What can make 2013 a better year? How about honesty? We deal
with more dishonesty than ever before in our daily lives. It
seems our ways of doing things have changed so much we can
hardly believe anything we see or hear.
Today’s mechanics working in various fields often work
for a low wage plus commission. An example is a factory-authorized
auto service mechanic. If you take your vehicle to a dealer
you expect honest service. It may cost a little more at a dealer’s
factory service garage than elsewhere, but you believe it
will be worth it for honest service. This will not likely
be the
case, especially if your vehicle computer has an indicator
light lit.
Many such indicators are pre-set to light at specific mileage
points and not be a problem. Unfortunately, when you take your
vehicle to a factory service dealer for service, they will
change and charge for parts and labor that is not needed.
Customer
gouging can also be encountered in super markets. Rip-offs
are seldom the result of the grocer unless it’s
in weight on a scale and even then its likely unintentional.
Many grocery items that present dishonestly are delivered to
the store that way because the problem is in the packaging.
If you pick up a box of cereal that is so tall it barely fits
on the shelf, it probably is not nearly full. Read the fine
print, it will say; “Product may have settled during
handling.”
Don’t you think if a box were filled in the first place,
there would be no room for settling? At least not half a box
full! Try this, remove the bag full from the box — you
will often find the bag is full to the seal. There was no “settling” just
a smaller bag, completely full in a bigger box. Potato chips
are somewhat the same with the small print on the side. The
chips are not crushed so they didn’t settle;
the bag was just filled with air and than sealed.
Three different canned fish producers agreed to pay a total
of $3.3 million to settle claims against them saying they had
put less fish in their cans than the labels stated.
I
called a name brand company complaining about hard chunks
in a can of fruit. They sent a postage-paid
envelope for
me to mail the pieces to their lab. After receiving
them they
sent a couple coupons to replace the cans with
the questionable contents. I used the coupons recently
to purchase the
same brand at a different store — and yes,
they still have the hard chunks.
In
another case, a can of green beans was said to contain a
specific amount – 4.5 ounces
of cut beans in an 8-ounce can. That left 3.5
ounces of
water, so there
was
only 1 ounce
more beans than water. As I investigated, I discovered
the net weight marked on a package is the weight
of the entire
contents, including water (and perhaps the container).
Vacuum packed products actually contain less
water and more products.
Clothing
often varies in size. If you think a large cotton T-shirt
made by company A would
be the same
size as a
large cotton T-shirt made by company B you
will be mistaken. Both companies may be name brand
manufacturers, but the
shirts
are often totally different in size – before
washing and shrinking them.
Utilities, especially phone companies, are the worst for dishonesty.
If you call and order a specific service and ask what the total
cost will be, what they quote and what you are billed do not
resemble one another. They never quote the six to eight additional
charges added on that at times almost double your bill.
Most
of my readers know that shopping online or in response to
TV ads can be very expensive.
Even
if
you purchase
right now, and get two of the items for
the price of one — after
the shipping and handling are added you get nothing free. I
often wonder how many people have to handle a product because
it can’t ship for a week — unless
you care to pay additional shipping and
handling.
The
very latest rip-off is businesses that are adding a charge
for taking your credit
card.
As I see it,
those businesses
have to pay a fee to the card company — but
that is not new and should that not be
part of the cost
of doing business?
It always was for me.
Gasoline purchases often can be a rip-off. You go to one station
and the price posted may be 3 to 5 cents a gallon different
than the same brand a mile down the same road.
I’ve seen a fuel tanker truck drop at two different brand
stations and the stations will post prices as much as 10 to
20 cents different. Another gas price trick is a big sign out
front with the price in really big numbers. You don’t
even notice the word “cash” in
minute letters on the bottom corner
of the sign.
The “New World” pricing has me worried. If you
buy something with a lifetime warranty — do
you have to wear a bullet-proof
vest to report a problem
with it?