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.
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Paid $12 To Go To This "Pumpkin Patch", Also Known As A Field With Pumpkins Placed In It
Whst is a pumpkin patch though? Should it be with vine and leafs as well or?
Load More Replies...Nice field tho. Kids would love running in that grass. Pumpkin plants have rough prickly leaves that are not entirely pleasant to walk in or move around.
But would you pay $12 and drive somewhere to a field just for the kids to run around?
Load More Replies..."Dear Great Pumpkin, Everyone tells me you are a fake, but I believe in you. P.S.: if you really are a fake, don't tell me. I don't want to know."
I went to one like this last year, I saw a Dad get hit with a bill for £40 for 5 or 6 pumpkins his kids had picked up, these would have cost about £1.50 - £2 each in the shops. We decided to go to the supermarket instead. The owners of the field had literally put pumpkins on the ground.
I have never once been to a pumpkin patch where you pay admission for entrance and never would. Paying for the pumpkins and any rides/games/food, sure. An upfront cost just to get in? No, thank you.
I cannot see, that he got his moneys worth, when there is no pumpkin patch
Load More Replies...I guess if you bought a "large" pumpkin in the store it might cost more than $12.00. That's the only good side to this rip off...........that I can see.
Paid $300 For 3 Nights At This Specific Hotel Because They Advertised A Free Continental Breakfast. This Is Their Continental Breakfast
Continental Breakfasts = total unmitigated complete BULLSH*T
Load More Replies...Coronavirus caused Choice hotels to replace their continental breakfasts like this. They also (around here) had to close all their pools, etc. Not sure the reduced costs hasn't led them to drag their feet about going back to normal.
This person clearly didn't do their research. To pay a premium for a Comfort Inn is an interesting choice.
Load More Replies...Even an actual continental breakfast would never lead me to choose a $300 hotel. If a less expensive decent hotel without breakfast where available. I mean, there's not much to a continental breakfast.
I did a double take on that. I think he means $300 for 3 nights, so $100/night.
Load More Replies...I looked at the original post and this person is stupid. This is the "grab and go bag", there was full menu if the person went downstairs at the given time and got it. Note here is the section on this from Comfort Suites: The Added Level of Service You Need. Free Daily Newspaper – Keep up to date on current national headlines with a complimentary newspaper every morning. Free Hot Breakfast Buffet – Following your sound night’s rest, wake-up renewed for the day ahead with a free hot breakfast full of choices like eggs, sausage or bacon, fresh fruit, toast, Danish, juice and your choice of original or flavored waffles. Grab It & Go Breakfast Bag – Arrive to your early meeting recharged and on time. Our complimentary Grab It & Go Breakfast Bag is available for early risers during the two hours before breakfast opens.
Depends on where you are staying (country/state/city/...).
Load More Replies..."Continental" is a red flag when hotels offer food. I travelled for work for years and continental always means a piece of fruit, toast, maybe a boiled egg, and tea or coffee. It's just the hotel equivalent of click-bait
I've stayed at quite a few hotels that at least had fruit, cereal and milk, orange juice, waffle irons with batter to make waffles, and butter and syrup to top them, and stuff like that set out for their continental breakfast. Some even had oatmeal, and even bacon and sausage. And a few just had donuts. BUT that was all pre-covid. Maybe it's all different now. Maybe it depends on the location, and the hotel. IDK.
Load More Replies...Phylis got fired for being too generous with the mints
Load More Replies...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
I suppose this is USA? I would fear visiting a doctor if I lived there! Could never pay that kind of bills.
Yes, and it looks like this person is uninsured. If insured, the contract rate would have been far lower, as noted in adjustments. Medical care will bankrupt you in the U.S.
Load More Replies...…and, bizarrely, Americans think that they will be WORSE OFF with socialized medicine. That’s because if you put the word “social” in front of anything but the word “media” they lose their minds. FYI I live here and work in healthcare.
Your absolutely brilliant spot-on comment should have received hundreds of upvotes by now...! (Sadly though it appears that there are a great many of "those" Americans here on BP...)
Load More Replies...So thankful we have the NHS. It may not be the quickest & best. But at least it won't make you bankrupt.
I went to A&E with a serious dental abscess (referred directly from my dentist after antibiotics all failed) at 11AM. I had surgery to remove two teeth and drain the abscess at 6PM, stayed two nights with a drain in my face and was discharged. Cost me £24 in parking which I was completely happy to pay given the care I'd had. It's not perfect, but I have a lot to thank it for.
Load More Replies...That's simple, you did NOT receive care, They would NOT be receiving payment.
Then they would wreck your credit, sue you then garnish your wages.
Load More Replies...Yup. Took years for my endometriosis to be properly diagnosed. Doctors, often even women doctors, don't listen to women.
I detest people who just dismiss concerns of patients, especially women, for this exact kind of thing. It’s why I got into healthcare - to not be one of those people.
Nowadays, trips to the grocery store become more expensive every time. For example, inflation for food in the US was 3.3% in October 2023. However, the cost of a commodity is much more complicated than the business setting a number they deem suitable. In a free market, it’s usually determined by demand and supply. The price will be higher if many buyers are seeking a product and lower if there are only a few.
I Paid $20 For A Burger On My Cruise. Here Is The Result
After ingesting it, perhaps a hospital was warranted.😨
Load More Replies...There are "specialty restaurants" where you can pay extra (foolishly, in my opinion), but I've never seen one that had hambugers on the menu.
Load More Replies...Wow. Every cruise I've taken, even the buffet food was way better than that and the pay restaurants were fantastic.
It's almost like you need to dunk it in water for awhile before eating it.
Load More Replies...Charging that much for this c**p should be illegal. I thought meals came with the price for the cruise?
