0:05

It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark

0:07

Howard show. Our mission is to serve you

0:09

and empower you so you make better financial

0:12

decisions in your life. Today,

0:14

I get to revisit one of my favorite

0:17

topics, NFL

0:19

football. I'm going to tell you about

0:21

a supposed deal on NFL

0:24

Sunday Ticket that could come with

0:26

big hassles

0:28

and a huge surprise bill later.

0:32

And something that's not been a deal,

0:34

airline tickets.

0:37

Well, now I got great

0:39

news for you if you're looking

0:41

to go somewhere in the United

0:43

States over the next 06, 8 months.

0:48

Finally, some good news on that front,

0:50

unless you're an airline stockholder. So

0:55

Verizon has

0:57

been through so much turmoil. They've

1:01

had so many managers

1:03

come and go at the top. Their

1:06

subscriber numbers have been

1:08

like they're a 98 pound weakling. And

1:11

remember when Verizon Wireless was like,

1:13

they were the big dog. I mean, they

1:15

were the champion

1:18

of the cell phone market. And

1:20

now they really have kind of lost their

1:23

way.

1:24

And their prices are so very high.

1:27

So Verizon keeps trying to, within

1:29

very tight lines, trying to figure out what to do.

1:31

They changed their rate plans recently.

1:35

And they're trying to offer incentives as

1:37

they're having more customers leave

1:40

them and very few coming to

1:42

them. They're trying to come up with something that would

1:44

attract new customers.

1:47

And so they've done this tie in with

1:49

NFL Sunday ticket. And if

1:51

you jump through certain hoops with

1:54

various parts of Verizon, could

1:56

be for traditional home internet,

1:59

which is not. Verizon Wireless

2:01

could be for wireless service, most of the things

2:03

are wireless service, and then

2:06

you can either get NFL

2:08

Sunday ticket for free or cheaper.

2:10

However, my

2:14

eyes went cross-eyed when

2:16

I was trying to read the terms and conditions

2:19

for qualifying for

2:22

the discounted or free NFL

2:25

Sunday ticket with Verizon. You

2:27

know what happens in a giant company is

2:30

the marketers come up with a plan and

2:33

then the numbers crunchers come

2:35

up with all kinds of complications

2:38

that kill the joy of whatever

2:40

the solicitation is for. And that's

2:43

what happened with this one

2:45

because the headline is do this with

2:48

Verizon, you're gonna get free NFL

2:50

Sunday ticket. But then you have to do

2:52

so many different things to qualify

2:55

and then if you mess up on any

2:57

of them, Verizon says well tough

2:59

on you, we're gonna bill you full

3:01

retail after the fact

3:03

for NFL Sunday ticket

3:06

and you're gonna end up owing them 450 extra

3:09

dollars.

3:10

So know this with

3:12

Verizon even if everybody says yeah yeah you

3:14

did everything right, later on

3:17

you could get hit with a huge

3:20

bill at the back end where

3:22

if they said do you up front it would be fine.

3:24

Verizon said yeah you know you do

3:26

this with us you're not gonna qualify. That

3:28

would be fine. Then you could say well

3:31

I still want to be with Verizon

3:33

and maybe I just won't get NFL

3:35

Sunday ticket or I'll just pay the big

3:37

money for it. But to say yeah

3:40

sign up for this stuff with us

3:42

and then later say jokes on

3:44

you, you owe all this money. Verizon

3:47

this is just another

3:49

clear indication

3:51

that you don't have your act together.

3:53

If I were the Emperor

3:55

of Verizon

3:57

what would I do? I

3:58

would simplify some simplify, simplify.

4:01

I would make it much easier for people to understand

4:05

how to do business with me.

4:07

I would make the policies

4:09

very clear, and I would never

4:12

do a gotcha where I'd say, yeah,

4:14

come on in, come on in, come on in, what a deal

4:16

we have for you. And then

4:18

after you have signed up, rip

4:21

the deal away from you and bill

4:24

you, that's not the right

4:26

way to treat a prospective

4:29

customer who comes in the door or

4:31

an existing customer.

