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T-Mobile Wavers On Plan To Charge For Paper Bills
$1.50 fee for not going paperless gets pulled after poor reaction...
With so many carriers now going with paperless bills, the nice thing for a carrier to do is to give you a discount for going paperless, since it saves the company money. T-Mobile decided to go the opposite direction, and was cooking up a plan to start charging customers $1.50 if they wanted to receive a paper copy of their bill in the mail. Not too surpsisingly this didn't go over well with customers used to paper bills, so the company has dropped the plan. Well, for now anyway:
quote:
After an outcry from customers and threats of legal action, however, the company changed its mind. In a statement posted on a company Web page, T-Mobile said it had decided not to implement the fee, "for now." "Instead, we'll be taking more time to determine the fairest way possible to encourage people to go paperless," it said.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo threatened the carrier, arguing that it couldn't start imposing such a fee without voiding customers' long term contracts. "My office will not sit back and let a company change its prices under the guise of "going green,'" says Cuomo.
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moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

Not paperless yet

When email becomes as reliable and subject to the same rules as paper statements, then I might consider going to them. Until then, nope.

I will, and do, pay online when I can but I still want that reminder.

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

Matt3

Premium Member

Re: Not paperless yet

said by moonpuppy:

When email becomes as reliable and subject to the same rules as paper statements, then I might consider going to them. Until then, nope.

I will, and do, pay online when I can but I still want that reminder.
I agree. I've had to revert a few of my bills to paper bills as I would often not get the emails.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Not paperless yet

i just mark the date on my calendar every month and just check it then. i've always managed to get a txt msg from t-mobile to check my bill also

aaronwt
Premium Member
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
Asus RT-AX89

1 recommendation

aaronwt to moonpuppy

Premium Member

to moonpuppy
said by moonpuppy:

When email becomes as reliable and subject to the same rules as paper statements, then I might consider going to them. Until then, nope.

I will, and do, pay online when I can but I still want that reminder.
My email and online statements have been more reliable than paper statements for many years now.

Cheese
Premium Member
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL

Cheese to moonpuppy

Premium Member

to moonpuppy
said by moonpuppy:

When email becomes as reliable and subject to the same rules as paper statements, then I might consider going to them. Until then, nope.

I will, and do, pay online when I can but I still want that reminder.
While email may go down, the ability to access the bill online on the company site, makes email a moot point IMO
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

Re: Not paperless yet

said by Cheese:

While email may go down, the ability to access the bill online on the company site, makes email a moot point IMO
Sorry, but checking a company site just to see my bill is not something I do for fun.
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory to Cheese

Member

to Cheese
said by Cheese:

said by moonpuppy:

When email becomes as reliable and subject to the same rules as paper statements, then I might consider going to them. Until then, nope.

I will, and do, pay online when I can but I still want that reminder.
While email may go down, the ability to access the bill online on the company site, makes email a moot point IMO
Unless you have 50 different bills a month and need to go on EVERY site to check you bill. It's nice to have one central place to keep track of bills other than a spreadsheet.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK to moonpuppy

Premium Member

to moonpuppy
I love the internet for many things, but call me old-fashioned when it comes to billing statements. I want to have the statement in my hand, hardcopy. I don't want to have to remember to go login and look it up, print it out, ask for a copy, etc

The largest reason why is I want to catch billing they make before they are paid.

Now, as for a fee to get a bill--- my attitude on that is how about they keep their bill and their fee and I won't pay them. Sounds fair to me.
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

I've always done paper phone bills

I've always had a paper phone bill, and hope to continue to have one.

Linnil
@click-network.com

Linnil

Anon

It's all relative

Is the paper billing $1.50 more or is the paperless version $1.50 less? If you had price amnesia to all previous amounts, it's essential a glass is half full or half empty question.

goober22
Resident Duh-Huh Member
join:2001-12-28
Panama City, FL

goober22

Member

Re: It's all relative

It would have been a NEW $1.50 charge for basic paper billing. Detailed billing is even higher. Other cell companies provide basic paper billing at no charge and is what my agreement included when I signed up. Per my statement:
quote:
IMPORTANT CHANGE TO YOUR BILL. T-Mobile is now charging $1.50/mo for paper bills. Sign up for FREE Paperless Billing at t-mobile.com/billingupdate.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

