Well according to a Consumer Reports survey that asked 2,000 Americans to rank their complaints about rental cars companies, airlines and hotels and found that luggage fees caused the most resentment.

Granted this is an American survey and we in Canada are somewhat spared the burden of baggage fees when flying Westjet or Air Canada but we still have to doll out the cash for our luggage when flying on a US based carrier. But the survey also found that rude behavior by staff was not far behind.
According to Mark Kotkin, of Consumer Reports “Two themes emerged. One of them was added fees. That really irritated people regardless of the industry. For airlines, in particular, it was the new luggage charges.”

The other main irritant was rude or unhelpful staff. (I’d like to see a survey from people who work on the other side of the counter to see if rude customers are their top complaint).

One reason passengers find charges for luggage so irritating may be because they are new and they are expensive. ($15 – $25 per bag/per person each way depending on the airline)

Surprisingly consumers questioned in the poll said lack of information about airline delays was more aggravating than the delays themselves. Passengers were also annoyed by fellow airline passengers who hog seats and carry-on space.

Personally I find it extremely aggravating when someone’s carry-on stowed in the compartment above is the size of a small car and takes up all the, barely leaving room to shut the door.

On a more positive note, airline passengers seem to have accepted waiting in long lines to go through security and check-ins at airports and the lack of snacks on flights.

So what’s the message in all this? Get used to extra fees, there here to stay and if you’re in the hospitality or travel industry, no matter how rude or demanding the customer gets, smile.

“Anyone who was paying attention had to know, at least 20 years ago, that there’s a right way to manage this and a wrong way,” said Sister Nuala Kenny, professor emeritus of bioethics at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

In 1990, Kenny was a member of the Winter Commission set up by the Catholic church to investigate the sexual abuse of boys by members of the Christian Brothers religious order at the notorious Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s, Nfld., in the 1970s and 1980s.

Two years later, she became a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Child Sexual Abuse, set up by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its report, From Pain to Hope, was issued after the church and the Ontario government agreed to a $40 million compensation package for 1,600 men abused as children at two Catholic training schools near Ottawa and Toronto. Provincial police laid more than 200 assault and sex-related charges, which ended in 15 convictions.

Allegations of child abuse, the reports insisted, must be treated as potential crimes, rather than internal church matters, and reported to civil authorities. The primary obligation, they stressed, is protection of the child.

Yet in subsequent scandals that erupted in Boston and Ireland, priests accused of sex abuse were simply moved to other parishes, while church authorities turned a blind eye to allegations, if not flatly tried to cover them up.

Last month, it was revealed that the head of the Irish Catholic church, Cardinal Sean Brady, was present during meetings in 1975 when children signed vows of silence about complaints against a pedophile priest. Brady has so far resisted calls to resign.

The latest scandal is swirling around the pontiff himself. A psychiatrist who treated a priest accused of sexually abusing boys in the early 1980s says a German archdiocese, headed at the time by the future pope, neglected repeated warnings that the priest should not be allowed to work with children.

The priest was convicted of sexual abuse in Bavaria in 1986.

Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, as the Pope was then known, approved a decision to send the priest for therapy in 1980. But the psychiatrist told The New York Times he doesn’t know if Ratzinger knew of repeated warnings about the man.

Kenny says Canada’s Catholic churches have extensively improved the reporting and handling of sex abuse cases, and the screening and education of student priests.

But she says Canada’s bishops have failed to deal with the underlying issues in abuse scandals – the power of priests over parishioners, their lack of accountability to bishops or parishioners, and the church’s attitude toward sexuality in general, and the celibacy of priests in particular.

“In general, the approach that I see is not in the tradition of brave action for justice that I’ve come to respect the Canadian bishops for. I think it’s: `Head down, if it didn’t happen here, if it’s not happening now, if we took care of that, let’s move on.’ We’re not taking the opportunity for this larger conversation,” Kenny said.

Too many priests are isolated from their parishioners, she says, lacking in the kind of a support that can keep them out of trouble

The company received its first complaint of unintended acceleration in late October, but MPs wanted to know why the world’s No. 1 car maker didn’t notify Transport Canada and Toyota owners until January, after it issued a recall for Canadian cars.

They acknowledged Canadian regulators had recently received 17 complaints regarding Toyota vehicles — but only one of those was related to unintended acceleration. Further, a review of its Canadian models, with all-weather floor mats built specifically for this market, did not share some of the same potential flaws as Toyota’s U.S. models.
Still, “we have 100% on the remedies for the floor mat and pedal assemblies,” Mr. Beatty said, adding nearly two-thirds of recalled Canadian cars have been repaired.

