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FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

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Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#171

Post by dboreham »

LoganDark wrote: post #152
breadwinner wrote: post #140

This shouldn't be controversial. FTC isn't banning these fees, it is only requiring merchants to disclose the fees. Why would anyone be against that? Another good rule is click-to-cancel. Just a couple of days ago I logged into my Dish Network account to cancel it (after they hiked prices). There is no way to cancel online. There is no way to cancel via chat. You have to call. As soon as you call you're told the wait…

My preferred way to cancel these types of services is to close or pause the card they're charging. If you use a virtual card service like Privacy.com, this is easy, if you don't, then maybe not so much. But using virtual cards for everything you can is typically a good idea anyway, imo.

Only in America

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#173

Post by breadwinner »

trustinmenowpls wrote: post #127

I need this for my internet provider, advertised price is $25* ** *** Network access fee: $2.65 Municipal upgrade fee: $16.30 Fees end up costing nearly 80% of the entire bill. There are no taxes or gov surcharges of any kind. *(with autopay discount) **(with autopay direct deposit discount) ***(will not be reflected on first 3 bills) ETA: here's their current promotion: https://i.imgur.com/TfwsdQv.png $20 for servic…

My Internet provider charges $50 per month exactly, and even the taxes are included! How cool is that? They aren't doing that out of goodness of their heart though. It is due to competition from T-Mobile 5G internet, which also has this policy.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#174

Post by fn-mote »

trustinmenowpls wrote: post #127

I need this for my internet provider, advertised price is $25* ** *** Network access fee: $2.65 Municipal upgrade fee: $16.30 Fees end up costing nearly 80% of the entire bill. There are no taxes or gov surcharges of any kind. *(with autopay discount) **(with autopay direct deposit discount) ***(will not be reflected on first 3 bills) ETA: here's their current promotion: https://i.imgur.com/TfwsdQv.png $20 for servic…

Agreed. The FCC should act even more broadly. Why doesn't it?

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#175

Post by drewg123 »

breadwinner wrote: post #140

This shouldn't be controversial. FTC isn't banning these fees, it is only requiring merchants to disclose the fees. Why would anyone be against that? Another good rule is click-to-cancel. Just a couple of days ago I logged into my Dish Network account to cancel it (after they hiked prices). There is no way to cancel online. There is no way to cancel via chat. You have to call. As soon as you call you're told the wait…

Dish is terrible. After my mom passed away, they were one of the few things that my Dad had trouble cancelling. Even with a copy of her death certificate, my Dad could not get the service cancelled. He just ended up throwing the bills (and their equipment) away.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#176

Post by ewoodrich »

crazygringo wrote: post #113
websap wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because my IP address doesn't give them a way to calculate tentative taxes? My IP can be used to serve me ads, but not serve me actually relevant information? There's a very small % of traffic that actually uses VPNs

Correct, it doesn't. IP geolocation is nowhere near precise enough. Remember, sales tax isn't something big like state-level. It's literally town -level, including tiny towns. Two sides of the same street can have a different sales tax. Not to mention all the extra rules, such as individual clothing items under $110 being exempt in New York.

Yep, where I currently live based on IP geolocation I would be quoted incorrect state sales tax 100% of the time. Though it's sort of the perfect geography to be problematic (Vancouver, WA side of the greater Portland, OR metro area spanning a sales tax/no sales tax state boundary).

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#177

Post by Liquix »

dchichkov wrote: post #82

I wish that "Online Coupon Price Tags" in stores would also be banned. I'm talking about these yellow price tags that show lower than "Club" prices, which are only valid if you collect a coupon online. Like FTC, I estimate that banning these would save U.S. consumers millions of hours they currently spend searching and clicking on pointless coupons on their phones before making purchases. It would also increase happi…

those tags are working as intended - some people don't read the "online only" part, grab the item, assume the discount is applied at checkout, and end up paying full price. other people will download (and probably never uninstall) the spyware app and start feeding a juicy profitable data stream back to HQ.

because how are you ever going to stay in business doing something as niche as selling groceries without leaning hard into surveillance capitalism

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#178

Post by sofixa »

crazygringo wrote: post #153
sofixa wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's obviously not the norm in countries that have sales taxes which vary by locality Why not? If each store or restaurant or theatre or whatever in each locality know what price to bill you, they know the applicable price to show you upfront. > Whether a country is "developed" or not has nothing to do with it. The vast majority of countries in Africa have a VAT, while the world's richest country has a sales tax. T…

> Why not? If each store in each locality know what price to bill you, they know the applicable price to show you upfront. Because it makes state-level or national-level advertising of prices impossible. Or even local-level in many cases. > The relevance of developed or not is how much of the economy is informal or includes a part of negotiation. No it doesn't, where are you getting that? Feel free to browse: https:/…

> Because it makes state-level or national-level advertising of prices impossible. Or even local-level in many cases

Hardly impossible, just slightly less easy ("available for $X* (pre-tax)" / "starting at $X").

And are seriously claiming that ease for advertisers takes precedence over ease of use and pricing transparency for consumers?

> and Ctrl+F for "informal" or "negotiation". There are a lot of indicators of developing vs developed countries, but your idea is most assuredly not one of them. Also, sales tax vs VAT has nothing to do with an informal economy or price negotiation either.

Thank you. What I meant was that the only reason it might not be the standard in some developing countries is that they might have more informal economies with more negotiations involved. Literally the only legitimate excuse. But when that's not the case, from Morocco to Sri Lanka to Uzbekistan, price is shown upfront, everything included.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#179

Post by sudoshred »

breadwinner wrote: post #154
LoganDark wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My preferred way to cancel these types of services is to close or pause the card they're charging. If you use a virtual card service like Privacy.com, this is easy, if you don't, then maybe not so much. But using virtual cards for everything you can is typically a good idea anyway, imo.

But then that becomes unpaid bills and they send you to collections.

You can dispute debt in collections by requesting proof of the debt. The consumer protections in that area (debt collections) are quite a bit more developed than any consumer protections about intentional procedural inefficiency when cancelling service.

Re: FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices

#180

Post by LinXitoW »

nabla9 wrote: post #78
BurningFrog wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a free market fan, Khan seems to have been pretty terrible. But this looks genuinely good! It's basically banning fraud. ---[EDIT], since everyone is asking for reasons here are two libertarian/conservative critiques: • https://reason.com/2024/11/07/good-riddance-lina-khan/ • https://archive.ph/IjNmZ

As a pro-market fan, Khan is great. Pro-market: pro-market advocates for policies that enhance competition and market efficiency. Understands that god markets are made. Pro-market advocates believe in creating conditions where businesses can compete fairly without undue advantages from government favoritism. Government regulation can be essential to correct market failures and promote a level playing field. Free mark…

I mean, I agree that Khan is the best possible option, but I disagree that pro-market isn't ideological.

Where the free market fans see child slavery and sexual slavery and rejoice (free to make any contract you want to after all), the pro market people believe that if you just put enough guard rails on it, greed will magically turn into a force for good.

Obviously I also have an ideology, but at least I'm honest enough to not pretend that capitalism (or communism/anarchy) are naturally occuring, instead of simply a choice we make.

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