Don't cruises have round the clock buffets that are included in the price of the trip?
The few that I've been on don't have 24-hour anymore, but the burgers usually do look like this.
Load More Replies...This Haircut That I Paid $60 For
I bought one of those hair cutting tools and cut my own hair too. I did a way better job than this "professional". At least my work wasn't obviously uneven!
Load More Replies...If you think it's so bad why did you pay? "Fix it or no money" would surely be the order of the day?
Some people don’t know that they have that option. Many women especially are taught at a young age not to speak up so when something does happen they don’t know what the recourse is and they just shrug and accept it. I did for 44 years. Therapy taught me otherwise.
Load More Replies...Been cutting my own hair for 10 years. Have cut my partner's hair. My partner has cut my hair. Never was it this bad.
I had a hairstylist do something like this to me. She kept saying, “Oops, let me even it up on the other side. Oops, let me even up the other side.” I went in with hair this long and came out with hair shorter than a pixie. My stepmother wouldn’t let me leave because she was paying. I cried and had to go to school the next day and I was already being bullied. The haircut made it worse. For future reference, talk to the owner of the salon if the stylist is not the owner and ask for a refund or for the hair to be fixed. Sue in small claims if it is the owner.
I Paid $47 To Upgrade To This "Window Seat"
Except for the whole flying from LA to NYC in 5 1/2 hours part
Load More Replies...I'd ask for a refund on that. The airlines know the seats for every model of plane they fly. "Upgrading" to this seat should not even be an option.
The internet is your friend. Sites like seatguru have the layouts of the seats and info about things like the lack of windows in a "window" seat, bulkheads limiting the reclining angle and so on
The airlines are so ghetto now. I wish there was another option in the US, but there isn't unless you want your travel to take a week in each direction.
Additionally, product cost is one of the most important factors that affects the price. It includes expenses such as materials, equipment, labor, packaging, marketing, distribution, selling, and even rent. Competition in the market also adds to it. If there aren't any other suppliers in a specific area, the firm can fix a price of its choosing. Additionally, the government usually doesn’t interfere in their determination, except for things like wheat and drugs, which are essential for humans and require set pricing.
My Wedding Cake (Yes, We Paid For This)
If Anne Reardon taught me anything its that with a little imagination, the cake is fixable. But I think that cake would take a whole lot of imagination.
Would have to scrape off all of the current icing & redo that part from scratch. Maybe take a sample of the cake to be sure it's edible.
Load More Replies...I could do better with an easy bake oven and one hand tied behind my back!
Committing to make a 'wedding cake' with obviously very few skills is unconscionable...
Load More Replies...My nephew made his mother a better cake for her second wedding and decorated it, too. He's not a baker but had worked part-time at Baskin Robbins, so not an expert.
Unless this cake tastes like literal ambrosia, there's no way in hell I'd pay for this stack of ick, let alone serve and eat it.
They say the more expensive the wedding the shorter the marriage last, so this means they'll outlive us all.
This $18 "Caesar Salad" My Girlfriend's Cousins Got In Vegas
Caesar ate the salad, and Cousin got the leftovers.
Pretty impressive for a guy who got murdered over 2000 years ago too!
Load More Replies...It looks like in a cartoon when they want to represent trash and they just draw all these items together. Only missing an apple core and banana peel
That is one sad Caesar’s salad. Were the ingredients picked up off a floor?
well anchovies are in the dressing generally mashed and mixed into it.
Load More Replies...Just Paid $300 For This Textbook And Peeled Off A Sticker To Reveal It Shouldn't Have Been Sold
To M O'Connell: I think most of us see the publisher and the bookstore that sold it as equally corrupt. Textbook publishers cheat students by making new editions every year. College bookstores cheat students by raising the prices that they charge students FAR above what they themselves paid the publishers. They also limit textbook buy-backs as much as possible to force students to buy the more profitable (for them) new textbooks every year. In this case, the bookstore got this copy from the publisher for free and sold it illegally for $300 of pure profit -- on purpose, too, judging from how they covered the warning with a sticker. I think that reporting one awful economic predator to another so that at least ONE of them gets punished and learns a lesson isn't that crazy a thing to do.
Load More Replies...I used an earlier edition of this book when I taught Calculus. It cost $75. It was a good textbook. And now it's apparently four times better!
Load More Replies...The textbook industry is an enormous racket. When I was a professor, I'd get free textbooks pretty often (I didn't request them - they just came). They usually had that notice printed on them that they weren't to be resold. Then resellers would come around and offer cash for them, reassuring me that it was perfectly fine to do that. I'm sure they put that sticker on them and sold them to bookstores. If I'd wanted to, I could have made bank requesting free textbooks from publishers and selling them to these resellers.
As a former student, I agree because I spent so much money. I started college in 2008 so this was less common, but now even if she get a decent used textbook, you have to pay lots of money to do homework online. We had some of that, but my cousin has lots more online homework that costs money to do.
Load More Replies...Yes, but then you don't get to keep the book either. I know for a lot of students and courses, they don't care, but it can still be a drawback. At my college, books are now included in the course fees, but you only get an eBook.
Load More Replies...Um, you actually did not get ripped off. The publisher got ripped off. Someone made $300 dollars and the book he gave for free, on the condition it not be sold. You got the book you needed, paid $300 dollars and got the book. You did not get ripped off. I went to college and know about these overpriced publication, but you have to pay. I still have mine and will keep then till my dying day for the prices I paid.
Despite all of these factors constituting a price, it may increase due to something entirely unpredictable. Let’s take unfavorable weather conditions, for example. The summer of 2023 was Earth’s hottest since global records began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA. Due to extreme heat, wildfires, and violent storms, some crops end up being destroyed. As a result, veggies, leafy greens, nuts, berries, and other produce may cost more.
