i'm consumer investigator chris kamara. state law could change to protect you from the same costly predicament. i'll show you how next. hi, vianey. hey, chris. and the weather has been pretty nice, but it can get even better. is that even a thing? yes. we're going to see fantastic forecast ahead. but first we do have some clouds and a mix of some sunshine. plus who's got rain chances in their forecast. i've got that an for all those making it big out there... ...shouldn't your mobile service be able to keep up with you? get wifi speeds up to a gig at home and on the go. introducing powerboost, only from xfinity mobile. now that's big. xfinity internet customers, cut your mobile bill in half vs. t-mobile, verizon, and at&t for your first year. plus, ask how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us. that kind of flagged this for us. that's bay area assembly member marc berman speaking with our consumer investigator, chris kamara, at the state capitol. berman is taking action after our consumer team responded to heartbreaking c

our consumer investigator chris kamara is going to join us in just a few minutes to talk about these letters that urge homeowners to make changes to their property or you lose your insurance. that story just ahead. also tonight there's growing fear over the world cup. yeah, the bay area is going to host many of the world cup matches next year, but there are concerns that international fans might not be able to make the games because of travel visa backlogs. the u.s. travel association says the visa backlog, coupled with air traffic controller layoffs, has left the united states unequipped to handle a major surge in travel. state senator dave cortez was part of the group that helped convince world cup organizers to bring games to the bay area. he believes the delays are also a result of a much bigger immigration problem. we have people here on h-1b visas that haven't had them renewed and they work in the tech sector. it creates creates a lot of tension, a lot of consternation with people. and now we're starting to see that, combined with the influx of people that want to come in for t

consumer investigator chris kamara shows us how. interesting. chris take it away. raj. yeah, we've heard from many homeowners who've received the dreaded non-renewal letter, but a few recently got something new and offer to possibly save their insurance policy. let's take you to scotts valley. lynette says her company was going to drop her, with the caveat that if she took certain steps to protect her home from wildfire, they might just take her back. the main thing is having a five foot barrier around your house with no plants, no wood. no type of decorative type things around five feet around your house. yeah, well, lynette to do list. had a couple more items. tonight at 11:00, we'll show you what else, what it cost and what it means for you. oh, yeah. also, what happened with lynette's policy? spoiler alert. her insurance company started covering her again. and maybe it's a lifeline for you, too. i'll join you again tonight at 11:00. back over to you. raj, janelle and vianey. thank you. kris and vianey is here. we're talking about just a really nice afternoon. so bea

that was consumer investigator chris kamara. chris thank you.well you're going to have to wait a bit longer if you're trying to score a spot at some of yosemite's most popular campgrounds. the park announced it's delaying reservations for visits between june 15th and july 14th. this is for the upper pines, lower pines, north pines, wawona, and hodgdon meadow campsites. it is unclear what's behind the delay, but it comes as the park is up against a staffing shortage due to a federal hiring freeze. yosemite's reservation system is also delayed. over the past few years, the park has used reservations for its busiest months to get rid of heavy traffic, illegal parking, long waits like you see right here. the national park wanted to make that program permanent this year, but the plan is on hold so that the trump administration can review the changes. no word on when that decision could come. rob mayeda joins us now. rob, i know you were teasing ahead to some springlike temperatures next weekend, but i swear this morning there was a hint of spring in

we bring in our consumer investigator chris kamara to show us how. chris good evening.he entrepreneurs you're about to meet saw the messes contractors leave behind and found a business opportunity. they say they'll vet a contractor's background for you before you break ground. she was ugly. the kitchen you know. but this ugly kitchen is now glamorous. i love it because it's sexy. kim cafaro in livermore says she dragged her feet beginning this project because she dreaded picking a contractor. not sexy at all. i had started this process seven years ago and chickened out at the last minute. you really can't blame her. the state contractor board says it receives about 20,000 contractor complaints each year, then revokes 30 to 60 contractor licenses each month every month. so, yeah, kim was spooked. when you're meeting contractors, it's not a lot before you're like, yeah, sure. i'll give you $100,000. and so it's like, we always want to believe that the person that we're talking to has our best interest in mind. but do they really? but then skeptical, kim says she discovere

consumer investigator chris kamara's team answered his distress call. good evening. let me introduce you to petty officer first class jake wolf. here he is operating the hoist from a coast guard helicopter in san francisco. got another shot here. he's right up there. all right, here's the thing. recently, the coast guard ordered petty officer wolf to move to a new duty station in new jersey. this is something military families do a lot. i know firsthand. my family moved six times in my dad's 22 year coast guard career. well, before jake moved east, he returned his least polestar car with a verbal agreement that they were going to call it even. well, lo and behold, polestar later demanded jake pay $6,700 for terminating his lease early. jake said he went back and forth with them, but got nowhere. so he contacted us. we contacted polestar. it didn't reply to our request for comment, but it did waive jake $6,732 balance. if we could do one thing differently for petty officer wolf, we'd go back in time and get that verbal agreement in writing. we recommend you always get

