Land of the “not so” free

By: Darren B. Oliver
AmCorp Management, Inc.   -  February, 2006
http://amcorpmanagement.com

Every month American businesses lose billions of dollars by inappropriate and erroneous billing practices from predatory service providers.  Regardless of your business or industry, this land of the brave and home of the free, is “not so” free.  The real cost of doing business in the United States is staggering.

It is estimated that our service providers over bill American businesses by a tune of $320,000,000,000 to $900,000,000,000 every year.  The number can actually push a trillion dollars.  If you own a business, some of that money is yours, guaranteed.

This article may be worth thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to you and your business.  These are profits you have unknowingly lost and may not even know can be recovered, which can total tens of thousands of dollars.  The American business owner has been losing billions of dollars a year in revenue due to a systematic skimming of profits through erroneous billing practices and ineffective systems management.  It’s estimated that roughly eighty-five plus percent of all mandatory and service billings are inaccurate.

These providers, by either error or design systematically increase their costs, fees, expenses, and/or tax rates for their services and are possibly charging you for services you have never received.  Many consultants and specialists have their own opinion of how and why they overcharge us.  It really doesn’t matter why, but the fact is, they do.  We get to see this abuse every day, in every industry, by all providers.

These service industry giants and government groups always refund your money; all you have to do is find the overcharge and ask for it to be refunded.  You’ll then get your money and oops, we’re not sorry.  Are you wondering what the incentive to systematically overcharge you is?  Less than five percent of the businesses and people that are overcharged neither ever know nor will they ask for their money back.  That leaves hundreds of billions of dollars to be kept by those erroneously billing us.  I guess cheating does pay and it looks as though it pays well.

It’s difficult for everyone to manipulate the books that only a few have access to.  So if the customers are limited, the competition becomes even fiercer on how to increase profits.  It appears that companies like the family of Bells’ have figured it out though.  A recent article reads….”some are calling on Congress to explain how the Bell’s failed broadband promises garnered them an extra $50 billion dollars – all from the pennies, nickels dimes & quarters of extra customer phone bill charges” (Incredible an extra fifty billion dollars.)

It is amazing how companies have garnered ways to increase their bottom line with an extra 50 billion dollars.  Heck, I’m looking for an extra fifty dollars, not fifty billion.  It appears that the need to produce profits is more important then the character of the business.  Systematic over billing has been going on for so long, it has become common practice.  The executive management didn’t invent over billing they just amplify the problem through new generations of management.

Learn how you can get your money back from the predatory profiteers’.  Get more information on the author by visiting http://amcorpmanagement.com.  You can order your own copy of “Who’s In Your Pocket?” at http://www.whosinyourpocket.net.