5 Ways You Can Prevent Big Corporations from Ripping You Off

http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-ways-you-can-prevent-big-corporations-ripping-you



1. ​Certified pre-owned cars. Automakers say certified pre-owned cars are the next best thing to buying new and they’ve been very popular with budget-conscious drivers who want new-car reliability without paying the new-car price.

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2. ​Gift cards. Gift cards might seem to be a nice, tidy way to give cash to someone, ​and some even seem thoughtful as we choose the type of store the recipient shops in. And everything comes in a nice envelope tied up in a bow. ​But ​gift cards​ can be infuriatingly expensive. For starters, you often pay a fee when you purchase them. At one retail store, the charge is $2.50. But it doesn’t stop there: Some bank-issued gift cards charge a fee to reactivate the card after a period of inactivity. You may also be stuck with the card if a retailer files for bankruptcy protection and refuses to honor the card. You can also lose money when you buy a card that’s not reloadable and the balance is lower than the purchase price of any item at a store.

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3.. ​Deli meats and salads. Buying pre-packaged and sliced deli meats off the store shelves can cost much more than when you go to the deli counter and have it sliced for you. At a major supermarket chain, a brand-name pre-packaged Virginia ham sells for $10.27 a pound, but when you buy it at the deli counter, the same brand and style of ham costs $7.99 a pound — 22% less. Among all the deli meats we checked, the price difference between the pre-packaged version and the deli-counter version was between 22-25%.

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4. ​Auto-renewing subscriptions. Many Internet services, from news hubs to dating sites, use auto-renew billing to conveniently get you to extend your subscriptions. And while they’re required by law to tell you that they’ll automatically bill you and prolong your service down the road, they usually do so in the fine print you might not see. So, even if you haven’t used the subscription in months, even years, you may notice mysterious charges appearing on your credit card or PayPal account as these zombie accounts linger on. Worse yet, these services may even raise the price of the subscription, especially if you first signed up at an introductory price.