Over a quarter of million Toyota-made vehicles, or 270,000, were recalled across Canada – a.nd eight million worldwide — in an effort to address issues leading to unintended acceleration.

The Japanese car maker, No. 1 worldwide, has blamed sticky accelerators and floor mats for the cases of unintended acceleration. When he appeared before U.S. legislators, Mr. Toyoda apologized, and acknowledged the company’s rapid expansion in recent years might have affected the quality of its vehicles.

As a precautionary measure, Toyota temporarily halted production of eight models in Canada and the United States as it searched for a solution to the accelerator glitch. Production has since resumed.

“There was a serious safety problem, and you are talking to [the supplier] about a redesign but no one told Transport Canada until after the recall [in January]?,” a frustrated Mr. Watson told Toyota officials.
Mr. Beatty later explained the potential pedal problem in Canada was due to wear and condensation, and the company could not “trigger” a response before it had “a solution it could deploy.”

The acceleration cases have caused a public relations nightmare for Toyota. Last week, just as the car maker had appeared to put the worst behind it, a California driver claimed his Toyota Prius raced out of control on a California highway. But both Toyota and U.S. regulators said they found no evidence to support the driver’s claims.

Car analysts have focused on the prospect that drivers could be making mistakes — hitting the accelerator instead of the brake — or that Toyota vehicles could be subject to a software glitch or other problem that is hard to replicate.

Bogus products that make “breakthrough” health claims on the Internet or promise cures for illnesses, such as cancer, target the most vulnerable consumers. Be wary of on-line swine flu remedies not authorized by Health Canada that are making unsubstantiated health claims that they kill or ward off the virus. Consult your health care practitioner before trying any new treatment. Don’t be influenced by “miraculous” testimonials discussed on websites and blogs. Think twice before buying a product that claims it can “do it all.”
QUICK TIP: If you have questions or complaints about counterfeit drugs and/or drugs purchased over the Internet, please call Health Canada’s toll-free line at 1 800 267 9675. If you suspect that a website is promoting a treatment or cure that is too good to be true.

2. Not So “Free” Trials

You may want to try out a new diet product, an acne cream or teeth whitener, but be careful about signing up for ‘free’ trial offers. Many websites offering a free trial for products do not disclose the billing terms and conditions or do not have such details prominently displayed on their website. Before providing any credit or debit card information, review the website fully to avoid in repeated billing. Remember that money transfers and direct debit are two of the main methods by which scam artists seek to obtain your money.
QUICK TIP: When considering trial offers, be sure to first determine whether you are enrolling in a membership, subscription or service contract that allows the company.

3. ID Theft

Often people find out that they are victims of identity theft after they are contacted by a collections’ agency for an account they never set up or because their credit has taken a hit. ID theft is when someone uses your information to obtain loans, goods, or services and does not pay the bills. Increasingly, people are being lured online into revealing personal information.

QUICK TIP: Do not fall for requests for information, or other scare tactics. Online scammers send emails that look legitimate, requesting that your “account information needs to be updated.” Another new tactic called “scareware” has a pop-up message showing that your computer is infected with a virus and that you need to visit a website to purchase and download anti-virus software that would fix the problem. These are all phishing tactics, ways to get you to reveal personal or financial information. If you receive these messages just delete them and do not click on any links. Doing so may compromise your computer’s security. If you are a victim of ID Theft call your financial institutions to request that your current cards be cancelled and that new cards be issued. You should also contact your local police and Canada’s main credit reporting agencies: TransUnion Canada at tuc.ca (1 866 525 0262) and Equifax Canada at equifax.ca (1 866 779 6440).

4. Home Repair Rip-Offs

Imagine hearing that your furnace is leaking dangerous carbon monoxide into your home. Many times homeowners are told that they need to do an immediate replacement due to a crack in their heat exchanger or because the contractor has a gas-sniffer device which shows high carbon monoxide levels. This high pressure safety situation often ends up in unnecessary and costly repairs.
QUICK TIP: Do not make a decision to repair right away. Start with the Better Business Bureau and search for a company reliability report at bbb.org. Ask the person to provide a gas permit and a license with the BC Safety Authority and call to verify it at: 1 866 566 7233.

6. Free Government Money Schemes

Do you think you are entitled to free money from the Canadian government? Be suspicious of companies offering “free” advice on obtaining government grants. Often social networking sites and online ads will point to blogs that appear to be written by everyday people who are sharing the secret of how they received thousands of dollars in grants from the government to pay off their debt. In reality, this is a mass marketing scheme that does not provide an easy way for you to get a government grant. Rather, it costs you money to participate.

