Businesses who mostly make money by tricking people and adding hidden fees

In My Humble Opinion
61

Propane – no tricks or hidden fees, but they have renters over a barrel (or a tank) and they know it and some of the companies are gouging. They aren’t regulated like a utility.

If you own your tank, you can use any propane company’s gas so you can shop around for the best price. Tanks cost about $500. Most renters aren’t going to own their tank so they’re stuck with the company that owns the tank. Prices range from about $1.50 to $3.00 a gallon.

This is finally making the news around here, and maybe the legislature will try to do something about it. One of the TV stations reported a couple weeks ago about people living in a trailer park who were paying over $300 a month to heat a smallish trailer. Some companies won’t deliver less than 100 gallons ($300) and renters have to pay up front. There’s no budget plan if you’re a renter. If you run out of propane, you’re out and you have no heat or hot water. Public utilities have to abide by certain rules before turning off gas, electric, and water, but not the propane companies.

My little town recently changed propane companies. Ferrellgas (the old company, the one that charges $3.00 a gallon) wanted to charge us $80 to come and get their tank. WTF?

Some of the local propane people will work with people to make it easier on the budget, but some (Ferrellgas, one of the biggest) won’t.

62

Hotels, at least those catering to international travelers, are famous for this sort of devious behavior. CNN International does a piece on the subject every year or so. The last one I read mentioned a “dish fee” added as a separate charge for room service. Generally what happens is the journalist insists on an explanation for the moronic charge s/he has spotted on the bill, no one can explain it satisfactorily, and after some argument the charge goes away. But not always. I mean, no one can EVER explain the moronic charge, but sometimes hotels flat-out refuse to remove it.

63

A friend I play tennis plays the same scam back at some of these big firms.

He signs them up for a $10-20 / month advertising spot on his website - it covers local amenities and services - and adds a clause that renewal is automatic.

He figures that the larger the company, the less likely it is that someone will notice $20 / month going out.

Sign up 100 companies, and it’s an easy $2000/month for zero effort.

He doesn’t bother with smaller firms, because it’s likely that someone will check.

64

Oops, I had the amount wrong. It was $2/month for “shortfall charge” if I didn’t use at least that much long distance. $2.18 with tax. But I think the amount went up recently. Loading my archived bills on their site was taking forever, I got tired of looking.

But I am paying $6.50/mo “interstate tax” right now, even though my phone is ONLY for making local calls.

65

He’s right. When I was doing Accounts Payable for a medium-sized company I discovered a few of those. Bogus $50 yellow pages ads were popular then (before the Internet). There was one who claimed to be advertising “to the minority community”. That one was $600 IIRC (which was a smart cutoff because at $601 you’re supposed to make sure they’re incorporated or you have to send them a 1099 at tax time). I was like, send me the magazine. Not just my tear sheet. For $600 I think we ought to get a free magazine. That was the last I ever heard from him.

66

Damn it! I knew someone would get me started on THEM!

Years ago, I answered an ad for a “1.9%” VISA from them.

The rate was supposedly good for 16 months, I had a major purchase coming up that I could pay off in < 16 months with an anticipated tax refund, so I went for the 1.9%.

Every monthly bill I received from them resulted in the same phone call, “I’m supposed to get 1.9% until next July, so why am I being billed 18%?”
They always promised an adjustment and next bill reflected an adjustment for last month’s overcharge but tacked on a new 18% on this month’s unpaid balance!

I ditched them as soon as the IRS check hit the bank. And I got all sorts of phone calls from their boiler rooms trying to coax me back.

Of course, as luck would have it, my bank was taken over by WF and the problem I have with them is that despite the fact that they get my paycheck every 2 weeks and know it’s never late and never bounces (it comes from a State University, not ENRON or WorldCom, for Christ’s sake!), they won’t just sit for a day on a demand for an auto bill payment that arrives day before payday which will take maybe $10-$20 more than my balance to pay; and they won’t pay just as much as is on hand, and send the rest on payday, either. They have to take 100% out immediately and ding me $34.

I’ve called my car insurance, mortgage, utilities,etc. who are on auto pay and they all assure me that they bill the bank 3-5 days in advance of the actual due date and that if the bank says the money’s not there, they’ll try again on the actual due date. They also assure me that ALL the banks know that the first request for funds each months is not the FINAL request for funds.

