False Advertising

If there is one thing in the world I dislike the most, it's dishonesty. And it's not only if my family or friends are dishonest, it's in everything. At the top of my list is false advertising by companies. I firmly believe if a company is going to make an offer on service or product then it should be made fairly, without six paragraphs of fine print that you need a microscope to read. One such practice of dishonesty happened today when I went to re-up my contract with my DSL/high-speed internet provider. This fine company sent me a notice saying they would like to keep our business and because of that they would like to extend us the offer of keeping our high-speed internet for a rate of $26.99 per month. We're paying $24.99 per month as of right now so we thought the deal sounded good since we haven't really looked for anything better and the $26.99 per month was worth it because we wouldn't have to hassle with doing anything new for our internet. Well, I call and speak to a young woman who talks so fast that only peppy cheerleaders would be able to understand what she's saying. I have to tell her to slow down three times during the call but I think all is going well when she says she would like to verify the details of the bill and she will put in the order for the service to continue. When she is going through everything she says that our service will continue at the rate of $31.99 per month and I literally have to stop her in mid sentence which actually ends up stopping her at the end of her sentence because she's been trained so well not to stop when the customer complains. I tell her that the letter clearly states a rate that is five dollars cheaper and she says, "oh, well that is only if you have a bundle product of ours that is qualifying, which you don't. Didn't you read the back of the page?" Huh? There's something on the back? Oh yes, there's something on the back but I didn't see it. You see, there are no asterisks or anything on the front of the page - where you find the offer - that points you to fine print. Actually, on the back of the page is the exact same offer, but this time has asterisks all over it which points you to the large amount of very fine print. That's where it tells you that you only get this rate if you buy about $80 a month worth of telephone service. I don't want all that stuff, I just want my high-speed. In the end I told her to cancel the order because I didn't like how their advertising completely mislead me into believing I would be getting a service that I presently pay less for than the letter states, but enough that I'm willing to pay so that I don't have to hassle with changing things over. Right now I don't even want to call the customer service department to complain about their false advertising or see if they will give me the special offer, I just want to take my business elsewhere. And that's what I think I will do.

*Rant over*

Comments

[lins]

Stick to your guns girl, I'm right there with you! The other day I was shopping with Jessica and she went into Claire's Accessories armed with her money and lured by the "Any 5 sale items for £5" sign. So she selected her five sale items and took them to the till where they charged her £12. It was at that point that I stepped up and queried the charge and the sales assistant said that it was "any 5 50 percent off sale items." I pointed out to her and hre manager and anyone else who happened to be listening that when the sign says "Any 5 sale items", under English consumer law, they have to honour that or withdraw them all from
sale. No stipulations can be made unless so advertised. She paid £5 needless to say but it made me mad that other teenyboppers would have felt they had no choice but to put their items back or pay the price. So you go girl. And DO phone them and complain. They may value your custom so much that you get it free for a year....