Shoe certificates redeemable here

By NANCY PARADIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 17, 2000

I received Easy Spirit gift certificates at Christmas. I went to a store that sells the shoes and was told to redeem the certificates at an Easy Spirit store, only to find out that the one in my area had been bought out by another store. I have tried contacting Easy Spirit on the Internet with no luck. These certificates are for $25 each. I have two and I want to buy shoes with them. Please let me know what to do. Jeannette Lee

Response: If you can get to Tampa, you can redeem the certificates at one of the stores there. We called the first store listed in the Tampa phone book and were told it would accept them.

Rebate returned

I sent for a Dial rebate offer after purchasing the required two Dial/Tone products. I did everything according to the instructions on the rebate form and sent it in before the expiration date. Everything was sent back to me, marked "return to sender" and with a big X over the Dial address. The envelope wasn't even opened. I don't know what this means. Can you find out what I did wrong so I can do it again correctly? Marian Bruette

Response: Susan Mink, consumer information specialist with Dial Corp. in Scottsdale, Ariz., has no explanation for the black X on the envelope either. The promotion was still open at the time you mailed it. She apologized for the inconvenience and is sending you the $1 rebate check, a 20 Mule Team guide and two coupons for free products.

No merchandise

On Dec. 2, after seeing an ad for Gero-Vita GH3, an anti-aging formula, I mailed a check for $73.95 for a two-month or three-month supply. The ad said to allow up to six weeks for delivery. I never received the product.

After nine weeks, I wrote a letter to Gero Vita Laboratories in Toronto, asking why my order hadn't been shipped. I got no response. On April 13, I sent another letter. Still no response. I started to wonder about the company and whether I wanted to use its products. On May 18, I sent it my last letter requesting my money back. Gero Vita has still not responded to my letters although it is still mailing me its brochures! Please help me with a refund. Tonita Preston

Response: We were glad to learn that you received a check for the full amount.

Cloud seeding?

Some years ago, I wrote to Gov. Chiles and the Southwest Florida Water Management District asking them to test cloud seeding. In cloud seeding, silver iodide is dropped into clouds, forming ice crystals that eventually becomes rain. It is said to be able to increase rainfall by up to 15 percent. Both wrote back that it does not work, so maybe some proof would change some minds. Would you please tell me the name of the city in California that was deluged by rain after seeding the clouds? Charles Ulbinsky

Response: That would be Los Angeles. According to an Associated Press story published in the St. Petersburg Times on Feb. 15, 1978, a rain storm the previous week devastated the Los Angeles area shortly after the county Flood Control Department seeded clouds to increase rainfall. Most of the flooding was in the area of the Tujunga Canyon, within 10 miles of the seeding area. A flood control official and a National Weather Service forecaster quoted in the story differed as to whether the seeding could have affected the heavy rain that caused the floods.

Action solves problems and gets answers for you. If you have a question, or your own attempts to resolve a consumer complaint have failed, write Times Action, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or call your Action number, (727) 893-8171, or, outside of Pinellas, (800) 333-7505, ext. 8171, to leave a recorded request.

We may require additional information or prefer to reply by mail; therefore, readers must provide a full mailing address, including ZIP code. Names of letter writers will not be omitted except in unusual circumstances. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.