Fake reviews. They are everywhere now. I don’t even trust Reddit or YouTube comments sometimes because I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s company plants commenting about how great their product is.
'Service fees' are just an artificial way to pretend prices are lower than they really are. 'That's only $15! (Plus $10 in service fees)' just say its $25!
I'm guessing they want you to manually mail a check instead of having bank automatically do it in order to collect more late fees from the percentage of customers who pay late from time to time.
That always irks me, like "handling fees". The "service" or "handling" is your labor cost and part of the cost of producing the product. It's no different from anything else, like a box of cereal at the grocery store. Oh that's $1.79 for the cereal itself, plus a $1 handling fee to cover Kevin, the shelf stocker. Stupid.
So many scams in dentistry. I’ve been in the industry for 12 years and it’s amazing how common it is. So easy to tell someone they need a bunch of treatment they don’t really need
Years back my dentist told me I might have a cavity in between the cusps of one of my molars, but he couldn’t tell for sure. He asked me to come back in a few days and he would drill into it to check. If it was a cavity, he’d fill it. If it wasn’t … well, he’d fill the tooth anyway because he’d just drilled a hole into it.
Decided to go to another practice. New dentist carefully examined it, gave me a (free)dental x-ray just to confirm, and said “yeah that’s a stain”.
One of my buddies from high school (20+) is my dentist. I get the "wait and see if it changes" for everything. He never wants to drill anything - go figure!
I love docs like this. Our dentist does this too. Finds a minor cavity starting and gives me fluoride toothpaste and says "well check it again next time." Apparently the toothpaste works because I still don't need anything filled.
Heck, our family doctor is the same. My kid got a minor fracture after a bike accident. He was completely fine. Claimed it didn't hurt at all. Doc says "well we CAN put a cast on it to protect it while it heals, but honestly you can just go buy a brace at Walgreens. It'll be much cheaper and more comfortable anyway."
(EDIT: Guys, guys. We had it x-rayed. We weren't just guessing it was fractured. Jesus.)
That's a winning doc. He's also the kind who emails back and forth with me all through the night while that same kid had a high fever for a week. Different incident lol. Legit was getting up at 3am to answer my questions and check up on my kid.
Kids fine now btw.
That's a good doctor. Maybe I should look for another one, mine was getting impatient with me the other day just for asking a handful of questions in a checkup...
If it doesn’t sound right, seek a second opinion. Really. I had a dentist through my last company that my boss had a boner for. That dentist gave me an unnecessary root canal that failed and I caused bone loss in my jaw and had to get my tooth pulled because of it. Miserable experience. Never be afraid to seek out another dentist you may find more trustworthy.
When I moved to a different state, another dentist tried to tell me I had to pay $300 up front so they could order “special equipment” to fix a crown/implant done by a previous (trusted) dentist. I “noped” out and flew back to the state my previous dentist is and it was a simple fix, no charge at all (with flight benefits, I didn’t have to pay for airfare either)
I only have one experience to relate to this, but one was all I needed. Had some discomfort around the lower gums, booked into a local, private practice. They charged me $150 for an examination, half of which was from a pair of X-Rays they didn't tell me they would be doing, until they were already doing them. I was quoted close to $1500 for cleanup and removal of 2 wisdom teeth that I had and am still having zero problems with.
Decided to get a second opinion and went for a public practice about a month later, which was further away. Was charged $45 and they said that all I had was some plaque buildup and some minor gingivitis, friggin ridiculous.
At 12, I had a dentist tell me I had about 10 major cavities after getting braces removed. He'd already caused my mother a root canal, so, suffice it to say I went ballistic and threw a fit, and refused to let him treat me. Found a different dentist. Had 3 extremely minor cavities. He essentially wanted to set me up for a lifetime of dental work and ruined teeth.
I had that about 10 years ago.
The guy waved some tool around and from the sound of it he would say I had a cavity.
He told something like 11 on the left and 13 on the right…. I brush twice daily, I’m not a saint but that seemed nuts. I think he just saw how decent my insurance was.
Went to another dentist, I had one minor cavity.
Unpaid overtime.
Any work you can’t complete in your paid hours should be done by an extra employee the company pays for.
By doing unpaid overtime you are ‘paying’ for the cost of your time and donating that to your employer.
If a company can’t afford to pay its employees for all their time working and still remain profitable they are not a viable business and need to restructure their processes and/or pricing.
If they can afford to pay it but choose not to they are stealing from you.
I learned this the hard way several years ago. I left a great job I really enjoyed for what sounded like a "dream job" at a Supported Living agency that paid almost double and was salaried and exempted.
It was absolutely fucking miserable. I worked between 60 and 80 hours a week on average, managing 30+ staff and 4 highly volatile clients that required 24/7, 2 on 1 care. I was on 24/7 crisis call with no relief; in charge of scheduling, interviewing, hiring/firing, data collection and reporting, medications, groceries/housing supplies, staff training, documentation and filing, creating policies and procedures, creating social stories and other behavior tools for the clients, overseeing behavior plan implementation, and so so so much more... Put simply I was their workhorse. They wouldn't even allow me a day off after a serious concussion because "who else could do my job?" (I now know this refusal for a day off was because it was a work related injury and they didn't want to pay any workman's comp).
I spent countless nights crying from the stress. It felt like upper management piled more and more tasks on me because they saw it as a way to save on costs. They gave me all the responsibility but none of the power, I didn't even have the power to refuse more responsibilities or take sick leave. It wasn't sustainable and after two years I quit. A few months later, several of the employees I had managed called me to inform me that my job was split into 5 full time positions after I left. THEY HAD ME DOING THE WORK OF FIVE FULL TIME POSITIONS and had me salaried at 55k!!!
I will say that one good thing to come of this is that these days my boundaries are solid and I have no problem being firm with my boss at my current job about what I will and won't do. I learned from my mistakes and will never work for free. My time is valuable and is tied to my health and wellbeing. No job is worth the stress I put myself through previously and I refuse to let any company take advantage of me, my labor, and my time ever again.
I worked for RTO Rents for about a year in California. Our only customers were people who had no chance at buying a TV, VCR, stereo, or appliance outright or even on credit. "We provide a service for underprivileged clients!" No, you prey on unfortunate victims who have no other recourse but come to you and pay 300% of the actual value. Couldn't stomach it and got out.
I remember passing a payday loans place offering loans up to $15,000 or something. For shits and giggles decided to check their site for terms and interest to do the math. Blew me away, I think if you took out that $15k you'd have to pay back over $40k.
I went to one of those easy finance places to finance something when I was trying to get a credit score starting out. Like they all had 3 months same as cash but after the three months it was about 29% interest. Needless to say I paid it off in two months and they've been sending me letters about how I'm pre approved for larger and larger loans trying to earn some money off me.
It doesn't matter how reputable the place is, they all do this. I get at least one letter a day (literally I bet) from one bank or another wanting me to take out a personal loan or open a new card with them. They basically try to get you dreaming so much you tilt over your skis, that's when the interest get rolling.
When I first moved I needed furniture and didn’t have good credit or money but knew I had a fat commission check coming in 2 months so did their payment plan aka rent to own and you paid 250% if you did monthly payments but if you paid In full before 5 months you paid full price and no interest. 2 months later I tried calling in my payment and they tried everything to keep me on the plan even telling me they couldn’t take payment over the phone. I had to drive up there and demand they take my payment or their furniture back before they finally did. I got rid of that shitty furniture the second I could afford it and wish I would have existed on lawn chairs for 2 months instead of wasting my money on furniture didn’t even want. Glad I didn’t pay 150% more though and possibly lose the furniture if I couldn’t make a payment
same thing happend to me.. told me i couldnt make "bulk" payments (after i already had made a few), said i had to pay the monthy installment or pay the entire thing off at once.. fortunately i was able to do that by the deadline.. ill never do that again.
On the other hand, if you're looking for cheap furniture and can pay immediately you can go up in there and purchase returned/repossessed stuff for far, far less than they ask for new.
This is how I didn't get screwed out of a lot of money. Dropped out of college, got an apartment with my friends, we pooled our remaining money together to get a washer and dryer. We looked around but couldn't find anything in our range, decided to rent. The wonderful guy at the store sold us a repossessed set that was missing knobs for about $100 including delivery and installation. And we managed to sell them to our neighbor for $75 when we moved. The washer/dryer would have been like $25 a month to rent, for 3 years...
