18+ Dirty Tricks Businesses Don’t Want You To Know

Your Phone Is Destined To Die

Image Source / Pexels"Planned obsolescence" refers to the design of some items, such as vehicles or electronics, to wear out over time. If you're reading this on a smartphone, it's likely that it's just a few years old. You're not alone if you've observed that your phone's operating system become sluggish after a while. It appears that this happens to most things and there’s a reason for it…

Your Check Engine Light Doesn’t Light Up

Image Source / EdmundsNow usually, you wouldn’t actually want your engine check light to flash up, as this often means something dreadfully costly. However, if the check engine light does not turn on when you start a used vehicle, be cautious. Some shady secondhand car dealers may turn off the light to divert attention away from vehicles with engine issues.

Food Packaging Tricks

Image Source / The GuardianHave you ever opened a bag of food or a premade sandwich and before opening thought to yourself, "This looks terrific!" only to discover more air or cardboard inside? It is hard not to stomp your feet in these moments. Some corporations employ clever packaging to make certain goods look larger than they actually are, giving the impression that you're getting a better deal.

Universal Deals

Image Source / PexelsWhen looking for fantastic offers, such as unlimited minutes on cell phone service, you may notice what appears to be a price drop when purchasing a higher tier plan. What you may not understand is that your "hot offer" is likely to be the same one that tens of thousands of other people are enjoying, and it’s a completely normal offer.

Clever Posters

Image Source / PinterestMost people would just search up the menu before going to a restaurant and already know what they want to order… but for those few that don’t… When you're hungry, you're more receptive to subtle suggestions, which is exactly what these brilliantly coloured posters - without price tags - are banking on.

Cheaper Nowhere Else

Image Source / PexelsThis is a common ruse employed by large box companies, particularly those that offer technology or appliances that may be obtained in a variety of locations. The salesperson will discuss an item, highlighting all of its characteristics and benefits in order to improve your impression of it and make it enticing. They’ll answer whatever questions you might have in a positive light.

Description of Bottled Water

Image Source / PexelsThe nutritional value of bottled water is low when compared to tap water. In reality, a number of corporations were fined a few years ago for selling bottled water at premium pricing when it originated from taps in their bottling factory. Now that is a complete hoax and they should be held accountable for lying about where their water is coming from.

Impulse Selling

Image Source / PexelsImpulse selling relies on the consumer making an emotional decision rather than considering the purchase and making a rational decision. It creates a feeling of urgency in the sales process, giving the customer the impression that time is running out to seal the purchase and that the item is in high demand. This is emotional manipulation on the seller's part.

Bundle Prices

Image Source / PexelsThis is a common practise among magazine and newspaper publishers and you’ve probably noticed it if you read a lot of media. It entails providing you with various options, including a paper version of the magazine, an online alternative, and a "bundle" of both print and online information. The secret is that the "bundle" is generally the same price as the paper version

Greenwashing

Image Source / Sprout VideoIt does not cost much to label your firm as "environmentally friendly," but it may have a big influence on how people perceive you, especially now that "going green" is such an important subject and should naturally be what all businesses are striving to do. Because the requirements are hazy at best, this "greenwashing" is typically simply a green sticker and a recycling reminder.

Buffet Layout

Image Source / PexelsIf you have been to a buffet you might have noticed that all-you-can-eat buffets follow a predictable pattern: salad, vegetables and starches, dinner rolls, and then the main course—meat. Nearly all of them follow this pattern. The reason for this is that it encourages you to fill your plates with lower-cost foods, leaving only a little piece of the meal for the main course.

Out of Business

Image Source / PexelsYou may have noticed that certain shops seem to be closing all of the time, but they never seem to get there. They'll lock the doors, reopen with a new brand name and sign, and then put up the "going out of business" signs. This deceives you into believing that the product is only available in a limited quantity at a steep discount, tempting you to buy stuff you don't need just because the deal was so fantastic.

Charity Donations

Image Source / PexelsYou may be requested to round up your amount to the next whole dollar or make a one-time, three-time, or five-time donation. Sometimes you are on the spot and you feel like a bad person if you don’t. While these donations aren't directly applied to the company's bottom line – they're given to the charity of the company's choice – they are used as a budgeting line item and assist in decreasing the company's tax burden.

Food Mislabelling

Image Source / PexelsIt is incredibly important that foods are labelled correctly due to intolerances and allergies and can lead to bad press or even a lawsuit if something goes tragically wrong. However, some businesses take advantage of current dietary trends by slapping labels on products that are already naturally gluten-free or fat-free. This food mislabelling allows them to charge a higher price.

Recurring Charges

Image Source / PexelsMost people have automatic direct debits or standing orders that come out of their bank  each month. When you sign up to a membership or purchase a deal on your mobile phone, take a closer look at the payment periods. This is information that not a lot of people knew about paying monthly. Even if your subscription is on a month-to-month basis, shaving days off your monthly payment adds up over time.

