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perfectstorm commented on Waymo rides cost more than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway   techcrunch.com/2025/06/12... · Posted by u/achristmascarl
harmmonica · 2 months ago
As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for $3 more than the base level Lyft. At first I was going to get a Tesla Model Y to take me, but that cancelled. Instead, what must have been a first generation Honda Pilot picked me up, suspension creaking and muffler that had seen better days. Did Lyft recognize what they sent instead of the "comfort" they promised and therefore charge me $3 less? Of course not. When I tried to contact customer service I ran into what I'm sure plenty of HN people have, which is a dead end where you report the issue and they (programmatically?) adjudicate the complaint on the spot. Their determination? I wasn't entitled to a $3 refund. Ironic that the rideshare app with human drivers doesn't allow me to contact their customer service whereas Waymo has no problem with it (yeah, yeah, I get it, "we'll see once they reach a huge scale." But today the experience is so much better than Uber or Lyft that while it lasts I will bask in its driverless glory).
perfectstorm · 2 months ago
another anecdote taking Lyft - they showed me $10.76 price for a trip to the airport when Uber showed $21. obviously i called Lyft and they placed a temporary charge on my credit card for $10.76. Once the driver dropped me off, i noticed that the base charge jumped to $16.76 + airport fees and my total with tips came to a bit over $27. I contacted Lyft and they denied and claimed that they always showed me $16.76. smh. i have proof from my credit card that they placed a hold for $10.76 and yet they refused to adjust the price.
perfectstorm commented on FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices   cnbc.com/2024/12/17/ftc-b... · Posted by u/LordAtlas
rascul · 8 months ago
> a reverse IP lookup should give you a good estimate

Not really, no.

perfectstorm · 8 months ago
care to elaborate on that? also, it's not that hard to ask users to enter their shipping zip code to get more accurate prices. some websites do that already nowadays. my point is reverse ip lookup is a good enough starting point for the first estimation.
perfectstorm commented on FTC bans hidden junk fees in hotel, event ticket prices   cnbc.com/2024/12/17/ftc-b... · Posted by u/LordAtlas
drdec · 8 months ago
Do you want to put in your shipping address to every website before you can shop?
perfectstorm · 8 months ago
a reverse IP lookup should give you a good estimate and you can always ask the user to enter their address for more accurate price.
perfectstorm commented on Boeing plea deal over fatal 737 MAX crashes rejected by judge   bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/impish9208
lenerdenator · 9 months ago
Here's the path:

1. Imprison executives who made the decisions that led to the result. Preferably in a way that makes them spend their fortunes on legal costs so that when they get out in 20-30 years, they're dependent on social safety nets for the rest of their natural lives. People are dead because they thought that possibility of profit was worth the risk of hundreds of deaths. That's negligent homicide.

2. There is no 2.

perfectstorm · 9 months ago
it will never happen. these company executives are major donors to politicians of both aisles. laws and regulations are for the common people like you and me. not for the ultra-rich. heck, even the judiciary is corrupt these days.
perfectstorm commented on FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions   ftc.gov/news-events/news/... · Posted by u/pseudolus
Kon-Peki · 10 months ago
> not an unsolvable problem

I never said it was. In fact, I specifically said that there is work to do before making the rule about listing all prices inclusive of taxes.

perfectstorm · 10 months ago
but you did say that figuring out the final price is "unacceptable"? why is it unacceptable? my point is that other countries have figured out a way to display the final prices, but USA still hasn't figured out how to do it or they don't have any plans to do it.
perfectstorm commented on FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions   ftc.gov/news-events/news/... · Posted by u/pseudolus
VBprogrammer · 10 months ago
As a British person this is always so alien when traveling in the US. You could go one step further and suggest that perhaps tips which are practically mandatory should be included in the headline price but that might be a step too far.
perfectstorm · 10 months ago
tipping culture is so annoying here in the Bay Area. the other day i was at a coffee shop and cashier handed me a device that had suggested tips from 18-22% with no obvious Cancel button. i was infuriated and the cashier had a smug look on her face. she knew what i was looking for and she didn't bother telling me how to skip it. mind you, this was for a coffee to-go order.
perfectstorm commented on FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions   ftc.gov/news-events/news/... · Posted by u/pseudolus
Kon-Peki · 10 months ago
That would be nice, but there is a LOT of background work before that is feasible (in the US). As it currently stands, for many products a vendor would need to know who you are and where you live before they could quote you a total price. That's unacceptable.
perfectstorm · 10 months ago
other countries have figured that out even countries with multiple levels of taxation like in the U.S. it's not an unsolvable problem.
perfectstorm commented on AnandTech Farewell   anandtech.com/show/21542/... · Posted by u/janice1999
codeslave13 · a year ago
Yea we worked on his old site before anadtech. Sheesh so much fun at CES with the gang in lv. Was fun times. My buddy started fusetalk by writing anadtech forums from scratch. It all moved to .net after a couple years and that when i left. Jason stayed on for years
perfectstorm · a year ago
you forgot to answer the question though :)
perfectstorm commented on Texas sues GM for unlaw­ful­ly collecting and selling dri­vers' pri­vate data [pdf]   texasattorneygeneral.gov/... · Posted by u/jonhohle
randcraw · a year ago
I can't imagine why this case should succeed if this same practice has long been tolerated by telcos or Facebook -- any company that provides no opt-out to collection and sale of personal info.

If Texas had real guts, they'd pass a law that clearly prohibits the collection and sale of personal info without explicit opt-in. But nooooooo...

perfectstorm · a year ago
lot of these opt-in toggles are ON by default in the U.S but my previous employer's legal department made sure that it's OFF by default in EU.
perfectstorm commented on Apple's requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon   news.patreon.com/articles... · Posted by u/miiiiiike
Andrew_nenakhov · a year ago
Previously, Apple specifically prohibited charging more though AppStore for services that are available to be purchased elsewhere. I'm not in the mood to sift though current version of Apple's legalese, but I'd be surprised if they dropped this requirement, that'd be very uncharacteristic of them.
perfectstorm · a year ago
they didn't prohibit charging more for App Store purchases, they prohibited mentioning it in the app. i.e, you cannot mention something like 'purchase this in-app product for $3 cheaper on our website'.

u/perfectstorm

KarmaCake day620March 22, 2014View Original