Not necessarily regarding prostitution.
In your line of work or your company or industry, what are some of the “tricks” played on consumers/clients? I’m not really thinking of illegal things, more like quasi-ethical business dealings or marketing/sales tactics that increase revenues, cut costs, take advantage of margins, all while the customer is unaware.
For example, American car dealers get a “hold-back” from the big 3 in Detroit at quarter’s end for every car sold. This little bonus can be 1 to 2% of the invoice, so that is why you see dealers able to move cars off the lot “$99 UNDER Invoice!” and so on.
Our local TruGreen-ChemLawn service called my wife about getting our lawn sprayed. She said they’d have to talk to me. They never did, but they did go ahead and spray it and send me a bill. I’ve called to complain several times and twice I’ve been told it would be removed from their AR. Saturday I got another bill from these SOBs; I suppose they’ll turn me into a collection agency soon! I believe their sales approach is to call someone, then a couple months later go ahead and start the service and send a bill, probably because many people would rather pay them then fight them.
Credit card companies, insurance companies and anyone in consumer finance usually have something hidden in their fineprint to screw the consumer, and it may take a lawyer to read it and an accountant to understand it.
So, let us in on your company’s dirty little secrets.