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50 Painful Examples Of People Getting Absolutely Ripped Off
There’s this ongoing kerfuffle behind the scenes between business owners and consumers. Buyers want to make the most of their money, and sellers want to earn the most from their products. It’s all good and dandy when the commodity is worth the price you paid, but when the high price point doesn’t match up with what you’ve been promised, it can be infuriating, to say the least.
Unfortunately, many of us have been there—saving up for a nice meal or getting our nails done for a celebration—and then left completely in shock because your $20 salad came with three pieces of croutons, and your treat-yourself manicure looked like a child’s coloring.
These scenarios happen more often than we’d like to admit, and what better place to let our purchase frustrations go than on social media? The Bored Panda team has scoured the web to find the most unfair deals that make people feel ripped off. Scroll through the curated list to see expectations vs. reality in this economy that might leave you thinking twice before purchasing something.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Paid $12 To Go To This "Pumpkin Patch", Also Known As A Field With Pumpkins Placed In It
RELATED:
#2
Paid $300 For 3 Nights At This Specific Hotel Because They Advertised A Free Continental Breakfast. This Is Their Continental Breakfast
#3
Got Charged 9k For A Doctor To Tell Me It Was Just Period Cramps, And After Going To Another Doctor, It Was Diagnosed As A Ruptured Ovarian Cyst
#4
I Paid $20 For A Burger On My Cruise. Here Is The Result
#5
This Haircut That I Paid $60 For
#6
I Paid $47 To Upgrade To This "Window Seat"
#7
My Wedding Cake (Yes, We Paid For This)
#8
This $18 "Caesar Salad" My Girlfriend's Cousins Got In Vegas
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
Caesar ate the salad, and Cousin got the leftovers.
#9
Just Paid $300 For This Textbook And Peeled Off A Sticker To Reveal It Shouldn't Have Been Sold
#10
I Paid $45 To Add Ride Photos To My Daughter's Amusement Park's Season Pass. It's An Extra $20/Photo To Download Without The Watermark
#11
$8.99 Kids Buttered Noodles
#12
Ordered Fried Pickles As An Appetizer. I Got 1 Pickle Cut Into 4, Cost Me $10
#13
The View From My 30€ Ticket
#14
I Spent $12 On "Anti-Fog" Mirror Film
#15
Just Paid $800 For My School "Books". It's A Loose Leaf Paper
#16
Caprese Salad I Purchased From A Pizza Place. I Should Have Checked The Reviews First
VioletHunter 2 years ago
I mean... that's caprese. It's just presented badly and a small portion.
#17
I Paid $5.50 For These Cheesy Chips At A Football Match
Bad Alchemy 2 years ago
I've seen bad concession food before, but this is pretty high on the scale of the worst.
#18
This Is The Hot Tub At The Airbnb, Which Was Why I Rented The Spot. Smelled Terrible And Was Not Cleaned In Forever
#19
This Restaurant Has An Automatic 18% Service Charge For Parties Of One Or Higher
I’ve seen restaurants include gratuity when it’s a large party but never for parties of 1.
#20
Dinner Provided By My School (On A Trip I Paid $1500 For)
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
Just looking at that giant piece of pizza makes me feel full.
#21
Went Out For Dinner With Friends And Got Sausage And Peppers As An Appetizer. This Is What We Got
#22
$17 For Sad Pizza My Friend Ordered
#23
Paid $9 For This. Speechless
#24
I Paid $10.95 For This
#25
The Majesty Of An $8.00 Whole Foods Sandwich. The Good News Is The Chicken Salad Is Completely Tasteless
#26
Bought A New Build House And Chose A Location Across From Yet To Be Placed Park Since We Had Kids. Paid A Premium For This Coveted Lot. Here’s The Park They Finally Put In
Molly Whuppie 2 years ago
Don't worry, in a few years it will become The Place Where Teenagers Hang Out and Vape.
