A few consumer scams to look out for

In 1557, the poet Thomas Tusser observed that "a fool and his money are soon parted." But due to ever-evolving schemes by unscrupulous businesses, in 2015 it is no longer just fools who find themselves unwillingly parting with money. These days, even the most prudent person can fall victim to any one of the many deceptive business practices the average consumer will encounter each day.

Fortunately, as the deceptive schemes evolve, so, too, do the consumer-protection laws designed to address them. What follows are several recent trends in anti-consumer behavior I have seen recently, as well as simple advice you can take to protect yourself from falling victim to these schemes.

Billing/service fees on monthly auto-insurance policies

One recent scheme involves monthly auto-insurance policies. When a prospective customer calls for a quote for a one-month period of insurance, many companies will quote the monthly "premium," but conveniently neglect to mention that the quote does not include "billing" or "service" fees they tack onto the monthly bill. These fees can be significant, often as much as 25 percent of the quoted "premium" itself. Thus, for many unfortunate consumers, the price they agree to over the phone may be wildly different than the price they see on their monthly billing statement.

As you can imagine, this practice makes it difficult for customers to compare prices from different insurance carriers, which is exactly why many insurance companies do it. Fortunately, it also happens to be illegal: California law requires insurance companies to state the total amount of the premium up front and California law defines "premium" as inclusive of any fees or charges necessary to secure the coverage. Thus, when an insurance company quotes $50 in monthly "premium" but also charges a $15 "service fee," the monthly premium is, in the eyes of California law, $65, not $50, and must be represented to customers as such.

So what can you do if you are shopping for a monthly auto policy? First, ask the broker or representative if there are any monthly billing or service fees, and what the total, out-of-pocket cost will be with all the fees and charges included. Second, ask if there are any ways to avoid those fees. For example, many of the insurance companies will waive monthly service fees if you pay for three or more months of coverage in advance. In many cases, the service fees that a customer would avoid by paying for three months' worth of coverage in advance may end up covering the cost for one month's worth of coverage.

Dealer-added charges on automobiles

Another scheme involves dealer-added charges on automobile purchases. Anyone who has bought a car knows that dealers often try to add charges onto the purchase to increase their margins. Examples include "destination fees," theft-deterrent deceives, and various coatings for the interior and exterior of the vehicle.

Cognizant that dealer-added charges are often the first items savvy car buyers remove from a purchase, clever dealerships will not disclose these charges until the last possible moment, often disclosing them for the first time in the final purchasing and finance agreement. The rationale is that, having invested significant time negotiating the purchase and being so close to taking the vehicle home, a buyer will be unlikely to "blow up" a deal over a charges that, when amortized over the length of the car loan, may add little to the customer's monthly payment.

Not surprisingly, California law forbids this practice and requires dealers to disclose any dealer-added charges on a sticker or hangtag placed on any vehicles on the lot. Thus, if you do not see any dealer-added chargers on the sticker or hangtag on a vehicle you are considering, you should confirm with a sales representative whether there are, in fact, no dealer-added charges on the vehicle. Similarly, if you are considering a car that is not presently on the dealer's lot but which can purportedly be brought in from another location, you should inquire whether the dealer will seek to add any fees or charges to the purchase of that vehicle, and if so, what those will be.

In-store eye exams

My last example involves the eye exams available inside many "big box" retailers' stores. You may be surprised to learn that, until recently, California law categorically prohibited one-stop optical shopping arrangements in which consumers can obtain an eye exam and buy glasses in one location.

These one-stop optical shops tend to be popular with consumers because consumers enjoy the perceived convenience of obtaining an eye exam from an "independent doctor of optometry" and their corrective lenses in one location. But customers pay a high "price" for the convenience: Far from being "independent," the optometrists practicing out of these establishments - if they are not actually employees of the retailers themselves - are often bound by strict agreements that require them to share profits with the retailers and meet a high patient-per-day quota, both of which combine to encourage the optometrists to speed through exams. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that past studies have shown that in-store exams tend to be shorter and less searching than the exams available from doctors in private practice.

Recent changes in the law allow retailers to maintain optometrists in their stores, but under narrow circumstances - arms-length lease agreements without any quotas or other manifestations of corporate control over the optometrist's practice. Consumers who are inclined to obtain their eye exams from these optometrists would be well advised to ask the optometrist if he or she (1) is a direct or indirect employee of the retailer, (2) has any direct or indirect profit-sharing arrangement with the retailer, (3) must meet any quotas regarding exam volume in order to maintain their lease with the retailer, and (4) is only allowed to recommend products or treatments sold by the retailer. If the optometrist cannot answer "No" to all of these questions, there is a risk that the optometrist is not acting independent from corporate control, and thus a risk that his or her treatment recommendations will be influenced by the retailer's best interests, not yours.

Hopefully, this has equipped you with the knowledge to detect and avoid the above examples of anti-consumer business practices. On the other hand, if you suspect you have already been the victim of one of these deceptive business practices, you may have legal rights that are worth pursuing. If so, you would be wise to contact an attorney as soon as possible, lest you lose your right to pursue an otherwise valid claim.

Benjamin I. Siminou is an associate with the San Diego-based law firm of Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire LLP.