The Title I Wanted To Use For This Post Is Too Dirty

Fees. I want to talk about fees. We are presented with fees all the time.

The way they are used, fees are lies!

If a company wants to advertise one price and charge another, let the difference be a fee not disclosed (or poorly disclosed) in the advertisement.

AT&T, thank you for this opportunity to use you as an example.

“Consistent with similar fees charged by other carriers, the monthly fee of 61 cents per line will help cover certain expenses, such as interconnection and cell site rents and maintenance,” AT&T’s executive director of media relations, Mark Siegel, told The Huffington Post. The fee applies to all “postpaid (contract) consumer wireless customers.”

“Certain expenses?” How exactly does that differ from what usually goes into the actual quoted price?

Oh, and that 61&#162 translates into $500 million per year for AT&T!

It’s wrong if it’s a convenience fee, fuel surcharge, shipping and handling or any other after-the-fact add-on.

So here’s the question: Why is this legal?

One more thing. The title I originally wanted to use was alliteration with the second word, fees.

7 thoughts on “The Title I Wanted To Use For This Post Is Too Dirty”

    1. I work in the car rental business. What fees are you talking about…? Maybe I can expain them for you.
      I DO know that the State rips off car renters by imposing a ‘Tourist tax’ on the rental, even if you’re renting for business or insurance reasons, AND a sales tax on top of that (and the sales tax on car rentals is HIGHER than the regular sales tax. 9% I think it is…). But those are out of the control of rental agencies. The biggest rental companies tried to point out this double traxation to the Governor who simply shrugged his indifference to the problem.
      What else is there?

  1. You’ll find something similar with your mover. They give you a quote, and when you sign with them, they charge a $200 fee to “lock in” the price

  2. That’s like getting an e-mail from Verizon telling you that you are such a good customer and due for an upgrade. Shows 3 large pictures of your choice of phones and when you get to the store you find out that the phone really is not free at all. Because in about 5 point type they list that there is a $30.00 + activation fee. What they fail to tell you is this new phone will now cost you an extra $30.00 per month. Needless to say, I stayed with my ancient phone and walked out after making a scene.

  3. Well, at least now the Air lines have been forced to advertise the full price…as long as you don’t have any luggage…..

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