Friday, August 06, 2010

READ THE SMALL PRINT

We’re always told to be careful about the small print. I remember hearing a story of how one company got people to sign up, and by just clicking on their site that you agreed to the terms and conditions, you’d actually agreed to sell your soul.

Clearly this company was making a point. We’re often all too quick to check that little box, without really reading it through.

Last week, I almost… almost, made a grave error. I’d agreed dates with the venue we’ve used for the past year for our breakfast meetings and they’d sent me the contracts to sign. I’d actually signed one when I suddenly looked at the figures. They didn’t make sense and when I got out my calculator and did the math, I found that they’d doubled the price!

They didn’t point this out. Maybe they thought I would just sign – and I nearly did or that I would be fine paying more than I am charging. Right. And there was also no negotiation once I confronted them on it, so guess what … we’re dining elsewhere.

But the moral of this story, is check the bottom line. Don’t always assume that people will alert you to changes. Read the small print, because we’d hate you to lose your soul.

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