491–500 of 691 posts
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Kroger too You have to log in with an account and “clip” the imaginary coupons in their app for the price to apply when you scan your card
I'm less mad about those since it's basically just price discrimination. If you are price sensitive enough that you're willing to clip the coupon then you get the cheaper price.
An excellent change. It's unfortunate that stewardship of the committee will soon change hands as Khan has been a great advocate for fair contracts between companies and consumers during her tenure.
I think she's done such great work on the administrative side of things with junk fee bans, etc., but I feel like she has also burned an enormous amount of taxpayer money on lawsuits that don't have value (like suing Meta for acquiring the tiny VR fitness company). It feels like she's just against any acquisitions by large companies, and I think that's both too broad of a stance for the FTC to take (as opposed to rea…
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You don't even need small claims court. You just don't pay, and point them to (small claims?) court if they want to get paid for the service they don't provide. None of these shit companies will ever take you up on the offer though, because expecting to get paid for a service you don't provide (and can't provide in this case) won't fly in court.
You just don't pay, and point them to (small claims?) court if they want to get paid for the service they don't provide. Have you actually tried this? Because having not tried it myself, I'd bet a paycheck that you get sent to collections, get a ding on your credit report, and you're still on the hook for taking it to court if you want it resolve to your favor. (Assuming U. S.) And as a cherry on top of that shit sun…
When collections calls, you explain them the situation (service not provided or whatever, and evidence of trying to resolve it with them in good faith) and they go away.
Have yet to see a court summons or anything, although I'd love to see them try their lies in court.
I did not care about the credit report impact - it's probably the only valid reason not to do this if this is something you care about.
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You don't even need small claims court. You just don't pay, and point them to (small claims?) court if they want to get paid for the service they don't provide. None of these shit companies will ever take you up on the offer though, because expecting to get paid for a service you don't provide (and can't provide in this case) won't fly in court.
You just don't pay, and point them to (small claims?) court if they want to get paid for the service they don't provide. Have you actually tried this? Because having not tried it myself, I'd bet a paycheck that you get sent to collections, get a ding on your credit report, and you're still on the hook for taking it to court if you want it resolve to your favor. (Assuming U. S.) And as a cherry on top of that shit sun…
If you are relying on them for something other than the thing you don’t want to pay for, this becomes a problem.
For example, I disputed a charge with my CC from the Apple App Store when I was charged for an app that I shouldn’t have been years ago. They immediately cut off my access to the Store. Other apps couldn’t update, OS couldn’t update, couldn’t get new apps, etc.
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 o…
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> There is a move afoot Who is behind this move? What individuals, and what politicians? By what legal means is this happening? I've literally never heard of anything like this before - without further details, this is just political flame-baiting.
The politicians on the supreme court and while the case was pretty recent the move to limit it dates back a long time before that https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/06/supreme-court-strikes-dow...
Two (of many, many) books which detail two separate efforts to dismantle our administrative state are:
Lobbying America https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691168016 the history of how Business Roundtable, Chamber of Commerce, et al reacted to The New Deal by transitioning from trade groups to political players.
Democracy in Chains https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Chains-History-Radical-Stea... shares (Nobel winning economist) James McGill Buchanan's role in bootstrapping the Southern flavored conservative movement (libertarian "free enterprise" segregationists reacting to Civil Rights Era and The Great Society).
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Agree. Somewhat. But given that Elon Musk (who wants to shut down the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau completely) is likely to have a lot of say in these type of things, I think they'll forget that fear.
And the public will just accept arbitrary oppression with no limit? No, the investor class will arrive at the negotiating table one way or another on a long enough timeline. It will be up to them if they still have legs to walk on. The really scary fascists aren’t stupid: Thiel and those guys are buying bunkers in New Zealand as fast as the checks clear. They understand something that the American public lost sight o…
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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 o…
I mean technically, sure. But isn’t that a bit roundabout? There is no real life reason why unsubscribing should be more than a few clicks of effort. If it takes more than 30 seconds, something has gone horribly wrong. Keep companies to that standard, instead of giving them an opportunity to calculate that precisely 9 minutes of wait time doesn’t cost them much and is sufficient for 70% of customers to give up, or so…
If you just add a fine with a threshold it is actually much harder to pick the right fine amount. This way it has some sort of degree of scaling naturally. A small delay is less costly to you than a long delay rather than being all-or-nothing.
I agree that for simple things like unsubscribing a button can be mandated, but for other causes of calls to customer support it isn't that simple.
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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…
> Free market: and ideological stance where markets are without government intervention no, markets without government intervention are called "laissez-faire" markets. There would be no need for that term if that's what free market meant.
I'm not following here: are you suggesting that given any two different words, it is impossible for them to refer to the same thing or mean the same thing?
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I mean technically, sure. But isn’t that a bit roundabout? There is no real life reason why unsubscribing should be more than a few clicks of effort. If it takes more than 30 seconds, something has gone horribly wrong. Keep companies to that standard, instead of giving them an opportunity to calculate that precisely 9 minutes of wait time doesn’t cost them much and is sufficient for 70% of customers to give up, or so…
The idea is that this can be extended naturally to may situations. Warranty claims, insurance claims... If you just add a fine with a threshold it is actually much harder to pick the right fine amount. This way it has some sort of degree of scaling naturally. A small delay is less costly to you than a long delay rather than being all-or-nothing. I agree that for simple things like unsubscribing a button can be mandat…