RandomCasualty2 wrote:The business is always going to know more about the product than you, unless you devote a long period of study.
Not necessarily.
Sales people, especially in commission-based jobs, have a high turnover rate. Frequently, they aren't taught about products as a whole, they're taught about products that their company sells.
RC wrote:For instance, probably the most basic one that everyone can relate to is cars. Car dealers know the shit that can go wrong with them, so when they're writing a warranty or what not, they can very well fail to include important things to make their warranty look comprehensive when it's not.
By dealers, do you mean dealership owners, the loan department people, the sales people, the repair people, or some other group entirely?
I don't think it works how you think it does. Warranties are generally written by someone at some headquarters somewhere. They're based on statistics because they essentially are insurance for your car.
RC wrote:And further, they can always claim the problem you had was something your warranty didn't cover. I mean there's so many ways for these guys to deceive you and trick you that without any kind of government regulation, you as the buyer are fucked.
They trick you because you don't know about fine print and legalities. Which is exactly my point - people who care get themselves informed. It doesn't take a degree or special schooling to read a warranty.
RC wrote:And no, I don't think it's reasonable to say that everyone should become a car expert. You're paying someone to diagnose and fix your car problems because you don't want to be an expert, the same way you pay a doctor when you get sick.
You absolutely should get informed about repairs. You don't have to know how to do it yourself, but you should absolutely be looking at a mechanic's track record, you should ask as many questions about the problem as possible, and you should research the average cost of the repair that's being done.
Just like a patient who
should get a second opinion on a major diagnosis and research medical options and pharmaceutical side effects.
If you actually care, you will become informed. You don't have to learn
how to do the brain surgery you need, but you damned well better meet your doctor, check out the facilities, and get a second opinion before that doctor starts cutting.
RC wrote:And you as the buyer shouldn't have to cut through a shitload of deception to get the information you want.
You shouldn't, but you always will. So long as one person benefits from another person using their service or product, you will have a seller who wants to look as good as possible, and so will use whatever tricks they can to get your business.
We have regulations so they can't (in theory) straight-up lie to your face. But misleading tactics are the subject of human psychology, not business and industry. No matter how much we regulate, so long as humans buy and sell, there will always be deception.
And there is only one way to expose that deception: knowledge.