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
It would be if it were real. Once you pay for the FunPix added to a pass the photos are available on your account without watermarks and are free to download. The OP either didn't understand how it worked, or is just lying for no apparent reason.
Load More Replies...Fortunately AI could probably fix that up for you pretty quickly nowadays.
People complain about the greed - but buy it anyways. Maybe we should shame People for being greedy? - Naw we will just make them famous
A lot of these seem like first-time occurrences. It would only be bad if they bought the same thing again.
Load More Replies...In the age of digital photography, there's no reason to charge anything. It's likely fully automated, anyway.
Uh, no. The only thing you would have to pay extra for are print photos.
$8.99 Kids Buttered Noodles
Well... it's "noodles" ... and butter..... technically correct. But HOW can anybody believe you can actually serve a dish like this??
Because many American workers experience dystopian conditions...many are angry. What did Steinbeck say "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage"?
Load More Replies...Americans don't know the difference between pasta and noodles...
Load More Replies...Noodles could have been pre-cooked and sitting out and got cold enough to not melt butter. Gross all around.
Load More Replies...Well Martin..........I upvoted you but ......is penne. You don't want to know what means pene with unmelted butter in Spanish.........
Load More Replies...This is the server's fault, and the tip should reflect that. I wouldn't accept that from the kitchen when I was a server.
That's exactly what I was thinking. It should never have made it to the table.
Load More Replies...Nope, nope, nope. Send it back, remove the charge and stop on your way home and pick up your child's favorite fast food. This is just embarrassing.
Ordered Fried Pickles As An Appetizer. I Got 1 Pickle Cut Into 4, Cost Me $10
I ordered fish and chips at a pub. The menu showed I could order a side of salad and a couple of other things with it. I asked for the salad. I was served 2 pieces of fish and a salad. No chips. When I asked the waitress about my missing fries, she told me I could have ordered them as my side. Fries were not listed as a side. I guess I'm an idiot to think fish and chips actually comes with fries.
They are oddly delicious. I don't care for most fried food at all. Except fried pickles. It's weird.
Load More Replies...Affairs between nations can also drive up the costs of some of the most necessary products. The Russia-Ukraine war raised the price of grains by 110% between 2021 and 2022. Ukraine has more than 50% of the world’s cereal market and is also the main supplier of sunflower oil. The export restrictions from the country and the heightened demand for crops due to the pandemic reached near-record prices.
The View From My 30€ Ticket
In the U.S., they'd sell this as "obstructed view" seating for quite cheap.
Load More Replies...Not as bad as the stadium Dinamo Warsaw play at. Virtually wherever you sit there is a Pole in front of you. Ba dum tss
I see lots of empty seats in front. I would just sit in one of them.
Tiu can see multiple balls on the pitch meaning game has not started yet. Those seats are likely empty only because folks have not arrived.
Load More Replies...It will give you time to think about your own mortality, which if far more interesting than soccer
I Spent $12 On "Anti-Fog" Mirror Film
Oh, that's how it works, it keeps the part of the mirror that it isn't on, clear. LOL.
Load More Replies...You sure you didn't misread the sale listing when it actually read "ante-fog" 🤣
But I can't see any f(r)og around. Maybe you should try to simply remove the mirror's protective film‽‽‽ 🤔🐸🤭
Just Paid $800 For My School "Books". It's A Loose Leaf Paper
Well Crystal you haven't been to college? The class was probably taught by a student assistant who took the class last semester.
Load More Replies...So glad I had a bunch of professors who told us which older editions of the textbooks were ok to buy online instead of spending a fortune on each "new edition."
Yeah this...it comes wrapped like a ream of paper and after you pay $200 for the book they ask if you want to spend another $15 for a binder...such a rip
Yeah, I cry BS on this. There's no way. (I'm in Ottawa and work down the road).
Load More Replies...There's more to this story - I suspect there is a real textbook and this is the workbook to accompany it. I've seen it before - my French prof (at Algonquin College too) not only made us use the textbook that he wrote, but also the workbook that he made with a photocopier and 3 hole punch (just like this). It's not necessarily right, but it's not uncommon.
There's nothing wrong with that. But if you don't like it, go elsewhere.
Load More Replies...That's exactly how your books come when you take a law enforcement certification class. The only difference is you get 3 ring binders with the ladder.
Had a similar experience. Paid over $100 out of pocket for a math textbook, it was all loose leaf. Supposedly so it was easier to carry in a binder, but idk. felt ridiculous.
Mass outbreaks of diseases are also known to contribute to the rising costs. In late 2022, highly contagious bird flu forced poultry farmers to reduce their chicken population in the US, which affected the prices of eggs and other livestock products. The outbreak resulted in about 27 to 28 million dozen eggs per week missing on the shelf. The lack of access to necessary food drives up prices and can result in people not being able to meet basic household food needs.
Caprese Salad I Purchased From A Pizza Place. I Should Have Checked The Reviews First
I mean... that's caprese. It's just presented badly and a small portion.
No olive oil or salt crystals, you might as well sell tickets to an empty odeon calling it an opera
Load More Replies...In my world, I would suggest it be tossed on a slice for a Margherita.
At least it all looks fresh. You should see some of the mealy pale tomatoes some places use around me.
They gave you five spinach leaves, if they would’ve given you six spinach leaves, you would’ve had a tossed salad
I Paid $5.50 For These Cheesy Chips At A Football Match
I've seen bad concession food before, but this is pretty high on the scale of the worst.
I'm from the US and yes, i can confirm that that cheese tastes like S**T
Hopefully the white stuff on the cheese is freezer burn and something nasty
This Is The Hot Tub At The Airbnb, Which Was Why I Rented The Spot. Smelled Terrible And Was Not Cleaned In Forever
I would never use a hot tub that strangers have used before me. Who knows what they may have done/left in there.
