What is the WORST "value" you ever paid for?

[MJ DeMarco]

In the spirit of the lengthy sister post of WHAT IS THE BEST VALUE...

NOTABLE! - What is the BEST "value" you ever paid for?

WHAT IS SOME OF THE WORST VALUE YOU EVER PAID FOR?

I'll start...

A couple of weeks ago I went to Picazzo's, a specialty pizza joint...

http://www.picazzos.com/

Ordered a couple of specialty pizzas.

Ordered no alcohol. No appetizers.

The bill, with tip, was close to $100.

For freaking pizza.

And it was just OK.

This is not to impugn their food-- it's usually really good.

But $100 for pizza is a reach.

Afterward I was like, "Woah, what just happened?" LOL.

 

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[Kennypaul]

My PlayStation 2.
Back then,I thought it was one of the most "valuable" things to own.
Turned out to be one of the biggest liabilities I ever paid for in my life!.

When I look back,I still ask myself "What the hell was I doing with my time"?

 

[JAJT]

Almost any children's toy these days.

Seriously - I almost started a toy company because of this.

The BIGGEST disappointment I have felt with a product I've purchased is children's toys. They break the SECOND you try to use them. Some don't work out of the box. Especially electronic toys. It's unconscionable.

Birthdays and random occasions aren't too bad because I can often return those things and exchange for better things, but Christmas is brutal. "Why did Santa give us a toy that breaks?" is a heartbreaking question to answer on what should be one of the happiest days of the year for my kids.

What blows my mind is this is the case at ALL price points. Spending more doesn't seem to get you better quality at all. It's infuriating.

Toys these days are 99% marketing, flashing lights, high expectations, commercials and 1% build "quality".

Honestly, I'm worked up just thinking about this.

I don't know if there's even a market for improved toys but honestly if I was seeing facebook ads for toys that didn't suck I'd be clicking every single damn one of them come Christmas time.

 

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[Fox]

Two years ago I was trying to arrange for a paid shout out on Instagram to promote an app I had.
I contacted some big pages with 500k - 1 million followers. I also contacted some smaller ones.
I was new to IG shout outs so in my message I said to email me (not DM me back) if they wanted to work with me.

I got one email which appeared to be from the biggest page that had insane engagement. I couldn't believe it. We worked out a deal for 500 dollars and I was counting up all the money I would instantly make back. But...

Turns out it was the smallest page I had contacted since there was a one letter different in their usernames lol. I paid $500 to promote one post (for two hours!!!) on a page with maybe 20 likes per pic haha. I was actually impressed they had the balls to ask for that much. 500 isn't a lot now but at the time this was like half my marketing budget. I was so pissed but completely my own fault.

I think that is my biggest waste of money ever. $500 for 2hours, 12 likes, and no sales.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Best Western in Fredericksberg, TX

I'll never forget my experience there. It's much worse than the 2 star review I left them on Trip Advisor describes -- which you can read here. Or just scroll down. It's one of the only reviews I've left in my entire life that wasn't positive.

Poor management. Old building. Stay at Comfort Inn across the street.

We arrived at 9ish in the morning in Fredericksburg after several hours of driving. We were just passing through to San Antonio for a doctor's visit. We ate a good breakfast and dropped by the hotel on the off chance they might have a room open that early.

No cars in the lot on arrival. Whole place looks empty. Went inside and asked about earlycheck in. Manager looks at me like I'm an idiot and says they were busy last night. She didn't bother checking the computer. I asked if we could check back in a few hours around noon. She says check in is at 3. So come back after 3.

Note: it wasn't what she said that bothered me. It was how the whole situation was approached and how it was said.

So my wife and I, both military members, decided to explore the town since it was Veteran's day and we had a while. We walked the main strip of the town and spent hours killing time until we were finally pretty tired at 2. Now we returned to the hotel hoping something might be ready by now...

Same manager. Same response. Same attitude. Tells us to go find something to do because there's lots of stuff to do in this town. So I double tapped the question because it seemed unlikely they would have 0 rooms by 2 pm. Again she didn't bother checking the computer. Just blew us off.

So now we waited in our car outside the hotel until 3. This time I wore a body cam inside to make sure I document our stay for Trip Advisor. Now it was someone different at the desk and he was much more friendly and helpful. I was able to finally check in and got our room keys.

We went to the second floor with our bags. The first thing we notice is how hot the hallway and elevator are. Then we discover our keys don't work. I try both several times, then ask the desk clerk about it. Instead of taking my word he tries the keys on the side door which is supposed to be locked but isn't so it doesn't work. Then he goes to our room and tries and they don't work so finally he reactivates them.

