Real problems worth solving

Home warranty contracts auto-renew with a credit card charge, but cancellation cannot be done online -- it requires calling a phone number that is only staffed during weekday business hours, where hold times routinely exceed 30 minutes, and the representative is trained to offer discounts and retention pitches before processing the cancellation. Many homeowners give up or miss the renewal window and are charged for another full year. This dark pattern persists because warranty companies profit from inertia -- every retained customer is revenue with low expected claims cost -- and because home warranties fall outside FTC auto-renewal rules that apply to other subscription services in most states.

Most timeshare contracts include a perpetuity clause that binds not just the buyer but their estate, meaning children inherit the obligation to pay $1,500+/year in maintenance fees for a property they never chose and may never visit. Heirs technically can file a Disclaimer of Interest within nine months of the owner's death, but most families learn about the obligation only after probate is underway and fees have already accrued. This persists because perpetuity clauses are buried in contracts signed under high-pressure sales conditions, no state requires the clause to be separately acknowledged or highlighted, and resorts profit from collecting fees on units regardless of whether the owner's descendants ever use them.

When homeowners try to cancel a home warranty mid-term, the company deducts a $50-$75 administrative fee, prorates the remaining term, and then subtracts the full retail cost of any claims paid during the contract period -- often leaving the refund at zero or even claiming the homeowner owes money. A homeowner who paid $600/year and had one $400 repair covered can cancel after 6 months and receive nothing back. This persists because the clawback formula is buried in contract terms that no consumer reads at signing, state insurance regulators generally do not classify home warranties as insurance (so insurance consumer protections do not apply), and the amounts are too small to justify hiring a lawyer.

Tow companies hire 'spotters' — often minimum-wage workers or gig contractors — to patrol college campuses, low-income neighborhoods, and apartment complexes looking for vehicles with expired permits, slightly crooked parking, or out-of-state plates. Each reported car earns the spotter $20-$50, creating a perverse incentive to find violations rather than warn drivers. Students and low-income residents are disproportionately targeted because they lack the time, money, and legal knowledge to dispute a $350 tow, and the cost of missing work or class to retrieve their car compounds the financial damage. This persists because spotter bounties are legal in two-thirds of states, there is no minimum violation threshold before a tow can be initiated, and tow companies face no anti-discrimination oversight for where they choose to patrol.

Third-party timeshare exit companies charge owners $3,000 to $15,000 in upfront fees, but the vast majority simply send template complaint letters to the resort developer and wait, because actual deed transfer requires the resort's voluntary cooperation, which is almost never given. The FTC sued a cluster of exit companies in 2022 for collecting over $90 million from consumers while delivering virtually zero successful exits, denying nearly every refund request. This persists because there is no licensing requirement for timeshare exit firms in most states, the desperation of trapped owners creates unlimited demand, and the exit companies face no obligation to demonstrate a track record before collecting payment.

When a home warranty approves replacement of a broken water heater or electrical panel, the new installation often must comply with current building codes that did not exist when the original was installed -- requiring new venting, seismic strapping, expansion tanks, or circuit upgrades. Warranty contracts universally exclude these 'code upgrade' costs, which add $1,500-$3,000 to what was supposed to be a covered repair. This persists because warranty companies wrote the exclusion into standard contracts decades ago, no state regulator requires them to cover code compliance, and the homeowner only discovers the exclusion when the contractor is already on-site and the old unit has been removed.

When a commercial truck is involved in a highway accident, law enforcement calls whichever tow company is on the rotation list or arrives first, and the trucker has no say in the choice. These operators then charge $16,000 to $200,000+ for heavy-duty recovery, with vague line items like 'environmental cleanup' and 'traffic control' that have no market benchmark. Over one-third of carriers surveyed by the American Trucking Association reported never being allowed to choose their own towing company. The practice persists because police want the road cleared immediately and default to whoever shows up fastest, there are no standardized rate schedules for heavy-duty recovery, and tow companies hold the truck and cargo hostage — a perishable load or time-sensitive delivery gives the trucker no leverage to negotiate.

Home warranty companies pay real estate agents $50-$100 per policy sold, creating a systemic conflict of interest where agents recommend warranties as part of the closing process without disclosing the financial incentive. First-time homebuyers trust their agent's recommendation and sign up for coverage that may have severe exclusions and low payout caps, believing they are getting meaningful protection for their new home. This persists because RESPA enforcement against warranty referral kickbacks is minimal, the payments are structured as 'marketing fees' to skirt the law, and the buyer only discovers the coverage is inadequate months later when they file their first claim.

