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Better Business Bureau of Metro Washington DC
Information
on Bureau members, a searchable
database of company reports
and a complaint form.
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Fairfax County Consumer Central
The
Consumer Protection Division
provides a variety of services
to county residents.
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Virginia Attorney General's Office — Consumer
Assistance
In addition to a
monthly consumer alert, find information on
consumer fraud,
where to file complaints,
special concerns for older adults,
identity theft,
mortgage foreclosure prevention tips and
Medicaid fraud.
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Virginia Grown
Resources include lists of
farmers' markets, cut-your-own tree farms,
community-supported farms (CSAs), pick-your-own
fruit and vegetable farms, and wineries. New subjects
are added regularly.
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Catalog Choice
This free service offers an easy way to
arrange for specific merchants to stop sending you their paper
catalogs. Catalog Choice complements the Direct Mail Marketing
Association's Mail Preference Service (see the link to the DMA
site below) because opting out through the DMA program may not
eliminate catalogs of merchants from whom you have ordered in
the past.
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Commonwealth of Virginia: Office of the Attorney General
Federal Telemarketing Rules, the
Virginia Telephone Privacy Protection Act
and more.
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The Direct Mail Marketing Association: DMAchoice
Find out how to have your
name removed from lists used by telemarketers or
direct-mail marketers. The site also includes a
document outlining your rights under the Telephone
Consumer Protection Act, information on registering
complaints, a guide to sweepstakes and more.
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Junkbusters
This company describes its
purpose as "to show people that they have it in
their power to achieve independence from junk
communications." The site promotes advocacy and
provides tips, articles and consumer tools ranging
from sample phone scripts to a software product
designed to prevent banner ads from appearing in
your browser window.
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National Do Not Call Registry
You can reduce the number of
telemarketing calls you receive by adding your phone
number to the registry. The U.S. Federal Trade
Commission, which manages the program, offers free
online registration and a useful
fact sheet with information about the registry.
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OptOutPrescreen.com
This site provides an easy method of
greatly reducing the credit card offers you receive in the mail.
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Unwanted Faxes: What You Can Do
From the Federal Communications Commission.
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ConsumerPrivacyGuide.Org
This comprehensive and
easy-to-use site provides tips on protecting
your privacy online; information ranging from
answers to questions such as "What is a cookie?"
to the text of legislation that is relevant to
privacy issues; a special section on protecting
children's privacy; and links to related resources.
The site is sponsored by several well-known and
reputable nonprofit organizations that are
concerned with consumer issues and privacy rights.
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Fourteen Ways to Protect Your Privacy Online
Concise descriptions of
precautions you can take while browsing the Web. From the
Center for Democracy & Technology.
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Frequently Asked Questions on Social Security Numbers and Privacy
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How Anonymous Are You?
The United States Computer
Emergency Readiness Team provides a brief
introduction to some of the concepts and terms
describing the types of information that can be
collected online. US-CERT also offers tips on
ways to limit the exposure of your personal data.
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Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
A nonprofit consumer
education, research and advocacy program of
the Utility Consumers' Action Network. The
highlight of the Web site is their series of
informative
fact sheets, available in both English and
Spanish, that educate consumers on privacy issues.
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TRUSTe's Privacy Protection Guidelines
This Web page is provided by
TRUSTe,
an independent nonprofit organization whose goal is the
promotion of "privacy policy disclosure, informed user
consent and consumer education." Web sites may display
the TRUSTe "trustmark" if their privacy policies meet the
TRUSTe guidelines and if the site participates in TRUSTe's
oversight and complaint resolution programs.
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Consumer Reports
Though much of the magazine's
Web site is available only to subscribers, there is
some free material such as links to
recall announcements. Library cardholders can
access articles from the print version of Consumer Reports
through the General Reference Center Gold and MasterFile Premier
databases on the library's list of
Consumer databases.
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ConsumerSearch
Selected
reviews of products in various
categories. The site's most
helpful feature is its analysis
and evaluation of these product
reviews.
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Epinions.com
User reviews
of products in a wide range of
categories.
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PriceSCAN
PriceSCAN
searches vendor price data and
displays each vendor's price along
with a link to the vendor's Web site.
