What "fee" is completely useless?

[nat965]

Ok, so, I was talking to a friend a while ago and we were talking about fees and where they are useless and unnecessary.

One example would be payment processing fees for bills. You are literally paying to pay your bill...

thoughts?

[Landon]

The fee that banks charge to swipe a card to the businesses.

[Brad]

There's a few fees that I have been boggled by, and still am confused.

The first being an Activation fee. I know in Canada an activation fee is usually $25 CAD to start up a phone on a contracted plan. This really confuses me because; a, You're being charged $60-80 CAD/Month to use their service, and they still want to make you pay for the activation. I know that most phone companies will waive it, but I know that will my upgrade after 2 years, I still had to pay that activation fee which pissed me off because I was already with their services, but yet they wanted me to pay for the new phone.

The second is the fee on some toll roads in both Canada, and the US. Now before I begin there are some toll roads that I've seen that actually put the money that is used for those roads back into maintaining the road and keeping it really nice, but then there are some toll roads that I've been on in the states that are so horrible, you wonder where all that toll road fee is going... and some tolls are not cheap!

[Landon]

There's a few fees that I have been boggled by, and still am confused.

The first being an Activation fee. I know in Canada an activation fee is usually $25 CAD to start up a phone on a contracted plan. This really confuses me because; a, You're being charged $60-80 CAD/Month to use their service, and they still want to make you pay for the activation. I know that most phone companies will waive it, but I know that will my upgrade after 2 years, I still had to pay that activation fee which pissed me off because I was already with their services, but yet they wanted me to pay for the new phone.

The second is the fee on some toll roads in both Canada, and the US. Now before I begin there are some toll roads that I've seen that actually put the money that is used for those roads back into maintaining the road and keeping it really nice, but then there are some toll roads that I've been on in the states that are so horrible, you wonder where all that toll road fee is going... and some tolls are not cheap!

I'm pretty sure on some roads "turnpikes" they don't get federal funding like the big interstates do so they have to make them because the owners don't get federal funding? Not sure.

[dbgtz]

Fees when renting from a letting agents.
What exactly am I paying for?? (Nothing because private is better).

[FlyingJesus]

Basically anything that comes under "admin fees" which I think pretty much encompasses everything said in this thread so far :P especially when (as people have said) you're paying to pay for something

[e5]

Card charges when booking cinema tickets online.

You don't pay this when being served face to face by a paid member of staff, yet you get charged, when actually, it's cheaper to sell a ticket online than in a shop and you do all the work yourself.

Really annoys me!

- - - Updated - - -


Ok, so, I was talking to a friend a while ago and we were talking about fees and where they are useless and unnecessary.

One example would be payment processing fees for bills. You are literally paying to pay your bill...

thoughts?

that's usually called a 'service charge' or a 'tip'....

[scottish]

Odeon don't charge for booking tickets online ;)

[nat965]

Charging for the first piece of checked baggage on a flight. I guess its to reduce the number of people carrying luggage, but still...

[Charlie]

Buying concert tickets online and having to pay some stupid booking fee, even if you chose to print them at home, they charge you. When I moved out of my last place, they charged us £75 which was taken from the deposit as a "check out/inspection" fee. It was a house I rented, not a hotel so why was I paying a check out fee?

[Landon]

It was a house I rented, not a hotel so why was I paying a check out fee?

Haha, just another way to get money by the landlord.

[Charlie]

Haha, just another way to get money by the landlord.

That's what I thought. They never even bothered to mention it, I only found out when they declined my request for the full deposit back and changed it to the one with the fee taken off.

[e5]

Odeon don't charge for booking tickets online ;)
My.locals.are.all.vue!......p.s.SpaceBarIsBroke:@

[Neversoft]

Lettings fees are bullshit. Seriously, fuck estate agents. I've rented three separate apartments over four years and the admin fees are — without fail — simply ridiculous. Recently I had to break my lease early due to extenuating circumstances, which the landlord didn't mind as long as I paid the fees the estate agents charge for locating a new tenant. I said sure. It ended up costing £650. They relisted the old ad on their website, showed up for a couple of viewings, referenced one single tenant and printed out some generic paperwork. Why the fuck does that cost so much? And look at the fees for this estate agent here (http://www.savills.co.uk/services/buy-sell-let-rent/letting-or-renting-a-property/landlord-charges.aspx) — £120 for them to transfer the deposit to the landlord? And £246 to prepare the paperwork! What the fuck. How can they justify that?

[dbgtz]

Lettings fees are bullshit. Seriously, fuck estate agents. I've rented three separate apartments over four years and the admin fees are — without fail — simply ridiculous. Recently I had to break my lease early due to extenuating circumstances, which the landlord didn't mind as long as I paid the fees the estate agents charge for locating a new tenant. I said sure. It ended up costing £650. They relisted the old ad on their website, showed up for a couple of viewings, referenced one single tenant and printed out some generic paperwork. Why the fuck does that cost so much? And look at the fees for this estate agent here (http://www.savills.co.uk/services/buy-sell-let-rent/letting-or-renting-a-property/landlord-charges.aspx) — £120 for them to transfer the deposit to the landlord? And £246 to prepare the paperwork! What the fuck. How can they justify that?