I took video of most of this and I'll upload when I get back home. Also filmed the parking lot multiple times throughout the stay and there was never more than 2 or 3 cars total.

The room itself was very dated. Old green carpet and old appliances. I also filmed a nasty stain on our bedding.

In the morning we tried to leave around 4 am. The night clerk said he couldn't check us out for another 20 minutes because he hadn't done the night audit yet. He was friendly but didn't seem to know how to handle the situation. Finally he suggested he can finish the process without us and send a receipt to our email. I accepted and we left.

Overall we were not impressed with the service or the hotel. Friendliness goes a long way but management couldn't even manage that. Plus the hotel needs a major overhaul.

When we come through Fredericksburg again we'll stay somewhere else like the Comfort Inn across the street or LaQuinta down the road. Both cost less and had better service. If I were you I would truly deeply consider your options because Fredericksburg has plenty of other places that are happy to go over the top to earn your business.

Also, 5 minutes after we left I hit a deer in our rental. Would I have hit that deer if the clerk hadn't delayed us? Who knows. But I did hit it and it's associated with the memory forever.

From time to time TripAdvisor brightens my day by sending an email that tells me how many people my review reached. That makes me smile a little.

 

[Sagemoney]

The Cartier glasses in my profile picture lol

It's sort of a "tradition" in Detroit that once you've "made it" you go and buy yourself some 2000 dollar Cartier glasses, so you can stunt on those less fortunate and have women falling at your feet or something like that.

As it turns out the fad has become so ubiquitous that people are using their tax refunds, rent money etc to buy them and they're literally everywhere now. Instead of becoming unique you become carbon copy.

I sold them 3 weeks later for 500 bucks. Lesson learned.

 

[Maxboost]

True Religion Jeans...paid 250-300$ a pair...yup I was a sucker moving with the herd...total waste of money.

 

[JAJT]

-Any meal I've spent over $150 on. Literally never worth it.

Food is never worth the price tag if you look at it like food.
If you turn the food into an experience though - it's worth far more.

I took my wife to the fanciest place in town for our 5 year anniversary.
Cost $500+ for two adults.
It consisted of a 12 course meal with wine pairings served by a sommelier who expertly explained every meal and wine choice, located in a beautiful restaurant with very limited seating overlooking the water and city. It was a VERY "white glove" experience.
We got dressed up nice and made food the central part of a large experience.

The experience was priceless and one of our favorite memories together. While $500 was expensive and more than I wanted to pay at the time, if you asked me what I'd pay to keep that memory I'd say it wasn't for sale at any price.

Compare that to walking into a restaurant indifferently, seeing a $500 Wagyu steak and giving it a try, hoping the food is worth the price - you will never win that bet. The food will never be worth it without a strong experience to tie it to.

 

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[socaldude]

I went to Las Vegas a few months ago and stayed at the MGM grand, the food court had a burger joint where I paid $120 for hamburgers for four people. WTF? It wasn't even that good.

Oh, and I lost about $3k gambling at their other syndicate resorts. Horrible slots and table games. But then again their games do have a negative EV, so I can only blame myself.

My college degree was a waste of money. Spent $50k to learn finance and outdated business ideas stuck in the 80s. Dumb. Should of just learned how to trade options.

 

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[Argue]

Ha, damn this thread gives me bad memories.

A few months back, my normal barber who I've been going to for years, went on vacation.

So I had no choice and got my haircut at a different barbershop. Damn, this barber did a horrible job cutting my hair and gave me the Lebron hairline. It was bad. My girl couldn't stop laughing.

My self-esteem tanked faster then bitcoin.

 

[Mr.Brandtastic]

All the various get rich quick schemes over the years. From sports betting, to binary options, to Forex trading, making low-effort website, yea, the list goes on.

 

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[csalvato]

I paid about $2k for Ramit Sethi’s Dream Job course a few years ago before reading TMF . It just told you how to search the internet for slow lane jobs and go after one. The worst part is I procrastinated and didn’t take advantage of the money back guarantee. It didn’t hurt me financially, but the memory still hurts.

I paid for a Remit course about 5 years ago. His "Earn 1K" Course. I have regretted it ever since, and felt too guilty to ask for a refund. Felt completely valueless.

 

[G-Man]

Internal Auditing classes. Several hundred dollars plus a huge time investment, for the "payoff" of doing work I hate for only nominally more money, all because I listened to some HR bimbo prattle on about how "adding credentials like this are good for your career".

I would have been better off spending that time and money in a casino. No exaggeration. I would still have wasted time and money, but I would have been a lot less stressed.

