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California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

oag.ca.gov

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Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#51

Post by lclarkmichalek »

jawns wrote: post #32

"Californians are fed up with being bombarded by junk fees that, more and more, are making it unaffordable to attend a concert, go to a sporting event, take a vacation, or stay at a hotel." Oh, believe me, state Senator Nancy Skinner, requiring businesses to disclose these fees up front is not going to make these purchases any more affordable. Companies will either maintain the fees but comply with the disclosure req…

Unbundling is a real thing, with some pronounced second order affects. The first order effect of charging for in flight food service and checked bagged is purely redistributive, but rise of low cost, heavily unbundled airlines has increased the total market for air travel, increasing net economic activity in the sector.

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#52

Post by parasense »

So like... what about the way CA taxes people who live in other states...

Seems kind of like hidden fees to me... folks livign out of state, but went on vacation to CA, or flew to the the bay area on a business trip, or whatever...

The biggest hidden fee of all time is CA taxing out of state entities.

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#53

Post by ketralnis »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #26
eclipticplane wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those resort fees are the absolute worst for corporate travel. E.g., the budget for a hotel might be $300/night so you get one for $290/night. Then they tack on a $45/night "resort fee" and suddenly you're getting yelled at by accounting for going over your budget. That is, if you even remember to expense it since they charge it to your incidental card ...

I have never been surprised by a resort fee. If I search on Hilton/Marriott/etc websites, the total price shown when making the reservation is always what I am asked to pay. I believe the resort fee is listed separately so that the hotel owner can reduce the amount of royalties paid to the hotel brand, since they get a 10% to 15% cut of revenue for accommodation charges, but presumably not for things like resort fees…

Congrats. I have. Anecdote fight!

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#54

Post by eatsyourtacos »

mhb wrote: post #50

No mention of the ludicrous conglomeration of mobile phone fees?

Yeah that is annoying as hell. Comcast mobile is actually very clear and open- they have no hidden fees. Surprising from them.

Verizon can f off, 20%+ extra "fees" all the time.. glad I'm done with them.

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#55

Post by ensignavenger »

switz wrote: post #8

Taxes and fees should be mandated for all prices up front. This is how it works in most of the world, there's no good reason it shouldn't work that way here in the US. Someone will come along and point out an edge case, but for the vast majority of retail situations this is doable.

Sales tax rates change too often in the US for this to work. I like the idea in concept, but I can understand why it doesn't work in practice in the US given the current tax regime.

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#56

Post by zamadatix »

wpietri wrote: post #20
eganist wrote: post #5

Tons of industries affected by this, though hospitality comes to mind as being particularly egregious. "resort fees" you can't get out of where they tell you what you're "getting" for those fees, Airbnb service fees, cleaning fees, things that should all be spread across the nightly rate. The feds doing this for airfare was the best thing to happen for consumers shopping for flights. Ideally we would take it further…

I agree with you on almost all of this, but I think the cleaning fee is different. It represents an actual cost for an actual activity. I think AirBnb should show initial totals with it included, so you're never surprised by it. But it shouldn't be rolled up into the nightly rate because it really is a one-off. As an example, right now I'm looking at doing an extended trip, on the order of 2-4 weeks. I just need one…

I definitely wouldn't mind it broken out in the details section but the main displayed price should always reflect all costs (including taxes!) IMO. If I'm going to need to do math on the pricing it should be for the corner cases like comparing the daily price of stays at different places for different lengths of time not for finding out how much something costs on its own.

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#57

Post by lockhouse »

rootusrootus wrote: post #45
sneak wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This obscures the tax burden from the end user, transparently blending it with the price of the goods and the merchant's profit. Consumers should be consciously aware of the split.

So, the same reason we can't have the convenience of pre-filled tax returns from the IRS? People need to be able to feel the pain of the taxes they pay, because it might help bring them closer to the ideological conservative viewpoint.

Why would ensuring people know how much they are paying in taxes be a bad thing?

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#58

Post by eatsyourtacos »

I don't use things like Uber Eats very much.. but I did last week. It would literally NOT SHOW ME the all in price before I had to click order. It only showed me what the restaurant was charging me. I think earlier in the process it did show the delivery fees of some sort, to be fair.

But at the very final point they hide it from you, which is absolutely insane it's even legal.

Re: California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees

#60

Post by lotsofpulp »

ketralnis wrote: post #53
lotsofpulp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never been surprised by a resort fee. If I search on Hilton/Marriott/etc websites, the total price shown when making the reservation is always what I am asked to pay. I believe the resort fee is listed separately so that the hotel owner can reduce the amount of royalties paid to the hotel brand, since they get a 10% to 15% cut of revenue for accommodation charges, but presumably not for things like resort fees…

Congrats. I have. Anecdote fight!

The point is, presumably, the websites of major hotel brands work the same for everyone. I would be interested in seeing an example of a “hidden” fee at a hotel.

Same with airline prices. Google flight search has always shown me the total price, as have the airline websites themselves.

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