Consumer & Safety
Buying wisely
Better Business Bureau
The Better Business Bureau provides instant access to business and consumer alerts as well as helpful resources. Plus, you can file a complaint online and more. This web site is provided by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., and the BBB system of over 150 Bureaus located throughout the United States and Canada.
California Department of Consumer Affairs
"The Department of Consumer Affairs' mission is to promote and protect the interests of California consumers. We have information to help you make smart choices and solve problems. We'll educate you regarding your rights and responsibilities. To protect consumers, we license and regulate 2.3 million professionals, including doctors, dentists, contractors and auto-repair technicians."
Consumer Search
Consumer Search is an indexing and abstracting service for finding reviews of products, on or off the net. This site provides a searchable index (by keyword and category) to reviews from nearly 90 printed sources, including Consumer Reports and Consumers Digest, and Internet sites. Users can choose from nearly 60 categories of searches.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
CPSC, an independent Federal regulatory agency, helps keep American families safe by reducing the risk of injury or death from consumer products. This site provides publications, press releases, recalls, and links to consumer information from other agencies. Users can report online an unsafe product or an injury or death involving a consumer product.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration
The Food & Drug Administration makes available FDA Consumer, the Agency’s monthly magazine, from April 1989, plus a searchable index from 1985.
Child care
ChildCareAware.org
National organization committed to helping families find the highest quality child care and child care resources in your community. Call the national toll-free hotline (800-424-2246) or their website to discover informative and reliable materials on a variety of child care issues.
Credit Reports
Free Credit Report - Federal Trade Commission
Consumers can access a free annual credit report by clicking here: www.annualcreditreport.com OR by using the link provided by the FTC on their website. This is the only authorized source for the free annual credit report that's yours by law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees you access to your credit report for free from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — every 12 months. You can also obtain a copy of your report by calling 877-322-8228.
Giving wisely
CharityNavigator.org
Your independent evaluation guide to over 2,500 of the largest American charities.
GuideStar: U.S. charitable organization database
Search for information about more than 850,000 IRS-recognized U.S. charitable organizations BEFORE you donate.
Recycling wisely
eRecycle.org
"A partnership between government, manufacturers, retailers and the environmental community," eRecycle.org provides information for consumers, retailers, manufacturers, and recyclers about California's electronic waste recycling program. The site also offers a searchable database of facilities in California that collect electronic equipment for reuse or recycling.
Household Hazardous Waste - County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works
Find out how and where you can safely dispose of these hazardous household wastes.
Repairs
Do It Yourself
Find information on Autos/Boats, Crafts, Gardening, Hobbies, Home building, Home improvement, Living, and Woodworking.
Hints from Heloise
Information on a multitude of practical, inexpensive, and useful household suggestions and advice.
Photofact Electronic Repair Manuals
Find repair manuals for TVs, VCRs, radios, CBs, and more. If you need repair information on your consumer electronic device, search our Index and see if we have what you are looking for!
Telephones
You can register your HOME or MOBILE telephone number, online at www.DONOTCALL.gov if you have an active email address. Or you can call toll-free, 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236), from the number you wish to register. Registration is free.
Automobiles
Car Buying Tips
An irreverent and useful free consumer site for car buying, leasing, and avoiding dealer scams.
DealerNet
DealerNet is one of the most powerful automotive resources on the Web today. It's packed with information: photos, specs, side-by-side comparisons and MSRP's. It provides links to over 700 dealers nationwide. Begin with new and used car search queries or go to one of the featured content areas.
DriveClean.Ca.Gov
A zero and near zero emission vehicle guide brought to you by California Air Resources Board. Site includes a list of vehicles--Electric, Hybrid electric, Alternative fuel, Fuel cell, Cleaner gas cars; News, Incentives, and more.
Edmund's Automobile Buyer's Guides
Required reading for anyone in the market for a new or used car. Also provides results of road tests, car and truck reviews, information on rebates and incentives, and conferencing opportunities. You can query the Carfax database of over 600 million vehicle history records to see if there is a potential problem with a specific used vehicle. In addition, the submitted VIN will be completely decoded at no charge.
Kelley Blue Book
Like its print counterpart, this site provides new car prices as well as the value of used cars. Simply select your car based on the year, make and model, enter your mileage and zip code, then click on the equipment you have. The value will automatically be configured for you. This site also includes information for buying and selling cars.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Government agency website including crash test information, consumer information and child passenger safety use information.
Travel Planning
Expedia Travel
A slick, easy-to-use travel service. There are four major sections: Travel Agent, where flight, hotel and auto reservations can be found and made; Maps, makes pretty good printable ones from address you give; Resources, with a world guide, hotel directory, 10,000 links to Web sites around the world, currency converter, and weather info; and Communicate, where travelers exchange information.
Fodor's
High quality and wide-ranging information on travel around the world. Includes articles on selected destinations and places to stay and dine, cruises, and sports and adventure travel. Offers hotel and restaurant indexes, reviews of more than 2,000 Bed & Breakfasts in the U.S., discussion forums, and a directory of Fodor's guidebooks.
Frommer's
High quality and wide-ranging information on travel around the world. Includes deals, vacation ideas, tips & resources, message boards, PDA/wireless applications, destinations, newsletter, hot spot of the month, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine and a directory of Frommer's guidebooks.
ReserveAmerica
Make reservations by phone or online. Check availability, search for locations, read rules/regulations about the campground or site, view maps of the campground, find driving directions and more to 140,000 campsites in 44 states.
Traveler's Health
National Center for Infectious Diseases offers health information on specific destinations; Reference materials, Outbreaks, Diseases, Vaccinations, Safe food & water, Traveling with children, Special needs travelers, and Cruise ships & air travel.
Travelocity
You can book your air, car, or hotel here, and review Destination Guides for basic information and points of interest world-wide and check other travelers' experiences in the Dream, Plan, Go section. Offers last-minute deals and discount airfare sales as well as the usual travel information.
U.S. Department of State Travel Warning & Consular Information Sheets
Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Countries where avoidance of travel is recommended will have Travel Warnings as well as Consular Information Sheets. Public Announcements are a means to disseminate information about terrorist threats and other relatively short-term and/or trans-national conditions posing significant risks to the security of American travelers. Consular Information Sheets are available for every country of the world. They include such information as location of the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the subject country, unusual immigration practices, health conditions, minor political disturbances, unusual currency and entry regulations, crime and security information, and drug penalties.