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Tag Archives: certification
Local Coffee Beans From Brooklyn
Are they near the tree that grew in Brooklyn? If you think about where coffee beans are grown, Brooklyn does not spring to mind—unless you are a marketing exec at Whole Foods. Coffee and Brooklyn call up images of little coffee shops in Brooklyn, not big plantations near the Brooklyn Bridge. Whole Foods marketing wants […]
WalMart Uses NSF Certification of a Part To Certify A Whole
The back of the Walmart package shown is from a $16 food thermometer made in China for use in an American oven. It says NSF certified. Meaning? As they master making things we once made, the Chinese will someday master use of our language describing how those things work. This thermometer was a challenge. It […]
Words That Turn On EROs
After reaching a toll-free service number, odds are you will hear about menu changes, how much you matter as a customer, and how much better things would go if you hang up and use the corporation’s website. Don’t believe any of it. Wait for connection to an ERO (Early Responder Operator). Then use special words […]
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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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