Stop the Scam! The report on the Today Show this morning once more confirmed what I've been telling people here for years. Six different companies were called to a staged scene where the air conditioner supposedly needed fixing. Fraud was to be assumed due to the fact that the current heatwave made that situation somewhat of an emergency. However, on a scale of 1 to 10, the degree of fraud spanned from 7 all the way up to 10. The honest guy, who was sitting in the basement of that rented house secretly monitoring the work steps and effort with the help of installed cameras, would only have charged around $ 200 to reconnect two lose wires! Sorry, but this alone screams for scam right there! Anyway, it should get much worse than that throughout that experiment, as the high- end demand settled close to a grand! To justify those incredible amounts, well- working or non- existent parts were replaced! Being confronted with the facts, hardly any of those scam artists remained cool at all. On the contrary, some even got quite aggressive. Again not much action is being taken on part of those running these dubious companies. Actually I wasn't really expecting any repercussions as there is almost never any serious attempt to stop fraud on this side of the world,
and this is sad. There is absolutely no price- regulatory market in this country, but thank God an incredibly vast pool of competition, which we all should take advantage of ruthlessly and egocentrically. This, however, implies that we educate ourselves to our best knowledge and means.
I know, this sounds like words coming out of a child's mouth, but just put yourselves to the test for a second. What do we actually know about the devices we use on a daily base and therefore take for granted like our washing machines, fridges, air conditions, TVs, computers, and even cars?
Not much, right? That's pretty normal especially among females, but this certainly does not mean,
we are eligible to become the prime target for fraud and to be awarded the first prize for stupidity. Getting educated does not necessarily aim at taking courses as to learn first hand how certain engines are built and how they function - although I've got to admit that this kind of acquired knowledge can indeed degrade a migraine to a mild headache at times.
No, I am talking about educating ourselves through the maneuver of requesting and comparing various estimates before taking any further action. This is indeed a clever strategy, which not only broadens our horizon for what there is out there but also stops con artists in their tracks.
On a personal note, my husband was looking into gas furnaces a few months ago and thus asked for an estimate from Sears, a renowned and highly- respected company throughout the US and Canada. To cut the whole story short, Sears' estimate was between 6 and 8 thousand dollar! Luckily, my husband - a jack of many trades - knows how to install furnaces, and so he will definitely not go with Sears but with a store product for just $1500. This is $4500 to $6500 less! You see, this is education. Always get at least a few estimates, compare, and save in the end. Always even in times of emergency. This way we can stop all this useless scam.
and this is sad. There is absolutely no price- regulatory market in this country, but thank God an incredibly vast pool of competition, which we all should take advantage of ruthlessly and egocentrically. This, however, implies that we educate ourselves to our best knowledge and means.
I know, this sounds like words coming out of a child's mouth, but just put yourselves to the test for a second. What do we actually know about the devices we use on a daily base and therefore take for granted like our washing machines, fridges, air conditions, TVs, computers, and even cars?
Not much, right? That's pretty normal especially among females, but this certainly does not mean,
we are eligible to become the prime target for fraud and to be awarded the first prize for stupidity. Getting educated does not necessarily aim at taking courses as to learn first hand how certain engines are built and how they function - although I've got to admit that this kind of acquired knowledge can indeed degrade a migraine to a mild headache at times.
No, I am talking about educating ourselves through the maneuver of requesting and comparing various estimates before taking any further action. This is indeed a clever strategy, which not only broadens our horizon for what there is out there but also stops con artists in their tracks.
On a personal note, my husband was looking into gas furnaces a few months ago and thus asked for an estimate from Sears, a renowned and highly- respected company throughout the US and Canada. To cut the whole story short, Sears' estimate was between 6 and 8 thousand dollar! Luckily, my husband - a jack of many trades - knows how to install furnaces, and so he will definitely not go with Sears but with a store product for just $1500. This is $4500 to $6500 less! You see, this is education. Always get at least a few estimates, compare, and save in the end. Always even in times of emergency. This way we can stop all this useless scam.
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