#27
Getting Taxed On A Tip Illegally
Robert Beveridge 2 years ago
I'm sure the local tax board would be quite interested in seeing that. (chamber of commerce as well, but who knows, they might have been the ones who offered skimming lessons)
#28
This Was Served At A Networking Party. They Paid 500$ For The Venue
#29
Just Arrived At My Hotel In My "Sea Facing Room"
#30
Bought A $44 Handmade Ceramic Mug. It Cracks As I Pour In My First Cup Of Tea
#31
My Mom Paid $20k To Enclose Her Porch. I Saw It Today. All Of The Beams And Joints Look Like This
#32
A "Caesar Salad" At Red Robin
Megan Curl 2 years ago
Red Robin is known for good burgers and free fry refills, not salad. Although is that really a single sad and lonely crouton?
#33
I Ordered A Baby Shower Gift For A Friend From Babies R Us And Paid An Extra $5 For A Gift Wrap With A Gift Message. Gift Message Printed On Invoice With Contents Listed
#34
My School Lunch. Paid $3.25 For This
#35
Power Went Out 20 Minutes Into Oppenheimer. Didn't Get To See The Last 30 Minutes
Waited about an hour for it to be restored, and the movie restarted, only for it to restart again automatically at the next showtime, leading to being kicked out of the theater.
#36
The View Of The Stage At My Concert
#37
The Server Said The Wings Were A "Good" Size
Sergy Yeltsen 2 years ago
I'd be checking to see if the sparrows and pigeons in the closest park are still there, or can still fly.
#38
Glad I Paid For Pre
#39
I Paid $8 For This
#40
I Paid Over 4 Dollars For This. I Just Opened This. There’s More In The Photo On The Front Than In The Bag
#41
2023 Is The Year Of Paying More For Less
#42
My Wife Paid $200 For Front-Row Balcony Seats. They Closed The Balcony And Now This Is Our View
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
Hopefully, you took this up with the promoters. They can't just downgrade you like that.
#43
Paid Extra For A "Tower" Room At Our Hotel And Were Told We’d Get A Nice View Of The River
#44
We Lost Our Cat Thor On Christmas Day. My Girl Has Been Struggling To Cope Since. She Loves Stuffed Animals So For This Christmas I Ordered Her A Cuddle Clone. I Paid $300 For This
#45
This "Seasonal Fruit" Cup From Wendy's I Paid $1.29 For
#46
Paid $30 To Get Professionally Cropped Out. Photo 1 Is A Family Photo That Was Taken. Photo 2 Is The One That Arrived In The Mail
#47
This Costs $8 At Starbucks
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 years ago
Add lettuce and tomato, and I'd pay four dollars.
#48
Getting Charged Extra To Remove An Item
#49
Paid $7 For This Hummus And Veggies Platter
Shark Lady 2 years ago
They could have at least peeled the carrots, not that it would have made much of a difference, but still......!
#50
Hotel Took My Security Deposit And An Extra $50 For A Blood-Stained Towel And Stained Bath Mat
Bogdan Chelariu 2 years ago
Did you wipe the hotel entrance lobby with those?! They look disgusting!!!!!!
#51
The View From My Opera Seat
#52
163 Grams Instead Of 200 Grams. Groceries Double The National Average For Inflation, And You Don't Even Get What You Pay For
#53
Girlfriend Got A Fruit Cup At Chipotle, And It’s Just An Orange In A Plastic Container
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
If only there was some type of organic and compostable packaging for oranges.
#54
Our Pizza Came With No Cheese And Sauce
#55
The "Grilled Cheese Reuben" I Spent $15 And Over An Hour Waiting For
#56
My $4.75 Starbucks Bacon Gouda Has Shrunk
Robert Beveridge 2 years ago
Why the hell are y'all ordering Starbucks food anyway? It's legendarily bad and, while the examples on this list are extreme, has always even more overpriced than their sad bitter bean water.
#57
I Paid For An Upgraded Lake View
#58
My $7 Wendy's Burger For Lunch Today
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
Yuck. These people are grossly underpaid, but they still shouldn't miss something like that.
