Need tips for water-wise landscaping during the drought? Do you need to dispute a Smog Check test result? Have questions about prepaid cards? The latest and greatest edition of the Consumer Connection magazine is here with helpful and informative articles that may help answer your questions.
Click here to view the magazine online.
New safety tips are available from the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology!
The latest pamphlets, Chemical Exfoliation Safety Tips and Waxing Safety Tips, are now available online for viewing and downloading. Check them out for important safety information, and take a look at the other downloadable publications, including Pedicure Safety Tips, Manicuring, and fact sheets on topics such as chemical hair services, medical spas, skin tag/mole removal, and whirlpool foot spas.
For more information, visit the Board’s website at www.barbercosmo.ca.gov or call (800) 952-5210.
The Department of Consumer Affairs brought home seven gold and four silver awards at this year’s State Information Officers Council (SiOC) Awards held on May 13, 2015, in Downtown Sacramento. DCA received the highest number of total awards in this year’s contest, with CalPERS coming in second with eight. The yearly awards recognize the best of the best in State service in the arena of communications. DCA’s Office of Public Affairs, Office of Publications, Design and Editing, Medical Board of California, and State Board of Pharmacy submitted entries in this year’s contest. SiOC posted a press release with the entire list of winners the following day on their website.
The awards received by DCA were as follows:
Gold Category 1C, Feature
Candy … or Pill?
June Vargas Consumer Connection magazine, Fall–Winter 2014
Category 2B, Special Report
California Board of Registered Nursing 2014–17 Strategic Plan
Kari Keating
Category 3C, Brochure
Telemarketing Scams: What to Do Before You Pick Up the Phone
Kari Keating, Laura Kujubu
Category 4C: PSA
Natalie Coughlin—Prescription Drug Awareness Medical Board of California Cassandra Hockenson, Bryce Penney, Cesar Victoria
Category 5B, Brand Identity Package
California State Board of Psychology Project (website, For Your Peace of Mind booklet, Journal newsletter, 2014–17 Strategic Plan)
Kari Keating, Carol Stover
Category 4A, Video: Training or Education
Board of Behavioral Sciences Apply for an Associate Clinical Social Worker Registration in California
Cristina Valdivia Aguilar, Bryce Penney
Category 5C, Photography
Mattress Burn Test, BEARHFTI
Cesar Altamirano
Silver
Category 3B, Magazine
Consumer Connection Spring 2014
Carol Stover (designer), Laura Kujubu, Cristina Valdivia Aguilar, June Vargas, Monica Vargas, Lisa Stratton (writers)
Category 3C, Brochure
Subcontractors and Drop-off Points: Guidelines for Registering (BEARHFTI)
Cesar Altamirano, Laura Kujubu
Category 4B: Video: Education, Outreach, or Marketing
Dr. Michael Bishop – Prescription Drug Awareness Medical Board of California
Cassandra Hockenson, Bryce Penney, Cesar Victoria
Category 4C: PSA
Board of Pharmacy Prescription Drug Awareness PSA
Bryce Penney, Joyia Emard
The Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board (Board) wants to remind California consumers of new hearing aid warranty provisions that went into effect January 1.
The Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act provides a 45-day warranty on all new and used hearing aids, although dispensers of hearing aids can provide a longer period than 45 days.
The dispenser is required to provide the buyer a copy of the signed purchase agreement that includes the language of the new warranty provision. Additionally, upon delivery of the hearing aid, the dispenser is required to provide the buyer with a delivery receipt that must include the delivery date and expiration date of the 45-day warranty period.
For any adjustments, replacements, or services that require the hearing aid to be out of the buyer’s possession, the warranty period will be interrupted and will resume on either the date that the repaired or serviced hearing aid is returned to the buyer, or five days after the buyer is notified that the hearing aid is available to be picked up.
Consumers should also be aware that if adjustments to a hearing aid are necessary during the 45-day warranty period for a specific fit of a buyer, but the hearing aid still doesn’t fit satisfactorily, the hearing aid can be returned (under most circumstances) for a complete refund.
To verify that a hearing aid dispenser is licensed or to file a complaint with the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board, visit the Board’s website.
As part of an investigation by ABC’s 20/20, the California Bureau of Automotive Repair was asked to test counterfeit airbags to demonstrate how dangerous they can be as illustrated in the video above. Please note no one was injured during this test.
For the complete ABC 20/20 story, click here.
A Downey, California husband and wife have been arrested for the unlicensed practice of medicine. Jose Alfredo Martinez and Emma Haydee Gonzalez were arrested Thursday following an investigation by the Health Quality Investigations Unit within the California Department of Consumer Affairs’ Division of Investigation…Click here for more details.
SACRAMENTO – Staff from the California Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (Bureau) will be at Corinthian Colleges’ 13 Everest College and WyoTech campus locations in California Tuesday and Wednesday, April 28-29, to advise students about their options now that it appears the schools will be closing.
The Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education has issued an Emergency Decision effective at the close of business April 23, 2015, ordering Corinthian Colleges’ Everest College and WyoTech locations in California to cease enrolling new students.
Read the news release here.