Rip Van Winkle Mindset Makes for Consumer Rip-Offs

Keep good records, reserve your rights so they don't get zapped later on.

Rip Van Winkle image courtesy: englishfor1a.blogspot.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Yes, I feel first-rate irate when I witness how so many consumers seem to slumber through their purchases and usher in first-class rip-offs. Passivity can be hazardous to your health!

Let's call it with Rip Van Winkle Syndrome (RVWS). Whether we sleep through 20 days or 20 years, the mind grows numb. And numbness leads to--you guessed it--dumbness. Sales persons are slick and sneaky in distracting you from asking meaningful questions. Their bottom line in the top of your bankroll.

Go shop for any appliance. Ask pointed questions. Usually items are placed in rows from lowest to highest in price. Find out what makes for the price differential in two articles in the same range but slightly apart. Go after getting information about which parts have less durability and need repairs most quickly. Behave as if you are desirous of getting the full picture--not simply a repetition of what you know from reading the package.

I did exactly that when shopping recently for a replacement vacuum; I refused to be treated like dirt.

We all understand that the sellers of retail goods try to paint a near-perfect image of their product but why would they need to place an add-on for maintenance beyond a year's guarantee if it was designed to last?

Why would anyone want to invest over a $100 if the item were destined to die out in fifteen months?

Always check the small print before placing your signature on anything involving future services. Be wary about signing a blank check, and likewise an agreement to pay the piper open-endedly. You'll find that admissions papers to clinics and hospitals are weighted but not in favor of the consumer. Essentially you yield your rights of decision making to medical staff in many cases. If those contractual agreements were sent in advance for patients to review a week before their appointments, we could study them in depth. If we get the document only at admission and we're already nervous about coming events, how can we hope to exercise informed consent? Being a bundle of nerves renders us easily intimated.

Finally, do not be afraid to write in your own brief comments. You can say: My insurance promised to pay all costs as needed. Print it cleverly in the text and preserve your rights not to get zapped later on. None of us want to suffer a heart attack from receiving an outrageous medical bill. Unemployed morticians is something our economy could well absorb.

Salem-News.com Community Writer Barry Lee Coyne brings to our readers stories from his combined career of journalism and gerontology, and explains that these paths shaped his values. Lee Coyne once worked for The Civil Service Leader in NY State and covered the Legislature. He has also done features on mediation and arbitration, and believes in healthy skepticism. This writer-therapist often views the world as the masks of comedy and tragedy placed upon the scales of justice. For him, optimism inevitably wins. "Lyrical Lee" has traveled to 30 nations aboard and was once a press intern at the UN. His first published article was in The NY Daily News in '59, dealing with the need for integrity in public office.

He also launched the nation's first tele-conference on health education for shut-ins, created the Eldermentors project in VA to pair retirees with immigrant students needing role models, and was the main catalyst behind CCTV's "Public Public" panel show here in Salem. Lee received his BA in International Relations and an MSW in community organization. He currently serves as a member of Salem's Library Advisory Board. To send Lee an email, please write to this address: luckycoyne@yahoo.com