While I'm ranting, "career" is a word invented to delude you into forgetting you just have a job. Somewhere, there's a poor 22 year old that thinks spending the next 10 years in SOX compliance will make him happier, and the world a better place. All because we let teachers and HR people, who collectively represent nature's C students, make up words like "career"

/rant over

 

[Chx]

I once bought a $13 ticket to the Emoji Movie.

The main character is named "Gene Meh".

A prime example of negative value, if you'd ask me. I figuratively had to rinse my eyes out for a few hours afterward.

 

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[Guest92dX]

Man, I'm still laughing at the $100 pizza, but I'm even moreso laughing at that fact that it wasn't a sweat to buy $100 pizza for MJ DeMarco.

The worst value for me ever was paying $25 for a doctor's visit plus insurnace down with $7 spent on ibprofen.

It nearly killed me. I had an easily diagnosable condition that a doctor didn't care to evaluate. He thought I was overreacting.

One collapsed lung and another half collapsed lung later with a possible movement that could have exploded my heart, I received $500 of the best value ever.

It nearly killed me in the process.

I am better now, but it is the first thing doctors check.

Be careful with international flights. Blood clots happen easily.

Seriously, fly first class in sleep pods if possible so you don't have to thank me for telling you.

If you can't fly first class then definitely and most definitely get up and walk around. You need to accept the jet lag so you don't get serious clots that will have you taking blood thinners (aka first gen rat poison) for years.

I'm not on the thinners anymore, but good healthcare is hard to get.

Also, your mileage may vary as I blood condition that is susceptible to high altitude.

 

[akTwelve]

I paid about $2k for Ramit Sethi’s Dream Job course a few years ago before reading TMF . It just told you how to search the internet for slow lane jobs and go after one. The worst part is I procrastinated and didn’t take advantage of the money back guarantee. It didn’t hurt me financially, but the memory still hurts.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Me: "Ok, NYT Best-Selling author, and Costco is selling it! It has to be good!"

Got to be the worst book I ever read.

And it wasn't the 7 bucks, it was the 7 hours that I spent discovering it was the worst book I ever read.

Looking to read something where absolutely nothing really happens? No suspense? No thrills? No real pressing mystery that anyone gives as shit about? This is your book.

 

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[GSF]

In the spirit of the lengthy sister post of WHAT IS THE BEST VALUE...

NOTABLE! - What is the BEST "value" you ever paid for?

WHAT IS SOME OF THE WORST VALUE YOU EVER PAID FOR?

I'll start...

A couple of weeks ago I went to Picazzo's, a specialty pizza joint...

http://www.picazzos.com/

Ordered a couple of specialty pizzas.

Ordered no alcohol. No appetizers.

The bill, with tip, was close to $100.

For freaking pizza.

And it was just OK.

This is not to impugn their food-- it's usually really good.

But $100 for pizza is a reach.

Afterward I was like, "Woah, what just happened?" LOL.

Where do I start ...lol;
Food poisoning from our hotel resorts restaurant on day 1 of our holiday, spent half the holiday sick lol.

Many overhyped boxing fights I got sucked into paying for that didn't live up to the hype,

a few second hand vehicles which weren't as advertised with hidden faults. (Should have checked them over better before buying)

Years ago A diamond necklace of the Internet I bought for a girlfriends birthday that used a nice description and stock photo of a shiny white diamond and when it arrived had a huge black flaw through the middle and its colour was yellow, horrible non existent customer service (lesson learned stick to certified diamonds from known certifiers and if it's cheap its probably cheap for a reason lol)

 

[MidwestLandlord]

Tech Support

I was forced to buy tech support for my point of sale systems at my last business. $1,500 per year per location.

The only techs in my area that were capable of working on them refused to do work for me if I didn't have the tech support, and the POS brand would not sell parts to me if I did not buy it.

Nobody could speak English.
LONG wait times.
Their only solution was to restart it or dispatch a tech.
Often had LONG downtime's due to their incompetence.
They password protected my system with a daily changing password that I was not privy to. (couldn't even restart it without the password)
They couldn't bill me for their own service correctly.
It cost more if I did not pre-pay an entire year in advance.

Horrible service from a terrible company that built a shit POS to begin with. But, they dominate the market anyway...

 

[JAJT]

Oh I have another - my GS1 account.

It costs me $565 per year in Canada for this "privilege" and all they do is give me official account/product numbers so that anyone can look them up to make sure my barcodes are legit.

