Biggest consumer cons

[easty]

It’s not a problem over here (yet?), but tipping when you’re in the US is a massive con.

Standardised tipping. Not tipping if you’ve had good service, just tipping cos that’s the done thing.

I remember last year we went to Tiger Woods Popstroke, like a fancy mini golf place. The girl who we paid to get in literally clicked a few buttons on a screen, then handed us the balls. She got tipped $20 for it, by the guy we were with. I think it’s insane.

[Jones28]

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Not an expert in the matter, but I think our high standing charge is to cover those investors/companies that lost out when the power companies went bust over the last 2 years.
I can't think of another market like it whereby a company over extends itself, goes bust, and the costs get lumped on to the customers of the other more successful companies!

That pisses me off even more then. 60p a day to cover the ***** of incompetence and bad business practices.

[overdrive]

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It’s not a problem over here (yet?), but tipping when you’re in the US is a massive con.

Standardised tipping. Not tipping if you’ve had good service, just tipping cos that’s the done thing.

I remember last year we went to Tiger Woods Popstroke, like a fancy mini golf place. The girl who we paid to get in literally clicked a few buttons on a screen, then handed us the balls. She got tipped $20 for it, by the guy we were with. I think it’s insane.

Linked to that, the "service charge" added to your bill that is becoming more and more standard in restaurants here. Quite often it is more than the "standard" 10% tip as well. The fact they add it on but say that it is optional and you can ask for them to remove it is guilt tripping the customer to not ask for it to be removed/reduced as they know a lot of folk will be too shy to ask.

[J-C]

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Linked to that, the "service charge" added to your bill that is becoming more and more standard in restaurants here. Quite often it is more than the "standard" 10% tip as well. The fact they add it on but say that it is optional and you can ask for them to remove it is guilt tripping the customer to not ask for it to be removed/reduced as they know a lot of folk will be too shy to ask.

When that happens I ask the restaurant if the staff gets the money, if they say yes then I don't leave a tip, if they're unsure then I ask them to remove it and leave a tip.

[Keith_M]

The reason for large service charges and 'tips' in the US is because the serving staff receive such low wages. Basically, you're paying to top up the poor sod's salary because the business owners are so tight fisted.


My consumer related peeve is: Why the hell is food and drink so much more expensive in motorway service stations? Went to a Costa at a service station near Stirling recently and the prices were around 50% higher than in the Costa next to my office.

[Scouse Hibee]

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When they happens I ask the restaurant if the staff gets the money, if they say yes then I don't leave a tip, if they're unsure then I ask them to remove it and leave a tip.

I always ask for it to be removed regardless, I like to tip the waiter who has served me personally with cash. It was a struggle to do this in Fazenda recently when about five different people tended to our table!

[Scouse Hibee]

Two tier prices in supermarkets is beginning to annoy me too.

[Wembley67]

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Two tier prices in supermarkets is beginning to annoy me too.

Totally. This data mining should be illegal. How you can be held to ransom for not sharing your personal details is beyond me!

[weecounty hibby]

Replica football strips!! Glorified tshirts

[Moulin Yarns]

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The car is two years old! I have no claims of over about 12 years yet my renewal quote was 65% higher.

Aye right I thought I’ll get a similar price to last year by doing a quick comparison…ermmm naw.

That's strange. My renewal is due on 17th and One Call is offering the same cover as last year for an extra £6. Very happy with that.


The biggest ripoff in cars is the surcharge for premium paint. They must have gallons of paint in stock, £600 for a particular colour is a bit much.

[Gatecrasher]

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Two tier prices in supermarkets is beginning to annoy me too.

I noticed Boots were doing it for medicine and plasters. That feels very wrong to me.

[Green Man]

It used to always annoy me how my insurance renewal would be more than the previous year, I’d phone to cancel and they’d “see what they could do” and then miraculously they could offer me a better price. Do they just not bother with that any more? I just phoned to cancel my home insurance as it had jumped up about 35%, and there were no questions asked, they just went ahead and cancelled it straight away.

[Lancs Harp]

Madri beer. I wouldnt say a con more marketing genius.
Med lagers such Moretti, Peroni and San Miguel have stormed the market in recent years they are all owned by the big boys of course such as Heineken etc. Coors Molson didnt have a med beer in their portfolio so they effectively invented Madri and sold it to the masses as the "soul of Madrid". Dont know about Scotland but its everywhere in England.

[DH1875]

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Madri beer. I wouldnt say a con more marketing genius.
Med lagers such Moretti, Peroni and San Miguel have stormed the market in recent years they are all owned by the big boys of course such as Heineken etc. Coors Molson didnt have a med beer in their portfolio so they effectively invented Madri and sold it to the masses as the "soul of Madrid". Dont know about Scotland but its everywhere in England.

Aye but do they actually sell it in Madrid though?

[Lancs Harp]

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Aye but do they actually sell it in Madrid though?