Right? Why would I pay for the privilege of not only cleaning the place, but taking out the garbage and washing the sheets and then paying to be surveilled and then have the owner raise the price if there happens to be an event nearby, whether I happen to be going to that event or not, even though we already agreed on a price and AirBNB refused to keep the contract. No, hotels for me.
Load More Replies...However, it doesn’t mean that business owners don’t take advantage of these circumstances and raise prices just because they can. Even though we spend a lot of money, the purchases we make don’t always meet our expectations.
One way businesses profit without us even knowing it is called "shrinkflation." It's done to reduce the size of a product while maintaining the same price. From a business perspective, it’s a useful way to boost or maintain profits without drawing too much negative attention. Retailers often employ it to level out higher production (e.g., materials, labor) costs. If you spot a packaging redesign, chances are there has been a weight change. Mars Inc. took this path in 2017, shrinking Maltesers and M&Ms in the UK by 15%.
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.
legally if they do gratuity added to the bill, under wage laws it must go to your server as a tip. If they dont, its a crime. All 50 states
Load More Replies...I work in the restaurant industry. Tired of hearing people say that no one wants to work. Actually people will work for a living wage. The restaurant industry was built on screwing over their employees with low pay and expecting customers to pay their employees thru tipping. This has to stop. Offer a decent wage already.
Again, if you're in America (don't want to assume), this is state by state. The entire west coast requires employees (tipped or not) to pay minimum wage (no tipped wage). Oregon has a provision in the constitution that requires minimum wage to keep up with inflation. Employees in these states are tipped on top of that minimum wage. If you're in America and you're in a state that operates with a tipped wage start writing your legislature. Vote in people willing to change the laws. Start petitions. Vote locally because that's truly where change begins. Vote for people on the federal level willing to up the national minimum wage. Peacefully Protest at the state capitol.
Load More Replies...Bit pointless saying "parties of 1 or larger" given that a party of 0 is presumably anybody not eating there
That's not really getting "ripped off". Just that tipping is essentially included in the price.
Provided that this service charge actually goes to the staff, I think that this restaurant is "doing the right thing". At the same time people are outraged to "pay a service charge" are also outraged that the employees aren't paid a "living wage". What is the difference between putting a line-item charge for the "service" in or just taking the same amount and hiding it in the cost of the food? You don't really think that you can have it both ways, do you? Not pay more, and also have the employees get more.
Dinner Provided By My School (On A Trip I Paid $1500 For)
Just looking at that giant piece of pizza makes me feel full.
I'm sorry but most of that fee was probably for travel and lodging costs this could be better but frankly shouldn't be all that surprising either.
Went Out For Dinner With Friends And Got Sausage And Peppers As An Appetizer. This Is What We Got
In these parts, "sausage and peppers" is a hero sandwich with sausage and peppers and cheese and lots more.
This was how my grandmother made it, minus the cheese. That or she would fry it up with some eggs. Which I always thought was pretty funny because my grandfather was terrified of chicken. If she cooked chicken, he would leave the house, or she would make him this. We would wash our hands after dinner and then go to hug him and he would grab our hands away from him and ask if we washed our hands. Sometimes we would tease him and say no and he would make us do it over again. Sweet couple really.
Load More Replies...That looks both disgusting and suggestive... which actually suggests a talent. So, bravo? 😂
The internet has also become a convenient space to rip people off. An investigation by Which? has found that Etsy, a global marketplace for unique and creative goods, included product listings with fake handmade products that could be purchased for a fraction of the price from retailers like Amazon and Asda. They also analyzed the first page of items on Etsy and found that 23 out of 192 handmade items were actually mass-produced and were seven times the price. One seller has made nearly 9,000 sales in “custom made” clothing that could be found on Amazon and eBay. In its annual report, Etsy said that it removed 1.9 million listings for violating its policies in 2022.
$17 For Sad Pizza My Friend Ordered
I ordered a pizza in London that cost £20,in a restaurant. It said low fat. I thought,great. It arrived. A pizza with the inside cut out and salad placed in the middle lol
You shouldn’t have paid for it, or pay for it with a credit card you can dispute the charge
Paid $9 For This. Speechless
Is it part of their "highway Robbery" line, it is the Chesse James
Load More Replies...You should have ordered a pizza. Chesse's are more expensive, as they're so rare.
Looks like you bought it at a football game. If so, what did you expect?
I Paid $10.95 For This
It takes about much time to make croutons as to eat them.🙂
Load More Replies...This actually looks more reasonable compared to others. At least the lettuce looks crisp and green.
I mean, it's not the most p**s poor smallest salad as some of the others on this list. Most places don't build salads the same in to go boxes as they do on a plate so they tend to look flat and not have that "height". It would probably look "right" in a bowl or on a plate but I'd definitely expect more parmesan and croutons than that. Salad doesn't always equal cheap on a menu, either, so, $10.95 isn't too outrageous for a restaurant. You go into the situation knowing you're paying more than what it actually costs the restaurant or than it would to make at home, it's the system.
Furthermore, you can also accidentally purchase counterfeits, lookalikes, unsafe for use, banned, or mislabeled items on Amazon. CNBC found it has shipped expired foods—including baby formula—to customers, pointing to the lack of capacity to monitor expiration dates. The growth of counterfeit goods and Amazon's unwillingness to help fight them made brands like Birkenstock and Nike pull out of selling on this site. Smaller vendors with fake products now have access to millions of customers online, putting many people at risk of buying counterfeit and unsafe items. In fact, individuals have been burned by using a cheaper fake “Ove’ Glove” alternative.
