We’ve reached a point where nearly every service, from flights to home internet to home security, is wrapped in fees, packages, and hidden upgrades. Companies have figured out that unbundling things that used to be included lets them charge more while pretending to give us options.
$12 Billion in “Options”
According to a recent U.S. Senate subcommittee report, major airlines generated $12 billion in revenue just from charging for things like seat selection, which used to be included in the fare.
Source: CNN
As a businessperson, I get the logic. But as a consumer, I hate being nickel-and-dimed for the basics. This is the main reason I stopped teaching SCUBA diving because of the pressure to force upsells, cross-sells, and bundles – most joke that PADI is short for “Put another Dollar In.” That was the most significant criticism on student course completion forms. Again, I know why it is, don’t I just do not like doing it or participating in it.
ADT: How “Monitoring” Becomes a Maze
Out of nowhere, our monthly ADT monitoring bill jumped to $95. When I called customer service and asked for a breakdown, the rep initially stuck to the script: “That’s just the monitoring fee.” I insisted that they tell me what it was actually monitoring and she relented and broke it down into:
- General monitoring
- Burglary response
- Fire alarm monitoring
- Pulse App access
- Maintenance
Here’s the kicker:
- We don’t have ADT fire alarms → remove that.
- The app hasn’t worked in months → remove that.
- “Burglary response” and “monitoring” turned out to be… the same thing. One was the actual function of the technology – monitoring for unauthorized access and the other was to call the appropriate authorities on my behalf if something went wrong.
When I asked what would happen if we removed half of these services, she said, “We’d just call you to tell you someone broke in instead of calling the police.” She told me that taking out the things I don’t need would bring the price back to the original $49 per month.
She picked up on my statement that the app was not working. She suggested that there was a “bundle” available if I upgraded our panel (to fix the app), the same full-featured monitoring was offered, for $29/month.
So why is the legacy plan $95 and the upgrade with better hardware $29? Welcome to the madness of bundled pricing.
When “Upgrading” Costs More Than Logic Allows
To discuss the new panel, she had to transfer me to a support advisor who told me that cell tower upgrades in my area made it incompatible with my current panel. To use the app again, I’d need a panel upgrade and send it to an upgrade specialist.
Mind you, I have managed to disable the alarm at the panel manually, but we did like the convenience of going into the app to disable it when we came home late or needed to let one of the kids in the house when we were traveling.
Here’s what they offered:
- New panel: $374
- Required LTE antenna: additional cost
- A $50 door sensor I didn’t need was added as a bonus
- Adapter to support my 5-year-old sensors
- Total: nearly $700
Then came the shell game.
She could credit me the $374 panel cost, bringing it down to $280. But if I just wanted the panel, it would be a different package now, nearly $800, and it would remove nothing except the $50 bonus door sensor. I did the quick payback math and decided to upgrade the panel and get the automated functionality.
Because of that “package and equipment change,” she initially told me I would need to sign a 60-month contract. When I told her to cancel everything, that I had had enough of their frustrating pricing and scam packages and was going to refer them to our local news consumer advocate, she said she could do a 12-month contract renewal and keep the $29 monthly monitoring fee.
The only reason I still use ADT is a discount on my homeowners insurance, which is greater than the monthly fee. I also want cellular backup to alerts because smarter thieves have been using Wi-Fi jammers, making the alarm system useless.
Promotions That Make No Sense
It’s not just ADT.
Years ago, I upgraded to Xfinity’s 1GB Internet to support large training video uploads and crawling tasks. They offered me a “deal” — if I added a home phone I didn’t need, the internet would cost half as much.
Let me get this straight: by checking a box for something I’ll never use, I pay half?
It helped them inflate subscriber numbers, so the discount made sense for them. But it was nonsense for the customer. We never used it.
Later, when we cut cable and just wanted internet, we found the standalone internet price was double what we paid in a bundle for a third of the speed. They ran a promotion we got via mail multiple times for a fourth of what we were paying for the same speed. The rep told me it was only for new customers at the store. My wife is a new customer since the account was in my name. She could not sign up because we had service at that location. I would need to cancel by phone.
When I called the specialized cancellation rep, he asked if I was cancelling so I could sign up for a promotional rate. I said What if I were? Would that make a difference? A few fake clicks on the keyboard and suddenly, as a “30-year loyal customer,” I qualified for the promo rate without bundling. But he could only honor it for a year and I would be back into the rate game.
Bundling and Unbundling: Two Sides of the Same Scam
What makes all of this so frustrating isn’t just the pricing, it’s the deliberate confusion. Companies make it impossible to compare apples to apples. They use bundling to inflate perceived value, and unbundling to charge for the same things piece-by-piece.
And it’s all wrapped in “choice” and “convenience for the customer.”
- Want to use the app? That’ll be a new plan.
- Want to drop services you don’t use? That’ll increase your monthly rate.
- Want to only pay for what you use? Good luck navigating that minefield.
