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ISPs' long nightmare of having to list all the fees they charge is finally over (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 32 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Meaningless vague stuff like this

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  • [–] 21 points 2 weeks ago* (1 child)

    Centurylink added a fun one for me, a building relocation fee, I shit you not.

    They mailed me paperwork stating how they need to charge an extra fee for when roads expand or move, and they have to relocate a building. So instead of just setting aside some of their profit for the few times they'll need to move a fucking building, now I get to specifically pay for this occurrence.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    You were paying for it either way, they just broke it out as a line item.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 weeks ago*

    I understand this, but now they get to double dip, have a high price, AND charge more. Instead of having all the pricing roled into the final price, they get to say $65/m *

    • with additional taxes and fees

    They also get to invent new situations to charge you for. Instead of just, "our service costs this much" they now get to add additional things like:

    • Hail damage recovery fee
    • Flood damage recovery fee

    Who knows if they ever actually have to relocate a building like they told me. I'd like to see some figures in how often that actually happens, and how much it costs them as a company.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 week ago* (2 children)

    And now that they don't have to report them, how do they ask you to pay for them?

    Here in Finland, you sing up for an internet connection for a certain price a month, usually for 12/24/36 months at a time and... That's literally it. E.g I have 250/250 fibre for 35€/month for the next year. If they want me to pay more, they'll have to increase the price next year when I renew it.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago

    It's a slimy business tactic that applies the anchoring effect.

    You're shopping internet plans. You see a plan that seems like a good deal to you and meets your needs. The price listed in bold text on the website is $50/month. If you look closely, there's a little asterisk referencing tiny text at the bottom of the page that simply says something like "plus additional fees."

    So you feel it's a good deal, so you move forward. You enter all your personal info, everything needed to set things up. Then you get to checkout...and the price has increased to $70/month, inflated by a bunch of bogus fees.

    You would think this wouldn't make a difference in your decision-making, but it does. It actually changes what the average person is willing to pay. Among the reasons:

    Anchoring: When you're shopping, you've already subconsciously decided the plan is a good deal at $50. Then you put in the time investment to set up the account. When they spring the fees on you, your mind is in a state where it really doesn't want to reconsider things. You've already finished the price comparison portion of the task! So even though you can see the price increase, the plan still subconsciously feels like it's $50/month.

    Anti-Competitive Behavior: these fees make cost comparisons much more difficult. The only way to see all the fees that your account will be charged is to go through most of the account sign-up process. You can't just quickly pull up the websites of various ISPS and quickly compare their plans/rates.

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