The Majesty Of An $8.00 Whole Foods Sandwich. The Good News Is The Chicken Salad Is Completely Tasteless
Whole Foods is for people who had money left over when they were finished at Starbucks.
Whole foods is known as "whole paycheck"; you will go broke if you shop there.
Hope you posted a review on line with the photo. Amazon controls Whole Foods and quality has gone down dramatically, but prices have not.
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
Don't worry, in a few years it will become The Place Where Teenagers Hang Out and Vape.
This just happened in my neighborhood. There was a nice playground, with swings and a baseball field that was being regularly used..they tore it all down and put something extremely similar to that. Smaller, and truly terrible.
That's not a park, that's just gravel with the saddest slide the planet has ever seen! A 2 year old would get bored of that within 2 minutes. I would be sneakily planting trees and hedges in that lot.
Except you cannot see how wide the grass belt is. It looks just like a ring and not very large.
Load More Replies...That's pretty sad. It's clearly a neighborhood that can afford to outfit a new playground with more variety of equipment.
Built a new house in a housing development with lake access. Next year they changed the development plans. Lake access cancelled. House prices dropped. Sold at a loss.
Around our street they started a new playground. We were excited because the old one was a little scratched up. We got a set of swings and one climbing setup. Total downgrade.
As a kid I would've been so happy with this because ot just something to do outside( we didn't have a backyard) also damn that's a nice area
Getting Taxed On A Tip Illegally
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)
Nah that was just written wrong it adds up to exactly 5 idk what happened
You got off lightly. In my country we don't have tips, but the extra money that you would tip is included in the price. Then add 10% tax on top of that. And no-one complains.
maybe you paid $5 as tip? and they have to pay taxes for that - so it's just listed?
Many of us aren’t really safe from the mind games and tricks of businesses. We don’t read the fine print when we should, and companies act illegally when they shouldn’t. To encourage awareness about brands ripping people off, we ask you, our dear Pandas, what’s the most bizarre thing you wasted your hard-earned money on and regretted it instantly?
This Was Served At A Networking Party. They Paid 500$ For The Venue
No that is tomato bisque on a fermented cucumber served on a beautifully recreated old world biscuit.barbarian LOL
Load More Replies...Is $500 considered a lot for renting a venue for an evening? In my line of business (non-profits), I wouldn't even expect that to include any kind of catering.
it looks like they forgot to prep anything and the waitstaff were doing the best they could...almost hilarious...
Just Arrived At My Hotel In My "Sea Facing Room"
Well, it is facing the sea, so I guess they were telling the truth? Sea-views would have been stretching it.
I'm reminded of the scene in Fawlty Towers where Basil has it out with a woman complaining about her sea view
"What did Madam expect to see from a Torquay hotel window? The hanging gardens of Babylon, perhaps?"
Load More Replies...They forgot to mention that there would be other things in your face before you saw the sea.
Bought A $44 Handmade Ceramic Mug. It Cracks As I Pour In My First Cup Of Tea
I used to collect hand made mugs, every single one of 'em cracked/leaked. All different ceramicists.
Load More Replies...Probably this is first mug shot we've seen on BP, and it was long overdue.
this can happen because either the ceramist did not thermal shock test it, or test the glazes on the clay body for compatibility. This also can happen if the person has a very cold cup and they put very hot liquid into it, like throwing hot water on your windshield on a winters day. either way, its a bummer.
Always place a metal spoon in your cup before pouring, it is supposed to somehow stop this from happening. Not positive it would work here but I also would never pay $44 for any drinkware...
The heat is supposed to travel up the spoon, because metal is a good conductor of heat. If I make a cup of tea then need to rush out of the door, I put a metal spoon in to cool the liquid. Not sure how effective it is, but the spoon does get hot.
Load More Replies...This was damage that happened during shipping, not production. But still 44$ for THIS mug?
It was probably hand made on this side of the globe. It's not supposed to be a good value, it supposed to support an artist.
Load More Replies...As a potter 44 is way too much for a mug like this. Also as a potter , there Can be flaws in the piece that are hidden. If the mug was very cold, and you poured boiling water into it, this can also happen. Never buy a pc of pottery that has any crack in it. That is a strees point and it will possibly break. Abd you can have a beautiful pot that you have had for years, and one day come in a find it broken. There was a flaw that took years to manifest, or it was bumped and caused an unseen crack and finally fell apart. 99.9999% of the time your pottery will be fine...so sorry this happened toyou.
Ok if you pay 44 dollar for a teacup, it is kinda hard to feel sorry for you
My Mom Paid $20k To Enclose Her Porch. I Saw It Today. All Of The Beams And Joints Look Like This
I would have them fix it or refund 50% of the amount paid. Blast negative reviews all over social media and web until they comply. This is completely unacceptable...
I seriously doubt whoever they paid for this has a company or anywhere you can leave a review.
Load More Replies...Yeah, this happened to me when my basement apartment was being created. I had a custom kitchen where the builders didn't talk to me except for the initial meeting (where I gave them a ROUGH sketch of what I was thinking about, expecting them to come back with a professional design we'd talk over). They built the kitchen from my rough draft: the Formica countertop edges didn't meet and gradually pulled apart, the drawer hardware was too small for the weight it needed to bear and fell off, and the whole room was a mess. It was built by a group of "good ol' boys" who knew jack s**t about construction, but had been recommended by our contractor (who had only just moved to our area and didn't have any local contacts, so relied on third- and fourth-hand recs). At the end, they lied about my mom yelling and cussing at them and other s**t we never did because we reported them to the BBB.
You can thank construction workers who spend more time hazing each other and f*****g around rather than doing their job like professionals.
Or awful contractors that hire unskilled labor for pennies on the dollar and don't bother to have a responsible foreman or check in on the progress of their employees.
