What is the biggest ripoff?

[Hokie]

My vote goes to the International Star Registry. They want $54 to name a star after someone of your choice. That star could only be seen by maybe a dozen telescopes in the world. No other scientific organization in the world recognizes the naming of the star. ISR is looking for you if your name is Sucker.

[KissMyAsscroft]

1. Insurance of any kind...

Total legalized robbery.

[Bertha Venation]

3. Do you have an alternative?

I'm not disagreeing. Not having insurance is rather like not wearing a cup while playing ball. Chances are you won't get hit, but if you do, by god you'll pay.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. We have insurance and got hit...

If we hadn't shovelled $425 a month into insurance; we'd be able to pay the bill...

[Bertha Venation]

23. OUCH.

Damn it. I'm so sorry to hear it.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE NOW!

[Deja Q]

28. Almost

While health insurance is robbery considering the prices the industry takes for granted...

While rental/home insurance covers bollocks unless you've got mountains of pictures, negatives, receipts - they're not keen on personal posessions, only building damage...

While car insurance becomes a joke the second you have an accident or need to fill out a claim for something that wasn't your fault...

Keeping in mind any one of them can disqualify any one for any reason or raise rates on a whim or desire or if they had to pay somebody (uh, isn't the point in business is to be fair and live through bad days? If an insurance company has a bad day, they don't suffer the hit, they pass it to us while the execs live high off the hog...)

I agree, it is total legalized robbery.

But if you take a replacement plan warranty out at Best Buy for a scanner, you'll likely be able to use it within the 2 year time frame. So insurance is not all that bad. :-)

[sbj405]

32. "mortgage insurance" is by far the worse

the whole idea is crazy. fortunately, there are ways to work around it.

[Wcross]

2. Politicians "pension plans"

They vote themselves a pension equal to the salary they make while in office- even if they only serve one term. I sure would like a deal like that!

[lpbk2713]

4. The biggest ripoff by far is Cable TV

The technology used to deliver it is pretty straightforward and unsophisticated. It is way overpriced and the rates keep rising all the time. My bill is about $100 per month.

[madrchsod]

5. 100???

dam that`s alot. i had dish with everything and that was around 80. now i`m back to two movie channels and that`s around 60...

[lpbk2713]

6. HBO & Cinemax packages, etc.

Three boxes and remotes, it all adds up. I probably have channels I haven't seen yet.

[CanuckAmok]

15. Think about the nature of Television...

The "product" is the viewer. The advertisers PAy the TV stations/networks to deliver viewers to their advertisements. Therefore, the commodity being traded for money is...US.

So, the fact that cable TV companies (who are usally part of the same cabals who own most broadcasting companies) actually charge us to be delivered to the advertisers is the greatest scam in history.

They make money at both ends. It's insanely perfect

[Ratty]

34. I haven't had cable in years

But I've been thinking of getting it again. I was shocked at how much even the most basic package costs: over $40!!! This IS the biggest ripoff ever. A coworker has had sattelite for about a year now and he says he got it solely because cable prices were just getting too expensive. It seems hard to believe sattelite costs less, but there you go. So I've been thinking of getting sattelite now too but I just heard yesterday that Rupert Murdoch owns, like, 20% of DirecTV. Waah.

[Don_G]

8. Any Product "As Seen On TV"

Most are marginal at best, but appearing on television give their Ad's a semi-legitmate respectability like the FCC has approved "their" crap in the same manner that UL does.

[Spirochete]

9. Microsoft Windows

[NNadir]

25. Absolutely! Of course they bribed Bush three days after the occupation.

...and got the breakup suit dropped.

MS products suck, but we're stuck with them, just as we've been stuck with Bush.

[POed_Ex_Repub]

10. What about Tivo?

I don't have it personally so I guess I can't say. But what's wrong with using a VCR?

[Dookus]

12. oooh...

Tivo is way more than a VCR. You really have to see it and use it to understand. It's the best consumer electronics product of the last 10 years. Seriously.

[POed_Ex_Repub]

13. Do go on...

As a self-professed technogeek (see, I just professed it ;) ) I must know details.

