As RCR’s online editor, I am starting a weekly column at RCRNews.com. It’s called Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us to rant about whatever rubs us the wrong way. And without further ado:
Amp’d Mobile Inc. introduced its new prepaid service. That’s all well and great, but they also introduced a wonderfully sneaky 25-percent “surcharge” on their data features. The information about this surcharge is so well hidden in the fine print on the carrier’s Web site that our intrepid reporter Kelly Hill should get a medal or something for even finding it.
So now, thanks to the “content surcharge,” instead of paying 10 cents to send a text message you actually have to pay 12.5 cents. Or $1.24 for a “99 cent” music download. Moconews tells me that the 25-percent surcharge is for taxes and stuff, the same as for a postpaid account, but then why not just add the “surcharge” into the “regular charge?”
Amp’d Mobile isn’t the first company to hide extra charges in the fine print. In fact, hidden fees, surcharges and other billing anomalies have become a fundamental part of the wireless industry. The real thing about the “content surcharge” from Amp’d is that it’s another example of a wireless service that’s simply too expensive.
Let me explain: Amp’d is one of billions of companies that want to make money off the “young, urban, hip and loaded” crowd. As far as I can understand it, this demographic consists of 25-year-old white men who have all the free time in the world and a closet full of untraceable $100 bills. They are the tanned, thin people you see in those annoying Old Navy TV commercials.
Unfortunately, I am not part of this market, nor is anyone I know. I’m actually part of the “El Cheapo Bandito” demographic, the part of the market that would never sign up for a service with a “content surcharge.”
The El Cheapo Bandito demographic is easy to spot. We’ve got crappy cars, we like Coors Light because it’s the cheapest beer at the store, and our haircuts are suspect at best because our spouse usually cuts our hair while we sit on a folding chair out in the yard.
In wireless, the El Cheapo Bandito demographic does not pay $10 a month for mobile TV (mobile TV=2 six packs). We don’t download $7 games (1 game=1.5 six packs). We would never actually send someone a picture message (20 picture messages=1 six pack).
In wireless, we’re almost totally ignored, except by a select few. So that’s my call to the industry: Enough with the “fast, fresh and on the edge”content surcharges, and forget the $10 per month mobile TV service. You all should put your big marketing brains together and figure out a way to save me some money.