1 recommendation

88615298 (banned)

Member

You get more flies with honey

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
ctggzg
Premium Member
join:2005-02-11
USA

ctggzg

Premium Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by 88615298:

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
Most of the people who are stupid and/or paranoid enough to want paper bills won't know the difference.

babwas
join:2005-04-09
Omaha, NE

2 recommendations

babwas

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

It has nothing to do with being stupid or paranoid. Several years ago I went paperless. I didn't get a single thing in the mail except for junk mail. My wife then had an accident and was in the hospital for a while. I got to thinking and if it was me that was in the accident no one would have paid our bills because they all arrived in my e-mail account. I suppose I could make sure she knows my passwords, but what is going to make her check my e-mail if she isn't used to doing so. When we moved a couple years back I had all my statements start coming paper again. I know she will check the mail. The other thought is what if it was a parent that was incapacitated. I wouldn't have the slightest idea what my mom's e-mail password is.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

those are rare cases. however, you should have an instruction guide for your spouse if it is not a shared responsibility. keep it safe and tell them where it is. problem solved. now get back to paperless!
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by morbo:

those are rare cases. however, you should have an instruction guide for your spouse if it is not a shared responsibility. keep it safe and tell them where it is. problem solved. now get back to paperless!
I wouldn't say that they are rare cases. I think people go out of town, people get sent to Iraq, etc... I think it is perfectly reasonable to still get paper bills. I choose to have most of my household bills be paperless, but if something happened to me, it would be really difficult for someone else here to pay all the bills correctly. It used to be much easier with service like mycheckfree until many of the card companies chose not to allow their bills to be paid on the service. Now it is a lot more difficult to keep track of all the web sites needed to pay our bills. Paper may actually be easier...

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

rare cases are when a spouse suddenly dies or is unable to communicate with the other spouse. that is rare. for all other instances, providing an instruction sheet for the spouse that doesn't do the bills or know the set up as well would solve the problem of people going out of town, getting sent to Iraq, etc.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88 to ctggzg

Member

to ctggzg
said by ctggzg:

said by 88615298:

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
Most of the people who are stupid and/or paranoid enough to want paper bills won't know the difference.
Have fun getting a refund after they removed the money electronically

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall to 88615298

MVM

to 88615298
said by 88615298:

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
Yup! I agree.

Some companies are already paying customers by offering them a credit on their bill to do this. AT&T and Directv come to mind.

spewak
R.I.P Dadkins
Premium Member
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA

spewak

Premium Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

I thought I read Sprint gives $5 off if you go paperless. Well, I must've been dreaming it, cuz' I cain't find in nowheres.

aSic
application specific
Premium Member
join:2001-05-17
Wakulla, FL

aSic

Premium Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

They used to offer that, but I never got the discount either. I cant even find the offer now.
8744675
join:2000-10-10
Decatur, GA

8744675

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

I have an even better deal. Sprint pays my annual AMEX card fee ($55.00) because I bill my long distance to my AMEX card.
08034016 (banned)
Hallo lisa Aus Amerika
join:2001-08-31
Byron, GA

08034016 (banned) to Nightfall

Member

to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:
said by 88615298:

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
Yup! I agree.

Some companies are already paying customers by offering them a credit on their bill to do this. AT&T and Directv come to mind.
Where does it state that Directv offers this and if so whats the credit?

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall

MVM

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by 08034016:

said by Nightfall:
said by 88615298:

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
Yup! I agree.

Some companies are already paying customers by offering them a credit on their bill to do this. AT&T and Directv come to mind.
Where does it state that Directv offers this and if so whats the credit?
I think you get a one time credit of $5 or $10. I got it about 6 months ago when I made the switch.

»www.directv.com/gogreen

goober22
Resident Duh-Huh Member
join:2001-12-28
Panama City, FL

goober22 to 08034016

Member

to 08034016
said by 08034016:
Where does it state that Directv offers this and if so whats the credit?
It is a 1-time credit. Look under the Customer Service section on the left for the GoGreen link.
08034016 (banned)
Hallo lisa Aus Amerika
join:2001-08-31
Byron, GA

08034016 (banned)

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by goober22:
said by 08034016:
Where does it state that Directv offers this and if so whats the credit?
It is a 1-time credit. Look under the Customer Service section on the left for the GoGreen link.
That's a one time Credit of $5.00 you have to be joking.

