Just a minute. Bear with me. I need to adjust this box a little. There. Can everyone hear me?You know how we're always complaining about how creative the government is in figuring out new ways to tax us? Well, my ire this evening is directed at businesses and the way they have of selling us something that should really be part of the thing we're buying in the first place.
For example, don't you hate it when you buy a gadget of some kind, say a remote control toy helicopter for your child (who's kidding who?) You take it home all excited to try it out and find that it needs a AAA battery. Yeah, now you see it on the package but really, would it have priced the toy out of range to include the battery? Especially if you plastered all over the package, "Battery included" "nothing additional needed". You get the idea.
Now it is in software. I went to buy a piece of software that cost $19.99 and I could download it so I didn't even have to worry about shipping charges. But there were two optional charges: software replacement insurance for $6.98 and upgrade insurance for $4.99. Each of these was well explained, as well they may be. What do I need insurance for?
Software replacement insurance, it turns out, will take care of you if you lose your computer through loss, theft or destruction. Or you buy a new replacement computer but don't have a disk to reinstall that program. All it takes is just a call or email, the company will look up your purchase and allow you to download the program again to your replacement computer at no cost. I haven't looked lately but I thought that was covered under home owner's insurance. Even if not, it seems to me that a software company shouldn't charge anything to replace the software. They've sold it and gotten their money How do they justify selling it again. And the incremental cost of looking up the purchase is so minimal I think it makes more sense to scream all over the product "product replaced if ever lost at any time, in any way." Them's selling words.
Upgrade insurance, I found out, says that if a product is upgraded during a certain period (although sometimes its forever) You get the new product for a fixed price which may be as low as nothing. This one is a little trickier as you would never get a car dealer to update your car to the latest model unless that premium was awfully high. But what the insurance tells me in so many words is that we're ready to issue a new release. So unless you buy this insurance, you won't be able to really take the world as it comes at you. But put "never out of date" all over the packaging and send a complimentary copy. That instantly puts your product at the top of the desirable pile.
I've said my piece. I'll now take my leave (and my soapbox).
Well said!! I also get ticked off at what I regard as "bait and switch." Satellite, cable, telephone, etc. fall into this category. There is always an add on of some sort. Electronic orders for merchandise look good until you add the shipping and handling. Then the price is outrageous. And the add on is usually noted in such small print as to require a microscope to read. Tick, tick, tick. Don
ReplyDeleteOne more thing. I am constantly irritated when I make a phone call (seldom because phones are not my thing) and am placed on hold only to have to endure a recorded sales pitch or some thumpety, thump sound that drives me up the wall. Do the people at the other end really think they will make a sale from irritating the patron? They must or they wouldn't do that. Maybe they should have a recorded greeting that says, "Press one to have some silence," instead of the usual "Press one for Spanish."
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