The holiday season is upon us, but a Bronx family is still dealing with a troublesome Christmas gift from last year.

Kenny Rivera bought a digital camera for his daughter, but when it began malfunctioning, he says Radio Shack began giving him the run-around.

Watch the Help Me Howard report.

In honor of Port Authority police officer Kenny Tietjen, who lost his life in the September 11th terrorist attacks, The Ken Tietjen Memorial Foundation was formed to provide aide to underprivileged children.

Each year the foundation holds a holiday fundraiser that helps bring Christmas to several children in our area. However this year, due to the economic climate, companies were unable to be as generous as they had in years past.

With the holidays looming and no where else to turn, Howard helps the charity collect gifts for kids in need.

The perfect, designer bag: it's a holiday must-have for many women. It's a popular gift item for this time of year, but what happens when your online purchase turns out to be a fake?

It happened to one woman from our area, when she thought what she was purchasing was an authentic handbag. Turns out, it was far from real. Howard Thompson is on the case.

Here are some helpful tips to avoids getting scammed.

1. The best way to make sure its real is to only buy from the designer or reputable department stores.

2. If you want to take a chance on an online site, do your research first. Google them or look for consumer reviews on sites like resellerratings.com

3. Always use a credit card with buyer protection on it. They will fight on your behalf if you don't get what you paid for.

Chartered Bus Company Under Fire

Back on Halloween, a local mom wanted to treat her son and several of his friends to a night of fun. She hired a bus company to take them to "Great Adventure's Fright Fest."

She forked over $1200 in cash to the company before Halloween. The problem came when the bus never showed up, so she decided to call Help Me Howard. Howard Thompson is on the case.

A New Jersey woman says she applied for a loan online, and thought her problems were over when she was approved. But, that's actually when her problems began.

Amy L'Hereux needed money to buy her car from her parents and pay some debt. She decided to turn to an online loan company. After being approved, despite of her bad credit, Amy thought she was in the clear. The catch: she had to pay the money up front.

She did, and surprise, surprise: she never got the loan. After a month of getting jerked around, and still not getting her money back, Amy called Help Me Howard.