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Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

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Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#241

Post by ApolloFortyNine »

pjsg wrote: post #43

I always object to US retail adding Tax to the price of the items. In the UK (and I expect Europe) the price on the shelf is the price that you pay. VAT is included. In the US, you walk into a store and have to become an expert at understanding local taxes in order to figure out how much anything costs. Hotels often have four of five extra fees tacked on. I'd like "The price you see is the price you pay" to be the ru…

Meh, that one I do like, if you read enough EU comments you see people arguing over why the price of X is more over there, or why does Y country have a higher income tax rate but provide less, totally forgetting they pay a 20% sales tax on just about everything.

At least sales tax the company is basically telling you "this one's on your government, if you don't like it take it up with them".

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#242

Post by No1 »

ok_dad wrote: post #32

I have had the exact same T-Mobile account and plans for more than 10 years now, and I have seen my monthly bill go from ~$82 to ~$86 today because of additional fees. The bulk of my plan has been the exact same, just additional or increased fees for the extra $4. It's not much money, but it's the principle that they can adjust my costs upwards without me consenting, essentially forever, that pisses me off.

They spend all that money on the #feeface marketing campaign, and then tack on fees. It’s like they’re tying to taunt their customers.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#244

Post by TuringNYC »

kriskrunch wrote: post #219
Alupis wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Along these lines - does anyone comprehend how the taxes and fees can vary month-to-month on your phone bill? For an unlimited plan, there's really no variation month-to-month. It should be the same freaking bill each month - yet it's always a few-to-a-dozen cents different each time.

A Verizon rep told me it's because the taxes are per day, and the total is impacted by different number of days one month to the next. I haven't compared to verify.

when you sign up, it isnt $7 vs $6.93...rather, it is shown as 0 (by not including it.) It doesnt even show up on the cost when you sign up. Suggesting this is a ACT/365 issue is really a slight of hand to ignore the bigger issue.

Also, the calendar can be calculated for the entire year (or the next 100 years for that matter.) It makes no sense that you can sign a 2yr contract and be locked in yet they cant present a table of actual charges for each month for the next 2yrs when you're signing up. Mortgage paymnets also vary by days due to interest accruals, yet they have developed the "sophistication" (read: regulation) to create a chart of what each month's charge will be for the next 30yrs. Not to mention, you could also calculate the yearly regulatory fee and just amortize it on a 30/365 basis if you so desired. There are 10 ways to slice this cake, this isnt rocket science, this is straight up customer abuse and the FTC is just as guilty for ignoring it.

Imagine any other industry that could get away with this. Imagine you sign up for a $13.99/mo Netflix plan and you mysteriously got charged an additional $3 or $5 "because we cant calculate days per month in advance, because reasons."

Or imagine you buy a burger at McDonalds but get charged a different amount once you pay and commit to purchasing the burger "because we cant calculate in advance whether you get 30 fries or 33."

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#246

Post by petilon »

SergeAx wrote: post #243

US is the only place on Earth where I found out that a sale tax is added to price tags in grocery store at the moment of check-out. I remember my astonishment the first time I faced that abomination. How's that even possible, what is the reason behind it?

The reason behind is that the product manufacturers and distributors want consumers to know how much they are paying in taxes. If consumers don't know, then politicians will be free to hike up taxes as much as they want.

Adding government-mandated charges separately is not a big problem, in my opinion. The big problem is when businesses hide a portion of their actual price under "fees". And the fees are not disclosed upfront. As an example of various fees see the AT&T example [1].

[1] https://www.att.com/legal/terms.otherWirelessFeeSchedule.htm...

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#247

Post by hansvm »

phpisthebest wrote: post #155
hansvm wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hypothetically, what do you think about requiring a big, up-front total and a high-level cost breakdown (section numbers for tax codes, overall material cost, amortized facilities cost)? To some of your points: 1. Isn't super important because on the 2. Break it out as a line item. Bold it. Maybe a bit more transparency would help with the pattern of stores raking in record profits when any upstream supplier has a mi…

I dont think simply putting on the reciept is a solution to #3, because people internalize pricing and make the choice to buy before the transaction. it would only work if the before Tax and After Tax price was displayed before purchase. Anything less is still hiding the taxation IMO Also I am intrigued by the people that say they are "Having to memorize the tax rates in every city" and "apply those accurately on the…

> what purpose would it have to calculate it in your head like that?

Huge swathes of people in the US struggle to afford food, and an extra 10+% floating around makes a big difference. It's nice that you can afford to spend your time more productively, but that's a luxury a lot of people can't.

As something of a side note, it's a bit of an odd position to take that taxe hikes are important enough to make it illegal to even mildly obscure them but that they're minor enough they would never affect your purchasing decisions on all but the most major of items.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#248

Post by jgeada »

myself248 wrote: post #48
pjsg wrote: post #43

I always object to US retail adding Tax to the price of the items. In the UK (and I expect Europe) the price on the shelf is the price that you pay. VAT is included. In the US, you walk into a store and have to become an expert at understanding local taxes in order to figure out how much anything costs. Hotels often have four of five extra fees tacked on. I'd like "The price you see is the price you pay" to be the ru…

Most places in the US, the local tax is the same statewide. Not in Ohio, where it can vary by township, sometimes across invisible boundaries. I once attended a large flea-market where such a boundary cut through the fairgrounds. Taxes were different on one side of the line than the other. It's so bad that Ohio actually has a mobile app that uses your phone's GPS to figure out which jurisdiction you're in and show th…

They know how much to charge you at the till, therefore they know what price to put on the label. It is that simple.

For webstores, require customer to disclose location so the right price can be computed; they have to do that when it comes to the billing page so it isn't novel work.

Everything else is bullshit reasoning to get away with false pricing/false advertising.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#249

Post by nmfisher »

JenrHywy wrote: post #181
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…

IME, once you take tax, tips and the exchange rate into account, Australia in generally on par, or cheaper, than the US (California, at least).

In my experience, Sydney is on par with California, but the rest of Australia is more expensive than most of the USA.

Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers

#250

Post by 0x457 »

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.

If I get charged $500 for cleaning and I find a speck of dust, anything foreign (hair, eyelash) on bedsheets or streak marks on any gloss surface - I'm doing a charge-back as soon as I check out.
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