Keep a close eye on details

Check out a deal's fine print to find out if it's really a deal at all.
By LAUREN MILLER
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
MILWAUKEE -- It's said you should always read the "fine print." But how many teens actually do? With so many opportunities to be consumers, of everything from cars to clothes to computers, a lot of young people wind up paying too much because they didn't take a closer look.
Cell-phone contracts are one problem area for teens. Most providers' plans hook you up with free nights and weekends. But some students, like Elyse Charles of Pius XI High School in Milwaukee, missed the fine print on their contracts that details when those free minutes begin.
"Since the company wasn't clear on when nights started, I assumed it started at 7 when my nights actually started at 9," Charles said.
Her wrong assumption ended up costing Charles a whole lot more than she thought she would owe on her cell-phone deal.
"I get 500 minutes per month. I didn't realize I was talking so much. So I ended up paying 35 cents extra per minute. That adds up to be a lot of money," Charles said.
Megan Willis, a student at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, found herself in a similar situation. She said she wishes the start time was earlier.
"Nine o'clock is too late; they should change the time to around 6. That would make sense."
Paying attention
Both girls now realize that as consumers, you have to be very careful and pay attention to what you're signing up for. But they also argue that cell-phone companies could be clearer and more helpful about communicating their policies to customers.
Cell-phone companies should tell you exactly what the rules are when you sign up for the plan, especially teens, Willis said. "It would make things a whole lot simpler," she said.
"Fine print" doesn't only come with complicated service agreements for cell phones. Teen shoppers even need to pay close attention for something as simple as buying clothes.
Maggie Moss, a junior at Rufus King High School, learned this lesson on a recent shopping trip to the Gap. The store had advertised $10 off boot-cut jeans, which sounded like a great deal, except the sale wasn't for all boot-cut jeans.
"The sales guy went on to say, like, 10 pairs of boot cuts weren't on sale. So basically it wasn't really a deal because the pair I wanted wasn't on sale," she said.
Moss said she was glad she knew to read the small words on the store ads and to ask the sales clerk for help.
'Always a catch'
"Even on coupons you get from other stores -- in the fine print there's always a catch," she said.
Jim Brown, director of the Center for Consumer Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said this is often true. Sometimes, he says, companies actually rely on consumers falling into traps. "It's not all companies obviously, but there a significant number that depend on that, because otherwise they wouldn't make the sale," Brown said.
Technically, most companies are not doing anything illegal by including stipulations in fine print. So consumers must learn to be careful, especially teens, Brown said.
"Teens are even more inexperienced or more unaware of what details might be contained in the fine print than someone who's been through this a couple times before," he said.
Brown added that the best way to avoid expensive mistakes is to make sure you know what you are signing.
"If you have any doubt whatsoever on what you're getting, don't sign a contract until all that doubt is gone," he said.
XLauren Miller is a student at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee.