Nothing to Hyde
by George Hyde
Consumer Sludge — A Slippery Slope
By the time you achieve “a certain age” – let’s just say, “OLLI Eligible” – you have probably heard a lot about sludge. You probably didn’t study it in college, but your car mechanic has warned you about having “sludge” in your oil supply; your roofer has mentioned the buildup from leaves in your gutters; and even your cardiologist might have used the term to describe what’s happening to your blood after too many jelly doughnuts and not enough kale.
Google the word “sludge” and here’s what you’ll learn: Sludge is a semi-solid substance, often a slurry, that is a byproduct of various industrial and treatment processes, particularly wastewater treatment.
Assuming you’re not scared off by the term “behavioral economics”, that field of study offers a more modern definition: “sludge” refers to the deliberate addition of friction or complexity to a process, often a customer-service system, making it more difficult for individuals (customers) to achieve a desired outcome. This is done to discourage certain actions or behaviors, often for the benefit of a specific organization or entity. (Simplified: sludge keeps you spending money with a company long after any perceived benefit has ended.)
You and I are coming face-to-face with this type of sludge on an increasingly-frequent basis, and I’m here today help you identify these instances and get some help in dealing with them.
Example: Dealing with your Cable TV provider
Have you tried to cut back on your cable-TV bill by canceling unused channels? Have you tried to arrange an in-person visit by a live technician to fix a lingering reception problem?
Have you recently tried to cancel the subscription for a mobile phone app you no longer use, or an outdated virus protection service or maybe even a long-abandoned domain name? Have you attempted to extricate yourself from a newspaper or magazine subscription deal you made in 2024 for $1 a year, that automatically renewed at a new rate of $25 a month?
If so, you’ve probably encountered “customer service sludge” and you may well have decided it’s easier to keep paying the unnecessary fees than to fight your way through to a successful resolution.
That’s what the provider is counting on…that you’ll grow tired of long hold times and requests for arcane bits of personal information…and just keep paying…and paying…and paying for things you don’t need or things that don’t work right.
Example: If you indicate you’re calling (or logging in) to cancel a service, your “hold” time may be much longer than your call to make an additional purchase. That’s sludge. So is being transferred to “a different department,” and being put on hold repeatedly; that’s sludge.
If you’re asked to provide a complicated “account number” or “username” when your account can easily be identified otherwise (name, address, zip code, phone number, etc.) – that’s sludge.
So how do we deal with consumer sludge effectively? Here are a few tips:
1) Be prepared before you call or log in – Have your account number, user ID, receipt, statement, transaction dates, etc., next to you when you make the call or log in.
2) Document contacts – Request the name of any customer service rep or salesperson you talk with and keep a record of the date and time of each call and resolution.
3) Be patient and polite – No matter how loud you scream, you probably won’t be the loudest person dealt with today by the customer-service agent. Being firm but polite may help you explain the issue more clearly and bring you to a solution more quickly.
4) Escalate if necessary – There are weeks when the phrase “Connect me to a Supervisor, please” seems to be the most commonly used phrase in my vocabulary…but you will have occasional success by asking politely to be connected to a person with the authority to order the action you want.
5) Transfer to the “Saver” – I’ve had some success over the years by telling an uncooperative customer service agent that I want to be transferred to the person who handles cancellations, since I’m unsatisfied with the way the problem is being handled. In every case I’ve ended up talking with someone whose basic responsibility is “Save the piece of business” and who has the authority to do what’s necessary to accomplish that; use this tactic discreetly, but know that it is an option.
6) Official Consumer Complaint – There are multiple layers of Consumer Protection bureaucracy within state, local, and Federal government, and most allow you to file a complaint on-line as well as by mail. (Manage your expectations: These are the same organizations that have fostered creations like the “Do-Not-Call” Registry, the effectiveness of which is, in my experience, zero or below.)
