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Current Projects KitchenAid/Whirlpool Dishwasher Fires 2009-ongoing (Scope: North America) Problem: KitchenAid, Sears Kenmore, Whirlpool dishwasher fires (all manufactured by Whirlpool). Product design/defect causes predictable opportunity for control circuit board failure leading to fire. Solution: Together we can force a product safety recall and/or class action. Status: ARG identified the problem in March 2009 and has been collecting data through our website. To date we have collected hundreds of fire incidents reports directly from consumers via kitchenaidfire.com. We have exposed the issue in the media via web, print news, and TV news. UPDATE: November 9, 2011 "Steve Chambers, et al. v. Whirlpool Corporation, Sears Holdings Corp. and Sears, Roebuck & Co., Inc." class action was filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California. http://www.kitchenaidfire.com/files/whirlpool-dishwasher-fire-class-action-complaint.pdf Media coverage sample. DC Office of Tax and Revenue Ethics Issues 2006-ongoing (Scope: regional) Problem: The DC Office of Tax and Revenue sends out fraudulent(?) tax bills, refuses to communicate to resolve, then takes judgemental action (i.e. "notice of intent to offset") against you without a hearing. Solution: Together we can speak out, collect and share data, identify a pattern of abuse, stop the harassment and bring forth a class action against the DC government. Status: Collecting data now at: fraudbydcofficeoftax.com  Past Projects Chevy Chase Bank Excessive Credit Card Interest Rates 1998-2006 (Scope: National) ARG identified the problem and solicited data from bank customers through our website Chevy Chase Bank Victims. We collected hundreds of incident reports. We were then contacted by Ralph Nader's office where we worked with Todd Larsen on moving this issue towards a class action. We were put in touch with Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. TLPJ identified a law firm to proceed with the class action. We exposed the issue in the media via web, print news. See Nader Criticizes Chevy Chase Bank. Result: Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., has agreed to pay $16.1 million and to remove negative information from consumers' credit records to settle a nationwide class action lawsuit brought by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice on behalf of credit cardholders who alleged they were being charged excessive interest rates. The settlement agreement in Wells v. Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., which Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John Glynn preliminarily approved on July 26, 2006, ends a long-running class action over allegations that the bank breached its contracts with consumers by raising interest rates above a promised 24 percent ceiling, and imposing new and higher fees. Under the settlement, Chevy Chase has agreed to notify credit reporting agencies not to list debts arising from the charges on consumers' credit records. "We are gratified by this terrific result for thousands of banking consumers," said TLPJ Staff Attorney F. Paul Bland, Jr. "It has been a hard-fought, seven-year case involving two victories in Maryland's high court, and we are extremely pleased that Chevy Chase has done the right thing by consumers." "Several consumers told us they were hassled by debt collectors, who were trying to collect the alleged overcharge," Bland continued. "Others told us it was hard to buy a house or car because the bank wrongly listed them as a bad debtor on their credit report. We felt that getting the credit reports fixed was an important part of the deal. Correcting these credit reports could turn out to be worth even more to consumers than the cash." TLPJ alleged that the bank's customer agreement provided that it would "never" charge more than 24 percent interest, but the company did so anyway. Community public road damaged by county reclamation resurfacing contractor. 2008-2009 (Scope: Community/Regional*) Petition: Frederick County Roads had redone the tar and chip on the northern 4 mile stretch of Gambrill Park Road between Hamburg and Tower Roads. This "resurfacing" has made our road rough with a washboard/rumble-strip surface the entire 4 mile length. We are asking you to join us in signing this petition to demand Gambrill Park Road be repaired and/or resurfaced. We will be satisfied only when this portion of road is as flat, level, and smooth riding as the one it replaced. We certainly never expected the county's contractor to deliver a road surface worse than the one we had. - Created website fixgambrill.com (site taken offline when issue was resolved) - Created petition. Over 90% of our community signed it. - Created community public opinion survey so residents could rate the condition of the road. - Organized community meetings. - Went door to door with petition, distributed flyers. - Attended public hearings. Organized the largest community turnout at a public hearing. - Procured expert witness. - Got issue publicized in regional newspapers. Result: Frederick County resurfaced our community road at the additional cost of approximately $300,000. Maryland community with no available high-speed internet or cable TV infrastructure. 2008 (Scope: Community/Regional*) Comcast had told us for years that it would never bring cable services to our community. Comcast is the sole provider of these services in our county, as set by our county government. - Created website comcast4gambrill.com (site taken offline when issue was resolved) - Petitioned Comcast to build infrastructure to provide service to our community. - Publicized issue nationally. - Went door to door with petition, distributed flyers. Result: Comcast invested over $200,000 to install state-of-the-art underground fiber optic lines to our community, for high-speed internet, cable TV, and phone services. Weekly electrical power service blackouts in Frederick, Maryland community, spanning decades (not weather-related). 2002-2003 (Scope: Community/Regional) - Created website alnoiafixmypower.com (site taken offline when issue was resolved). - Maintained online diary of blackouts. - Organized community meetings (invited power company reps to attend). - Got issue publicized in regional newspapers. - Went door to door with petition, distributed flyers. Result: The power company re-routed the path our powerlines took coming up the mountain, resulting in improved service reliability. Weekly electrical power blackouts in a DC community, spanning decades (not weather-related). 1998-1999 (Scope: Community/Regional*) - Created Pepco Blackouts website (site taken offline when issue was resolved) to gather and share community comments. - Maintained an online diary of blackouts. - Got issue publicized in The Washington Post newspaper. - Went door to door with a petition. - Distributed flyers. Result: Helped more than several communities get electrical power service infrastructure repaired/upgraded. *Note: What originally starts out as a community project often turns into a regional project as other communities want to know how to achieve the same results our community did. Advocate Research Group powered by Website2Go © Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved |
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