Opinion: Business practices reflect accountability standards

With today’s demands and sophisticated scams, consumers have to be on guard and be accountable to reading the fine print, saving our documents and backing up our computers to avoid falling prey to con artists. In addition, we need to commit to holding companies accountable for less than ethical practices.

The character word for the month is “accountable,” and I believe my story is something that everyone will relate to.

Last week I wrote a complaint letter to a company called Great Fun Online. Great Fun works through other companies to offer a membership where consumers can save money and get discounts on products and services. The idea is good, but the method used to recruit members is, for lack of a better word, shady.

You receive a small check from Great Fun in the mail offered through a company you already do business with – for example, your mortgage company.

When you receive a small check from your mortgage company, a natural assumption is the check is a small refund for overpaying your escrow, so even though two bucks isn’t much, you go ahead and cash it. Without realizing it, you now have a new membership for which you will be charged a monthly fee of $9.

Apparently, the act of cashing a $2 check is the same as signing a dotted line saying I agree to pay $108 per year on a membership for which there is no welcome letter, no confirmation phone call welcoming me into this membership, no plastic card to carry and no paperwork to explain the benefits. The monthly fee is supposed to actually help you save money through the use of discounts and coupons on travel, vacation, gasoline and other “fun” things.

After the first two months, I realized we had been duped, so my husband made two attempts to close or cancel the membership. We were willing to be responsible for not reading the fine print, for cashing the $2 check and for not paying attention.

However, 18 months later we still have not been successful in canceling our “membership.” Promises were made and excuses offered while the $9 was subtracted monthly without missing a beat.

Upon calling the mortgage company and going through 10 minutes of dialing gymnastics, I reached a live person who informed me that although the billing is through GMAC, the membership has to be canceled directly through Great Fun. So I called Great Fun – and, by the way, I was not having any fun as I went through the usual dialing exercises of pressing one if I speak English, two if I speak Spanish, punching in my account number, last four digits of my Social Security number and then waiting for an additional five minutes to the tune of elevator music intermittently interrupted by a voice that says, “Your call is important to us and we value you as a customer, please hold,” with a brief reminder that my call would be recorded for security reasons.

When I reached a live human being it was a young man whose job it was to keep me as a member of Great Fun and to make me understand that I really do have benefits, and wouldn’t I like to upgrade or get a coupon book in place of a refund?

I felt sorry for the young man because he had the bad fortune of answering my call, and I was loaded for bear. He was so polite that I regained my composure and told him that I know it isn’t his fault. He gave me a sigh of relief and thanked me profusely. Then I asked him if he received these complaints on a daily basis and he said, “Yes, ma’am.” I then asked him if he hated his job, and there was dead silence.

I said, “Oh, I get it. You are being recorded aren’t you?” to which he answered, “Yes ma’am, and to answer your question, I love my job.”

Then we both broke out in laughter as I proceeded to tell him that life is too short to have to deal with angry customers who feel like they’ve been duped, and he needs to start looking because there is a better way to make a living.

Can you imagine the amount of money this company brings in if only 50,000 customers fail to recognize that they’ve been paying $108 a year for benefits they don’t use? Do the math.

When companies resort to trickery to gain membership, we as consumers need to be more accountable and we need to hold companies accountable.

Marlene Chism is a relationship development expert, who works with companies to increase productivity and teamwork. She can be contacted through www.stopyourdrama.com.[[In-content Ad]]