With the odds stacked against us, "we the people" can make a difference regarding what has now become a "corporation take all" environment by taking advantage of the Consumer Driven Media (CGM), or in other words, using the Internet to voice your opinions on products and services.
Unfiltered online feedback is more powerful than you may think. Although, it is true that large companies and corporations have no one to answer too, and apparently, no incentive to compete for customers, the bottom line is, it's the customers who make them so powerful. They do pay attention to what people are disclosing about them on the Internet. Big government and amoral, faceless corporations, so enmeshed, it's hard to tell which is which anymore, count on confusing us to the point where we throw up our arms in total frustration, resigning ourselves to their diabolical tactics.
"People trust consumer-generated media because it's created by regular people - not faceless companies. People are having less trust from information coming from the government, advertisers, and even editorial content. They go to people like themselves." -- Max Kalehoff, vice president of marketing for Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a company that measures CGM
During the 1980s, the Reagan era, systematic dismantling of federal agencies designed to protect consumers began. President Reagan specifically targeted the Federal Trade Commission FTC. In 1979, the FTC employed 1700 full-time employees, and currently, the FTC employs only 1,000 employees, with more than double the work considering all the technology and innovation that has taken place in the marketplace since 1979.
As
Bob Sullivan, who covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for MSNBC.com in his blog the
Red Tape Chronicles and is also author of
Your evil twin: Behind the identity theft and currently, his new book,
Gotcha Capitalism, says, "there are no more referees in American Capitalism". He explains why this is so, the "death of the price tag", why Americans are paying 1,000 years in sneaky fees, what to watch out for and finally what you can do about it.
Paradoxically, it's the Internet's intrusion into the marketplace that contributed to the "death of the price tag" or the reason it is almost impossible to determine the price of things any more. The Internet made it possible for consumers to, in a matter of a few minutes, compare prices, therefore, driving the prices down to the point where it could be detrimental to the economy.
In response, about 10 years ago companies realized how they can get around this "race to the bottom" by implementing the "bait and switch" method, initially offering low teaser prices, afterwards sneaking in separate fees for the "
real cost of doing business". For example, isolating the cost of
collecting federal taxes, real estate taxes etc and then charging the consumer extra for what they determine to be their cost.
In addition, the Supreme Court ruled that mailing a single notice designed so that you will throw it away - written on tissue paper, typed in "mouse print" gibberish, sometimes as much as 24 pages in length -- can bind you into a contract with the company who sent it to you, just by your failure to respond.
If we look at our phone, cell phone, cable, hotel bills etc we will see charges like the following (my Verizon Wireless cell phone bill):
Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge - .96, the price their charging you to collect the other taxes
Consumer Utility Tax - $4.89, the charge for the cost of using equipment
Fed Universal Service Charge - $3.22, a sales tax.
Administrative Charge - .70
911 Surcharge - .60
And if you are lucky, like me, you will see:
Insufficient Funds - $25.00, for their mistake of processing the same payment twice
Early Termination Fee - $175.00 x 4 (per the number of phones in your plan) for a total of $700!
On a personal rant, between my cellphone plan, telephone, Internet and cable, Verizon has become the bane of my existence. It cost me well over $700 to terminate my cell phone plan but I am still stuck with their Internet, telephone, and cable plan for another year which has been nothing but problems.
Keeping in mind a consumer's best tool is persistence, here are some more points to consider:
Document everything.
Companies pay for the telephone calls you make to customer service, so the longer you stay on, the more costly, and the more likely you are to get what you want.
It takes, on average, 16 phone calls to resolve the average customer service problem.
Keep calling back until you get an employee who seems to care, or understand what they are doing and then turn the customer service representative into your ally. For example, "Don’t take this personally I know you have to take orders..." or something like that.
Escalate the call to someone with authority after a couple of attempts at resolving your problem.
Find the names of those with enough authority to fix your problem but not so much that they ignore your problem...someone in middle management is usually a good choice.
Try contacting the CEO...it may not help, but in can't hurt.
Companies can reverse $40 fee or incur $500 recovery cost to get you back, that is if they want you back.
Verizon's customer advocacy or "president's hotline" phone number is 1-800-483-7988
It really works.
More resources, also found listed under Consumer advocacy in my sidebar:
The Consumerist
Consumer Web Watch
First Gov for Consumers
Get Human (customer srvc phone supp)
My Three Cents
Red Tape Chronicles
Rip Off Report
Read more...
