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Hello fellow adults! Anybody else feel like almost every time you have to talk to someone to buy a thing, you're being swindled? If so how do you keep yourself from being taken advantage of? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago by Ski@kbin.social to c/AskKbin@kbin.social

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See title.

I constantly feel like any interaction with a sales person is just a big con. Whether it's a car, insurance, an apartment, internet, or a specialty item that I'm interested in but not an expert on. I always feel completely lost and uncomfortable and like no matter what decision I make I'm making the wrong one.

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[–] rodbiren@midwest.social 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean, you have the right attitude. I also feel like everything these days is a scam. It used to be that someone was just trying to get a fair shake for the value of their labor. Buy a refrigerator you get a quality, supported, and long term product worth the money. Now, it feels like I am getting something specifically designed to squeeze as much money from me as possible.

My two cents on ways to avoid the swindle.

Abandon brand loyalty of any kind. A good brand will become a hollowed out shell only focused on profit
Buy tech that is relatively new. The first few years of a new production product are usually the best engineered. The best VHS tapes were made when the tech was new. Same thing for new laptop designs, or M.2 Ssd, etc. Later in tech cycle they cheapen everything to make more profit and design in failure to keep you buying.
Assume money and greed is the reason for company behavior above all else. That will properly contextualize and answer most questions you have for why things are the way they are.

[–] Dav@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Buy tech that is relatively new

This is a great point but just to add, if its a brand product you can get common issues that don't crop up for 6 months (e.g. xbox 360's red ring of death). So buy new but not on 1st day release, and do a quick research on issues people often have.

[–] HidingCat@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, first production runs can have issues, so go for the second or third!

[–] nii236@lemmy.jtmn.dev 1 points 1 year ago

I find negative reviews are a lot more scathing and off putting too, mostly because those who have a bad product are much louder about it

[–] CaptainPatent@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Consumer Reports is also a great source for good info on product reliability.

If you're making a large purchase like a car or if you have a handful of smaller purchases to make, a month or a year subscription is a drop in the bucket.

As of the last time I purchased a car, it seems to be the one holdout that realizes if you sell out to ads and corporate interests, you undermine your own reputation.

[–] Skuldug@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Right like I was searching around reviews for emergency generators and I see apopular mechanics site. A magazine I used to enjoy when I was younger, I thought I might find some insight. It had zero real breakdown of products it was straight ad push for amazon. It seemed to just be their product descriptions copy and pasted.