Sneaky ways businesses rip people off

[Immy]

Share your stories while providing a valuable service to your fellow humans.

I go to a popular fast food roast beef chain about once a week - almost always the same specific location - and always order the same thing: the #1 combo. I'm always given the following option: "Medium or large?", referring to the drink and french fry sizes. I always choose medium.

I thought nothing of this until I stopped at another franchise in a different part of town. After giving my usual order the clerk asked "Small, medium or large?" Small? Why isn't a small offered at my regular haunt? The small was $1 cheaper and just as filling as the medium. Hmph. Perhaps some sneaky up-selling here?

So today I stopped at my usual place, and I was ready! Sure enough, I get the "Medium or large" choices. I ask "Why didn't you ask if I wanted a small?" She was a little taken aback but said "The #1 is already a small, I was just asking if you wanted to upsize." Not wanting to argue (she was handling my food after all) I said "You really should make that clear." And just to be sure, I noticed the size designations were not specified on the overhead menus.

Bastards! But I'll still keep going there. Oh, now what's this? A customer service phone number on my receipt?

[scoundrel]

Car and van hire: they advertise the price as inclusive of insurance. But when you go to collect the car or van, the insurance "inclusive" in the price has a policy excess so large that the insurance wouldn't have to pay out if you nuked Tokyo. So, in order to be insured in any meaningful definition of the word, you pay an extra £20 a day. They have not broken the law; but they are deceiving you in the price, nevertheless.

[luddite]

Any business that gives points if you have a certain card like Airmiles.
First. there is always a delay while the cashier asks if you have a card - women have to dig for it! Then they ask me, I say no -
"Oh, would you like one" ?

No, how about a discount for paying cash ?
(We're all paying the same price and the price of these "loyalty points" is included, credit card charges too and that averages 4%)

[Reclaimedwg]

Buy One Get One scam!

Safeway likes to do Buy One Get One (BOGO) every week on their weekly sales.

We shop at the same 4 stores all the time (4 different companies) and my wife and I log prices into a spread sheet on our iPads so we can compare prices and sales items between stores and prices from the past weeks.

When an item like Bacon is BOGO, we look it up on the iPad and just as we thought:

last week it was $5.99 for a 16 OZ package.

This week when it's on BOGO, it's $8.99 for the same 16 OZ package.

They raised the price before offering it as a BOGO item.

I am not sure if that's legal or not.

Also, the grocery store likes to advertise Steaks or Chicken for $2.99 a lb for example.

But then you go to the store and find out that to get it for $2.99 a lb, you need to buy the family size which means you will get like 7 lbs of meat.

This is annoying because sometime when it's a steak that's being advertised at $2.99 a lb, you are getting 6-7 lbs of steak but in the family size package, there are only 4 steaks.

Those steaks are real thick, each one is over 1.5 lbs each and there is a big piece of bone on each steak.

Now if you want it thin cut, that's $1 more per lb.

If you also want it without bone, that's also $2 more per lb.

So instead of it being $2.99 a lb for example, you end up paying $5.99 a lb.

Some sale!

Then there are the Grocery Customer Cards.

It was if you didn't have the card, you didn't get a price at a sale price.

Now they took it one step further.

We have the card for years but it's no longer whether you need the card to get the sale price.

You have to go one step further and go online and log into their website and add the item to your card to get the extra sales price.

It's very annoying.

They assume everyone has a smart phone or a tablet now.

We go to the store and see an item on sale: $3 with the card.

Cool.

Then there is a tag underneath it that says if you go online and add that item to your card, you will get it for $1.50 for example.

So a shopping trip that should had taken X minutes is now taking X+5 minutes because we have to add that item to the card using our smart phone or iPad.

If you don't have a smart phone or iPad or tablet, they now have laptops in the store up front by customer service and I've seen people stand in line just to log into their grocery card account to add those sales items.

Either that or drive home and do it on your home PC but then you will be wasting time, gas and making an extra trip.

[pharoahegypt]

You ever heard the phrase.... "There's no such thing as a free lunch!" ....?

I think you understand it even if you'd not heard it..... lol.


Incidentally; I once had the intricate world of furniture discount deals explained to me; you know the ones where they advertise some three piece suite for a supposedly 50% off and such....... Well the way these things work, is that the item; no matter it be a sofa, fridge, car, toaster.... whatever.... only has to be offered on sale in any of the firm's stores for a few days at an exhorbitant price, and then any price below that in the more populated stores can then be claimed to be sold at a discounted rate.... so if they offer to sell you a sofa in their Oban (for example) store at an incredible £1000 (way overpriced albeit), they can then sell it at a more reasonable £600 anywhere else, and claim to be offering you a 40% discount; even though this is the actual fair price on the item in the first place..... its called fair competition, and is perfectly legal....

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by Immy

Bastards! But I'll still keep going there.

Exactly But I'll still keep going there.



Now I'm hungry Anyway, order that here, $15.... Order the same pizza from the same place next day minus the olives..... $15 Ya get less and it's the same price Capital Offense IMO

[Immy]

Aside from the obvious double whammy of rising prices and shrinking content at the grocery store, there are other subtle things to watch for.

About every other time I buy a big box of powder laundry detergent I notice the scoop inside is slightly bigger.

I did an impulse buy in the candy aisle recently. Tossed a good sized box of Swedish Fish in my cart without thinking - $3.00 on sale for $1.50, nice! Open it at home, the bag inside is about half the size of the box, with fifteen...count 'em...fifteen candies. Ten cents apiece.

Staying on the fishy topic, I love goldfish crackers. The best bargain for me is to buy the jumbo sized box at $6.99, it lasts me weeks. Recently they just went up in price, but the store pulled a fast one trying to cover it up - $8.99 on sale for $7.49. I haven't bought it since.

Spiking gas prices in recent years has sent grocery prices on a non-stop upward trajectory. Never mind that gas has eased of late, large Jif peanut butter went from $5.49 to $8.99 and hasn't gone down a penny once. Time for generic.

[SacrificialHam]

Originally Posted by Immy

After giving my usual order the clerk asked "Small, medium or large?" Small? Why isn't a small offered at my regular haunt? The small was $1 cheaper and just as filling as the medium. Hmph. Perhaps some sneaky up-selling here?

I've had them tell me "we don't have small - it's medium, large, or extra large."

I just say "Okay, who do you think you're fooling starting with medium? Just give me the smallest one you have."

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by pharoahegypt

You ever heard the phrase.... "There's no such thing as a free lunch!" ....?

Exactly

It's a lot like that website that's totally free Vintage Erotica Forums Those very small discrepancies in your bank account I reckon it's those thieving asshole mods that get into your computer and get your details Free forum my ass it is


Ooops

[sweatyhat]

Bare bones of the service is oil and filter(s) change, scheduled parts replacements then check and advise on brakes/tyres etc. I've used the same garage since I moved to this area in 1995 because they don't try to rip me off with flannel such as this.

1. "Your brake discs are scored and pitted. Shall we change them?"
Umm, yes they will be after driving a few hundred miles. All the main dealerships tell you this. It's a quick little earner for them and they'd be happy to do it each time they get their hands on your vehicle. Cost £100+

2. Automatic replacement of entire windscreen wiper arm assembly unless specifically instructed not to. Cost £35-40. I can slide in refills for a fiver.

3. Top up your power steering, coolant and windcreen washer levels immediately prior to service. See if they add this to your bill nonetheless. Never return once you've made them take it off.

They must be making a fortune out of old ladies.