Consumer advocate columnist Cynthia Bercowetz will visit The Villages as part of The Villages Lifelong Learning College Special Speakers series. Submitted photo

Connecticut consumer advocate to speak at Villages College

By JILL SHERMAN, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES — Meet George.

Cynthia Bercowetz, writer of the “Get Help! Tell it to George!” consumer advocate column that appeared for 35 years in Connecticut newspapers, is coming to The Villages.

Bercowetz is scheduled to present “Don’t Get Ripped Off! Get Help! Tell it to George” 6 p.m. April 10 at The Villages High School. The presentation — informational and peppered with some humor — is a part of The Villages Lifelong Learning College Special Speakers series.

Bercowetz got her start as a columnist at the Hartford Times. Her editor, a former “Dear Abby” editor named Bob Lewis, requested that Bercowetz write a consumer help column and conceal her identity. She gained quite a following.

“I am the original and the only George,” Bercowetz said. “No one was to know who wrote the column.”

Even so, a rival newspaper revealed Bercowetz’s identity in the 1970s.

Bercowetz, the author of a consumer survival guide that shares its title with her upcoming Villages presentation, stresses the prevention of identity theft.

“It is a threat to every consumer,” she said.

In addition to addressing identity theft during her presentation, Bercowetz will discuss some major cases she has worked on.

The pursuit of one case took Bercowetz to Detroit, where auto manufacturers were faced with a serious question: Why were hundreds of Bercowetz’s readers having a problem with paint peeling from their cars?

Bercowetz’s investigation exposed inferior undercoating, and consumers were compensated with free paint redos.

“I got answers for them,” she said.

Knowing that many seniors have been cheated in sweepstakes, Bercowetz issued several words of caution to Villagers.

“Sweepstakes are sometimes ‘weepstakes’,” she said. “Beware and be aware.”

Bercowetz continues to speak publicly about consumer advocacy. At Edison College in Naples, she was recently the keynote speaker on identity theft.

Tickets for Bercowetz’s Villages presentation are available through TVLLC. Call the college office at 753-3035 for more information.

Jill Sherman is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be contacted at 753-1119, ext. 9253, or jill.sherman@thevillagesmedia.com.