The New Year is a time for reporters to take a look back at the stories that made a difference, and our Howard Thompson has made differences all over the place in 2008.

He's put together some greatest hits of his patented in your face confrontations.

Take a look at "the Best of Help me Howard."

A New York man says his Thanksgiving vacation to Turkey turned into a nightmare when he flew with El Al airlines.

Andrew Jozefiak claims he was told by El Al personnel that he had to check his digital camera in his luggage for security purposes, when he voiced his concerns about the safety of his property, he was told that everything would be fine.

As Publisher's Clearing House gears up for their latest prize patrol, a new scam has emerged that involves fake winning checks being sent to customer's homes.

A family in Bushwick, Brooklyn had been enduring three freezing cold winters, with no heat and no hot water. The landlord refused to help them. They called 311, they went back and forth to court, the landlord even refused to comply with court orders to correct the problem.

A Brooklyn woman says she almost got burned by "Hollywood Tans".

Josephine Reynoso spent over $200 for a package of ten tanning sessions at a Brooklyn Hollywood Tans. But when her salon shut down halfway through her sessions, the only way the tanning company would let her finish out her sessions, was if she paid for another five tanning sessions somewhere else!

So she called Help Me Howard. Check out what happened after Howard stepped in.

A Brooklyn woman thought she'd save a couple of bucks by using a local shipping company. What she thought looked like an "ideal" bargain, ended up to be far from it.

Last month, Diane Goodman and her daughter Amanda purchased some baby food from the C-Market store in the Bronx. To Amanda's surprise when she went to feed her son, she noticed that the baby food was expired by ALMOST A YEAR.

Many of us are caring for elderly parents. We care about getting them the very best in health care. A very big part of the health care equation is INSURANCE COVERAGE. One of our viewers called when something went very wrong with insurance coverage for his Mom.

An internet warning is causing concern for cellphone users.

The warning states that beginning this January, telemarketers will now be able to call people's cellphones, racking up their phone bills.

Manoj Kappor is having some trouble getting money back from a travel agency called Skyvision 'n' Travel. Manoj contacted us from California, to alert us about an unscrupulous travel agent operating our area.

Imagine buying your first iPhone and when you get home you find out it's a fake!

For years Help Me Howard has received complaints about Blue Hippo from frustrated customers.

A Washington Heights woman had been pounding the pavement looking for a job.

Rachel Tingle answered an ad by a Brooklyn employment agency she saw on Craig's list and was told to come in the next day.

She was told to bring two pieces of id; her resume and $50.00 for a background check.

Rachel did go to Brooklyn, but asked for further clarification on what the $50 was for.

It's one thing to rip someone off, but to rip children off, that's just horrible. A Brooklyn daycare used a company to hold a fundraiser in hopes of getting books for the kids. But when the company didn't hold up to their end of the bargain, the daycare called Help Me Howard.

In times like these we could all use some extra cash. And mystery shopping might be a way to do that. Mystery Shopping is a legitimate marketing tactic, but you have to be careful, what looks like a dream job could end up a nightmare.