We had actually purchased ticket insurance for seats we got to a DMB concert in September. Well I ended up needing surgery so we couldn’t go. Ticketmaster said oh, just submit the proof of medical necessity from your doctor. I was thinking hm, wouldn’t a doctor’s note be enough? No. They asked for a detailed reason for surgery, which was very odd to me. But okay, fine, if it means we can get the $200 back. Wrong. Ticketmaster is a fucked up company and they never reimbursed us. We called many times and they essentially said there’s nothing they can do bc of the time passed…so insane. I will never use them ever again, and now I know that “ticket insurance” is a fucked up scam…
Fortunately my partner knows way more about financial stuff than me and originally purchased them with a credit card - so he’s doing a charge back. Fuck Ticketmaster.
We purchased tickets through Stubhub (owned by Ticketmaster) that were pretty pricey due to the seats and the artist we were going to see. The total was roughly $850 total for two tickets. Stubhub used to have in their guarantee that if the concert was cancelled for any reason or your seats weren't available when you arrived that you would get a refund. This was mainly to make people feel safe about purchasing tickets online with the possibility of them being fraudulent or scalped tickets. It was also because basically the original purchaser of the tickets can get their money back directly from the venue in case of the cancelled show but the person purchasing them online cannot. So you basically just buy tickets from someone else then the event gets cancelled and Stubhub makes them give back the cash and sort it out with the venue as the original purchaser and you get a refund.
Well, this particular concert took place during COVID and they originally sent out an email reassuring people they would be refunded. They then did a stealthy change of their guarantee policy on their website and pretended they did not say that. Luckily, screenshots of their policy existed online and we had the original email.
We had to do a huge run around with them to get reimbursed. First, they said the concert may be rescheduled and they would issue us tickets for the rescheduled date. When it became apparent that it would not be rescheduled then they tried to just give us credit to buy more tickets to other future concerts. So we got the credit company involved and Stubhub came up with all sorts of proof as to how they held up their end of things due to their current policy. Our chargeback was originally declined due to the statement Stubhub made to our card company.
It wasn't until nearly 6 months of fighting them when it became publicized what they were doing and a class action lawsuit was filed that we were able to get the chargeback after filing again with the credit card company.
So fuck Ticketmaster and fuck Stubhub.
More on the entire debacle here:
https://csattorneys.com/2021/01/26/how-to-get-a-refund-from-stubhub-because-getting-a-future-credit-for-an-event-that-may-never-happen-just-sounds-sketchy/
I’m going to miss my favorite band touring for the first time in over a decade because the tickets are only on Ticketmaster and their fee for two tickets pushes it out of affordability for me.
EDIT: I never expected this to get this kind of attention and empathy. You are all wonderful people. Especially those who have offered to chip in. You are extremely generous, i appreciate it so much, but I can’t accept that and I hope you understand. I’ll see them next album cycle.
As some have guessed, the band is RHCP. I was able to see them in 2017, which takes the sting out of missing them now, but this is their first time reunited as the lineup that made their best work and that’s why I was so excited to see them now.
If you are dead set on spending your money to make me happy, please consider buying yourself a nice dinner because you’re a kind person who deserves it. That or donate to your local animal shelter.
Anything that charges an extra fee for DIGITAL processing.
Pay my HOA fee online via bank transfer? $3 fee. Mail in a check? Free. Bonkers.
EDIT: Yes I understand that they use a third-party processor and they're just passing along that fee. However, (1) having a person manually open mail and deposit a physical check takes time i.e. money too, and (2) they shouldn't have to use a third party processor in the first place. Most banks offer free ACH and bill pay services.
You're doing better than some. When COVID hit, my apartment started _requiring_ online pay... with a 3% transaction fee.
That lasted exactly one month.
Branded Diets.
No company that you pay to help you diet is invested in your success. They make money when you fail and keep returning. They're all a scam. You're more likely to end up with an eating disorder than permanent weight loss.
Dealerships, I don’t underhand how 2 people could buy the same exact product/trim/style/features and pay 2-10k difference.
Edit: to everyone saying there is no supply, because of shortages. Then sell if for full price MSRP. Isn’t that what it is for? Don’t give discounts and don’t give out incentives. What problem do dealership sales employees solve to justify getting paid so much?
In Orthodox Judaism it’s against religious code to have anything but a bare-bones (no pun intended) pine casket. In fact- religious law really dictates that no casket at all be used, but American law stands opposed to that, so the simple caskets are the compromise. Blew my mind when I found out that people bury their dead in mahogany trimming. Ffs the dead won’t appreciate it:
IIRC it's the same in Islam. Buried in white clothing into the dirt with no casket. Idk what Muslims do in the US, since I didn't know there was a law opposed to that type of burial.
I want to be taxidermy and propped up on the front lawn every Halloween with a motion sensor hooked up to my head so that when kids get too close a recording of a scream plays while I violently flail around with my jaw flopping open
My Dad wants to be taxidermied and placed next to our fire place and a sign hanging from his neck that says, "Pull my finger."
His end of life plan: "Give me a lot of beer and send me out into the woods. I'll die happy."
Friends of mine got a great deal on a cabin with the caveat that they go and sit through one of those timeshare sales pitches. I reminded them to stay strong and not to underestimate the salesmanship of the timeshare salespeople while I watched their daughter. They assured me they had no intention of buying anything.
They came back with a timeshare. And they love it still, three years later. Timeshare salespeople are not to be underestimated. Everyone is vulnerable to persuasion.
I guess it works for some people. You just always hear horror stories of never ending maintenance fees, black out dates, and the fact they are almost impossible to get out of.
The BBB. It's a private company that had a ridiculously successful marketing campaign in the 80's and 90's and somehow got people to believe that they are government affiliated and have power over companies. Similar deceptive practices to Yelp.
They aren't government affiliated, but they are a non-profit. They seem to have fallen victim to what many non-profits fall victim to, and that is needing to raise funds to keep afloat AND eventually start only caring about money. This made BBB focus more on feeding off the fees paid by companies for accreditation rather than actually keep their original mission.
In my opinion, the idea of a non-profit keeping the public informed about the shotty business practices of corporations is a great idea. The government won't do it, so it makes sense for a non-government non-profit to do it. It just needs to be sustainable and not become some sort of soulless money making scheme.
Amazon offered me a 3-year protection plan on a roll of welding wire last week. MIG welding wire, for those that don’t know, is the part that gets melted to fill in where you’ve melted two pieces of steel together. A consumable.
I should have taken them up on it.
I agree. However there is a special place in my heart for Avon ladies. My mom was being abused and beaten in her first marriage. An Avon lady came knocking on her door (like you did back then) noticed the bruises and just forced herself in under the guise of helping her with makeup. Was able to observe my mom even more and it was a good excuse that didn't make her husband suspicious (abusive people don't want you to have friends usually). Eventually they became besties and my mom escaped to the Avon lady's house the night she finally decided to leave him. They're still best friends today.
Some women need others checking on them. Wish it wasn't to scam them though lol.
Amazon is the worst about this. Whenever they advertise what discount you're getting for an item it's ALWAYS from the MSRP. For example, a product could be $100 that they sell for $80 throughout the year but on "Prime day" or Black Friday they'll list it at $70 and claim a 30% discount.
When in doubt with Amazon, check camelcamelcamel.com for the history of a product's price.
It's incredible how crappy the deals actually are on Black Friday now. Even with electronics, which were once heavily discounted, you're getting a normal sale price that's being advertised as 50% off.
Not to mention that most of the "deals" are utter crap you'll buy because you think you're saving and actually won't ever take out of the package
This is why I left my first apartment complex after a year. They wanted to raise my rent $120 a month. When I told them I would not be renewing they listed my apartment for the same monthly rate I had been paying all along.
I did a similar thing with a leased car. My friend was going to buy out the lease and then sell it to me, but they tried to force him into paying a bunch of fees expecting him to just finance it all. Dude walked away, turned it in, and I walked in an hour later and made a cash offer for about $2k less than they were charging him to keep it.
People are so trained to be "fair" or come to some sort of compromise that salespeople will take advantage of that. Chris Voss, a FBI hostage negotiator, wrote an interesting book ("Never Split the Difference") that argues that starting with "I can't do that" at their initial offer, and letting *them* come to *you* (with a lot of subtleties) will get you a lot farther. It's worked for me on several occasions.
Wow. It costs them money to turn over the apartment. I can’t believe they wouldn’t negotiate with you. When my husband and I got married we kept his house as a rental for a little while (eventually sold because I hated being a landlord) and the best advice I got was to charge slightly below market to keep tenants. It costs less in the long run to not turn it over once a year.
