What's the biggest RIP OFF you've ever experienced?

Here are some of my rip offs most of which thankfully, I have not experienced first hand.

Fafsa dot com (edited so it wouldn't link. sorry mods) You pay $80 to do what you can do for free on Fafsa.gov.

Epi pens. $600 for ten bucks worth of epi.

Star naming. Collect money for sending coordinates to some random star.

Cigarettes. Pay 100s upon 100s of dollars for a chance to inhale 100s of poisonous chemicals that only make you feel good for about 10 minutes before you need another.

Lotto tickets. 50% pay out is the absolute worst of any form of gambling. And worse, it's a tax on the poor to pay for college for upper middle class students.

Proactive. $70 bucks for a $10 tube of benzoyl peroxide.

Certain for profit colleges. Useless degrees for more money than a real college.

Movie Popcorn. $7 for 25 cents worth of popcorn. That includes the grease I mean err um genuine butter flavored fake butter most people put in.

Starbucks. How to charge $5 for a 50 cent cup of Joe.
 
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I took my kid to The Venetian. One of the performers handed my kid some chocolate out of his pocket and didn't charge a thing. I suppose the $35 gondola rides help pay for that.
 
getting the extended warranity when we bought our new car

usually we don't buy them but our mechanic recommend it since the car we were buying was having issues with the electical system

so it was a 5 year "bumper to bumper" so we were told

first we had some sort of gastic that they weren't going to cover--fought them with the BBB and they paid for the repairs so after the seat split

they weren't going to cover that either I told them the last time I looked the seats were between the front bumper and the back bumper

the girl said that there changing how they word things now

big waste of money
 


getting the extended warranity when we bought our new car

Bought one once. Actually twice. First time was a third party. I had a fairly common issue with the car and they actually covered it after a mechanic diagnosed the problem and called the provider. However, the shop had to make a few calls because the provider was sold and the liability was assigned to the buyer.

Second time was a factory extended warranty, although we never used it. About the only thing that we could have used it for was a malfunctioning accessory, and I think they tried to wiggle their way out of it. It only cost $75 to replace though.
 
Sorry but I cannot stop laughing at this... like tears... someone actual took the minute to lay those out... did the server glide like Giselle to not knock that tower down.

like analretentive placement of fries.. besides being ripped off. curious being Europe, did they charge for the ketchup packet löl!!
:rotfl2:The decor of the place was a bizarre hybrid of Victorian Parlor/Early Wagontrain Settlers and the servers were all dressed like sisterwives. I guess that's France's best guess of "Americana"? Nobody was gliding anywhere!
Yeah @ronandannette -- You obviously have no appreciation for the artful way those fries are stacked on the plate. You won't get that in North America :sunny:
Micca, you forget who you're talking to - here in Canada if the fries aren't smothered in cheese curds and gravy, they just naturally have to try harder:
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Tons of things don't seem worth the price after the fact, but one MAJOR one that comes to mind is the $70.00 CAD (49.99 Euro) cheeseburger DH had at Walt's - An American Restaurant in DLP. We headed there straight off the red-eye from Calgary. We were dizzy from jet-lag and completely disoriented to how much things cost when converted from Euros; it didn't seem so completely insane in the moment. :crazy: I cringe now thinking about it. This isn't my picture but the plate did look exactly like this - yes, that's 9 fries, NINE FRIES...
hommage-a-walt-disney.jpg

Forget the fries...what’s in that white tin can looking thing?
 
:rotfl2:The decor of the place was a bizarre hybrid of Victorian Parlor/Early Wagontrain Settlers and the servers were all dressed like sisterwives. I guess that's France's best guess of "Americana"? Nobody was gliding anywhere!

Micca, you forget who you're talking to - here in Canada if the fries aren't smothered in cheese curds and gravy, they just naturally have to try harder:
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we will be vacationing in canada in september and of ALL things ds is most looking forward to................your fries (forget the stunning views from the zip line-he's salivating thinking of your fries).

Yes but we can't always find people and don't want to incovience others. The one airport is a decent ride so it's easier to just leave the car there.

so no good park and ride motels you can take advantage of? we're within a very reasonable ride to an airport but if we're arriving or departing at an inconvenient hour we opt for the least expensive room rate at one of the places near the airport that offers free extended parking in their patrolled lot and an airport shuttle.
 
We paid $35. My son found a spot out on the road and he offered to pay us half, but I said no, I just like complaining. Did you see the all girl band Screaming Orphans? My daughter-in-laws uncle is their lawyer, he helps them with all their contracts.