Load More Replies...I usually use "cowboys" you know, like cable installers...
Load More Replies...A "Caesar Salad" At Red Robin
Red Robin is known for good burgers and free fry refills, not salad. Although is that really a single sad and lonely crouton?
Going to Red Robin for a salad is like going to Pizza Hut for the crepe suzettes.
They actually have a salad with a burger patty slapped on top. I ordered it.
Load More Replies...My food from red robin was good but I won't be a return customer. When I went there they had a tablet on the table with a triva question on it. I didn't see anything to suggest touching the tablet would cost $ so I answered the question. Red Robin tried to sneak an entertainment fee on my bill! I demanded they remove it and they did. In my opinion sneaking charges on people's bill is theft.
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
Years ago I worked at Amazon during Christmas season. First day when they assigned tasks they just put a random bunch of us new workers in the gift wrap squad. Some people got terribly wrapped gifts that week because one girl in our group could not have wrapped a gift properly to save her life! They looked pretty much like this.
I just received my sister’s gift from Amazon for my daughter. It’s wrapped in a bag and it came with a card that says what she got so I put it in a drawer where she can’t see it. 🤦🏼♀️
I've rewrapped presents I asked to be wrapped at the store because the outcome wasn't much better than this. I did gift wrapping at a department store once upon a time and to me it just seems like a basic skill everyone should know. Yet even when I put no effort into it, people are surprised.
It actually is a somewhat difficult skill. My mother owned a Rexall Drug Store back in the 1940's, and she was an artist at gift wrapping. I, on the other hand, have 10 thumbs. My daughter is an artist at it, too. Must skip a generation.
Load More Replies...Well, they did do a gift message for you that you p[aid for. It wasn't enough for proper execution. They trying to save a buck. Some stores know a separate card di rigueur
My School Lunch. Paid $3.25 For This
Oh that? No Jay, that's the norm. Always confusing though I will agree.
Load More Replies...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.
This happened to me with one of the batman movies I go two free tickets for any film and free small popcorn and drink. And we got a pass to come and see batman again the next week
Load More Replies...Damn you! You've ruined it for me, now!
Load More Replies...Here's the big finish. Oppy calls up President Truman and says "Sir, I've got good news and bad news." "What's the good news?" "We've just completed the atomic bomb project." "Fine, what's the bad news?" "It works."
If the power went out 20 min in... How was it just the last 30 min op didn't see?! Isn't that movie like 2 days long?!
Um, that's when you ask for a manager, tell them what happened (if they don't already know), and ask, " How are you going to make this right?"
For me, 2016 ended with the power going out at the movie theatre where my partner and I had gone to see Rogue One on NYE because lines went down due to heavy snow. The irony was that we knew it was going to snow heavily that night, so we planned for my partner to come over to my place in the afternoon before the roads were covered (neither of us had a car and taking a bus in the snow is a special kind of hell), then we'd walk over to the theatre. Of course, since my house was so close to the theatre, the power was out there too. Also, as we were walking to the bus stop so we could go back to his place, I slipped and fell on my a**, so I was soaked for the forty five minutes we were waiting, plus the bus ride itself. (The theatre gave us passes to see the movie the next week.)
I was at the movies once during a thunderstorm when the power went out. Waited about half an hour for it to come back on. Was at a one screen theatre though, that ran only 1 double feature a night, so we got to watch the rest of both movies.
The View Of The Stage At My Concert
At this point you're not at the concert, just watching other people attending a concert
I've been to indoor concert venues like this, and if you are sitting that close to the ceiling the acoustics are terrible. So, they are visually and audibly impaired in that seat
Load More Replies...To be fair you probably didn't pay much for those nose bleed seats anyway. Even without that blocking the view you couldn't see anything
I paid $500 to see a concert. I wanted to be on the floor so I could enjoy it. I didn't realize everyone would stand for the whole concert, and wouldn't you know it, some 6-foot person stood right in front of me. I spent $500 to watch it on the screen and people still blocked my view of the screen. Yeah, it was my fault for picking the seating, but they said I would be able to see the stage on the seat description.
This is why I don't go to concerts anymore. Tickets are ridiculously priced.
I can't imagine even paying for such a horrid seat. What is even the point? Even without an obstructed view?
The Server Said The Wings Were A "Good" Size
I'd be checking to see if the sparrows and pigeons in the closest park are still there, or can still fly.
I'm glad I wasn't drinking my coffee just now, or your comment would have caused me to spit-spray it all over the laptop.
Load More Replies...They never specified what bird these good sized wings came from, so...
Glad I Paid For Pre
Yes, this happens. You can move back to Regular but then you have to take off Shoes belt. And take stuff out of bag.
Load More Replies...It's only five minutes for General Queue because airlines often board members of the military first.
Obviously, not everyone gets your humor -- so sorry!
Load More Replies...Just don't take anything on the plane and there's nothing to worry about except time.
Dude it’s 78 dollars for 5 YEARS. I don’t even travel often, but I still renew it.
I haven't flown since 1997 and I'm rather terrified of the process should I ever get the opportunity to travel again. 😳
I Paid $8 For This
I find it morally wrong to mention that abomination in the same sentence as "norm".
Load More Replies...Would it hurt to share the most important info with this horror pictures? LOCATION AND NAMES OF THIS SINNERS RIPOFFS
That's horrible, how do these companies get away with this? They must get get a lot of one time customers!!
I Paid Over 4 Dollars For This. I Just Opened This. There’s More In The Photo On The Front Than In The Bag
There are a lot of photos on this site that I don't believe are real.
Load More Replies...The only thing worse than candy corn is candy corn covered in white chocolate
2023 Is The Year Of Paying More For Less
At least there was SOMETHING in it! Those other sandwich ones where they put a little bit of stuff in the corner where it's visible in the packaging and leave the rest empty... that grinds my gears!