Things they hilariously don't do:

- Generate the numbers for you (they have a tool that lets you generate them one at a time, after you enter certain information into it, and they give you the math needed to figure it out yourself, but they don't give you any kind of tool to generate all the codes you are entitled to - if you do it in excel you need to figure out the convoluted formula yourself)
- Generate the barcode images for you (they give some links to software and services that either don't work, or cost even more money).
- Tell you ANYTHING about what you should use for what applications (you have a physical product and want to know what images to produce to put on your box? Good luck. With that.) .
- Offer any real help of any kind, whatsoever. Their staff are clueless.

I posted a large write-up on this on the inside in my progress thread because of how annoying the whole process was. The fact that it's one of the most expensive services I pay for in the year is infuriating.

Many larger businesses won't look at you if your barcodes don't match GS1 registration information and all the cheap sites are just re-selling expired numbers that match up to random companies/products in the database so there really is no other options here. I've heard even Amazon is starting to look at this seriously (don't quote me on that - I recall reading about it in my research but don't recall exactly the details).

 

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[Dark Knight]

case for iphone 7 dolce & gabbana for 100 $ ... After a week of use, I did not like it anymore

 

[JAJT]

What about Ramit books though? Are they worth it or also a waste of money?

No word of a lie, I believe EVERY high school graduate should be handed a copy of "I Will Teach You To Be Rich".

The book is PURE gold for that age group (or adults who 'never learned') and fills in a LOT of gaps that formal education conveniently leaves out.

I saved literally thousands buying my first new car using his email/fax strategy directly lifted from that book.
I would also say that his book was the foundation for many of my current-day thoughts on money/debt in many different ways. Some of his strategies helped me get out of DEBT very, very fast when I got into some trouble when I was a young adult.

Regarding his courses - I never paid for them because I understood what they were (because he told everyone up front): psychological accountability. You value the things you pay for and tend to follow through on those things better than free information. I believe he even said many multiple times that he charges an arm and a leg for even some "simple" things because the people who pay that will tend to follow through better and have a higher chance to succeed.

Ramit is FANTASTIC with numbers and psychology. Honestly I've loved just about every blog post the guy writes. You can learn a TON by watching what he does. I'm kind of surprised he doesn't have a $20k mastermind (maybe he does now?) because he could easily fill the seats with his copy and funnels.

The issue with Ramit is he is not an appropriate source of information for learned entrepreneurs. His target market seems to be lost souls with no financial background, little discipline, who want to get their shit together and maybe make a few bucks on the side. I'd say he probably does that excellently.

Nobody on this forum should pay for his courses at this point. I'd say his book is really worth it but likely not for an adult who has their shit together.

 

[BrooklynHustle]

I don't know about a $100 mixtape.

Call me cheap, but I'm not paying $100 for an official album.

To be fair, Nippsey hustle is a decent rapper. He's decent. Being a successful rapper is harder than ever now. Maybe a $100 mixtape is appropriate.

I could see paying $100 for a mixtape or official album with the concept story of the music and including how you built the album with like music selection etc.

Point is he didn't need you to.

He only needed 1000 of his biggest fans to give him $100... turns out they were willing to do that.

Bigger than that was to get people talking because the project was different than the norm.

Is this the be all and end all to marketing... of course not.

But worth thinking about how to make your products, services, and even your markting campaigns worth being talked about.

 

[Rachel888]

Paid hundreds of $$ summer after summer to fix the A/C in my car. Not only was it a waste of money but caused me unnecessary frustration/anger.

Last March I finally bought a new (used) car 2015 Honda Civic, paid for in cash! Best money spent ever!

 

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[Youngrahn]

Mine is not just one specific product or an experience.

I'll say 'All the skin care products I had purchased and used until last summer, 2017'

When I was in my 20s, I spent a lot of my time at tanning shops in Korea and
at the beaches in Hawaii. It was one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I damaged my skin so bad that my skin became extremely dry and itchy and I had to cover my enlarged pores every time I put on make-up.

Ever since then, I spent at least 7,000 dollars on multiple excruciating laser treatments to reduce the size of my pores and probably more money on expensive skin products.

When I visited my family back home in Korea last summer, I desperately looked for another 'the best dermatologist in the country' online again. While I was searching for more information on 'how to minimize pores' I accidentally ended up on a blog and I found out this blogger was an entrepreneur who owns a very small skin care shop in Seoul

After almost 2 hours of subway ride, I found this place and got to meet with this blogger.

According to her, you CAN minimize your pores, but you CAN NEVER do it with a couple of laser treatments and expensive products over night


because,

#1. Laser treatments initially damage your skin and eventually weaken it and cause it to become more sensitive and to break out.