4:33

And if you feel like I got it wrong, someone

4:36

from Verizon, you're welcome to come on the podcast

4:39

and give whatever corrections you

4:42

feel need to be made. But

4:44

in business, it's really clear.

4:47

People want to feel like

4:49

they're being treated fairly.

4:51

Doesn't have to be the

4:53

cheapest, but people have to feel

4:55

like they can understand what they're doing

4:57

and you can build trust. And with

4:59

the way Verizon's running right now, it's

5:02

hard to have that trust.

5:04

And then this NFL Sunday ticket

5:06

deal

5:07

shows it clearly that

5:09

the culture in Verizon management

5:12

just is not focused where it needs to

5:14

be on, and that is how

5:16

to build and maintain that trust

5:19

with a customer. Krista? So

5:21

Neil in California also has the NFL

5:24

on his mind. He says, I currently use

5:26

an antenna for TV. What are the

5:28

best options for the upcoming NFL

5:30

season? Cable, dish, streaming,

5:33

or a better antenna?

5:34

So Neil, it depends on if

5:38

there are specific teams you want to follow

5:41

or you just want to get all

5:43

the NFL you can. I mean, if you want NFL

5:46

coming out your ears,

5:48

then you got to open up the wallet.

5:50

And NFL Sunday ticket

5:53

is really where it is. Now we've had

5:55

other people say, no, no, just do Red Zone.

5:58

And which... shows you final

6:01

scoring drives of all

6:04

the games and is potentially

6:06

a cheaper option than Sunday Ticket.

6:09

But yeah, getting a stronger

6:12

antenna so you can make sure you can

6:14

get any affiliate

6:16

that's anywhere close enough that that antenna

6:18

can grab where

6:19

you can watch as many games

6:21

as you possibly can pull in, that

6:24

is a very viable alternative. Remember if you

6:27

watch an NFL game with

6:30

a good antenna, you're going to

6:32

get a much better picture. This

6:34

would also be true for college football

6:36

or any live sport. You

6:39

will get a much better picture

6:41

with an antenna than you will with

6:43

cable, satellite, or

6:45

streaming. Plus, you

6:48

know what happened on a play 35 seconds

6:51

before somebody watching streaming and

6:54

probably 15 to 20 seconds before

6:56

somebody watching cable or satellite.

6:59

So the antenna makes you seem so

7:02

much smarter. Do

7:03

you ever have that thing in your house if you're

7:05

watching, like we'll be watching the same

7:07

game, like I'll be upstairs, I have it on the bedroom,

7:09

I'm doing something and then it's on downstairs.

7:12

And for some reason, even though we're both on YouTube

7:14

TV, it's out of sync, so I'll hear them yelling

7:16

and I know something's about to happen.

7:18

Yeah, it's I guess it's a closer.

7:21

Yeah. To the internet.

7:23

Yeah, the downstairs. Yeah, it's so weird. Okay,

7:25

Jeff in California says Google slash

7:28

Nest has decided to stop supporting and

7:30

closed down Nest Secure, the home security

7:33

product. Google's

7:35

offering $200 off an ADT security system,

7:37

which I don't want. I paid over $1,200 for

7:40

all the door and window monitors in late 2017. And

7:43

now the product won't work at all. Is there any way

7:46

to complain to someone higher up at Google? This

7:48

is absurd to make a product just completely

7:50

obsolete and offer just $200 off

7:52

another system. When Google shut down

7:55

Stadia, their gaming system, they gave

7:57

full refunds. Please help me, Obi-Wan

7:59

Clark.

7:59

You are my only hope. Well,

8:03

actually, I won't be your only hope, because

8:06

it's a near certainty that

8:08

a class action suit will be

8:11

filed against Google Nest

8:13

for this. It is a big

8:15

problem. This came up recently with

8:18

another company with security cameras,

8:20

where people had bought security cameras. And

8:23

then they said, yep, we're not supporting those anymore.

8:25

Your cameras are toast.

8:26

And people had laid out all the money on cameras.