My Wife Paid $200 For Front-Row Balcony Seats. They Closed The Balcony And Now This Is Our View
Hopefully, you took this up with the promoters. They can't just downgrade you like that.
Paid Extra For A "Tower" Room At Our Hotel And Were Told We’d Get A Nice View Of The River
Just need it to rain hard and those gutters will look mighty fine
Load More Replies...I paid extra for a 2nd floor room with a balcony at a luxury hotel in Atlanta. They gave me the only room in the entire hotel without a balcony.
But did they promise the nice view of the river from your room, or somewhere else?
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
The eyes are dead on but the nose is wonky and the fur is too long...I wouldn't pay 300 for it but if it were maybe 100
Load More Replies...Did you pay extra for them to make it looks as though it had been run over?
Taxidermy for beginners, the perfect craft kit for that person who has everything this Holiday season
Load More Replies...It looks like a rough taxidermy so 300 is a bit high I think
Load More Replies...From the reviews I've seen, they do okay on dogs, lots of hits with some misses. However, they are not good with cats at all.
Load More Replies...This "Seasonal Fruit" Cup From Wendy's I Paid $1.29 For
Good God! Aside of being such a miserable serving, it's not even nicely, or evenly, cut.
The company's evil, but small price to pay. LOL
Load More Replies...I don't believe this. It looks like someone was already eating the apples.
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
The "To Get Professionally Cropped Out." seems to be very "confusing". It seems that he was describing the "result" not what he asked to be done. It would been better if he had said "Asked to crop the picture and put in in a frame, and the 'professional' instead cropped me out of the picture." The bottom line is that we have no way of knowing how the original request was stated. If it was stated as bad as what was posted here, then I can certainly see why this was done. And in the original thread he came back to say that he contacted them, and they fixed it.
This Costs $8 At Starbucks
Add lettuce and tomato, and I'd pay four dollars.
That is supposed to be toasted and served warm, like a melt. Regardless, it is stupid expensive
Getting Charged Extra To Remove An Item
It's not the total price they're upset with, it's that they were charged a dollar NOT to have a bun.
Load More Replies...At the optometrist, they nearly charged me an extra $100 to remove an item.
Plus double cheeseburger (2 patties) and two more patties
Load More Replies...I often think about this kind of thing. When I order a burger, I ask for 3 or 4 items to be left off, and for coffee, I like it weak, so ask for 1/2 strength. But I never get a reduced price ! So the restaurant is saving $s by leaving things out and I still pay the full price ... ?
The one-dollar charge is for doing something they normally don't do. Granted I think this is pretty stupid in this case, but it isn't unusual for a business to charge extra for doing something "special". When you are a restaurant that is already catering to "specials" this is dumb, but I can tell you that if you are dealing with any kind of operation that is automated, then it truly "costs more" to do something special.
Paid $7 For This Hummus And Veggies Platter
They could have at least peeled the carrots, not that it would have made much of a difference, but still......!
Looks like they did though - but some time last week....
Load More Replies...I'm assuming under (what I also assume are) pepitas
Load More Replies...Hotel Took My Security Deposit And An Extra $50 For A Blood-Stained Towel And Stained Bath Mat
Did you wipe the hotel entrance lobby with those?! They look disgusting!!!!!!
I'm not sure that's what they meant, but hardly worth paying for, their commercial washing will take care of that.
Load More Replies...If the person complaining soiled these items, the charge is warranted. Those need to be thrown out and replaced and neither is particularly cheap. Not a "rip off", really.
I worked in hotels for 20 years and some people are just nasty and I always said they should be charged when they ruin the towels. Those things cost money, so people should be charged, maybe not that much, but at least the cost of the towels
That should be covered in the normal room price. Shouldn't need to charge extra for what appears normal laundering.
The View From My Opera Seat
Yikes. Well, what many do not know is that, as you ascend up the theater, the acoustics become much, much better. So if you value sound over view, then the Dress Circle and the Balcony are a good deal.. —but yeah that particular seat sucked
163 Grams Instead Of 200 Grams. Groceries Double The National Average For Inflation, And You Don't Even Get What You Pay For
Meanwhile the CEO of the parent company (Loblaws) testified before parliament the other day that a national Grocery Code of Conduct bill would be bad for Canada and would result in even higher prices.
Of course he said that, otherwise he would lose all the kickbacks he's getting from the grocery store price gouging. This is disgusting and appalling. All grocery stores worldwide need to stop this but unfortunately we all need to eat and many don't have other options to obtain groceries and part of the reason they are taking advantage of us.
Load More Replies...Girlfriend Got A Fruit Cup At Chipotle, And It’s Just An Orange In A Plastic Container
If only there was some type of organic and compostable packaging for oranges.
I think a DIY fruit cup is when you buy some oranges (or apples or peaches or nectarines) then get a cup from your cupboard and put one of the oranges in the cup.
Load More Replies...Our Pizza Came With No Cheese And Sauce
Crispy bottom, some little burnt cheese bits on top, usually reserved for a Trenton tomato pie or other tin crust pizza types. Its not everyone's cup of tea but on the right pizza it is divine.
Load More Replies...It says its a custom pizza. The only topping you specified was 'extra pepperoni'. You got exactly what you asked for.
The "Grilled Cheese Reuben" I Spent $15 And Over An Hour Waiting For
They got some cops to ask it tough interview questions.
Load More Replies...Ok this has got to be fake. They must have made the sandwich then posted for likes.
Ive been to testaurants touting "gourmet sandwiches" and they straight up put it on generic white walmart like no one will notice
Load More Replies...I thought they ordered and waited for delivery. If they'd bought it and seen it, they might have changed their mind.
