Consumerist
M&T Bank
Posts Tagged “
Hidden Fees
”
M&T Bank
hidden fees
Accurately Compare Airline Fees With Handy Charts
Finding a competitively priced airline ticket is tricky enough without each airline having its own myriad of fees and individual policies. Fortunately, the Airfarewatchdog blog lists most of the fees for the major airlines in one place. Combine it with their checked bag fee chart, and now you know all the fees. This makes meaningful comparison much easier. Otherwise, you might have to go through the entire ticket purchase process before you could figure out your total including fees. They are also "the only site that lists low airfares on all airlines, including Southwest. And [they] include special fares that you can only buy on the airline's own sites."
Those extra airline fees, compared airline by airline [Airfarewatchdog]
Checked bag fees, airline by airline [Airfarewatchdog]
weird fees
Customer Gets Slapped With "Excessive Activity" Fee For Messing With Savings Account Too Much
John found himself the proud father of a $10 fine from WaMu this morning because he exceeded 6 transfers from his savings account during a single billing period. When he called in to find out why this happened, he was told it was a federal regulation: "The representative from Wamu said there was nothing she could do and I need to better monitor my account. Honestly I just want to know if anyone else has had this problem?" It's a real regulation, John, but banks don't have to charge a fine—they can also simply warn you or not allow the seventh transaction—but then they wouldn't get to make another $10 off of you. More »
bait and switch
Qwest Sells Woman "Cheaper" Package That Costs More, Has Unmentioned 2-Year Commitment, And Requires New Modem
Matt's mom, a longtime Qwest customer, called up the company to switch her long distance over from AT&T. The CSR suggested she switch over to a bundled package that would save her $11 a month and offer faster Internet connection speeds. What the CSR didn't mention was that the new package required a 2-year commitment, that it wouldn't work with her current DSL modem, and that it actually came out to about $3 more per month. More »
settlements
Judge Wants To Know Why 31 Law Firms Are Seeking A Cut Of The "Credit Card Hidden Transaction Fee" Settlement
Last year's class-action settlement against Mastercard, Visa, and several banks over the fees they charged customers who traveled abroad came up to about $336 million, and of that, 31 law firms are claiming a total of about $86 million for fees. The federal judge responsible for determining how much they get paid wants to know why. More »
subscriptions
KidsStuff.com Silently Charges $18 Subscription Fee To Grandparent Who Shopped There Two Years Ago
C writes in with another lesson on why you should check your statements frequently:Two years ago I purchased items for my grandchildren at KidsStuff.com. This month (March 2008) I found an $18.00 charge from them on my American Express card. I phoned the accounting department and asked what the charge was for. I was told that it was an "automatic" charge for "joining" the KidsStuff "club." Of course, I never placed an order to join any such club. The accounting department offered to reverse the charge to be effective in five days. I demanded a reversal show up by tomorrow and promised to advertise their automatic charges everywhere I could. Believe me, I am a big internet purchaser and this sort of rip-off shouldn't happen, especially after not having been on the site for over two years. The obvious lesson is to be sure you always go over every single charge on those credit cards. Those small $18 charges can add up to big money for unscrupulous companies.
More »
scams
Watch Out For Cramming On Your Phone Bill
Josh discovered a mysterious $13 fee on his parents' phone bill, and as he tracked down the source of the bogus charge, he learned a lot about cramming. The FCC describes it as "the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill" by third party companies, who bank on you being too confused/distracted/annoyed by your hard-to-read bill to notice. More »
hidden fees
If You Buy A Car (Okay, Truck) In Texas, Make Sure You Don't Pay The Inventory Tax
Texas levies an inventory tax of .02% on the retail value of all products in a company's inventory each year, but lots of car dealerships try to sneak the fee over to the consumer. Even worse, they do it year-round. A reader writes in to explain how you can argue your way out of it at the dealership.More »
In response to yesterday's post, another AT&T employee writes, "Just to clear up some confusion, AT&T may charge an administrative fee when paying your wireless bill with a representative. There is no charge to use the automated payment systems. The source for this is the tagline on my bill."
