The entire staff of the Consumer Warning Network would like to wish everybody a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday this year.

Score one for the consumer. It pays to protest! Customers who decided to fight back against big bank fees by complaining and changing banks have chalked up a big victory. Citing customer concerns and a “changing competitive marketplace,” Bank of America said it won’t charge customers a fee for using their debit cards, after all.

“We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” said David Darnell, co-chief operating officer. “Our customers’ voices are most important to us. As a result, we are not currently charging the fee and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”

Click here to read more on the latest news in USA TODAY.

The customer backlash started when big financial institutions like Bank of America, Chase and Citigroup announced they would begin charging monthly fees for debit card transactions. Debit cards are the convenient way to access your money electronically, and big banks want to charge fees to recoup losses from new consumer protection regulations passed after the financial meltdown.  But many customers are calling this corporate greed, and they aren’t going to take it anymore.  ABC News reports on the new trend  of customers leaving their big bank to sign up with smaller banks and credit unions.  Click on the video above for more on how customers fought back.

Health care fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry on which the government has vowed to crack down.  The latest case that’s come to light was exposed by a disabled veteran turned whistle-blower who says Medicaid was billed for services he never received.  It turns out the Medicaid contractor Maxim was doing the same thing to hundreds of others around the country, too.  The company agreed to a  $150-million settlement. Click here to watch the story by CNN.

The push to crack down on health care fraud is taking center state in Washington D.C. these days as a way to control spending. A recent editorial in the New York Times took an interesting look at the issue:

There are many ways to defraud taxpayers. For example, a hospital chain can buy drugs at a steep discount and then bill Medicare for high sticker prices. Doctors can bill for procedures that never happened, or for drugs that were supplied to them by pharmaceutical companies free of charge, or pharmaceutical companies can promote a drug for risky, unapproved uses.

The writer goes on to say that recovering billions from those ripping off the system will go a long way in helping to reduce waste and protect services, but it won’t solve the over-riding problem of rising health care costs.  Click here to read more.

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Finally, a less expensive alternative to the ever popular Apple iPad in the very crowded electronic tablet market. The Amazon Kindle Fire premiered to much anticipation but also skepticism.  Many tout the Kindle Fire’s ability to play Adobe Flash Video, while Apple has refused to include this feature.  Kindle Fire’s lower price point of $199 also makes it an attractive alternative to the iPad, which starts at $499.  So, is the Kindle Fire an iPad killer?  Click here to watch a comparison and decide for yourself.

MSNBC compares the features of the Amazon Kindle Fire to the more expensive and more popular touchscreen tablet Apple iPad 2.   Click here to read more.

A new HBO documentary takes an eye opening look at efforts to stop consumers from being able to find justice in court.  Many Americans have bought into the notion that lawsuits are out of control and the judicial system needs to be reformed.  The film “Hot Coffee” contends  terms like “lawsuit lottery” and “greedy trial lawyers” were actually planted in the public psyche and repeated over and over after being word-smithed and focus-grouped in a public relations campaign by corporate America.  “Hot Coffee” reveals how this well planned, well funded crusade has been very successful in stopping consumers from gaining access to the courts when they’ve been harmed, physically or financially.  Click here to watch a Bloomberg interview with the documentary’s director, Susan Saladoff.

The film takes a look at four personal stories where individuals were badly harmed, but unable to hold the responsible parties accountable due to judicial reform.  “Hot Coffee” is named after the infamous suit against McDonald’s by an elderly woman who was badly scalded by hot coffee.  The movie’s director, Saladoff, says the McDonald’s suit was the first case to be seized upon and used to distort the public’s perception that lawsuits and juries were out of control.

The documentary promotes the sobering revelation that as a result of 25 years of brainwashing, Americans have increasingly voted away their consumer rights and signed them away in contracts with big business.  Saladoff also reveals that major corporate lobbyists, like the Chamber of Commerce, have spent millions on political campaigns to get more conservative, business friendly judges elected to help corporations.  She says it’s all created an anti-consumer atmosphere that greatly limits access to the courts by average citizens who are harmed.

Click here to watch a trailer.