[Dookus]

16. heheh...

well it just changes everything about how you even think about television. You don't tell it to record channel 5 at 7:00pm - you tell it to record the Simpsons. And then it can out to other channels and find other instances of the Simpsons. You set it up with all the shows you like (called season passes) and it finds them automatically, even if the time of the show changes (for instance, NBC runs special 40 minute versions of Will and Grace - Tivo adjusts for it.

You can tell it you like John Wayne movies and it will find them. Tell it you like Meet the Press and Crossfire, and it will go and find other shows like that and record them for you.

You never think about "what's on tv now?" You think what's recorded? And all of it is stuff you like to watch.

When watching live tv, it gives you a 30 minute buffer. The phone rings, hit pause, take the call, come back and continue watching where you left off. If you missed something big (like Janet Jackson's boob) you can rewind and watch it again. And again. And again.

Plus you get to fast forward through commercials :)

[POed_Ex_Repub]

17. Sounds cool

I shall put it on my "must check into gadgets list"

[Bertha Venation]

29. We're getting ours tomorrow!

Yahoo! No more taping "Monk" or "Law & Order SVU" in the guest room while watching "Third Watch" or "NYPD Blue" in the living room.
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Ratty]

36. I'm so glad I didn't get Tivo

I got a DVD player/recorder instead. It does most everything Tivo does that I thought I wanted. It has a harddrive so I never have to futz with tapes or worry about recording over something. Just press a button and I'm recording. It can go back and replay scenes while recording just like Tivo does. BUT: you don't pay any monthly fee. And most important, you can save what you've recorded onto a DVD to keep forever. Also, there's no snoop keeping track of everything you watch. The worst thing about Tivo, the reason I never ended up getting it, is that you can't ever get stuff off the harddrive. A flaw like that boggles the mind!

The only thing you don't get that Tivo offers is the whole programming guide and schedule and show recommendations and such. I was never interested in that anyway, and even if I were it seems hardly worth the monthly fee.

[mitchum]

11. Sea Monkeys

hands down

[Bertha Venation]

30. "sea monkeys have my money"

(see "Finding Nemo"? heh heh)

Yes, marketing brine shrimp to little kids as some exotic aquatic pet... pathetic.

[mykpart]

14. Cable TV is a big one.

They shouldn't charge you a monthly fee for each connection - that's bullshit.

Another ripoff is Long Distance. Why do they charge by the minute when the same phone lines get internet for a flat rate?

[Hokie]

18. I stand by ISR as the largest ripoff

All of the other ones mentioned here at least provide something. What ISR is doing is the equivalent of saying that they are naming a grain of sand on a beach after you and giving you a fancy certificate stating that.

I agree that cable, Microsoft products, etc. may be over priced but they do provide a product of some utility.

[ComerPerro]

19. Anyone who pays $2000 to see Bush speak

I mean, really

[Lostmessage]

21. You won the prize for the night

You are right and I am with you on your answer.

God Bless You!

[Lostmessage]

20. The hair straightening kit

I am Irish and if didn't do a thing for my kinky red hair so it is junk.

[Sentath]

24. yeah Irish hair

A friend of mine back in the early 90's gave up on doing anything himself and went to one of the local ethnic beautician shops.

They tried so many different relaxers and straitening treatments on his hair that it actually burnt him.

He said that he'd never do it again, but that it was worth it one time to actually have the experience of the wind ruffling his hair.

[Lostmessage]

40. I bought some hair care products from an ethnic shop

I put the stuff in and it wouldn't come out of my hair. I kept washing it over and over again and finally after 1 week it started to come out.

I had straight hair for the entire week and I loved swinging it around like Chef. I even made her face and voice so that I could get a laugh.

I think that it was called TCB or TCP?

[Bertha Venation]

31. okay, LM, I am not laughing at YOU or anyone so afflicted, I promise....

ROFLMAO

Mrs. V., my sisters and I have the finest, straightest hair on the planet. (I love it, but Mrs. V. and one of my sisters perm theirs.) When I saw "hair straightening," I thought, :wtf: and laughed my ass off.

Not laughing at your misery, it's just that the thought, when put up next to what's on my own head, seemed hysterical.

I'll bet your hair is gorgeous. Would probably make me want to run my fingers through it. ;)

[Lostmessage]

39. Years ago I would use a flattening Iron to straighten it

It was down to my waist last year.

I have dark auburn hair and I will be 40 soon so I started getting it cut shorter and shorter and now Its down to my shoulders but It's so damn curly.

