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Many people across the nation either have experienced or know someone who has experienced a business behaving badly.  This encompasses a wide range of barely legal but completely unethical behaviors on the part of the business to trick consumers out of their hard earned money.  Even though a small percentage of businesses engage in these behaviors, they tend to affect entire industries as confidence in the fairness of business practices are eroded across the board.  Here are some of the most notorious abuses and how to recognize them.

The Old Bait And Switch
This is one of the most common practices of unethical businesses and one of the hardest to detect until it is too late.  With this practice, the company promises the consumer an amazing deal, such as a heavily discounted price or extra services, to draw in the customer. After a short period of time, the price is raised or the person is billed for the additional services automatically, typically without warning.  The consumer then has the choice of paying the much higher price or paying an extortionate early termination fee to cancel their agreement.

The Fine Print
This technique is typically used in television or print advertisements and is one of the most easily recognized abuses by businesses.  The advertisement promises a great deal on a product or a service, but in tiny print at the bottom of the advertisement, there are a few lines that state additional conditions for the deal, such as an extremely limited quantity, automatic enrollment in another service, or that the price will be raised after a short period of time.  People that accept the deal as advertised are often hit with an unpleasant surprise that was buried in the fine print of the advertisement within a very short period of time.

Automatic Debits
Today, many businesses require you to submit a credit card number or bank account number for the “convenience” of automatic monthly payments to the company.  The problems typically come when the consumer tries to cancel the service or the company adds a new service to the contract and starts billing the consumer for the service without their consent.  It is best to be wary of whom you are giving your credit card or banking information to and in many cases, you may want to choose a service that does not require automatic debits to your accounts.

Term Layering
Layering is a fairly new technique used by businesses to make sure that consumers remain confused about the terms and conditions that they are agreeing to when they are doing business with the company.  Term layering is basically placing parts of the terms and conditions of a service in many different places so that it is difficult for the consumer to have all of the terms and conditions in a single place at the same time.  Some places where these binding terms can be found include product pamphlets, store receipts, store websites, and order forms, with only a portion of the terms and conditions printed in each place.