Consumer Confidential: Foreclosures, cleaning products and video games

Here's your thick-as-Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- Things are still tough on the housing front but maybe not as tough as before. Market researcher RealtyTrac said foreclosure filings were down 3% last month from the month before, but were up 19% from a year earlier. Analysts say we aren't out of the woods yet, but the trend line suggests that the housing market is gradually improving. About time too.

-- Is it possible to keep your home too clean? A new report says yes. The group Women's Voices for the Earth says many households overdo it with disinfectant products, making people more vulnerable to asthma, hormone imbalances and other health problems. "Companies are working hard to convince consumers, and especially moms, that they need to regularly disinfect every surface in their homes to protect their families from illness," Alexandra Scranton, a staff scientist with the group. "But that’s simply not true, and it may not be healthy."

-- I wrote the other day about visiting with people in line at a Best Buy store for the latest "Call of Duty" video game. Today, I can close the loop by reporting that Activision Blizzard sold $310 million worth of games -- 4.7 million copies -- within the first 24 hours of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" going on sale. And that's just in North America and Britain. Could it be that a few of us have some aggression issues to work out?

-- David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Toys, tricks and trash

Here's your make-my-Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Toys R Us is making it easier to buy big stuff. The company has unveiled an interest-free layaway plan for larger items such as bikes and cribs ahead of the holiday season. Effective immediately, customers can place such items on hold and make a series of payments until the item is paid for in full. Then you can have your thing. This has been a popular ploy among retailers at times in the past and is now making a recessionary return with some major chains, including Sears and Kmart. Toys R Us said it decided to climb aboar the layaway express after being asked to do so by customers.

--Be careful buying any product online that purports to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure H1N1 flu. That's the word from our friends at the Food and Drug Administration, which recently sampled some of the offerings available on the Net and found questionable ingredients from questionable places. Moreover, the FDA says the websites it purchased the samples from vanished shortly after the transaction was completed. Want to protect yourself from swine flu? Get a flu shot.

--In other FDA news, the agency has put up a website to help people dispose of outdated and potentially dangerous drugs. Certain meds should be flushed down the toilet to prevent them from being taken by others (although what this will do to the alligators in the sewer, the feds don't say). Others can be thrown out in the trash. Check the site to find out which med should get which treatment.

-- David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Recession, healthcare and Sidekicks

Here's your mail-it-in-Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Internet:

-- Free at last, free at last -- pretty much. About 80% of economists believe the recession is over, and most think we're marching confidently down the road to recovery. That's the good news. The bad news is that the job market should stay fairly stagnant for another year or more. At this point, we're all getting kind of used to the new and nasty status quo, aren't we?

-- Thanks for playing, boys. The insurance industry has released a report saying proposals to reform the healthcare system will increase, not lower, people's premiums by as much as thousands of dollars a year. This cheerful warning comes just hours before a key Senate vote on the issue. Insurers had been saying for months that they were backing reform and didn't want to scuttle legislative attempts to improve things. What was it Cyndi Lauper sang about true colors?

-- Bad news for Sidekick owners, The cellphones, made by a Microsoft subsidiary and sold by T-Mobile, have had all personal data stored by users wiped out because of a computer glitch. Microsoft and T-Mobile say a server operated by the software giant got all surly and erased people's info. Ouch.

-- David Lazarus

Some antibiotics free at Stater Bros.

Here’s a new way to get people to shop in your stores: Offer free drugs. San Bernardino supermarket chain Stater Bros. said it will give a free 14-day supply of selected antibiotics, including refills, to anyone with or without health insurance coverage who presents a prescription.

People with insurance would not have a co-payment but the company would still bill their insurer, said Jack Brown, chief executive of Stater Bros.

The antibiotics will be available only at the 28 Stater Bros. locations in Southern California that have pharmacies. Check with your local Stater Bros. to find a location, or click here for a list of Stater Bros. stores with pharmacies.

The supermarket chain will give away eight different classes of antibiotics, including:

-- Amoxil (generic)
-- Ampicillin
-- Ciprofloxacin (Generic for Cipro)
-- Doxycycline
-- Erythromycin
-- Penicillin
-- Trimeth/sulfa (Generic for Septra or Bactrim)
--  Tetracycline

“Stater Bros. realizes that the current economic environment coupled with climbing health insurance rates have made access to crucial medication difficult for many of our customers,” Brown said in a statement. “Stater Bros. is doing all that we can to ensure accessible and affordable healthcare to our valued customers.”

