Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals Hardcover - 2011 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

SCAMMED

Most of us wouldn't buy that bridge in Brooklyn that some guy wants to sell us. We wouldn't wire money to people who send us an e-mail that promises to shower us with millions once they save a Nigerian diplomat. Used car salespersons? Not our friends. We're savvy customers who can spot a fast one, right?

Maybe not. As longtime journalist and customer advocate Christopher Elliott reveals in Scammed, sometimes today's con-jobs arrive via poorly spelled spam or fast-talking hustlers, and sometimes they come from well-dressed MBAs, intricate legal contracts, or management-approved corporate policies. Scammed shows how many businesses manipulate and mislead in order to not give you what you paid them for. You'll discover how you can protect yourself from this unfair behavior. If you feel doomed to suffer hidden fees, escape clauses, and shoddy products, Scammed gives you the tools to fight back, make yourself heard, and have your complaints resolved on the double.

Learn the latest techniques businesses use to give you a bad deal, as well as their most effective countermeasures. Scammed pulls back the curtain on:

• How companies shape online perception, including "reputation management," "sock puppet" reviews, content mills, and "black-hat" search engine techniques
• Typical hidden clauses in end-user software licenses, credit card contracts, and other customer agreements
• The behavioral science behind sophisticated customer manipulation, and how to recognize and correct for it
• How to find good, fair-dealing companies and guard against bad ones
• Real-life stories of customers successfully fighting bad deals, and how they did it
• Effective techniques for communicating with companies and accelerating their response to your problem
• And more

Shady dealers expect you to resign yourself to getting burned. Restore your power as a customer, make better choices, demand what you pay for, and hold onto your money with Christopher Elliott's winning advice. Don't get scammed; get Scammed, and get wise!

From the jacket flap

SCAMMED

Most of us wouldn't buy that bridge in Brooklyn that some guy wants to sell us. We wouldn't wire money to people who send us an e-mail that promises to shower us with millions once they save a Nigerian diplomat. Used car salespersons? Not our friends. We're savvy customers who can spot a fast one, right?

Maybe not. As longtime journalist and customer advocate Christopher Elliott reveals in Scammed, sometimes today's con-jobs arrive via poorly spelled spam or fast-talking hustlers, and sometimes they come from well-dressed MBAs, intricate legal contracts, or management-approved corporate policies. Scammed shows how many businesses manipulate and mislead in order to not give you what you paid them for. You'll discover how you can protect yourself from this unfair behavior. If you feel doomed to suffer hidden fees, escape clauses, and shoddy products, Scammed gives you the tools to fight back, make yourself heard, and have your complaints resolved on the double.

Learn the latest techniques businesses use to give you a bad deal, as well as their most effective countermeasures. Scammed pulls back the curtain on:

• How companies shape online perception, including "reputation management," "sock puppet" reviews, content mills, and "black-hat" search engine techniques
• Typical hidden clauses in end-user software licenses, credit card contracts, and other customer agreements
• The behavioral science behind sophisticated customer manipulation, and how to recognize and correct for it
• How to find good, fair-dealing companies and guard against bad ones
• Real-life stories of customers successfully fighting bad deals, and how they did it
• Effective techniques for communicating with companies and accelerating their response to your problem
• And more

Shady dealers expect you to resign yourself to getting burned. Restore your power as a customer, make better choices, demand what you pay for, and hold onto your money with Christopher Elliott's winning advice. Don't get scammed; get Scammed, and get wise!