But WF won’t tell them the money’s not there. And they won’t just give’em $50 immediately and the balance by the actual bill due date.They pay the bill immediately in full and ding my next auto deposit $34.

WF says, “Just because the money’s been there every other Thursday for eight years doesn’t mean it’ll be there next Thursday.”

However, their web site offers “Direct Deposit Advance” which charges $2 for every $20 borrowed. Gee, if it means exorbitant interest (called a service charge to get around usury laws), they believe you that the check is coming next Thursday, but otherwise…

If I even suspect that an auto payment request might hit the bank at the wrong time, I’ve got to call everyone who might bill me at that wrong time and ask that they not ask for money before next payday.

The creditors are all very accomodating, WF is not!

67

Hotels!!

My sister got in HUGE trouble with credit cards years ago, and doesn’t own one now.

Every time she travels, she calls the hotel, gets their price, says “I’m paying cash and have no credit card. The last hotel I stayed at wanted a deposit on the minibar, just in case I’d want a snack. Am I gonna need to bring extra money to leave on deposit with the desk for anything?”

And they always lie and tell her"No". And she always has to pony up $10-$20 a night for minibar deposit.

Get this! The hotels want their cash up front at check-in time. At check-out they always try to tell her her deposit refund will be in the mail “sometime within the next 10 days to two weeks”. Of course, being from MY family, she always plays the loud, obnoxious customer until she gets her cash. Bless her heart!

Another charge that nobody told her about on the phone was a $20/day surcharge for “energy usage” at a Marriott. She, of course, asked where the meters were so she could read them upon check-in and determine for herself whether or not she was using the whole $20. They,of course, told she could stay elsewhere if she didn’t like the charge.

She was travelling with our Down Syndrome-affected sister and thus in a bad position to engage in a pissing contest, but made sure she left the hot shower running, the minibar fridge cracked open with the controls to MAX, the AC to MAX, and all the lights blazing when she checked out.

That particular Marriott ended up at the bottom of the 9-11 rubble 2 weeks later. My sister said that those nice Puerto Rican chambermaids were probably found with the prick manager’s shoeprints on their faces as he scrambled to save his own ass.

68

I used to send credit card payments by check. Every month I got late fees. When I called them they said check handling took time and it was after the late date. It was not about when it was sent or received. I sent 5 days early . Not good enough. I sent 10 days early. Not good enough. Screaming on the phone did no good. They were thieves .

69

What the heck are you supposed to pay your bill with then?

70

One time, when my flight was delayed so long that the airport had to put me up in a hotel, I decided to try this. They wanted a credit card for the room. I claimed that I didn’t have one. They wanted a debit card. I claimed that I didn’t have one. They wanted a cash deposit. Sorry, I’m flat broke, and I wasn’t planning on stopping anywhere.

I could see the worry lines growing on the check-in clerk’s face, as he kept trying other options. Now, if I had just walked up to the counter, they could say “sorry, we require a deposit”, but this was on the airline’s dime. And they clearly couldn’t charge the airline if I drank the minibar food.

I eventually relented and gave them $20, just because it was taking so long, and I only had a few hours to eat and sleep as it was. I still kind of wish that I’d continued to insist that I was penniless, just to see what would happen.

71

Oh sweet Jebus… I feel like a fool for not even thinking of this one… I have a friend who got suckered by this last year, and I never even thought about it being a scam (To be fair, he and I have never talked about it, but I was there when it happened, and while I didn’t think it sounded like a wise investment, I also didn’t think he was gonna get shafted by it… )

72

etrade

When you first register, prices for individual trades seem reasonable. But there are “inactivity fees” and who knows how many others, and they’re deducted directly from your accounts without any attempt to inform you. I know people whose entire accounts got sucked away in that manner.

73

I make sure my main CC is one I can pay at a local Branch.

74

In 2002 the company I worked for got a new long distance plan for the business. It had monthly fees X and Y. In 2004, the phone company decided to eliminate those fees. BUT customers who signed on before 2004 had to phone them and ask for the fees to be removed from their monthly bill, otherwise those fees would just be charged for no real reason at all.

