Paul

This is a nightmare scenario; I booked an international flight a few months ago to the Philippines. At the time, I gave them my passport # and they did not tell me anything was wrong. I even checked a couple weeks out again to be sure. Then the night of the flight, I was told I can't fly because my passport expires in 5 1/2 months even though my trip was only for 2 weeks. I was forced to renew my passport and rebook, at which time they charged me almost $500 when they quoted $200 the night before. I protested heavily but they refused to budge, so I put it on a credit card.

My question is -- do I have legal and/or ethical grounds to dispute this charge with my bank? Follow up question -- is my bank likely to reverse the charge if I dispute it?

I had no choice but to pay it to get where I need to go, but I still don't think it's right. Any sound guidance on this issue would be appreciated.

This happened to me for the first time today -- I looked in my bank account online and saw a fraudulent transfer done by a company called luckymoney.com for over $1000. I called the bank and they are disputing the charge, but they informed me that all someone needs is a routing number and account number to do this. I find that to be a HUGE security hole, and I'm astounded that banks are not more proactive in stopping this. Is there anything I can do, after closing and re-opening my account -- to prevent this from happening again?

I have an HP dv6910US. It's about 3 years old. Recently, when I try to power it up, it runs for a few seconds, then shuts down. After several attempts, it powers up. The number of attempts vary-sometimes only a couple tries, sometimes 15-20 tries. After it finally powers up, it runs fine and gives me no other problems. I'm concerned that one of these times it wont power up at all. How do I fix this?

I'm confused about this issue. The DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) included an exemption for unlocking cell phones for the sole purpose of moving from one carrier to another. I read that this exemption expires in November 2009. What I can't seem to find out is if this exemption was ever extended. Does anyone have the answer to that? In short, is it still legal to unlock my iphone if all I want to do is move from AT&T to another carrier?

I've had this laptop since last September, and recently the fan has started kicking on at times and runs REALLY fast. The performance of the laptop doesn't seem to be affected, but it's really annoying to listen to and it can't be good for the computer. How do you fix this kind of problem?

I have a broadband connection (Comcast) with a Belkin modem that I just installed, and I want to use my old Linksys router with it. The problem is that I have no cd, driver, manual or box for the router. What do I need to download to get this router configured and working with my broadband modem?

I'm trying to figure out when lent officially ends, and I have heard both Thursday and Saturday. Can anyone tell me what the official end to lent is in the Catholic Church? I gave up my Ipod for lent and it's killing me :)

I want to attend law school next fall, and my household income (married couple no kids) was less than $20,000, so I would think I should be eligible for something. How much money in grants is usually available based on income level?

I am looking at a new laptop and have heard alot of negative about Windows Vista. Is it still a bad idea to buy a new pc with Vista? Also, is Vista able to run older versions of Microsoft Office?

I seem to be getting differing opinions on this. In the latest Itunes update, do i have the capability to do this. Otherwise, what's another solution to put my music back on my computer?

My startup tab is now in "classic" mode, I can't get any sound, my uninstall driver doesn't work, my system restore wont work & I can't connect to the internet through a wireless router, and several other problems. All this after a crash to the system , which happens every now and then.

How do I fix this? Will a full system restore to original factory settings usually solve this, or does it sound like a hardware problem? Or, is there an easier way I haven't thought of?

The price they want is PHP 150,000. Haven't seen it yet, but they say in good conditions. Any suggestions as to what to look for?