At any rate, here is some contact information you may find helpful:
a) Hillsborough County Consumer Protection – hcfl.org
Phone: (813)- 635-8316
On-line complaint form link: https://hcflgov.formstack.com/forms/consumer_complaint
b) State of Florida Consumer Protection Division – https://www.myfloridalegal.com/consumer-protection
Phone: (850)-414-3300
Complaint form link (mail after completing):
https://www.myfloridalegal.com/sites/default/files/consumercomplaint.pdf
c) Federal Trade Commission (Fraud Reporting) –
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
Phone: (877)-382-4357
For more information, search “consumer sludge” in your browser. Also note that “The Atlantic” has an excellent, if lengthy, article on the subject in its July issue. If you’re a Hillsborough County Library cardholder but not a subscriber to “The Atlantic,” you may be able to access the magazine for free at a nearly public library; check ahead to make sure the July edition is on the shelves.
George Hyde MBA Brown University, is a veteran radio broadcaster who served as Executive VP, Radio Advertising Bureau; Vice Chairman, National Association of Broadcasters; and Florida Regional Vice President for a major radio group. George spent his career in radio, both on-air and behind the scenes. His passion for accurate information and critical thinking has led to the creation of many memorable OLLI courses.
The Greatest Generation
The family photo albums of OLLI Connects’ editorial staff have lots of pictures of men in uniform––the fathers and uncles who did their part in World War II. Let’s meet them.
David Goodwin
Although not a member of the OLLI Connects team, OLLI French Instructor Susan Goodwin’s 2019 recording of her father relating his war experiences was so dramatic we decided to create a video of it and share it with you. At age 17 he joined the service and was assigned to duty in Panama and the US. After the US entered the war, he received gunnery training in Colorado and was shipped overseas to serve as a tailgunner with the Army Air Force bombing campaign of the Japanese Islands and occupied territories. The short excerpt here is the sobering account of a young man confronted with the terrors of engaging in battle. We hope to share more video and details about his war experiences in a later edition of this magazine.
Albert Carlson
Drafted in 1941, Albert qualified for Officer Candidate School (OCS) and, after further training at Ft. Lee, Virginia, became a Quartermaster officer. Bread was a big part of the Army’s WWII diet, and he took his baking company to England and eventually to France to keep the troops fed. His sole brush with combat occurred when his company’s train was traveling to their new post and was strafed by Luftwaffe fighters. He and his men spent a nervous half hour hiding beneath the train, praying that it was bulletproof. He left the Army as a Major in 1945 and returned to his hometown in Michigan. Mom did most of the cooking as we were growing up, but it was always a special treat when Dad baked bread for us. The photo was taken while he was still an enlisted man, home on leave.
Michael D’Aiuto, Louis D’Aiuto, William D’Aiuto, Anthony D’Aiuto
Theresa’s four uncles served simultaneously throughout the war. Sgt. Michael served in the Panama Canal Zone. Staff Sargeant Louis was inducted on July 2, 1942 and served with a paraglider infantry unit in the Pacific War Zone. He later became a paraglider instructor on a military base in Texas. Corporal William served with a repair squadron in the Pacific, including New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, from 1942 until the conclusion of the war. Ensign Anthony enlisted in the navy before the war; his WWII service included duty on a destroyer in the Murmansk Run in the Arctic, protecting supply vessels from U-Boats and Luftwaffe air fire. He retired as a Lt. Commander after 20 years. The sketch was drawn in the Philippines by a member of Louis’ paraglider unit, based on a newspaper article that had appeared in the Connecticut Evening Sentinel in 1945.
Art Henrikson
Art was drafted into the Army Air Corps in August, 1942. Initially a Clerk Typist in the Surgeon’s Office of the Gulf Coast Training Center at Randolph Field, Texas, his talent was recognized, and he was soon assigned to draw cartoons about first aid and VD prevention. After OCS, he served as a hospital administrator in Walla Walla, Washington, and Avon Park, Florida. Promoted to First Lieutenant in 1945, he took over as the hospital administrator at MacDill Field and ended his military career as a Captain in March of 1946.
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