Sometimes problems need to be fixed twice,Sometime problems need to be fixed twice

Dear Readers: Sometimes a fix is quick; other times we need to remember, to paraphrase Louis Pasteur, that our strength lies solely in our tenacity.

That's what we were thinking when we heard again from William Beck of Crystal Lake.

In December, we wrote about Bill's Twilight Zone-esque saga, in which he couldn't locate his lost shares of Motorola stock. Until The Fixer took on Bill's case, we'd never dreamed that a stock account could disappear. But Bill's money was firmly in a black hole, having somehow vanished when the brokerage firm Bear Stearns collapsed. Bill was at his wits' end, having been bounced from person to person in his quest to find the stock.

The Fixer didn't have it much easier. Our search took us from the Illinois State Treasurer's Office to Motorola to Morgan Stanley to Chase Bank, where someone finally determined that the stock was being held at BNY Mellon.

We connected Bill with an executive at Chase who walked him through the process to get the account back under his control and order replacement stock certificates.

Everyone at Fixer HQ was elated — Bill's stocks would soon be back home!

But then of course, it got gummed up and Bill got stuck in BNY Mellon call-center limbo. Meanwhile, Motorola's stock price was rising and Bill wanted his money.

So The Fixer bugged a managing director at BNY Mellon. After about a month, the fix was back on track. BNY Mellon worked with Chase to free Bill's shares, and just last week they sent him a check for the cash value.

And now, to paraphrase Frederick Pabst: It's time for a beer.

Keeping kids safe on the Internet

Educators and parents can find free information and training resources on Internet safety and cyberbullying at illinoisattorneygeneral.gov.

Getting the runaround about a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer at www.newssunonline.com. If you don't have a computer, you can mail a brief description of your problem, along with your name, address and telephone number, to: The Fixer, 1225 Tri-State Parkway, Suite 570, Gurnee, IL 60031. Don't send original documents. Due to the large volume of submissions, The Fixer can't make personal replies. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Fact Box: THE FIXER HAS SAVED YOU$ 1,094,837