Apparently I’m willing to pay not to encounter ads. A business model that Hulu and the Straight Dope have adopted. I’ve spent money on dumber stuff than not being irritated.
I learned over 35 years ago that when someone says “for your convenience,” it means “for our convenience.”
And AMEX has had a no-fee credit card for at least 20 years – it’s called “Optima.”
I’m surprised no one has bothered to mention extended warranties. Most big stores always try to sell them to you – at ridiculous prices (I saw one that meant I would spend more than it cost to replace the item). Yes, they’re pure profit for the company (so you’d think they’d do better offering them of a tenth the cost), but they are ripoffs. I’ve threatened to cancel a sale over it. After all, if they think their merchandise is such junk, I see no reason to buy it.
“Canadian Tire” isn’t a tire store? 
They tire of hearing that question.
It was supposed to be “Canadian Tired” but their lawyer fell asleep before finishing the trademark application.
I was wondering if people really shoplift tires.
:D:p Best bit of snark I’ve heard all week!
Which reminds me…CNN starts every hour, and sometimes every segment, with “Breaking News” and “Just In.” I no longer pay attention when they say that, so if something actually breaking happened, I probably wouldn’t notice until I switched the station.
(I often have CNN or another news channel on for background noise at home.)
Heh - at our old neighborhood, we came home to an ADT brochure stuck in our front door quite literally EVERY OTHER DAY for several weeks.
The setup: A neighbor was raped. So they were hoping to profit from everyone’s fear.
The punch line? The woman was grabbed in front of her townhouse, arriving home late one evening. Having an ADT system WOULD NOT HAVE HELPED.
Needless to say, we will never do business with ADT.
Note that another “business” approach, just before this (and not related to ADT at all, to be perfectly clear), was to actually commit the rape, then call the victim a few days later and attempt to sell her a security system. That one made the news when the victim in one of a string of assaults recognized the voice on the phone (kudos to her for remaining coolheaded and getting the police involved).
Wait, it gets even worse! At a major hamburger chain (I’ve blissfully washed my brain of any memory of which), at least at some locations I’ve seen, they now have their menus displayed on an array of huge TV monitors. One of those monitors, which shows a section of the menu, alternately displays that and advertising for their products.
So if you’re in the midst of looking over that section of the menu, it will suddenly disappear, and then you have to stand there and wait a few minutes before it comes around again to finish reading the menu. Not that’s dumb!
Costco and their goddamn free sample stations drives me up the wall. They set one up at the end of every aisle, in an already overcrowded store, cutting access to the aisle in half. Then all the idiot customers block the other half with their carts while they stop to partake.
If I can’t get there right when they open - when there are few people there, and the fucking sample stations aren’t set up yet - then I just won’t go.
I normally use long, unique, random passwords. If your web site disables pasting into the password field from the clipboard, my password will be shorter and easier to type (and guess).
If your web site disables my browser’s ability to remember and pre-fill my login info, I’m not going to opt for paperless statements. (Yes, I know all about the security issues, and I’m willing take that risk that any robber who steals my computer could view my water bill without having to type a password.)
Wow, how far do you drive every day? Even when I was driving a hundred miles a day, I only had to change my oil ever 3-4 months and the car was reliable for almost 250,000 miles. Is synthetic an option for your car?
I will never, ever consider using AT&T. Back when I first moved to AZ, I contacted them to get service set up. I sent them my deposit and got a phone number. I used that phone number on the resumes I sent out all over the place. When I moved in, the installer didn’t come out and of course nobody called me because I didn’t have a phone.
This was half my life ago, and I was poor. Cell phones were out of my price range. When I called them to find out why I didn’t have a phone, they told me that there weren’t any lines available.
Well then, why did you give me a phone number and cash my deposit check? That was to insure that I had a place in line for when the phone lines were installed. Would the number they gave me a month ago be the one they issue when I do get my phone? Oh no. That number probably won’t be available because they will have given it to someone else.
I also learned that the job I really wanted had tried to call me for an interview, but, yanno…no phone. Once I was able to afford a cell, I took unholy delight in calling AT&T and cancelling my service. I wasn’t rude to the CSR, but I was very clear that I was shutting my landline off forever because of the lies. The poor girl actually had to try to get my cell number from me, which didn’t happen.
Next they started flooding my mailbox, but I know how to deal with that. Put all of their crap into the return envelope and then drop it in a public mailbox.
What does more-convenient mean here? Additionally, the perks with an amex card are usually better in my experience.
Do you honestly think most people don’t do the math? All of this grumbling about merchant fees doesn’t matter to most people at all.
I’ll agree MC/Visa are more widely accepted. Seems about a third of the companies I deal with don’t take it. But one of my Amex credit cards has an unlimited 2% cash rebate on all purchases (and no annual fee, of course). I haven’t been able to find such a generous deal for any MC/Visa cards. So that would be an additional “plus”.
So, now that you know the “reviews” are 90% phony crap written by Angie’s sales reps who have never even talked to the business, you want to read MORE of them?
okayyyyy…
“Business policies” have driven me out of so many businesses in the past decade that I’d have trouble remembering them all.
Shouting hello at me when I come in the door,
Upselling everything constantly (oil changes, food, merchandise)
Hassling me to take another goddamned survey
Asking/demanding my email/phone/etc.
Too loud music or TV while I try to relax and eat
Constant interruptions (“Can I get you anything?”) at fast food restaurants
After a decade, my coworkers and I have abandoned our regular lunches during the week. The hassles, irritations, and constant ads and noise have driven us back to our brown-bagged lunch.
[old fart rant]
I’ve noticed a fundamental shift in the way I deal with businesses now, and I wonder if other older Dopers are feeling the same? I now approach businesses exactly the way I approach candidates for office; not which one I like, but which one I detest the least. Other than stopping by a local pizzeria for takeout, my wife and I haven’t eaten out once this year. Each time we consider it, we decide staying at home is easier and more enjoyable. We only enter businesses when forced by a need, never with any pleasure or anticipation.
[/ofr]
My favorite Publix does this, or tries to.
I mostly remember to bring my own cloth bags, which helps. I also say “Milk doesn’t need to be in a bag* and I don’t care if the bags are heavy, you can put everything together. Just please don’t squash my veggies.” And then I assure them that I don’t need help out to my car, and I go outside and rearrange the bags. If I have to use their plastic bags, I stop by the recycle bins outside to repack, and stuff the extras (there’s always at least two) in the rcycle bins.
** Why do they put the items with a nice sturdy handle into a little flimsy plastic bag???
The overwhelming evidence is that most people don’t do the math. They fall for the come-on and the promises, which are meaningless to about 90% of subscribers, and then pay several years or more of card fees before realizing they never really use the premium booking services or access to airline lounges.
Nope. Just like card fees and promises of glamour don’t matter to the merchants.
Discount store, fully loaded shopping cart, one person kept running back for more, and it was 11:00 at night.
Yeah, $288 took thirty minutes to ring up. It’s not like I’m selling high end, expensive stuff.
Those TV monitors at the pumps are annoying. The gas station near my office has them, and plays clips from Extra and I get really annoyed, and sit back in my car or clean up the trash from my car or do something else while they play and my gas pumps.
But you’re not hurting the station by getting your gas elsewhere and buying coffee there. Gas stations want you to buy food and drinks and other things inside, the gas is only an incentive to get you there in the first place. This article is a few years old, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same today. Gas stations make very little money on gas, this article says that with credit card fees they might actually lose money. Gas stations make their money with coffee and candy bars.