Things That Suck
Unlimited has a footnote, and the footnote is the actual product
Nothing sold as unlimited is unlimited. The interesting question is where the real ceiling sits and why it is never printed next to…
Things That Suck
Products, services and experiences that promised one thing and delivered another.
13 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Things That Suck
The restocking fee is not a fee for restocking
It is charged as a percentage of the price rather than the cost of handling, which tells you what it is actually for.
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Things That Suck
Your printer has opinions about which ink you are allowed to buy
A cartridge chip is not a fuel gauge. It is an authentication token, and the printer is the bouncer.
Things That Suck
The extended warranty is sold at the till for a reason
It is offered after you have decided, by someone paid to offer it, covering a period when failures are least likely.
Things That Suck
Same box, same price, less crisps: a short history of the shrinking packet
Raising a price is a visible event that customers punish. Reducing the contents is an invisible one, which is why it happens…
Things That Suck
Self-checkout: unexpected labour in the bagging area
The customer now scans, bags, weighs, troubleshoots and proves they are not stealing. The wage for this role is a slightly shorter…
Things That Suck
The gift card that quietly stops being worth anything
A card sold for money and redeemed for less than its face value is a very good product, and none of that value belongs to the…
Things That Suck
Some assembly required, and one bag of screws is the wrong bag
Flat-pack furniture is a triumph of logistics that ends with a person on a bedroom floor holding a diagram with no words in it.
Things That Suck
The resort fee for a resort you did not want to be at
A compulsory daily charge that is not in the room rate is a price with a name on it, and the name is doing all the work.
Things That Suck
Your seat, your bag and your boarding pass now cost extra each
Unbundling turned one price into eight, and the headline fare is the only one anybody compares.
Things That Suck
Glued shut, screwed with a shape you have never seen, and unrepairable
A device you cannot open is a device you cannot fix, and the decisions that made it that way were made for other reasons entirely.
Things That Suck
I understand you are frustrated, says the thing that caused it
Support chatbots are deployed to deflect contacts, which is a measurable goal, and resolution is a much harder one to measure.