Issued on Indian Public Interest

BEWARE OF THESE BANKS
Looking at the rising complaints against ICICI Bank, Citibank, and Standard Chartered Bank , we request consumers to properly read their documents and keep a record when dealing with these banks, especially regarding credit card and housing loan. These three banks are biggest defaulters and do not resolve consumer problems easily. Be aware of their terms in writing. Keep a perfect record of all correspondence with them. If they do not agree to written communication, immediately stop their services. If you ask some nationalised bank to take over the housing loan from ICICI Bank, even after paying full amount, you will not get back your original documents for months. You will be told that the documents are in Mumbai and they are trying to retrieve the same. This is the answer you get everyday.

BEWARE OF NOKIA
Nokia assures that their handset is covered under insurance. They even provide a certificate of insurance. But the condition is that if the handset is lost/stolen, you have to lodge an FIR to seek claims. The catch here is that the police station does not lodge FIR for loss of handsets, they only register NC. So you will never get insurance claims on basis of NC. Nokia is selling some of its degraded products that have software problems. If you come across such problem in a new set, do not waste your time in running around service centres as it is not going to help much, ask for a replacement with a new set. All those who have purchased 3230 set, have experienced that there was software problem in every set. Nokia is simply dumping the sets, which can not be sold in other countries.

BEWARE OF AIR DECCAN
Their confirmed bookings are highly unreliable and of no guarantee that you will be allowed to fly . The booked tickets get cancelled without intimation to consumer only to be known by him when he goes to the airport to catch his flight. You will not get refund immediately, if you have booked your ticket through credit card. If you call up their call centre, if you press numbers relating to refund, you will not be attended at all even if you try for hours together. If you talk to somebody regarding refund, you have to press options relating to ticket booking, so that someone will attend to you. Then you can ask for refund. They are following very good trick.

BEWARE OF COUNTRY CLUB, BANGALORE
They advertise that if you take their membership, a plot of land will be given free of cost near Golden Spa at Coconut Grove. Please note Golden Spa is 35 Kms from Bangalore and the said plot of land is over 100 Kms from Bangalore. Based on false promises and with arrangement with Citibank and ICICI Bank, this team cheats the consumers of his money by asking payments through credit card.

BEWARE OF PRIVATE BUS OPERATORS/TRAVEL AGENTS
If you book your ticket in a private bus operator, you will find that your seat is allotted to somebody else also. Many a times, though you have booked your ticket to some destination, you will dropped few kilometres away, if there are not enough passengers for your destination. Then you will have to depend on other services to reach your destination. Keep the records/proofs and give a complaint to the nearest police station, when you come back. If you find that the police is supporting the travel agent, immediately inform his higher ups or give a complaint to consumer forum. Always try to use government transportation services. They may be bad in service but will never cheat you.

BOOK TELESALES & RECOVERY AGENTS
If you receive unwanted advertisement / telemarketing call from any company or recovery agents. You will find it annoying especially when you are on roaming network. Ask their telephone number and report to the police. File a police complaint against the Chairman of the company.

BEWARE OF SOME HOSPITALS
If you happen to get admitted (or admit your family person/friend/relative) for any operation in any hospital, keep all the records. Even if the doctor scribbles any information on a piece of paper and give it you, please keep it with you. In future, for your bad luck, if some adverse thing happens due to wrong dialysis or wrong operation, these things will come handy to fight it in a court. Please be clear that consumer forums are not of much help to you because they do not have good doctors in their panel. Many a times they do not have any doctors in their panel and even if they have, a doctor in the panel will try to help a doctor. In such a case you will have to fight tooth and nail. Hence keep all the records/proofs with you carefully.

BEWARE OF TATAINDICOM BROADBAND and WIRELESS FIXED TELEPHONE
Their promises to get you a broadband connection within a week is not to be relied upon. Once your money is stuck (about Rs. 2000), it takes lot of pains to recover it back. If you book Wireless fixed telephone, the Tataindicom sales person will tell you that you can send/receive fax, send/receive e-mails in other service providers' account also (for example vsnl, touchtel etc). Once you install the telephone, you will find that the instrument can not support fax machine even if connected through EPABX, you will find that you can receive e-mails in other accounts and can not send e-mails at all. You have to send e-mails only through Tataindicom e-mail service.

