Friend of mine was telling me a story about his insurance company(1). He took out an insurance policy for his car. Over the first year his rates kept going up. He called them to ask why: no tickets, no claims, no nothing, why are the rates going up?
The agent on the line said, “cost of living.” He said, “huh?” Or something equally appropriate to such a flippant answer. The agent amplified with “well, we still have the lowest rates.”
My friend knew better. Before getting on the phone he looked around at some competitors and got bids that were as much 33% lower than what he was currently paying. So it was a lie, either knowingly or unknowingly(2)
I told my friend, “They’re allowed to lie.”
They are. It’s considered to be protected under “Freedom of Speech(3).”
I can’t lie and call it a right citing Freedom of Speech. You can’t either. But corporates can, advertisers can, even the so-called news outlets can. Right there on the phone the agent was lying, perhaps even knowingly.
There’s nothing you can do about it… is there?
You are the Consumer. The Power is yours.
Actually, yes there is: switch companies and make sure they know why you did that. “You lied to me; how can I trust anything else you say? I’m switching services and, no, I’m not going to tell you whom I’m switching to. Stop lying. It demeans you and me both.” (Also, make sure the company you switch to knows why you switched; perhaps they’ll be bright enough to take it as a warning.)
How can you trust anything else they might say? How can you be sure they’ll even live up to their end of the contract? You can’t(5). But if they’re lying about something that is so easily confirmed and obvious, then they clearly don’t think much of their customers / clients. Do they?
Why deal with a company that thinks you’re stupid?
You are the Consumer. The Power is yours.
Don’t let them get away with it. Switch providers, companies, brands, or even do without when possible (which is most of the time). Just make sure they know you caught them out in their lie(s) and you are “mad as Hell and not going to take it any more!”(6)(7)
For example. Back in the 1970’s a-certain-national-grocery-outlet plowed money into defeating the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment, proposed amendment for the United States Constitution). There were many valid-sounding reasons put forward to defeat it (though none were actually valid), however, this outfit was quite forward about their own reason: they didn’t want to have to pay their female managers the same as their male managers. Flat out. Being so open about it was just as disgusting to me as their reasoning. I haven’t been in one of those stores since. If you’re wondering, no, I’m not female; I was offended because it was wrong.
Current Example: there’s a Major Internet Distributor who has similar demeaning practices for its employees, “partners” and consumers — I won’t do business with them, either(8). I’m not going to wipe them out this way, nor even get their notice, more than likely; but I feel good about it within myself. At the least, I’m not supporting them and thereby entering into a de facto agreement with their treatment of people the world over.
This includes your investments, of course (if you have such things). Not only don’t patronize such companies, but don’t invest in them either. No stocks, nor mutual funds that include such stocks, etc. When you support such a business you are agreeing with their practices, and party to all they do, whether you know it or not(9).
You are the Consumer.
You have the Power.
These companies would not even exist without your active cooperation.
Remember that.
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(1) Which one doesn’t matter. They all do this, or rather, they all can do this.
(2) Chances are good the agent didn’t know he was lying. Probably, he was just parroting what he’d been told to say in all such cases. But someone in the food chain of that company surely knew it was a lie.
(3) That’s in America. I don’t know how other nations justify modern corporate advertising practices, fake news and all the rest of the current “make money through lying” fad that has gripped so many folks around the world. It does take justification to allow this, it takes self-delusion to not see it as a problem. Fortunately (so to speak) governments of all sorts are excellent at self-delusion.
(4) Certainly, telephone tech support agents lie freely — many of them at least. When ever one says, “Oh, and I see you have [insert a number] viruses on your computer,” he’s lying. You can’t tell that over the phone, not even over a remote log in, certainly not in a few minutes. That’s total BS. Malicious Fraud. So is a newspaper claiming the “public has a right to know.” No they don’t. There’s no such right mentioned any where. However, privacy *is* a right and the “public’s right to know” as pushed so often by reporters is a violation of the right to privacy, and often to some specific person’s right to fair trial. So is the internet and social media, though, come to think of it.
(5) In fact, chances are good they won’t; not completely. They’ll find a way to minimize the payout, or refuse to “total the car” or triple your rates because you dared to use the exact service you have been paying for under mutual contract, etc. I could tell you stories… and chances are good you could tell me some.
(6) Old quote. Recognize it?
(7) I’m sure some one is thinking “you’re just naïve, son; this is the Big Boys’ Table now.” No, son, that’s not the Big Boys’ Table; that’s the 7-year-olds’ table. The real Adults’ Table is the one where everyone wins. Everyone. It’s a very hard table to sit at, given our current culture; only actual, fully functional Adults can even get there. (The effort it takes to get there is certainly worth it, though.) Open Message to Business: if your product or service isn’t of measurable benefit to everyone, stop making it. If it’s something you wouldn’t want your spouse or children using, stop selling it. If you wouldn’t use it yourself, definitely stop making it, or switch jobs. That’s the Real “Big Boys’ table” (pardon the expression; it’s “making a point” time again — obviously “big boys’ table” is a demeaning sexist and ageist term and, so, contradicts itself right from the start).
(8) That is, I won’t do business with them knowingly. Sometimes I order something online and it comes in one of those boxes and I know I was “bait and switched.” The vendor did not identify himself as being affiliated with that company, so perhaps he knows some people won’t normally shop there. If that’s the case, that’s even worse, as that vendor is actively faking out his own customers. Rude. Technically criminal, also (misrepresentation is a crime). I won’t buy a second time from such a dealer.
(9) Investing solely for the sake of monetary profit is always risky. Invest in companies you agree with, whose policies match your own view of the world. Invest in Makers, not in Takers or Fakers. When you invest in Takers and Fakers and you are complicit with their poor ethics, their crimes, their short-sightedness. Don’t sell your soul so cheaply.