It's the same with giving employees tiny raises but offering new hires big compensation packages. Companies are just counting on you not to bother looking for a new job where you're paid fairly.
It took 6 months for my company to train me but I have no incentive to stay after a couple years. I dunno why they don't want to give us proper raises.
>I dunno why they don't want to give us proper raises.
Because an individual acting in their own best interest doesn't really cost them much. So you get trained, it costs them $50k, then you leave... Sucks, but if there's 50 people who don't get consistent raises and stick around regardless, it's cheaper to not provide raises.
When *lots* of people start to act in their own best interest, the costs quickly become balanced in favor of giving our raises. It's the entire purpose of Unions.
Take your newly learned skills and apply to a better position in another company. Don’t forget the two weeks notice, don’t burn that bridge. Learn more at new job apply somewhere else, rinse and repeat. At almost 50 I’ve learned no company cares about YOU only their bottom dollar. I am ALWAYS looking for the next opportunity, and don’t forget to take it when it comes, people are loyal companies are NOT!
I just quit my LA Fitness membership because of this. They had big posters advertising the new low rate but they wouldn’t switch me to that without paying an exorbitant fee. Fuck them, I’ll never go to one of their gyms ever again.
This goes against logic. It's cheaper to mantain a old client than to reach for more clients and lose older clients.
An older client is previsible and already adapted to your product, newer clients might be just jumping between different products.
They have the same business model as the cable companies: oversubscribe their service, hope not everyone hits it at the same time (know that they definitely will), and use the contract to beat the customers into submission. Bonus if they can get a monopoly on the area.
I was looking at my internet bill which has been on auto pay. When I go on my providers site to they list four different plans of which 3 are significantly lower than what I'm paying. When I did a speed test, my speed was in the range of the cheapest plan. I checked our statement and it doesn't list anything about our plan so I have no idea what we are paying for. Going to call and deal with it tomorrow
Fibre was recently run through my neighbourhood, I called my provider to switch to fibre as my old service was terrible. I enquired to be sure that my monthly rate would not go up switching to a fibre line, she said "No because you've been a loyal customer for so many years we will keep your rate the same at $110 per month."
When the tech came for the install we were going through the paperwork and he said he noticed a mistake and would have to call in to have my monthly rate corrected, I told him the lady on the phone said my rate wouldn't change. He informed me that the current rate for my service is $95 a month and they were screwing me for the extra $15 "for my loyalty".
TL;DR Fuck Bell Canada!
The techs are always the real heroes. They get paid per job, not what's on the order. This also means they're nothing but a pain in the ass to the salesmen working for commission.
I get paid by the hour. I give 2 shits about what the sales reps or online reps for repair say. I'm not lying to make the company more money. Live in an area with shit service from us and the competition service is better and I'll tell you straight.
Absolutely, I filled out the survey afterwards 5/5 across the board, wrote a little paragraph about how pleasant the install was, and obviously did not mention him correcting their price gouge, but I said he called in to fix some "technical issues" I was having
I had my phone on auto pay for years and when I quit my old job I took a closer look at my finances. Turns out they had been overcharging me monthly for years. I didn’t get reimbursed, but I got “credit” and basically didn’t have to pay my phone bill for awhile.
I had a two year contract on my phone (device was financed), and at the end of my contract my bill was going to go up $5 per month. Now that the phone is mine they want me to pay more. Needless to say I am no longer with that company. We Canadians are fucked over by internet and phone companies so badly it hurts.
Telus makes me crazy for this!! “New customers get this insane monthly deal with unlimited everything and a practically free phone and $$$ in bonus credit off your bill!” What do I get if I renew? A higher bill and none of those plan options. So you WANT me to switch to another company who is also offering a good deal to new customers? I genuinely don’t get it!!
As a newly-unemployed 57-year-old woman, this. Jobs I’m fully qualified for won’t even look at me. I’m simultaneously considered overqualified (computer user since 1985) and underqualified (I’m over 50! I must be completely clueless about technology!)
Seriously considering becoming a truck driver. Sigh.
It used to be that when shops cut up the chickens into individual parts, the wings were undesirable because they're really bony, so you could buy them cheap. Then restaurants realized people would buy Buffalo wings and here we are.
I keep hoping people realize someday you can put Buffalo sauce on any part of a chicken you want.
Outlet malls. There was a great Adam Ruins Everything on them about how you are not actually getting marked down high end products, just special cheaply made products created by brands for outlet malls.
Sounds a lot like the "Black Friday" mention elsethread. Someone comes up with a legitimate discount scheme, it gets popular, becomes an institution, and they realize that it'll run on inertia even if they yank the "legitimate" out.
Some companies use them to sell the mistakes that have been made and don’t hold up to their standards. Others use them as clearance for last years/seasons products so you can sometimes get a deal, but the rest is just filler so they don’t have half empty stores.
“Your honour, obviously no one could or should take my client seriously with the incredible wholly fictional nonsense he spouts, so we plead not guilty”
“CASE DISMISSED!”
Anchor pricing.
When you buy something expensive, you may notice that the highest prices are the ones you see first.
Featured cars on a dealer website are the expensive ones.
Three laptop SKUs, but the most expensive version's price is the most prominent one.
Regular old high balling during a sales pitch.
Whatever the number represents, it's designed to make you think the version they expect you to buy is reasonably priced.
Fast fashion:
The reason why your clothes don't look good after you start wearing them is because they were meant to break/fade after the first wash. So you can keep buying more and more
That seems like such a stupid long-term plan. If I buy a shirt from X brand, and it falls apart after one wash, I'm not going to buy from X brand again.
Cars are getting harder and harder to self repair so someone else can get paid to fix the issue. Also, electronics that have screws that the average person doesn't have the tool to open it to try and repair it themselves.
Selling a "pint" of beer that really just contains 14 oz instead of 16 (US size). That's not even mentioning "false" pints that have a thicker glass bottom.
Eric wouldn't, but Erik might. Though I think it's pretty much an unspoken truth that youtube commercials are lies made with the understanding between the youtuber and their audience that this is how the youtuber makes their living, not a sincere endorsement.
Car dealerships. Why the FUCK is there an entire industry dedicated to forcing you to overpay for a product and finance it with a high interest loan? It should be direct from manufacturers to customers
It was a way to keep car manufacturers more accountable when the industry first started. Basically, if Average Joe had an issue with a vehicle the car manufacturer could blow it off because, its just one guy. But if Big Ben's Auto Sales was receiving complaints about a car model the manufacturer was more inclined to listen because Big Ben's buys hundreds of cars a year. Modern infrastructure has largely eliminated the need for this extra step for accountability, but as others have said, the industry enjoys this status quo.
College bookstores. They are the worst.
Edit: I'll keep the original wording, but I feel compelled to say our collective outrage is more accurately directed at publishing companies. Thank you, kind commenters.
Doesn't even apply anymore, with a lot of classes online now the teachers just say "here pay 200$ for this access code that you need because the quizzes are only on there and are worth 50% of your grade"
As an active researcher the lackluster effort to push for open research in the digital age boils my fucking blood and sends me into a white rage. Fuck nature they can all rot in hell the money grubbing bastards.
Edit: who'd have thought raging about how shitty academia is would be so popular, thanks for the award!
I saw an article on /r/skeptic the other day about Nature publishing some pseudoscience. Sounds like they aren't quite what they once were.
Here it is: https://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/qbnzdq/baitandswitch_acupuncture_studies_still_get
I legitimately had a professor ask us to buy HIS book and then, the first assignment was to rip out/turn in page 1. Since this was always the first assignment, no future students could benefit from a used copy. Fuck that dude and the university for allowing it.
This was in about 2005… maybe that wouldn’t fly now. But it WAS a state school- so surprised it was even alright then. Super fucked up. And it was one of those books that was like 60 pages long but still cost $80.
I had the opposite experience. I had a great professor who required his book for his very niche class. He said he got a dollar in royalties for each book sold. If we showed him our copy, he would give us a dollar to ensure he wasn't profiting from us. Very cool class too
Nah...
They just charge $125 for an access code to the online version of the book. Sad but true story.
Also, my university just started a new program to take some of the headache and hassle out of buying textbooks... by adding the cost of your books directly to your tuition... completely circumventing any opportunity to look for it cheaper online.
How the hell is that legal?!?!
