Every one of my grandchildren has computer skills that exceed mine. My parents didn’t have television until I was a sophomore in college. I don’t facebook, twitter, or have a cell phone. I even fail to answer e-mails on a regular basis. One could correctly state that I’m technology challenged, but months ago I did have high speed Internet. At that time, access to the Internet didn’t tie up my telephone and downloading a manuscript took seconds rather than hours. The access to high speed Internet was lost simply because too few people in the area subscribed to the service, so the Internet provider couldn’t profit by their offering. We received a nice letter stating that the service would be discontinued and that there were several other providers for high speed Internet operating in our area. The letter even provided a list of potential providers plus telephone numbers. After a day of going through the list, only two of the companies were willing to offer service to our location. One offered service via satellite and the other via a cell phone connection. We decided to go with the satellite provider. After three phone calls and an hour discussion with Ted, we had established a price for the required equipment, a monthly service fee, and a date and time for the installation. Access to high speed Internet was just around the corner, until the installer called. The price for the installation was simply a basic price. If the installer had to climb a ladder, the fee went up $100.00, and it went up another $100.00 if he had to deal with a crawl space or string wires in the attic. Additionally, the dish couldn’t be mounted on the garage roof, so the required pole would cost even more. We decided that the hidden fees were too much and transferred our attention to service via a cell phone connection. The cell phone service offered a 30-day risk free trial. That sounded good, especially after the recent experience with the installer. The sign up required a deposit, a credit check, and a two-year contract. The salesman even checked with the company office to be certain that service was available at our house. I warned him that several other providers had suggested problems at our location, but was assured that we were within two miles of their tower and the service would be excellent. We signed up. After all the trial was risk free, that is, until we found that the service didn’t reach our computer. The company cancelled our two year contract and basically refunded our deposit—except for a $25.00 restocking fee (part of the fine print). About a month later I received a bill for one month’s service. I pointed out that the service never worked, but was shown that regardless of the quality, we had service for the several days we were trying to use the system and therefore owed for a month’s service. So much for risk-free. The fine print was worse than the hidden charges—at least the installer informed us of the potential hidden charges and allowed us to cancel the service without expecting a fee. I still don’t have high speed Internet, but I do have a list of two companies that will never receive future business from me. I feel that I was lied to, cheated, and stolen from. A reliance on hidden charges and fine print is no way to do business. Society appears to be drifting away from honesty and moving toward saying whatever the customer wants to hear. The political arena is filled with liars who say that they ‘‘mispoke’’, cheats who sell their influence under the door of contributions and provide ‘‘ear marks’’ that become the fine print in numerous bills. An automobile dealer quotes a price, then adds transportation and dealer M. R. Louthan (&) Box 623, Radford, VA 24143, USA e-mail: macfran61louthan@yahoo.com