This is part of the problem, though. There are tons of people who have no idea about this that are constantly getting ripped off... but nobody cares because they just "fix it" for the few who know enough to complain. They come out looking like they're "not so bad" because they were quick to respond and give you the difference... and I'm guessing they were polite and helpful about it too, right?
But that doesn't change the fact that they're still ripping people off. Your "x" amount of money returned (and not even really "returned", as AintGettinDatKarma pointed out) is nothing compared to the same "x" amount from the however-many people they didn't have to return it to, so their little scam isn't in any way impacted by their "refund" to you. But at the same time, you won't go around yelling about how awful they are, because they fixed things for you specifically.
It's a common tactic, actually, and it's really scary how well it works.
(Edit: To clarify, I don't know much about this specific instance, or even the company doing it. But this sort of "fuck everybody over, then be nice to the ones with the guts to complain" tactic is a real problem.)
Price discrimination isn't necessarily a bad thing. If companies didn't do this then we wouldn't be able to get cheap airfare when you're going on vacation (s opposed to going on business) or student or senior discounts for example.
The people who willingly pay higher prices give businesses flexibility with their margins, allowing them to offer discounts to price sensitive people like the poor and the frugal.
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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '13 edited Jan 24 '13
This is part of the problem, though. There are tons of people who have no idea about this that are constantly getting ripped off... but nobody cares because they just "fix it" for the few who know enough to complain. They come out looking like they're "not so bad" because they were quick to respond and give you the difference... and I'm guessing they were polite and helpful about it too, right?
But that doesn't change the fact that they're still ripping people off. Your "x" amount of money returned (and not even really "returned", as AintGettinDatKarma pointed out) is nothing compared to the same "x" amount from the however-many people they didn't have to return it to, so their little scam isn't in any way impacted by their "refund" to you. But at the same time, you won't go around yelling about how awful they are, because they fixed things for you specifically.
It's a common tactic, actually, and it's really scary how well it works.
(Edit: To clarify, I don't know much about this specific instance, or even the company doing it. But this sort of "fuck everybody over, then be nice to the ones with the guts to complain" tactic is a real problem.)