Standing Up To A Big Business.

4 years ago
Categories: Business, Opinion, Weekly Columns

(ThySistas.com) The world of modern business can often be a brutal and cutthroat element of society. People often find success for themselves when they tread on others, and the easiest way to climb the ladder is usually less than ethical. Of course, though, this isn’t something which should impact consumers. You should be able to trust the companies you buy things from and work with, though this isn’t always possible, and can leave people in a bad situation if they choose to trust the wrong business. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some examples of common corporate lies, giving you the power to fight against them.

The Lies & Misinformation

There are a lot of different ways a business can mislead their customers, and it’s worth being aware of these areas before you buy anything from them. You can find some examples of the most common lies a business will tell. In some cases, this will be an effort to hide information from you, while others will be completely fabricated.

Small Print: When you sign a contract or agree to the terms of a subscription, there will usually be a lot of small print which comes with it. This will cover smaller legal issues, but will often include things like the way you get out of your contract or the fees you will have to pay if you break your side of it. This can catch people out when companies use strange terms, and this is something which they will often take advantage of.

Misinformation: Large businesses often have to deal with a lot of different customers, and it makes sense that they wouldn’t be able to give the right information to all of them. It can be all too easy to be misinformed by a business, especially when you’re getting the information you need from employees, rather than the company’s website. Companies can fight hard against issues like this, but it will be hard for them to make sure that their teams know everything they need to.

False Advertising: Companies will often start making their marketing materials for products long before they hit the market. This can lead to information in their adverts becoming out of date or false, and some businesses will simply lie in their adverts to make more sales. This is becoming an increasingly large problem as more and more companies have access to online advertising.

Dubious Claims: Businesses often have to work hard to give their products the selling points they want for them. There are strict laws which dictate the claims a company can make about their products, though businesses can often get around them by being vague. A deodorant maker might claim that their product offers 24 hour protection. They won’t specify what you’re being protected against, instead using the fact that most customers will assume that this is sweat protection to control perception of their product.

Fighting Against A Big Business

Finding that you’ve been lied to or misinformed by a business can be an incredibly frustrating experience. The world of online shopping makes it hard to try the products you buy, and this is making it much easier for bad businesses to make their money before people realise that they’re selling poor quality goods or services. You can combat this by reading reviews before you make online purchases. Most products will have been used by someone else, and a quick search or two could make it much easier to move in the right direction.

Of course, though, if you’ve already been swindled, it will make sense to look for ways to take action. The law will protect you from consumer fraud, and this will mean that you can get proper support in a lot of cases. A consumer fraud lawyer will be able to help you through this whole process from the very beginning, and many of them won’t charge you anything unless you win your case. If the product you’ve been misinformed about is small, you may have to take less extreme action, simply talking to customer support to find a resolution to the issues you’ve faced.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of standing up to a big business when you feel like you’ve been lied to or misinformed. More protection is always coming into place for consumers, and it’s getting harder for companies to get away with this, but you should still have to be on your toes.

Staff Writer; Lisa Adams