A woman who stayed at a Hyatt in Milwaukee last month was hit with an extra $250 charge for smoking in her room. The problem, she says, is that she has severe asthma–she offered to show Hyatt her prescriptions–and is not a smoker. When she complained to Hyatt, the hotel’s director of operations told her “the Hyatt had photographic evidence of smoking in the room and would absolutely not refund her money.” [More]
added fees
Nail Salon Charges Overweight Customers $5 More
By 8.23.10
A Georgia woman says a local nail salon padded her bill by $5, and when she asked what the charge was for, she was told it was because she was too fat for their fancy-fragile salon chairs: “[The salon manager explained] the surcharge was due to costly repairs of broken chairs by overweight customers. She said the chairs have a weight capacity of 200 pounds and cost $2,500 to fix.” [More]
Chase Invents $120 Annual Fee For Balance Transfer Customers
By 1.12.09
Some customers who transferred their balances to Chase were hit with a new fee this month: a $10 monthly surcharge just for having the account in the first place. This $120 annual fee is pure profit for Chase and doesn’t get applied to the balance. Oh, and they’re doubling the minimum payment as well, although the sooner you pay off your Chase credit card and close it, the happier you’ll be.
Comcast Apologizes For $2 Charge, Says It Will Make Sure CSRs Don't Do That Anymore
By 2.29.08
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.
Comcast Will Charge You $2 To Stop Sending You Junk Mail
By 2.29.08
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.
DirecTV Thinks You Need Protection Plan, Won't Take "No" For Answer
By 2.28.08
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:
- 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.
Read Brooks’ full DirecTV encounter after the jump.