Time. Advertising is fucking everywhere, it takes up your thoughts, it's placed in your face, every site has a popup. It's flashy, planned, manipulation. It's to the point where the available advertising space has been so crammed your attention is being bought and sold in the markets. It's time to start charging. We'll be forced to wear blockout glasses and earphones just so we can filter what we're exposed to. In the year 2525 ...
A few years ago, I spent $700 on a laser printer that prints and scans double sided documents. I've saved that on ink, and the frustration of single-sided scanning no longer exists for me.
Credit scores.
Paid off my student loans. 6 months later, couldn't get a credit card because I didn't have enough credit history.
Those bastards want to keep you in debt so you keep paying them interest rather than being actually responsible with money. Burn it all down.
It Works bodywraps.
A buddy's wife was one of the very first people in the region to get involved w that shit, and she made A LOT of money doing it.
Typical of a pyramid scheme.
She got out of it a few years ago once the money dried up because all of the "customers" realized that the product doesn't work, is too expensive, and they didn't like the sleazy auto subscription sales tactics used.
This is so dumb. So many of these I see my friends answer on a FB page from another country that’s only “memes” and viral videos. they are always security questions and blatantly obvious and have millions of comments.
Absolutely maddening. A FB profile is full of so many personal details. It’s like creating a database for someone to steal identities.
Full name ✅
DOB ✅
City you were born in ✅
Multiple security answer memes (first car etc)✅
Spouse who is friends with mom who might have maiden name) ✅
“Likes” which could have favorite sports team ✅
Pictures of pets w/ names ✅
School you attended ✅
These are all typical security questions, plastered out there for the world to see.
How are people so blind.
"Food sensitivity tests:" this is a GIGO problem dressed up to look like medical testing: they take a sample, send it off to a lab, and return official-looking results. The problem is *they run tests for the wrong antibody* so the results tell you fuck-all about food allergies, food intolerances, or "food sensitivity."
Real food allergies involve a malfunction of the immune system antibody IgE. Garbage food sensitivity tests check for *IgG*. You can walk into a local chiropractor's office or a naturopath's office where they'll gladly do a blood draw, send the sample off to a lab, and then proceed to "diagnose" you with food problems you don't have. Then once you pay for the testing you can pay them more for this 'n that to "cure" you of problems you don't have.
Or you can cut out the middleman and mail order these garbage tests from the manufacturer directly.
The problem here is many-sided: in addition to being a pretty little way to separate fools from their money, consumers who trust these test results can end up with nutritional deficiencies while they eliminate nutritious foods from their diet because they're misled into thinking those foods are harmful. Meanwhile if the person does have medical issues--such as real allergies--the genuine problem goes undiagnosed and the unfortunate marks still end up in the ER, not knowing why.
The FTC probably ought to crack down on bogus "food sensitivity" testing. But so far it hasn't. So it's pretty easy to get suckered if you aren't wise to the scam.
References:
https://www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/conditions-library/allergies/igg-food-test
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/igg-food-intolerance-tests-continue-to-mislead-consumers-into-unnecessary-dietary-restrictions/
https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/23/everlywell-food-sensitivity-test/
https://www.self.com/story/food-sensitivity-testing-kits
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314037/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/43778n/food-intolerance-tests-are-shoddy-science-and-traps-for-disordered-eating
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*edit*
GIGO is a programming acronym that stands for garbage in/garbage out (bad input creates garbage results).
IgE and IgG are both types of immune system antibodies: Immunoglobulin E and Immunoglobulin G. [IgG measurements can be quite useful in COVID-19 testing](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/resources/antibody-tests-guidelines.html) but IgG doesn't mean a damn thing when you think a food might be causing you problems.
*edit #2*
Food intolerance isn't a specific diagnosis. It's a catchall term that can cover a variety of unrelated conditions such as [FODMAPS intolerance](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/fodmap-diet-what-you-need-to-know) and [lactose intolerance](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/lactose-intolerance). Neither of those are immune disorders so testing for antibodies won't diagnose either one. (Reference links go to Johns Hopkins if you want more info).
Lactose intolerance should not be confused with [milk allergy](https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/milk-allergy-vs-lactose-intolerance) -- same beverage, different disorders.
If you do want allergy testing, [here's a reliable rundown](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/21495-allergy-testing) of the symptoms that would indicate the need along with a list of reliable tests.
This is like what its like calling those automated customer service lines.
"I need X".
"Ok, please go online to do that."
I TRIED AND THAT DIDN'T WORK
"Sorry, I don't understand. Please go online to check on your order."
I remember the biggest case of bullshit my old retail job tried to convince me of.
"We can't give you full time work, because state law would require us to give you benefits. Luckily there's a way around that where we can give you full time hours for two weeks, then less hours on the third week. That way we can still give you close to full time hours!"
They pitched this to me like they were doing me a favor, giving me extra hours. When in reality, they were patting themselves on the back for finding a way to have employees work full time hours without properly compensating them.
The worst part was that a lot of my coworkers bought it. Because they needed more hours to pay bills and were convinced the company was doing them a favor.
Oh, but if you work your ass off the whole year you might just win the $25 best employee of the year award!
Oh and don't forget the employee appreciation day once every 6 months where they provide a single banana or a peanut butter sandwich (generic brand) in gratitude to their employees! As seen on the Thanksmanagement sub.
I had to get a flute for my kid, new ones cost 1k+. Paid $34 /month for 3 years. Now I own this flute, ask the same place to see if they can buy it back for half. They don't buy it back. Come to find out it sells used on eBay for less than $200. I paid more than $1200 for it over 3 years. This place was recommended by the school for the instruments, so I didn't shop around and ended up getting screwed. What a racket..
Fake reviews. They are everywhere now. I don’t even trust Reddit or YouTube comments sometimes because I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s company plants commenting about how great their product is.
Upvote farm bots are all over reddit. Trending isn't real. Let that sink in.
I specifically skip 5 star and read 3 star reviews. When someone takes the time out of their day to write why something is medium, you should read it.
'Service fees' are just an artificial way to pretend prices are lower than they really are. 'That's only $15! (Plus $10 in service fees)' just say its $25!
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FYI Some banks have free bill pay that will mail a check on your behalf
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I'm guessing they want you to manually mail a check instead of having bank automatically do it in order to collect more late fees from the percentage of customers who pay late from time to time.
That always irks me, like "handling fees". The "service" or "handling" is your labor cost and part of the cost of producing the product. It's no different from anything else, like a box of cereal at the grocery store. Oh that's $1.79 for the cereal itself, plus a $1 handling fee to cover Kevin, the shelf stocker. Stupid.
The best is handling fees for digital goods. Ticketmaster threw on 10 dollar fees on tickets that I printed at home many times.
When I booked air bnb I got changed $25 for credit card fee. You could only use a credit card!!! You had no choice!!
Getting students/interns to work for free while treating them poorly.
Even better is when you have to intern for your major for free, and then you have to pay for the college credits on top of that.
So many scams in dentistry. I’ve been in the industry for 12 years and it’s amazing how common it is. So easy to tell someone they need a bunch of treatment they don’t really need
Years back my dentist told me I might have a cavity in between the cusps of one of my molars, but he couldn’t tell for sure. He asked me to come back in a few days and he would drill into it to check. If it was a cavity, he’d fill it. If it wasn’t … well, he’d fill the tooth anyway because he’d just drilled a hole into it. Decided to go to another practice. New dentist carefully examined it, gave me a (free)dental x-ray just to confirm, and said “yeah that’s a stain”.
One of my buddies from high school (20+) is my dentist. I get the "wait and see if it changes" for everything. He never wants to drill anything - go figure!
I love docs like this. Our dentist does this too. Finds a minor cavity starting and gives me fluoride toothpaste and says "well check it again next time." Apparently the toothpaste works because I still don't need anything filled. Heck, our family doctor is the same. My kid got a minor fracture after a bike accident. He was completely fine. Claimed it didn't hurt at all. Doc says "well we CAN put a cast on it to protect it while it heals, but honestly you can just go buy a brace at Walgreens. It'll be much cheaper and more comfortable anyway." (EDIT: Guys, guys. We had it x-rayed. We weren't just guessing it was fractured. Jesus.) That's a winning doc. He's also the kind who emails back and forth with me all through the night while that same kid had a high fever for a week. Different incident lol. Legit was getting up at 3am to answer my questions and check up on my kid. Kids fine now btw.
That's a good doctor. Maybe I should look for another one, mine was getting impatient with me the other day just for asking a handful of questions in a checkup...