(So, I stopped spending money on laser treatments)

#2. A lot of these fancy skin products (especially what major skin care companies produce) contain Sulfate, PEG, Parabens and other ingredients that make your skin lose its control in the long run.

(So, I started buying new skin products such as Witch hazel rose petal toner from Thayers, moisturizers from Physiogel, beauty soap from Dove, and other Ph balancing cleansers from Eucerin and some Korean cosmetic brands. And I learned that products that smell good, lather well, and cleanse perfectly had actually destroyed my skin barrier which keeps its natural moisture)

#3. Unless you get rid of what's in your pores physically, you can Never ever make them smaller by trying to do the same chemically. Well, it may seem like it works but only for a short period time.
Actually I had only been relying on treatments and products that constantly treating (and damaging) the outermost layer of my skin but never even realized I should focus on getting rid of what's in them first until then.

(So, I started getting rid of these nasty blackheads with a remover every other day after shower, then applied my rose water toner 7 times every 30 seconds followed by moisturizer.
Oh yes, It's very time-consuming but totally worth it.)


She charged me only 200,000 won (almost 200 dollars) for her service that lasted a few months while I stayed in Korea and I voluntarily spent another 200 on the products she had displayed on the shelves that she never tried to sell to me.
I must have been really tired of those doctors who had always tried to give me a lecture about their newest technology and their expensive equipments. I didn't mind giving her more money at all at that time

I followed her advice and now I never look for another best dermatologist or buy any skin products without checking their ingredients.
Also, I am happy with how my skin looks and feels

Phew! That was a long story! But I guess it is a happy ending
Thank you for reading!

 

[csalvato]

Me: "Ok, NYT Best-Selling author, and Costco is selling it! It has to be good!"

Got to be the worst book I ever read.

And it wasn't the 7 bucks, it was the 7 hours that I spent discovering it was the worst book I ever read.

Looking to read something where absolutely nothing really happens? No suspense? No thrills? No real pressing mystery that anyone gives as sh*t about? This is your book.


View attachment 19093

lol i usually stop reading books like that halfway through. If it's fiction, it's got to grip me like a motherfcker.

 

[SouthernCharm]

I used to sign up for ticket presales for big names at major venues and then resell them for a profit once the general sales cycle began. The artists that appealed to older generations tended to go for a large premium. They couldn't be bothered to figure out Ticketmaster's frustrating presale process (or weren't capable) and didn't have the schedule flexibility and patience to sit, glued to their computers, at the appointed hour for the sale to begin. After time I became pretty decent at picking the concerts and venues that provided sizable returns. That is, until it came back to kick me in the a$$.

I got presale access to an operatic singer at a major city which had historically sold very well. The trick with opera singers is getting the right seat location - even 10 rows difference in a standard section can have a substantial change in seat market value. When the sale started, I was presented row B seats in a section very close to the stage. I was pumped! I just knew those seats would turn to gold so I took a gamble and bought eight tickets for over $4k (this was a lot of coin for me at the time). But I was confident that the investment would pay off handsomely.

Then when the time came to put the tickets back up for sale, the site showed me a snapshot of where the seats would be located relative to the stage. At first, I thought "whoa! must be something wrong here", but as I looked closer, this venue rows actually started out with double letters (AA, BB, CC, etc). So instead of being right in front of the stage, my row B seats ended up being around 20 rows back and almost behind the stage. This translated to terrible acoustics. Instead of going for a premium, these seats usually sold at a discount for normal concerts. For an operatic vocalist, the location was basically the pits. After all the purchase and resale fees, I ended up losing over $2k. I was devastated. It was a dumb mistake on my part, but it also helped me take a step back and realize I was spending a tremendous amount of time/effort for relatively inconsequential returns overall. Terrible investment of time and money.

 

[ironman150]

prescription glasses for a few hundred bucks...all i use now are the $2 cheaters i get a walmart.

 

[Xeon]

Guru ebooks and "systems" for sure. What a f***ing waste of money lol. Learnt absolutely nothing from them.

 

[NuclearPuma]

I found his Earn 1k Course immensely valuable, but that was before finding a lot of other material I know now about. Every other course I bought I had to ask for a refund until I finally realized he was a great copywriter that was selling super basic products and unsubscribed from his list.

I read a lot of Ramit's free stuff and kept hearing him keep talking about his "secrets" in his paid courses. And one day I was reading, or maybe it was an audiobook, and had the epiphany all his secrets can be found in books and $100 in books would probabaly be better than $1,000 in online classes. And it's also nuts because he charges way more than university tuition for some stuff.

Ramit sells $100 bills for $50. At least he presents and markets it that way. But you could buy the $100 for only $.05 if you know where to look.

 

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