Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals
Maybe not. As longtime journalist and customer advocate Christopher Elliott reveals inScammed, sometimes today's con-jobs arrive via poorly spelled spam or fast-talking hustlers, and sometimes they come from well-dressed MBAs, intricate legal contracts, or management-approved corporate policies. Scammed shows how many businesses manipulate and mislead in order to not give you what you paid them for. You'll discover how you can protect yourself from this unfair behavior. If you feel doomed to suffer hidden fees, escape clauses, and shoddy products, Scammed gives you the tools to fight back, make yourself heard, and have your complaints resolved on the double.Learn the latest techniques businesses use to give you a bad deal, as well as their most effective countermeasures.Scammedpulls back the curtain on:How companies shape online perception, including "reputation management," "sock puppet" reviews, content mills, and "black-hat" search engine techniquesTypical hidden clauses in end-user software licenses, credit card contracts, and other customer agreementsThe behavioral science behind sophisticated customer manipulation, and how to recognize and correct for itHow to find good, fair-dealing companies and guard against bad onesReal-life stories of customers successfully fighting bad deals, and how they did itEffective techniques for communicating with companies and accelerating their response to your problemAnd more