Consumer
Protection
Consumers are entitled by law to honest, fair, and transparent pricing for products and services.
In violation of the law, hidden expenses, surprise fees, and misleading prices have become the norm in everyday transactions.
These issues are known as "drip pricing," which means the price you pay for a good or service ends up being higher than the original price because a business adds additional expenses and fees during the purchasing process.
Drip pricing is illegal, and it wastes consumers' time and costs them billions of dollars a year.
Examples of Illegal Drip Pricing
Junk Fees
Fees excluded from the price of a product or service that are never disclosed to a consumer or not disclosed until after the consumer is asked for payment information.
Deceptive or Unfair Pricing
Advertised prices that don't reflect the true price due to undisclosed or misleading fees.
Unexplained Fees or Charges
Fees or charges collected from consumers without clear disclosure or explanation.
Bait-and-Switch Pricing Schemes
Practices that lure customers with one price and charge a higher one at checkout.
Industries With Widespread Problems
Businesses in the following industries regularly engage in these illegal practices and cause consumers to waste time and lose money:
what are junk fees?
“Junk fees” are charges added to a transaction that are not properly disclosed upfront, or which are hidden, misleading, or simply unnecessary.
Consumers are often unaware of these fees until after seeing the advertised price of a car and late in the buying process – often even after a consumer has already agreed to a purchase. These charges can increase how much you pay for a product or service by a little or a lot – even up to thousands of dollars for larger purchases, like a car.
Junk fees are presented in a variety of ways. Some are labeled as documentation fees, administrative fees, or dealer preparation charges. Others involve add-on products that were never clearly disclosed in the advertised price.
Massachusetts law strictly governs deceptive pricing practices. Under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, businesses are prohibited from engaging in unfair or deceptive practices when selling goods or services.
INDUSTRY EXAMPLE: ONLINE SHOPPING
Online shopping is convenient, but many consumers have experienced the frustration of seeing extra charges suddenly appear during checkout. These unexpected costs – often labeled “service fees,” “processing fees,” or “convenience fees” – are commonly known as “junk fees” or “drip pricing.”
WHAT IS DRIP PRICING?
“Drip pricing” occurs when a business advertises or posts a price for a product or service and incrementally adds unavoidable fees later, near the end of the transaction, during the checkout process.
IndustrY example:
CAR DEALERSHIPS
Buying a car should be straightforward: you see a price, buy the car for that price, and drive away. Unfortunately, it’s rarely that simple. Common dealership junk fees include:
WHAT ARE JUNK FEES?
"Junk fees" are generally hidden or misleading charges that increase the cost of a product or service beyond the advertised price. Such fees often appear late in the checkout process – sometimes after a consumer has already been asked for personal payment information or committed to the purchase.
How We Can Help
At Fair Work, our lawyers have extensive experience handling complex litigation and helping individuals across the country pursue their claims.
If you believe that a business has charged you more for a good or service than the original listed price or collected an undisclosed or unexplained fee from you, please reach out to us for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your potential claims and damages.
We handle cases on a contingency basis. That means clients don't pay us out of pocket or by the hour. Instead, we only recover our fees and costs if we recover something for you.