Bill Statement Fee, WTH???

[elelle]

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.

[mks57]

Because they can. My telephone and cable TV bills are full of itemized charges that should be considered part of the cost of doing business. Automobile dealers also do this.

[kanicbird]

Originally Posted by elelle

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.

Touch tone fees, and many telco fees were/are state mandated. It is something negotiated between the telco's and the state's agency, usually the PSC at the start of the service, which normally sets the rates at the beginning of these service options, when the cost is the greatest, and government agencies being what they are are rare to change the rules.

As for AT&T's 'billing statement fee', Ive heard a lot of crap about AT&T fees over the years, and I recommend that you switch ASAP.

[Crescend]

In the words of Howard Tayler, there are customers that you serve, and there are customers that you service.

[Don26]

Originally Posted by mks57

Because they can.

Anytime you are dealing with anyone with anykind of power, those three words are usually the best bet...

[lissener]

[Ernestine]We don't care! We don't have to: we're the phone company![/Ernestine]

[elelle]

OK, Because they can. I was hoping that someone in the biz could give a reasonable explaination of why it's justified. If it's just not, why do we put up with this, and is there an agency to go to for complaint? Or, an easy loophole of "Yeah, just go here and say, uh-uh, nix to that option of billing."

Someone thought this all out, right?...

[Joey P]

See if you can switch to online/email billing. The fee may be for a paper bill.

[Richard Pearse]

Isn't it a moot point? So they decide to do away with the bill statement fee, but hey, what do you know? Their monthly line rental fee just went up by $3.00. They've decided that they need/want to make a certain amount off each customer per billing period, what they end up calling it is irrelevant IMO.

[mks57]

Originally Posted by 1920s Style "Death Ray"

Isn't it a moot point? So they decide to do away with the bill statement fee, but hey, what do you know? Their monthly line rental fee just went up by $3.00. They've decided that they need/want to make a certain amount off each customer per billing period, what they end up calling it is irrelevant IMO.

No, it's deceptive advertising. It lets them advertise a low price, and then they jack the price up with miscellaneous taxes and charges.

[CMiller]

Perhaps the fee is referring to 'detailed billing' where you receive a list of who you called, when, for how long, etc... ISTR we had this on our old Verizon line and it was a simple phone call to get it removed. After that the bill was simply 'You owe $XX.XX'

[ParentalAdvisory]

Originally Posted by T-Mobile's Heist

Regulatory Programs Fee* 0.86 (cents)


*Fee we collect and retain to help cover our costs related to funding and complying with
government mandates, programs and obligations.

This shouldn't be my problem. It's probably something they duduct on their taxes anyway, and they want to charge me for it. How about take it out of the $49.99 plan I pay already? Where you're likely making 90% profit to begin with...