Is Anything in This Country Not Corrupt?

submitted by raven9 from (self.whatever)

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]SMCABwhatever 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

If you hire anyone with a graphics wrapped truck, a billboard, a Sunday paper ad, anything like that you're part of the problem.

You're paying higher prices, with worse service. If you call three A/C companies and one guy pulls up in a white van with letters from Ace Hardware on the side and they are falling off, he's your man. His entire livelihood is based on doing well for you with a fair price.

Yes, they exist, in every neighborhood, you just have to ask people in the know. If you use your phone or computer to find any of these people, you've already lost.

[–]rubberbiscuit 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This is my approach as well. Find some new software or product at a large tradeshow that looks awesome? Never use them, but search for the competitor with 0 sales staff. Product/service will be better, and it will be less expensive because they're not spending 50% of their budget on sales and marketing.

Also NEVER use a franchise like Terminix or Firestone. Not that the mom and pop or smaller operation will be corrupt free, but your odds are way better.

[–]SMCABwhatever 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Exactly. It's almost every service industry. Heating and cooling is one of the worst price gouging schemes out there. Every town has a guy that will do the same job for a third of the price, for the same unit, with a better warranty, no exaggeration.

Cars tend to be the least affected by our mentality, but it's still worth finding a shop that's independently owned. I just paid 375 bucks for a set of used tires for one of my trucks that were practically brand new, and they matched. Same place patches for $12.50 vs 35 at the big box shop. It's amazing how clueless people really are, even when they pretend to understand capitalism. Same people hand over 7000 for a 2000 dollar unit, and get a shorter warranty, because they have a shiny billboard and they paid Angies List 50 grand a year to tell you they are good. Congratulations, you paid for the billboard, and the Angi fees to lie to yourself. It's insane