#59
My "Medium Fries" Had Only 5 Fries In It
Robert Beveridge 2 years ago
Ah, you see, you thought you ordered medium but you actually ordered mid
#60
The Seat My Husband Paid To Upgrade To For "Extra Legroom"
He’s 6’3" but doesn’t have super long legs. His knees have already been bashed a couple of times by the person in front of him flopping down in their seat.
#61
My Friend's View On WWE NXT. Paid £250 For This
#62
Just Paid £4.25 For This At A Cafe
#63
Custom Photo Gift Company Rearranged The Photos Into This Ridiculous Configuration. "No Refunds"
#64
Paid $180 To Upgrade My Seat On JetBlue Just To See This For 6 Hours
David Paterson 2 years ago
First time I was on a flight with seat-back video. They didn't show a movie. Just the same advert over and over again for 6 hours, 6 inches from my nose. And you couldn't turn it off. Real torture. Not deliberate on their part, just criminal negligence. Next time I flew I carried black cardboard shaped to cover the seat-back video.
#65
The $13 "Cocktail" I Had Yesterday Was 80% Ice Cubes
Bogdan Chelariu 2 years ago
All cocktails that contain ice are 80% ice!!!! Have you ever had one with less?!
#66
Ordered McDonald's On Uber Eats And Paid Extra To Have Bigger Fries. The Fries Pack Came Half Empty. I Complained To Uber Eats But They Said That There Was Nothing They Could Do
#67
Paid Extra For This "Window" Seat
Stephanie A Mutti 2 years ago
Airlines could truly do a better job with this. They absolutely know which seats do NOT have a window. Charge the regular rate for the seat and NOT upcharge for nothing.
#68
Imagine Paying $250 And Not Being Able To Turn Off Ads
#69
Paid $3 For A Chocolate Croissant, And Got This
#70
Paid 4 Extra Bucks On Uber Eats For A Happy Birthday Sign On The Birthday Cake And This Is What I Got
Megan Curl 2 years ago
Uber eats delivers the cake, they don’t decorate it. Maybe you should have planned ahead for a birthday?
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What do you think ?
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
This is why I hate all the Karen-bashing. Yes, there are plenty of evil Karens. But it's morphed on BP and several other social media sites from "Can you get a load of the way this monster is abusing the ways the company listens to and responds to customers" and instead it's become, "customers have no rights to complain about bad service!"
Ima Manimal 2 years ago
If you think about it, with inflation and everything going on, we are seriously ripped off every day. Everything becomes a rip off. Airlines make for a horrible experience. Restaurant quality is way down. And God forbid you need auto repairs.
Jude Laskowski 2 years ago
That's why it's a good idea to get to know a good local mechanic. I rely on word of mouth.
Load More Replies...
Lydsylou (she/her) 2 years ago
A restaurant I'm near sells hot chocolate for 3.50 which you can add cream to for an extra 50p. Then they sell a luxury hot chocolate which is £5.50 and that is exactly the same thing except it comes with like 5 mini marshmallows and a bit of the chocolate powder sprinkled on top
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
This is why I hate all the Karen-bashing. Yes, there are plenty of evil Karens. But it's morphed on BP and several other social media sites from "Can you get a load of the way this monster is abusing the ways the company listens to and responds to customers" and instead it's become, "customers have no rights to complain about bad service!"
Ima Manimal 2 years ago
If you think about it, with inflation and everything going on, we are seriously ripped off every day. Everything becomes a rip off. Airlines make for a horrible experience. Restaurant quality is way down. And God forbid you need auto repairs.
Jude Laskowski 2 years ago
That's why it's a good idea to get to know a good local mechanic. I rely on word of mouth.
Load More Replies... Lydsylou (she/her) 2 years ago
A restaurant I'm near sells hot chocolate for 3.50 which you can add cream to for an extra 50p. Then they sell a luxury hot chocolate which is £5.50 and that is exactly the same thing except it comes with like 5 mini marshmallows and a bit of the chocolate powder sprinkled on top
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