When storage fees exceed a vehicle's value and owners abandon it, tow companies initiate lien sales and auction the car. In California alone, the DMV collected over $8 million from 5,300+ such sales since 2016, but surplus proceeds — money above what was owed — were never returned to owners because the DMV does not proactively notify them that a sale occurred or that they are owed money. A $6,000 car with $2,000 in storage fees sells at auction for $4,500, and the $2,500 surplus sits in a government account indefinitely. This persists because no state requires proactive owner notification of auction surplus, the amounts per vehicle are too small to trigger legal action, and the bureaucratic process to claim surplus funds is so opaque that most owners never learn it exists.

After filing a claim, homeowners routinely wait 5-7 days for a technician visit, another 7-14 days for parts approval and ordering, then another 7-14 days for the follow-up repair appointment -- totaling 30-45 days without a functioning appliance. For a refrigerator, this means weeks of spoiled food and eating out; for a washer, it means laundromat trips that cost more than the repair itself. The delay persists because warranty companies batch contractor dispatches to minimize costs, have no contractual SLA for repair completion time, and face zero financial penalty for slow resolution -- the homeowner has already paid the service fee and has no leverage to escalate.

Most states allow tow companies 5-21 days to notify a vehicle owner by mail that their car has been towed, during which storage fees accrue at $50-$85/day. A car towed in Texas may not trigger a notification until day 5 (in-state) or day 14 (out-of-state), racking up $425-$1,190 in storage before the owner even receives a letter. For older vehicles worth $2,000-$4,000, two weeks of storage can approach or exceed the car's value, at which point the owner abandons it and the tow company profits again through a lien sale. This persists because notification deadlines were written to accommodate postal mail logistics, not to protect consumers, and tow companies have zero financial incentive to notify faster.

Home warranty companies pay their network contractors far below market rates -- often $75-$150 for a service call that would normally bill $250-$400 -- so reputable contractors refuse to join warranty networks, leaving only the least qualified technicians willing to accept the work. Homeowners end up with poorly executed repairs that fail again within weeks, requiring a new service call, a new $75-$100 service fee, and another multi-week wait. This cycle persists because the warranty company's financial incentive is to minimize per-claim cost, not to deliver lasting repairs, and the homeowner has zero control over contractor selection since the contract mandates using the company's network.

Flatbed mishooks, wheel-lift scrapes, and dragging cars in park cause transmission damage, bumper cracks, and undercarriage dents, but tow companies routinely deny liability because the owner was not present during the tow and cannot prove the damage did not pre-exist. Filing a claim requires the owner to produce timestamped pre-tow photos of the exact damage area — evidence almost no one has for an unexpected nonconsensual tow. The burden-of-proof inversion persists because no state requires tow operators to photograph vehicles before and after towing, tow company insurance policies have high deductibles that incentivize denial, and the cost of litigation typically exceeds the repair cost so owners just eat the loss.

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, and the primary treatment — daily prostaglandin eye drops — requires perfect lifelong compliance because missed doses cause silent, irreversible optic nerve damage that the patient cannot feel until peripheral vision is permanently gone. Studies show that 50% of glaucoma patients discontinue drops within six months and only 10% maintain perfect adherence at two years. The drops sting, cause cosmetic side effects (darkened iris, eyelash growth), and require precise technique that elderly patients with arthritis physically cannot perform — yet ophthalmologists prescribe the same bottle-and-squeeze delivery system that has not changed since 1996. Sustained-release implants (Durysta, iDose) exist but cost $10,000-15,000 per eye and are only approved for specific glaucoma subtypes, while pharmacy-dispensed unit-dose preservative-free options (which eliminate the squeeze-bottle problem) are reimbursed at the same rate as traditional bottles, giving manufacturers no incentive to switch.

In 35 states, a tow company can hand you a single lump-sum bill — say $847 — with no breakdown of tow fee, mileage, storage days, administrative charges, or after-hours surcharges, making it impossible to identify or dispute overcharges. Without itemization, consumers cannot compare the bill against any local rate caps that might exist, and small claims courts have no line items to evaluate. This persists because the towing industry lobbies against transparency mandates at the state level, municipalities delegate enforcement to understaffed consumer protection offices, and the power asymmetry — they have your car — means most people pay whatever is demanded rather than litigate.

Home warranty contracts bury per-item payout caps deep in the fine print, commonly limiting HVAC replacement payouts to $1,500-$2,500 when a full system replacement costs $8,000-$12,000. The homeowner discovers this cap only after the system fails and the claim is approved, meaning they paid years of premiums believing they had meaningful coverage, only to receive a fraction of what they need. This persists because warranty companies compete on low monthly premiums rather than actual coverage quality, and consumers have no standardized way to compare effective payout ratios across providers -- the caps are scattered across 30-page contracts in different sections with different terminology.

