Top 10 Consumer Rip Offs

March 29th, 2010

Don’t you hate ripoffs? We at Buxr hate them too and here is our top list of consumer ripoffs and some easy tips on how to avoid them.

1. Premium Gasoline - You’re wasting money if you buy premium gasoline, when the owners manual for your car makes no mention of it. If you car is engineered to run with an octane rating of 87, using 91 will result in no real benefit. In some cases, you may even accumulate un-burned fuel deposits in your catalytic converter.

Gasoline prices change frequently and vary widely within only a few blocks of your home. To find the cheapest gas prices in your zip code you can simply log on to FuelMeUp, where gas station prices are updated three times a day nationwide for 82,000 gas stations. Similar sites that are updated by consumers include Mapquest gas prices, Gas Price Watch, Internet Auto Guide, and Gas Buddy (for US and Canada).

There are other things you can do to improve your gas mileage:

• Avoid low air pressure and over-sized tires, since they cause greater gas consumption.
• Confirm that your gas cap is air tight, to keep excess oxygen out of your tank.
• Fill up your tank in the cool morning hours, before the gasoline expands as the day warms.
• Make sure that the gas pump’s inspection sticker is up to date, validating its accuracy.

2. College Textbooks – The vast majority of students normally get their books directly from the campus bookstore. This is the most convenient, but also most expensive way to purchase college textbooks. With planning and organization you can save hundreds of dollars each semester by either renting or buying textbooks online at a discount. Combine that with a coupon code, and the savings start to add up to 90-95%. At Chegg, students can sell books and take advantage of coupons and other discounts to rent them. At Amazon, students can buy and sell textbooks, or trade them for gift cards. Textbooks, CheapestTextbooks, Biblio, and Barnes & Noble offer similar discounts. A comparison of renting versus buying the 10 most popular textbooks is available at Abe Books.

3. OEM Ink cartridges – The use of remanufactured printer cartridges will not void your printer warranty, as manufacturers would have you believe. You are protected by The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975. You can extend the life of your ink cartridges by buying high capacity replacements and adjusting your printer settings to use less ink volume. Laser toner cartridges will last longer if you shake them when they become low to redistribute the remaining toner.

The easiest way to refill your inkjet cartridges is to take them to your nearest Walgreens, where they will either refill them while you wait or exchange them for $12.99 for black or color. These are compatible with Dell, HP, Lexmark, Okidata, Primera, Sharp, and Xerox printers. If you need other brands like Brother, Canon, Epson, Kodak, or Samsung, or simply prefer to refill them yourself, you can get all that from 123Refills with a 100% no risk guarantee. They have replacement cartridges, refill kits, laser toner, and free shipping.

4. Extended warranties – In most cases, extended warranties are not advisable. Usually they represent a profit factor for the seller greater than on the item itself, which explains why warranties are pushed so hard by sales staff. Complex electronics, especially those subject to failure like laptop computers and cell phones, are the most worthwhile candidates. This begins to be a factor of your comfort level as much as a pure economic decision. A relatively inexpensive electronic item like a microwave oven will likely outlast a multi-year warranty, and could be replaced for less than the warranty’s cost. However, top of the line laptop computers generally benefit from a multi-year extended warranty, as their lifespan due to normal usage or accidental damage will likely not extend past the warranty period. If you are a person of discipline, you can save the money and create your own extended warranty fund.

5. Eyeglasses – A significant savings can be achieved online for eyeglasses and sunglasses, even in designer frames if you have the prescription. Some of the best sites include Zenni Optical, BestBuyEyeGlasses, GlassesUSA, and 39DollarGlasses. EyeBuyDirect and FramesDirect offer a virtual option to try on the glasses with your uploaded photo.

6. Cosmetics and toiletries – Lotions and designer fragrances are found on the Internet at savings up to 90% off. The convenience of travel-size containers of other basic items like shampoo makes them too costly, when compared to larger sizes of the very same products. Buy the travel-size containers only once and refill them to save.

Introductory promotions of new razor models are always cheaper than the cost of the blade refills. Often, by the time you need replacement blades, another new introductory offer will be available, making it a better value. Disposable razors are an inexpensive alternative, too, and are frequently on sale.

7. Branded OTC medications – From antibiotic creams to painkillers or cough syrup, over-the-counter equivalents can save you a lot of money. The law requires all generic drugs to be just as effective, and even use the exact same active ingredients, as the branded drugs they replace.

8. Free credit reports- According to the Federal Trade Commission, there is only one online source authorized to give you a free credit score history, AnnualCreditReport.com. You do not have to pay for a credit report history. All the other sites with similar names will offer a free report and attempt to trick consumers into signing up for a $14.99 per month monitoring service. Through the AnnualCreditReport.com website you can receive one free credit report per year from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can view the report immediately by using this secure website, or call 877-322-8228 to receive it by mail within 15 days.

9. Software renewals – Some computer programs like antivirus or security suites require annual renewal or they will stop working. Rather than automatically paying the software company online, shop for complete new copies with rebates that will make them virtually free. Incredibly, year after year these companies continue to offer high value rebates in a predictable pattern, which allows you to save nearly 100% on renewal rates.

10. Bottled water – An excellent site maintained by New American Dream demonstrates the savings achieved by drinking your own tap water. Popular brands like Dasani from Coca Cola and Aquafina from Pepsico state on each bottle, as required by Federal law, that their source is the very same municipal water supply. Not buying bottled water reduces the carbon footprint by saving the oil required to produce the plastic bottles. Also saved are bottling and distribution costs. Visit the site, plug in your usage estimate, and do the math.

Do you have your own most hated ripoff? Please share it in the comments to this blog post!

Entry Filed under: Shopping