GOLFnSUN
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
|  Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation
All unfees are is an attempt by phone companies to bring to the attention of their customers the underlying costs in meeting government regulations. They could just bury the fees in the price of the service, but this way they agressively keep in front of their customers that part of their costs that are incurred as a result of government regulation.
Just see it as advertising and not some attempt to deceive the public.
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PhoenixDown
-- Wants FIOS
Premium
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY
clubs:  
| They can add it above the line... which means they would have to advertise that this is part of the rate but at least it would be honest.
Monthly Recurring Charge - $40.00
Text Messaging Plan - $10.00
Unlimited Data - $20.00
Administrative Costs - $5.00
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SubTotal - $75.00
Tax - $1.80
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Total $76.80 |
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DotMac
Shill H8r
Premium
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA
1 edit | reply to GOLFnSUN
Bullshit, it's an attempt by phone companies to lie about the costs of their service.
They'll advertise an artificially low price then charge these bullcrap fees.
ALL businesses have regulatory costs, ALL of them do. Telcos are just one of the few (another being airlines) who itemize it in attempt to bait and switch on customers.
Why not just have all costs of doing business itemized on our bills?
How about the water cooler recovery fee?
How about a parking lot restriping recovery fee?
How about an obscene retirement package for our CEO recovery fee?
Nope. This is telcos wanting to lie in advertising saying they're selling a service for $29.99 when it's really $40. |
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GOLFnSUN
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
1 edit | said by DotMac  :ALL businesses have regulatory costs, ALL of them do. Telcos are just one of the few who itemize it in attempt to bait and switch on customers. Why not just have all costs of doing business itemized on our bills? How about the water cooler recovery fee? How about a parking lot restriping recovery fee? How about an obscene retirement package for our CEO recovery fee? I agree that a breakdown of all costs would be interesting. In fact, you can see these anytime you want by reading a company's SEC filings.
But aside from the obscene CEO pkgs  , a company can do little about most of those costs. But they can lobby for less gov't regulation which is an unnecessary cost as far as I am concerned. And the unfees is a way they try to get their customers on their side in that effort.
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DotMac
Shill H8r
Premium
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA
| Why when they could put it right on the bill with all of the other BS itemizing.
This has nothing with telcos "campaigning" for lower government regulation and everything about them wanting to advertise stuff for less than the real price.
It's just like the "number portability fee" that netted companies like Sprint $60 million a year.
Truth in advertising whether it's about stupid caps and traffic shaping or what stuff costs.
My cable HSI for example is exactly to the penny the price I was quoted by Time Warner when I ordered online.
Online they quoted the price as $44.95 plus $10.00 for the extreme tier. When I get my bill it's $44.95 plus $10 for the extreme tier...no junk fees, unfees or other lies.
Compare that to my Verizon DSL bill where I had just for DSL, a nrecovery fee that amounted to nearly 10% of my service cost. And this was a different recovery fee from one charged on the POTS portion of that same copper. »BellSouth, Speakeasy join Verizon on Bogus 'Fees'
Telcos much be compelled to do the same as cable. If it's a REAL tax 100% of which is paid DIRECTLY to a state board or equalization (eg a sales tax) then yeah, itemize it 'cause the customer isn't paying it to the telco...every penny goes to the state. But these other BS "recovery" fees must go as they're a cost of business like all other overhead. |
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hurfy
Premium
join:2002-08-06
Spokane, WA
| reply to DotMac
Exactly
The best one i see is our bill from XO. They are 10% cheaper than qwest for local phone service. Just don't mind the 12% 'Access Recovery' fee tacked on. Plus a whole slew of other fees.
AT&T was still adding a line for property tax when we dropped them. This was ruled against in WA. Guess they have more legislators in their pocket than the car dealers that got nailed with it :/ |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to GOLFnSUN
said by GOLFnSUN :All unfees are is an attempt by phone companies to bring to the attention of their customers the underlying costs in meeting government regulations The problem is that the cell phone industry is getting away with a practice that few other companies can get away with. If I go to a grocery store to buy something, I see the price that is charged, and I pay a sales tax. I know that the grocery store has fixed costs imposed on it by the government, such as minimum wages, fire safety codes, health and safety requirements for food and the like. However, when I go to buy a given item at the store, these costs are included in the price.
