Just leave in that situation.
Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
211–220 of 425 posts
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#212Contractors have been doing this for decades. Here are two examples of the scam. The roof of your property needs replacing. You call a few roofers to come by and give an estimate for work. You choose the cheapest roofer, who uses the same materials as the others and has been allegedly in the family-run business for the last 125 years. After the first half of day's work, the shingles of the old roof were removed. The…
In my country quotes are legally binding.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#213Note that drip pricing for restaurants (e.g. 10-20% non-tip surcharge) is illegal in many jurisdictions (if not "conspicuously advertised" before eating), but some restaurants try to do it anyways (claiming the policy is "conspicuously advertised" on the last page of the menu, or a tiny sign behind the bar). Sometimes you can just refuse to pay it and they'll back down because they want a repeat customer more. Someti…
Every day it seems more and more like restaurants in general are a completely unsustainable business unless you want to pay $20 for a cheeseburger.
Restaurants should generally be expected to get more and more relatively expensive, especially “sit down” restaurants, because of Baumol’s cost disease. There’s a large labor component that isn’t getting significantly more efficient over time.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, once a year like clockwork. Call the ISP, play a game of brinksmanship to avoid being taken to the cleaners. Meanwhile my conflict-averse friend is paying $94/mo for less bandwidth than I get for $25. It's psychological discrimination, is what it is.
This didn't work last time I called Comcast. I told them I wasn't happy that my Internet bill went up again by $15 and that if they can't reduce it back to what it was, I wanted them to cancel it. They placed me on hold while I sat there grinning about my awesome negotiation skills. Expected to get sent on to customer retention where I could get a better deal. Then the rep came back on and said "As requested, your in…
This is called the timnit method of negotiation.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#215A reddit thread made the front page with a similar example of surprise "Economic Recovery Fee" added onto the restaurant bill: https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/10gowkx/... If a government watchdog like FTC doesn't stop this or a new explicit law that only allows "total final price" clearly displayed before purchase, it means every type of business will want to play the "Ticketmaster-convenience-fee…
Does the link have some issues? I see a hair in the upper right part of the screen and it scrolls too.
I thought it was my hair strand and tried to remove it. I realized it was not my hair and then suspect my monitor has damaged. Opened a new tab and finally realized it was the page haha.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They [Clover] earn a percent of the transaction, so adding a simple option to increase the amount of the transaction is a no brainer for increasing profits. And the act of actually having to press no tip is better at guilting people than simply being able to ignore a tip jar. I have wondered about this as a possible motive. I assumed that shops paid a monthly fee, or perhaps a per-transaction fee. But they're payin…
I would assume all POS systems have to take a percent cut, given that they clear credit card transactions. They have to at least take 2-3% to cover the cc transaction fee.
The CC transaction fee is generally about half of that. A normal sized restaurant will have their own merchant accounts for CC transactions and not pay the POS provider any percentage.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#217In America. This would not fly in Europe, I hope. Pretty sure menus have to be displayed out front with full pricing and service charges have their own rules.
Wouldn't fly in much of America either. Try this in the midwest and I'm pretty sure your restaurant would be closing in weeks.
Yeah, I live in an area that straddles the line between the midwest and the south, and I haven't seen anything like this. Same for the QR-code-only menus that the internet has been complaining about lately.
I'm sure that if one local restaurant implemented this they wouldn't last long, but if a lot of local restaurants started doing it at the same time, they'd probably get away with it. Maybe they're all waiting for someone else to take the plunge.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
Waitstaff should expect that any surcharge, aside from taxes, will result in a lower tip especially because those surcharges are usually described as tips on the bill. Whether or not they are actually distributed as tips by the manager isn't my problem.
Regardless of your perception of fairness, you should be aware that waitstaff usually remember repeat customers who never leave a tip. It might not be a great idea to frequent the place if that's your chosen form of social protest.
So scary, what will they do? Frown as hard as they can?
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
My favorite is when wireless carriers can charge a "Regulatory Recovery Fee", which is basically part of the price, but can magically change and magically appear on your bill. The fact that the FTC is fussed about free chat apps rather than wireless carrier practices in the US is obscene.
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.
Re: Companies use drip pricing to overcharge consumers
#220This 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.
This and several horrendous check-ins we experienced on our most recent trip to Europe made us go back to booking exclusively with hotels.