🍋 Bad choices. We call them out.

Let’s talk about junk fees—those sneaky, bloated, often pointless charges tacked onto your bill after the price tag has already seduced you. You know them:

• “Service fees” on concert tickets
• “Dealer prep fees” on new cars
• “Convenience fees” for paying online
• “Administrative processing fees” (what even is that?)
   

These charges are more than just annoying—they’re manipulative, deceptive, and shamefully normalized. And companies are cashing in while consumers are left overpaying and underinformed.

Here’s how it works:
You’re promised a price. Maybe it’s too good to be true (hint: it is). You go to check out, and suddenly that $89 hotel room is $129. That $20 ticket is $38. That “$0 down” car lease? It’s actually loaded with four mysterious fees totaling over $1,200.

Companies know full well that:

• You’ve already mentally committed to the purchase 
• You’re unlikely to cancel over a few extra bucks
• Most people don’t read the fine print until it’s too late

This isn’t just bad customer service—it’s a business model built on deception.

The worst part? These fees are often undisclosed, poorly explained, or impossible to opt out of. They prey on trust, convenience, and—let’s be honest—our collective exhaustion with reading 37-page terms of service documents.

From airlines charging for picking a seat to banks charging you to access your own money, junk fees have metastasized across industries. And it's shameful.

This isn’t innovation.
This isn’t capitalism.
This is legalized nickel-and-diming at scale.

Junk fees disproportionately hurt:

• Low-income consumers
• People without financial literacy support
• Non-English speakers
• Anyone trying to budget responsibly
   

They’re not just annoying—they’re regressive. They target vulnerability and punish loyalty.

And let’s not forget the emotional toll: the rage of realizing you’ve been tricked, the shame of overpaying, the helplessness of knowing they “technically” warned you—in six-point gray font.

We're not just calling this out—we’re calling for change. Here's what consumers deserve:

• Full, upfront pricing—no surprises at checkout
• Clear, honest labeling of any added charges
• The ability to refuse or remove optional fees
• Legal enforcement against misleading pricing practices
   

Because transparency isn’t optional—it’s the foundation of trust. And if companies can’t operate without hiding their true costs, maybe they shouldn’t be operating at all.

Junk fees are corporate cowardice in a clever disguise. They treat consumers like fools, inflate profits on the sly, and erode the basic fairness every transaction deserves. At The Consumer Bar, we’re not having it. So here’s to the day when “price” actually means price, and the only extra charge we expect is for guac or a top-shelf pour. Until then, we’ll keep calling it out—loud, clear, and straight up.