually the same intensity, and it sounds like a transformer humming. It is very low in pitch and always consistent, and once the humming starts there are no breaks - it is continuous each night until it stops, and it doesn't resume again until around 4:30AM the next morning.

3. Our attached neighbors never hear it, and I've never heard it when I've gone over by them. They have a metal electrical "box" (about 3 feet square) in their front yard which Maintenance said could be a power circuit or box (?) however I've never heard it hum or make any noise, even when the humming was occurring in my bedroom.

4. I've turned off all the power in the house but this doesn't affect the humming. I don't have any timers on anywhere in the house (not even with the furnace or water heater). It even occurs when the furnace and air conditioning are turned off.

5. Occasionally the humming seems to affect my bed, causing the bed to vibrate slightly. This only occurs later in the morning, probably around 6:30 AM or later, if it does occur.

6. There is a huge open field behind our house with power lines at least a hundred yards in the distance. The power lines are on property that belongs to the power company's right of way. I've walked back there and never heard humming. Dozens of houses in my complex also have their backs to this open field and some of them are much closer to these power lines but no one else hears this humming. I've walked around the entire outside of the house and never heard the humming.

7. There is an open space (lawn) next to my bedroom on the side, with grass and trees. There is a cable box connection that is about a foot tall about 50 feet from my bedroom, but I've checked and there is no hum coming from it. The next closest house is about 75 feet away, beyond some trees, and it faces slightly away from mine, on a slight hill. The