Like other supermarkets, Stater Bros. also sells a wide range of $4 generic prescription drugs. It has 300 commonly prescribed medications for $4 for a 30-day supply or $10 for a 90-day supply.

-- Jerry Hirsch
Twitter.com/LATimesJerry

Consumer Confidential: Instant Starbucks, trust and a day at Disney

Here's your Totally Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- We're not out of the woods yet. Consumer confidence took an unexpected dive last month as Americans continued to fret about whether the job market would ever improve. Chances are, consumers will once again feel some love for the economy as employers slowly (oh so slowly) expand the workforce, but this could be a dark cloud for the holiday shopping season. Or, looked at another way, I'm thinking big sales coming down the pike to lure us into stores.

-- Starbucks has taken the lid off its new Via Ready Brew instant coffee. The company hopes this will give it a taste of the $21-billion global market for morning pick-me-ups made from freeze-dried beans. Starbucks is pumping big bucks into the North American rollout of Via. We'll just have to see whether this is a shrewd brand extension on the company's part or whether adding instant to the mix just cheapens everyone's favorite caffeine fix.

-- Do you trust the safety of the food you eat? Many of us don't, or so we're led to believe in a new survey from our friends at IBM (who I never thought of foodies, but so be it). The tech giant found that about 60% of consumers said they were concerned about the food they purchased, and only 20% trusted food companies to develop and sell safe products. The survey indicates that a steady stream of food recalls has made consumers safer, but it's also raised awareness that not everything you find in the supermarket is safe to eat.

-- Who says giving is its own reward? Disney is upping the ante by offering free admission to a Disney park for anyone who completes a day of volunteer work. The offer will be extended to 1 million do-gooders and is being made in conjunction with HandsOn Network, a clearinghouse for volunteer activities. See you on the Matterhorn.

-- David Lazarus

Consumer Confidential: Gas prices, the Gap and salad safety

It's Monday. Here's your blog-o-riffic roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--The average price of gas fell nationwide by 7 cents over the last two weeks to $2.52. The peak driving season is over, so this isn't surprising. But I'm still thinking oil (and hence gas) is going to head north as the economy gradually recovers.

--Consumers Union is voicing opposition to a proposed salad safety agreement between farmers and federal regulators. The watchdog group says the pact may be well-intended, but it amounts to industry self-regulation. And look where that got us on Wall Street.

--Is exercise bad for you? Not exactly. But some experts say baby boomers are overdoing it in the gym in their efforts to stay eternally young (or young-looking at least). That explains this sore shoulder that's been bugging me for weeks ...

--Donald Fisher, co-founder of Gap Inc., has died after a long battle with cancer. I've carped about Gap's misguided efforts to reinvent itself as a younger, prettier retailer over the years. But due props to Fisher, who helped pioneer the casual clothing market (especially for guys) and will live forever in the form of khaki-clad casual Fridays.

-- David Lazarus

Activia, DanActive yogurt buyers to receive refunds in false advertising settlement

Saturday Night Live has spoofed Activia yogurt and its advertisements featuring actress Jaime Lee Curtis hawking the yogurt that supposedly... er, um ... loosens things up for those who eat it.

But Dannon Co., which makes Activia, is going to have to loosen its purse strings after settling a false-advertising lawsuit today. The settlement calls for the formation of a $35-million fund to reimburse those who bought Dannon's Activia and DanActive yogurts.

The class-action lawsuit, filed in January 2008, alleged that Dannon lied when marketing its Activia and DanActive yogurts by promising health benefits that the yogurt didn't really deliver.

Dannon denied the lawsuit's claims and admitted to no wrongdoing as a part of the settlement.

In a statement, Dannon said the decision to settle the lawsuit was based on avoiding "the distraction and expense of litigation."

Dannon also agreed to make changes to the labeling and marketing of its Activia and DanActive yogurts by increasing the visibility on the labels of the scientific names of the “probiotic” cultures in the yogurts, the settlement said.

The word “immunity” will be removed from DanActive labels as a part of the settlement, court documents said.

Labels that say the yogurt has “a positive effect on your digestive tract’s immune system” will be replaced with labels that say the yogurt will “interact with your digestive tract’s immune system,” the settlement said.

