Today I'm starting a new series of beatdowns. Many companies today have begun what I'm calling the screwover mentality to add charges to unsuspecting customers. Certainly I've ranted against the credit card banks recently, but there are other nefarious bastards that need their day in an octagonal ring.

Screwover #1: The photocopier lease insurance screwover.

In the last day the controller in our company popped by to alert us to a little clause that is tacked into leases for photocopiers, a function recently taken over by a team member of mine in my IT department. Apparently the leasing company requests in very fine print that you provide proof of insurance for the device, and if you don't find the fine print or react accordingly, they quickly start providing their own insurance on a monthly basis as part of the bill. It's probably not even going to show up as a line item--the bill would just magically go up a few bucks to cover this cost and most companies would be none the wiser.

This should be far more forthcoming with a customer. This type of screwover action for a few bucks is utter crack and should be met with physical violence.