consumer investigator chris kamara shows us how. unfortunately, the best way to cut your energy cost is to use less energy. but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be uncomfortable. let's start with your thermostat. pg&e says each degree you lower your thermostat can save you 2%. drop it five degrees at night, and you might save 10% if you're able to. pg&e recommends 68 or lower blankets to the rescue when you leave your home. try to keep the warm air inside. close those curtains, shades, and blinds, then, pg&e says, set the thermostat to 56 while you're away. the department of energy recommends a look at your water heater. many are set to 140 degrees by default. we'll consider 120 instead. if 120 is warm enough for your showers and doing the dishes. uncle sam says you might save 22%. pg&e says you can save roughly another 10% on your bills if your attic walls, doors and windows are sealed nicely. caulk is cheap, and it easily fills those gaps where warm air can escape or cool air weasels in. if you qualify as low income or re

here's consumer investigator chris kamara. i think i was kind of expecting it. lynette in scotts valley received the golden state's most dreaded letter. a note from her homeowner's insurance company saying it was dropping her. everybody in the area has been getting them. but then lynette rescued her policy. how? with some fencing, downspouts and landscaping work. here's what happened. aaa made her an offer. if she swapped wood fences for metal, covered her downspouts, cleared trees and shrubs, and made other upgrades. aaa would continue insuring her home. i'm kind of a get it done person, and so i probably got it done quicker than a lot of people would. and luckily i had contractors and stuff that could help me out. we asked aaa about linette's offer. it declined an interview, but told us a new deal makes some customers eligible to keep their insurance policy for at least three years if they achieve and maintain a wildfire prepared home certification. so what does wildfire prepared mean? it's a label of sorts you can get from the engineers at the insurance insti

i'm chris kamara and i'm janelle wang. the wet weather may be on its way out for now. but there are still concerns about the risk it's leaving behind along some bay area hillsides. two landslides causing traffic problems today. nbc bay area's ian cull has the latest on the cleanup. he's also going to explain how scientists are monitoring our hills for landslide risks. tonight, caltrans crews are continuing to clear southbound 101 in sausalito. a huge chunk of the steep hillside came sliding down around seven last night during heavy rain. caltrans workers spent the day cleaning the mess, and they expect the lanes will remain closed until 8 or 9 tonight. there's still a significant amount of material that we've got to get out of here. we're going to have to have our geotech experts come and take a look at the hill to see if there's some long term stuff that we need to do. while the threat of landslidesrow after the storm, usgs scientists say they're continually checking on the hillsides. they gave us these pictures showing their monitoring stations strategically scattere

if you run into a possible scam, our consumer investigator chris kamara wants to know about it. snap that qr code on the screen to fill out our consumer complaint form online. up next mindy kaling the latest to get a star. we're going to take you to the hollywood walk of fame. and here's a look at the control room inside rockefeller center. lester holt preparing for nightly news. one of the top stories why nasa is raising the probability that a city killing asteroid could hit earth to the highest odds ever recorded. we're back in a moment. for all those making it big out there... ...shouldn't your mobile service be able to keep up with you? get wifi speeds up to a gig at home and on the go. introducing powerboost, only from xfinity mobile. now that's big. xfinity internet customers, cut your mobile bill in half vs. t-mobile, verizon, and at&t for your first year. plus, ask how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us. it's right around the corner. you could send a free doctor seuss book to a child in need. for years, doctor seuss enterprises has been sending books to kids across

i'm chris kamara and i'm janelle

our consumer investigator chris kamara wants to help. whether you have fighting over just a couple of bucks or maybe a few thousand dollars, you see it all across your desk. we had $1 million case really a while ago. ooh, wow. good one. we solved it. we're proud of that one. that's a good one. that's a big fish. happy friday. yeah.h. we have a wide range of recent wins to share. though not a million bucks in menlo park. said her cell phone company gave her a $78 refund on one of those plastic cards. debit card. the thing is, that card didn't work, and her complaint seemed to be put on terminal hold. we dialed the cell phone company, then sent a check. remember those? yeah. a check for her. 78 bucks. we hope she was able to cash it. we'll check into that. all right. we helped leah in san jose with a senior living facility. she said they owed her almost two grand after she moved out. after we moved in. she got her $1,430 back. and finally there's rob. he said he was out 3245 bucks because he couldn't access an online fundraising account of