But Dannon will still be able to say it has scientific proof that its yogurt has the ability to improve "slow intestinal travel," or bowel irregularity, as long as the label, ad or display also states that such improvement occurs only when "eaten daily for two weeks, as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle,” court documents said.

The refund program for customers who bought Activia or DanActive yogurts will pay up to $100 per customer, court documents said.

To get the refund, consumers have to fill out a claim form that will be made available once the settlement is approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Consumers will have 100 days to apply for their refunds from Dannon, which will post claim forms on its website, the settlement said.

San Diego law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, the lead council on the lawsuit, is offering to mail claim forms to consumers who fill out a form on their website.

If any of the $35 million is left over after the customer refunds are paid, Dannon must donate the remaining amount in yogurt to food banks, court documents said.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Photo: Activia yogurt. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Some airports to offer flu shots

With the growing fear over the H1N1 influenza, the idea of offering flu shots at airports has taken off.

Several major airports, including Boston Logan, O’Hare International and John F. Kennedy International, have offered flu shots, either in the terminals or at nearby clinics. The price ranges from $20 to $35.

In years past, passengers at the Los Angeles International Airport could ride a courtesy van to the nearby Reliant Immediate Care Medical Group on Sepulveda Boulevard for $25 flu shots.

But this year, Max Lebow, medical director for the medical group, said he is meeting with airport officials to launch at least one flu shot kiosk in a terminal. He hopes to work out the details in the next week or so.

The shots for traditional influenza should be available at the end of the month, with shots for H1N1 expected in October, Lebow said. Details will be available at the first aid station at the Tom Bradley International Terminal, he said.

“A lot depends on the demand,” he said. “We expect to have a high demand this year.”

-- Hugo Martin

Photo: Flu vaccine shots are expected to be popular. Credit: Associated Press

CVS agrees to $2.8-million settlement with the FTC

Pharmacy chain CVS Caremark Corp. will repay about $2.8 million to consumers who bought a dietary supplement that was falsely marketed as a product that can prevent illness, the Federal Trade Commission said today.

AirShield tablets and powders were touted by CVS as a way to fight off the flu and boost the immune system, but there is no evidence that the products could do either, the FTC said. As part of the $2.78-million settlement, CVS agreed that it will no longer make those claims and the company has since changed the products’ packaging.

AirShield is the store-brand equivalent of the national brand product, Airborne. Last year, Airborne Health Inc., the company that makes Airborne, reached a settlement with the FTC for making the same kind of “misleading claims,” the FTC said. The FTC has also reached a settlement with Rite Aid Corporation for its “Germ Defense” products.

CVS issued a statement noting that it had changed AirShield's packaging in 2008 after the FTC settled with Airborne. The new packaging is "consistent with the terms" of that settlement.

The FTC will contact customers who qualify for the refund. Customers who bought AirShield between July 2005 and November 2008 can be identified if they used a CVS ExtraCare card when they bought the product or if they purchased it on CVS.com.

-- W.J. Hennigan

Sram recalls bicycle chains with connectors that can crack

About 24,000 Sram 10-Speed bicycle chains with PowerLock connector links are being recalled by Sram, a Chicago bicycle parts maker, because the connectors are brittle and can crack, allowing the chain to separate from the bicycle and causing the rider to fall.

Four incidents have been reported, including one in the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. No injuries have been reported, the agency said.

The recall involves Sram PowerLock connector links, which are sold individually, on 10-speed bicycle chains and as original equipment on some bicycles. The recalled PowerLock connector links are identified by a date code of M or N located on the side of the PowerLock connector link. Ten-speed SRAM chains that were equipped with recalled PowerLock connector links include the following chain model numbers: PC-1030, PC-1050, PC-1070, PC-1090 and PC-1090R.

The recalled chains also were installed on some Guru, Surly, Salsa, BMC, Serotta, Seven and Ridley brand bicycles. The individual PowerLock connectors and bike chains with these connectors were sold from January through August 2009. Bicycles with affected chains were sold from April 2009 through August 2009.

The items were manufactured in Portugal and sold at specialty bicycle stores nationwide. PowerLock connector links were sold separately for about $5 or as part of 10-speed chains for between $35 and $85.

The commission said consumers should immediately stop using the recalled PowerLock connectors, chains and bicycles with these connectors and contact their Sram retailer for replacement.

For additional information, contact Sram at (800) 346-2928 or visit the firm’s website.

-- Sherine El Madany