Admit it, for most of us, Wal-Mart is a place where we go in for one or two things and come out with so much more than we intended to buy. But how many of us have gone in for shampoo or a pair of fuzzy slippers and left with a new utility company?
This happened to Angelica. She went into Wal-Mart for a few things and a salesperson for a power company talked her into changing her electricity supplier. She was promised a deal. Instead, her bill doubled. She couldn’t get out of the contract. It ruined her finances for months.
Another friend, Jacklyn, went into one of those club stores to re-up her membership. While completing the renewal process, she signed up for a credit card. Unbeknownst to her, the annual membership automatically hit her card. She didn’t realize it until it showed up on her credit report and her FICO score took a dive.
Admittedly, both women didn’t read or entirely understand what they were signing.
It’s so easy to skip past the small print. In fact, most of us do this every single day. Think about the last time you stopped to read the Terms of Service or Terms and Conditions of any number of digital products you have used. When we can’t get into an app unless we have read and agreed to its terms, we simply tap that box and keep going.
It’s not just digital content. If you have traveled by plane, you have fallen under a “Contract of Carriage” that nobody bothers to read unless you are stranded inside a 737 on the tarmac for six hours.
My most recent American Express card came with a half-inch thick packet of information. I read enough to activate the card and tossed the rest into my desk drawer. I’ll figure out the best way to accumulate miles later.
Reading the small print when we have a complaint or after we get into trouble is not ideal, but it is typical of most consumers. In fact, a Deloitte survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers found 91 percent consent to Terms of Service without reading them. I would love to know more about the 9 percent who do stop and read.
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