Criminal Profiling Post of the Day: Psychopathic Corporations

Hey, good news, Donna! I actually got back the $1500 Gold’s Gym stole from my bank account! Of course, the bad news is, there is no penalty, no punishment, for them doing so. Isn’t that a sweet deal for crooked companies? Check this out! A company like Gold’s Gym can simply charge a person’s bank account some outrageous sum (in my case $1500 for personal training services I didn’t sign up for) and if that individual can’t figure out how to fight it, it is theirs to keep. If the person does fight back (and I did through my bank’s so-called fraud unit), they are only required to return the money (some six months later). There are no criminal charges filed against them as the police told me this is purely a civil matter and neither the bank nor VISA even so much as slaps them on the hand. They also are not required to return the money with interest even though they prevented me from having use of that money for months. Good thing I wasn’t a poor student who needed the money for rent or a single mom trying to put food on the table for my kids. I asked my bank, “Isn’t this pretty much the same thing as my walking into a store, shoplifting a television, and if the security tape finally identifies me as the thief half a year later, I won’t be arrested, only required to return the used item? In response, the bank man muttered something unintelligible or unintelligent, I can’t remember which. I told him this was a pretty slick game the bank, VISA, and crooked corporations had going as all of them benefit from this massive consumer fraud. He said something even more stupid. Perhaps this is why Mr. X, as I called him, refused to tell me his last name. He either is embarrassed to be connected with such an organization or fears retaliation from the clients that his bank and their accomplices screw. I guess I could move my money to another bank but I have a feeling there isn’t one out there with a much better set of ethics. Our society seems to have accepted being bilked by corporations and given up the fight against these big fat psychopathic monopolies. Can anyone say Cingular? They tried to rip me off for $5000, but, oh, never mind…..I will leave that rant alone for today. I am feeling too good for having gotten back my $1500 from Gold’s that I don’t won’t to ruin my temporary Pollyanna bliss by reliving my two year fight against the “new AT&T”! I’ll post on that another day.