European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 24, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday june 24, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 19 consume watch & just what is Crystal in t always Crystal Clear. Sometimes what is termed the Best leaded Cut Crystal by a salesperson does come up to those specifications at  again americans overseas can be a of target for fraud. Usa eur jag officers Point out that this Type of misrepresentation keeps going on and going on. . Service personnel generally rotate every three years not the swindlers who prey on them. Selling cheap Crystal As top Quality to american service people b an old Racket that still practice. To qualify As leaded Crystal glassware should contain 24 per cent Lead the Lead is added to make the Glass easier to Cut. Some salespeople however Are peddling leaded Crystal that does t eve come close to that standards. The display May very Well be of top Quality merchandise and the prices reasonable. The trick is that the customer won t receive the same Quality of goods. When the Crystal is delivered it May turn out to be of quite inferior Quality Worth a fraction of the value of the items that were shown when the order was placed. Sometimes crooked salespeople substitute a different Brand sometimes they Send seconds flawed merchandise fron uhe same company. Generally salespeople involved in such rip off schemes sell by instalment plan and wait until they have a couple of checks in hand before they deliver the goods. Then if the buyer complains the sales person May threaten to sue for the rest of the pay ments but rarely does. They re out for a fast Buck and not interested in running afoul of local Law. In Germany for example. If the goods Are sold within the country a Federal tax must be added and reported. Usually for obvious reasons the unethical sales firms Don t do this. It is. Therefore to their advantage to take orders that Are to be shipped to the . Besides avoiding european tax problems it takes longer for their fraud to be discovered. Modern living sales escapades. Know who you Are dealing with that is do bus Ness Only with established reputable companies or stores. Avoid door to door sales pitches and the like. Before signing a contract Check with raw local jag officer or in Germany if you Are thinking of dealing with a local store ask the local ver Braucher institution Consumers Institute for advice. Such offices located in most major cities give Consumers information regarding Quality and Price on Many products. Uke their stateside counterpart the Consumers group conducts Independent tests on Alt types of merchandise. Cafes or one of its legitimate Concession stores offers one of the safest transactions however. If you Are dissatisfied with the Mer Chandise you can return it for. Replacement or your Money. Jack Pegues cafes Europe merchandising specialist also notes that the Exchange stores and con Cessions sell Only first line merchandise no seconds or imperfect pieces and he believes prices for the same Quality goods can t be  the cafes Crystal lines Are Waterford 33 per cent Lea Nachtmann Rosenthal and Kastrup Holmgaard. Besides its Lead Content Good Cut Crystal is marked by Fine craftsmanship. It should show clean hard edges that reflect Light Well and a Clear color. The most expensive Cut Crystal is carved by hand. Next comes machine Cut and then there is pressed Glass. The latter is made by pressing molten Glass into a Mold with a previously designed pattern. On close examination the design in the pressed Glass in t As Well defined and according to Pegues ridges made by the Mold usually can be seen. This less expensive Glass can add up to at Tractive table pieces but Don t pay hand Cut prices for them. The cafes Nachtmann and Waterford Crystal says Pegues also offer another advantage. On return to the ., the customer does t have a prob Lem in replacing broken pieces. Waterford is a leading seller in the ., an Nachtmann is available under the stateside name of Goram you la find the same patterns but under different names. It s difficult to find the same Pat terns in German  Selling cheap Crystal As top Quality to american service people is an old Racket that s still  How can you protect yourself from such crooked As to prices they vary considerably and because of different designs and patterns Are difficult to compare. Even if the Crystal has an official German sticker noting that it contains the required 24 per cent Lead this does not necessarily mean it is of top line and Price. The workmanship whether it is machine or handcut the depth of cutting and the pattern Are the deciding  a Case in Point a Large German department store recently was offering stacks of hand Cut ech Blei Kristal hand carved True Lead Crystal at bargain basement prices. The Crystal was haphazardly thrown together on a big display table near one of the Street , even the store did t rate it very highly and the prices were Low a Large two tiered tray for 17 Marks about $7.25 and a Large serving dish for 14 Marks $5.951. This is the sort of inexpensive Crystal that a crooked salesperson could Pawn off on an unsuspecting buyer at a much higher Price. So if you arc not an authority on Cystal glassware be sure you Are dealing with a reputable firm. Snowing How prices can vary six White wine glasses by Waterford in the Alana pattern Cost 1-17 $7.83 a piece in the Lismore pattern a set of six costs s38is6.33 each. A korean Lead Crystal firm. Dorosan sold through the cafes Catalon charges 12 for a set of four White wine glasses $3 each and at one of the cafes concessionaires one White wine Glass by Geek in the Beauty Rose pattern was priced at 13 Marks about $5.53. Where to get consumer info by Louise Cook associated press of can you Tell if your car needs a tune up which costs More renting or buying a Home what will the Universal product code mean for food Bills the government has the answers to these and thou Sands of other questions if you know where to look. Directing people to the right place is one of the jobs of the consumer information Center established in 1970 by presidential order As part of the general services administration. H the Center has two main objectives to encourage fed eral departments and agencies to develop and Issue Rele vant consumer information and to let people know that the information is  the heart of the Center s efforts is a 16-Page Catalon published quarterly which lists publications issued by various Federal departments and agencies on topics rang ing from birth the right to be Well  no charge to burial the Price of death $1.05. The Catalon is available from the consumer information Center Pueblo colo., 81009. A similar Cata log listing Scitt de publications in Spanish is available at the same address. What sort of things Are americans most interested in publications dealing directly with saving or earning Money generally Are the most popular. A Booklet on Ca Reers and Job openings in the coming decade was such a Success that the Center ran out of copies despite two printings. Publications about safety and appliances Are the least successful. A Center spokesman explained that people just Don t see themselves As targets of danger. The always think of safety As something applying to somebody  it comes to appliances a spokesman said con Sumers turn to friends and neighbors or commercial publications rather than the Federal government. One of the All tune hits has been a free Booklet called keeping records what to  a spokesman Tor the Center said most people apparently Don t know Bow Long they Are required to keep hems such As cancelled checks and receipts. One woman bad Bank records going Back 40 years and wanted to know if she had to keep saving  other booklets available without charge that rate High in popularity include. Buying government surplus per Sonal property myths about vitamins and under standing your Utility  most popular items for Sale include the Back Yard  $1.25 car care and  35 cents and food and your weight 50cents the items selected for the Catalon come from several sources. Information Center staff members regularly scan Agency publications for new ideas. The Center also does some Public opinion testing giving Sample topics to 2,500 families and asking them whether they would Send for information on the various subjects and whether they would be. Willing to pay for it. Complaints and Calls for information received by government departments also provide clues. Selective service information distributed at no charge came about because Federal information centers kept getting Calls from people who were confused about what to do now that the draft is ended. A spokesman for toe Center said More than 20 Mil. Lion copies of the Cata logs Are distributed each year through such sources As congressional offices fed eral government facilities. Social Security offices and agricultural Extension bureaus. The Colorado mailing Center operated by the govern ment printing office sent out 20 million copies of individual publications last year a 100 per cent increase from1975. The Cost of the mailings is part of the printing office budget and a spokesman for the information Center said there was no Way to Tell exactly How much is spent in sending out the publications. The summer Catalon lists 232 publications of which 131 or 56 per cent Are available without charge. Prices Formost of the other items Are 35 or 45 cents