Yup it's absurd. It's been ridiculously easy to find private landlords as a student, but I worry for when I'm not. Fortunately government talks about fee bans are due to begin... in 4 months.

[Neversoft]

Yup it's absurd. It's been ridiculously easy to find private landlords as a student, but I worry for when I'm not. Fortunately government talks about fee bans are due to begin... in 4 months.
Ugh. Their fees should have been abolished or regulated a long time ago. They're ridiculously inflated. Although no matter what is implemented, I'm sure they'll find some loophole. These people are ruthless. The tenant already has to pay a hefty sum upfront what with the rent and the deposit, I don't think it's warranted to charge them for anything else besides referencing, yet all these miscellaneous costs are bundled together and labelled an admin fee. There are probably some decent ones out there, but I have such disdain for estate agents. The ones I have dealt with only care about money and are actually so disingenuous and unhelpful. They've never been able to explain to me what the admin fee actually encompasses and why it costs so much.

Oh! I also remember being charged £50 for them to renew the tenancy agreement, which was apparently money for nothing because they didn't even provide me with any new paperwork. I had to sign a sheet of paper they sent me saying I was happy to renew the lease for another year, then I had to go to them personally to hand it back. I guess they used a £50 stamp?

[-:Undertaker:-]

a shopping centre charging you to use the toilets

cheeky as fuck

[Absently]

Ugh. Their fees should have been abolished or regulated a long time ago. They're ridiculously inflated. Although no matter what is implemented, I'm sure they'll find some loophole. These people are ruthless. The tenant already has to pay a hefty sum upfront what with the rent and the deposit, I don't think it's warranted to charge them for anything else besides referencing, yet all these miscellaneous costs are bundled together and labelled an admin fee. There are probably some decent ones out there, but I have such disdain for estate agents. The ones I have dealt with only care about money and are actually so disingenuous and unhelpful. They've never been able to explain to me what the admin fee actually encompasses and why it costs so much.

Oh! I also remember being charged £50 for them to renew the tenancy agreement, which was apparently money for nothing because they didn't even provide me with any new paperwork. I had to sign a sheet of paper they sent me saying I was happy to renew the lease for another year, then I had to go to them personally to hand it back. I guess they used a £50 stamp?

Yeah they charge us 150 I think to renew ours.. we never even get a new contract to say we are keeping it another year. We're just about to pay all the new fees for our new property and altogether including deposit and first months rent it's over 2k which is just shocking. We've had to pay a fee for us to have a guarantor because I'm still a student for two months, which is ridiculous to have to pay to have them.. The entire thing is a joke. I'm expecting them to take away some of our deposit too just because they can.

[scottish]

Yeah they charge us 150 I think to renew ours.. we never even get a new contract to say we are keeping it another year. We're just about to pay all the new fees for our new property and altogether including deposit and first months rent it's over 2k which is just shocking. We've had to pay a fee for us to have a guarantor because I'm still a student for two months, which is ridiculous to have to pay to have them.. The entire thing is a joke. I'm expecting them to take away some of our deposit too just because they can.

I love being scottish.

The only 'fee' I had when renting this house was the deposit (1 months rent).

[Absently]

I love being scottish.

The only 'fee' I had when renting this house was the deposit (1 months rent).

It was like that in Ireland too :(

[lawrawrrr]

Ugh, I hate ticket booking fees, especially when they're like half the price of the ticket!!!

[Neversoft]

Yeah they charge us 150 I think to renew ours.. we never even get a new contract to say we are keeping it another year. We're just about to pay all the new fees for our new property and altogether including deposit and first months rent it's over 2k which is just shocking. We've had to pay a fee for us to have a guarantor because I'm still a student for two months, which is ridiculous to have to pay to have them.. The entire thing is a joke. I'm expecting them to take away some of our deposit too just because they can.

Wow, damn. I thought 50 was taking the biscuit but 150 is just daylight robbery. Just goes to show all these estate agents do the same job but make up their own prices from nothing. When I earned just below their much desired '30x the rent' threshold, I got around having to sort out a guarantor by paying six months rent upfront, which was absolutely not ideal, but I am very frugal and get irritated when I have to dish out money for nothing. Since they also have to reference the guarantor then I think it's reasonable to charge extra for that, but then to add even more on top just for the simple reason of having a guarantor is unjustifiable. They just see things in terms of how much money they can get. The deposit is a lot more secure, but I have had some landlords try to dip their hand in it for seemingly no reason. There's so much to look out for an be aware of when renting. The current laws and regulations seem totally stacked in the favour of landlords and lettings agents.