Companies that change policies to your detriment but acting like it's a favor to you

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

The fine folks at a moderately well known software company in Seattle, dedicated to removing features to make you buy more for nearly 20 years.

This is what you can no longer do with pictures in Office:

Photo Editor editing features not supported by Picture Manager

Effects Sharpen, Soften, Negative, Despeckle, Posterize, Edge, Chalk and Charcoal, Emboss, Graphic Pen, Notepaper, Watercolor, Stained Glass, Stamp, Texturizer.
Tools Smudge, Sharpen, Set Transparent Color.
Image Acquisition You cannot create a new image from a scanner or a camera. (In Microsoft Windows XP, the capability to create a new imagine from a scanner and a camera is built in Microsoft Windows Explorer.)
Image Fewer color correction options are available in Picture Manager 2003 than were available in Photo Editor. Specifically, there is no Gamma adjustment, and you cannot apply corrections to only one of the three color components, red-green-blue (RGB).
Properties You cannot explicitly specify the image resolution dots per inch (dpi) or the color depth of images in Picture Manager 2003.

I think somewhere in there is converting a photo to a monochrome line drawing, that I used to be able to do, dammit!

[Mama_Zappa]

@muldoonthief

From their website:

"The American Express Card has no pre-set spending limit, which gives you purchasing power that adjusts with your use of the Card and other factors. No pre-set spending limit does not mean unlimited spending. Purchasing power adjusts with your use of the Card, your payment history, credit card record and financial resources known to us, and other factors. "

Which I read to mean that every time you use it, they decide whether or not to allow the charge.

Yep. A friend of mine was deliberately spending less, in order to save up for a vacation. Then when she went to buy tix for said vacation, the charge was declined because it was outside her “normal” spending limit.

Fortunately she had another charge card she could use for the purpose.

[control-z]

@Mama_Zappa

Yep. A friend of mine was deliberately spending less, in order to save up for a vacation. Then when she went to buy tix for said vacation, the charge was declined because it was outside her “normal” spending limit.

Fortunately she had another charge card she could use for the purpose.

That’s amazingly stupid. Amex is a bad deal from the merchant’s point of view too, they take a higher percentage than Visa/MC/Discover, and from what I’ve heard it’s hard to calculate exactly what the merchant transaction fees will be.

[RealityChuck]

I loved when down in the Bahamas, all the menus said, “For your convenience, a 15% gratuity was added to the bill.”

Of course, the service was uniformly lousy in every restaurant that had that line. Waitstaff had no reason to do a good job so they took forever.

About that time, I noticed that some stores had signs that said, “For your convenience, please check your bags when you enter the store.”

These helped me formulate RealityChuck’s Law #17: “When a business says they’re doing something for your convenience, they’re actually doing it for their convenience.”

[BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]

@Mudshark

Being told we had to go to direct deposit on our paychecks, to save us time and to save the company on paper. Thing is, I didn’t wan’t direct deposit, as my bank used to charge a fee on direct deposit items. When I brought this up, they told me, go direct deposit, switch banks, or don’t get paid. Oh…and it’s actually using more paper now, as they send me a pay stub, and a deposit slip every two weeks. Way to go.

That bank policy blows ginormous throbbing veiny donkey dong.