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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

#601

Post by zerocrates »

bsimpson wrote: post #533
munk-a wrote: post #3

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.

Tangential, but I was looking into this yesterday and couldn't find the answer: How does her term work? Seats on the FTC are supposed to last for 7 years. She was nominated in 2021 and her term technically expired a couple months ago. Apparently she gets to remain in it until a replacement is appointed. Has she just been filling in the remainder of someone else's term, like Laphonza Butler as CA Senator?

FTC terms work like that, a replacement for a commissioner who leaves mid-term only gets the time remaining on the original appointment, not a new full 7 years. But they also can hang on past the nominal end date until a successor is actually confirmed.

The prior chairman, Joseph Simons, had this same seat that Khan has now, so for him his term was also nominally set to expire September 2024. He resigned when the administration changed over in 2021.

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

#602

Post by wodenokoto »

SparkyMcUnicorn wrote: post #485
alberth wrote: post #432

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 "nutri…

On AirBnB just check the "Display total before taxes" box on the search results page. Not including fees in the nightly rate makes sense as some are fixed rate, and having the option to see the cost for the total stay (including fees) solves the problem.

I think it’s country dependent.

At least on booking.com it depends on what settings you have.

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

#603

Post by pertymcpert »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #457
spiderice wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick Google search says the average is $7.55 USD/hour (1,159 Yen). Seems like they're paid quite poorly.

Might be more to that story. Remember that Japan is a very socialized country, so CoL expenses are not what they are in the US. I have a friend that basically shops as part of her job. She has been power-shopping, mostly in Europe (dream job, I suppose), for decades. She tells me that she runs into the same sales associates, year after year, and has watched them “grow up” over years. So it seems to be possible, at le…

Most retail workers in Europe don't make a career out of it by choice. I can tell you that for damn certain.

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

#604

Post by Ajedi32 »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #590
Ajedi32 wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Chevron deference never meant agencies can just make up and pass law Not on it's own, no. The bigger culprit there is the erosion of the nondelegation doctrine. But Chevron aggravated the problem by allowing agencies to stretch their authority beyond what even congress intended with little possibility of legal challenge. Interpreting the law is and should be the role of the courts, not the role of the agencies that…

The thing is: if Congress thinks executive branch agencies are interpreting laws in ways they didn't intend, they can change the law to clarify their intent. If they fail to do so, I have to assume the agencies are doing what Congress intended. But the supreme Court evidently disagrees.

Only with the willing cooperation of the executive branch, or a veto proof majority in both houses. Otherwise the very executive they are trying to reign in could just veto the bill to allow the agencies to continue overstepping their authority.

But that's beside the point anyway, because it shouldn't have to be the legislature's job to be constantly weighing in on whether an agency is following the law as written. That's literally what the courts are for; to interpret nuances of the law.

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

#605

Post by jkestner »

mikestew wrote: post #489
noprocrasted wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I got charged for the modem even though I returned it to Xfinity (another champion of customer service) when I canceled. It wasn't worth my time to fight, and I wasn’t going to pay for something I didn’t owe. I could take the hit to my credit rating so I did, and after a few years of collections letters, it went away.

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

#606

Post by fsckboy »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #499
fsckboy wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> 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?

no, I'm saying free market does not mean laissez-faire

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

#607

Post by account42 »

fooker wrote: post #363
TeMPOraL wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised I haven't yet heard of companies who would handle this for you, like there are e.g. for handling the process of getting compensation when an airline screws up scheduling or loses baggage, etc. I'm guessing there isn't enough money to be won there for them to be able to survive off a percentage of it.

A hypothetical company that can do this, would also be capable of handling much more lucrative class action suits.

But they also have competition in the class action suit space but less so in the small claims case.

In some jurisdictions you have to show up to small claims yourself though which prevents some third party from just handling it. Makes sense since the idea behind small claims is to keep the legal costs low enough that you actually have a chance of recovering smaller sums without paying more then what you will get.

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

#608

Post by account42 »

jtbayly wrote: post #494
mikestew wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The first thing that would happen is they would cut off all your service. 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,…

That's why you never deal with walled gardens.

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

#609

Post by account42 »

calmbonsai wrote: post #562
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…

Agreed. With any such service, I budget 1 hour. If I can't get cancellation within that time-frame I have a standard form letter that gets sent out. Once the letter is sent, after the current billing cycle ends any additional charges from said service are disputed (either on the card or on bank account) as fraud. On three occasions, I've been asked to provide proof of fraud. I've emailed a scan of the cancellation le…

Exactly, except one hour is way too generous. If they don't provide a better solution (five minutes tops) then they can deal with paperwork.

Companies like to pretend that they can set the rules for all interactions with them when that's just not the case.

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

#610

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

pertymcpert wrote: post #603
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be more to that story. Remember that Japan is a very socialized country, so CoL expenses are not what they are in the US. I have a friend that basically shops as part of her job. She has been power-shopping, mostly in Europe (dream job, I suppose), for decades. She tells me that she runs into the same sales associates, year after year, and has watched them “grow up” over years. So it seems to be possible, at le…

Most retail workers in Europe don't make a career out of it by choice. I can tell you that for damn certain.

That actually goes for most jobs.

HN folks are privileged. We have careers that interest us, engage us, and reward us.

That's not the norm, in this world. I'm grateful for my career. I know quite a few folks that make excellent money, doing jobs they hate. In my mind, that's kind of a nightmare.

https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/icon_uk/11800056/855574/8555...

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