Poll: What product is the biggest scam?

[FreshyQ]

A recent grocery store trip made me wonder why so many items that I can make with cheap substitutes are so expensive. What commonly bought product does the Escapist think is the biggest scam today?

Edit: Missing poll, don't know why.

 

[BonsaiK]

Has to be the Shamwow, doesn't it?

 

[Kpt._Rob]

A guy I knows says that instead of buying shaving cream or shaving lotions or anything like that, you should just buy dawn dish soap. According to him it works a lot better, plus, when you compare the price and size of the dawn to the actual shaving cream/lotions, you're getting a much better deal with the dish soap.

I don't know if it works or not, since I use an electric razor and don't have to bother with shaving lotions, but, if you use a traditional razor you could probably save some cash by switching to dawn for all your shaving needs.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Natural remedies are high on my list of rip off scams, with Homoeopathy the king of them all. They charge you for sugar pills.

Monster cables are also scamalicious. They charge outragious prices for A/V cables. In the digital age it really doesn't matter that much how high quality your cable is, at least to a certain extent, but long as your HDMI cable isn't broken there will be no signal loss.

EDIT: I found a funny <url=http://consumerist.com/2008/03/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables.html>article where they tested a Monster Audio cable against a wire coat hanger in a blinded test and the subjects couldn't hear any difference.

 

[cocoadog]

Has to be the Shamwow, doesn't it?

Pop music... because I know you missed me

 

[Poomanchu745]

Has to be the Shamwow, doesn't it?

Damnit! Beat me to the punch. Shamwow is pure garbage. I just want to know how they filmed all those commercials because it doesn't even work close to how it was portrayed in commercials.

 

[PettingZOOPONY]

Oxyclean, you can buy 20 gallons of that shit from a pool supply store for the cost of a small half liter bucket with the name oxyclean on it.

 

[C95J]

This is the part where I would put tons of links to sham sites, for humour, but I'm guessing the mods would get angry

So you guys will just have to imagine it.

 

[AssassinJoe]

That vibrating belt that is supposed to make you lose weight. How was that even going to work?

 

[Pielikey]

A guy I knows says that instead of buying shaving cream or shaving lotions or anything like that, you should just buy dawn dish soap. According to him it works a lot better, plus, when you compare the price and size of the dawn to the actual shaving cream/lotions, you're getting a much better deal with the dish soap.

You can use peanut butter, apparently.

also I think the biggest scam today is health insurance.

 

[C95J]

Why, double post, why!!!

 

[Sev72]

Bottled water.

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Anything an infomercial would try and sell you..is a sham.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

A guy I knows says that instead of buying shaving cream or shaving lotions or anything like that, you should just buy dawn dish soap. According to him it works a lot better, plus, when you compare the price and size of the dawn to the actual shaving cream/lotions, you're getting a much better deal with the dish soap.

I don't know if it works or not, since I use an electric razor and don't have to bother with shaving lotions, but, if you use a traditional razor you could probably save some cash by switching to dawn for all your shaving needs.

water works as well as shaving lotion or foam.

on topic, im gona go with shaving foam too, its completely pointless buying any.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Video games.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Monster cables are also scamalicious. They charge outragious prices for A/V cables. In the digital age it really doesn't matter that much how high quality your cable is, at least to a certain extent, and not to hundreds of dollars extent.

Quoted for truth: Not only does it not make that big of a difference -- or any, when it comes to HDMI and other digital cables -- but along with Bose, Monster Cable charges top dollar for products that are mid-range quality at best. I'm not opposed to grabbing a Monster cable if it's a decent length and on a clearance sale for, say, ten dollars or less, but man is the MSRP a ripoff.

OT: Razor blades and ink jet ink cartridges are horrible ripoffs. I use a Gilette Fusion razor, and while it's the best razor I've ever had, the blades hurt my wallet big time. I actually wound up buying a second razor just for the blades, because it was that much cheaper than buying the separate blades. Ink cartridges are the same way: pure profiteering, charging multiple times what the components are worth. In both cases, the specific design is usually patented to prevent off brand versions from being made.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

That vibrating belt that is supposed to make you lose weight. How was that even going to work?

by stimulating ur muscles, and its not designed to make u lose weight, its designed to build muscle.

why do u think athletes get a massage before...whatever they do, like boxing, to stimulate thier muscles.

 

[HontooNoNeko]

Has to be the Shamwow, doesn't it?

Damnit! Beat me to the punch. Shamwow is pure garbage. I just want to know how they filmed all those commercials because it doesn't even work close to how it was portrayed in commercials.

I'm pretty sure it works as intended the cable companies just cut the important parts to save time.

Shamwow! you'll be saying WOW... this sucks every time

Its good for the car... if its a really sunny day.
Its good for the kids... if they are dry to begin with.
Its good for the carpet... if you planned on replacing it anyways.

If you order now you can get a second Shamwow absolutely free! No seriously they are taking too much space.

 

[SimuLord]

Homeopathy. Introducing Placebon?, the cure for what ails you! (joke stolen from ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook.)