WASHINGTON - .... Consumer Reports gave more than 100 companies the St. Nicholas treatment and came up with a list of the 10 best and 10 worst organizations.
"Companies were dinged for hidden or tricky fees, fine print and unfriendly practices," Consumer Reports writes.
............
Delta Airlines
This bold pitch from Delta was impossible to overlook. When our reporter booked a domestic economy flight (the restricted fares most people choose) via the carrier’s website, Delta offered him the chance to “add convenience and peace of mind.” “Flex this fare for just $737,” the offer shouted, as if you’d be crazy not to jump at the deal. Trouble is, our reporter’s super-saver fare was just $248, so Delta was tripling the price to make it refundable. Gee thanks.
OK, seriously? These guys are major kettles if they have never seen refundable fare pricing. This stuff is completely standard for the industry. It makes me wonder whether the author has even bought an airline ticket before. Not that Delta is the best company ever, but this severely reduces the credibility of Consumer Reports, IMO.
This bold pitch from Delta was impossible to overlook. When our reporter booked a domestic economy flight (the restricted fares most people choose) via the carrier’s website, Delta offered him the chance to “add convenience and peace of mind.” “Flex this fare for just $737,” the offer shouted, as if you’d be crazy not to jump at the deal. Trouble is, our reporter’s super-saver fare was just $248, so Delta was tripling the price to make it refundable. Gee thanks.
Really? The other airline—Spirit—found its way on the list for charging $100 for carry-on bags. I'm more-than-marginally baffled why Delta—with a Flex-Fare offer that few people will take—gets lumped in with $100-a-carry-on fees. But hey, what do I know?
It just seems like both lists are because the tester had a bone to pick with a particular company or had a good customer service experience with another.
Delta is one of the 10 worst companies because they charge 3x for a refundable ticket. A specific ticket with no regard for any other metric than a single fare search. BMW is one of the 10 worst companies on the planet because they don't provide a spare tire, despite run-flat tires as stock equipment on all cars and free roadside assistance.
And yet Kohls is one of the 10 best companies in the world due to their generosity in their return policy and the fact that there's always a coupon available.
Total B.S. and CR as a whole just lost major credibility with me for publishing that crap.
The Delta "infraction" isn't even the silliest reason for inclusion.
Quote:
Time Warner Cable
The broadband and cable giant recently announced it will begin charging customers $3.95 per month to lease a cable modem. Time Warner joins a list of other Internet biggies to do so, including Cox, Comcast, and Bright House. Although Time Warner and other companies allow customers to purchase and install their own modems outright, less-tech-savvy folks might be reluctant, assuring the companies a steady stream of extra revenue.
Oh, the horror. A company in the service industry charging a fee for an additional service!!!!
Consumer Reports should be on the naughty list for this article!
OK, seriously? These guys are major kettles if they have never seen refundable fare pricing. This stuff is completely standard for the industry. It makes me wonder whether the author has even bought an airline ticket before. Not that Delta is the best company ever, but this severely reduces the credibility of Consumer Reports, IMO.
Think about what would happen to AD75/50 or ID90 tickets if full Y/B was only double the T fare...
Kettle: What's an AD/ID ticket again?
And I'm by no means a DL apologist.
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Also, the report does not seem to realize Tiger Direct and CompUSA have been the same company for four years now. I'm half surprised it doesn't have Delta and Northwest together on the naughty list.
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Consumer Reports is dead right on this one. In other contexts folks sometimes take companies up on offers that more clear-eyed, knowledgeable, and rational people would say are obvious rip-offs. Wildly inflated "extended warranties" come to mind.
No reasonable person who considered the economic value of the "flexibility" would ever pay 3X the ticket price to get it. So DL is dangling an offer that, almost by definition, is cheating any customer who takes it. And presumably some do, or DL would not bother requiring any of us buying a ticket to run a gauntlet of various upsells like this. You could say it's a free market and DL should be allowed to trick the odd naive customer. The offer is not illegal. But it is precisely the mission of Consumer Reports to call them out on it and potentially save some folks from throwing their money away, or at least think twice before doing so.
Consumer Reports is dead right on this one. In other contexts folks sometimes take companies up on offers that more clear-eyed, knowledgeable, and rational people would say are obvious rip-offs. Wildly inflated "extended warranties" come to mind.
No reasonable person who considered the economic value of the "flexibility" would ever pay 3X the ticket price to get it. So DL is dangling an offer that, almost by definition, is cheating any customer who takes it. And presumably some do, or DL would not bother requiring any of us buying a ticket to run a gauntlet of various upsells like this. You could say it's a free market and DL should be allowed to trick the odd naive customer. The offer is not illegal. But it is precisely the mission of Consumer Reports to call them out on it and potentially save some folks from throwing their money away, or at least think twice before doing so.
I gotta disagree big-time on your rationale. "Cheating" implies fraud, and Delta is certainly not engaging in fraudulent behavior here. Sure, none of us can fathom a scenario by which you would pay 3x the price for a refundable ticket, but if a consumer consciously makes that decision when faced with the two fares, that's their decision. They could never claim that they were "tricked" after the fact. Only offering the flexible fare and "hiding" the cheap one from view? Now that's cheating the customer.
WFBF (want flexibility buy flexibility)
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I do have to wonder how they make money on these for most people...
Seems that if I a non-refundable ticket I could change it many times over and still come in under the price of a flex fare even with the potential increases in fare.
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