A while back I was thinking of joining a new gym because I moved. They wanted to charge me a processing fee. I ask them what the fee was for and the only answer I received was they charge it to all new members. Walked right out the door. If you can't give me a legitimate reason to customer for a fee then you shouldn't be charging the fee. It's purely a money making scheme and should be illegal.
The number of places that have made up fees is large. A gym is a great example. The 24hr fitness, processing fee, enrollment fee, charging first and last month. What if you never quit, where does the last month go?
These are all minor things and not much money per person, but spread across thousands of clients, companies make a little bit.
If everyone refused to pay bs fees, companies would stop charging.