perfimage
join:2005-12-13
Warren, MI
| reply to rody_44
Re: Pay to Pay?!?!?!
Attached is a scan of the notice attached to my receipt from paying my bill today. |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
1 edit | What about poor people who don't have checking accounts? I know the obvious is they shouldn't be buying cable tv if they can't afford it. But every time I've been to the payment center to exchange a box, there are people in front of me paying with cash.
It seems like this policy hurts them the most. |
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58483323
Gurt me
join:2003-06-23
Normal, IL | I don't understand this... what else is a payment center for? Whenever I've been in the office, all I see is people paying their bills and that's all I see the employees do is take payments. |
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Bloatware
join:2002-03-15
Pontiac, MI
| reply to Zoder
said by Zoder  :What about poor people who don't have checking accounts? I know the obvious is they shouldn't be buying cable tv if they can't afford it. But every time I've been to the payment center to exchange a box, there are people in front of me paying with cash. It seems like this policy hurts them the most. Overstating the impact. They still accept money orders by dropoff with no additional fee, beyond what would be paid for a money order, which is around 50 cents. |
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rody_44
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA | reply to perfimage
that sucks. 1.99 to pay at the window is just wrong in my eyes. |
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goober22
Resident Duh-Huh Member
join:2001-12-28
Panama City, FL
| said by rody_44 :that sucks. 1.99 to pay at the window is just wrong in my eyes. Agreed. There would be CSR sitting there being paid regardless if anyone at all every came in. Do they charge $1.99 to setup an account? No. They usually have "free installation" promos running all the time.
Just like the cell companies, phone companies, etc., they are tacking on every little charge they can to get more money from ya.
Higher fuel, higher insurance, higher property taxes, higher dairy prices...
When can I go to my boss and say I need more money for all these increases?!
I can get a raise this year and still make less than I did last year after all these additional "fees"!
BTW, I no longer have Comcast but we still don't have online payments here. The only way to avoid it to mail a check. Folks that have poor credit and cannot get a checking account would have to send cash, get a MO (which costs) or just go ahead and pay the fee.
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Certified Jenius! |
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Chris 313
Come get some
Premium
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA
clubs:
 ·Comcast
·Comcast
·Charter Pipeline
 ·Comcast Digital Vo..
·AT&T CallVantage
| Absolutely pathetic to charge for something like this. I'm in an ex Time Warner Cable area that was converted to Comcast. I have been paying my bill in person for as long as I can remember to make sure it gets paid on time.
For them to do this now, irritates me immensely. I will be checking into this further before I pay this month's coming bill and if it's confirmed will be setting up online bill pay.
Ridiculous and and very poor move on Comcast's part. |
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PloKoon
Bumper Sticker Doctrine
join:2002-01-06
Cherry Hill, NJ
| reply to Zoder
said by Zoder :they shouldn't be buying cable tv if they can't afford it.
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Real change happens when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to Zoder
What does being poor have to do with not having a checking account in the first place?
Judging from the area of the OP, I can only imagine the amount of payment transactions that are processed at the customer service center.
The phone company, for years, never had a payment center. You made all payments through the mail - period, where I was from. It wasn't until the early to mid 90's that they started to partner with businesses to accept payments for them like hardware stores or check cashing places. Many of those places charged a small convenience fee as well.
Companies realize it does cost money to process transaction payments, but just how much cost should they accept before they pass it on to the customer? I, for one, would rather they charge those that use the un-necessary resources to pay their bills rather than a blanket across the board rate increase. After all, if more people are making payments in person now, it IS costing them more money to accept payments and they do need to recoup that money.
I don't see the problem.
By the way.. I'd almost guess that it would be harder to find a bank that doesn't offer a senior free or regular free checking account that it would be to not find one.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-serving, the lazy, and I’m told it’s a woman’s prerogative..." |
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Greg_Z
Premium
join:2001-08-08
Springfield, IL
·Comcast
| reply to goober22
The CSR is hired to man the phones, not take bills. I remember walking into a Call Center once, where the window is now shut, and you have to drop your bill in the drop box by day's end to be credited for your bill.
Call Centers are not Payment Centers. Matter of fact, when I go to drop off my power bill, the girl in the Customer Service Center is there to answer questions, not take payments. There is a drop box on the wall that is collected from during the day. |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy :What does being poor have to do with not having a checking account in the first place? ... By the way.. I'd almost guess that it would be harder to find a bank that doesn't offer a senior free or regular free checking account that it would be to not find one. Not all banks offer free checking accounts and will charge fees if the balance is below a certain amount. Statistics show that millions of low income households have no bank accounts at all. I can't answer you why but that just seems to be the way it is. Low income household can also have a checking account but the bank will hold the funds on the deposited check for several days. Since on average their balances will be lower, this can cause their checks to bounce.