If I wanted, I could look at other stores carrying similar items, and comparison shop based on price, knowing that another store isn't showing an artificially low price that includes an "unfee."
said by GOLFnSUN :Just see it as advertising and not some attempt to deceive the public. But the end result is that the public is being deceived. The only way I could find out what the "true" cost of cell phone service is would be to try out each provider and then cancel within the allotted time frame, provided it doesn't expire before I receive my first bill.
If the advertised price for cell phone service, less actual taxes that go directly into government coffers (as I could look these up if I wanted), was listed, then it makes shopping around for cell phone service much easier. Otherwise, I see the day coming when each company would offer service for one penny a month, and not mention the $50 or so in fees that are added to that.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. |
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joako
Premium
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to GOLFnSUN
No, you are wrong. Per Sprint "charges imposed by local telephone companies for delivery of calls from our customers to their landline customers" AKA call termination costs.
How is that not part of your per-minute charge?
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Am Heimcomputer sitz' ich hier, und programmier' die Zukunft mir |
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cdigioia
Premium
join:2005-06-08
korea, repub
 ·Korea Telecom
| reply to GOLFnSUN
Yeah right  I highly doubt they've computed the cost of government regulations, then distributed that number to customers.
Besides, if it were just advertising, then it would be:
450 Anytimes minutes: $45 ($5 of which is due to gov. regulation)
I mean come on, a store doesn't advertise
"Dress $50", then when you pay, see a bill for:
federally mandated corporate income tax: $4
federally mandated social security tax: $3
OHSA cost recovery charge: $2
minimum wage compliance charge of $6
city-mandated earthquake readiness construction charge: $1
No, they say, the dress is $50. Typically, it's a good thing when the advertised price of a good is...I don't know, the price the seller wants you to pay them for that good. |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by cdigioia :Yeah right I highly doubt they've computed the cost of government regulations, then distributed that number to customers. Besides, if it were just advertising, then it would be: 450 Anytimes minutes: $45 ($5 of which is due to gov. regulation) I mean come on, a store doesn't advertise "Dress $50", then when you pay, see a bill for: federally mandated corporate income tax: $4
federally mandated social security tax: $3
OHSA cost recovery charge: $2
minimum wage compliance charge of $6
city-mandated earthquake readiness construction charge: $1No, they say, the dress is $50. Typically, it's a good thing when the advertised price of a good is...I don't know, the price the seller wants you to pay them for that good. Well the store down the street could have the same dress for $33.99 then add in all those crap fees and guess who'll sell more dresses even though out the door with either you've spent $50.
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth |
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mikenolan7
Premium
join:2005-06-07
Torrance, CA | reply to DotMac
You mean they are charging "recovery" fees to their customers for their network? They same networks that we are repeatedly reminded in posts here that "belong to the ISP's"? |
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tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
| reply to cdigioia
said by cdigioia :Yeah right I highly doubt they've computed the cost of government regulations, then distributed that number to customers. Besides, if it were just advertising, then it would be: 450 Anytimes minutes: $45 ($5 of which is due to gov. regulation) I mean come on, a store doesn't advertise "Dress $50", then when you pay, see a bill for: federally mandated corporate income tax: $4
federally mandated social security tax: $3
OHSA cost recovery charge: $2
minimum wage compliance charge of $6
city-mandated earthquake readiness construction charge: $1No, they say, the dress is $50. Typically, it's a good thing when the advertised price of a good is...I don't know, the price the seller wants you to pay them for that good. Whoa.. hold on there cowpoke. They don't have them OSHA and minimum wage charges in China. What I would like to see is "Profit our company is making by making this crap in china vs the United States". That would be the REQUIREMENT for doing business overseas.  |
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cdigioia
Premium
join:2005-06-08
korea, repub
·Korea Telecom
| reply to dvd536
said by dvd536 :Well the store down the street could have the same dress for $33.99 then add in all those crap fees and guess who'll sell more dresses even though out the door with either you've spent $50. Yup, good for the company that does it, bad for everyone else = negative externalities. That's why such things need to be regulated.
