With inflation accelerating, affordability remains Americans’ top financial concern these days, according to a Gallup survey. Adding insult to injury is the recent proliferation of mysterious or hidden fees, complicated cancellation policies, spam calls, and service inconveniences that collectively make up the “annoyance economy.”
That’s the term some experts now use for the “steady grind of small hassles that eat away at our time, patience, and wallets,” as a recent report from the research group Groundwork Collective describes it.
The annoyances include hours spent waiting on hold with customer service, dealing with insurance paperwork, fielding robo calls or navigating AI chatbots, and paying mysterious service, handling and administrative fees, often imposed at checkout.
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The annual cost to consumers, the researchers found: $165 billion in wasted time and money. The biggest chunk of that cost — $90 billion, or an average of $650 per household — comes from out-of-pocket spending on so-called junk fees, such as those tacked on to transactions for everything from travel and banking to concert tickets and food delivery.
“Everyday interactions that should be simple too often turn into fraught ordeals, leaving people feeling overwhelmed, ignored, or jerked around,” the researchers say.
There is one positive development in the fight against the annoyance economy: Opposition to junk fees is becoming a rare example of bi-partisan cooperation, says Susan Weinstock, CEO of the Consumer Federation of America. “Everybody hates junk fees,” she says.
The Trump administration, for instance, has enacted bans, originally proposed by the Biden administration, on deceptive and late disclosure of fees for event tickets as well as surprise hotel resort fees.
It has also joined a bipartisan group of state attorneys general in a suit against Uber, alleging the company has misled customers by claiming it is easy to cancel its Uber One service ($9.99 a month), which promises free food delivery from certain restaurants and other discounts.
This spring, the Federal Trade Commission solicited comments on proposals that might bar unfair or hidden fees on grocery-delivery services and housing rentals and make it easier to cancel subscriptions.
“It is piecemeal,” Weinstock says. “But we are making progress.”
Unfortunately, such fees are so profitable for the companies that levy them that when one gets banned another often pops up, whack-a-mole style. So you still need to shop smart and fight back strategically.
Here’s what consumer experts suggest.
Know your rights.
Federal law generally forbids deceptive advertising. And starting in May 2025, the federal government has specifically required two industries to provide total costs for purchases up front: event-ticket brokers and short-term lodging providers and platforms. Six states also have junk-fee bans and requirements for total up-front pricing.
But that leaves many loopholes. So consumers need to read ads, bills and contract terms carefully to catch common junk-fee strategies, such as advertising a low base price and then springing fees on you just as you’re about to pay, or dripping them in piecemeal through the shopping process.
Red flags include prices advertised with asterisks or terms such as “starting at” or “as low as.”
“Surprise fees, by definition, are a surprise,” notes Neale Mahoney, a Stanford economist and coauthor of the annoyance economy report.
Cancel strategically.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
More gotchas: automated subscription charges that begin after a free trial period ends and auto renewals. Both practices are allowable by law, as long as the company has notified you about them.
To reduce the subscription creep that can result, Pijus Bulvinas, a Houston-based certified financial planner, suggests you set up an alert on your phone whenever you sign up for a free trial to remind yourself to cancel three days before a charge is scheduled. He also recommends looking through your monthly bank and credit card statements to identify recurring charges for services you may no longer use.
Don’t want to spend time canceling those services? For a fee, some budgeting apps and bill-negotiation services will do it for you, such as Rocket Money ($7 to $14 a month for premium) and Experian’s Bill Fixer ($24.99 a month).
Shop around in advance.
Another tactic companies employ to slip additional fees by you is to use up your time so that you’re in a rush when you finally settle the bill, hoping you either won’t notice the extra charges or will eat the cost just to get on your way.
John W. Van Alst, a senior attorney for the National Consumer Law Center, notes that some car dealers, for example, use a strategy called de-horse the consumer. “They say, ‘We’ve got to send your trade-in back to the mechanic,’ then they keep it there for three to four hours” to prevent you from driving to another dealership to compare prices.
The antidote is researching ahead of time by, say, calling several dealerships to get all-in prices for your preferred model. Car buyers can also save thousands by lining up financing at their bank and exploring options with their insurance company rather than relying on a car dealer for the entire package.
Fight back.
You’re most likely to successfully challenge an add-on charge and get a refund if the fee appears to violate recent bans or deceptive-advertising laws. If that’s the case, filing complaints with your state attorney general and the FTC could bring prosecutors to your aid.
If the fee isn’t illegal but seems unfair, Weinstock suggests telling the provider you “are disappointed with the company for not being transparent and you won’t use their services again.” If that doesn’t net you a refund, try disputing the charge on your credit card.
You can also post on review or social media sites. Because junk fees are so unpopular, such public pressure may enable you to turn caveat emptor (Latin for “buyer beware”) into caveat junk-tor: Junk-fee chargers beware!
Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.