elelle
12-26-2006, 05:47 PM
I'm in the process of re-evaluating my phone/internet connection conglomeration, and honing it all down to a better deal. I've got a landline (local and long distance), cellphone that I usually use for long-distance calls, and the phone line for Dial-up internet connection (zzzz... out in the country, no fast service yet). Trying to figure out the updated services since I last looked.
In the course of this, I looked at the phone bill breakdown of charges, and on the ATT statement there is a $3 charge for "Bill Statement Fee". What's that? It seems that billing is a normal course of business, why do I pay them extra to bill me? Seems like the billing process would be easier than ever with modern machines. "OK" my thinking then went, "Maybe they want you to pay paperless, saves time and effort."
I get that, but they've never made a grand ad campaign insert encouraging customers to do that, at least in my phone bill. They do have an 888 number to call for an explaination, and I will, but wanted to ask here first for an overall impression of this practice.
I asked at work, and the office manager said that there were lots of billing charges like that, and, yep, she thought it was a scam, too.
Can anyone explain why you should be charged extra for a company to bill you? Three dollars, multiplied by millions, is a hefty chunk of cash, so I suppose it is an easy way to get it, but what a ruse!
I used to be equally amazed that BellSouth could charge a "Touch Tone phone fee" of $1.00, for a long good while after that technology was commonplace.
In the course of this, I looked at the phone bill breakdown of charges, and on the ATT statement there is a $3 charge for "Bill Statement Fee". What's that? It seems that billing is a normal course of business, why do I pay them extra to bill me? Seems like the billing process would be easier than ever with modern machines. "OK" my thinking then went, "Maybe they want you to pay paperless, saves time and effort."
I get that, but they've never made a grand ad campaign insert encouraging customers to do that, at least in my phone bill. They do have an 888 number to call for an explaination, and I will, but wanted to ask here first for an overall impression of this practice.
I asked at work, and the office manager said that there were lots of billing charges like that, and, yep, she thought it was a scam, too.
Can anyone explain why you should be charged extra for a company to bill you? Three dollars, multiplied by millions, is a hefty chunk of cash, so I suppose it is an easy way to get it, but what a ruse!
I used to be equally amazed that BellSouth could charge a "Touch Tone phone fee" of $1.00, for a long good while after that technology was commonplace.