Not long ago, I left a parking garage after a one-night hotel stay. They charged $30 for the twelve hours I was parked there, because they knew I had virtually no other choice. As great as my hotel stay may have been, I left with an awful taste in my mouth about that experience, and about that company.

Yesterday I looked at my merchant account statement and found a $20 "customer service fee". Why am I charged for customer service when all they do is bill me every month and we never talk?

I call fees like this a "gotcha" fee. Big companies think they are so smart selling you something at a fixed price, then tacking on additional fees after you have no other choice. Yet they forget how angry it makes the customer.

How about mobile phone companies? Have you ever gone 10 minutes over your plan for the month? Or used data service by accident while out of the country? Instead of upgrading your plan for the given month at the normal rate, they charge an outrageous fee just because they can.

Airlines are the worst about gotcha fees, and it is one of the main reasons no one likes companies in the airline business. $2 for headphones, $5 for a coke, $10 to watch a movie, and $15 per bag to check luggage. Southwest is the only airline smart enough to focus their marketing on AVOIDING gotchas. And for that reason, I will be flying Southwest twice in the next month.

If a company needs to charge more, then charge more. Just don't make the customer feel like they have been tricked. Offer a fixed price, and stick to it.

One instance of a gotcha on the web is inflated shipping costs, which quickly result in more abandoned shopping carts. Customers are too smart for gotchas! In a time when everyone is watching their budget, don’t make the mistake of losing a sale or losing a customer all together for the sake of a few extra dollars.