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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

#431

Post by mazugrin2 »

ensignavenger wrote: post #418
andreareina wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brick and mortar stores know exactly how much tax they have to pay, yet they don't show an all-inclusive price. It's clearly not a case of online retailers just not showing the tax because it's difficult. If they wanted to they could let you give your post code before checking out, and query the same database to show the post-tax price for everything.

Really, you expect them to go through every item in the store, multiple times per year, and update the price tags?

Aside from silly "sales-tax-holidays" I've never heard of the sales tax rates changing so frequently. I'm curious to know where this is happening "multiple times per year". Here in MA it's been the same rate for 15 years. And for the sales-tax-holiday situation can't a shop just say something like "everything will have x% taken off at the register" just like they would during a typical "10% off all items" type of sale?

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

#432

Post by alberth »

The hidden fees is what turned me off from AirBnb...

Because it would display the nightly rate as $X.

But then at checkout, it would add in "house cleaning fees" etc (which I don't dispute is a fair fee to include) but it at times can grossly misrepresent what your true nightly cost is when searching.

Maybe this will be a step in the direction like Telco's have had to do with creating simplified & standardized "nutrition labels" for pricing.

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

#433

Post by danaris »

acaloiar wrote: post #301
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Click to cancel does not mean exactly what the name implies. It means cancellation must be as easy as signup [1]. In your example, signup is not a click away, so the cancellation process need not be. It’s a very reasonable position. [1] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/10/...

To be fair, the name "click to cancel" does not, in fact, imply that cancellation must be as easy as signup in cases where signup is not a click away. A name that would better imply that would be something like "symmetric cancellation", or "cancellation parity". However, that would be less catchy to the public than "click to cancel".

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

#434

Post by LorenPechtel »

lmm wrote: post #384
LorenPechtel wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what's a mandatory fee? Free airfare to Hawaii! Fee for paying by cash: $1000 Fee for paying by check: $1100 Fee for paying by credit card: $1050 Fee for middle seat: $200 Fee for window seat: $300 Fee for aisle seat: $250 Note that no fee on this list is mandatory because you always have other options.

So what happens when you buy that ticket and don't pay any of the fees? If you get taken to Hawaii then they're in the clear. If they won't take you without you paying the fee then I guess the fee wasn't optional after all.

Buy the ticket how? Look at the fees for paying--you can't actually buy the ticket without paying for it.

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

#435

Post by LorenPechtel »

danaris wrote: post #430
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me that is totally fine. If there are electives, then elective them. Fix the mandatory ones first. Like the “resort fee” hotels charge. Or “cleaning fees”. It becomes trickier when the fee is elective, but a significant part of the advertisement. Southwest Airlines complaining about having to advertise their fares, which come with two bags included, alongside other airlines who don’t include any bags comes to mind…

Did you...actually read what they wrote there? The (hypothetical) airfare was listed as "free", but it was impossible to end up paying less than $1200 for it. The point being that even if you have a choice between several fees (making none of them "mandatory" by a narrow reading), you're still paying something beyond the advertised base price. The logical good-faith rule in a case like this would be that you must adv…

I'd go a little farther and say that if there are impractical scenarios to avoid the fee it still must be included. (Say, no fee if you pay the fare in Timbuktu.) Advertise it based on the 95th percentile of what actually happens.

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

#436

Post by ensignavenger »

celegans25 wrote: post #422
ensignavenger wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, you expect them to go through every item in the store, multiple times per year, and update the price tags?

With price increases over the last couple of years from inflation, retailers have shown they are more than capable of doing so already. So yes

Price increases don't hit every item all at once.

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

#437

Post by 77pt77 »

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…

You can always cancel any contract by certified mail.

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

#438

Post by kevincox »

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…

Customers should be able to bill them for wasted time. If you are calling to cancel you can bill an hourly rate. Make it some multiple of minimum wage. Then services will pop up to have someone call and cancel for you, then bill the company for that time. Zero effort on the consumer side and suddenly wait times will drop. The problem is that there is no incentive on the company side to have easy cancellation or any other "negative" customer service. If they get billed a hundred dollars for keeping you on the line for 2 hours they will suddenly care a lot.

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

#439

Post by ensignavenger »

mazugrin2 wrote: post #431
ensignavenger wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really, you expect them to go through every item in the store, multiple times per year, and update the price tags?

Aside from silly "sales-tax-holidays" I've never heard of the sales tax rates changing so frequently. I'm curious to know where this is happening "multiple times per year". Here in MA it's been the same rate for 15 years. And for the sales-tax-holiday situation can't a shop just say something like "everything will have x% taken off at the register" just like they would during a typical "10% off all items" type of sal…

If MA has a single rate across the entire state that hasn't changed in 15 users, they are very different from how most other states operate.

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

#440

Post by dh2022 »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #291
jeffwass wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dish is evil. Years ago when signed up with them I opted to pay the extra service for local tv channels, which required an andditional antenna to install. For some reason the installer couldn’t fit it securely on our house, and said to call Dish to remove the service since we cannot receive it. Dish refused to remove the local service! They said since we signed a contract we were stuck paying for it even though they…

Isn't this what small claims court is for?

Terms and Conditions usually spell out the dispute process. You may find out that disputes need to go to arbitration court in a different state.
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