Let’s cap fees doctors can charge for missing an appointment. Since doctors seem to want to schedule months out sometimes shit comes up and we don’t know our schedule months away.
I mean, if you have other shit going on that day, it’s kinda on you to cancel or reschedule your appointment before whatever cutoff they have instead of just not going.
You made the commitment to be at your appointment at the scheduled time, and if you no show that’s time that could have been spent seeing another patient and money they can’t make because of your actions.
I’ve never had an issue if something came up the day of and I needed to reschedule, as long as I called the moment I knew I might not make it.
This is true, but if I made an appointment for 9, how come I don’t see anyone but the nurse for two hours?
Seems like the doctor doesn’t have a commitment to take care of my problem at the scheduled time.
how come I don’t see anyone but the nurse for two hours?
- Because the doctor showed up late.
- They overbooked / double booked (maybe with a last minute urgent caller or maybe just because they know they will have so many no shows.)
- Maybe the medical assistants called out and the processing time for people is backed up.
- Maybe they decided to flirt with a patient or two or took an extra long bathroom break.
- Maybe they had a family emergency and had to step out or take a call.
- Maybe a patient called in with a critical need and they had to prioritize that because it’s a life and death situation or something.
- Maybe they farted and it wasn’t just a fart.
- Maybe they don’t like you.
- Maybe their car was towed because their medical bills are piling up with insane interest and they weren’t able to work as much as they needed to make the bills the last few months and they needed to take a bicycle
- Maybe they got an OUI and lost their license
- Aliens
Pick one, or many.
The system is overwhelmed and you are scheduled months out because there are so many people waiting ahead of you. If you cancel appropriately that spot can be given to someone else that is waiting. As a patient I want higher punitive fees on people that don’t cancel appropriately - not to stick it to them but to encourage them to actually call ahead and cancel so more spots can open up. This is not the same as junk fees.
How about fucking “convenience fees” when I do shit like pay my fucking rent?
Always real “convenient” that there’s a charge for paying your bills.
We used to pay our rent in 15-20 installments, one every day or two. The office of the apartment building we lived in was on the way to our apartment, so it wasn’t any inconvenience for us to just drop a check in their drop box when we passed by, but I like to think it was mildly irritating for them to have to deal with the book-keeping. They asked us not to on multiple occasions but their only online option had a small “convenience charge” attached, so… No, thank you. I’d be happy to use it if they paid me a “convenience fee” for not making them process 20 checks every month.
That sounds like a nightmare for bookkeeping… I’m not sure if it’s genius, evil, or both.
How did you keep track of which checks were cashed, and which ones were pending???
Our bank had a really nice web interface for that. We could just go to the website and see all of the checks, the amounts, and the dates they were cashed, and we weren’t using checks for any other purpose, so there wasn’t anything else diluting the list. They could have made it a hassle for us by selectively “losing” some occasionally, I suppose, but they never did.
The real issue is that the apartment building is charged a fee by their payment processor to use electronic payments, and they didn’t want to pay it. It is a convenience fee for the bank customer (the building) because they have to do less work cashing checks.
It’s stupid to try to pass that to people living in the building. Most personal bank accounts allow you to pay automatically with a check that’s mailed for free. Paying by check is not inconvenient for individuals, it’s only inconvenient for the person cashing all the checks.
The issue is further up the chain but it’s an issue nonetheless. Banks want to go back to physical transactions about as much as people do, so in reality they should be charging for the physical to get people to move to digital.
It’s safer, faster, and encourages more spending, just like a credit card does.
Right but it saves labor in the office, and the cost of dealing with bounced checks, and the accounting is much easier when payments are made online, so the landlord ought not put the gross cost into the rent. It’s cost and savings to the landlord, likely netting out to nothing, or a savings on the online accounts.
In a small restaurant, I understand cash discount. They are gonna have to count the drawer at the end of the night either way. In an apartment building, no. That’s charging people for saving you time and effort, it’s a junk fee.
Maybe you do know, but in case you don’t, the “convenience fee” is (usually) just the price the vendor has to pay to process a credit card transaction. Because in order to accept credit cards as payment in the first place, they have to pay the credit card network for the privilege.
Providing the exact same service to you is more expensive for them based entirely on the method you use to pay. You bet they’re going to pass that extra expense onto you. The alternative is raising their service charge to eat the cost and screwing over people who pay with check or cash. Which is what most retail stores tend to do.
Though, I agree, I’d rather they just do the fucking math and charge a rate that covers their operating expenses. It’s shouldn’t be my problem to pay their itemized expenses. Just know that if they did so, we’ll be charged the same total either way.
It’s a similar argument with tipping culture. “Oh, you have to tip, employees rely on it to make ends meet!” Sure, but why is that my problem? If the business can’t create a business model that properly pays for the expenses it needs to function, they should go out of business. Raise prices. I’ll pay the same as the tip, fine, just stop playing these frivilous smoke and mirror games with my bill.
We need interest caps and a social safety net so people don’t have to turn to 29% predatory lending.
Sure, if it’s annual 1000% that’s bullshit and predatory. But let’s not go overboard and cap it at at 5% because interest rates fluctuate and some people won’t get credit unless the rate is a bit higher
Those are weird numbers to pull out of the air based on what you replied to.
Yeah, because lenders are going to turn down 10% if they can’t get 29%…
10% guaranteed is more than enough to motivate lenders.
If you are credit worthy and lenders can give you 10% they will, because there is another lender out there that will give you 10% if you are good for it. If you are getting a 29% interest rate it’s because you are a default risk, it’s unsecured, a short term loan, or any combination of the 3.
Rates just don’t come out of thin air. It’s based off of risk. If you cap rates at 10% then the only people who will get credit at 10% are going to be wealthy people.
Okay. Why can’t they just get rid of the fees altogether? Why do we need to have ANY kind of junk fees for anything? Oh wait, I know. To make rich people richer.
they’ll just charge 40% interest on that late fee.