8:29

And there was such a fuss about it,

8:30

the company changed its mind and is now

8:33

going to continue to support those cameras

8:36

for who knows how long. But

8:38

it is wrong when a company

8:41

remains in business. You can't do

8:43

anything about it when a company goes bust. And

8:46

you bought hardware that only works

8:48

with their software. That's one

8:50

thing. But when a company

8:53

that is an ongoing concern, like

8:55

Google, obviously, one of the world's most

8:58

successful companies, one of the most valuable

9:00

companies in the world, just says,

9:03

yeah, we're getting out of the burglar

9:05

alarm business, the security business. And

9:08

it's too bad for you, the $1,200 you spent.

9:12

I think it's worthwhile for

9:14

us at Clark.com to

9:17

have a conversation with Google, if it's possible,

9:20

and it's not with AI at Google, and

9:22

see if we get any clear

9:24

signal from them that they're rethinking this.

9:27

Because I want to make it clear to you,

9:29

Jeff, you are not the only one

9:32

who is really upset

9:35

with Google with good reason.

9:37

Grant in California says, hello, Clark. I

9:39

recently had a fender bender in a rental

9:41

vehicle. I

9:44

purchased the rental with my Costco visa and waived

9:46

all the optional rental insurance. I

9:48

understand that card covers up to $50,000 in this

9:50

case. The rental

9:53

car company and damage recovery unit seemed

9:55

insistent in their communications that

9:57

I involve my primary auto insurance.

9:59

Since the car I was driving was the only one involved

10:02

in the incident and the damage is likely low

10:04

in the thousands rather than the tens of thousands,

10:07

I'd like to only use the credit card's benefit.

10:09

If possible, is it still perfunctory

10:12

to involve my auto insurance coverage?

10:14

Grant, I'm the one who has to give

10:17

you pretty bad news. The

10:20

Costco Visa card from Citi

10:22

is what's called secondary coverage.

10:25

It covers what your own automobile

10:28

insurance does not. There

10:30

are a handful of cards that

10:32

are primary. If you frequently

10:35

rent cars, I recommend you

10:37

get those. Chase has a couple

10:39

of cards that do that and the Sapphire

10:41

branding Capital One has with the

10:44

Venture X rewards.

10:46

So it's called. Anyway,

10:49

the fancy Venture X card. And

10:52

American Express, certain

10:54

cards will provide really

10:57

beefed up car rental coverage where you don't

10:59

involve your own insurer for damage

11:01

to a rental car. But most of them, what they

11:03

do is

11:04

they are an overlay

11:07

on what your own automobile insurance

11:09

does not cover.

11:10

So unfortunately, you are left with

11:13

two choices here. One,

11:15

if you don't want to mess up

11:17

your auto insurance rating and costs

11:20

moving forward with auto insurance, if

11:23

the claim is small enough,

11:25

you can just pay out of pocket

11:27

to the car rental company, but

11:29

that may end up being cost prohibitive.

11:32

Two, you just have to process

11:34

through your own automobile insurance and then

11:36

the Costco Visa will cover

11:39

what it does not cover.

11:41

And so you want to inform

11:44

both. And I wish I had

11:46

a happier story for

11:48

you about this. Did Costco change

11:51

that like they used to offer primary? I

11:53

don't remember if Costco,

11:55

when they had the relationship with

11:57

American Express years ago. they

12:00

switch to city,

12:01

to my knowledge it's always been secondary.

12:04

And we do have an article at Clark.com

12:06

about which cards offer primary or

12:08

secondary rental car insurance, just so

12:10

you

12:10

know. So the thing is if you rent

12:13

cars infrequently it's

12:15

not worth it usually to get a high

12:18

annual fee credit card just

12:20

for an occasional car rental.

12:22

I'd say the tripping point

12:24

is if you rent cars

12:26

four or more times a year, once a

12:28

quarter, then it's worth

12:30

it to pay the annual fee on a card

12:32

that is primary coverage instead

12:35

of secondary. And I'm

12:37

really really sorry about

12:39

your auto insurer having to know about

12:42

this. So coming

12:44

up ahead something that

12:46

I actually can tell you positive

12:49

about the nation's airlines and

12:51

your wallet.

