The following charges are bullshit.
1. Movie ticket booking fees
Why does it cost $1.20 to book in advance, Event Cinemas? WHY DO WE HAVE TO PAY IT TWICE.
2. Almost every part of buying concert tickets
The two big ticket sellers, Ticketek and Ticketmaster charge us for all kinds of bullshit. They even charge you to print off the tickets you just paid for when you use YOUR OWN PRINTER.
3. Paying for sauce with your pie
Remember when sauce was free? Then it was 20c, then 50c. Now it's $1. When will the madness end.
4. Admin fees on rental cars
Consumer group Choice has been after rental car companies for a while now.
These are just some of the things they'll try to charge us for:
- Administrative fee. "It's common practice among car hire companies to charge an unavoidable administrative fee of around 3.5% on top of the total cost, Choice says.
- Credit card surcharges
- Vehicle registration recovery fee
- Additional driver fee
- Late fees
- Early fees
5. EFTPOS surcharges
Oh you have a minimum EFTPOS purchase? Bullshit. Oh you want to charge me a dollar to use the machine? Heaps of bullshit.
6. ATM fees
C'mon banks. It doesn't cost you $2.50 when we use another bank's ATM. Don't charge us that bullshit.
7. Hotel Wi-Fi
Sure, it costs hotels a bit to install Wi-Fi. It doesn't cost $30/Gb. Bullshit.
8. Booking fees for taxis
$2.40 to book a cab? WE ARE TRYING TO GIVE YOU BUSINESS WHY DO YOU PUNISH US. (This is actually fault of our state governments. Still, bullshit)
9. Airline booking fees
Again, Choice has been banging on about this for a while. The consumer group estimates that Australian airlines mark up the costs of administering transactions by at least 300%.
According to Choice, the markups look like this:
- Qantas 339% for a $197 ticket.
- Virgin Australia 412% for a $185.70 ticket.
- Jetstar 2312% for an $87 ticket.
- Tiger 1479% for a $132.90 ticket.
That's some pricey bullshit.
10. Getting to the airport
If you want to catch the train to Australia's busiest airport in Sydney it will cost you a small fortune. Catch a cab, you say? Yeah nah. That'll cost you too. And don't even think about leaving your car overnight.
Sydney, stop being so clingy. The same goes for you, Brisbane.
Meanwhile in Melbourne you have to catch the Skybus. C'mon, Melbourne, build a train.
Bullshit.