our consumer investigator chris kamara joins us now with how to get an often overlooked tax break. chris we're talking about your property taxes. you're entitled to a roughly $70 tax break called the homeowner exemption if you live in your home. the thing is local assessors tell us a lot of people don't claim the exemption and miss out on their 70 bucks year after year after year, so let's fix that. you can check whether you're getting the exemption by calling your local assessor or looking up your property record online. all you need is your street address. then, if you're not signed up, apply. expect to file a one page application. after that, it should auto renew each year, reducing your property tax bill about 70 bucks. don't wait the deadline to claim your full homeowner exemption is february 15th. if you have trouble, let us know. snap the qr code on screen right now to fill out our consumer complaint form online. 70 bucks. it does add up. thank you chris. let's get back to our stormy weather. now rain here usually means snow in the sierra. take a look. this is near donner lak

so he contacted, did the smart thing, contacted our consumer investigator chris kamara kris brad in san francisco, paid dell 685 bucks for a brand new laptop. after a few days, nothing. dell said it was lost in transit and sent brad a replacement. dell said it delivered that second laptop and sent this blurry photo as proof of delivery, but brad said he found nothing on his porch and wasn't asked to sign for delivery. so did someone steal it? maybe. maybe not. either way, brad let dell know, but it wouldn't offer him another replacement. that's when he flagged us. we contacted dell. it then successfully delivered his laptop at a $685 win. all right, here's what dell told us. there were delivery issues with the first two systems, which is highly unusual. and it's working with the carrier to better understand what happened. if something you ordered does not arrive, you should always contact the company like brad did. but if that doesn't work out and you paid with a credit card, you can always ask your credit card company to step in and you can dispute the charge. often that gets a company

thank you for joining us i'm chris kamara and i'm jessica aguirre.e're gathering new details tonight about what you're just about to see san francisco police chase that ended with six people injured in the mission district. it ended when the car that cops were chasing careened into a busy pubs parklet. this is on sunday tonight. nbc bay area's sergio quintana has new video of the crash and the chase from security camera video. you can see a dark gray audi suv whizzed down busy 24th street, with san francisco police racing after it, and then an abrupt end as the car slams into a parklet with people in it. you can also see at least one person run out of the suv with officers running after them. the suv smashed into the napper tandy parklet. it's a popular neighborhood irish pub. i actually thought it was an earthquake or something. i yeah, yeah i did. i just a big bang and smoke. the napper tandy owner marissa maga says she believes the parklet prevented the car from smashing into the pub. and it was packed yesterday. she says bar patrons inside quickl

here's consumer investigator chris kamara. i think i was kind of expecting it.scotts valley received the golden state's most dreaded letter, a note from her homeowner's insurance company saying it was dropping her. everybody in the area has been getting them. but then lynette rescued her policy. how? with some fencing, downspouts and landscaping work. here's what happened. aaa made her an offer. if she swapped wood fences for metal, covered her downspouts, cleared trees and shrubs, and made other upgrades, aaa would continue insuring her home. i'm kind of a get it done person, and so i probably got it done quicker than a lot of people would. and luckily i had contractors and stuff that could help me out. we asked aaa about lynette offer. it declined an interview, but told us a new deal makes some customers eligible to keep their insurance policy for at least three years if they achieve and maintain a wildfire prepared home certification. so what does wildfire prepared mean? it's a label of sorts you can get from the engineers at the insurance institute for busin

that's bay area assembly member marc berman speaking with our consumer investigator, chris kamara, in the state capitol. berman is taking action after our team responded to a bunch of bay area viewers viewers heartbreaking complaints. they lost tens of thousands of dollars when an adu builder imploded. consumer investigator chris chmura joins us now. chris, what's happening in sacramento? good evening. statewide change is in the works. we investigated what some call a multi-million dollar money grab. now there's a move to turn the screws on incompetent or crooked contractors to protect you. it's devastating because first of all, you don't know if you can finish your project. in martinez, laura adu for her mom is finally taking shape two years later than expected, and about $40,000 over budget. everything. here is the contractor that took me on when anchor took my money and ran. anchored is anchored tiny homes, the business that many bay area homeowners tell us took big money. 40,000 upfront, $80,000, but then failed to deliver. i just feel so cheated. customers say anchor did little w

