New, Improved.. For Your Benefit

Ok, this is just getting far to common, and it’s making me angry. Just how stupid do companies think we are when they introduce a change to their practices that are clearly designed to help them or make them more money, but they announce them as a great step forward for their customers?? Particularly when they actually make things more of a hassle for these same customers?

Two examples;

1/ Paypal - by default Paypal will debit your nominated bank account (which they insist you give them). If you want to charge something to your credit card you’ve got to jump through hoops. “Have you though of the benefits of debiting your bank account?” It asks. “It is debited immediately!” Ummm, how exactly is that an advantage, I ask? If I charge it to my card I get up to six weeks credit free. That’s six weeks interest in my bank account. Not a big deal, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Clearly Paypal want me to use the account debit because it’s cheaper for them, as they avoid the credit card charges. But nowhere will you find them admitting that. But it’s fine. I can understand why they’d want to avoid those charges. Just stop trying to sell it to me with bullshit about it being for my benefit? Ok?

2/ Microsoft - “Genuine Advantage” they call it. Now, in order to get the security updates to fix the holes in their operating system, you are coerced into enrolling in their 'Genuine Advantage" scheme. This is a great improvement, they tell us, because it lets you check if you have “Genuine” copy of Windows. Sorry guys, I already know my copy is genuine. And I can bet that 90% of those who have a pirated copy already know that too, and the other 10% don’t care and can’t do anything about it anyway. So to get this “Advantage” of not getting attacked through security holes, I have to tell Microsoft everything about the computers I’ve the nerve to be using their software on. Great, this is sooooo going to benefit me. :rolleyes:

Clearly this new scheme is a way for Microsoft to monitor who’s ripping them off with pirated systems, and create a lovely, big fat database on it. But nowhere will you find them admitting that. But it’s fine. I can understand why they’d want this information. Just stop trying to sell it to me with bullshit about it being for my benefit? Ok?

Yeah, so my point is; I don’t mind (much) if a company changes things for their benefit. If I don’t like the changes, I’ll go elsewhere. If you were honest about why you’re doing it I’d probably be fine with it. But when you feed me bullshit I’m much more inclined to deliberately avoid falling in line. I’m contrary like that. Now I always charge to my credit card, and take extra steps to bypass ‘Genuine Advantage’. Just to prove my point. :mad:

I agree with you.

Most of the antipiracy initiatives put in place by software and entertainment companies do more to inconvenience legitimate users than they do to prevent copyright infringement. And we, as consumers, need to start making clear to these companies that we’re sick of having our lives made more difficult when all we’re doing is trying to legitimately use a product that we’ve paid money for.

And so much for Microsoft’s security.

One of my personal favourite instances of this came when I was in University and lived in residence. The first year, washing machines were $1 and dryers were 75 cents (or possibly I have that backwards, it’s been awhile). Second year, they raised the price on dryers to $1. Fine, whatever, prices go up, I can deal with it.

But then they hung up signs that said approximately ‘For your convenience, we’ve changed the price of dryers to $1 so you no longer need both loonies and quarters to do your laundry.’

I don’t mind being charged more money, but being charged more money and lied to, that I didn’t much care for.

IIRC some frozen soup product, ‘Tabachnik’s’ perhaps, reduced how much soup they sold per package and kept the price the same. They claimed it was a response to consumer requests. Now, maybe it’s true they were asked to provide smaller serving sizes, but I’d bet they weren’t ask to be charged the same amount for the lesser size.

NEWSFLASH: Companies bullshit you to make more money!

THIS JUST IN: Dihydrogen monoxide is found to be wet, drinkable! Film at 11.

“For your convenience, our grocery carts have been equiped with an anti-theft measure that will lock the rear wheels if the carts are removed from the store.”

Don’t piss in my corn flakes and tell me it’s sugar.

Yeah – do hotels really expect me to believe that they stopped washing towels and bedsheets every day because they’re Concerned About The Earth[tm]? :rolleyes:

Those signs make me want to wipe my butt with the washcloths.

My biggest peeve is when a bank advertises “Free online banking!” Ah yes, because you were going to charge me to lower your overhead by reducing the number of tellers and eliminating paperwork. What a relief!

I’m with y’all on everything else, but this one is for our convenience. I find it convenient to actually have a shopping cart there to use because they haven’t been stolen. And I find it convenient to live in a neighborhood that isn’t strewn with stolen shopping carts.