7. Business Opportunities

Your friend or a family member may have invited you to attend a presentation involving an investment opportunity. You don’t know anything about the company, and are desperate to hear that it is legit. These investments appear lucrative, but often involve more hype than substance. The promoter convinces investors that they can be part owners of an exciting investment portfolio, provided that they enlist new recruits. The promoter may even offer promising commissions in cash and bullion.

QUICK TIP: In reality, this could be an illegal pyramid scheme. The new capital brought on by new investors is keeping this imaginary investment afloat. Get the facts. If you attend an information session, be sure to collect business cards and promotional materials

8. Cashback Fraud

Cashback fraud usually begins when you advertise something for sale, such as a car. A buyer agrees to pay your asking price, but sends you a cheque or banker’s draft for a larger sum. The person asks you to bank his cheque and send him a money transfer for the difference. Sure enough, his or her cheque bounces a few days after your money transfer has left your account. You’re now out of pocket and looking for a bogus buyer who’s out-of-reach.
QUICK TIP: Criminal cashback works because cheques take longer to clear than electronic bank transfers. Do not ever wire money to a stranger. Do not allow greed to be your guide – be careful of offers higher than the asking price.

9. Hidden Cell Phone Charges

If you own a cell phone and see new and unexplained charges on your bill each month, it may be due to premium text message services. People complain that they did not realize they were signing up for this service when they agreed to play an online game or to take an IQ test. In the end they receive monthly billings which do not come from their cell phone service providers, but through other third-party companies.

10. Mystery Jobs Scams

The scenario sounds too good to be true, and it is. You have been led to believe that you will be paid to mystery shop via a wire-transfer service. You receive a cheque, which you are told to deposit, keeping a small percentage of the money as your wage. You are then asked to send the back difference via a wire transfer and to complete a survey on the service you encounter. In the end, the cheque bounces and you lose all your money.
QUICK TIP: Be skeptical of mystery shopper ads in newspapers or online. In most cases these are bogus services requiring you to pay money upfront. Avoid companies that promise guaranteed jobs, and that sell directories of companies that provide mystery shoppers

The so-called “festive fatties” were kicked off BeautifulPeople.com for losing their looks over the holiday season.

The site, which has a strict ban on “ugly people”, said it had thrown out more than 5,000 members from around the world who had put on weight.

Most of the “former beauties” were expelled from the US, UK and Canada.

According to BeautifulPeople.com, “vigilant members” called for drastic action after users posted photos of themselves celebrating Christmas and the New Year – revealing they had “let themselves go”.

Managing director Greg Hodge said: “We responded to complaints by moving the newly chubby members back to the rating stage. This is the same as having them re-apply.

“Their re-applications were reviewed by existing members and only a few hundred were voted back in. Over 5,000 were rejected.”

Robert Hintze, founder of BeautifulPeople.com, said: “As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld.

“Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”

According to the site, managers have been kind in breaking the news to former members. Each is said to have received an email encouraging them to re-apply when they are back to looking their best. They have also been sent details of recommended boot camps

Toyota and Lexus vehicles received 41% of all consumer complaints to a federal database about runaway acceleration, more than Chrysler, General Motors, Honda and Nissan combined, analysis by Consumer Reports found. Other than Toyota, the only automaker with double-digit rates of complaints was Ford, which was the subject of 28% of complaints.

Chrysler’s 2008 model-year vehicles received 9% of complaints and GM’s 5%; Honda had 4% of complaints and Nissan 2%, the study showed.
Toyota’s share of the U.S. market in 2007 and 2008, when 2008 model-year cars were sold, was roughly 16%.

Toyota could not immediately be reached for comment.

Toyota has been the subject of increasing scrutiny over sudden acceleration in the wake of an August accident in an an out-of-control Lexus ES outside of San Diego that took four lives, including that of an off-duty California Highway Patrolman.

That prompted Toyota to announce its largest-ever recall, of 4.26 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. Starting in January, the automaker will modify or replace accelerator pedals in seven Toyota and Lexus models, alter carpeting in some models and install new safety software. The recall includes vehicles from the 2005 through 2010 model years.

Toyota has repeatedly blamed interaction between the gas pedal and floor mats that could cause the pedal to become entrapped in a full-throttle position. But investigations into a number of accidents, including the San Diego county crash, have not conclusively found that the floor mat was responsible.
A Times review found that 19 people had died in sudden-acceleration accidents involving Toyota vehicles since the 2002 model year, more than all other automakers combined. In addition, The Times found that complaints of sudden acceleration increased dramatically after the automaker began replacing mechanical throttles with electronic throttle systems in the 2002 model year.