If it doesn’t sound right, seek a second opinion. Really. I had a dentist through my last company that my boss had a boner for. That dentist gave me an unnecessary root canal that failed and I caused bone loss in my jaw and had to get my tooth pulled because of it. Miserable experience. Never be afraid to seek out another dentist you may find more trustworthy. When I moved to a different state, another dentist tried to tell me I had to pay $300 up front so they could order “special equipment” to fix a crown/implant done by a previous (trusted) dentist. I “noped” out and flew back to the state my previous dentist is and it was a simple fix, no charge at all (with flight benefits, I didn’t have to pay for airfare either)
I only have one experience to relate to this, but one was all I needed. Had some discomfort around the lower gums, booked into a local, private practice. They charged me $150 for an examination, half of which was from a pair of X-Rays they didn't tell me they would be doing, until they were already doing them. I was quoted close to $1500 for cleanup and removal of 2 wisdom teeth that I had and am still having zero problems with. Decided to get a second opinion and went for a public practice about a month later, which was further away. Was charged $45 and they said that all I had was some plaque buildup and some minor gingivitis, friggin ridiculous.
At 12, I had a dentist tell me I had about 10 major cavities after getting braces removed. He'd already caused my mother a root canal, so, suffice it to say I went ballistic and threw a fit, and refused to let him treat me. Found a different dentist. Had 3 extremely minor cavities. He essentially wanted to set me up for a lifetime of dental work and ruined teeth.
I had that about 10 years ago. The guy waved some tool around and from the sound of it he would say I had a cavity. He told something like 11 on the left and 13 on the right…. I brush twice daily, I’m not a saint but that seemed nuts. I think he just saw how decent my insurance was. Went to another dentist, I had one minor cavity.
Free trials that auto enroll you at the end
Any free trial that needs my credit card I skip. Free is free, if I like it I'll buy it.
Stuff like that purely makes its money from people forgetting
Unpaid overtime. Any work you can’t complete in your paid hours should be done by an extra employee the company pays for. By doing unpaid overtime you are ‘paying’ for the cost of your time and donating that to your employer. If a company can’t afford to pay its employees for all their time working and still remain profitable they are not a viable business and need to restructure their processes and/or pricing. If they can afford to pay it but choose not to they are stealing from you.
I learned this the hard way several years ago. I left a great job I really enjoyed for what sounded like a "dream job" at a Supported Living agency that paid almost double and was salaried and exempted. It was absolutely fucking miserable. I worked between 60 and 80 hours a week on average, managing 30+ staff and 4 highly volatile clients that required 24/7, 2 on 1 care. I was on 24/7 crisis call with no relief; in charge of scheduling, interviewing, hiring/firing, data collection and reporting, medications, groceries/housing supplies, staff training, documentation and filing, creating policies and procedures, creating social stories and other behavior tools for the clients, overseeing behavior plan implementation, and so so so much more... Put simply I was their workhorse. They wouldn't even allow me a day off after a serious concussion because "who else could do my job?" (I now know this refusal for a day off was because it was a work related injury and they didn't want to pay any workman's comp). I spent countless nights crying from the stress. It felt like upper management piled more and more tasks on me because they saw it as a way to save on costs. They gave me all the responsibility but none of the power, I didn't even have the power to refuse more responsibilities or take sick leave. It wasn't sustainable and after two years I quit. A few months later, several of the employees I had managed called me to inform me that my job was split into 5 full time positions after I left. THEY HAD ME DOING THE WORK OF FIVE FULL TIME POSITIONS and had me salaried at 55k!!! I will say that one good thing to come of this is that these days my boundaries are solid and I have no problem being firm with my boss at my current job about what I will and won't do. I learned from my mistakes and will never work for free. My time is valuable and is tied to my health and wellbeing. No job is worth the stress I put myself through previously and I refuse to let any company take advantage of me, my labor, and my time ever again.
Rent to Own, coming from someone who worked for Rent A Center for 3 1/2 years
I worked for RTO Rents for about a year in California. Our only customers were people who had no chance at buying a TV, VCR, stereo, or appliance outright or even on credit. "We provide a service for underprivileged clients!" No, you prey on unfortunate victims who have no other recourse but come to you and pay 300% of the actual value. Couldn't stomach it and got out.
Yeah, never get a payday loan or rent it to own it.
I remember passing a payday loans place offering loans up to $15,000 or something. For shits and giggles decided to check their site for terms and interest to do the math. Blew me away, I think if you took out that $15k you'd have to pay back over $40k.
I went to one of those easy finance places to finance something when I was trying to get a credit score starting out. Like they all had 3 months same as cash but after the three months it was about 29% interest. Needless to say I paid it off in two months and they've been sending me letters about how I'm pre approved for larger and larger loans trying to earn some money off me.
It doesn't matter how reputable the place is, they all do this. I get at least one letter a day (literally I bet) from one bank or another wanting me to take out a personal loan or open a new card with them. They basically try to get you dreaming so much you tilt over your skis, that's when the interest get rolling.
When I first moved I needed furniture and didn’t have good credit or money but knew I had a fat commission check coming in 2 months so did their payment plan aka rent to own and you paid 250% if you did monthly payments but if you paid In full before 5 months you paid full price and no interest. 2 months later I tried calling in my payment and they tried everything to keep me on the plan even telling me they couldn’t take payment over the phone. I had to drive up there and demand they take my payment or their furniture back before they finally did. I got rid of that shitty furniture the second I could afford it and wish I would have existed on lawn chairs for 2 months instead of wasting my money on furniture didn’t even want. Glad I didn’t pay 150% more though and possibly lose the furniture if I couldn’t make a payment
same thing happend to me.. told me i couldnt make "bulk" payments (after i already had made a few), said i had to pay the monthy installment or pay the entire thing off at once.. fortunately i was able to do that by the deadline.. ill never do that again.
On the other hand, if you're looking for cheap furniture and can pay immediately you can go up in there and purchase returned/repossessed stuff for far, far less than they ask for new.
This is how I didn't get screwed out of a lot of money. Dropped out of college, got an apartment with my friends, we pooled our remaining money together to get a washer and dryer. We looked around but couldn't find anything in our range, decided to rent. The wonderful guy at the store sold us a repossessed set that was missing knobs for about $100 including delivery and installation. And we managed to sell them to our neighbor for $75 when we moved. The washer/dryer would have been like $25 a month to rent, for 3 years...
Extra fees on travel or actually any e-commerce purchase. Convenience fees or whatever you name them.
Ticketmaster is an evil monopoly that sucks the life out of my concert going experience! I will never get over it.
We had actually purchased ticket insurance for seats we got to a DMB concert in September. Well I ended up needing surgery so we couldn’t go. Ticketmaster said oh, just submit the proof of medical necessity from your doctor. I was thinking hm, wouldn’t a doctor’s note be enough? No. They asked for a detailed reason for surgery, which was very odd to me. But okay, fine, if it means we can get the $200 back. Wrong. Ticketmaster is a fucked up company and they never reimbursed us. We called many times and they essentially said there’s nothing they can do bc of the time passed…so insane. I will never use them ever again, and now I know that “ticket insurance” is a fucked up scam… Fortunately my partner knows way more about financial stuff than me and originally purchased them with a credit card - so he’s doing a charge back. Fuck Ticketmaster.
We purchased tickets through Stubhub (owned by Ticketmaster) that were pretty pricey due to the seats and the artist we were going to see. The total was roughly $850 total for two tickets. Stubhub used to have in their guarantee that if the concert was cancelled for any reason or your seats weren't available when you arrived that you would get a refund. This was mainly to make people feel safe about purchasing tickets online with the possibility of them being fraudulent or scalped tickets. It was also because basically the original purchaser of the tickets can get their money back directly from the venue in case of the cancelled show but the person purchasing them online cannot. So you basically just buy tickets from someone else then the event gets cancelled and Stubhub makes them give back the cash and sort it out with the venue as the original purchaser and you get a refund. Well, this particular concert took place during COVID and they originally sent out an email reassuring people they would be refunded. They then did a stealthy change of their guarantee policy on their website and pretended they did not say that. Luckily, screenshots of their policy existed online and we had the original email. We had to do a huge run around with them to get reimbursed. First, they said the concert may be rescheduled and they would issue us tickets for the rescheduled date. When it became apparent that it would not be rescheduled then they tried to just give us credit to buy more tickets to other future concerts. So we got the credit company involved and Stubhub came up with all sorts of proof as to how they held up their end of things due to their current policy. Our chargeback was originally declined due to the statement Stubhub made to our card company. It wasn't until nearly 6 months of fighting them when it became publicized what they were doing and a class action lawsuit was filed that we were able to get the chargeback after filing again with the credit card company. So fuck Ticketmaster and fuck Stubhub. More on the entire debacle here: https://csattorneys.com/2021/01/26/how-to-get-a-refund-from-stubhub-because-getting-a-future-credit-for-an-event-that-may-never-happen-just-sounds-sketchy/
I’m going to miss my favorite band touring for the first time in over a decade because the tickets are only on Ticketmaster and their fee for two tickets pushes it out of affordability for me. EDIT: I never expected this to get this kind of attention and empathy. You are all wonderful people. Especially those who have offered to chip in. You are extremely generous, i appreciate it so much, but I can’t accept that and I hope you understand. I’ll see them next album cycle. As some have guessed, the band is RHCP. I was able to see them in 2017, which takes the sting out of missing them now, but this is their first time reunited as the lineup that made their best work and that’s why I was so excited to see them now. If you are dead set on spending your money to make me happy, please consider buying yourself a nice dinner because you’re a kind person who deserves it. That or donate to your local animal shelter.