consumer investigator chris kamara answered his distress call. let me introduce you to wolfe.pter in san francisco. here's another shot. he's up there. well, recently, the coast guard ordered petty officer wolfe to move to a new duty station in new jersey. this is something military families do a lot. i know firsthand. my family moved six times in my dad's 22 year coast guard career. well, before jake moved east, he returned his least polestar car with a verbal agreement that they were going to call it even. well, lo and behold, polestar later demanded jake pay $6,700 for terminating his lease early. jake said he went back and forth with them, but got nowhere. so he contacted us. we contacted polestar. it didn't reply to our request for comment, but it did waive jake's $6,732 balance. if we could do one thing differently for petty officer wolfe, we'd go back in time and get that verbal agreement in writing. we recommend you always get a company's promises or deals on paper or in email. especially when a bunch of money is on the line. if you need a lifeline with a consumer comp

consumer investigator chris kamara's team answered his distress call. good morning. let me introduce you to petty officer first class jake wolfe. here he is operating the hoist on a coast guard helicopter in san francisco. here's another shot. he's up there. well, recently, the coast guard ordered petty officer wolfe to move to a new duty station in new jersey. this is something military families do a lot. i know firsthand. my family moved six times in my dad's 22 year coast guard career. well, before jake moved east, he returned his least polestar car with a verbal agreement that they were going to call it even. well, lo and behold, polestar later demanded jake pay $6,700 for terminating his lease early. jake said he went back and forth with them, but got nowhere. so he contacted us. we contacted polestar. it didn't reply to our request for comment, but it did waive jake's $6,732 balance. if we could do one thing differently for petty officer wolfe, we'd go back in time and get that verbal agreement in writing. we recommend you always get a company's promises or dea

i'm consumer investigator chris kamara.l show you how you might be able to save your insurance policy next. also luigi mangione the man accused of shooting and killing the ceo of united health care, is set to face a judge today. what's expected to play out in court. this is today in the bay. and this is friday morning. want to say good morning to you all out there? i'm marcus washington and i'm laura garcia. we'll check that morning commute. maybe friday light. we'll see. i don't know. a lot of people on the roads, maybe to get a jump on the weekend. kari hall. and we know it's going to be a nice weekend. there's a lot going on and temperatures will be warming up. so let's get a look at where we're starting. as you're heading out on this friday morning. it's 43 degrees in palo alto and 46 in san francisco. so you do still need a nice warm jacket for the start of the day. we're headed for the upper 60s, and it will be very much like it was yesterday. maybe even a touch warmer in parts of the south bay, where san jose will ju

it's often the same old story, but consumer investigator chris kamara found something new to possiblyuction contractor. it's those kinds of stories that kim in livermore heard igniting her skepticism when recently remodeling her kitchen. when you're meeting contractors, it's not a lot before you're like, yeah, sure, i'll give you $100,000. and so it's like, we always want to believe that the person that we're talking to has our best interest in mind. but do they really? but then kim says she discovered a new type of business, an agent of sorts, that offers to help you find a vetted contractor. think of this like a wedding planner for your renovation. we know what questions to ask. we know the hard questions. they say they check insurance, bonding, workload, and more. on our website, you can meet two california businesses that are doing it right now. see how much it will cost you and how they say their data can ensure you're paying a fair price. watch online right now at nbcbayarea.com. responds. we are celebrating black heritage here at nbc bay area, and as part of that, we're highlig

so on another device, he typed up a note to consumer investigator chris kamara's team.id it was lost in transit and sent brad a replacement. dell said it delivered that second laptop and sent this blurry photo as proof of delivery, but brad said he found nothing on his porch and wasn't asked to sign for delivery. so did someone steal it? maybe. maybe not. either way, brad let dell know, but it wouldn't offer him another replacement. that's when he flagged us. we contacted dell. it then successfully delivered his laptop. that's a $685 win. all right, here's what dell told us. there were delivery issues with the first two systems, which is highly unusual. and it's working with the carrier to better understand what happened. if something you ordered does not arrive, you should always contact the company like brad did. but if that doesn't work out and you paid with a credit card, you can always ask your credit card company to step in and you can dispute the charge. often that gets a company's attention, and often viewers like you win those disputes, either getting you a ref

so he typed up a note to consumer investigator chris kamara's team.ing, brad in san francisco paid dell 685 bucks for a brand new laptop. after a few days, nothing. dell said it was lost in transit and sent brad a replacement. dell said it delivered that second laptop and sent this blurry photo as proof of delivery, but brad said he found nothing on his porch and wasn't asked to sign for delivery. so did someone steal it? maybe. maybe not. either way, brad let dell know, but it wouldn't offer him another replacement. that's when he flagged us. we contacted dell. it then successfully delivered his laptop. that's a $685 win. all right, here's what dell told us. there were delivery issues with the first two systems, which is highly unusual. and it's working with the carrier to better understand what happened. if something you ordered does not arrive, you should always contact the company like brad did. but if that doesn't work out and you paid with a credit card, you can always ask your credit card company to step in and you can dispute the charge. often