FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

Post by granzymes » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 3:34 AM UTC

mardef wrote: post #64

bsimpson wrote: post #4

> This decision is the result of a biased and broken system where the Commission serves as accuser, judge, jury, and then appellate judge all in the same case Interesting argument, but also a distraction from "we lied in advertising." > It could also clearly disclose the percentage of customers that actually do qualify for the free service, somewhere close to the “free” claim advertised, the commission said. They ran…

Their phrasing is specific to align themselves with the current supreme Court review of deference. They'll likely delay until that decision has come down and they hope they can just claim the laws were unconstitutional in the first place. https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/supreme-court-to-hear-maj...

Post by xivzgrev » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 3:35 AM UTC

Imz4di wrote: post #89

logiduck wrote: post #22

I just saw an TurboTax Ad where a guy was like "I Like free stuff" and then it said he was "happy to read the disclaimer" on TurboTax and see that "Roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify" which he looks thoughtfully in the distance and says "Thats me!" I thought it was a funny commercial because 37% doesn't seem like a lot and Turbotax is portraying it as the average person will identify themselves as part of that 37% even…

TurboTax is marketing to the kind of people who think getting big refunds is a good thing. That's generally people with lower incomes, so this fits that target.

Post by dcow » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 3:36 AM UTC

ants_everywhere wrote: post #98

cityofdelusion wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This story has to be apocryphal, as fractions aren't _that_ rare, especially in the U.S. with its imperial system and third of a cup measurements or quarter inches or half miles and so on.

It's not that they're rare, it's that it legitimately is an easy error to make even if you understand it to be an error. Even people who work with equations every day will occasionally make careless mistakes like this. That's why mathematicians joke about how it's important to make an even number of sign errors. To not make this mistake, you have to be able to call to mind that the map x -> 1/x reverses the inequalit…

Post by whamlastxmas » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 3:40 AM UTC

xivzgrev wrote: post #124

Imz4di wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TurboTax is marketing to the kind of people who think getting big refunds is a good thing. That's generally people with lower incomes, so this fits that target.

It is generally a good thing for folks who live paycheck to paycheck. Higher withholding forces more budgeting, and then they get a big paycheck once a year to pay off whatever

Post by wharvle » Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 3:40 AM UTC

ethbr1 wrote: post #93

wharvle wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, it seems like working with fractions is where a lot of people fall off the math-train and never get back on. … yes, that early.

Fractions and negative numbers. And, to be fair, they're the first math concepts that aren't intuitive. Which IMHO leads to some people not studying, then feeling lost, then rationalizing their lack of effort as "I'm bad at math" or "Math is hard."