Well, isn’t as strewn with stolen shopping carts

At my bank, they had the following signs posted inside and on the drive-thru stations:
In order to serve you better, we have modified our banking hours!
followed by the times that the lobby and drive-up will be open.

All they did was reduce the hours that the bank is open. It’s insulting that they say that it is to “serve you better”, expecting us to be pleased with reduced hours of business.

Along the same lines -

I had a free image hosting account at Sony’s ImageStation. Then I get a breathless e-mail announcing that hey wow, I have been signed up for a Silver Account absolutely free for six months! This account has approximately the same benefits as I had before; the only difference being that six months from now, I have to pay for it.

It’s OK to announce that you’re going to charge me for a formerly free service and give me a six-month grace period. But don’t try to con me into thinking I’m getting some special deal out of it.

What exactly are you trying to say? That the fact that a lot of companies lie to make more money means that it isn’t pit worthy to complain about it?

If someone posted a pit thread about how their brother was brutally murdered in a robbery, would you leap in and exclaim “NEWSFLASH: Convenience stores are robbed frequently! THIS JUST IN: The sky is blue!”?

While I too find those signs inspirational, I have to recommend against this. The environmental benefit of saving the trees used to make that toilet paper would be significantly outweighed by having your face smell like your ass for the rest of the day. Instead, I suggest just scooting across the carpet when you’re finished.

Dannon Yogurt reduced their always-8 oz. yogurt to 6 oz, but kept it in the same 8 oz container. And put a large blazon on it reading “Now With Room For Your Mix-Ins!” Do they provide the mix-ins? No. We are supposed to be grateful to them for selling us air at the price of yogurt. (In fact, the price went up a bit at my market, but that may just be the yogurt market doing it’s thing.)

I don’t know about you, but if I need to add my own granola that badly, I’d rather eat two bites of yogurt to make room for it.

Flying from Honolulu to Columbus, GA, I had a layover in Atlanta before I could catch the puddle-jumper to Columbus. It is almost time to board when I hear an announcement that the flight has been cancelled due to bad weather in Columbus. The next scheduled flight is in an hour, and will put me very close to missing the funeral that is the reason I’m flying in the first place.

I call my husband to tell him my new arrival time. He says “What bad weather? The sky is blue here.” He was at the house I’m sitting in now, which is less than two miles from the airport.

I understand not wanting to run a plane for two passengers. I don’t blame you in the least for cancelling the flight. Just don’t fucking act as if I am stupid enough to have forgotten the bad weather that was miraclously gone in an hour.

Fucktards.

When Purina reduced thier 40# bags of dog food to 37.5# I wrote them a letter explaining this was the sole reason KevDog would be adjusting to a change in diet, and suggesting the sack the idiot who sold managment on this stratagy. Sure they make about 2% more profit (assuming thier packaging and distribution cost is the same) but I have to go buy dog food a couple days sooner. They wrote me back with an explaination of how this was in reaction to consumer feedback, and here’s a cupon for a $1 off on your next purchase. What utter bullshit…Lie to you, and we’ll prorate the dog food we no longer put in the next bag.

FWIW, the new brand has recently enlarged thier large bags from 40 to 50#. Actually, now, I wouldn’t want them much bigger, as that is about as much as I want to throw on one shoulder and hump from the car to the house…but Purina’s 6% reduction in weight didn’t suddenly allow petite female customers to carry the bags.

On the Danon yogurt thing: I have actually written to companys that sell natural style peanut butter suggesting the provide oversized jars. The stuff at the bottom can be come like concrete, and getting it stirred without spilling the oil on the top is a royal pain. Note I am saying make the jar bigger, not put less in the existing jar.

Yep, makes sense. Or you can store the jar on it’s top, which makes it much easier to mix up, since the oil is then at the bottom when you open it, and the concrete is easier to break through from the top.

And if they had changed the container shape or size and reduced the cost of the yogurt, I’d have been fine. But what a jolt to open the pack and see an inch of space - I thought the yogurt had dried out or something weird!

That’s why they give you more than one washcloth. Also, why do I suspect you own a dog?

What about the new Yahoo ‘service?’ Web-Beacons, these pretty new ‘cookie’ like items which allow computers other than Yahoo’s servers connect to your computer and read (and use) Yahoo’s cookies. Great. At least they give you an option to ‘opt out’ (never mind that when you click to opt out, it leads you to a page where the normal “continue” button is instead a “cancel opt out” button. Sneaky bastids!)