Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day-And What You Can Do about It

by Bob Sullivan

Book Overview

What is Gotcha Capitalism? Coughing up $4 fees for ATM transactions. Iron-clad cell phone contracts you can't get out of with a crowbar. Paying big bucks for insurance you don't need on a rental car... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345496132
• ISBN13: 9780345496133
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 345 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

This book will open your eyes!

This book is a must read for anyone who has a bank account, credit card, cell phone, etc. We are all being ripped off by these services and we must be informed to fight back. Sullivan presents each service/industry by chapter and provides us with strategies for getting our money back (where possible). Please read this book, you will not regret it.

You have to read this book

Besides informing us of the sneaky way companies try to get extra dollars out of us, there are also other eyeopening things we should know. One thing that got my attention was companies sending new contracts marketing them as "junk mail" so people couldn't call the company and say no thank you I do not accept this. Silence was golden. When challenged all the way up the Supreme Court, they found this contractually binding! Do not throw away your junk mail and read this book!!!!!!!!!!! there are soo many other things in here that you just have to read it.

A powerful expose that calls for some sort of action

Technology writer Bob Sullivan has compiled a powerful accounting of the various ways that American consumers are routinely being screwed by companies large and small. The driving force behind this explosion of unfair business practices is computer technology and the shift to an online/database economy: economic transactions are essentially invisible now, and it is much easier for profit-driven companies to simply make up a bunch of fees or "service charges" when no actual services are being provided, and tack them onto our already-expensive bills. Even that tiny fraction of consumers who figure out the scams will find it hard to get the bogus fees refunded, and the vast majority of consumers will either be unaware of how they're being ripped off, or will be too tired or busy to object. Sullivan explains and documents with great clarity how companies have scientifically researched the most effective methods for hiding bogus fees, and what the tipping point are, so that they steal tiny amounts from millions of customers, but in ways that these customers either won't detect, or understand. And it doesn't matter if you catch one company ripping you off: they all do it, so there's really nowhere for consumers to turn. Don't like your cell phone company? Of course not, but is it worth it to drop them and go to another? Probably not, since they're all total crooks. While this book does a great job cataloging these injustices, it leaves open the question of what we can actually do about it. The book promises readers that they can save $1000.00 if they know how to guard against various unfair business practices. What is really needed, however, is legal protection against these fraudulent and deceptive practices. Hopefully this book may do for digital-age consumers what "Silent Spring" did for the environmental movement: spur politicians, citizens and citizen activists to rein in the insane greed of these large and powerful companies, and pass legislation that has some actual teeth to it. Otherwise, the hopelessness and passivity that these companies are counting on will continue, and we will all lose out. I definitely recommend that as many people as possible read this book, take it to heart, and get our leaders to do something to correct the problems it describes. (Joe Sixpack)

Really helpful, includes real-world anecdotes

I found Gotcha Capitalism to be really helpful, particularly the real-world anecdotes used to show how these fees happen to us every day. For example, after reading about the credit cards from department/furniture stores and the possibility of it appearing as though you don't have to pay interest, unless you read the mouse type. I immediately checked my statements, now that I know for what to look. The information is very practical and useful in everyday situations.

Ah, technology! or, nickled and dimed to death by your local atm machine

Bob Sullivan has written an extraordinary and frightening book on what happens when technology makes it increasingly easy for corporations to rip consumers off, when the government fails to do a decent job of regulating those corporations, and when consumers aren't educated enough to make rational marketplace decisions. Technology today gives us automatic teller machines, internet, wireless phones, cell phones, satellite and cable television, electronic bill payments, etc. etc. These gadgets and services are marketed as life simplifiers, and in many ways they are. But there are also hidden costs to using them that gouge the consumer. Sullivan's claim is that unless these hidden costs are recognized, consumers are prey rather than free agents. Hence the "gotcha." ATM fees, for example, are almost never fully disclosed on the ATM screen. They average about $5 per pop--that is, you pay a good chunk of money to access your money. How bizarre is that? But bizarre as it is from the consumer's perspective, it's good business for the banks because service fees are major revenue sources for banks. These days, according to Sullivan, about one-third of all bank revenues come from fees. In fact, many banks now make more income from fees--checking account fees, bounced check fees, ATM fees, and so on--than from interest on loans and investments. Or take credit cards. A credit card company can legally raise your interest rates simply by sending you a finely printed and obscurely written announcement informing you of the increase and stating that unless you formally object in writing, you accept it. The companies know that most consumers won't even bother to read the announcement before tossing it. In fact, they bank on it. Or take hotels. Many of them are now charging us for the exorbitantly priced room bar items if we simply touch them. Sensors in refrigerators record when the door is opened and an item removed. It doesn't make any difference if you put it back. You pay for it even if you don't eat or drink it. Telephone calls to other rooms in the hotel are also routinely charged for now to the tune of a couple of bucks a call. Unless you ask for an itemized bill when you check out, you've no idea. Or how about this one? You get a warning from your credit card supplier that you've got 24 hours to pay your overdue monthly bill, and that you can pay by phone by dialing an 800 number. You're flummoxed, so you call and pay. Guess what? The credit card supplier is gonna charge you $10 or $15 simply for taking your call. No rhyme, no reason. But they do it because they can get away with it. And so it goes. Hidden fees that nickle and dime us to death, hidden in services and technological life-simplifiers. Millions of us are overcharged, and it all adds up to big profits for the corporations. According to Sullivan, part of the problem is that there's simply no regulatory watchdog. The Federal Trade Commission, which should be looki