On Friday, the San Diego sheriff released a report on its three-month investigation into the Aug. 28 wreck, finding that “additional factors causing a sudden acceleration event (re: electrical, mechanical or computer generated) should not be ruled out.”

Consumer Reports limited its research to acceleration incidents that “could be a real dangerous safety issue,” excluding low-speed events or ones where the vehicle movement was arrested before the problem became more serious, according to Bartlett.

In addition, Consumer Reports excluded incidents that were reported after the San Diego crash to eliminate any spikes in complaints that could have been caused by publicity.

The remaining data, Bartlett said, indicated that Toyota was not the only automaker to receive unintended-acceleration complaints, since Ford also registered a higher number. The Ford complaints, however, were mostly limited to one model, the F-150 pickup, while Toyota complaints fell across a wide spectrum of vehicles, including ones not in the current recall.

Seven-year-old Tanadon, however, never showed up.

Because she kept his birth from Canadian immigration officials, Chumchantha’s efforts to bring the boy to Canada from her native Thailand are being rebuffed on the grounds that he doesn’t qualify as a family member.

“I was shocked,” said the 31-year-old mother of three, who makes her home in Ottawa. “I just want to be with my son.”

Stung by the cultural stigma that came with being a single mother in a Thai village and with no knowledge of the immigration process, she kept her baby a secret, putting all thoughts of going to a new country out of her mind as the sponsorship process dragged on.

When her permanent residency finally came through, Chumchantha was caught between leaving her son behind and jeopardizing her aging mother’s chances of being with the rest of her family in Canada.

In a blur of confusion, she made the gut-wrenching decision to leave her son with his paternal grandparents, an arrangement she vowed would be temporary.

Now, four years later, not even a birth certificate or photos – both before and after her pregnancy – have helped as Chumchantha grapples with a complex immigration system that’s keeping her from the son she failed to declare to Canadian authorities.

“I just didn’t know what to do then,” she said. “I feel this is not really fair.”
“We can’t go wasting years and leaving people in limbo.”

Chumchantha’s request to have her case re-examined has already been dismissed, and she has opted not to appeal the decision to the Federal Court of Canada for fear of losing.

Instead, desperate to experience at least part of her son’s childhood, Chumchantha is now considering a novel solution: having her husband of two months adopt the child so the family can be together.

“I want to fight for it,” she said.

It won’t be easy, warned Mike Bell, an immigration lawyer consulted by the couple.

“There is a potential option for the stepfather to adopt the child, assuming he intends to assume a parental role,” Bell said. But it’s far from a perfect solution, he warned.

Everything is out of the family’s hands and they have no control over anything.”

In addition to extensive background checks and a comprehensive home-study, if a family wants to adopt a pre-identified child in Thailand, the process gets complicated overseas, she added.

Thailand requires the birth parents to relinquish all right to the child in court before a pre-identified child can be adopted. For a case like Chumchantha’s, that could create problems which would stretch the typical three-year adoption process even further.

Still, nothing impossible.

Chumchantha’s daily routine is now punctuated by lawyer visits, consultations with support groups and appeals to politicians. Meanwhile, as she juggles her job, her new marriage and her push to be reunited with her son, she clings to the crackly long distance calls that serve as her only connection to her child.

Guillermo Duarte had a lot to prove just to take a two-week vacation to visit his brother in Canada.

The engineer, 36, had to convince Canadian visa officers that he, his engineer wife, Luz, and their younger children Fernando, 10, and Faviola, 8, had strong enough ties to Guatemala to ensure they would leave Canada after a visit to his brother, Mauricio, in Toronto.

But after paying a non-refundable fee of $300, they were denied visitor’s visas. (Even leaving two teens at home didn’t convince the officer they wouldn’t stay in Canada.)

While the denial cost the Duartes a ruined vacation, for other prospective visitors it might mean not being able to bid farewell to a dying relative, attend a loved one’s wedding, or see a newborn grandchild
“It’s a very big problem for our community,” says Gurmeet Singh of Brampton’s Nanaksar Satsang Sabha Sikh temple. “And it’s going to get worse … if our visa officials don’t change their attitude and show some compassion.”

Visas are imposed to help “facilitate the entry of bonafide visitors to Canada for such purposes as trade, commerce, tourism, international understanding, and cultural, educational and scientific activities, while also protecting the health, safety and security of Canadian society,” says Citizenship and Immigration spokesperson Karen Shadd-Evelyn.

New Democrat MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina) says her office has 65 outstanding complaints from constituents involving relatives’ failed visa applications.

