Lately it seems that everywhere you turn, you get ripped off. I know I’ve blogged about this before, but it seems to be getting worse. Or I’m just getting older and older and my patience for bullsh*t is wearing thin.
Recently, I needed to book some airline tickets for a short vacation. With technology today, making airline reservations is relatively simple, as long as what you are doing is pretty straight-forward. Of course, mine were not. After entering my information into the reservation calculator, I was informed that I needed to call the reservation line with JetBlue in order to fulfill my request. Obviously, because of my dislike for the general public, I cringed to think that I would have to use the phone. However, I had to give in. I called JetBlue’s customer service line. After cycling through seemingly endless menus and options, I was told that I could avoid the $15 phone charge if I went onto JetBlue’s website. Wait, a phone charge?!? I have to pay $15 extra to talk to a human whose primary language is not English? What fresh hell is this? Isn’t it bad enough that the fuel surcharge is more than the actual ticket price? Isn’t it insane enough that they charge you for your luggage? Apparently not, since now they charge you for the phone call that you have to make because you are not allowed to conduct normal business on their website. Whatever, JetBlue, this is the first and last time I will conduct business with the likes of you.
All of you concert goers out there now what I’m talking about with this next happy detail. I remember not too far back that the ticket processing fees for buying tickets online were anywhere from $1 to $5 per ticket. Today, I found myself in the unique situation of buying tickets for a Broadway show that is coming to the Bushnell. The last time I bought tickets to the Bushnell was two years ago when my daughter and I went to see Phantom and the ticket processing fees were only three dollars. Today, after buying nosebleed seats at $39 bucks a pop, I was charged a $21 processing fee, plus an additional $2 processing fee per ticket. @#&! I let the expletives fly.
Don’t even get me started on restaurants and their new way of screwing their customers. A la carte dining is one of the biggest scams to hit in a while. You pay $30 for a steak, but then have to pay extra if you want a potato. Whatever, Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse, I guess I’ll stick to the buffet…
So, the way I see it, you are screwed one way or another. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you call customer service for one thing, you get charged, and if you try to do things online, you get charged again. Do these companies just want to cut out the customer altogether? On the other hand, maybe I can start charging processing and handling fees…something like this perhaps?
Wash and Dry…$5 per load, plus $10 additional if the clothes are extra dirty
Dish Washing…$10 per sink full, plus $5 additional if food is stuck on
Hamper Maintenance…free, unless the clothes don’t make it into hamper, then $1 charge for every article I have to pick up off the floor