And man...I really liked my post, I was hoping for at least one thumbs up, *sniffle*, *sniffle*. |
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supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL
 ·Cox VOIP
·Skype
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southeast
·magicjack.com
| reply to GOLFnSUN
Funny, my Cox Digital Voice, Cable, and HSI was quoted to the penny including tax.
BellSouth has a "hurricane cost recovery fee", a "regulatory cost recovery fee" (on each item - one on regular phone and one on LD). Why do they need a "hurricane cost recovery fee?"
So, Bellsouth called and asked why I left so I told them:
Outrageous prices. (Gave them Cox vs. them)
Better features. (12/1 HSI vs. 3/512, view calls online,
listen to voicemail online and can download them, etc.)
NO India HSI tech support! (I said I like buying American and Cox is all in America. Shouldn't I support fellow Americans keeping their jobs? Cox does and charges less so what is your problem?)
I also told her about Bellsouth reps "lying about prices" and "discounts" and told her, if I wanted it, I always ordered it online. Cox has never lied to me about prices. I did report the fraud to a manager after the PSC was contacted. All this lady did was try and lie about the other person's lies. So, I told her the manager that wrote her up didn't buy the lies either. Complete choice and Unlimited LD gets you NO discounts on DSL ($10 was what I was told). The stupid person also decided to send me a new modem. Even the manager was pissed about that. I threatened a "mail fraud" charge if I got the modem charge on my bill. The manager, in Miami, gave me his personal number and I never saw it show up.
Oh, ya gotta love the billing system.
I got a final bill with a refund.
Then, about 1 1/2 months later, I got another bill with charges. So, I called and the lady took it right off. $18 for LD. I said, "I got a final bill with a refund, even called to find out my final bill was correct, you said it was, cashed the refund check, and will not pay Bellsouth a tip for taking 10 days to allow my number to port."
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Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
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bigpapap3213
@verizon.net | reply to DotMac
Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation
what are you talking about, you are surely mistaken.
On my Time warner cable bill I have a $4.14 franchise fee, and a $.06 fcc regulatory fee.
And I dont even have telephone line with them. |
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DotMac
Shill H8r
Premium
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA
| Franchises fees are only for television services and go to the local gov't much like a tax. I don't know what your FCC regulatory fee is. It sure sounds like a bullcrap un-fee and I don't have such a fee on my bill. But I only have HSI, no telephony or CATV. |
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asdfdfdfdfdf
@Level3.net | reply to cdigioia
I'll give you a thumbs up.
And pnh too. |
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alpha1111
join:2007-12-13
San Antonio, TX
| reply to DotMac
My cable HSI for example is exactly to the penny the price I was quoted by Time Warner when I ordered online.
Online they quoted the price as $44.95 plus $10.00 for the extreme tier. When I get my bill it's $44.95 plus $10 for the extreme tier...no junk fees, unfees or other lies.
Are you billed an FCC fee? and I Franchise Fee?
Time Warner San Antonio Customers are, and Comcast In Houston is worse.
I will not get time warner because they took channel 20 public access off basic cable but still bill you for the service (paying for services I don't get) you have to have their BS box $7.99 and Digital Cable another $5 to get that one channel. I wonder if Dave Leitt's Worst show is still on that channel I remember back then when they were Paragon TJ Connally (the peeper) made a big stink about him circa 1996.
I wont pay sprint to have a equalizer for the 911 they can have bass in it if an emergency strikes.  |
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DotMac
Shill H8r
Premium
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA | No. Those fees apply only to CATV service I guess. My HSI bill only has my HSI fees which are exactly what I was quoted. And certainly no junk "un" fees. |
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