Price Hikes

Old Wang, an ordinary programmer, looked forward to going home for the Spring Festival more than anything else all year. Knowing how difficult it was to snag a ticket, he opened a well-known third-party ticket booking platform early. The page was full of flashy colors, with various "Speed ​​Ticket Snatching," "Exclusive Channels," and "VIP Acceleration Packs" dazzling his eyes.

"Here we go again with this," Old Wang muttered to himself, but his hand still obediently clicked on "Normal Booking." The page refreshed, showing that there were plenty of tickets available, but the price was fifty yuan more expensive than on the official 12306 website.

"What's going on?" Old Wang frowned, clicking on "Details." It turned out that these fifty yuan were for an "Assured Travel Insurance" fee, which was automatically checked, and the unsubscribe button was as small as a mosquito's leg. Helpless, Old Wang canceled the insurance and clicked "Book" again.

Another page popped up, prompting, "The tickets for this train are in short supply, it is recommended to purchase an acceleration pack to increase the success rate of grabbing a ticket." The acceleration packs were divided into three levels: "Normal Acceleration," "Extreme Acceleration," and "Light Speed Acceleration," with prices increasing geometrically.

Old Wang looked at the tempting words "100% Ticket Snatching Success" and felt a little swayed. But recalling his programmer's pride, he gritted his teeth and decided on "Normal Booking" anyway.

The page refreshed again, and this time it was even more outrageous, directly displaying "Current tickets are insufficient, the system is intelligently matching the best option for you," and then a bunch of additional options popped up: hotel coupons, airport bus transfers, and even a "Spring Festival Home Warm Gift Pack."

Old Wang, unable to take it anymore, directly closed the page and searched again. This time, he carefully avoided all the price-increase options, and finally, the page displayed "Booking Successful." He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had finally finished.

As a result, when it came to payment, a "VIP Member Exclusive Price" popped up again. Old Wang was puzzled, when did he become a VIP? After a closer look, it turned out to be "Activate VIP membership and enjoy ticket purchase discounts all year round." It was automatically checked again, and the unsubscribe button was still hard to find.

Old Wang took a deep breath, preparing to unsubscribe again. This time, he found that the unsubscribe button had disappeared! Instead, a blinking "Confirm Payment" button appeared, with "Only 3 Minutes Left!" written next to it.

Old Wang felt like a fly caught in a spider web. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't escape this invisible net. He sighed and clicked to pay.

With a "ding," the payment was successful. Old Wang finally breathed a sigh of relief and clicked on the order details. The ticket information was normal, but the price was almost two hundred yuan more expensive than what he had initially seen.

Old Wang rubbed his temples, preparing to contact customer service to get an explanation. The customer service was a sweet female voice, but her attitude was very mechanical: "Hello, all the price-increase items on our platform are voluntary choices, and you should carefully read the relevant terms before payment."

Old Wang wanted to explain that he did not choose those items at all, but the other party directly threw him a bunch of terms links and then said, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Old Wang looked at the dense pile of terms on the screen and suddenly felt very tired. He decided to give up and not argue with them.

That night, he opened the official 12306 website, planning to see if he could refund his ticket. As a result, he found that there were still plenty of tickets left for the train he had booked! And the price was more than a hundred yuan cheaper than what was shown on the third-party platform.

Old Wang felt a wave of nausea.

Just then, he received a text message: "Dear user, congratulations on successfully contributing XX yuan in profit to our platform during this Spring Festival ticket snatching event. You have won the 'Annual Best Sucker' title awarded by our platform! Click the link to claim your exclusive honorary badge."

Old Wang looked at the text message, both amused and annoyed. He clicked on the link, and a shiny badge appeared on the screen, with "Annual Best Sucker" written on it. Below the badge, there was a line of small text: "Thank you for your support. We will continue to provide you with 'enhanced' services for your travels."

Old Wang threw his phone aside, looking at the gradually darkening night sky outside the window. He suddenly felt that perhaps, he was the biggest joke in this absurd farce.