What I would give to have straight hair and you don't know how much I envy you.

[radwriter0555]

22. Buying a brand new car straight off the lot, financing it for 5 years.

paying several thousand dollars to finance it, then, having it worth 1/100th of what you paid for it by the time you're done paying for it.

TAWK about the AMERICAN DREAM!

lol!

Pay $30,000 for something that's worth $3000 by the time you're done paying for it, and being PROUD of being ripped off and making poor financial decisions based on commercials and sex.

YEAH baby.

[pstokely]

26. ISR advertises on hate radio

?

[anti_shrub]

52. They do here

Co-workers listen to wingnut radio all day and I hear those star commercials 20 times a day.

The ones that claim star registry is a great Valentine's gift kill me too.

Female Actor Trying to Sound Happily Suprised: You named a STAR after me?

Male Actor Hearing Himself Throw Away Credibility: Valentine, You're My Star!

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. And they've been doing it for more than twenty years

Assuming this is the same star registry folk who started it back in about 1982, when I first heard of registering stars.

[Rhiannon12866]

33. I still think this is kind of romantic and have considered doing it

But I have read disclaimers on the internet about how this means nothing and nobody official recognizes this. But the recipiant doesn't necessarily have to know and may be really touched. The gift is really in the eyes of the beholder, though I certainly recognize that there are many rip-offs out there, and this is probably one of them. Sigh...:shrug:

[Liberal Christian]

41. If you want to give someone a gift that they'll never get to see

Give an animal from Heifer International (www.heifer.org). It's amazing the difference a clutch of chickens, a goat, a llama, or a cow can make in the life of someone living in poverty. You'll never see the animal or the person who receives it, but you'll change a life.

[Rabrrrrrr]

42. An excellent idea!

Instead of throwing away money on a fakely named star, give the $$$ to heifer.

Then, make your own certificate naming whatever star you want to the name of the person to whom you will give the gift, becuase your certuifuicate will carry the same weight in the scientific world as the $54 one. That is, none. And meanwhile, a poor family could have gotten a few rabbits and chickens.

[cmd]

35. Pantyhose

They last about two minutes after opening the package. If you get a run in one leg, both legs are shot. You never know what defect might make them impossible to get on.

[HEyHEY]

37. Those berlin wall pieces

[Rhiannon12866]

38. Wow. I had planned to get one of those for my Dad for his last

Christmas. He had visited Germany, for the first time, as a student, shortly after World War II and was fascinated by the devastation and the occupation and the politics. He returned to the same place many years later and visited the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. I thought that this would be a great remembrance for him. But I lost him, shortly after Thanksgiving, over 10 years ago, so didn't get the chance. I don't think it's as much the gift, but, as with this and the stars, the thought behind it.:shrug:

[Kellanved]

45. definitely

Along with the Check Point Charlie Museum, a private exhibition with little accuracy. It is a trap for American tourists.

The wall pieces are even dangerous, as they contain asbestos. Few people realize that they're standing on the wall nearly everywhere in Berlin: the razed parts not sold (or collected) were used for street construction.

[Rabrrrrrr]

43. Though I think the biggest ripoff are psychics and astrologers

and palm readers and phrenologists and others who can "predict" the future.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

44. Religion. The mother of 'em all.

Just one man's opinion. Flames will be redirected to /dev/null.

[kodi]

47. make that 2 men's opinions

.

[Hokie]

49. You have a case there

ISR and organized religions have many parallels.

[Hubert Flottz]

46. Selection 2000!

A judge helped a crook steal an entire country!

[maveric]

48. Any food product with the prefix "mini".

Who wants to eat and get less than you really want?
Promoting downsizing.

[DotGone]

50. A session with the guy on TV

who will ask whether I have a dead relative whose name starts with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, or Z.

[philosophie_en_rose]

51. Health Insurance.

God bless every business that pays for healthcare coverage, because it's freaking expensive. I'm young and healthy and have no need to go to the doctor on a more than annual basis. However, I can't stand the thought of no protection in an emergency.

Health insurance premiums deductions are about 20% of my paycheck, post tax. I pay thousands per year that I'll never use up in medical visits, just in case I might be hit by a bus or something.

[Rhiannon12866]

53. I pray that you are never hit by a bus.

Though I worry about that as well, LOL!:D