Right now there is much to unpack around the world, yet with all the misinformation, disinformation, conflicting information, etc, how can a person make an honest determination of what just happened. I know some will say their opinion and have an answer, but quite frankly things are so crazy I just read an article that Solelmani was actually trying to become a channel or set up a channel between Iran and the Saudis through Iraq. How true is that, I do not know, but it shows how much is out there and shows making informed decisions is virtually impossible. Who do you trust for a source right now?
So let's deal with our ongoing problems closer that are closer to home today. I expect that this has happened to you in some shape form or fashion and it drives me crazy. Whenever a corporation makes a mistake that costs you, somehow or another even the correction to the problem still costs you something. Many times with a physical product they will replace it and still, there is no acknowledgment of your time having been used or any other effort on your part to either go to the store or whatever you need to do to get have a good outcome. Sometimes at a restaurant, you might get a freebie on your bill or something. Overall though the concept of actually matching the effort you put out to resolve the issue is not reciprocated. And the larger the issue or the more inconvenient the problem the less you receive to equalize your efforts. In fact, most corporations’ policies are so restrictive and so protective of their interests that you are going to be out more than their costs to fix it. They ain’t paying for their mistakes, period.
Or even if you have to fight them in court and win, you won’t be made whole. Their solution of paying some money does not cover the amount of angst, time, effort, patience, nor does it completely replace what was lost half the time. And what was lost can be a myriad of items including your health, but they have what they will accept in costs and will wear you down to get to where their expense is acceptable to them.
This is one simple example of their advantage and this is not the reason I am posting this today. I have a couple of other fights going on and one I know I am losing badly. The second is developing and may or may not cost something more than what it took for them to make the mistake, but as of my last conversation, it is going to. Anyway back to the example, you buy a product on a credit card and your card is charged right away(debit card transactions are a bit better in some places like grocery stores), then you have to return it. They credit the same card, but it takes 3-5 business days for the return to show on your card. Only a slight inconvenience, yet it exists. Let’s say though you check your statement and it was never credited. We pay off our credit card bill every month so we do not lose interest, but we have to pay the higher amount to pay off the bill then go back to the store, and here is those intangible expenses, the time to go to the store and show them the receipt for the credit so they can “research” what happened and hopefully credit your card within 3-5 business days again.
So you are out lost spending power for a time, come up with more cash to pay a bill so you won’t be charged interest while you resolve it, or lose time calling your credit card company trying to get them to look into it, or if you do not pay off your bill in full you pay more interest than you should, and if you drive back to the store your time and gas have been spent. Does the corporation begin to compensate you for all this? No. Now should they? Honestly, I do not know, but something should be addressed because the more they screw up the more it costs you.
If if the original situation, you received the credit promptly then the only cost to you is going back to the store to return the item. If you made the mistake, well that is on you, but if it is a defective product, then you are spending your time at a cost to you.
As Americans, we tend to accept that this is the cost of living in the modern world, yet why should we. If the product is defective, the manufacturer should have some skin in the game. They will say they took the product back and they are already losing money. Too bad, they made it, they need to address their issues, but not at a cost to you. The funny thing about it is if you yell and scream enough the store might give you a ten percent credit or something, but the yelling and screaming still cost you energy and the manufacturer still is held harmless. They lose my business, my trust, etc, but it still comes at a cost to me. I will return the defective product and use the credit to buy another brand of whatever item I originally purchased. Yet all this took up time and effort.
And you may be wondering why I am going to such great lengths for such a simple problem. Again, this is the simple example and something similar to this happened over Christmas. There are two much bigger issues going on that I do not want to talk about which will cost us immensely or even significantly even if they resolve the problem. Much more than the example above in time and effort. And I am going to lose in one of the battles because of the rules of the game and it is a huge loss. I can try to sue them in court, but it is the type of case I need to pay the attorney up front and winning is not guaranteed and the best evidence for my case has not been provided to me and the people that might have something are in no obligation to give it to me, much less make the effort to actually obtain it.
The Corporations have got it down to a science and either we lose some even if we can win and or worse even sometimes if you are right you lose.
And it is these same corporations who lobby Congress to kill consumer protection laws.
And we let them. Write or call your Representative or Senator anytime you see legislation being watered down against your benefit. They are not representing you unless you make them.
And there is much I would like to say about current events, however, uh...well... let's leave it alone for now.
Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment