When I lived in Germany taxes and fees were always included in the quoted price and that’s the way it should be! As a consumer when I make a purchase I want to know how much I’ll be paying but in the US many companies try to play consumers with misleading advertising that doesn’t include fees and taxes which can add over 30% to the price. Airlines, rental car agencies, hotels, and EBay vendors are some of the worst offenders, advertising prices well below what you’ll actually pay.

This gets to an email I received from Orbitz today that made me chuckle. I have an Orbitz deal detector alert going for airfare less than $250 to visit my folks. Here’s how it read (no joke):

Apparently in the world of Orbitz $294 is less than $250!

1. Powered by the EPA approved ultra green Personagy Drive™: no more recharging or running down the batteries.
2. Lighter weight: you can carry it up the stairs now, no need to lock it up on the street where it might get stolen
3. Sturdier: can now safely carry your whole family with the optional platform extender
4. Balance improving technology: the original Segway promoted poor balance by compensating for it
5. Possibly eligible for renewable energy vehicle tax credits (check with your accountant).

6. Degenerative breaking skid plate: just like the original Segway, simply lean back to stop
7. Newly endorsed by the Bush administration and the Homeland Security’s border patrol group
8. Already in use nationally by UPS, Fedex, and Sears home delivery
9. Durability: comes with a lifetime warranty, never-flat tires, and is completely submersible
10. Now available for $49 MSRP at Amazon or for a $7 daily rental fee from U-Haul.

I received lots of positive feedback from folks who found the story on Reddit and got a good laugh out of it. Fast forward a month to being on Digg where in addition to some very nice feedback I also received lots of negative feedback telling me what an idiot I must be for suggesting people switch to .BAT from Java. This guy even blogged about it! Shortly after going up on Digg’s homepage, the link to my story vanished from the homepage, probably from too many users marking my story as factually innaccurate (which of course it is because it’s a joke) .

I guess it’s not totally surprising given Digg and Reddit’s respective user bases, however, I was still surprised by the marked difference in user response and assumed everyone would realize I was joking!