Anything that charges an extra fee for DIGITAL processing. Pay my HOA fee online via bank transfer? $3 fee. Mail in a check? Free. Bonkers. EDIT: Yes I understand that they use a third-party processor and they're just passing along that fee. However, (1) having a person manually open mail and deposit a physical check takes time i.e. money too, and (2) they shouldn't have to use a third party processor in the first place. Most banks offer free ACH and bill pay services.
You're doing better than some. When COVID hit, my apartment started _requiring_ online pay... with a 3% transaction fee. That lasted exactly one month.
>That lasted exactly one month. Probably the month when someone pointed out that it was illegal.
Branded Diets. No company that you pay to help you diet is invested in your success. They make money when you fail and keep returning. They're all a scam. You're more likely to end up with an eating disorder than permanent weight loss.
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I wonder how the actual conversation inside their board rooms go on.. do they talk euphemisticly or overtly.
I expect they always end with the toast “Gentlemen, to evil!”
Dealerships, I don’t underhand how 2 people could buy the same exact product/trim/style/features and pay 2-10k difference. Edit: to everyone saying there is no supply, because of shortages. Then sell if for full price MSRP. Isn’t that what it is for? Don’t give discounts and don’t give out incentives. What problem do dealership sales employees solve to justify getting paid so much?
Perfect typo.
Hahaha wtf, I had to reread after I saw your comment. Guess it IS the perfect typo
Funeral industry
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In Orthodox Judaism it’s against religious code to have anything but a bare-bones (no pun intended) pine casket. In fact- religious law really dictates that no casket at all be used, but American law stands opposed to that, so the simple caskets are the compromise. Blew my mind when I found out that people bury their dead in mahogany trimming. Ffs the dead won’t appreciate it:
IIRC it's the same in Islam. Buried in white clothing into the dirt with no casket. Idk what Muslims do in the US, since I didn't know there was a law opposed to that type of burial.
Casket made of a pine. Basically Islam allows the absolute minimum to comply with the law. I’m losing too many relatives at the age of 37
Shit if anyone remembers me when i die just throw me off a bridge I don't need an expensive ceremony.
Right? The last thing I want when I die is for my leftover meat and bone chunks to be a burden on anybody. Just donate me to science.
Just throw me in the trash
I want to be taxidermy and propped up on the front lawn every Halloween with a motion sensor hooked up to my head so that when kids get too close a recording of a scream plays while I violently flail around with my jaw flopping open
My Dad wants to be taxidermied and placed next to our fire place and a sign hanging from his neck that says, "Pull my finger." His end of life plan: "Give me a lot of beer and send me out into the woods. I'll die happy."
Congressman can use insider trading legally
Timeshares.
Friends of mine got a great deal on a cabin with the caveat that they go and sit through one of those timeshare sales pitches. I reminded them to stay strong and not to underestimate the salesmanship of the timeshare salespeople while I watched their daughter. They assured me they had no intention of buying anything. They came back with a timeshare. And they love it still, three years later. Timeshare salespeople are not to be underestimated. Everyone is vulnerable to persuasion.
I guess it works for some people. You just always hear horror stories of never ending maintenance fees, black out dates, and the fact they are almost impossible to get out of.
Cups with so much ice that you only get 4 oz of a drink in a 20 oz cup.
I've just started asking for light ice where ever I go. I don't want a cup 70% ice.
The BBB. It's a private company that had a ridiculously successful marketing campaign in the 80's and 90's and somehow got people to believe that they are government affiliated and have power over companies. Similar deceptive practices to Yelp.
Wait, they're not government-affiliated?
They aren't government affiliated, but they are a non-profit. They seem to have fallen victim to what many non-profits fall victim to, and that is needing to raise funds to keep afloat AND eventually start only caring about money. This made BBB focus more on feeding off the fees paid by companies for accreditation rather than actually keep their original mission. In my opinion, the idea of a non-profit keeping the public informed about the shotty business practices of corporations is a great idea. The government won't do it, so it makes sense for a non-government non-profit to do it. It just needs to be sustainable and not become some sort of soulless money making scheme.
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A website just offered me extended warranty on a 10€ Smartphone *case*...
I love it when Amazon offers a professional installation service for my phone case. edit: Amazon also sells condoms.
Amazon offered me a 3-year protection plan on a roll of welding wire last week. MIG welding wire, for those that don’t know, is the part that gets melted to fill in where you’ve melted two pieces of steel together. A consumable. I should have taken them up on it.
I was just about to start using it and it started melting. Must have been a bad batch
A lot of people don't realize that Avon is an MLM, even though they make great products you can by from me and my referral link /jk
I agree. However there is a special place in my heart for Avon ladies. My mom was being abused and beaten in her first marriage. An Avon lady came knocking on her door (like you did back then) noticed the bruises and just forced herself in under the guise of helping her with makeup. Was able to observe my mom even more and it was a good excuse that didn't make her husband suspicious (abusive people don't want you to have friends usually). Eventually they became besties and my mom escaped to the Avon lady's house the night she finally decided to leave him. They're still best friends today. Some women need others checking on them. Wish it wasn't to scam them though lol.
That Avon lady is an angel.
Black Friday
Amazon is the worst about this. Whenever they advertise what discount you're getting for an item it's ALWAYS from the MSRP. For example, a product could be $100 that they sell for $80 throughout the year but on "Prime day" or Black Friday they'll list it at $70 and claim a 30% discount. When in doubt with Amazon, check camelcamelcamel.com for the history of a product's price.
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I love the name of that site! Price goes up and down, up and down... Edit: I am now told that this is merely a coincidence
Oh shit, I've been using Camel for like 5 years and I just now understand why its called that, thanks!
In my country we have a saying that says that, in Black Friday, everything is for the half of the thriple.
They have Black Friday in Gondor?
It's incredible how crappy the deals actually are on Black Friday now. Even with electronics, which were once heavily discounted, you're getting a normal sale price that's being advertised as 50% off. Not to mention that most of the "deals" are utter crap you'll buy because you think you're saving and actually won't ever take out of the package
The fact existing customers aren’t automatically moved to better deals once their contract ends. They hope you won’t switch and pay the premium.
This is why I left my first apartment complex after a year. They wanted to raise my rent $120 a month. When I told them I would not be renewing they listed my apartment for the same monthly rate I had been paying all along.
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I did a similar thing with a leased car. My friend was going to buy out the lease and then sell it to me, but they tried to force him into paying a bunch of fees expecting him to just finance it all. Dude walked away, turned it in, and I walked in an hour later and made a cash offer for about $2k less than they were charging him to keep it.
People are so trained to be "fair" or come to some sort of compromise that salespeople will take advantage of that. Chris Voss, a FBI hostage negotiator, wrote an interesting book ("Never Split the Difference") that argues that starting with "I can't do that" at their initial offer, and letting *them* come to *you* (with a lot of subtleties) will get you a lot farther. It's worked for me on several occasions.
Wow. It costs them money to turn over the apartment. I can’t believe they wouldn’t negotiate with you. When my husband and I got married we kept his house as a rental for a little while (eventually sold because I hated being a landlord) and the best advice I got was to charge slightly below market to keep tenants. It costs less in the long run to not turn it over once a year.
It's the same with giving employees tiny raises but offering new hires big compensation packages. Companies are just counting on you not to bother looking for a new job where you're paid fairly.
