Nothing is more upsetting than receiving a statement showing hidden excess billing charges or being cheated by an unscrupulous dealer. No one likes to be taken advantage of.They may be justified or unjustified surprises, some tantamount to being classified as unethical “rip-offs”. Unfortunately, some may be accidental accounting duplications; others may be embedded surcharges that you were not aware that you would be charged for like hotel usage. Others may be fraudulent or deceptive professional services.The worst types are “scams” where unscrupulous charges are created intentionally, or planted. Some of the most notorious industries that can create excess charges are: hotels, hospitals, auto repair, veterinarians, dentists, plumbers, website designers, and computer repair technicians.Initially, be aware how you present yourself, inadvertently announcing your income status. Walking in with a Gucci bag, driving a BMW, prices can escalate.Coming from a frugal, small Dutch Iowa town, we were taught monetary principles ingrained generations back. Immigrating to the United States in the 1800s, the Hollanders wore velvet breeches and conducted business with gold coins. They soon found they were cheated wherever they went, and finally, resorted to an “unassuming-frugal-chameleon survival code”.In other words, they learned not do display their affluence, or they would be charged more in business transactions. Currently, remaining unpretentious, few drive new high end cars and do not flaunt wearing expensive apparel with flashy accessories.There is something to be said for this dictum, because if you look foolhardy, or appear pretentious with careless spending habits, you become subject to excess service rates. There is bias with older people, teens, and women, who become targets.Or, if the proprietor finds that you are in an “emergency situation”, you can be targeted, and unethical business practices may come into play.Auto repair establishments, whether in a city or out “in the middle of no-where” like rural Utah, Kansas, or Montana, will double charge if they think they can “get away with it,” when you lack alternative options and need your vehicle.We recently had our automobile towed from a near city’s hospital to a local repair garage. Then, the same week, our second car had severe mechanical problems, but luckily, happening near the garage we routinely use, so we drove the car in, limping all the way. The proprietor, knowing we were in a health-state emergency situation, gave us excessive double-cost estimates to repair the two autos.Refusing to be victimized, the next day I called several other places to compare repair rates, and had both cars towed, a second time, from one garage to the next. I saved nearly one thousand dollars by being alert and on the offense.One of the most surreptitious situations is when you unwittingly trust an unethical dentist. With many small and midsize towns becoming filled with dental competition, some find unscrupulous ways to create cash flow. They know they can get away with fraudulent work, because their colleagues will not acknowledge investigative inquiries regarding their missteps to the State Dental Board.For some time, I was fortunate to have a reputable dentist, who did fine, professional work. When he retired, I went to an acquaintance who I thought was highly regarded. Then, a minor traffic accident unfortunately loosened four front teeth. Subsequently, to stabilize the fragile teeth, my new dentist inserted four posts without root-canals, which would create abscesses. Much successive dental work would be then required, perfect cash flow. Conversely, the expected consequential plan would back-fire. The damaged teeth all abscessed simultaneously, rather than piece-meal.Was this dentist merely a bad dentist performing shoddy work? At first, it was hard to determine.Local consulted specialists were obviously appalled, but had little to say. They advised that they had never seen anything like that before, as root canals for posts were basic Dental 101. I would have to go to another state to get a true evaluation for corrective surgery.I was further dismayed when I consulted a Dental School regarding the issue, and overheard students joking about how easy it was to practice unethical dentistry without fear of repercussions. And, make good money doing it.To avoid your own dental horror story, if you question any work at any point of a procedure, find a reputable dentist, or dental school, in another state for a complete evaluation. A local second-opinion dentist will not want to reveal or try to correct any faulty work. Remaining professionally bonded with their local colleagues, they will refer you back to the dentist who created the mess.The best way to avoid hidden fees and unethical business services is to:Research the person’s or the business’ background and reputation. Go online. Talk to people (not their references who may be shams) who have used their services. Inquire within other businesses, like real estate firms, if they have conducted work with them.
Be certain you are working with the authorized decision maker or owner when making a purchase or arranging for services.
Up front, obtain second, even third opinions regarding the work to be done.
Ask questions. Obtain firm, descriptive cost estimates in writing, and establish specific guidelines up front.
Be aware of your surroundings; read body language.
Do not sign any document without carefully reading the fine print.
Carefully review all billing statements and inquire if you note discrepancies
Avoid Excessive Over-Charges or Unethical Business Practices
What Is Sports Nutrition?
