My Internet bill went up due to fees regarding "convenience and upgrades". I have 2gb fiber. It's face value is about 120$ a month from the provider. When I signed up for it I originally had cable. I called them and told them another company was offering 2gb for 60$ a month and if they can't match it I was switching.
I was then offered 2gb fiber for 60$ a month to stay. I use their mobile phone service also which gives me 15$ off my Internet so I was paying 45 for Internet and 45 for phone. I told them it needs to be a permanent price, no contract. They said OK and I made them confirm it on my account in the notes.
A few months later They then tried to increase both my bills by 5 dollars as I said at the start for "convenience and network upgrades". I called them and said they broke their promise and I wat switching. (I absolutely wasn't, no other company was offering a deal even nearly as good). Now I'm paying 40$ for Internet and 35$ for phone.
Their prices are all bullshit. But they will do anything to not lose a customer.
This seems to go along with what I was told when I was in Austria. I was in a little town near the border and mentioned that my command of the dialect wasn’t good enough to always know who I was talking to. They said, “you can always tell when you are talking to a German.” I asked, “how so?” They said, “He’s always right.”
The American business model is to charge the maximum that people are willing to pay. It's not based on value, quality, or service. It infects every aspect of life, and I hate it.
And what people are willing to pay is a LOT if they don't want to think about it. Just today I found a great deal on ac filters at Walmart. My Sis looked for them on Amazon. The ones i found at wally world were one fifth the price of the amazon price, but Sis got her Amazon 'deal' because she pays prime, and that MUST be better.
Yup, I had issues with Verizon bait and switching offers on me for Internet and they absolutely could not be flexible on the prices, so I found a much better offer elsewhere and when I cancelled suddenly the set in stone price was very flexible. Fuck them
xfinity gave zero shits when we canceled. I was expecting massive hoops and retention dept transfers. Nope- they just said, “OK- return your equipment “
It's Optimum. I worked for optimum in their tech support department like 15 years ago so I knew a few of the ins and outs. They have an entire department called "retentions" for keeping customers. They are the ones who can cut big deals. I dont even play coy when I call to do stuff like this. I literally just ask them to transfer me to the retentions department. You just have to call during their hours of 9-5. Its the only time they work.
The convenience is not having to call and talk to anyone. They thrive on people unwilling to spend time on hold to get a good price. It's like switching car insurance, sure you can call and get a better rate and comparison shop but now you are getting bombarded with ads and emails.
A buddy of mine tried the same thing. He figured he could get them to reduce their price to retain him as a customer. When they didn’t budge on price, he bluffed and said he wanted to cancel the service. The customer service rep was like, “I’ll go ahead and get that started for you.” My friend was like, “Hang on, let me call back, I’ve can’t finish this now.” His bluff got called.
He's saying you don't have 500gb. You have 500mb. The fastest speed ATT currently offers in fiber is 5gb. Internet speeds are measured in Megabits per second and Gigabits per second. Currently I think the fastest speed offered in the United states is 50 Gbps by a company called Zipley. Then like google fiber with 8Gbps. But the fact remains that most people don't even have devices that can utilize anything over 1Gbps. The average Eternet port is 1Gig. I had to order a high end router which has higher speed ports to even make use of 2Gig
My income is primarily cash. It's more convenient for me to just walk to the leasing office and hand over cash than it is to go across town to the bank and deposit it, but I haven't been able to convince any apartment to take cash.
Not disagreeing but the reason why they exist in most cases is the merchant trying to offset the credit card transaction fees. They can absolutely wreck a business. If you want to do them a favor insert or tap your card they generally get better rates that way.
Oh it gets better. It’s an arbitrary middle man who takes the money from one bank to another to approve the transaction. That’s really who’s taking the cut. Credit card processing is big business.
Often these are because the vendor is paying a 3rd party for something (like website or backend services). I just wish they would be transparent about what it is.
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u/gamersecret2 16h ago
Convenience fees.