I can understand $5.00 per month that's another thing.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

1 edit

Nightfall

MVM

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by 08034016:

That's a one time Credit of $5.00 you have to be joking.

I can understand $5.00 per month that's another thing.
Heh, $5 a month to go paperless? Hell, the stamp costs less than that.

Can you tell me what you are smoking cause I want some.
08034016 (banned)
Hallo lisa Aus Amerika
join:2001-08-31
Byron, GA

2 edits

08034016 (banned)

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by Nightfall:
said by 08034016:

That's a one time Credit of $5.00 you have to be joking.

I can understand $5.00 per month that's another thing.
Heh, $5 a month to go paperless? Hell, the stamp costs less than that.

Company's won't have people switching over. you would think they would offer a discount like i stated for the ones that do.

Paperless my @@@

Directv would save on paper ink you name it.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK to 88615298

Premium Member

to 88615298
said by 88615298:

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
The point is to make more profits not less. The this is what happens when companies have too little competition and start thinking the customers owes them. "Sending us a paper bill costs us more--- so let's bill them extra." No. Billing and invoicing for service has been around forever. If you want to get paid, you send the bill. Email is a optional extra you're providing as a customer service consideration that also happens to save you a little money.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by KrK:

The point is to make more profits not less.
And if everyone goes paperless they save money on printing a bill and having to mail it, thus they make more profit.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

True, but this plan is to charge people more for paper bills. There's the carrot and the stick approach. This is all the stick.
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory

Member

Re: You get more flies with honey

said by KrK:

True, but this plan is to charge people more for paper bills. There's the carrot and the stick approach. This is all the stick.
... and it is a terrible way to treat one's customers. I do agree with you.
jjeffeory

jjeffeory to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
said by 88615298:

try knocking $1.50 off people's bills for going paperless and you'll see that'll work better.
Surely, because if the cost of sending a paper bill to someone is $1.50 and the paper bill stops coming, customers would like to save money. Otherwise this was simply a cost of doing business... It has been traditionally been included gratis, or at least hidden in the cost of the service. To break it out now would be very suspect indeed.

Precila
@sbcglobal.net

-1 recommendation

Precila to 88615298

Anon

to 88615298
Ya, by going paperless, more people get to lose their jobs.
old_wiz_60
join:2005-06-03
Bedford, MA

old_wiz_60

Member

They will still do it

One way or another, they will start to charge for paper billing. They have deep pockets and can bribe whoever gets in their way.
rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT

rahvin112

Member

Re: They will still do it

You can't bribe an attorney general that's trying to go the route of his predecessor in protecting consumers so he can start a political career. The NY attorney general has more power than the FTC these days because of a political will to go after the corporations for nothing more than the publicity of doing so.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

backwards!

Indeed, offer a savings, even if it's $1 or something...

I wish I could get my carrier (U.S. Cellular) to stop sending me TWO copies of my bill... No idea why, but they've been doing it since merging w/Cellular One. I get two paper copies of the exact same bill. Have called, talked to reps in person, but nothing seems to change. Other than the fact that it's weird (and wasteful), they certainly haven't tried to charge me any extra for it

justsayin
@sbc.com

justsayin

Anon

stupid...

If your financial position is so bad that you can not afford to send me a paper bill without charging extra for it, then just don't bill me. If you can't afford to send bills, then get out of the business. Any other excuse is just greed.

burgerwars
join:2004-09-11
Northridge, CA

burgerwars

Member

$1.50

If they did go ahead with the plan, it looked like a change of terms of service which could have allowed customers to break their contract with no penalty.

I've read on another consumer forum where customers claim that even small changes done by the carrier (even adding a few cents a month), were significant enough for them to get out of their contract.

Maybe in the future, if one hears such rumblings, they should get the best discounted phone available with a contract, and then after the charge is implemented, get out of it.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

That's The Way They Are Going

I have been with T-Mobile for four years now and they are definitely not the great company they once were. I knuckled under and went paperless because they threatened me with the $1.50 fee. Now I see they decided to hold off on the fee or perhaps even reward those who switch. I guess it is too late for me.