The US has roughly 19,000 practicing ophthalmologists, but they are concentrated in metropolitan areas, leaving entire regions of Appalachia, the Great Plains, and the rural South with zero ophthalmologists within a 90-mile radius. A diabetic patient in rural Mississippi who needs a dilated retinal exam every six months to prevent blindness must drive 3+ hours each way, take a full day off work, and arrange transportation because they cannot drive home with dilated pupils. Telemedicine retinal screening (using fundus cameras operated by trained technicians) could solve this but is reimbursed at only $15-25 per read by Medicare, making it economically unviable for practices to deploy remote screening stations. The shortage persists because ophthalmology residency slots have been federally capped since 1997, and the majority of graduates choose subspecialties (LASIK, cosmetic) in cities over general eye care in underserved areas.

Many impound lots refuse credit cards, debit cards, and checks, requiring cash-only payment for vehicle release — often $300-$600 — at facilities located in industrial areas far from ATMs. A person whose car was towed at 2am may not have $400 cash on hand, cannot withdraw that amount from an ATM with daily limits, and each day they cannot pay adds another $50-$85 in storage. The cash-only requirement persists because only a handful of states like Texas, Arizona, and Illinois mandate that tow companies accept electronic payment, cash avoids chargebacks that could challenge fraudulent fees, and there is no federal payment-method requirement for nonconsensual towing.

When a homeowner's AC fails in July, home warranty companies routinely deny the claim by having a technician spend 15 minutes on-site, then declaring the compressor failure a 'pre-existing condition' -- even if the system worked fine for months after the policy started. This matters because the homeowner is now stuck paying $4,000-$8,000 out-of-pocket for HVAC replacement during a heat emergency, which is the exact catastrophe they bought the warranty to prevent. The practice persists because 'pre-existing condition' is defined so broadly in contracts that virtually any wear-related failure can be retroactively classified as pre-existing, and there is no independent adjudication body to challenge the warranty company's in-house diagnosis.

Chronic dry eye disease (DED) affects roughly 16 million diagnosed Americans (and an estimated 30M total), yet the two FDA-approved prescription treatments — Restasis (cyclosporine) and Xiidra (lifitegrast) — cost $500-600/month without insurance and $75-150/month with typical copays, and neither has a generic available despite Restasis going off-patent in 2024 after Allergan fought 13 separate patent challenges. Patients cycle through artificial tears ($15/month, temporary relief), warm compresses, and punctal plugs before reaching prescription therapy, wasting 6-18 months on inadequate treatment. The structural reason is that dry eye is classified as a chronic comfort condition rather than a sight-threatening disease, so insurers place DED drugs on specialty tiers with high cost-sharing. Meanwhile, ophthalmologists profit from in-office procedures (IPL, LipiFlow at $1,000-1,500/session) that have limited long-term efficacy data.

Unlicensed or rogue tow operators listen to police and fire scanners, race to accident scenes, and hook vehicles before the driver — often injured or in shock — can call their own roadside assistance or insurance-approved tower. Once the vehicle is at their lot, they charge $500-$1,000/day in storage and refuse to release it to a competing shop without full payment in cash. NICB documented an 89% increase in predatory towing claims from 2022 to 2024, yet the practice persists because most states lack laws requiring police to maintain a tow rotation list, crash-scene chaos makes it impossible for victims to verify credentials, and tow operators face minimal criminal penalties even when caught.

Towing companies pay property managers $25-$50 per vehicle removed under 'patrol towing' contracts, creating a direct financial incentive for apartment complexes to tow aggressively rather than warn. A resident's guest who parks slightly over a line or forgets a temporary permit loses their car and faces $250-$400 in fees, while the property manager quietly collects a bounty. Only 17 states ban these kickbacks, and the practice persists because tenants have no visibility into the towing contract terms, property managers face no disclosure requirements about their financial relationship with the towing company, and tenants who complain risk lease non-renewal.

Progressive (no-line bifocal) lenses require precise measurement of segment height, optical center, pantoscopic tilt, and vertex distance — all relative to how the specific frame sits on the patient's face. Even trained opticians in brick-and-mortar shops get these measurements wrong 15-20% of the time, resulting in a 'swim' effect, narrow reading zones, or the need to tilt one's head awkwardly to see through the correct part of the lens. The patient returns for a remake (which takes another 7-10 days), but the optician often re-measures slightly differently without identifying the original error. This problem persists because progressive lens design varies dramatically between manufacturers (Varilux, Zeiss, Hoya each have proprietary corridor designs), so the optician is fitting to a lens geometry they cannot fully see, and there is no feedback loop connecting patient complaints back to specific measurement errors.