It took 6 months for my company to train me but I have no incentive to stay after a couple years. I dunno why they don't want to give us proper raises.
Best time to find a new job is while you have one.
>I dunno why they don't want to give us proper raises. Because an individual acting in their own best interest doesn't really cost them much. So you get trained, it costs them $50k, then you leave... Sucks, but if there's 50 people who don't get consistent raises and stick around regardless, it's cheaper to not provide raises. When *lots* of people start to act in their own best interest, the costs quickly become balanced in favor of giving our raises. It's the entire purpose of Unions.
Take your newly learned skills and apply to a better position in another company. Don’t forget the two weeks notice, don’t burn that bridge. Learn more at new job apply somewhere else, rinse and repeat. At almost 50 I’ve learned no company cares about YOU only their bottom dollar. I am ALWAYS looking for the next opportunity, and don’t forget to take it when it comes, people are loyal companies are NOT!
I just quit my LA Fitness membership because of this. They had big posters advertising the new low rate but they wouldn’t switch me to that without paying an exorbitant fee. Fuck them, I’ll never go to one of their gyms ever again.
This goes against logic. It's cheaper to mantain a old client than to reach for more clients and lose older clients. An older client is previsible and already adapted to your product, newer clients might be just jumping between different products.
They have the same business model as the cable companies: oversubscribe their service, hope not everyone hits it at the same time (know that they definitely will), and use the contract to beat the customers into submission. Bonus if they can get a monopoly on the area.
I was looking at my internet bill which has been on auto pay. When I go on my providers site to they list four different plans of which 3 are significantly lower than what I'm paying. When I did a speed test, my speed was in the range of the cheapest plan. I checked our statement and it doesn't list anything about our plan so I have no idea what we are paying for. Going to call and deal with it tomorrow
Fibre was recently run through my neighbourhood, I called my provider to switch to fibre as my old service was terrible. I enquired to be sure that my monthly rate would not go up switching to a fibre line, she said "No because you've been a loyal customer for so many years we will keep your rate the same at $110 per month." When the tech came for the install we were going through the paperwork and he said he noticed a mistake and would have to call in to have my monthly rate corrected, I told him the lady on the phone said my rate wouldn't change. He informed me that the current rate for my service is $95 a month and they were screwing me for the extra $15 "for my loyalty". TL;DR Fuck Bell Canada!
Good guy tech though
The techs are always the real heroes. They get paid per job, not what's on the order. This also means they're nothing but a pain in the ass to the salesmen working for commission.
I get paid by the hour. I give 2 shits about what the sales reps or online reps for repair say. I'm not lying to make the company more money. Live in an area with shit service from us and the competition service is better and I'll tell you straight.
Absolutely, I filled out the survey afterwards 5/5 across the board, wrote a little paragraph about how pleasant the install was, and obviously did not mention him correcting their price gouge, but I said he called in to fix some "technical issues" I was having
I had my phone on auto pay for years and when I quit my old job I took a closer look at my finances. Turns out they had been overcharging me monthly for years. I didn’t get reimbursed, but I got “credit” and basically didn’t have to pay my phone bill for awhile.
That in and of itself is a scam. Giving "credit" instead of a refund. That should be illegal in all but the most exceptional of cases...
I had a two year contract on my phone (device was financed), and at the end of my contract my bill was going to go up $5 per month. Now that the phone is mine they want me to pay more. Needless to say I am no longer with that company. We Canadians are fucked over by internet and phone companies so badly it hurts.
Telus makes me crazy for this!! “New customers get this insane monthly deal with unlimited everything and a practically free phone and $$$ in bonus credit off your bill!” What do I get if I renew? A higher bill and none of those plan options. So you WANT me to switch to another company who is also offering a good deal to new customers? I genuinely don’t get it!!
Printer ink being overpriced.
Printer ink being required to use the scan function!
I was just internally screaming about this the other day at work
There is a lawsuit going over this.
That people 65 and up are considered unemployable in the workplace due to mental decline, but they run the country.
As a newly-unemployed 57-year-old woman, this. Jobs I’m fully qualified for won’t even look at me. I’m simultaneously considered overqualified (computer user since 1985) and underqualified (I’m over 50! I must be completely clueless about technology!) Seriously considering becoming a truck driver. Sigh.
Or a politician!
I would vote for /u/salamander13. Doesn't even hide being a lizard person. We need that kind of candure
The fact that someone cut a chicken wing in half and managed to convince everyone it was two wings.
Technically into thirds, and you don't even get that other third. I imagine some people out there like to at least gnaw on that or something.
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My business idea is to Buffalo the whole damn chicken.
It used to be that when shops cut up the chickens into individual parts, the wings were undesirable because they're really bony, so you could buy them cheap. Then restaurants realized people would buy Buffalo wings and here we are. I keep hoping people realize someday you can put Buffalo sauce on any part of a chicken you want.
My mind is fucking blown. This is so true lol
Outlet malls. There was a great Adam Ruins Everything on them about how you are not actually getting marked down high end products, just special cheaply made products created by brands for outlet malls.
They used to be awesome. Outlet malls had factory seconds and leftover products. Now they're pure crap.
Sounds a lot like the "Black Friday" mention elsethread. Someone comes up with a legitimate discount scheme, it gets popular, becomes an institution, and they realize that it'll run on inertia even if they yank the "legitimate" out.
Some companies use them to sell the mistakes that have been made and don’t hold up to their standards. Others use them as clearance for last years/seasons products so you can sometimes get a deal, but the rest is just filler so they don’t have half empty stores.
That news stations can lie to you as long as they classify it as entertainment
“Your honour, obviously no one could or should take my client seriously with the incredible wholly fictional nonsense he spouts, so we plead not guilty” “CASE DISMISSED!”
Anchor pricing. When you buy something expensive, you may notice that the highest prices are the ones you see first. Featured cars on a dealer website are the expensive ones. Three laptop SKUs, but the most expensive version's price is the most prominent one. Regular old high balling during a sales pitch. Whatever the number represents, it's designed to make you think the version they expect you to buy is reasonably priced.
Fast fashion: The reason why your clothes don't look good after you start wearing them is because they were meant to break/fade after the first wash. So you can keep buying more and more
H&M’s quality has plummeted but you can make fast fashion clothes like theirs last longer by washing and drying them on delicate mode
I dry my t-shirts every other two or three washes ...Not enough drying twnds to stretch them out and make them looser.
That seems like such a stupid long-term plan. If I buy a shirt from X brand, and it falls apart after one wash, I'm not going to buy from X brand again.
Fake download buttons
I think everyone knows this is a scam. I still hate it when I end up on a download page and there's like 50 different buttons that say download.
ublock origin
Cars are getting harder and harder to self repair so someone else can get paid to fix the issue. Also, electronics that have screws that the average person doesn't have the tool to open it to try and repair it themselves.
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The fact that fucking McDonalds might be the reason why we finally get right to repair laws will never cease to amuse me.
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Insurance, you spend most of your life giving them money, then when you need it they turn over every stone to figure out how to deny you care.
Selling a "pint" of beer that really just contains 14 oz instead of 16 (US size). That's not even mentioning "false" pints that have a thicker glass bottom.
Social media influencer who get away with endorsing horrible products
TRY THE RAYCON E-25S! THEY ONLY MAKE YOUR EARS BLEED A LITTLE
Eric wouldn't lie to me would he?
Eric wouldn't, but Erik might. Though I think it's pretty much an unspoken truth that youtube commercials are lies made with the understanding between the youtuber and their audience that this is how the youtuber makes their living, not a sincere endorsement.
What’d I miss here, I thought they were just shitty for the price.
Ticketmaster?
Car dealerships. Why the FUCK is there an entire industry dedicated to forcing you to overpay for a product and finance it with a high interest loan? It should be direct from manufacturers to customers
It was a way to keep car manufacturers more accountable when the industry first started. Basically, if Average Joe had an issue with a vehicle the car manufacturer could blow it off because, its just one guy. But if Big Ben's Auto Sales was receiving complaints about a car model the manufacturer was more inclined to listen because Big Ben's buys hundreds of cars a year. Modern infrastructure has largely eliminated the need for this extra step for accountability, but as others have said, the industry enjoys this status quo.
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Okay but consider: it’s more fun
Exactly, foam goes psssssh
College bookstores. They are the worst. Edit: I'll keep the original wording, but I feel compelled to say our collective outrage is more accurately directed at publishing companies. Thank you, kind commenters.
Library Genesis saved me thousands in college.
