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back to article Consumers should get price transparency, says OFT

Current law on fairness in consumer contracts contains a loophole that may be harmful to consumers, according to consumer watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Businesses should be more restricted in their freedom to charge ancillary fees, it says. The OFT has expressed (pdf) its views in a response to a consultation (pdf …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    great!

    It'll be like HBOS again, customers want clear, transparent, simple, pricing. So they create it, it just happens to be 3-4 times more than the "confusing" prices were. But it's presented nicely...

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    while they're at it

    They should make the cash price the headline price and put all the direct debit and suchlike crap deals in the small print.

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  3. Trevor_Pott Gold badge
    Unhappy

    The problem with all this "clear language" hullabaloo...

    ...is that if every business were forced to state clearly what they were charging you, when and why then consumers would have a easy way to shop around for the best deal. Businesses would be forced to compete, or (horror!) innovate in order to obtain and retain customers.

    This goes against the spirit of modern capitalism, which thrives on ever bigger corporations with ever more reason to stifle innovation and competition. Providing lower levels of service by drastically cutting back the workforce is another cornerstone of modern capitalism. Also encouraged are enormous bonuses for executives, golden handshakes, golden parachutes, and buying off regulators.

    It is then common and accepted to raise the flag of being “unpatriotic,” “anti-western/American/capitalist/democratic” (delete as appropriate) for anyone to commit the thoughtcrime of questioning this state of affairs. The idea that the customer should be able to put pressure on the megacorporate entities of our society by shopping their business around to a different megacorporate entity in the hopes of a better deal is “harmful to business.”

    In addition, we must not tax the rich, or large companies. Similarly, we should increase the tax burden on those whose jobs we are all busy eliminating. Increasing taxes on small businesses and consultants (whom the megacorporates are doing their best to drive out of business in the interests of quelling competition and suppressing innovation) is also strongly recommended. Pair this with the cries to deport the poor/homeless/unemployed or at least drive them out of the city and dump them in the woods and you have the perfect society.

    Or so I am told by the man on the telly. I have to believe it because to think otherwise makes me a bleeding heart leftist pinko commie liberal, and we can’t have those types cluttering up the world.

    Speaking of the world…would someone please stop it briefly? I’d like to disembark.

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