In the rush to drop HD fees to attract new customers, DirecTV pulled a boner and forgot to remove the charges for at least one customer. Andrew says he called the company, reminded it of the oversight and got it to take HD charges off his account. [More]
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Yankees And Mets Among Baseball's Biggest Online Ticket Fee Gougers
By 6.23.10
A new study released by Rep. Weiner shows that Yankees and Mets fans are bleeding more than just their team colors, they’re also getting gouged with some of the highest online ticketing fees in baseball. [More]
Want To Board Your Flight Early? There's A Fee For That
By 6.18.10
There is apparently no end to the airline industries love of additional fees. At least the latest add-on to your ticket price isn’t for a privilege that had previously been free of charge. Instead, American Airlines has actually decided to add an option that may be worth the cash for some travelers — early boarding. [More]
Report: Growing Number Of Doctors Adding A La Carte Fees
By 6.7.10
Lest you think nickle-and-dime fees for services that were once free is the sole purview of the airline industry, a new report in USA Today claims that the more and more physicians in the U.S. are going the route of charging money for services they say aren’t covered by health insurance. [More]
FTC: Countrywide Mowed Your Lawn, Marked Up The Cost And Called It A Fee
By 6.7.10
The FTC says that Countrywide (now part of Bank of America) has agreed to pay $108 million to settle charges that the company “collected excessive fees from cash-strapped borrowers were were struggling to keep their homes.” So, what exactly did they do? Well apparently, while acting as a mortgage servicer, the company actually hired vendors to service properties after the homeowners had fallen behind on their mortgages, marked up the cost of the services (lawn mowing and property inspections, for example,) and then passed the cost along as fees. Doesn’t sound legal? It wasn’t. [More]
Keep PayPal From Using The Default ATM Debit Setting
By 5.25.10
PayPal exists to make money, not to help you. That’s why the unregulated money broker likes to ensure that when you pay with a linked account, you pay via the ATM debit card setting, because it’s cheaper for PayPal. Of course, that “savings” is sometimes deducted from you in the form of a transaction fee by your bank, but PayPal doesn’t care. If you want to change that payment method the next time you use PayPal, be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops. [More]
Senate May Break "Price Fixing" On Credit Card Swipe Fees
By 5.13.10
As the Senate debates the financial reform bill, one amendment may be good news for small businesses — though it could offer a mixed bag to consumers. The amendment, floated by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) would give small businesses more flexibility when it comes to working with companies like Visa and Mastercard that process credit card transactions. And it would give the government the ability to force processors to cut the rates they charge to manage debit card transactions to fees that are “reasonable and proportional to the actual cost incurred.” [More]
Are Pay-Per-View Hotel Movies Pointless In 2010?
By 5.12.10
LodgeNet provides pay-per-view movie services to hotels, and the company’s latest financial filing shows nearly a 10% drop in revenue in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period a year ago. (And that’s after a 19% drop in revenue from 2008 to 2009.) Travelers seem to be wising up to the high prices of hotel pay-per-view and are resorting to other ways to stay entertained. Now if only our laptops and smartphones could contain a mini-bar compartment. [More]
Man Gets 9 Ridiculous Wells Fargo Overdrafts Reversed
By 5.12.10
John got his account back in black after Wells Fargo had him paying for his rent twice and hit him with nine overdraft fees. He put a stop payment on his electronic check and wrote a paper one instead, but both went through and he was in the red. When he went to customer service, they would only refund some of the fees. Quivering with rage, he steeled himself and emailed the CEO and CFO. The next time he called back customer service, they reversed all the charges. Shazam! [More]
Verizon FIOS Pulled The Old Switcharoo On Me
By 5.6.10
Dave says he was lured in by the promise of a low rate when he switched from Cablevision to Verizon FIOS, but the bills have been much higher than expected and when he called to complain he was told the promotion he signed up for didn’t fit anything Verizon offers. [More]
Obama Administration Turning Out To Be Quite Expensive For Airlines
By 5.6.10
ABCNews has an article that contrasts the Obama administration’s handing of the airlines with the previous one — and one thing is for certain — it’s getting much more expensive to mess with consumers. [More]
Which Hotels Have Decent Wi-Fi?
By 5.3.10
If you want to pay out the nose for Wi-Fi, stay in a W hotel, says HotelChatter. The site has released its 6th annual report on Wi-Fi in U.S. hotels, and the W Hotel chain is named as the worst with no free lobby access and $15/day room rates. Other hotels that suck when it comes to wireless: DoubleTree, Four Seasons, Marriott, and Mandarin Oriental. [More]
Chase Charges $5 To Use Non-Chase ATMs Outside The U.S.?
By 4.21.10
Chase says this about using non-Chase ATMs: “$2 each for any non-Chase ATM withdrawal, balance inquiry or transfer. $3 per ATM withdrawal outside the U.S.” You might think that means it costs $2 in the U.S., and $3 outside. You’d be wrong. [More]
Calling Card Bills In 5-Minute Increments
By 4.19.10
Have you ever read the back of a calling card? This one takes the cake. I’ve seen, one and three, but this card billing calls in 5-minute increments. So if your call is five minutes and one second long, they’re going to deduct 10 minutes worth from the card. Yeeks. Better talk fast. [More]
Senator Schumer: 5 Airlines Commit To No Carry-On Fees
By 4.18.10
In the aftermath of Spirit Airlines’ announcement that they’ll be charging up to $45 for carry-on bags, five airlines have pledged that they won’t jump on the fee bandwagon. New York Sen. Charles Schumer said today that American, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways and JetBlue have told him they won’t start charging for carry-ons. [More]
Ticketmaster Charges You $2.50 To Print Your Own Ticket, $0 For Mail
By 4.16.10
Theoretically, companies charge you additional fees to offset costs of your more expensive choices. Or, to discourage or encourage certain behaviors. Ticketmaster, as usual, has a different idea. They charge you $2.50 for you to print your own ticket at home, and $0.00 to have them mail it to you. That’s a headscratcher, until you realize people printing their tickets at home are often last-minute people and if you’re in a rush you’re more likely to agree to additional fees if it gets the job done. [via Reddit] (Thanks to Bargaineering!) [More]
Unevenly Packed Bags Results In $1500 Delta Disaster
By 4.14.10
Reader Ariel writes in after Delta refused to let her check her bags curbside because one was 5lbs too heavy, despite the fact that her other one 10lbs under. She says she was told it was Delta’s policy that she couldn’t move 5lbs of her crap to the other bag. This set off a chain of events that cost her $1500. [More]
Spirit CEO Justifies Carry-On Bag Fees
By 4.13.10
Executives love to justify price increases or staff reductions by hauling out the customer service argument, because then any complaint you make can be framed as self-defeating. (“Don’t you want better service?”) On that note, Spirit’s CEO Ben Baldanza told travel blogger Christopher Elliott last week that the new carry-on bag fee is really intended to reduce gate delays. Remember to send a thank-you card to Baldanza. [More]
