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California Ending Hidden Consumer Fees

This just amazes me that they are straight saying "but if we can't completely misled the customer they will spend less, we should be allowed to legally defraud our customers."

"If it's in the core price of the menu, there will be a pullback" in patrons' spending, she told NPR shortly before the attorney general released the guidelines. "There are some people, I think, that are hoping that the restaurants will just absorb that cost, because we've seen people say, 'Oh, it's too expensive with the service charge.' "


Under the new guidelines, Thomas' organization said in an email to NPR, restaurants will be forced to impose "significant menu price increases." And if customers eat out less, it warns, "Not only will restaurants struggle, but workers will lose hours and jobs."
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K1052 said:
This is up there with "resort fees" of stuff that should be prohibited. Show the actual prices.
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All added on fees are an attempted to mislead the customer. Businesses hope by the time they realize the real cost is much higher that they are already emotionally attached to getting the product. Resort fees, specifically, were designed to make price comparisons very difficult.
 
Zorba said:
This just amazes me that they are straight saying "but if we can't completely misled the customer they will spend less, we should be allowed to legally defraud our customers."
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It doesn't truly amaze you though, business interests and Chambers of Commerce have been spouting this kind of horseshit forever. If it's not unfettered capitalism, then it's evil socialism. 🙄

"Nice neighborhood you got here, shame if anything happened to it."
 
Zorba said:
All added on fees are an attempted to mislead the customer. Businesses hope by the time they realize the real cost is much higher that they are already emotionally attached to getting the product. Resort fees, specifically, were designed to make price comparisons very difficult.
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Yep, and this is why it should be banned across the board as you said. It's predatory and targets the human psyche in proven ways to make them spend more.
 
Freedom for a lot of right-wing authoritarians is a woman being stuck with their decision to have sex with someone who isn't them, along with the ability of grifters to take as much money as possible from someone else's grandma.

It's why a place like Commiefornia gets so much shit and an absolute utopia like Alabama gets so much praise.

In Commiefornia, a woman can control her own body even though the right-wing authoritarian believes that woman should be forced to do whatever that right-wing authoritarian personally believes that woman should do with her body. Commiefornia has taken away that right-wing authoritarian's freedom to dictate what that woman does with her body in that matter. Freedom: usurped.

Meanwhile in Arkansas, the right-wing authoritarian's personal belief system Trumps the bodily autonomy of some woman who didn't have sex with them. That's their version of freedom and they're going to fight for it to apply to the rest of the country. Go MAGA.

Commiefornia also steps in to protect someone else's grandma from being defrauded of her life savings, while that right-wing authoritarian would very much like to defraud someone else's grandma of her life savings, because Mammon blesses the greedy with wealth, and the version of Mammon that they worship is put on a pedestal and dressed up like Jesus. Commiefornia is therefor in violation of God's will.

But in Alabama, it's still open season on someone else's grandma. God is pleased.

Of course, for the very few conservatives who have any integrity left at this point, once it becomes their mistress who is pregnant and their grandma who gets defrauded, there will be a storm of crocodile tears and a coming-to-Jesus moment where they back down from calling for the execution of doctors who perform abortions, and a slight backing down from full-throated support of the organization defrauding their grandma and giving them campaign contributions from the profits.

But there are very few conservatives left who have any integrity. The number gets smaller and smaller by the day.
 
Pens1566 said:
The two worst examples I can think of for this are cable companies and wireless carriers.
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We have my entire family and the in-laws on our T-Mobile wireless plan. 4 of us updated our phones last Christmas and got credits applied for turning in our old phones. (Get $700-$800 off if you turn in a phone)

It took us (2 NASA engineers) 3 hours last night to figure out how they applied credits when our bill recently changed. Pretty much every other month they change how they are applied. Different lines get a month credit applied or sometimes a phone that had 10 more $20 payments is just paid off but still has a $17 credit.

After figuring out the math it looks like they dropped a $33 per month credit on one line that should have still had several months left.

I’m sure fucking with the bills makes them money when they “accidentally screw up” because not everyone is an engineer and can take several hours to figure out WTF they are doing.
 
Paratus said:
We have my entire family and the in-laws on our T-Mobile wireless plan. 4 of us updated our phones last Christmas and got credits applied for turning in our old phones. (Get $700-$800 off if you turn in a phone)

It took us (2 NASA engineers) 3 hours last night to figure out how they applied credits when our bill recently changed. Pretty much every other month they change how they are applied. Different lines get a month credit applied or sometimes a phone that had 10 more $20 payments is just paid off but still has a $17 credit.

After figuring out the math it looks like they dropped a $33 per month credit on one line that should have still had several months left.

I’m sure fucking with the bills makes them money when they “accidentally screw up” because not everyone is an engineer and can take several hours to figure out WTF they are doing.
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The truth is wireless billing systems are a fucking shit show. Almost everyone uses the same backend (Amdocs) and it's a very complex combination of factors that go into a bill add various equipment deals on top of it and getting the right shit in the right table for the right customer is more of a challenge than it should be.

When I was at Sprint we used to also have many different prices for the same device based on your credit rating at the time and that added even more complexity to it.

So yes there is a reason it took NASA engineers to read your bills. I can't wait to see how t-mobile fucks up Mint Mobile which they just acquired.
 
California making these not hidden, is a start but I think among the worst are hotel stays.

www.frommers.com

California Bans Deceptive Resort Fees: See What's Affected and When

The essential destination for planning the perfect travel excursion. Read candid, AI-free, timely articles from Frommer's travel guide experts, browse…
www.frommers.com www.frommers.com

Check out Las Vegas. It's maybe the worst of all the hotel fees.


www.frommers.com

In Las Vegas, Now You Have to Look Closely at Your Bill for Hidden…

Seemingly overnight, casino owners have found a new way to hit the jackpot: hidden fees. Sometimes, no one can even tell you what the charges are for.
www.frommers.com www.frommers.com
 
esquared said:
California making these not hidden, is a start but I think among the worst are hotel stays.

www.frommers.com

California Bans Deceptive Resort Fees: See What's Affected and When

The essential destination for planning the perfect travel excursion. Read candid, AI-free, timely articles from Frommer's travel guide experts, browse…
www.frommers.com www.frommers.com

Check out Las Vegas. It's maybe the worst of all the hotel fees.


www.frommers.com

In Las Vegas, Now You Have to Look Closely at Your Bill for Hidden…

Seemingly overnight, casino owners have found a new way to hit the jackpot: hidden fees. Sometimes, no one can even tell you what the charges are for.
www.frommers.com www.frommers.com
Click to expand...
I think Vegas invented the resort fee. The last time I stayed there, the TI had just implemented and everyone was fighting with the front desk about it. Every time since then I've looked into going to Vegas, I get to the total price that is double the quoted price and I say forget it.
 
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