Christopher Elliott

Scammed (eBook, PDF)

How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

A leading consumer advocate reveals how to protect your money, time, and integrity from corrupt businesses 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 customers--but 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. Scammed explores how companies control information to mislead, distort the truth, and even outright lie to their consumers. * Exposes the various ways companies have led their war against information--from seductive ads, disingenuous fine print, and unconventional promotions that involve seeding discussion forums and blogs with company-friendly comments * Offers consumers insider knowledge of the system, reasonable expectations, and a clear understanding of the games businesses play * Christopher Elliott is one of the nation's foremost consumer advocates Protect yourself, your time, and your money from the predators of the consumer world. Armed with knowledge, readers will become far more discerning and every business's worst nightmare.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
• Seitenzahl: 240
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. November 2011
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781118180136
• Artikelnr.: 37348587

Autorenporträt

CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT is one of the nation's foremost consumer advocates. In his nearly two decades of fighting for consumers, he's proven himself as a fearless, fair, and effective mediator, going toe-to-toe with large corporations, litigious business owners, and government agencies.

Inhaltsangabe

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