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Local Area Information
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Real Estate Terms
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Sales and Rentals
- Apartments
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Home Values and Prices
Sales
data for many U.S. locations from
Yahoo! Real Estate.
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New Condominium Guide
Information about
new condominiums in the Washington
metropolitan area.
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New Homes Guide
Information about
new townhouse, single family home and
active adult communities around the
Washington metropolitan area.
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Realtor.com
The
National Association of Realtors
produces this site. Useful
features include a database
of over 2 million real estate
listings in the United States
and Canada; tips on mortgages,
financing, moving and other
topics related to real estate
transactions; interactive
financial calculators; and
directories of contractors
and lenders.
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WashingtonPost.com — Real Estate
Information on
new and resale homes and
rental homes and apartments.
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Zillow
Zillow offers a number of
tools for buyers and sellers who are interested in
determining a home's value. You can input an address
and see information about a home including an
estimated market value and an aerial view of the home
in its neighborhood.
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AOL City Guide: Restaurants
AOL provides
information on hundreds of restaurants
in the DC metro area. A summary includes
a brief description and evaluation; and
details include hours, payment options
and suggested attire. Dated ratings and
reviews are submitted by users who have
eaten at the restaurant. You can also
browse or search entries for restaurants
throughout the United States.
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Chowhound
Read what
local people are saying about
restaurants and other food-related
topics.
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Menupages
This useful site
provides information about local
restaurants. You can browse or search by
location and/or the type of cuisine served;
or you can search for restaurants that
serve specific dishes.
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Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide
Cowen is
enthusiastic and knowledgeable.
He offers tips and opinions about
many restaurants, representing a
wide variety of cuisines, around
the metro DC area.
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Virginia Department of Health: Food Safety and Restaurant
Inspections
To view
inspection reports for Northern
Virginia restaurants, select a
locality and then choose
"Restaurant Inspections."
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The Washington Post: Restaurants
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Washingtonian: Restaurants
Search for
a restaurant by cuisine, location,
price or other criteria.
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Consumer Protection
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Locating Products Online
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Google Product Search
Product Search is
a simple and powerful means of finding
online merchants who sell a particular
product. Use the
advanced search form if
you want to limit your search to
a specific price range.
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Shopping.com
Search for
products or browse through the items
listed under categories and
subcategories. You may enter your
zip code to compare various merchants'
total cost for a particular item,
including shipping charges and taxes.
Reviews are provided for many of the
products and merchants.
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Yahoo! Shopping
Another site for
browsing or searching for products. Like
Shopping.com, listed above, Yahoo!
Shopping includes links to product reviews
and calculates total shipping costs to your
location.
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Online Auctions
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ABTolls
Comparative
information on long-distance
plans and calling cards; a
guide to the various charges
that may be listed on your
phone bill; information on
scams; and more.
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Wireless Advisor
Tips
on selecting a wireless phone
service, and an interactive
database that lists all the
cellular, PCS, or wireless
phone companies serving your
zip code.
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See also the library's
Television links under News and Online Media. |
Are You Ready for All-Digital TV?
On June 12, 2009, television stations stopped analog (over-the-air)
broadcasting. If you do not receive TV signals after that date, you may need to
buy a set-top box to continue to watch TV on your existing equipment.
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DTV Converter Box Guide
Recommendations and
ratings from ConsumerReports.org.
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DTV.gov: What you Need to Know About the Digital Transition
Information from the
Federal Communications Commission. Also available in
Spanish
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DTVTransition.org
Take an
online quiz
that indicates whether you need a converter. The
site also provides frequently asked questions about
the transition. Also available in
Spanish.
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Fairfax County — Digital Television (DTV) Transition Information
Information and resources for
consumers from the Fairfax County Department of Cable
Communications and Consumer Protection. Also available in
Spanish.
Note: Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF
files on this site.
To obtain a free Reader, follow this link:
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Recycle Your Old TV
If you decide not to use a
converter box and want to discard your analog TV, you
may be interested in this list of local organizations
that accept used electronics for reuse and recycling.
Provided as a public service by the Fairfax County
Division of Solid Waste Collection and Recycling.
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