12:53

It's about time we had some good news

12:55

on that front. At the

12:57

end of your first year, Discover credit cards

13:00

automatically double all the cash back you've

13:02

earned. That's right, everything

13:05

you've earned, doubled. All

13:07

the cash back from eating at your favorite soup

13:09

dumpling restaurant, doubled. All

13:11

the cash back from that trip where you have sort of learned

13:13

to snowboard, also doubled. And the best

13:15

part, you don't have to do anything ridiculous

13:18

to get it. Nope,

13:20

Discover does it automatically.

13:22

Seriously though, see terms and check it out for

13:24

yourself at discover.com slash

13:26

match. So airfares

13:30

in the United States went crazy

13:33

in what was called the cycle

13:35

of revenge travel, where

13:37

Americans having been pent up

13:40

in 20 and 21 by COVID

13:42

last year,

13:44

booked at it seemed like whatever

13:47

fare

13:47

airlines wanted to charge.

13:50

And the way yield management works,

13:52

or dynamic demand pricing,

13:54

is that

13:55

every additional seat of demand

13:58

per flight

13:59

pushed is fares up on

14:02

that flight

14:03

and airlines adjust

14:05

their pricing models based

14:07

on what happened

14:09

a year ago. Well, last year they were using 2019

14:13

as the base year going back to pre-COVID

14:16

and this year they're using 20. So

14:18

when airlines first

14:20

post their fares on a route,

14:23

the fares, even the cheapest

14:25

available are not cheap at all. They're really

14:27

high because they're going by

14:29

the historical averages from last

14:31

year. Well, demand is down

14:34

quite a bit from last

14:36

year for domestic travel. So

14:39

airlines are having as they

14:41

move closer to

14:43

travel time and as best I can

14:45

tell it seems to be 30 to 45

14:48

days out,

14:49

airlines are cutting fares on

14:51

domestic flights. So a couple of things.

14:54

If you booked a domestic flight

14:56

months and months ago, way before

14:58

you're going to go,

15:00

go back and shop that fare again.

15:02

I fly Southwest a lot.

15:05

They now have done their system

15:07

that if you put in

15:09

your existing reservation

15:11

and you want to see if the fare has dropped,

15:13

they're not going to show you. They

15:15

have inhibited that function. So

15:18

what you have to do, and I don't

15:20

know if this is true with other airlines, is

15:22

you have to pretend you're mimicking

15:25

starting a new reservation

15:27

and you price those same flights. And

15:30

if you see those flights are cheaper,

15:32

then what you do is what

15:34

I've had to do. I did this nine

15:37

times recently. I fly a lot where

15:40

I found nine different bookings

15:42

I had that

15:43

I'd booked a while ago. The fares had gone

15:45

down. I

15:46

then rebooked those same flights,

15:49

went back and canceled the original booking.

15:52

So since airlines don't charge

15:54

change fees anymore except on

15:56

the awful basic economy,

15:59

you can

15:59

do this where you stay a

16:02

semi-free agent.

16:03

And as you look at fares moving forward,

16:06

the fares are better

16:09

as the bookings have softened. In fact, fares

16:11

are even below, according

16:13

to Hopper, they're below what they were in 19.

16:16

So the domestic thing

16:18

is getting better and better.

16:20

International, not yet. People

16:23

booked very heavily

16:25

domestic travel last year, and

16:27

this year they felt comfortable going further

16:30

afield going overseas.

16:32

And overseas flights have been very

16:34

full.

16:35

Fares have been very high.

16:37

And that is not

16:39

gonna be better

16:41

till I'm guessing sometime in 24. But

16:44

the domestic travel already

16:46

better for your wallet.

16:48

Krista, what you got for me?

16:50

Okay, DJ Ronz in

16:52

Illinois says, what have you

16:54

heard about the new ETIAS

16:57

slash visa requirements for

16:59

Americans traveling to Europe starting in 2024?

17:02

I think it's ETI, I'm

17:04

trying to remember what it's called. So the

17:06

European airline, the European government

17:08

say

17:09

they're gonna require this new registration

17:12

procedure they have to do once every three years.