I'm sure you have observed that there are check cashing stores in low income neighborhoods? If everyone in these neighborhoods had bank accounts and didn't need the money available without the bank holds, the check cashing stores wouldn't be in business. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| You're a bit off...
First off, I never said "all banks" have free checking.. I said that most all areas do... SOME bank if offering a free checking option. A lot don't care about balance either. And even if they do charge a monthly fee, it's about $7 or less.
Most people that are poor and don't have checking accounts is because they were poor... poor at managing them.. or, either screwed their banks by bouncing checks, over drawing, going hundreds in the negative and no longer deserve checking accounts. It's because they decided to live beyond their means and write checks that they couldn't handle...
If you want to know why check cashing places are there.. that's the reason.
I hate to say this too, but those people who screwed up that bad and have to use check cashing places were no angels to begin with and should be happy they at least have these options to them even at the cost.
Those that are irresponsible are part of the reason why fees to everyone else are so high.
And also.. money holds on deposits are the same no matter who you are. Most places/banks hold instate checks for 24 to 48 hours and out of state checks for up to 5 days. That has nothing to do with being poor.. or in poor neighborhoods.
I'd like to see a bank that has a policy based on your wealth vs state and federal banking laws.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-serving, the lazy, and I’m told it’s a woman’s prerogative..." |
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Zoder
join:2002-04-16
Miami, FL
| said by fiberguy :And also.. money holds on deposits are the same no matter who you are. Most places/banks hold instate checks for 24 to 48 hours and out of state checks for up to 5 days. That has nothing to do with being poor.. or in poor neighborhoods. I'd like to see a bank that has a policy based on your wealth vs state and federal banking laws. I might not have been very clear. What I meant was that people living paycheck to paycheck usually won't pay their bills until they receive their next paycheck. So they have a higher chance of having their checks bounce because of the hold. If they pay in cash then they avoid that problem.
Personally, I could care less if Comcast charges a convenience fee. It just always struck me as ironic that the people most impacted by this fee are the customers who could least afford it. |
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goober22
Resident Duh-Huh Member
join:2001-12-28
Panama City, FL
1 edit | reply to Greg_Z
said by Greg_Z :The CSR is hired to man the phones, not take bills. I remember walking into a Call Center once, where the window is now shut, and you have to drop your bill in the drop box by day's end to be credited for your bill. Call Centers are not Payment Centers. Matter of fact, when I go to drop off my power bill, the girl in the Customer Service Center is there to answer questions, not take payments. There is a drop box on the wall that is collected from during the day. I'm not talking a call center location but a standard office center. Both Comcast and Knology here have 2. The city side centers each have a 24hr drop slot. Comcast has an inside drop as well. They have 3 windows (usually 2 staffed) to deal with customers (call center staff is in the back). Knology also has 3 desk folks PLUS a drive-thru window for payments!
Now you say these folks that answer walk-in questions, connect new customers, cancel existing accounts, issue equipment, modify existing accounts, accept equipment returns... should now charge $1.99 for accepting a payment?! None of the other items are charged, other than the normal new install fee.
So far, here, there is no charge for changes or cancellations or payments. The install fee can usually be waived as long as the outlets are currently active with another provider or have been previously active with Comcast
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Certified Jenius! |
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quatrix
Premium
join:2005-02-11
Davie, FL
| reply to goober22
said by goober22 :Agreed. There would be CSR sitting there being paid regardless if anyone at all every came in. Do they charge $1.99 to setup an account? Wrong. If there weren't as many people walking into the service center, they'd have fewer CSRs (there were two at mine when I went to swap cable boxes) or cut down on hours. And "setup" is two words.
Sorry for not being politically correct, but anyone paying by cash is just plain dumb. Whether they don't have a checking account (there are plenty of free ones), they're paranoid about sending things by mail or using credit, same story. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| reply to Zoder
Well, the way you put it now is more respectable/understandable... however, if I can add to what you said "...the people most impacted by this fee are the customers who could least afford it." .. those are the same people that use more/cost these companies more money too. These are the people that use the more expensive routes to deal with a company and usually go past due, require collection actions, often require disconnects, generate more phone calls to said companies, and never pay anything close to the actual cost that it takes to deliver these resources.
Everyone else ends up paying the costs to handle this type of customer.
(FYI: back when I was doing in home services, I can tell you that a good portion of my routes were the cut off/restore game.. same people over and over and over.. it became a joke.)
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-serving, the lazy, and I’m told it’s a woman’s prerogative..." |
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