Consumer alert: Scams, cults are often bedfellows
Once you sign a contract you have three days to cancel the contract — right?
WRONG in many cases. The right to cancel any contract is a common misconception among many consumers.
QUICK TIP: If you’ve been smart enough to pay for a purchase with a credit card, NOT a debit card, and after attempting to exercise your right to cancel as outlined on the blog, put the charge “in contest” with your credit card company.
While somewhat dry reading, it is very important information for consumers to understand. I copied the relevant text directly from the Federal Trade Commission’s website to my blog. It is worthy of being printed out and kept some place handy, like taped inside a cupboard door. Originally I thought about including it in today’s column but it’s too long.
Instead I will make it a post on the blog at www.cdapressconsumerguy.com.
PREVIEW: Soon, I’ll do a column on chiropractic. Suffice it to say, not all chiropractors are good — and not all chiropractors are bad. If a chiropractor holds out their services as a cure for organic conditions and illnesses, or REQUIRES your significant other to accompany you to your initial
appointments or pressures them into “treatment,” or offers free dinners as an inducement to begin treatment — you might want to look elsewhere for your medical treatment.
Please email me at brooks@tarex.com with your experiences, good and bad, with chiropractic. In your email please include a phone number.
CULTS and SCAMS
Almost all scams are designed to separate you from your money. Not all cults have money as their focus, although many do. Cults and scams share many of the same attributes.
There are many hooks designed to attract you and keep you engaged. It can be as innocuous as the involvement of family, or pressuring you to get your family involved in the activity or “sell” the good or service to them. One famous (or infamous) soap company was the perfect example of an organization that attempted to recruit followers by surreptitiously inviting friends, relatives and neighbors to a gathering to show the “business plan.”
Once present, the prospect is further pressured into becoming involved using family, religion, and politics. Peer pressure is often used to further cement the unquestioning participation of the new initiate. Whether it’s selling flowers at the airport or soap to friends and relatives, money and control are at the center of these scam/cults.
The advent of the internet has been the downfall of many of the pyramid selling schemes. More communication “across lines” and the consumer’s ability to make instant price comparisons have caused the implosion of most of these business plans. Avoid cults and you’ll avoid many scams.
One of the things I enjoy most about writing this column is my ongoing, two-way relationship with my readers. It’s always a treat to hear from someone who avoided a scam. Most readers of this column are pretty smart cookies, to borrow a phrase from recent national news. This week has been tough on me. I caught a cold but worst of all also got laryngitis. I can’t talk and for those of you who know me, you can appreciate how hard that is for me. On the other hand it may be a message from somebody upstairs that I should listen more and talk less.
LIFE INSURANCE
If you’re young and smart, and in good health, get a good 30-year level term life insurance policy. If you can get one for 40 or 50 years, do it! Once you have any serious illness or conditions it’s often too late. Rates for term insurance are cheap for the young. Life insurance is expensive or impossible to get as you get older or are diagnosed with a serious or chronic condition. Insurance companies do share insurance information under certain conditions. It is unlikely that you can hide an illness or condition if it’s even partially covered by insurance. Check out MIB.com. There are many good life insurance agents in our community. Do your due diligence. Shop around and compare policies, costs and coverage.
CHARITIES, OUICK TIP: Charities differ wildly in how many of your dollars actually get to the intended target. Before you donate, check out the charity by going to www.charitynavigator.org. If someone calls you to donate — don’t. Tell them to send you their info by mail. If they refuse, hang up! Never give credit or debit card or bank account information to anyone calling you. NEVER!
If they’re legitimate, the caller will send you information by regular U.S. Mail.
Check out the info on canceling contracts on the blog, which is up and running with many other interesting articles and comments from consumers. Join us and be part of the community at www.cdapressconsumerguy.com.
I have many more interesting cases that I’m working on as The CDA Press Consumer Guy. Call me at (208) 449-7222, email me at CDAPressConsumerGuy @gmail.com or fax me at (866) 362-9266. Also include your full name and a phone number. I am available to speak about consumerism to schools, and local and civic groups.
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Bill Brooks is the CDA Press Consumer Guy. He is an active associate real estate broker for Tomlinson-Sotheby’s International Realty in Coeur d’Alene.