17:14

For anyone or just Americans? Anyone,

17:17

coming overseas to Europe. And

17:20

it's just a junk fee.

17:22

There's no homeland security

17:25

kind of angle or anything like that, it's just a fee.

17:28

And

17:29

there's no set date

17:31

for it, there's no

17:33

procedure yet.

17:35

It's just supposed to happen sometime in 24. So

17:38

we just watch and wait.

17:40

It's not a big deal to

17:42

get the three year

17:45

certificate, whatever they're

17:47

gonna call it, voucher certificate. So

17:49

you can't even, you can't get it yet if you have a trip

17:52

in 24. You cannot get it yet, you don't need it yet.

17:55

Because they don't even have this date yet and

17:58

don't know if it's gonna be one of those things.

17:59

Do you know how we had the real

18:02

ID requirements in the United States that were supposed to happen 15

18:05

years ago and

18:06

they're still not in place and every

18:08

time there's a deadline they delay them again? Don't

18:11

know if that's going to happen

18:13

with the new European junk fee,

18:16

but once it actually

18:18

launches obviously there'll be

18:20

a lot of publicity about it and when

18:22

you go to book a flight to Europe

18:25

it'll say you must do blah

18:27

blah blah

18:28

and it'll just be a click,

18:30

you put in personal information

18:32

and then you pay them the junk fee and

18:34

then you'll have your three years. I

18:37

don't think it's going to be the kind of thing that

18:41

unless people don't pay any attention to what's

18:43

going on, read the stuff from their airline, whatever,

18:46

I don't think people are going to show up at the airport and get turned

18:48

away. I think there's going to be enough

18:51

publicity that I think people will be okay.

18:54

Right now nothing for you to do because

18:57

it's weird that you got this question because

18:59

I was just reading about it

19:01

how nobody knows when

19:03

it's actually going to happen and how you're supposed to

19:06

do it. I know the Consumer Action Center told

19:08

me that they've been getting questions from people who have

19:10

trips planned for 24 and they're nervous

19:13

so that's good to hear, should be

19:15

fine, we'll keep you updated as soon as we

19:17

hear anything firm, right? That's right. Sheldon

19:20

Texas says, I should start by saying

19:22

that everyone is okay, no one was hurt.

19:25

Recently my family and I were run off the road by a

19:27

driver in the wrong lane.

19:29

We hit a concrete construction divider

19:31

and were lifted four feet off of the ground

19:34

where we balanced until the police

19:36

arrived and stabilized the car so

19:38

we could get

19:39

out. Can you imagine how terrifying

19:41

from the beginning of that experience till

19:44

when they finally were able to get out of the vehicle?

19:47

I mean that's really terrifying.

19:48

Yeah, it's the kind of thing you

19:51

keep, you close your eyes and you see it again

19:53

and again. Yeah. Wow, I'm really

19:55

sorry Donald, that is no fun. The

19:58

other driver fled the scene.

19:59

without even checking to see if we were okay.

20:03

We had a witness to the event and the other driver

20:05

confessed when the officer called and confronted

20:07

them. The other driver's insurance refuses

20:10

to pay for the damage to our car because

20:12

there was no actual collision. How

20:14

can this be and what options do I

20:16

have?

20:16

Okay, so the other insurance

20:19

company obviously doesn't want to pay. It's

20:22

just the way they play the game. You

20:24

have to sue the individual

20:27

who did the hit and run. The non-hit

20:29

and run who caused you

20:32

to have to take evasive maneuvers,

20:34

fled the scene. All these things

20:37

are ugly things. So what

20:39

happens is you sue that individual.

20:41

The damage

20:43

is small enough you'll be able to sue in

20:45

small claims court. The individual

20:48

will then have to involve the

20:51

insurance company and that's

20:53

how you get it going. If you're ready

20:55

to do it, I don't recommend it. It's called subrogation.

20:58

In this case, I definitely would not recommend

21:00

subrogation. So where you file a claim

21:02

with your own insurance

21:04

and then they through an industry procedure

21:07

go after maybe the

21:10

other party's insurance. They may or may not do

21:12

it

21:12

and in any case you have to pay your deductible.