Personally I am tired of watching them try to emulate the worst practiced of Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. T-Mobile was unique in its low cost plans, low fees and excellent customer service. Now they are still the smallest carrier BUT they want to act like the big boys. Nice reward for your loyal customers.

NotRequired
Premium Member
join:2009-05-08

NotRequired

Premium Member

AT & T keeps trying to

have people go paperless (online billing) and even though I CANNOT get my bill/paper bill 5th of the following month, I look at their/my online acount to gt an estimate & find out how much my bill is,

how do i pay say Sept bill if I haven' received it, I take part of Aug bill change te dates & amount due & send in the amount due thats online,

and bet I'am only one of a very few that call my cell phone,land line,internet provider & tell them point blank, [/b] Ya'all made a mistake[/b] anytime my bill flls below $125.00 or above $135-$140.00,

this is the reason I KNOW basically how much my phone,electric ^ direct tv are going to be,

if a company is going to TRY to charge me for sending me a bill, then I'am going to discount the cost of postage to send it to them & the cost to write/process the chck or better still find another company to do business with,

I would bet the reason they backed off the charge is because so many pple (once it was announced or tried, so many pple called in & said they would cancel or change service providers...
Expand your moderator at work

heat84
DSLR Influencer
join:2004-03-11
Delray Beach, FL

1 edit

heat84

Member

What's the difference?

Whats the difference between this and other fees companies impose? Why was T-Mobile so quick to back off this one? Why don't we just outcry for every fee and the company imposing it will back-off so we'll never have to worry about fees again? (sarcastically speaking)

uald
@bellsouth.net

uald

Anon

Re: What's the difference?

said by heat84:

Whats the difference between this and other fees companies impose? Why was T-Mobile so quick to back off this one? Why don't we just outcry for every fee and the company imposing it will back-off so we'll never have to worry about fees again? (sarcastically speaking)
Because other companies that raise their rates usually don't have customers under a contract that locks them to that provider and spells out exactly what that person has to pay for and for how long.

Say you lease a building for X amount per month for Y amount of time haven't you noticed the price increase comes when that contract is up and it's time to renew?

Tmobile is free to increase their price if they want - but you don't have to agree to accept their new terms. If companies could change select parts of an agreement there'd be nothing to stop some shady company from offering things real cheap, getting people to agree to pay a $300 ETF, then suddenly saying "Oh, we know we said it would be X amount per month, but now it'll be Y instead. Either pay the ETF or pay the new higher amount each month."
Blkjak1
join:2002-01-29
Brownsville, TX

Blkjak1

Member

Too Late For Wavier

I went and got a new cell phone provider the very same day the notice about the $1.50 charge came in the mail.I figured their CEO didn't need any more money from me. Ended up getting more services for less money.

•••

wwdubbia
join:2002-06-03
Clinton, NY

wwdubbia

Member

invoices

this is nothing new... many CLEC's actually charge by the page for their paper bills. I know someone who pays $135/mo. just to get a paper bill.

anon
@exxonmobil.com

anon

Anon

Business needs

Businesses who outsource their accounting often need a paper billl to provide to the accountant. If they have to go to a web site and print out the statement from there, how green is that? Looks like as usual, the provider is the only one saving any money.

IIIBradIII
Comm M-E-L Instr
join:2000-09-28
Greer, SC

IIIBradIII

Member

Re: Business needs

said by anon :

Businesses who outsource their accounting often need a paper billl to provide to the accountant. If they have to go to a web site and print out the statement from there, how green is that? Looks like as usual, the provider is the only one saving any money.
Then change accountants to one who accepts statements via email. Our biz accountant does.
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt

Member

Save trees by printing bill on the right type of paper.

All invoices should be printed on the correct type of paper and properly perforated. That way when a customer was through reviewing their bill, if they did not want retain it, they could wipe their arse with it, thereby getting their moneys worth for a paper bill.
doubleak
join:2002-08-21
Denver, CO

doubleak

Member

Greedy bastards

"My office will not sit back and let a company change its prices under the guise of "going green,'" says Cuomo.
This is what royally pissed me off about the charge. Their whole excuse for the charge was they were doing it for the environment. Yeah right. The fine print in their notice online even said the $1.50 would exceed the cost of mailing the bills. So they would be making a tidy profit in the name of going 'green'.

