Michigan Telephone, VoIP and Broadband blog

FINALLY the major media is starting to see this as a problem, though I fear this will not stay on their radar long.  The following is an excerpt from the book “Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day and What You Can Do About It” by Bob Sullivan, as posted on MSNBC’s site:

When I was a child growing up just outside New York City during the 1970s, I learned to be afraid of getting mugged. But this is not that. The criminals I’m talking about don’t bop anyone over the head and steal hundreds of dollars. These criminals slowly take $5, $10, and $20 from me, often with a smile. They pop a surcharge onto my monthly phone bill. They pad my TV bill with services I didn’t ask for. They drain my bank account — drip, drip, drip — when I’m not watching. These hidden fees keep me up late at night like the sound of a leaky faucet. I feel like I have to watch everything all the time, because it’s so easy to miss some statement on some form with some asterisk that means the company can take even more money from me. And when that happens, I suffer from what I call small print rage.

Read a much larger excerpt here:
Why hidden fees are a big deal – Gotcha Capitalism- msnbc.com

Mr. Sullivan has figured out that these sneaky fees are costing the average American $946 a year. In another article at MSNBC’s site he has listed ten tips to avoid sneaky fees and demand fair treatment. Readers of this blog may find tips 3, 4, 9, and 10 especially interesting and enlightening.

You want to know what I think?  Personally, I think that the companies and executives that come up with these fees … well, let’s just say that I’d really like to tell you what I think of them, but there might be minors reading this, and I don’t think I could truly express how I feel about them in any manner that would be acceptable in a blog intended for readers of all ages.

BroadbandReports.com also mentioned the above article. They’ve been great about shining the spotlight on companies that engage in this type of false advertising, and I hope they continue to do so.  The problem is that a lot of people post their gripes in their forums, when they should be sending their complaints to their state Attorney General or Public Service Commission. If you’tre going to complain in a forum, you might as well save yourself the effort of typing your complaint, and just call up one of your siblings, or go out on the street and find someone to complain to – it will have about the same effect. People, please, stop just putting up with corporations stealing from you.  Would you let someone walk into your home and smile as they carted off your possessions, or took a few bills out of your wallet or purse? Heck, would you let your kids do that? Then why do you let big corporations do it to you, without a word of protest?