An undeclared war is raging across the business worlds—a war of companies against their customers. The evidence is everywhere. Mobile phone companies peddle complicated plans that manipulate customers into buying minutes that get wasted. Airlines change their fares so often that travellers never know what the "real" fare is. Customer abuse ranges from the trivial but annoying (rental car companies charging exorbitant rates to fill up the tank when you return a car) to the potentially life-threatening (pharmaceutical companies quashing negative findings on their drugs while trumpeting the benefits on television). The earnings that result from this kind of customer abuse are bad profits and too many companies are addicted.