It’s the unfortunate truth that some people will do whatever it takes to get ahead. Whether the hacks are illegal or just downright unethical, some people have no regard for what they should and should not be doing. Following are 10 ways people have gotten ahead financially in ways that most others would think twice about before participating in the activity.
Getting an Undeserved Refund
No product is meant to last the rest of your life; everything breaks at some point in its lifecycle. For some people, however, this is unacceptable. Rather than purchasing a new product the honest way, they choose to purchase a new product, but place the broken product back in the box and return it for a full refund. Whether or not they tell the customer service representative the product is defective is still up for debate, but the bottom line is that they get their money back.
Making Low Offers from a Spam Account
People that make purchases online, whether through Craigslist or other garage sales sites, have a way of lowballing their offer. They do this by using a “fake” email or one that they do not care about. With this email they send the seller a ridiculously low offer. The potential buyer then proceeds to send a slightly higher offer from his “real” email account so that the offer looks so much better compared to the “lowball” offer that he sent earlier, saving him money on his purchase.
Making Purchases Later than you Started Them
Online shoppers have caught on that companies will offer them a deal if they leave an abandoned cart. What does this mean? All they do is shop for what they want and put it in their cart. Once they are almost done, meaning they have signed in and almost completed the purchase, they close their cart. The next day, like magic, the company sends a promo code along with a “You forgot something in your cart,” message, enabling them to purchase it at a discount.
Create a Blog
Business expenses are business expenses, there is no definition regarding who can and cannot run a business or what makes a lucrative business. Some bloggers create a business just to write off certain expenses, such as a car blogger can write off the maintenance, gas, mileage, and even purchase of a vehicle. A food blogger could write off kitchen tools, groceries, and even restaurant purchases. The bottom line is the tax liability is lower as a result of the sham.
Switching Cable Plans
Cable gets more and more expensive, the longer you have the same service. To avoid the extra charges, some people constantly change service providers or simply change the name that the same service is in. For one year the cable bill will be in the husband’s name and the next year it is in the wife’s name. This way they always get the latest promo prices rather than forking over the higher prices.
Choosing the “Wrong” Seat
Buying tickets to any type of event can get costly, so many people are forced to buy the “cheap” seats. The people that are not okay with sitting there though, have a way around it. They check out sites like StubHub the day of the performance and write down the seats that are really expensive and not likely to sell. At the event, they go to those seats and use them without paying for them, giving them the better view that they wanted.
More Cable Savings
The people that are not able to switch their cable service into someone else’s name, try the next best thing – they call the cable company and threaten to cancel their service. Most companies have a Retention Department that is allowed to give customers discounts and free stuff in order to entice them to stay with them. The more they call, the more savings they usually get.
Seeing More Movies Than Paid For
This trick is an old one, but people still do it today and it saves them a lot of money. They pay for one movie ticket to see a particular movie, but when the movie is over, they sneak into another room that has a movie they want to see. Some people spend their day at the movie theater, making the most out of the price they paid for one movie ticket.
Fudging Kids’ Ages
Kids are expensive when they are young and they get even more expensive as they age. Amusement parks are often guilty of charging much higher prices for kids older than 10 years old, even though technically, they are still kids. Many parents fudge the age of their child(ren), claiming the child is younger than they are to pay the lower price and save some hard earned money.
Return Clothing
Some people that need expensive clothing for a special event wear the clothing and then return it the next day, claiming that they did not like it or it did not fit. As long as they did not spill anything and the clothing does not smell or anything, most people can get away with it.
Whether or not these hacks are ethical is a question you should consider. Most of them are not the smartest choices and could even get a person in trouble if they were caught, but they are lucrative ways for many people to save money.