hidden fees
AT&T To Charge $5 For Payments Over The Phone In May
An anonymous AT&T employee who says to call him "Vernon" wrote in to tell us that starting next Tuesday, March 11th, some customers in the Southeast who call in to make a payment will be charged $5, with the fee going nationwide by May. He writes, "I feel this is taking advantage of our customers' trust, because even when we put it on all of their bills, and let people know, there will be tons of reps that won't let the customer know they're being charged for taking their payment." More »
settlements
AT&T Mobility Agrees To Refund Money To Florida Customers & Pay $2.5 Million To State's CyberFraud Task Force
Florida's Attorney General scored a victory for consumers last week, when AT&T Mobility agreed to refund fees that third-party vendors snuck onto thousands of accounts under the guise of "free" ringtones, wallpapers, and text content. They also agreed to hand over $2.5 million to help fund the state's recently-created CyberFraud Task Force, to spend $500,000 for "consumer education on safe Internet use," and to start policing third-party vendors better and make sure all billed items are clearly described. More »
surcharges
Budget's Free Frequent Flyer Miles Promos Will Cost You
Michael writes, " I was just reserving a budget rental car, and for some reason decided to actually read some of the fine print." Buried in the text was something called an "FTP Surcharge," which basically amounts to a participation fee for any frequent flyer promotion they offer their customers. More »
hotels
Reader ds143 wrote in with a reminder to ask hotels about added fees before reserving a room. He booked a six-night stay at the Comfort Suites in the Bahamas for his family of four without realizing that the hotel levied a $6 per person, per night "energy surcharge." The financial sucker punch set ds143 back $144.
More »
Comfort Suite's Shady "Energy Surcharge" Costs You $144
Reader ds143 wrote in with a reminder to ask hotels about added fees before reserving a room. He booked a six-night stay at the Comfort Suites in the Bahamas for his family of four without realizing that the hotel levied a $6 per person, per night "energy surcharge." The financial sucker punch set ds143 back $144.
More »
follow-ups
Comcast Apologizes For $2 Charge, Says It Will Make Sure CSRs Don't Do That Anymore
After we posted yesterday about Ian's surprise $1.99 fee for asking Comcast to stop mailing him junk mail, a Comcast rep contacted Ian and apologized for the confusion, explaining that the fee is real but "it is not for changing marketing preferences." Read his full email after the jump.More »
hidden fees
We don't mean to influence the "Worst Company In America" voting, but check this out: if you call Comcast and ask them to stop sending you anything other than your bill, they'll agree but quietly slap you with a $1.99 "change of service" fee. Like most made-up, totally indefensible fees from cable and cell phone companies, Ian found that a chat with a customer service agent can get the fee removed. Update: Comcast has responded to this and apologized for the fee.
More »
Comcast Will Charge You $2 To Stop Sending You Junk Mail
We don't mean to influence the "Worst Company In America" voting, but check this out: if you call Comcast and ask them to stop sending you anything other than your bill, they'll agree but quietly slap you with a $1.99 "change of service" fee. Like most made-up, totally indefensible fees from cable and cell phone companies, Ian found that a chat with a customer service agent can get the fee removed. Update: Comcast has responded to this and apologized for the fee.
More »
hidden fees
DirecTV Thinks You Need Protection Plan, Won't Take "No" For Answer
Brooks is a DirecTV customer, and he wrote in to warn other DirecTV customers to watch out for a shady "Protection Plan" the company signed him up for against his permission:Read Brooks' full DirecTV encounter after the jump. More »
- I was not told anything about a "standard policy" to sign me up for the protection plan upon having warranty work done.
- I specifically declined to sign up when pitched on the idea.
- I was signed up anyways.
- I received the letter stating that there would be no charge.
- They attempted to charge a cancellation fee for canceling a plan I never agreed to.
- I had to waste time and energy to haggle to get the charges off, when it really should have been a simple fix.
travel
Watch Out For These 14 Hidden Hotel Fees
Fodor's posted another helpful list of hidden hotel fees to beware of the next time you travel. In most cases, these fees fall under the practice of "negative option billing," meaning that there's an assumption you've used the related service and therefore agree to the charge. If that's not the case—or, in the case of gratuities, if you've already tipped—you should definitely ask the hotel to remove such fees from your bill. More »
dirty tricks