CAREFUL WHEN DEALING WITH THESE COMPANIES / PRODUCTS - LIST OF WORST COMPANIES AGAINST WHOM WE RECEIVE COMPLAINTS VERY FREQUENTLY
AIRLINES: Air Deccan
BANKS: ICICI bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank
BUILDERS: Parimiti Buildcon (Thane), Madras City Co-op Bldg. Soc (Chennai)
CARS: Tata motors, Hyundai
CREDIT CARDS: SBI credit card, Citibank, Standard Chartered
CELLPHONE SERVICES: Tata Indicom Broadband, Airtel, BPL mobile
HOME APPLIANCES: Videocon
HOME BUSINESS: Kenya Star Tea
INSURANCE: National Insurance Co., New India Assurance, generally all private/Multinational Insurance Companies
MOBILE PHONES: Nokia 6260, 3230
TIMESHARE: Royal Goan Beach Club (Goa), Happy Home Constructions (Bangalore), Country Club India Ltd. (Bangalore)
TRANSPORTERS: Sky Packers and Movers (Mumbai), Packways Pvt. Ltd.(Mumbai), Sai Packers and Movers (Mumbai)

PLEASE PASS THIS ON...

Important info regarding Passports - Must Read for Your Safety

This is about a well organized conspiracy by Indian Immigration, Police, Customs and Air India staff with networking at all the Indian International Airports. Be watchful when ever you give your passport to Immigration / Customs/Air India staff. The pass port can be easily tampered and can create trouble to you. They have found easy way of making money from NRIs. This is the way it works:

At the time of the passenger's departure, if the passenger is not looking at the officer while he is stamping the exit, the officer very cleverly tears away one of the page from the passport. When the passenger leaves the immigration counter, the case is reported on his computer terminal with full details. Now all over India they have got full details of the passenger with Red Flag flashing on the Passport number entered by the departure immigration officer. They have made their money by doing above. On arrival next time, he is interrogated. Subject to the passenger's period of stay abroad, his income and standing etc., the price to get rid of the problem is settled by the Police and Immigration people. If someone argues, his future is spoiled because there are always some innocent fellows who think the honesty is the basis of getting justice in India.

Please advise every passenger to be careful at the airport. Whenever they hand over the passport to the counters of Air India, or immigration or the customs, they must be vigilant, should not remove eyes from the passport even if the officer in front tries to divert their attention. Also, please pass this information to all friends, media men and important politicians. Every month 20-30 cases are happening all over India to rob the NRIs the minute he lands. Similar case has happened with Aramco's Arifuddin. He was traveling with his family. They had six passports. They got the visa of America and decided to go via Hyderabad from Jeddah. They reached Hyderabad Stayed about a month and left for the States. When they reached the States, the page of the American visa on his wife's passport was missing. At the time of departure from Hyderabad it was there, the whole family had to return to Hyderabad helplessly. On arrival at Bombay back, they were caught by the police and now it is over 2 months, they are running after the Police, Immigration officers and the Courts. On going in to details with him, he found out the following:

One cannot imagine, neither can believe, that the Indian Immigration dept can play such a nasty game to harass the innocent passengers. All the passengers traveling to & fro India via Bombay and Hyderabad must be aware of this conspiracy. Every month 15 to 20 cases are taking place, at eachmentioned airport, of holding the passengers in the crime of tearing away the passport pages. On interviewing some of them, none of them was aware of what had happened. They don't know why, when and who tore away the page from the middle of the passport. One can imagine the sufferings of such people at the hands of the immigration, police and the court procedures in India after that. Thenumber of cases is increasing in the last 2-3 years. People who are arriving at the immigration, they are questioned and their passports are being held and they have to go in interrogations. Obviously, the conspiracy started about 2 to 3 years ago, now the results are coming. Some of the Air India counter staff too is involved in this conspiracy.

KINDLY SEND THIS TO AS MANY AS YOUR FRIENDS ACROSS THE WORLD AND ALSO REQUEST THEM TO CHECK THE PASSPORT AT THE CHECKING COUNTERS AND BEFORE LEAVING THE AIRPORT.

