Health & Fitness
Online Merchant Trying to Rip You Off? Hit 'Delete'!
This technology that we have all wrapped our lives around can easily be turned against us.
I am a big fan of the musical group Lady Antebellum. So when a tour date was announced at the 1-800 Ask Gary Amphitheater, I was ready when the tickets went on pre sale last week.
I dutifully logged on, followed all the suggestions, selected my two tickets at 56.50 each for a total $113.00 and hit "Pay."
"Amount due: $131.00."
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What? I figured that I must have missed something.
I sure did. As I scrolled up, there was an unwanted $18 added for the Lady Antebellum Online Fan Club.
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Now I really like Lady Antebellum, but I really don't need e-mails from people trying to sell groupie junk.
This should be pretty simple, I thought. I'll just delete the fan club option, and all will be OK. Not so fast.
I am pretty good at finding carefully tucked away buttons on web sites that allow you to make decisions that the page owner really doesn't want you to make. But I could not find anything that would let me opt out of the online Lady A Fan Club.
Suddenly it was the principle, rather than the money or annoying e-mails. These guys were trying to force me, an online customer, into an additional $18 purchase I did not want.
Not right. Not fair. No way! I hit delete.
After a cold drink, I calmed down a bit. I decided to accept the challenge and try to get the tickets without the Fan Club Option. Figuring it was tied to the online site, I called Live Nation, the event promoter, at 1-800-745-3000.
The agent was polite, helpful and within just a few minutes, I had the seats I wanted, for a total price of $113 and no fan club. The tickets showed up in my e-mail about 5 minutes later.
The point of all of this? Watch your online buying, and be sure to look at those final prices. Check your credit card to make sure you're not getting ripped off.
This technology that we have all wrapped our lives around can easily be turned against us.
Like every other tool we use to make our lives more convenient, online shopping needs to be managed. If someone is trying to stiff you, hit "delete."
There is another way.