“Visa officers have the discretionary power to decide who to let in. There’s no humanitarian and compassionate consideration. Their decisions are completely arbitrary and don’t get reviewed,” Chow says. “The onus should’ve been on the Canadian officials to show that these people would not leave CanadaDuarte walked into the Canadian embassy in Guatemala City last month, hands full of documents: pay stubs, an employer letter, bank statements, the deeds on his three properties and a passport to show his lengthy travel history.

When his first try failed, his brother in Canada wrote an official invitation and asked his local councillor, MP and even a senator to intervene. The visa office later called Duarte in to apply for a minister’s special permit for an extra $185. But by then, the date was too close to the family’s booked vacation time and the airfare too expensive. “We are all disappointed,” says Mauricio Duarte, who immigrated 17 years ago. “Whenever we go back home, we stay with our families and relatives. We would like to play hosts to someone when they come here.”

Lawyer Avvy Go, director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, points out there’s no guarantee that visitors from visa-exempt countries would leave Canada either.
after their visits.”
Immigration reacts slowly to the global economic and political changes. Countries like China and India are becoming bigger economic powers,” says Mamann, an ex-immigration officer. “My concern is our visa officers are still using outdated standards to judge these applications, (believing) these people will come and stay in Canada.”

If nothing changes, he adds, Canada stands to lose the substantial economic benefits from delegates attending conferences, buyers going to trade shows and tourists all in a world that’s become closer and more intimate than ever before.

The story tells about how Kippen, under intense pressure and world scrutiny, patiently investigated the Aug. 20 election, which Karzai initially appeared to have won. His ECC doesn’t run elections, but acts as a referee after the balloting when the inevitable complaints about cheating arise.

It was Kippen’s work that forced the Nov. 7 run-off by documenting extensive fraudulent voting, largely by Karzai’s backers. Now, with Abdullah’s exit, Karzai appears poised to cling to power without going through any process that lends his continued rule full democratic legitimacy.

Abdullah complained that Karzai refused to takes steps that would have made the Nov. 7 run-off fair. That would have included rapidly reforming Afghanistan’s so-called Independent Election Commission, the body that was in charge of the Aug. 20 fiasco. The IEC is headed by Azizullah Ludin, a Karzai appointee criticized by Human Rights Watch for, among other things, his obvious pro-Karzai bias.
Naturally, international attention is now fixed on the immediate steps needed to make Karzai’s win minimally acceptable. Some sort of power-sharing with Abduallah might help. But a longer view is also demanded to make sure the same dangerous farce isn’t acted out next time Afghans are called to the polls.

So here’s a suggestion, one that perhaps the Canadian government could promote: the untrustworthy Independent Election Commission that administers Afghanistan’s voting should be reformed along the lines of the trustworthy Electoral Complaints Commission that investigates after the fact.

The ECC is headed by two Afghans and three internationals. The foreign commissioners, including Kippen, are appointed by the UN. The numerical dominance of outsiders inevitably causes some resentment. (In fact, one of the Afghan commissioners quit last month, late in the ECC’s investigation of the Aug. 20 voting, when it became clear Kippen and the other internationals were serious aboKippen told me his ECC has been training many Afghans in the delicate work of looking into complaints after elections. The commission employs about 300, and just 18 of them are foreigners. Thus, the ECC might prove to be a training ground for impartial Afghans who could staff a full electoral apparatus in the future. As Canada looks for a practical role in Afghanistan beyond combat, this might be one promising place to focus aid aimed at building the Afghan government’s capacity to run its own show.

Hanging on the wall behind a bank of cabinets, the flag and its red maple leaf are almost obliterated by dangling spider webs and creepy creatures. Every few minutes a witch’s head lets loose with a hideous cackle and flashing eyeballs
“Oh boy, you can’t even wish people Merry Christmas any more,” she grumbled when told a shopper found it offensive.

A woman who identified herself as the store manager, but wouldn’t give her name, said she wasn’t aware of any objections.

“It wasn’t meant to be disrespectful,” she said of the display. “If someone complained, we’d take it down.”

She said the display and flag weren’t part of a corporate program but something her store has been doing on its own for years.

“The flag is just something this store put up and left up.”
“Are they trying to say Canada’s dying?” he said, peering at the ghosts and tombstones perched on cabinets. “I wouldn’t do that.

“They should have removed the flag first.”

While there are no laws governing how Canada’s flag can be displayed, the federal agency Canadian Heritage offers a long list of guidelines

It should be displayed “only in a manner befitting this important national symbol; it should not be subjected to indignity or displayed in a position inferior to any other flag or ensign,” their website says.