If you have definitely no idea on what sports nutrition is all about, then this article on sports nutrition information might enlighten you.It is good to know about sports nutrition whether you are an athlete or thinking of being one. It can also help in your nutritional status. This kind of nutrition does not just apply to athletes, though you would first perceive that upon reading its name. Sports nutrition actually applies to everyone, only that it is concentrated on athletes.Good sports nutrition is not only about what you eat, assuming you are an athlete or would want to become one. It is also about the degree of importance of the food that you eat.Researchers have come up with sports nutrition information saying that what athletes consume before and after a session of training makes a very big difference on the recovery and performance.Diets that contain ideal nutrient combinations enhance your performance and also your recovery, at the same time improves the integrity of your muscles. So diets that have an exaggerated amount or excessive amount of a certain vitamin or mineral, or lacking otherwise, do not help your body at all. In fact, it makes your health worse, if what you have left after following this kind of diet from quite some time can actually still be considered as ‘health’.Carbohydrates and proteins can do wonders for your stance. However, you must not neglect pieces of sports nutrition information saying that for a better training and workout to occur, the carbohydrates and proteins must be combined at the right time. Why? It is because nutrient timing is one of the many strategies that can deem to be very beneficial for those who exercise daily.Sports nutrition information will also tell you that if you want to fight the obesity epidemic face to face, then you must first increase your daily intake of calcium in your diets. Calcium can’t only help your bones and also help you avoid bone diseases or illnesses, but it can also do a big thing in fighting obesity.When taking in carbohydrates, you have to know if these carbohydrates are needed by your system. If you take certain carbohydrates that are not essential for your health, then there is a big tendency that your health will be compromised.So, as mentioned, you must take in adequate amounts only. You also have to be aware of which carbohydrates are good and which are bad. Bad carbohydrates are carbohydrates that will have an adverse effect on you. So who would want bad carbohydrates in their system?Every day athletes are faced, and sometimes even ambushed with an abundance of very delicious foods that are very accessible to them. Sometimes even too accessible, this becomes a reason why some, or rather most of the athletes, find it hard to say no to consume them. But if good performance or success is the goal then health must come first, and say no to those foods that are very tempting.Everyone knows that self-control is part of being an athlete, but this self-control does not just apply to the performance or temper but also to the food that is being consumed.For the majority of the human population, eating is the only part of the day that can be considered pleasurable; it is like saying that life without strawberries can be grim.The only explanation to this is that many people have learned to depend on food for comfort when you are feeling lonely, isolated or stressed. It is a horrible coping stress mechanism. Yeah, it could undermine your stress for a few minutes as you eat, but when you are done with that, you will feel a lot worse when you look at your fat self in the mirror.There are numerous approaches to dieting and many empty claims for fake successes with fad diets. There are the calories restrictions, high protein and fat or low carbohydrates, low-fat or high fiber. There are pieces of evidence that strongly suggest that people may have different kinds of responses to specific diets depending on whether their weight is too much distributed towards their abdomen or not.Sports nutrition information is not so hard to understand at all. There are no complications, only contradictions. So basically, sports nutrition information will tell you what to eat, what not to eat, why and why not and what are the effects of all of the options that have been mentioned.
Starting an Online Business With a Profitable E-Commerce Site
Who needs brick-and-mortar stores when e-commerce websites allow you to reach millions of consumers by paying a small amount of money? The UK e-commerce industry has a revenue total of 408 billion GBP and grows at a rate of nearly 25 percent per annum. You will certainly find a spot under the sun and start making profit, provided that you have the ideal venue for selling your products and the right online marketing strategy.All businesses that want to sell products and services on the web require e-commerce websites. There are two ways in which you can set up such a site for your business. You can use a readymade template and do all the work by yourself or the other option is to use professional website design services.It is true that a template will usually cost you as little as a couple of hundred pounds and that you can even find one for free while a professionally developed site will usually cost in excess of 2,000 GBP. However, the end result will be attractive pages of content, products that are easy to view and evaluate and will have a flawlessly working payment and shipment system.E-commerce websites have to have a number of components. You must have a home page. Usually, it displays the most popular products and any special deals that the online store currently offers. It should be easy for the visitor to get to the full range of products using the menu bar. In general, it is crucial for an online store to be well organised, categorising products especially if there are a lot of goods on offer.The shopping cart is the most important component of every e-commerce website. This is the tool that allows the visitor to pick a product and make a purchase so it is essential for it to be easy to use and to work flawlessly. You have to have an integrated payment system that is safe and reliable and your clients should be able to use a variety of credit and debit cards as well as various systems for online payments, the more payment options you offer the better.Shipping needs to be well organised. This is the part of an e-commerce website, that visitors do not see, but is crucial for the customer service and reputation of the online stores. The shipping system must work adequately. Best practice is for it to be directly integrated with your inventory software.Each e-commerce website has to provide excellent customer support. If you are using professional services, you will be able to provide not only email and telephone support, but also live online chat support. This will not cost you much in terms of investment, but will improve the quality of your services.Once configured, e-commerce websites require extensive online marketing for attracting visitors and customers. Again, it is advisable to use professional services at least in the beginning. That way, you can have your online store search engine optimised for the products that you offer. You will be able to use email marketing and social media marketing for promoting your business