Conservatives Failing Canada’s Immigrants

The Conservative government is failing immigrants and persons seeking Canadian citizenship, Liberal Citizenship and Immigration Critic Omar Alghabra said today. “Canada is a first-choice destination for immigrants from all over the world, and immigration is critical to Canada’s growth and economic prosperity – but Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is not making the necessary investments to our immigration system to provide opportunities for newcomers to this country,” said Mr. Alghabra. Today in the House of Commons, the Liberals introduced Mr. Alghabra’s motion reprimanding Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government for its failure to serve the needs of new Canadians. Each year Canada receives well over 200,000 permanent residents, and the numbers continue to grow. Over the past decade, immigration has accounted for 70 per cent of Canada’s net labour force growth, and Statistics Canada research predicts that between 2011 and 2015, 100 per cent of our net labour force and population growth will come from immigration. “This is clear evidence that we need to invest in our immigration system to better integrate the skills and experiences of foreign-trained professionals and support the growth and prosperity of our cities and communities, but it has become obvious that the Conservative government has no plan to improve Canada’s immigration system,” said Mr. Alghabra.

Mr. Alghabra noted that the Conservative government’s failings on immigration include a broken promise to establish a Foreign Credentials Agency, the abandonment of the Liberal government’s work on family reunification, and a failure to do anything to decrease backlogs in immigration applications. It has also slashed $20 million set aside to update Canada’s citizenship laws. Mr. Alghabra also remarked that failings on the immigration file underscore the Conservative government’s general attitude toward new Canadians and minority groups. “This government’s Reform Party roots are still showing. From scrapping the Court Challenges program, to making attacks on dual citizenship, this government’s actions indicate that they are not concerned with defending the interests of new Canadians,” said Mr. Alghabra. “Immigration is vital to our economic and social development, and the Liberal Opposition remains committed to ensuring that new Canadians are afforded the opportunities they need to succeed.”

Want work in Canada? Get an LMO from HRSDC...

Andy Bennie has skills, energy and the desire to work. But a federal program designed to help employers hire skilled foreign workers like him has actually kept him unemployed, the Lloydminster, Alta., resident says. Bennie, who moved to Canada from Scotland last year, says several companies have tried to hire him, but that's when they come up against the Labour Market Opinion. The LMO is a document employers must get by submitting a foreign worker application from Human Resources and Social Development Canada to their nearest Services Canada Centre. But getting the LMO is only the first step. Next, the prospective employer must give it to the foreign worker, who must take it to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to apply for a work permit. Once the worker holds a work permit, the final step is to apply to the appropriate CIC visa office for a skilled-worker, permanent-resident visa.

It's this kind of red tape that's preventing anyone from hiring him, Bennie says. "[The potential employer] said: 'Look, this is taking X amount of months, with so much to-ing and fro-ing in between,' that … the guy that dealt with the [paperwork] said 'I haven't time, really, to do this anymore.' "It was taking up so much of his time," Bennie said. "And he says: 'I've other work to do.'" Bennie says he has a wide variety of skills, including hotel management and broadcasting experience, but "the LMO wants to put everybody into a box." Bennie, who has his own house and relatives in the Lloydminster area, has been living off the money he brought with him from Scotland. Without a job, he said, he will have to move back in a few months. "I'm not allowed a bank account. I'm not allowed a driving licence … I can't do any work whatsoever. So I'm just slowly eating into my cash," he said.

Conservatives Leave New Canadians Out in the Cold

Too caught up in implementing their ideologically-driven social agenda, the Conservative minority government has no plans to make a positive impact on the lives of newcomers to Canada, the Liberal Opposition said today. “Yesterday, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley appeared before a House committee and dithered on an important issue, the recognition of foreign credentials for new Canadians,” said Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion. “Why does this government continue doing nothing so that new Canadians' skills can be recognized, so that they can reach their full potential?” Liberal Citizenship and Immigration critic Omar Alghabra pointed to the government’s year of inaction in bringing the skills and experience of internationally-trained professionals into the Canadian labour market. “When it comes to hurting minorities, women, aboriginal, youth and the environment, this Conservative government acted ruthlessly and cut essential programs,” said Mr. Alghabra. “But when it comes to implementing much-needed initiatives that they themselves have promised, like creating daycare spaces or helping foreign trade skills, the Conservatives are dragging their feet.