Load More Replies...My $4.75 Starbucks Bacon Gouda Has Shrunk
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.
If their coffee's anything to go by, I wouldn't expect much of their food.
I Paid For An Upgraded Lake View
The lake view has been upgraded to include more than just the lake. You now get to a roof with fixtures. You lucky devil you....
My $7 Wendy's Burger For Lunch Today
Yuck. These people are grossly underpaid, but they still shouldn't miss something like that.
you'd be surprised. One time I ordered a sandwich for lunch from a diner. Several bites later, I discovered the roll was MOLDY. Suffice to say, I didn't finish that sandwich.
Load More Replies...I’d be having a word with the manager and a phone call to Wendy’s head office.
I was pregnant and had ordered 6 krystals with cheese, 6 without. All of mine were molded. I ordered them to-go. Another time, one krystal had a shard of wood like from a pallet between the bread and the burger.
My "Medium Fries" Had Only 5 Fries In It
Ah, you see, you thought you ordered medium but you actually ordered mid
I worked at chick Fila for a few months in college. My boss came to yell at me because an ordering was taking to long. I said I had to make more fries. We had enough for a medium, not a large. She dumped them out of the medium container and into the large. In defense of chick Fila a corporation, she lost her franchise about a year later
That has always been fast food motto, it doesn't have to be full, just look full. As a fast food worker knowing what people pay for s**t Ialways made it full full when people weren't paying attention. WHy? because the arbys I worked at brought in Millions of dollars a year. You can afford to give people the f*****g fries they paid for.
C'mon now, it's C**p-fil-A...their food is awful. I promise Jesus doesn't give a c**p if you eat at a different fast food place.
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.
As 6'3" dude I can feel his pain. I need to get rich so I can afford to fly first class. Only time there is enough room is the emergency exit seats and I always pay to be able to at least select an aisle seat.
My Friend's View On WWE NXT. Paid £250 For This
Doesn't matter what the franchise is, the seats are definitely eww
I went to aew our seats were so bad that i couldn’t see much and practically kinda fell asleep
Load More Replies...Just Paid £4.25 For This At A Cafe
Custom Photo Gift Company Rearranged The Photos Into This Ridiculous Configuration. "No Refunds"
Paid $180 To Upgrade My Seat On JetBlue Just To See This For 6 Hours
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.
My heart is breaking for you! /s. First time I ever flew on a plane was in the early '70s. I was about 7 years old and The Movie, the one everyone had to watch with our free headphones, was THE BOYFRIEND with Twiggy.
C'mon. This may be luxury problems, but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck âss. And what if this is they're only splurge in a few years and then this happens?
Load More Replies...The $13 "Cocktail" I Had Yesterday Was 80% Ice Cubes
All cocktails that contain ice are 80% ice!!!! Have you ever had one with less?!
All of them, considering when I drank I always ordered my drinks with no ice...
Load More Replies...Looks like just straight booze on the rocks in which case that's a fairly normal pour
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
No that's fast food motto it only has to look full, on the drive over the fries settled down into the container. it's equally likely that's what happened as well as the driver may have been hungry
Load More Replies...Paid Extra For This "Window" Seat
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.
Imagine Paying $250 And Not Being Able To Turn Off Ads
Paid $3 For A Chocolate Croissant, And Got This
This is what Americans call pain au chocolat.
Load More Replies...Ah yes I see these "croissants" everyday at tim hortons. The Canadian spirit!
Chocolate croissant are not croissant shaped here, you will get a rectangular one. But normally the dough is wrapped around two strips of chocolate so you have plenty of it inside and not hidden in a cave.
Paid 4 Extra Bucks On Uber Eats For A Happy Birthday Sign On The Birthday Cake And This Is What I Got
Uber eats delivers the cake, they don’t decorate it. Maybe you should have planned ahead for a birthday?
It seems that there was an option in the app to pay for it though. That would p**s me off.
Load More Replies...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!"
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.
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...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
you win the internet for the day. shut it all down.
Load More Replies...Greed. I bet their employees are not getting cost of living wages while the ceos are buying second and third homes.
How about some facts instead of just bashing owners of companies.
Load More Replies...I think people need to start blasting these places (add a receipt for proof) - name & shame!
We just got a gourmet Christmas gift from family. They had it sent straight from the company. The items were expired. One item had a use by date in the future but was over top of an expiration date from this past July. I contacted the company that assured me the items were fine. Supposedly an employee accidentally put born on dates on the items. Opened the items and they were not fine, definitely expired. I'm sure my relatives would be thrilled to know their money went into the trash.
I once paid £300 for a night in the London Hilton as a Valentine's treat - that was a mid-price room. Breakfast was not included - but one could pay £5 for a pot of tea, more for actual food. This was in 2000. Went to the McDonalds in Hyde Park and had the entire breakfast for £5 for two of us.
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!"
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.
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...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
you win the internet for the day. shut it all down.
Load More Replies...Greed. I bet their employees are not getting cost of living wages while the ceos are buying second and third homes.
How about some facts instead of just bashing owners of companies.
Load More Replies...I think people need to start blasting these places (add a receipt for proof) - name & shame!
We just got a gourmet Christmas gift from family. They had it sent straight from the company. The items were expired. One item had a use by date in the future but was over top of an expiration date from this past July. I contacted the company that assured me the items were fine. Supposedly an employee accidentally put born on dates on the items. Opened the items and they were not fine, definitely expired. I'm sure my relatives would be thrilled to know their money went into the trash.
I once paid £300 for a night in the London Hilton as a Valentine's treat - that was a mid-price room. Breakfast was not included - but one could pay £5 for a pot of tea, more for actual food. This was in 2000. Went to the McDonalds in Hyde Park and had the entire breakfast for £5 for two of us.
