Are you sick of add on fees?

[BleedingOrange]

I absolutely hate any add on fees. I also hate seeing commercials stating on tv you can by a new truck for 40,198, and then in fine print so small you need a magnifying glass to be able to read it, even if they gave you more than 5 seconds to read a paragragh. I,ve always used the KISS principle, and wished the lawmakers would clamp down on these scammers. How about all the info has to be in the same size letters, and then also state that they price they flash up on the screen must be the exact same price you can buy the vehicle for, plus local taxes. I guess that would be to easy, and wouldn,t dupe enough people into thinking they are getting a great bargain, when actually they are getting shafted, without even a hug or a kiss.

 

[TnAndy]

Wife and I spluged on a cruise for our 25th anniversary some many years ago...turned out to be two crusies in one....first and last.

Everybody but the captain had their hand out for a required 'tip'. They must not pay the help anything.

Iced tea was included with food, but a Coke was $3 (and this was 20 years ago) with an added tip of 50 cents, even if you went and got it yourself. I then figured out how to tell a "veteran cruiser".....they were the ones in the cattle chute to get on board with a case of soft drinks strapped to their luggage !

Every kind of alcoholic drink was extra, every kind of activity on board or in ports was extra. All this went on a bill they stuck on your door knob the night before we got back. I get up early, so I walked up/down the hall glancing at the various bills hanging on the doors.....many of them were for as much as we spent on the cruise package to begin with !! Ours was couple hundred for soft drinks, some skeet shooting off the poop deck, and couple hours of snorkeling at a port.

Nope.....decided next time I think about going on one, I'll get a whole bundle of dollar bills, sit beside the creek and fling them in one by one. More entertainment for less money.

 

[Sigarms]

Nothing in life is free.

With the advent of the internet and with everyone looking for the cheapest possible trip, add on fees are nothing but inevitable.

When looking for a product you generally have 2 variables to consider, shipping and sales tax.

Don't blame the travel industry, but they seem to have odd taxes on top of everything else that only adds to the increased price due to variables.

Is is any different from those 70's commercials where something costs you $20, but it's $19.99 for shipping and handling when shipping back then only cost $5? But wait, if you order now, we will ship another one for FREE!

No different than buy one and get a second item at the equal value or less for 50% off. All they're doing is knocking off 25% off when they know they have more gross margin to spare to begin with.

What's the old saying? BUYER BEWARE

 

[Oaktree]

I like this. The best vacations wife and I ever had, and taking weird roads.
Interstates are boring as heck.

Seeing America from a car is better than a window seat on a plane. I知 done with flying.

I haven't been on a plane since the 80s when I was a field service engineer. It was bad enough then, can only imagine what air travel is like today.

As far as road trips, I'll do a mix of interstates and "blue highways". We'll do trips with only a vague destination and route in mind and play it by ear. Some places are sort of boring and you just want to get thru as quickly as you can, others are worth exploring. We'll usually take the interstates coming home...we're both generally traveled out and just want to get home.

When looking for a product you generally have 2 variables to consider, shipping and sales tax.

Don't blame the travel industry, but they seem to have odd taxes on top of everything else that only adds to the increased price due to variables.

Is is any different from those 70's commercials where something costs you $20, but it's $19.99 for shipping and handling when shipping back then only cost $5? But wait, if you order now, we will ship another one for FREE!

No different than buy one and get a second item at the equal value or less for 50% off. All they're doing is knocking off 25% off when they know they have more gross margin to spare to begin with.

Hate to break it to you, but excessive shipping charges are still with us, especially with the smaller vendors who don't offer free shipping. Online specialty parts suppliers (ie-parts for ATVs, snowmobiles or small engines in general) are particularly bad for this...charging $20 to ship a $5 gasket that could have been put in an envelope and mailed for 50¢.

It would be nice if the fees (be it airline, hotel, cable company, whatever) were disclosed up front, especially the ones that are not optional instead of springing them on you at the end.

I always just considered the "buy one get one 50% off" as a semi-scam to get you to buy 2 of something you only needed one of.

 

[bcp]

Bruce

 

[tallyho8]

I'm sitting here looking at my phone bill right now.
Addons include:

Federal Universal Service Fee prorated .05
Cost Assessment Charge .27
LA Universal Service Fee 3.44
Sub Intrastate Charge .80
Federal Universal Service Fee 1.76
Federal Subscriber Line Charge 6.50
Federal Excise Tax 1.25
LA State/Local tax 1.39
Emergency 911 Service .66
Telecommunications for the Deaf fund .05

This just about doubles my advertised monthly rate.

 

[bunyip]

I had my car in for service. They did the typical, bring me the cabin filter and show how dirty it was. I said go ahead and change it. When I got the bill there was a $30 dollar charge for the filter and a $30 dollar charge for the installation. I told the kid I would pay for the filter but not the installation. He looked confused. I asked him why should I pay for the installation, if I said no to the filter you would have had to put back the old one anyway. We went round and round and I finally got my point across and only overpaid for the filter.

Doug in SW IA

had the same thing but $90 for the filter, bought one elsewhere for $20, watched youtube for 5 minutes then did it myself in 10 minutes, next one will be quicker

 

[Fuddy1952]

My Dad was Sears service manager for years. Back in the 60s he had this really good appliance repairman. He fixed a lady's refrigerator, she gets a bill a week later complaining to Dad. "The guy was here 10 minutes, whacked something with a hammer and I get a bill for $15!!!????"
Dad asked if it was still working....yes she said...still works...but $15.00 for that is crazy. Dad said "it was only $5 for whacking it with a hammer...but $10 extra to know WHERE to whack".
She paid the bill.

 

[pmsmechanic]

My minimum charge is one hour. I went to my buddies place to fix something...I don't remember what. His wife could talk a mile a minute...you get the picture.

I worked for about an hour and sent an invoice that read 1/4 time doing xxxxx and 3/4 time listening to Linda (his wife) beak off about it. He and I got a good laugh but she was a bit miffed. You'd think that it would have slowed down the commentary....but no!

 

[tallyho8]

Not exactly an add on fee but I broke the top link on my Kubota when I had removed the bush hog and was backing up and the link came out of the holder and fell on the ground and got bent. I went to the closest Kubota dealer and they wanted $165 for a new one. No way. I went on Amazon and bought a new generic one that looks like it is better than the original one. The price with free shipping was $29. I guess the other $136 was to paint it orange.