ORLANDO, Fla — You know those annoying surprise junk fees you pay for things like concert tickets and hotel rooms? Well, those should soon be going away.
Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal has been following the junk fee issue over the past few years. This week the Federal Trade Commission approved a new final rule banning the surprise junk fees.
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Every time you pull out your wallet or swipe your credit card you could be feeling the pinch.
“Absolutely. Definitely adds up. Um, yeah, definitely. I mean, I couldn’t tell you how much extra more I pay,” said Vince Gonzalez when Action 9 caught up with him in Orlando last year. That was when the FTC was taking a close look at these so-called junk fees. Like many Americans, he started noticing all kinds of new fees during the pandemic and many of them never went away.
Gonzalez said, “They’re all usually convenience fees.”
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The Federal Trade Commission approved the new rule banning surprise junk fees that basically bait and switch consumers for two main services. Those services are live event tickets like concerts and sporting events and short-term lodging like hotels.
“You think it’s one price, and then all of a sudden, all these extra fees get added on,” said Teresa Murray, Consumer Watchdog Director for the Public Interest Research Group. She told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal, online event ticket sellers are notorious for these kinds of fees.
“All of these are mandatory fees. They’re not disclosed up front. And then all of a sudden, you might end up with that $100 ticket that could cost, like, 150 bucks or something,” Murray explained.
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PIRG estimates the surprise fees cost consumers billions of dollars and waste tens of millions of hours each year by not showing the full price of the ticket or hotel room up front. So, the way it will work is the total price will have to be prominent and disclosed up front. Murray believes the FTC’s new rule will also help transparent businesses that already do disclose the total price from the beginning.
Murray said, “This will basically level the playing field, so that consumers can make choices apples to apples.”
Besides event tickets and lodging, the FTC did consider doing this for other industries like car rentals and cell phone plans. That could come later. The new rule is expected to go into effect in about four months.
The Public Interest Research Group has a section on its website about how avoid or fight junk fees. You can find that here: www.pirg.org/edfund/resources/junk-fees-how-to-avoid-them-or-fight-them/