Hidden Fees
When you estimate charges on a final bill and it comes out higher on
the bottom line you can usually find that it was hidden fees that
increased the costs. Today in the US Economy many corporations and
companies depend on hidden fees to increase their profits.
Hidden fees start at the hospital when you are born and end at the
morgue when you die.� Need a tissue for a new baby, or a basket for the
flowers mom got, there are high hidden fees for each item on the top of
the high cost of the hospital room.� When you die the county corner has
a fee to release your body to your next of kin.
A major wireless phone company (Cingular) wants their current customers
to switch over to new high tech phones that use a special system that
the phone company is now using.� So here comes a hidden fee of $5 a
month if you do not get a new phone.
Airlines have a fee if you book your flight less than 14 days before
departure.� They also have a new fee for a bump-up to business or first
class where you get more legroom and better drinks.
Credit cards have all kinds of hidden fees.� A fee if you do not use
the credit card enough, and a fee if you use it too much and go over a
limit.� If you pay late there is a fee, if you cancel your card and pay
it off, there is a fee, and one bank tried to charge me a fee of $200
because I would not reinstate my credit card with the bank after I paid
it off.
Hotels are famous for hidden fees.� They have a fee to check your mail,
a fee to use your room phone or the house phone in the in the lobby.�
They have a key fee and a snack bar fee charged on top of the purchase
of the snacks.� There is a TV channel fee and of course there is a
room-service fee.� In some hotel calling security for help has a fee.
Some banks have fees to talk to a teller and to check your accounts on
the phone, and soon a fee to check on the Internet.� There is a fee if
you write too many checks and there is a fee if you don't write enough
checks.� Some banks charge a fee to use an ATM in a police station.�
There is a fee to get a copy of a check you have written, and there is
a separate fee for a copy of each side of the check.
Gift cards have a hidden monthly maintenance fee that normally eats up the amount of the gift card for the store or mall.
When you go to the garage to have your car�s oil changed and buy a set
of new tires, you will find a fee for recycling old oil and old tires.
Try leaving your gym, there is a major cancellation fee.� And some gyms have a fee for renewing your membership.
Take a look at a traffic ticket, there are about a half-dozen hidden
fees wrapped up in the final cost of the ticket.� One of the fees are
for the crooks who will not pay for their traffic tickets, so you have
to fee to cover their costs.
Fees make the corporate and governmental world FAT.
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