Bad acting businesses take advantage of consumers

Kojo Quartey
Kojo Quartey, president Monroe County Community College
Kojo Quartey, president Monroe County Community College

We all work hard for our money. As consumers in this society, we are constantly being ripped off by big business. The ripoffs come in many forms. Here are a few examples:

  • Ordering an item, where shipping is free, applying a discount, then a shipping charge appearing on your bill.

  • Ordering an item and receiving a different item or another that is inferior to the one ordered.

  • Not being compensated for shipping returns when free returns are offered.

  • Signing up for a trial-free membership and forgetting to cancel before the charges are imposed.

I have fallen victim to all of the above, and I do not like it. As we all know, this problem is ubiquitous, and all of us have been ripped off at one time or another, whether we are aware of it or not. Unfortunately, many of us are being ripped off without even knowing it.

Here is some additional information obtained from a few articles. www.lifehack.org lists the five ways that big business rips us off. The list below is culled directly from this article, with additional comments from me.

  • Putting unjustified fees in your bills. Some companies are notorious for inserting unjustified, inapplicable or unsolicited fees into customer bills, relying on customers to either not notice or not care about a small additional charge and earning significant profits for the company. This probably happens to all of us, especially with cable and internet companies.

  • Lying about the lowest priced option. Companies are also fond of lying to customers about the cheapest options available. Cable companies are once again top offenders in this scam, often hiding or entirely failing to include the cheapest plan from customers until they believe a customer may cancel their service entirely. It is possible to negotiate with these companies. Internet providers and cellphone companies are also especially guilty of this.

  • Giving you less than you think you’re getting. Companies will shortchange customers in creative and inventive ways. Many bars have begun using thicker beer glasses that carry 14.5 ounces of beer or less, rather than the full 16 ounces of a pint, but without alerting customers to the quantity change. There is also the issue of “shrinkflation,” where you are given less in a packet for the same or a higher price. Some of us do not even notice this.

  • Ignoring customer requests. Many companies — with cable companies once again topping the list — will ignore your requests until you “let it go.”

9 types of companies with terrible reputations for ripping off people

An article by Rachael Cribby and Chris Kissell in Finanacebuzz.com provides nine types of companies with terrible reputations for ripping people off. At the top of the list are quick-lube places, which upsell you and cajole you into services that you don’t need. Then there are car dealerships, where you go in with one price or type of car in mind and end up paying much more, perhaps for a different car and additional fees. Then, the internet service providers who are just plain notorious for charging all kinds of fees and provide terrible service.

Funeral homes, cable companies, credit card companies, health insurers, airlines and wireless phone providers round off the top nine. Also, to that list, I add hotels, discount companies, hospitals, retailers and every big business out there. An msn.com article by Jane Andrews, “17 types of companies that are known for ripping off Americans,” extends and includes some on my list.

Making their list are: payday loans companies, subscription boxes, timeshare companies, extended warranty providers, debt settlement companies, internet and cable providers, junk fees in various industries, bottled water companies, marketed medicine, rental car companies, convenience stores, mobile games, car mechanics and gyms.

As consumers, we need to be more educated and more knowledgeable about the products and services that we use. We need to be resistant to the cajoling of big business. Remember, big business is in business for one purpose only — to maximize their profits. Since most consumers are in the business of saving as much money as possible, when minds don’t meet, someone will lose, and it is almost always the consumer.

Kojo Quartey, Ph.D., is president of Monroe County Community College and an economist. He may be reached at kquartey@monroeccc.edu.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Kojo Quartey: Bad acting businesses take advantage of consumers