No its all made in the UK at present. Its proved so popular we could see a situation where a British "Spanish" beer is imported into Madrid itself (would likely be brewed under license in Spain though just as San Miguel Moretti and Peroni are here)

[Mon Dieu4]

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Madri beer. I wouldnt say a con more marketing genius.
Med lagers such Moretti, Peroni and San Miguel have stormed the market in recent years they are all owned by the big boys of course such as Heineken etc. Coors Molson didnt have a med beer in their portfolio so they effectively invented Madri and sold it to the masses as the "soul of Madrid". Dont know about Scotland but its everywhere in England.

Yep I had it in the pub before the Livi game through there, was the first time I had noticed it, few weeks later my local got it in, decent enough pint but I'm still on the Tennents

[Lancs Harp]

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Yep I had it in the pub before the Livi game through there, was the first time I had noticed it, few weeks later my local got it in, decent enough pint but I'm still on the Tennents

Yeah not knocking the beer. Its a decent enough pint, not the best Ive ever had but certainly not the worse and very drinkable.

[Since90+2]

Madri is decent. Still think a gassy and cold pint of Tennants is hard to beat.

[oneone73]

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It used to always annoy me how my insurance renewal would be more than the previous year, I’d phone to cancel and they’d “see what they could do” and then miraculously they could offer me a better price. Do they just not bother with that any more? I just phoned to cancel my home insurance as it had jumped up about 35%, and there were no questions asked, they just went ahead and cancelled it straight away.

That happened to me too, with LV.

[Sylar]

Madri isn't a 'con' IMO - it's bloody genius marketing.

[Dmas]

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It used to always annoy me how my insurance renewal would be more than the previous year, I’d phone to cancel and they’d “see what they could do” and then miraculously they could offer me a better price. Do they just not bother with that any more? I just phoned to cancel my home insurance as it had jumped up about 35%, and there were no questions asked, they just went ahead and cancelled it straight away.

New FCA Regs scuppered the ‘haggling’

[tamig]

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The reason for large service charges and 'tips' in the US is because the serving staff receive such low wages. Basically, you're paying to top up the poor sod's salary because the business owners are so tight fisted.


My consumer related peeve is: Why the hell is food and drink so much more expensive in motorway service stations? Went to a Costa at a service station near Stirling recently and the prices were around 50% higher than in the Costa next to my office.

You could say the same about prices at airports, train stations, even the fitba.

[Wembley67]

Bottled water, incredible the amount spent on that in the UK. Mugs.

[McD]

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The reason for large service charges and 'tips' in the US is because the serving staff receive such low wages. Basically, you're paying to top up the poor sod's salary because the business owners are so tight fisted.


My consumer related peeve is: Why the hell is food and drink so much more expensive in motorway service stations? Went to a Costa at a service station near Stirling recently and the prices were around 50% higher than in the Costa next to my office.

relatively captive audience. They gamble that most people either won’t know if there’s a supermarket or shops nearby, or can’t be arsed taking a longer detour and will just bite the bullet and pay the higher cost.

same with fuel, it’s always significantly more expensive at motorway services than in towns.

[Since90+2]

Personally I couldn't care less if Madri is hand made in a village in the foothills of Madrid or in a mass brewery in Burton.

If it tastes nice I'll drink it, if it doesn't I won't.

[Allant1981]

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Personally I couldn't care less if Madri is hand made in a village in the foothills of Madrid or in a mass brewery in Burton.

If it tastes nice I'll drink it, if it doesn't I won't.

I'm the same, folk go on about Tennants being rank, I really enjoy sitting out in the sun with a cold pint of Tennants, each to their own with drink choices

[Pretty Boy]

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I'm the same, folk go on about Tennants being rank, I really enjoy sitting out in the sun with a cold pint of Tennants, each to their own with drink choices

I think Madri and Tennents probably show how important a story and a brand is to selling a beer, if some people think something is exotic they will be more forgiving of the product or at least more open to liking it.

I think I've posted before about the beer tasting I went to years ago. There was 2 beers blind tasted and the 8 people present unanimously agreed that beer A was nicer than beer B. There was then a tasting of an Innis & Gunn whisky oak aged beer (which was their big product in their pre lager days) and a Tennents version of the same style. After tasting both there was a 6 v 2 split in favour of the I&G. The host then revealed that beer A, that everyone had agreed was better than beer B, was in fact the same Tennents beer they had just disliked compared to the Innis & Gunn which was, of course, beer B. Some people had seen the Tennents name and instantly judged the beer differently. At the time the 2 beers were brewed in the same brewery but the stories behind them were different and that makes a world of difference.

It will be the same with Madri. It's brewed in the same brewery as Fosters, if it has been branded as 'Fosters premium' it would have been a flop regardless of whether it tasted the exact same as it does now.

I love a pint of Tennents and I really couldn't care how much that upsets beer snobs. It's enduringly popular for a reason.

[Just Alf]

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I'm the same, folk go on about Tennants being rank, I really enjoy sitting out in the sun with a cold pint of Tennants, each to their own with drink choices

The sunburn on my nose and top of my head from yesterday confirms your point about Tennants!

[Keith_M]

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You could say the same about prices at airports, train stations, even the fitba.

True.

[HibbyDave]

Biggest consumer con?



BREXIT!