Once upon a time store prices were simple and fair, businesses stood behind their products with guarantees free of fine print and loopholes, and companies genuinely seemed to care about their valued customersbut those days are long gone. In this groundbreaking exposé, consumer advocate Christopher Elliot reveals the broken relationship between American consumers and businesses and explains how companies came to believe that fooling their customers was a viable, and profitable, business plan.
- Exposes the various ways companies have led their war against informationfrom seductive ads, disingenuous fine print, and unconventional promotions that involve seeding discussion forums and blogs with company-friendly comments
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Table of Contents
Prologue: Fenced In xi Scammed—or Just a Bad Deal? xiv
Down That Road Lies Madness xvii
Introduction: You’re Not a Victim xxi
Confessions of a Heretic xxii
Preventive Medicine xxiv
How Businesses Are Scamming Us xxv
How We Are Letting Them xxvi
What to Do about It xxvii
The New Scams xxviii
Part 1 How They Scam Us 1
1. Reputation Management 3
Avoiding Sock Puppets 6
How Companies Manipulate Customers 8
How We Fall for It 10
"SocialSpark Loves Your Blog" 12
Don't Fall for a Managed Reputation 13
2. I SEO You 17
A Scam That Wears Many Hats 19
The SEO Pitch 20
SEO Gone Wild 22
Above the Law? 25
3. Fooled You 27
But Everyone's Doing It 29
Little White Lies 33
Who's to Say What’s Bogus? 36
4. That's Not an Ad 39
How They Lie 42
Pay per Post 46
But Wait! There's More! 47
5. Lying about Your Rights 51
Oops, You've Already Signed It 54
Fine Print Gone Wild 56
Signing Away Other Rights 57
One Word at a Time 57
Part 2 How We Scam Ourselves 59
6. Our Own Damned Fault 61
Losing Your Mind 63
A Scam-or-Be-Scammed World? 65
There's Something in the VitaminWater 66
A Wayward Offer from DirecTV 67
That's Not the Spirit 68
Customer Confessions 70
7. Walled Gardens 73
If the Customer Is Always Right, Why Worry? 79
Trapped in the System of It All 79
Do You Suffer from Walled Garden Syndrome? 81
8. The Price of Loyalty 83
What Loyalty Programs Make Us Do 85
What Makes Loyalty Programs Dangerous 87
The Loyalty Effect 91
You're Complicit 92
Questions to Ask before You Buy 93
9. When the Watchdogs Sleep 95
Where Have the Watchdogs Gone? 98
When Dogs Follow the Wrong Scent . . . 100
Being a Discerning—and Demanding—Consumer 102
10. Tired, Confused, and Apathetic 105
Eyes Wide Shut 108
Decisions, Decisions 110
When You Don't Make a Decision . . . 111
Dereliction of Duty 112
Splitting the Difference 114
Part 3 How to Fix It 115
11. The Enlightened Consumer 117
A Thirst for Knowledge 118
Getting Inside the Mind of a Business 119
Corporatespeak 120
Getting Inside Your Head 124
What Smart Shoppers Don't Do 126
12. It's Dangerous Out There 129
How to Spot a Lowercase Scam 131
How to Spot an Uppercase Scam 135
How to Deflect a Clever Sales Pitch 137
Surviving a Scam 139
13. The I-Can't-Help-Desk 141
How to Escape from Call Center Hell 143
Should You Chat? 147
The Art of the Written Complaint 149
These Letters Go Straight to the Trash 150
Elements of a Winning Style 151
14. Turning a No into a Yes 155
You're Right 156
How to Turn a No Around 157
A Few Thoughts on the Art of Persuasion 161
Sue or Shame? 163
15. Act Now 167
Timing Is Everything 169
Fixing What's Wrong with Business 171
Fixing Ourselves 172
Who Wins? 174
Epilogue: Power in Your Pocket 175
Appendix 179
Who You Gonna Call? 179
How to Find a Manager in Person 180
How to Find a Manager by E-Mail 183
How to Find a Manager by Phone 184
How to Find a Manager through Social Media 186
Bibliography 191
Suggested Readings 205
Acknowledgments 207
About the Author 209
