

$90 Time Warner Cable bill becomes $190 after two years - smacktoward
http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/10/90-time-warner-cable-bill-becomes-190-after-two-years/

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Someone1234
> This bill is like going to a restaurant and ordering the $20.00 dinner
> 'special' only to get a bill of $38.68, not counting the allowable taxes

That's a terrible example. In the US that's exactly how restaurants work.

In Europe if the meal deal says 20 euro it costs 20 euro (inc. taxes and tips
are legitimately optional). In the US if it says $20 it costs $20 + 5% hidden
tax + mandatory tip (15-20%). So in the US a $20 meal costs $24.15 (15% tip
which I'm told is the minimum).

That's the way the entire US society is set up top to bottom. Hidden fees,
surcharges, and required "tips" on every single thing. You cannot even use an
ATM without being hit for a $3 fee now.

Yet whenever anyone brings this up everyone flocks to defend the practice,
like people who want an inclusive price are bonkers! Sorry but American
pricing is screwed up, stuff like this is the normal rather than the exception
unfortunately.

Consumer laws actually make that kind of charging completely illegal in the
EU. Price transparency and all that jazz.

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chanced
I agree with you 100%. Tipping is by far my biggest pet peeve followed by
hidden surcharges, specialty taxes, and regular sales taxes that are all added
on after I've emotionally committed to the advertised price.

What's more is that now almost any place that prepares food has a tip line or
a tip jar. Kid behind the counter just scooped some icecream on a cone? "Tip
please." Hand me a cup of coffee? "Add whatever amount you want to the already
hyper-inflated price of that joe you got there. I poured it, remember?"

The worst offender that I've run into is a sandwich shop called Jersey Mikes.
I absolutely love their food but they recently rolled out a new system that
has me so annoyed that I will never go back. As part of the payment process
you are now required to either select from a predetermined set of tip
percentages or explicitly opt-out.

The thing is, I actually feel for the guy preparing my sandwich or the girl
that writes down my order and hands it off. I know that unless they are a
waiter in a swanky, up-scale restaurant or a bartender pretty much anywhere
then they are probably not making a ton of money.

Yet customers are made to feel as though they have some moral or social
obligation to bring them up to a livable wage. In reality what is happening is
the restaurants & bars are passing on their wages directly on to us. We are
expected to pay a tax so that they don't have to pay them enough to survive
on.

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bhhaskin
Internet service provider (and cable for that matter) industry is one industry
that needs to change. I think Google fiber is a step in the right direction,
but it is simply taking to long.