Okay, fine. But now you may ask: “Did they inform their customers?”

Closest they came to doing so was quite ambiguously in the sales pitch that’s always at the bottom of our statement.

“Get better savings on your business cellphone plan! Call your customer service representative! Good news! Fees X and Y have now been eliminated! To find out more, call your customer service representative! Why pay more for long distance? Call your customer service representative to find out how you can maximize your savings.”

We continued to pay fees X and Y until 2007, when I was asking about internet packages, and the sales rep said: “Oh we’re still charging you X and Y. No one ever told you, but we could have taken that off your bill three years ago.”

So bufftabby, our accountant and CEO made sure to read all the fine print before they signed, but sometimes the terms of the contract change and companies don’t go too terribly much out of their way to let you know about it.

75

Atmos energy (natural gas provider).

I used 61 cents worth of natural gas last month and I got a bill for $16.79.

Customer charge of $10.10 (no matter how much gas you use), $4.93 Rider GCR, a refund of a penny, and then $1.16 in taxes.

So even if you figure out how to decrease your usage, your bill never changes.

76

If you’re talking about VistaPrint, it’s a matter of your girlfriend not paying attention to all the little stupid offers they have when it’s time to check out. You specifically have to uncheck these offers, and it takes no time or real effort to do it, but you have to pay attention to what you’re agreeing to to catch them.

RickJay, this is why I use the city’s recreational gym facilities. $150/year and I have easy access to weight machines, cardio machines, classes, and themed open gym nights. I’ve never had to wait for a machine at this gym, the people are polite, the equipment is well-maintained and it’s not full of musclehead pretty boys who think that their awesome biceps make up for their chicken legs.

I’m looking at that stuff right now, and I’m lucky I found a restaurant out on a small island beach town that doesn’t play those games. I don’t have a food minimum or a drink minimum (places in the Orlando area start at $10k food minimum if the place is not a shithole), and I can iPod DJ the whole thing if I like with their equipment. Food’s good, buffet style but prices are very reasonable. The only thing I’m really sacrificing is that we won’t be in some completely secluded area and passerby might gasp! see me get married. :rolleyes:

Toho Water Authority bills me nearly $20 every month for sewer. Thing is, $10 or more of this every month is the fee for having a sewer, let alone just using one. Ridiculous

77

To get back to TLDROFNSJFHSKDOs OP, I would kill to be able to be bilked by Comcast for internet service. Out here in the boonies the only option I have is an abomination called one way cable. Count your blessings.

78

Hold on! Do you mean that they didn’t want to own their own business and make $70,000 a year part time? :o

79

Amen.

I once stayed a week at a Doubletree in San Diego on a business trip. I brought my laptop to check email via dialup from my room (this was before most places started offering free internet access). I checked the phone rates before doing so. They stated that calls not requiring a “1” before the number were free; otherwise, it was a long-distance call, at unspecified rates. Suspicious of sneaky phone charges added to hotel bills, I confirmed this with the front desk.

I had previously looked up several numbers for my ISP that it said were local to the hotel’s number. I dialed one of them (with no “1” before it) and it went through. I subsequently logged on for about 15 minutes every day I was there.

The morning I checked out, there was a $150 charge for the 60-70 minutes of local calls I’d made dialing up.

&%$*(#^&!!!

When asked the desk clerk what the hell was going on, he informed me that the calls I had made were ‘toll’ calls. I marched back to my room and brought the documentation that stated all calls were free as long as they didn’t require that I dial a “1” before the number. There was no mention of these so-called ‘toll’ calls.

He shrugged, and said he’d remove the charges.

For about a millisecond, I wanted to hug him. Then, I wanted to slug him. Fortunately, I did neither.

Business plan:

  1. Tack on hidden charges of $2-3 per minute on local calls

  2. Multiply by the number of travelers staying here each year with a flight to catch who won’t bother to check their bill

  3. Profit (Stealing underwear optional)*

How this is any different than, say, stealing money from my wallet while I’m sleeping, is beyond me.

Needless to say, I never stayed there again.

  • Allusion to a Dilbert strip.
80

If it’s anything like my Old Navy bill, I’m supposed to pay them either 5 or 10 bucks to process a check by phone. More if I want expedited processing.