We went yesterday afternoon/evening with the kids. It was pretty calm--probably because it was Sunday night. We paid $15 to park but weren't shocked by it--I pretty much expect to pay $15 or 20 for a decent parking spot for one of the festivals.
 
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Here are some more rip offs most of which I thankfully haven't experienced first hand.

Cake Balls. You can buy a whole sheet cake for the price of a dozen.

Pasta. Yup. It's one of the biggest rip offs at expensive restaurants. If all you want is spaghetti with meat sauce, go to a mom and pop $10 a plate for it or better yet, make it yourself. Don't pay $30 for it at some fancy place.

Most school fundraiser merch. Oh boy. That's a nice $2 roll of wrapping paper for $20. And you say your school gets $4? And don't get me started on those stupid coupon books. It's just the same coupons I could get for nothing.

Funerals. $6.000 for a hole, a rock, and a 10 minute car ride.

A wedge salad. That costs them all of 30 cents. They sell it for 10-15 bucks or more at some places. At that price bucko, I expect you to at least break up my lettuce for me.
 
:rotfl2:The decor of the place was a bizarre hybrid of Victorian Parlor/Early Wagontrain Settlers and the servers were all dressed like sisterwives. I guess that's France's best guess of "Americana"? Nobody was gliding anywhere!

Micca, you forget who you're talking to - here in Canada if the fries aren't smothered in cheese curds and gravy, they just naturally have to try harder:
View attachment 345246View attachment 345250View attachment 345246
@ronandannette has been collecting pictures of Fancy French Fry Arrangements for years, storing them in a separate folder by the same name, just waiting for the day when she’d have the opportunity to use them.
 
Close encounter rip off: I've been looking for a handicap accessible place for my daughter and I to move in to. The lady next to my daughter in another duplex moved out so I was talking to the "property manager" when she was over after the painters left. She took the $80 (2 40 app fees). She failed to tell me that they were having an open house for this rental for 3 days. They priced this duplex 50 under the going rate so about 200 or more showed up over those 3 days. I went in to look and saw 10 couples filling out apps. I thought, this is crazy, so told the "property manager" I wanted my money back. This was in the first 15 minutes of the first day of the open house and cars were lined up all three days. My daughter's landlord was here fixing some things and told us he gets charged $20 per credit check so these people are making 20 on each application plus another 20 if it's a couple.

This property manager who told me she had no idea, well the person who rents out the other side of this duplex told me that she has the same last name as the owner (and it's not a common name, I've never heard of it before). Something is fishy there. he told me they were related, wasn't sure if it was her husband or brother in law. Anyway, we were both in the front yard doing a lot of work during the weekend. He talked to a lot of people coming out and a lot put in the apps. One guy was not happy because supposedly this property management has another place up for rent but this credit check (40 app fee) only covers this one place so he would have to pay another 40 for the next one. How much would your credit change in 24 hours? Sounds like a good way to recover your painting and carpet cleaning costs. Hold an open house and collect a lot of app fees from people looking for housing. Unfortunate as they could have had a good renter that would have been there quite sometime.
 
@ronandannette has been collecting pictures of Fancy French Fry Arrangements for years, storing them in a separate folder by the same name, just waiting for the day when she’d have the opportunity to use them.
Monday, August 20:
Dear Diary,
:woohoo:Today I finally found a context for the pictures in my fancy French Fry arrangement archive. I just knew perseverance and dedication to the cause would pay off. Who knows that tomorrow may bring even greater opportunities - like maybe a thread about purse-dogs!
:disrocks:
 
Bringing clothes/accessories to Once Upon a Child, Plato's Closet, etc... They pay you pennies or don't take what you bring in.
 
A wedge salad. That costs them all of 30 cents. They sell it for 10-15 bucks or more at some places. At that price bucko, I expect you to at least break up my lettuce for me.

I would never get one separately, but they're often included as a side. The national chain BJ's Restaurants has an an all you can eat lunch of soup and salad for under $10. I'll usually ask for the wedge first.
 
I can think of 3 off the top of my head...

Property taxes where we live. July 2017, we bought my uncle's car in a private sale. Upon registering it at the local DMV, I wrote a check for $650 - $90 for the registration, $560 in state sales tax. 6 months later, we received a "supplemental" bill for another $400-something for annual property taxes :sad2:


Electricity - our electric company has raised their rates quite a bit lately. The delivery charge is about 2x the cost of the actual electricity.

Bath Fitter - we had it done in our condo before selling. One of the things we purchased was a new shower curtain rod. For $85, we thought we were getting a really nice one that actually attached to the wall. Nope - what we received was the exact same tension rod that Home Depot sells for $10. We were not pleased at all.
 

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