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Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

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Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#101

Post by jrochkind1 »

voakbasda wrote: post #20

Boost Mobile did this recently when my wife and I switched cell carriers. They advertised a $30/month/line plan (after a 3-month introductory period at an even lower price), but we are now paying closer to $45. This has pissed me off enough that I want to look for another carrier, but this seems to be SOP for this industry. Telcos behave like nothing less than a criminal cartel, so I was hardly surprised by this play…

I am very impressed that my Cricket bill is what they say it would be -- inclusive of taxes even. They say $25, $25 is what my card is actually charged, total! I almost couldn't believe it until it happened over and over again.

So it's not actually industry-wide... and hopefully even serves as a differentiator?

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#102

Post by yamtaddle »

phpisthebest wrote: post #61
dqv wrote: post #23

It would be nice to have bundle reform that requires all prices to be listed as taxes-and-fees-inclusive here in the US. Ok, it’s not going to happen federally, but I’d at least like it where I live. Changing prices is already regular maintenance, so the idea that this would place a burden on businesses is BS. If they have metadata at the cash register to know how to tax different items, they can have it at the label…

>>It would be nice to have bundle reform that requires all prices to be listed as taxes-and-fees-inclusive here in the US No no no no Taxes should be listed for atleast 3 reasons 1. The company is not paying the tax, you are. You owe the tax not the company, the company is merely collecting the tax for the government. In many states the company is paid to collect this tax on the governments behalf. If the tax was not…

So make 'em include the tax amount and percentage in big print on the receipt or alongside the price on the price tag at some percentage the size & weight of the price itself. Both problems solved.

Paying a different price at checkout than what was on the tag is dumb and provides cover for exactly this kind of fiddling-with-the-price crap.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#103

Post by michaelmrose »

MichaelNolan wrote: post #87
tempestn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can only do that if paying cash. And if you do, what will effectively happen is that the money you intend to leave as tip will go toward the fee instead.

You should be able to do that with a card as well. They can’t charge your card more than you authorize. (And if they did a call to the CC company will get it all taken care of).

They can decline to charge payment for anything other than the full figure leaving you with the ability to walk out or pay. If you opt not to pay you are dining and dashing and subject to prosecution the fact that you offered to partially pay notwithstanding.

Logically pay the bill then leave a negative review and never eat there again.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#105

Post by jrochkind1 »

aetherspawn wrote: post #72

In Australia it is simpler. The staff all get paid an award wage that is set by the government, and it is plenty, around $24/hr or more depending on age. This makes our food somewhat expensive: at least $20 for a sit-in meal, around $4.50 for a coffee. But what you see on the menu is what you pay and includes tax: tipping is not in our culture, and I have never seen drip charging here except on public holidays (“publ…

> at least $20 for a sit-in meal, around $4.50 for a coffee.

That's actually currently pretty much true of the USA too, especially after recent inflation. Unless exchange rates make the dollar-for-dollar comparison inapplicalble.

But either way, we're paying $20 for a sit-in meal too, but the servers are only being paid literally $3-$6 base rate plus tips, instead of your $24/hour. (Of course, depending on the restaurant, they may make $24 or more after tips... but it looks like median after tips is more like $16/hour, meaning half make more half make less...)

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#106

Post by adrr »

idopmstuff wrote: post #97
bradleyjg wrote: post #4

This is far worse than Airbnb. As annoying as the cleaning fees are, they are disclosed before you obligate yourself. A 20% fee only disclosed after you’ve already ordered and eaten is just fraud.

The problem with AirBnb cleaning fees is that they don't disclose what's included in them. If you're going to charge me $500, fine, but it's not great when I show up and find out that you expect me to wash and remake the beds, power wash the deck, get rid of that wasp nest that's been there for a month and also assemble some Ikea furniture. These days I ask for a list of cleaning requirements before I book.

Airbnb should set standards. Some places make me do absolutely nothing like a hotel room. And some places make you wash the linens, dishes and sweep/vacuum the floors while paying $300+ for a cleaning fee. Probably why I now prefer hotels because i know what i am getting.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#107

Post by djkivi »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #82
itronitron wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our family went out to eat a nice restaurant over the holidays and our bill had the '20% economic recovery fee' tacked on at the end. Naturally we didn't leave a tip and were happy to return a few days later to repeat the process. I'm usually happy to tip at restaurants, and if there is any surcharge on the bill like this then I just consider it the tip, as they often tack on for large groups.

Not tipping your waitstaff? That's cruel - that's part of their pay, which they need to get to minimum wage. Expect to be treated like dirt next visit. I would.

They were treated like dirt on this visit--being asked to pay an unexpected 20% extra.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#109

Post by blfr »

vr46 wrote: post #9

In America. This would not fly in Europe, I hope. Pretty sure menus have to be displayed out front with full pricing and service charges have their own rules.

I had a sneaky service charge like that (10%) added in a bar in Vienna (Austria, EU). Asked them to take it off, and they did, but the attempt was certainly made.

Many other places add it routinely and have it listed in their menus. Not just for parties of 6 or more, but two guests.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#110

Post by crazygringo »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #25
MDWolinski wrote: post #22

The concept of tipping is for "tipped" positions in restaurants. Someone in a Tipped position earns far less then minimum wage, which is made up by customer Tips. So this leads into my frustration with the proliferation of tipping, which seems to have started at Starbucks (edit: at least that's where I first saw it occurring for counter services), is someone working at Starbucks making tipped wages or at/above minimu…

> which seems to have started at Starbucks (edit: at least that's where I first saw it occurring for counter services) In my experience, it existed before in the form of tip jars (in NYC area), but really blew up when tablet point of sale systems like Clover came into the picture. They earn a percent of the transaction, so adding a simple option to increase the amount of the transaction is a no brainer for increasing…

Were tip jars common in NYC before Starbucks popularized them? I don't remember them at all but maybe it depended on the type of place?
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