I can't believe mailing a bill every month is considered a premium service now!

Pretty soon I can see them implementing an 'accounting' fee because it costs them money to keep track of how many minutes I've used.
voipjunk
join:2004-08-07
Spring Hill, FL

voipjunk

Member

Paper bills

In Toronto, Fido charges $1.50 for paper bill. I think T-mobile got the idea from them. But US is not as S..... as Canada
rid0617
join:2003-07-20
Greer, SC

rid0617

Member

Their own contract bit them in the butt

All their trying to do is figure a way to cut back on more employees, save paper costs and postage while presenting the phony green excuse. And if you don't go green you will pay. Thank you Cuomo
lexuskool
join:2001-04-25
Brooklyn, NY

1 edit

lexuskool

Member

paper bill charge

Like gordon gekko said in wall street greed is good. so let all customers look at it this way you pay your bill now pay to receive your bill heck thats an insult to customers. its also ridiculous and pathetic. look at it this way were in tough times a difficult economy. you wanted to pull this off now.imagine if your electric company,gas, cable, satellite.landline phone, water bill,property tax bill started charging to send you the bill do you think they would pull that with customers no. I also want to let customers of tmobile know they are still ripping you off look at your bill carefully under other charges. if you receive text messages to your phone from tmobile they are suppose to be free not true they are charging you even if you get text messages that are spam they charge you for those too. also they want to increase the overage to .45 cents a minute from .40 cents. theu also charge you 1.99 to receive detailed billing. they also are charging an RPF fee which the FCC says the carrier cannot charge customers for that. this is all documented online under tmobile customer complaints which you can google. i am taking my tmobile phone got it unlocked cause you can ask them to email you the unlock code for your phone and going to att because they have gsm and the phone will work. i got out of my contract when i spoke to a manager and under section 5 adverse changes/charges to you bill under contract customer has the right to cancel without termination fee and you have until september 30 to cancel and port your number to a another carrier. I am fed up with their lies. it took me almost 1 hour for a manager to keep contract rules otherwise they were lying about their contract terms that it is not adverse. i am not going to stick around because the paper billing fee for now will come back in the future. they are not honest anymore just read under tmobile customer complaints on google.com what peolpe are going through with them. you are free to go to any carrier. also go to ripoffreport.com and put tmobile under search and you will see all complaints too.also let bbb , consumer affairs, attorney general know in your state of what tmobile is doing to you wrong. if we let them know and care we let them know that customers won't let businesses rip off people.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20

Premium Member

I won't do business with a company that refuses paper bills

What if your computer suddenly has major hardware problems just at the time of the month when you pay your bills online? What if your ISP has major problems at that time? It is utterly crazy to only get online bills and only pay online. When computer hardware, software and ISPs become 100% reliable then, and only then, will I switch to paperless billing and always paying online. I don't think that will happen in my lifetime. I always get my bills in the mail every month. That is is very reliable. If I wish, I can then pay some online but I only do that for companies that don't lock me in but allow to pay via snail mail, in person, by phone, or online (with no charge other than the cost of a stamp if I choose USPS), whichever I wish to do each month and that method can vary from month to month.

I think that unless you have multiple computers and backup dialup accounts that you should never take the risk of only paying online and only receiving online bills. Email is a horrible way to receive a bill because email is not by default secure! If any company wants to send me a bill via email, I insist that we exchange encryption keys. If they want me to login to their site to view my bill because they are too cheap to send me the bill then I require them to be online 24/7 with 24/7 800 number tech support department.
watts3000
join:2002-01-21

1 edit

watts3000

Member

Re: I won't do business with a company that refuses paper bills

I've been a tmobile customer for years and I have not received a paper bill for at least 3. I can see wanting to charge for this it cost a lot of money to print up invoices. My senior citizen relatives even pay all of there bills on line now so this is not far fetched at all. If you all want a paper bill so bad log into the account and print the pdf spend use your ink and paper. I work for a rather large company and I know how much it cost us to print up statement so I can only imagine what tmobile is paying.
ctggzg
Premium Member
join:2005-02-11
USA

ctggzg to Mele20

Premium Member

to Mele20
I've gotten electronic bills from at least 15 - 20 companies over maybe 10 years and never had a single problem. Sometimes it's scary the kind of people who think they're security experts.
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