There’s an important lesson we relearn over and over again:

Companies don’t give you free stuff because they want to be nice.

It’s always a tactic.

ALWAYS.

Maybe you get a BOGO coupon that makes you try a new pizza place and it ends up being your go-to.

Or maybe something way more insane happens, like it did to TikTok user @taraconlin

The shot pans through the garage of an oil change place with a Kardashian quote sound playing:

“I am feeling like I want to die. And that this is complete torture. And I don’t know what I did to somebody to make me sit here and do this.”

On screen, the caption reads:

“POV: you go to get an oil change because you had a cute $20 off coupon and next think you know your car is overdue for everything and you’re $400 in the hole”

We pan to a screen in the shop with an invoice readout:

“Radiator Fluid Replacement – $116.99
Automatic Transmission Fluid Replacement – $206.99
Conventional Oil Change – $36.99
Hazardous Waste Fee – $2.99

Subtotal – $363.96
Tax – $31.08”

Yikes!

Some people say she clearly fell for a trick, though some disagree:

On the one hand, this is an ENORMOUS upsell, but on the other, you do have to do this stuff eventually:

You can probably do it cheaper though:

Here’s some practical advice:

Just remember, they’re never being nice.

If you liked that story, check out this one about a 72-year-old woman was told by her life insurance company that her policy was worthless because she’d paid for 40 years.