21:15

It will probably be treated as a claim

21:17

even though you didn't cause this event.

21:20

So that's why suing

21:23

in small claims court

21:24

is the likeliest best

21:27

thing for you to do so that

21:30

you have the greatest chance that the other

21:32

insurer will say, okay, because

21:35

the key thing here, the

21:37

person caused the incident, fled

21:39

the scene.

21:40

You had the witness who got the plate

21:42

or tag number.

21:44

The police officer has the

21:46

information. I mean, you've got the

21:48

key elements.

21:50

It's not like somebody

21:52

caused this, fled the scene. Nobody

21:54

knows who they were. You know who

21:56

this individual was. You know who

21:58

their insurer is.

22:00

And so you have the

22:02

target to go after. Remember the lawsuit

22:04

is not against the insurer,

22:06

it's against the insured.

22:09

That individual who then

22:11

brings their own insurer in.

22:13

And Nicholas says, I love the Eiffel

22:16

Tower story. Maybe we'll recap that

22:18

briefly. My dad saved a dollar by declining

22:20

the air dry after a car wash. It

22:22

was winter in Indiana and he

22:25

thought the drive home on the highway would dry

22:27

off the car. Our minivan turned

22:30

into a Popsicle and we

22:32

couldn't open the doors. We had to wait

22:34

for the doors to thaw in the garage. Well,

22:37

so Nicholas, I'm

22:40

with your dad. I mean, think

22:42

about the family togetherness you

22:45

got to have in the garage. You

22:47

know, everybody all got to talk and hang

22:50

out. You know, if the doors had just

22:52

opened like normal, everybody would have just scattered

22:54

wherever. But this way you

22:57

had this enforced time together

23:00

as a family. So your dad

23:02

was actually very smart here. Okay,

23:05

so what happened with me?

23:07

How many times am I gonna

23:09

have to tell this story? I'll just say really briefly, because most

23:11

people are perfect. Yeah, very briefly. So in 2012, I took

23:13

my three kids by myself

23:17

to

23:19

London for the Summer Olympics.

23:22

And we went before London, we went to Paris

23:24

and we were at the Eiffel Tower

23:26

and I wouldn't pay for the elevator

23:29

because it was too expensive. And so we

23:31

walked the stairs and

23:34

a lot of people have been very

23:37

unhappy with me. You couldn't go to the top. You

23:39

went to the place. You couldn't go to the top. We went to an intermediate

23:41

level where the views were great.

23:44

And so. Have you ever been

23:46

to the top? Uh-uh. Well,

23:50

you have to pay to get up there. Okay.

23:54

I mean, you have to pay to walk the steps. It's just

23:56

a lot cheaper to walk the steps. Someone also wrote

23:58

in when you were talking about the shower.

23:59

Remember the dad pretend we're talking

24:01

about dad's bang on the door to get you to stop using the hot

24:03

water Someone wrote in that their dad

24:06

would turn off the hot water heater He had a

24:08

10-minute timer on it for showers And

24:10

so like his brother came out the first time

24:12

with shampoo in his hair Turned

24:16

it off

24:17

ten minutes that seems like a lot of

24:19

water. I think it should have been a five-minute cutoff

24:22

I know the person who wrote in did that to his kids. That's

24:25

right. So sorry Your name's

24:27

escape either of your kids take forever

24:29

showers. Yeah, I do

24:31

too You know, you're paying that bill.

24:33

I am in and out of the shower

24:36

so fast. I love a long

24:38

shower I gotta admit it. No,

24:40

I'm in and out in two minutes at

24:43

most I

24:45

Don't stink do I good for you, man? Okay.

24:47

All right Well, I'll

24:49

tell you what doesn't stink is you

24:51

being careful with every single dollar

24:54

Maybe not as crazy as I am but

24:56

being careful with every dollar and what we're

24:59

all about Is you learning

25:01

ways to save more and spend

25:03

less and avoid getting ripped

25:06

off and I hope you have a wonderful Rest

25:08

of your day