Small vs Big Tiles

Image Source / Relay Floor SystemsNext time you are at the grocery store pay extra attention to the flooring that’s used. The tiles at your neighbourhood grocer's store may be smaller than normal, causing the cart's wheels to spin quicker over the gaps. This gives the impression that you're moving quicker through the aisles than you actually are, and you'll slow down correspondingly. You'll spend more time buying!

Mannequins in Dress Up

Image Source / PexelsSometimes its hard to not notice the very strange clothes that the mannequins wear in clothing stores and there’s a reason for that. Some retailers may dress the mannequins with unattractive clothing in the hopes that their human-like forms will make them more appealing than goods on hooks or shelves. Not many people know about this trick.

Product Placement

Image Source / PexelsMany items are put at eye-level for adults while shopping in supermarkets; while they may be popular, they may also be items that the grocer can sell with a very large profit margin. You could be better off choosing from the highest or lowest shelf, where the items that are more inconspicuous and are probably worth more for your money. Keep on saving where you can!

Credit Card Hack

Image Source / PexelsIt is unknown if all major credit card companies do this, but one major credit card provider here in the US is definitely guilty. One thing they did (and maybe still do) to attract clients was to give 0% APR for the first year. People would take advantage of this and move all of their debt to their new Discover Card, which they then would "conveniently" not send the first month's charge.

Cancelling Memberships

Image Source / PexelsIt is often known that we eventually can get fed up with our memberships, especially gym ones. Sometimes it is especially hard to actually get out of these memberships, which doesn’t feel right at all. Corporations can make it difficult to terminate your membership or subscription, it is extremely inconvenient.

Boozy Tricks

Image Source / PexelsIf a restaurant is out of what you ordered and think they can get away with it, they may serve you inferior drink. Some bar workers use house vodka instead of goose or Belvedere in mixed cocktails since the customers wouldn't notice. A manager at one of these establishments once refilled an empty bottle of the most expensive Sauvignon Blanc ($300) with the cheap house stuff, inserted a dummy cork, and handed it to a customer.

Moving Locations

Image Source / PexelsSometimes it is difficult to lay off staff so when huge corporations need to clean house, they relocate the office to a site far away from the old one. More often than not, these new locations that have relocated to are impractical for a lot of the workers. Then they'll say “Totally you still have your job if you want, we are not laying you off," says the official statement, "but I need you in the office every day... If you don't like the new location, you can quit...”

Fake Detectives

Image Source / PexelsIf ever you are in debt, you may get cold calls from many debt collectors trying to chase you about your repayments. Debt collectors will contact you from a number that seems like it belongs to a respectable law enforcement organisation when you Google it. It's essentially a faked caller ID that uses the fax number of a legitimate firm.

Untrusty Locksmith

Image Source / PexelsIt is not known whether this is an industry wide trick but it something to be aware of in case it ever happens to you. An old locksmith used old, worn-down pins to rekey locks, which caused the locks to cease operating prematurely. He'd then wait for the eventual call to replace them, rekey them with good pins, and call it a day.

Lawnmowing

Image Source / PexelsThere are several ways that lawn maintenance companies take advantage of naïve customers. Firstly, they will double the state tax on monthly payments (instead of being 6 percent, it will be 12 percent). They charge double for "double-cuts" when the grass is a little thicker in areas than usual without informing homeowners. So, if you agreed to pay $50 each mowing, the monthly statement states that each visit will cost $100.

Booking in Advance

Image Source / PexelsWhen you are looking for the perfect condo/house for your next holiday you might want to bear this in mind. They will indicate on their website that a specific condo/house is available, but when you contact, they will tell it is now unavailable or that it was just booked lately. Then they'll attempt to sell you another location that's like $50 extra per night, counting on visitors' desperation.

With Child

Image Source / PexelsNow, out of all of them, this may be the most inconsiderate business trick. At a firm that marketed baby and expectant mother products, they had a return and repair policy like anywhere would. As an employee, you quickly realise that you're actually returning a £300 pushchair to the manufacturer for 3–4 weeks. People misunderstood the phrase, believing they had 28 days to return their item while, in reality, they may go up to 28 days without a pushchair.

Bestsellers

Image Source / PexelsNext time you are in a book shop, remember this! The 'best-sellers' lists aren't based on the amount of books sold to customers. They're dependent on the quantity of books the distributor has sold. So, if someone like... Bill O'Reilly... wanted to say he had the best-selling book in America, his publisher could order a million copies of the book at a heavily reduced rate through a third-party clearinghouse (like, .50 cents a book).

Elderly Homes

Image Source / PexelsIf you or a family member is a resident of one of these facilities, go over the bill line by line every month. Because these people are elderly and receiving care, they frequently ignore invoices, or they are maintained in the facility's records and may be accessed 'upon request,' so they aren't sent out, and they frequently demand 'auto-deposit' from a bank account for their services.

Prescription Madness

Image Source / PexelsI think we can all agree that prescriptions are ridiculously expensive unnecessarily. However, sometimes people are put into precarious positions where they have to reconsider how much they are spending every month on their pills and some people aren’t getting their money’s worth. For example, someone had a $50 prescription that they had to get monthly and take one tablet per day.