A few weeks ago, a there was a study which set out to find the greatest icons of the UK. The shortlist came up with things like Big Ben, cricket, a cup of tea and that sort of thing. The stuff that really signified Britain.
However, whilst they were looking for icons of the UK, they should really have dropped the ‘I’ in that sentence, because there are plenty of great British cons, as well as icons.
In a short series, we’ll expose those cons, starting with the first one, booking fees.
You know the score, you try and book tickets for a movie at the local cinema. You go online, pick your film, pick your time and pick a reasonably priced £4.50 seat and go to the payment page.
Then, just as you are reaching for the credit card, the £4.50 seat turns into a £6.50 seat. The reason? Someone somewhere has sneakily forgot to mention the £2 booking fee.
Basically, a booking fee is a company’s way of saying. “Thank-you for wanting to buy our product, here a £2 charge for your valued custom.” They are essentially charging you for wanting to buy whatever junk they want to sell. Whoever thought of that idea is an absolute genius. Who says you can’t get money for old rope?
So anyway, you forget it. You don’t want to pay a booking fee, so you go to the cinema and try and get a ticket on the day, except everyone else in Leeds also doesn’t want to pay a booking fee, meaning you’ve got to snake around the labyrinth of the queuing ropes only to get to the window to find no seats left.
When you question this, you get told by the idiot in the booth how you can “book your tickets through our useful website.”
So, here’s the deal. If you want a £4.50 seat in the cinema, you need to pay £6.50. If you don’t want to pay £6.50, wait till Blockbuster gets it.
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