161–170 of 291 posts
Book direct and support your local accommodation providers. Most providers will match any rate you see on these aggregator sites because they still are getting more money then if you booked through the site after they take out their fee.
Well the whole point of a hotel is that it isn’t local to you, so this doesn’t make any sense.
So with everyone offering remote work isn't it an advantage to work in a country that offers real social security like most of europe?
But I won't use them again, and I find quotes like this all too believable:
"... Also, last year Booking have to their employees 2.5 days off to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the company. You might think it's a nice move from them. During that day, only outsourced employees were working. They were just testing if they could carry the work without their employees."
The one time I used booking.com I got screwed over. Their website is riddled with dark patterns and has probably been A/B tested into oblivion. The tactic they used that screwed me over was that they advertised 100% refunds on last minute cancellations. I used booking.com for this exact reason as I didn’t know if I’d be staying the night in the city I was driving past. Well turns out I didn’t need the booking but whe…
So, if booking.com cannot guarantee the very basics, why should I use them as an agent? It makes no sense to me - it's much better to book directly.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would tend to agree with this. I’ve rarely received a refund or other compensation at least in Switzerland (not in the EU) for things that would immediately be handled in the US, particularly for retail purchases. The Costco and Amazon effect is far more prominent in the US whereas I feel much more constrained as a consumer in many European countries.
In the EU? For the first 6 months, the legal assumption is that any defect was present at purchase which means - in practice - you can return pretty much any defective item no questions asked. What did you want to return and could not?
Back when I was in the US, I could have bought a wetvac from a major chain store, shampoo my carpets, then returned it for a full refund. It would have been a fully functioning item that I gained beneficial use from, but the store would still take the used item back and return all my money.
This comes with a huge caveat. It’s a semi-official store policy, but not a legally binding requirement. If the manager doesn’t like you, then you’re on your own. Granted, the manager doesn’t care that much, because they’re just going to put the used wetvac and sell it to someone else. That person might discover that I broke the unit and they legitimately can’t use it. However, if they don’t have the same magic sprinkles I have (e.g. a title, a midwestern accent, white skin), the store might decide not to give them a refund, even though I’m the one that broke the appliance in the first place.
Since leaving the US, I haven’t had a store try to unload used merchandise on me and I like that I don’t have to put on a performance to get a refund on faulty items, but I’ve encountered other expats who found it a culture shock.
Just skimming through the comments, there is some negative sentiment about Booking.com. So I came to say, that over the years, I've used Booking.com numerous times, without any single problem. Yes, there are dark patterns (13 people are looking at this offer right now, etc.), but free cancellation was always free for me, reviews matched my experience, information matched the reality. Sorry to hear about the layoffs,…
Just skimming through the comments, there is some negative sentiment about Booking.com. So I came to say, that over the years, I've used Booking.com numerous times, without any single problem. Yes, there are dark patterns (13 people are looking at this offer right now, etc.), but free cancellation was always free for me, reviews matched my experience, information matched the reality. Sorry to hear about the layoffs,…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
After spending most of my adult life in Germany, I have to be extra-vigilant when doing anything with money back in the US - from remembering that the prices on the shelves are several percent lower than what I’m actually going to have to pay (while being way lower than VAT, sales tax is not included in prices!) to anything to do with cellphones, and then stuff like this.
What's so alarming about us not putting sales tax on products? I grew up in the US but in a non sales tax state so my experience until I was 25 was the same as yours. When I later moved to a sales tax state I knew the price was going to be ~5-10% higher than what was printed but I got used to it very quickly. I hate to stereotype but I've found Germans in my experience to take particular offense to this practice. I'm…
That's kinda funny to hear, as these hilarious comedy clips have been some of the most popular on YouTube the last months:
German Learns about U.S. Sales Tax - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYokP6YIKw
German learns about Tipping in the U.S. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEQhA-JJlH0
Both are worth a watch, just 1 min each.
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Anecdotal, but I’ve canceled booking.com reservations probably 50+ times over the past decade without issue. They certainly use nefarious UX patterns like “10 people just booked this location!!” But I’ve always found the “free cancellation by” dates to be reliable. On the other hand, booking hotels directly is an absolute nightmare of interfacing with whatever broken systems the underfunded “IT” departments of said h…
Perhaps it's cheating a bit, but most of the time they don't check credit cards you use for "booking confirmation". A friend of mine used to use 4242 4242 4242 4242 for quite some time, and when they've blocked it, he switched to his own debit card with spend limit set to $1.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps it's cheating a bit, but most of the time they don't check credit cards you use for "booking confirmation". A friend of mine used to use 4242 4242 4242 4242 for quite some time, and when they've blocked it, he switched to his own debit card with spend limit set to $1.
Using a fake CC or setting a spending limit doesn’t in any way absolve you from your contractual obligations.