Business

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

FTC Says TurboTax’s Free, Free, Free Ads Were False, False, False

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission issued an Opinion and Final Order against Intuit Inc., the maker of TurboTax, the most popular brand of tax preparation software, saying it had engaged in deceptive advertising practices. It had accused the company of running ads for free tax prep services for years but it appears the majority of those who signed up were not eligible for those free services. [See complaint.]

In some ads, like the one below, the word “free” is mentioned perhaps 20 times in a 30-second commercial.


*MOUSE PRINT:

The virtually unreadable fine print says that the free version is for simple returns only.

Under the FTC’s final order, Intuit has to make disclosures abundantly clear in its advertising about the limitation of their free edition.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The Commission’s Final Order prohibits Intuit from advertising or marketing that any good or service is free unless it is free for all consumers or it discloses clearly and conspicuously and in close proximity to the “free” claim the percentage of taxpayers or consumers that qualify for the free product or service. Alternatively, if the good or service is not free for a majority of consumers, it could disclose that a majority of consumers do not qualify. [Emphasis added]

Sure enough, last week Intuit began running new TV ads for TurboTax Free that unambiguously say that only about 37-percent of people will qualify to use the program free.


Whether the new ad is satisfactory to the FTC is for them to say, but it is refreshing to literally hear a company’s disclaimer rather than having to catch it in a too-quick and too-small-to-read footnote.

Since this was an internal administrative proceeding where the FTC cannot assess financial penalties, Intuit got off easy. Nonetheless, they have appealed the decision to court.

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

Verizon to Refund $100-Mil for Hidden Fees

Verizon Wireless has tentatively settled a class action lawsuit that alleged the company advertised a price for cell plans but then jacked-up consumers’ bills with hidden administrative charges.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The complaint specifically alleges:

The Administrative Charge is not disclosed to customers either before or when they agree to purchase wireless service from Verizon, and in fact the Administrative Charge is never adequately or honestly disclosed to customers.

The current amount of the Administrative Charge is $3.30 per line per month—a more than 8X increase from the original amount of the Charge [40 cents].

The first time Verizon customers can possibly learn about the existence of the Administrative Charge, or the amount of the Charge, is on the customer bills… [but] Verizon’s paper bills fail to mention the Administrative Charge at all, stating instead that a customer should “[c]heck your online bill for all surcharges, taxes and gov fees.”

[F]or years, Verizon explicitly and falsely stated on its monthly bills that the Administrative-Charge is a surcharge imposed on subscribers to “cover the costs that are billed to us by federal, state or local governments.”

For its part, Verizon has denied the claims, but says it has changed the way it describes those fees.

Verizon customers who purchased postpaid cell or data plans from the company between January 1, 2016 and November 8, 2023 are eligible to share in the $100-million proposed settlement. The maximum payment is $100, but that could be reduced based on how many consumers file claims and for how long they were a customer.

Claims must be filed by April 15, 2024 at the settlement website. Most customers were just notified via postcard of their eligibility to file a claim and were given a notice ID and confirmation code to enter on the website. If you did not receive that, here is the official claim form.

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

How to Cut Package Shipping Costs

USPS Flat Rate BoxMrConsumer recently had to ship a package from Boston to California and was shocked at how much it would cost.

He had gotten what he was told was a Priority Mail flat-rate envelope from a local post office branch and stuffed it full believing it would cost about $10 to ship. When he went to mail it, he was told that was not a flat-rate envelope and it would cost about $23 to send the package. Yikes! The clerk pointed out some medium flat-rate boxes that I should try (they’re free), but the postage would run $17.10. Still yikes, but he took one of them anyway.

MrConsumer poked around online looking for discount shipping services and came across one called “Pirate Ship.” There, you enter the box size, weight, mailing location and destination, and it gives you a variety of prices for different shipping companies and services. You are not charged a membership fee or a label fee — the service is free. Just pay for the postage and print a prepaid label for the box.

They would charge $14.75 to ship the package via USPS Priority Mail in the flat rate box. That is the same price that the PayPal shipping label printing service charges, and even the same as what the post office charges online if using their Enhanced Click ‘n Ship service.

While that is a good savings for many people, it was still too high for MrConsumer. He adjusted the parameters at Pirate Ship to plain packaging in a box using the same Priority Mail box by simply wrapping it in brown paper. (As it turns out, any similar box whose contents weighed less than five pounds could have been used.) Now when checking on rates, he got the cheapest price from UPS.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Lowest shipping cost

Sold at $12.08 – a $5 savings — nearly 30% off the original post office price. Of course, the package won’t arrive in three days like the Priority Mail package would, but I was in no rush. Incidentally, the USPS had a rate only five cents higher called Ground Advantage Cubic.

The rate was also lower because UPS takes the package only part of the way then hands it off to the post office for final delivery. As it turns out, the package arrived early — three days after mailing — and UPS decided to take it all the way to its destination.

So as you plan to ship your holiday gifts, Google the term “discount shipping” to find any number of services that will charge less by comparing special rates offered by the post office, UPS, or FedEx. Just read the details so you know in advance if there are any extra fees involved.