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.
charges
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.
Bank Of America Won't Let You Access Your Money
By 2.24.08
Silly Bill. He thought Bank of America would let him spend $5,800 on a home theater system just because he had over $10,000 in the bank. He tried to charge the system to his Bank of America Visa Platinum Check Card but was declined. Confused, Bill called Bank of America customer support for an explanation and had the sort of conversation that makes you want to drive a fork through your ear.
Barnes & Noble Error Leaves Gift Card Unused, Doubles Charges On Credit Card
By 2.21.08
It’s bad enough when a glitch on a retailer’s side screws up your method of payment, but Barnes & Noble took so long to investigate and respond to one customer’s emails that by the time they acknowledged they’d made a mistake, they said it was too late to do anything about it.
ProFlowers Freezes Over $100 By "Verifying" Customer's Card
By 2.20.08
Anne tried to send some flowers to her stepmom last week, but changed her mind after she saw the final price, which at $64 was too much for her budget (the tulips she picked out were listed at $29.99, but all the additional fees doubled the price).
Watch Out For These 14 Hidden Hotel Fees
By 2.18.08
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.
FTD.com Delivers The Bill, Forgets The Flowers
By 2.16.08
FTD.com forgot to deliver flowers to Tip’s girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, but that didn’t stop them from delivering the bill. When calls to FTD.com didn’t go through, Tip launched the fearsome Executive Email Carpet Bomb. He wrote:
Perhaps $75 is not a lot to you. Perhaps the happiness of your customers does not mean a lot to you either. Perhaps, for a company that’s been around for nearly 100 years, you simply forgot to mark your calendar that yesterday was Valentine’s Day.
Dollar Rent A Car Charges $2.00 "Top Off Fee," Even If You Return With A Full Tank Of Gas
By 1.13.08
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Steven Dentali, who was charged the fee in October after renting a car from Dollar Rent A Car in Manchester, N.H. “I said to them, ‘You’re telling me I’m penalized no matter what? There’s no way around me having to pay something?'”
Watch Out For Mysterious $8.95 Charge To Your Account
By 12.14.07
A reader writes in that he noticed an unusual charge for $8.95 on his bank card recently. He looked up the number connected to the charge—866-305-8808—at the website 800notes.com and found that it belongs to some company called Eureka or EurekaInfo.net, and that there are others who have discovered the same unauthorized charge in recent days.
Charter Bills For Returned Equipment, Sends Account To Collections
By 12.8.07
Charter accused Kevin of failing to pay for unreturned equipment, even though Kevin paid his final bill in full and has a receipt for a returned cable box. Charter customer service representatives were happy to play whack-a-mole whenever the bogus charges for the equipment appeared on Kevin’s bill, but Charter eventually tired of the infuriatingly unwinnable game and sent Kevin’s account to collections.
U-Haul Gets Mad If You Follow Their Directions, Park In A Ghetto
By 8.5.07
Willie wasn’t sure why U-Haul told him to park his rental truck in a poorly lit, fenced-off gas station lot that was clearly under construction, but he figured he had the right place when he saw several other U-Haul trucks in a closed pen nearby; Willie parked next to the pen, locked his rental, and got the hell out of there; when Willie told U-Haul he returned their truck as per their instructions, “they try to tell us it is our fault and we would be charged for this….for what? For doing exactly what they said. Exactly.” Now U-Haul wants $1,700:
Oh, You Use Quicken Or Microsoft Money? That'll be $5.95 Per Month
By 5.12.07
Wachovia is charging customers a $5.95 monthly fee to access their accounts through Quicken or Microsoft Money. The fee, which took effect April 1, aligns Wachovia with the 27% of banks that penalize consumers who access their accounts through money management software.
NYC Human Rights Commission Drops Charges Against Chinese Restaurant
By 5.2.07
The case of the Wisconsin man who filed a complaint with the NYC Human Rights Commission has come to a close with the commission dropping charges against the restaurant. In the original story, David Lopez, a tourist from Wisconsin, noticed that other (Chinese speaking) customers in the restaurant were given rice with their meals, but when Lopez asked for rice with his dinner he was told that he would be charged $1 extra. “Being Hispanic, we both like rice,” said 46-year-old Lopez. “We saw other customers getting a different menu. We were told we could order from it if we spoke Chinese.” The Chinese menu had prices that were, on average, $1 cheaper per dish.
Verizon: "No, We Won't Suspend Service," Suspends Service
By 3.14.07
Verizon accidently charged Michelle $480 for nights and weekends that should have been free; correcting the problem was a nightmare. Michelle worried the erroneous charges would be deducted from her account through Verizon’s autopay. Verizon told her to cancel autopay and assured her no money would be withdrawn, even though her online account showed a pending charge. Two days later, worried about the charge that was still pending, Michelle tried to stop the payment through Verizon; she was referred her to the bank, which promptly sent her back to Verizon.
Jiffy Lube's Underhanded Charges
By 3.4.07
Jiffy Lube charged Carlo for an oil change. They even warned his car suffered from a transmission fluid leak and an excessive oil leak. Only one problem: They hadn’t looked at the car.
When I came back, they told me that my car was ready and even pointed out that my car had a transmission fluid leak and excessive oil leak. They even said that they replaced my filters and window wipers. I agreed to the charges and paid for it. After five minutes, the cashier comes back and tells me that my car hasn’t been serviced, yet.
Carlo’s car was a chameleon. They thought the car was green, even though Carlo told them it was “bluish-green.” Well, that explains everything. Carlo had been a Jiffy Lube customer for six years. Now, he will service his car elsewhere.
Airline Rebooks, You Pay
By 12.12.06
Two weeks before our departure, American contacted me and said it needed to rebook me because of a scheduling change. My new itinerary had me flying on SN Brussels Airlines instead of Swiss. I asked if I needed new paper tickets and was told “no.”
U-Haul Keel-Hauled Over Gas Charges
By 10.9.06
Everyone hates U-Haul lately. From booking appointments and then not honoring them to charging you for canceling bookings that you didn’t want, the company tops our long list of scummy corporations.