Most impound lots operate Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, but towing happens 24/7, so a car towed Friday night accrues storage fees at $50-$85/day for Saturday, Sunday, and part of Monday before the owner can physically retrieve it. This means a $200 tow instantly becomes $425-$455 through no fault of the owner, and for someone living paycheck to paycheck, those three unavoidable days can mean choosing between getting their car back and making rent. The practice persists because municipalities set impound lot hours based on staffing budgets rather than consumer access, towing companies profit from every day the car sits, and there is no legal requirement in most states to offer weekend or after-hours vehicle release.

Childhood myopia prevalence has risen from 25% to over 42% in the US since 1970, driven by increased screen time and reduced outdoor exposure, yet only 15 states require comprehensive eye exams (not just vision screenings) before kindergarten. School nurse screenings use a 20-foot Snellen chart that catches distance blur but misses astigmatism, convergence insufficiency, and early myopia progression — the exact conditions that cause a child to fall behind in reading and get misdiagnosed with ADHD or learning disabilities. By the time parents notice their child squinting, the myopia has often progressed 1-2 diopters beyond the point where intervention (atropine drops, ortho-K lenses) is most effective. This persists because school health budgets prioritize vaccinations and hearing screenings, and optometry lobbying has focused on adult insurance mandates rather than pediatric screening legislation.

When a patient buys prescription glasses online, there is no standardized way to verify that the lenses were ground to the correct prescription before they ship. The patient receives the glasses, wears them for a few days, gets headaches, and cannot determine whether the problem is a bad prescription, incorrect PD, wrong optical center height, or simply adjustment-period discomfort. Brick-and-mortar opticians use a lensometer to verify lens power in seconds, but online buyers have no access to this tool and no practical way to check. Online retailers offer free returns, but the patient still waits 2-3 weeks for the replacement pair and often goes through 2-3 cycles before giving up and buying in-store. This verification gap persists because lensometer devices cost $500-2,000 and no company has built a consumer-grade phone-based lens verification tool accurate enough for clinical use.

Federal law (the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act) mandates that contact lens prescriptions expire after one year, forcing patients to pay $100-250 for an annual exam even when their prescription has been stable for a decade. Unlike eyeglass prescriptions, which last two years in most states, contact lens prescriptions have a shorter expiration specifically because the AOSA and AOA lobbied for annual exams as a recurring revenue stream for optometry practices. A patient who has worn the same -3.50 daily lenses for five years must still pay for a contact lens fitting fee ($50-100 on top of the exam) every twelve months. The medical justification — monitoring for corneal ulcers — does not hold up to evidence: a 2022 Cochrane review found no difference in serious adverse events between annual and biennial contact lens check-ups for established wearers.

In most US states, optometrists measure pupillary distance (PD) during every eye exam but are not required — and in some cases are actively discouraged by their employer — to include it on the prescription, because PD is the one measurement patients need to buy glasses online instead of at the in-office optical shop. Without PD, a patient cannot order from Zenni, Warby Parker, or any online retailer, effectively trapping them into buying from the optometrist's dispensary at 3-5x the online price. The FTC's Eyeglass Rule requires release of the prescription but does not explicitly mandate PD inclusion, and state optometry boards — staffed by practicing optometrists who profit from dispensary sales — have no incentive to close this loophole. Patients can measure PD themselves using ruler-and-mirror methods, but the results are unreliable enough that many give up and buy in-office.

Parking garage stairwells are isolated, poorly lit, echo-dampened concrete corridors with no security cameras, no cell signal, and no foot traffic outside of the 5pm rush — making them the most dangerous part of any urban parking structure. Roughly 10% of all crimes in parking facilities (assaults, robberies, carjackings) occur in stairwells, and women report feeling so unsafe that they pay $5-10 extra for valet or ground-level lots specifically to avoid walking through them. Emergency call boxes, when they exist, are mounted at stairwell entrances rather than on each landing, meaning a victim on the 4th floor landing has no way to summon help. Garage operators resist installing cameras in stairwells because footage creates liability exposure — if they have video of an incident, plaintiffs argue the operator 'knew' the area was dangerous and failed to act, so operators prefer willful ignorance to documented risk.

Notary signing agents who facilitate mortgage closings are legally prohibited in most states from explaining the loan documents to borrowers because doing so constitutes practicing law without a license. A first-time homebuyer sits at a closing table with 100-150 pages of legal documents and is told to "sign here" repeatedly by someone who is forbidden from answering "what does this clause mean?" Borrowers routinely sign adjustable-rate riders, prepayment penalties, and escrow waivers without understanding their implications, only discovering the consequences months later when their payment spikes or they cannot refinance. Title companies and lenders could solve this by having an attorney present at closing, but they use signing agents specifically because they cost $125-$200 per appointment versus $500+ for an attorney. The structural incentive is to minimize closing costs, not to ensure borrower comprehension.