Will the minister confirm what she admitted in committee yesterday: that she has no plan to help newcomers already in Canada to find jobs in their professional fields?” In April 2005, the previous Liberal government announced a commitment of $263 million to launch the Internationally-Trained Workers Initiative to improve the integration of immigrants and internationally-trained Canadians into the work force. The Harper government chose to scrap that initiative with the promise of establishing a Foreign Credentialing Agency. A year has now passed and the Agency is nowhere to be seen. To make matters worse, Ms. Finley has been recently trying to downplay concerns that thousands of Canadians are unaware that they aren’t actually citizens of Canada. Statistics Canada indicates that possibly tens of thousands Canadians born abroad could have unwittingly lost their citizenship due to bureaucratic loopholes in the Canadian Citizenship Act. “The Immigration Minister spent $1,440 on a two night stay in Vancouver and apparently took the Challenger to get there,” said Raymonde Folco. “She travels in style while dragging her feet on important issues and refusing to come up with a plan. “The Citizenship Act overhaul is dead. The dual citizenship review is delayed and plans for the creation of the Foreign Credentials Agency are gathering dust. Why is it so easy for this Minister to spend hard-earned taxpayer money for herself, and yet she can't seem to get on with the job of helping Canadians in need?” It seems the Conservative government would rather spend taxpayer dollars on limousine joyrides than on helping newcomers to Canada. It’s time that Prime Minister Harper stops the partisan rhetoric and starts getting down to work at moving Canada forward.

Self-employment an attractive option for many

by Carole Kanchier, Vancouver Sun

Do you want to be a consultant or contractor? Have you thought of opening a retail establishment or other business? Creating your own career is the key to steady income in today's economy. When you develop a business, you become the employer, controlling your work and lifestyle. Research indicates self-employed people are happy workers. If you've dreamed of being your own boss, don't let fear of losing a steady income stop you. Economic security is not a certainty today. Thousands of people who were looking forward to retirement are laid off. Others who stagnated in boring jobs are finding that inflation is making a nightmare out of their retirement benefits. Statistics Canada reports that adults in the 55-plus age group comprise the greatest number of self-employed, followed by the 45 to 54 age group. However, people of all ages are becoming entrepreneurs, and this trend is increasing. Reports in the Monthly Labor Review and elsewhere indicate that self-employment accounts for most of the net employment growth that took place in Canada in the 1990s. Small business entrepreneurs in both Canada and the U.S. employ more than 50 per cent of the private work force and are the main source of all new jobs.

Ken Miles, Principal of Alpha Quality Assurance, a San Francisco-area consulting firm that assists the medical device industry, planned early retirement to start his own business at 60. Miles uses his experience as a senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration medical investigator to help clients find solutions to industry-wide issues such as complying with FDA regulations. Like Miles, many mature adults who start a consulting business, want to continue working at what they love. Others want to implement postponed dreams. New Canadians comprise another rapidly growing segment of the self-employed. Parisa Pajouhesh, 39, and her husband, Ahmad M. Ranjbar, 48, are principals of APR Consulting, a Vancouver-based social policy consulting and career development firm. Pajouhesh, a social policy analyst, came to Canada from Iran in 2004. She found limited employment opportunities for her skills, but good consulting opportunities. Roxanne Davies, Program Manager of Successful Contracting and Consulting (SCC), a Vancouver-based, federally funded training program, has observed that many foreign trained professionals are often disillusioned with employment opportunities in their fields. "Sometimes it's easier for them to find contract work." There are numerous self-employment opportunities in most industries. Tanis Abramenko, 31, took time off her bookkeeping job at a Calgary financial institution be a full-time mother. Instead of re-entering the financial field, Abramenko established a home cleaning service. Within two months she had a full client list. Abramenko is planning to expand her business by hiring and training others. Why choose self employment? Entrepreneurs cite many advantages to being self-employed including freedom, responsibility and flexibility. Other benefits are variety, challenge and a sense of accomplishment from realizing a dream. "What you do you do for yourself," says Pajouhesh. "I'm building something for my future." Creative business people, who plan well, spend wisely and work hard, do very well.