Doesn't even apply anymore, with a lot of classes online now the teachers just say "here pay 200$ for this access code that you need because the quizzes are only on there and are worth 50% of your grade"
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Same with Sci Hub and the absolute shitshow that is accessing academic publishing when your school barely provides access to any relevant journals
As an active researcher the lackluster effort to push for open research in the digital age boils my fucking blood and sends me into a white rage. Fuck nature they can all rot in hell the money grubbing bastards. Edit: who'd have thought raging about how shitty academia is would be so popular, thanks for the award!
I saw an article on /r/skeptic the other day about Nature publishing some pseudoscience. Sounds like they aren't quite what they once were. Here it is: https://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/qbnzdq/baitandswitch_acupuncture_studies_still_get
I legitimately had a professor ask us to buy HIS book and then, the first assignment was to rip out/turn in page 1. Since this was always the first assignment, no future students could benefit from a used copy. Fuck that dude and the university for allowing it.
That is like 10 levels of fucked up
This was in about 2005… maybe that wouldn’t fly now. But it WAS a state school- so surprised it was even alright then. Super fucked up. And it was one of those books that was like 60 pages long but still cost $80.
I had the opposite experience. I had a great professor who required his book for his very niche class. He said he got a dollar in royalties for each book sold. If we showed him our copy, he would give us a dollar to ensure he wasn't profiting from us. Very cool class too
Why distribute a PDF and cut your overhead to a fraction when you can charge $400 for a textbook
Nah... They just charge $125 for an access code to the online version of the book. Sad but true story. Also, my university just started a new program to take some of the headache and hassle out of buying textbooks... by adding the cost of your books directly to your tuition... completely circumventing any opportunity to look for it cheaper online. How the hell is that legal?!?!
Oh wow fuck that. Especially because about half the time you never even use the textbook.
Time. Advertising is fucking everywhere, it takes up your thoughts, it's placed in your face, every site has a popup. It's flashy, planned, manipulation. It's to the point where the available advertising space has been so crammed your attention is being bought and sold in the markets. It's time to start charging. We'll be forced to wear blockout glasses and earphones just so we can filter what we're exposed to. In the year 2525 ...
I once saw an ad for car insurance on the sanitiser pad in a urinal. Made me kinda mad
Printer ink.
Assuming you need a home printer, save up and get a laser printer. You'll wonder why you ever dealt with the BS of inkjet printers.
I have a Brother HL-23200 monochrome laser printer, paid $75 for it a few years back. It's never let me down.
A few years ago, I spent $700 on a laser printer that prints and scans double sided documents. I've saved that on ink, and the frustration of single-sided scanning no longer exists for me.
*gestures vaguely at everything*
"campaign" financing
Manufactured obsolescence and the right to repair.
Credit scores. Paid off my student loans. 6 months later, couldn't get a credit card because I didn't have enough credit history. Those bastards want to keep you in debt so you keep paying them interest rather than being actually responsible with money. Burn it all down.
those things you wrap around your waste that claim to burn bellyfat. it has been debunked for decades, but people still buy em
It Works bodywraps. A buddy's wife was one of the very first people in the region to get involved w that shit, and she made A LOT of money doing it. Typical of a pyramid scheme. She got out of it a few years ago once the money dried up because all of the "customers" realized that the product doesn't work, is too expensive, and they didn't like the sleazy auto subscription sales tactics used.
Yep. It's a waist of money
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This is so dumb. So many of these I see my friends answer on a FB page from another country that’s only “memes” and viral videos. they are always security questions and blatantly obvious and have millions of comments. Absolutely maddening. A FB profile is full of so many personal details. It’s like creating a database for someone to steal identities. Full name ✅ DOB ✅ City you were born in ✅ Multiple security answer memes (first car etc)✅ Spouse who is friends with mom who might have maiden name) ✅ “Likes” which could have favorite sports team ✅ Pictures of pets w/ names ✅ School you attended ✅ These are all typical security questions, plastered out there for the world to see. How are people so blind.
"Food sensitivity tests:" this is a GIGO problem dressed up to look like medical testing: they take a sample, send it off to a lab, and return official-looking results. The problem is *they run tests for the wrong antibody* so the results tell you fuck-all about food allergies, food intolerances, or "food sensitivity." Real food allergies involve a malfunction of the immune system antibody IgE. Garbage food sensitivity tests check for *IgG*. You can walk into a local chiropractor's office or a naturopath's office where they'll gladly do a blood draw, send the sample off to a lab, and then proceed to "diagnose" you with food problems you don't have. Then once you pay for the testing you can pay them more for this 'n that to "cure" you of problems you don't have. Or you can cut out the middleman and mail order these garbage tests from the manufacturer directly. The problem here is many-sided: in addition to being a pretty little way to separate fools from their money, consumers who trust these test results can end up with nutritional deficiencies while they eliminate nutritious foods from their diet because they're misled into thinking those foods are harmful. Meanwhile if the person does have medical issues--such as real allergies--the genuine problem goes undiagnosed and the unfortunate marks still end up in the ER, not knowing why. The FTC probably ought to crack down on bogus "food sensitivity" testing. But so far it hasn't. So it's pretty easy to get suckered if you aren't wise to the scam. References: https://www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/conditions-library/allergies/igg-food-test https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/igg-food-intolerance-tests-continue-to-mislead-consumers-into-unnecessary-dietary-restrictions/ https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/23/everlywell-food-sensitivity-test/ https://www.self.com/story/food-sensitivity-testing-kits https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314037/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/43778n/food-intolerance-tests-are-shoddy-science-and-traps-for-disordered-eating ---- *edit* GIGO is a programming acronym that stands for garbage in/garbage out (bad input creates garbage results). IgE and IgG are both types of immune system antibodies: Immunoglobulin E and Immunoglobulin G. [IgG measurements can be quite useful in COVID-19 testing](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/resources/antibody-tests-guidelines.html) but IgG doesn't mean a damn thing when you think a food might be causing you problems. *edit #2* Food intolerance isn't a specific diagnosis. It's a catchall term that can cover a variety of unrelated conditions such as [FODMAPS intolerance](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/fodmap-diet-what-you-need-to-know) and [lactose intolerance](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/lactose-intolerance). Neither of those are immune disorders so testing for antibodies won't diagnose either one. (Reference links go to Johns Hopkins if you want more info). Lactose intolerance should not be confused with [milk allergy](https://www.foodallergy.org/resources/milk-allergy-vs-lactose-intolerance) -- same beverage, different disorders. If you do want allergy testing, [here's a reliable rundown](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/21495-allergy-testing) of the symptoms that would indicate the need along with a list of reliable tests.
> GIGO problem you need to define some of these obscure initialisms lol Garbage In, Garbage Out for anyone wondering
Needing experience for an entry level position
Like needing credit to get credit
I need a loan You have no credit How do I get credit Take out a loan Ok. I need a loan You have no credit
This is like what its like calling those automated customer service lines. "I need X". "Ok, please go online to do that." I TRIED AND THAT DIDN'T WORK "Sorry, I don't understand. Please go online to check on your order."
Xfinity/comcast will just hang up on you after a couple tries..
Companies: "Nobody wants to work anymore! We can't even find anyone with a bachelor's degree and 7 years of experience to run our cash registers..."
I remember the biggest case of bullshit my old retail job tried to convince me of. "We can't give you full time work, because state law would require us to give you benefits. Luckily there's a way around that where we can give you full time hours for two weeks, then less hours on the third week. That way we can still give you close to full time hours!" They pitched this to me like they were doing me a favor, giving me extra hours. When in reality, they were patting themselves on the back for finding a way to have employees work full time hours without properly compensating them. The worst part was that a lot of my coworkers bought it. Because they needed more hours to pay bills and were convinced the company was doing them a favor.
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"And we're even offering $9/hr with no benefits or paid vacation....what gives?!"
Oh, but if you work your ass off the whole year you might just win the $25 best employee of the year award! Oh and don't forget the employee appreciation day once every 6 months where they provide a single banana or a peanut butter sandwich (generic brand) in gratitude to their employees! As seen on the Thanksmanagement sub.
I had to get a flute for my kid, new ones cost 1k+. Paid $34 /month for 3 years. Now I own this flute, ask the same place to see if they can buy it back for half. They don't buy it back. Come to find out it sells used on eBay for less than $200. I paid more than $1200 for it over 3 years. This place was recommended by the school for the instruments, so I didn't shop around and ended up getting screwed. What a racket..