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Citi-Scam: “Protecting” Consumers
Part One: Did you get Citi’s refund letter? Organized Crime had better watch out: Citi is in the old protection racket. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau caught Citi in a deceptive marketing scam that added a Credit Protection “service” for Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s credit cards without cardholder prior knowledge or consent. The Cosa Nostra invented […]
Banksters And Scamsters Work Together
No comedy here: Comments on NYT piece re banks profit from cold call scams Tweet
Outstanding Techno-Scammer Award (Part 1)
Mutual Benefits Ties For First Place Techno-scammers* seek privacy and avoid publicity. Why would they want attention to the good thing they have going? They like the scant law enforcement by federal and state consumer abuse regulators. They have perfected the art of offering “near-scams.” They are a growth industry. So many scams to choose […]
Scam of the Year Award
Award to Recognize Entrepreneurial Talent of Another Kind It is a daunting task: So many scamsters, just one award. Not enough credit has been given for the creativity, dedication and artfulness of 21st Century scamsters. To remedy that, I am starting a new award, the 2011 Scam of The Year Award in March 2012. What’s […]
Mutual Benefits Joins GCC of C
New Source for Commencement Speakers? After I told the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce (GCCC) about the unauthorized use of the GCCC logo by the Mutual Benefits website (it implied an endorsement), the GCCC recruited Mutual Benefits as a member. However, the GCCC may need to add a new category—like techno scam. Rather than being […]
New Award: Top Techno Scam in 2011
For Creativity in Techno Scamming When no other economic stimulus idea works, get the words entrepreneurial and spirit into the mix: President Obama and top GOP candidates agree our entrepreneurial spirit can lift us out of our economic doldrums. It may be an admission they have run out of ideas of their own—complete with the […]
Discovery Averted or Almost Arrested?
What Happened to International-Destinations’ 888-Number? This morning International-Destinations 888-680-5749 “booking” number announced it was “disconnected” or had “moved.” Then it went up again. What was going on? If new to my blog, International-Destinations sends robo-faxes—with Continental Airlines logo illegally shown—to tens of thousands of consumers. I-D claims to have airline/land packages at unbelievably low rates […]
Scam Sightings (continued)
Part 2: High Grade “Near Scam” By PissedConsumer.com? Scam Sighting? A judge in Federal Court is still thinking about this one: Is the website www.PissedConsumer.com a front for a reputation management scam or a legit consumer advocate business? For consumers, the question is Does PissedConsumer (PC) use Internet technology to manipulate consumers for hidden profitable […]
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Dr. Seuss Turned Down Ronald Reagan
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FedEx Wins DIBY Award
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Mutual Benefits Joins GCC of C
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Citi Is Mad at Judge Rakoff
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Questions For Melania
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What Is God Telling Todd Akin?
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Romney: Yachts For The Navy
- Sophisticated Robo-Campaigns Ahead
- Sophisticated Robo-Campaigns Ahead
- Christie Is Finally Finished
- Trump’s Ten Commandments
- What Should Yale Do About Kavanaugh?
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United’s Possibly Priority Luggage and Lesser-First Class Services
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Hype Will Upset Pharma
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Gary Nelson: I just wonder what will be taking place on these "...
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Joseph Ting: e: Fleeced by fees when you travel by Stephanie Ro...
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Nadia K. Faulkner: http://www.johnythegame78r2.com...
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Ellie Esposito: Same thing happened to us. Would be nice to know d...
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Josh Saintperle: Hmmm -- last time I called Comcast for a problem, ...
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E.A. Blair: If I claimed to be in a constant conversation with...
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Charles Selden: Hope my post was helpful....
Why This Blog?
My name is Charles Selden. I write this blog for consumers who have been abused by corporations. Like you.
Me?…abused?
That’s right. Abuse is not confined to children, spouses, the elderly, or baseball umpires. The most regularly abused person is the American consumer. It has gone on so long that most people accept it as “just the way things are” and are sure nothing can be done about it. You have been abused as a consumer--unless within the last 12 months you have not shopped for food, called a toll-free number for technical assistance, tried to find “your question” in a list of FAQs, bought an appliance or computer, eaten out, booked a flight, watched cable TV, taken a vacation, used a credit card, paid a medical bill, bought an item on the Internet or purchased a cashmere sweater. If all of your purchases and calls for help ended happily, you are either exceptionally lucky or a wee bit delusional. The fact is abuse of consumers is profitable for corporations, although abuse is not a word they would use.
There’s no shame in being a consumer abused by a corporation. The shame is that more consumers do not fight back when abused. That’s where this blog comes in.
I’ve been a consumerist for more than four decades. I look forward to corporate abuses, especially the compensation and fun parts. The corporations do their part and I do mine. This blog chooses a few of the “better” episodes to amuse and instruct consumers. The blog will not urge you to join a movement or contribute to a cause. Indeed, it is absolutely not about trying to change what corporations do to consumers. Why spoil a good thing?
As for my Manifesto, it owes a lot to Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. He used the word abuses to describe what King George and his cohorts were doing: “a long train of abuses…to reduce them under absolute Despotism.” Corporations treat consumers that way.
To see how I fight back, try my blog for a while. Laughter is good for your spirit and getting compensation for abuses is good for your bottom line.
Portraits by Mike Peters
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