Nickel and Dime Pickpocketing
Forget the Dollars?
Businesses don’t seem to understand that grabbing nickels and dimes from their customer’s up front can cost them dollars in the end. There’s an “assumption” (haven’t we all seen that word broken down before?) that when tacking on a few bucks or removing a few inexpensive frills here and there, that the customer will continue to do business with you; not true. Everyone has a breaking point, and once the customer say’s “Enough”, you may never see him or her again and never know why.
I am referring to little things like:
-Surcharges on rental cars
-Added costs to take baggage on the airplane
-Accomodation charges at the hotel for things like parking, and spa usage
-Automatic tips added to the restaurant tab, regardless of the service provided
-Increases in CAM fees for retailers
-The list goes on and on
I think they must go to the Thesaurus to find nice words to articulate grabbing a little more without asking you. They call them “service charges” and “accomodation charges” expecting the customer to just grin and bear it.
I say, “Put a fair price on your product, tell me what I get, and what else might be optional for what amount”. I think there’s a great opportunity out there today for companies to be straight up with their customers and knock the socks off of those who choose to be sneaky greedy in the name of “economic conservation”.
