Consumer Protection

PROTECTING CONSUMER SAFETY—Toys should not be toxic or dangerous for children to play with. Our food should not make us sick. The terms for banking and credit accounts should be clear and easy to understand.

LOOKING OUT FOR CONSUMERS

CALPIRG’s consumer program works to alert the public to hidden dangers and scams and to ban anti-consumer practices and unsafe products.

TROUBLE IN TOYLAND

For 27 years, CALPIRG’s "Trouble In Toyland" report has surveyed store shelves and identified choking hazards, noise hazards and other dangers. Our report has led to at least 150 recalls and other regulatory actions over the years.

Get our tips for buying safer toys.

BIGGER BANKS, BIGGER FEES

In April, CALPIRG released a report in which we surveyed more than 350 bank branches and revealed that fewer than half of branches obeyed their legal duty to fully disclose fees to prospective customers, while one in four provided no fee information at all. We also found that despite widespread stories about the “death” of free checking, free and low-cost checking choices are still widely available, if consumers shop around.

Find out how to beat high bank fees.

SEE ALL CONSUMER RESOURCES

Issue updates

News Release | CALPIRG | Public Health, Consumer Protection

New Report Documents a Decade of Safety Violations by Compounding Pharmacies

New CALPIRG report finds recent meningitis outbreak was simply the latest and deadliest in a long line of errors and risky practices by compounding pharmacies.

> Keep Reading

Prescription for Danger

New report shows that compounding pharmacies have been exploiting loopholes in the regulatory system for at least a decade.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Consumer Protection

California Moves to Respect Consumer’s Online Privacy

CALPIRG supports AB 370 (Muratsuchi) which would require websites to disclose whether or not they honor consumer requests to disable online tracking.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Doing Your Taxes: CALPIRG answers consumers' questions

CALPIRG Education Fund provides an online Questions & Answer guide to paying federal and state taxes.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Democracy

Coming together, pushing back | Jon Fox

 

Observations from the annual National Conference on Media Reform.

> Keep Reading

Pages

News Release | CALPIRG | Public Health, Consumer Protection

New Report Documents a Decade of Safety Violations by Compounding Pharmacies

New CALPIRG report finds recent meningitis outbreak was simply the latest and deadliest in a long line of errors and risky practices by compounding pharmacies.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Consumer Protection

California Moves to Respect Consumer’s Online Privacy

CALPIRG supports AB 370 (Muratsuchi) which would require websites to disclose whether or not they honor consumer requests to disable online tracking.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Doing Your Taxes: CALPIRG answers consumers' questions

CALPIRG Education Fund provides an online Questions & Answer guide to paying federal and state taxes.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

New FTC Report Highlights Top 10 Consumer Complaints for 2012.

California sees big increase in fraud and identity theft complaints.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Consumer Protection

CALPIRG Applauds FTC’s New Privacy Guidelines for Online Apps

“When less than one-third of Americans feel that they are in control of their personal information on their mobile devices, clearly there is a problem,” said Jon Fox, consumer advocate with CALPIRG.

> Keep Reading

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Prescription for Danger

New report shows that compounding pharmacies have been exploiting loopholes in the regulatory system for at least a decade.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection, Health Care

CALPIRG joint letter on Consumer protection for “California Covered”

CALPIRG joins a coalition of consumer advocates in preventing risks to consumers using the new health benefits exchange known as “California Covered.”

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection, Health Care

Comments on the Aetna Life Insurance Company Proposal to Increase Rates

Nearly 70,000 Californians in small group insurance plans will see rate hikes averaging 8%, with some as high as 22%, if the premium rate hike proposed by Aetna Life Insurance Company go forward. After careful analysis of Aetna’s filing, CALPIRG is concerned that Aetna has not provided sufficient information to justify this rate increase.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland 2012

Survey Finds Dangerous Toys on Store Shelves. CALPIRG Provides Shopping Tips & Mobile Website To Help Parents Shop Safe.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Food, Tax

Apples to Twinkies 2012

At a time when America is facing an obesity epidemic, crushing debt and a weak economy, billions of taxpayer dollars are subsidizing junk food ingredients.

> Keep Reading

Pages

Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Democracy

Coming together, pushing back | Jon Fox

 

Observations from the annual National Conference on Media Reform.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Free Cookies - Strings Attached | Jon Fox

The price consumers pay to access most online content is the tracking of their every click on the World Wide Web by data miners and ad networks. Consumer and privacy advocates are seeking to address such online tracking through Do-Not-Track regulation.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Public Utility De-Regulation: A Losing Game for Consumers | Jon Fox

San Francisco Chronicle reportes that state de-regulation of copper-wire phone lines leads to skyrocketing price hikes for consumers.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Consumers Push Back, Stand UP for Privacy | Jon Fox

2012 was a watershed year for consumers.  Over the past year millions of Internet users took action to protect a safe and open Internet.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Citing Safety Concerns, Buckyballs maker to stop selling magnetic toys | Jon Fox

Maker magnetic Buckyballs announces that it will stop selling dangerous product.

> Keep Reading

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TOY SAFETY TIPS ON-THE-GO

From toxic chemicals to choking hazards to dangerous magnets, see what dangerous toys to watch out for while you shop.

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