T-Mobile charging for a bill
 

Seriously!?! I got a notice and called to very what I was reading. If you want a paper bill-not even one with phone numbers listed-you have to pay $1.50 per month starting in September. I asked what people do if they don't have the internet, and they said you had to go to the library or somewhere with free internet. I am not happy right now. :mad:

WHAT!? That's so annoying! Luckily I JUST switched to easypay and paperless billing last month..I had no idea they were going to start charging though..I swear companies are becoming more and more greedy everyday.

How were you notified? I remember hearing about this, but my parents won't believe me and I have gone over that website like ten times.

when you log into MyTMobile itll say so on the home page. i was a little :mad: over this, but its no better/worse/more expensive than any other silly phone bill charge.

Thank you.

There was a little note in the corner about it when I got my bill last week... I'm not surprised - I don't know many people who read their paper bill in detail unless there's an issue and/or overages and I'm sure it does cost quite a bit to print them, address them, postage, etc. In this economy, every penny counts...

As OTW stated, the upside to all charging for bills is that its less paper and better for our planet.

This is very inconsiderate to lower income people and older people who don't have the internet. People are being bullied into things like this (the "green" excuse is the latest thing) and it makes me upset. I wouldn't be surprised if TMobile's corporate office throws away more paper and recyclable items in a day than it would take to make up a whole city's worth of their customers' bills, so the green thing is pretty much BS.

my thing is, i cant imagine that postage, printing, etc has gone up in cost SO MUCH that it dramatically increases operating costs to have to charge a measly $1.50 for paper billing. especially if theyre expecting most consumers to go paperless anyway,

My answer to all of TMobile's problems - take Catherine Zeta Jones off the payroll. she isnt doing a damn for your business.

If you're costing them more money than most other customers, why shouldn't you have to pay for the additional service? Receiving a paper bill now is not the only way or even arguably not the best way for you to receive a fair notification of the services you have used.

Obviously it costs for the company to send you a paper bill and deal with your paper check when it comes in the mail... so I guess the question is why does anyone think all of that should be free when a much easier and cheaper way (for both parties) is readily available?

They also sent an insert in the August statement. It looks like the other junk mail they usually send with their bills though, so it's kind of easy to miss if you don't pay attention.

The cost isn't the point. They are already charging me for the service and if they want their money, I should be able to choose how I pay and not have to pay extra.

The things they aren't considering are some companies require a paper bill for reimbursement and the internet is expensive. I didn't sign up for the contract with the obligation to have internet to pay my bills. I'm just not comfortable with that yet. Also, if I didn't have the internet, it would be a twenty minute drive for me, since my town doesn't have a library. I have to pay to park to go to a T-Mobile store. And, it costs them loads of money to keep their website up and running-everything from air conditioning for their server room up to someone working 24/7 to make sure the system doesn't crash. This is all about accounting.

As far as being green, Andy and I are down to less than a trash bag a week and one bin of green and one bin of blue. If my town recycled more than 1 and 2 plastics, I'd recycle more. I'm conscious about buying products with too much packaging, have all catalogs canceled, only get the weekend paper and have myself on the list not to get junk mail. I'm even considering getting a worm farm...but I like my paper bills.

I guess I don't consider a bill a service.

Does the paper bill require the company to go out of its way and expend extra money on you that it wouldn't have to expend on you if you were getting an e-bill? Absolutely. I don't think I understand why you don't think they're performing a service here.

And no, while your contract doesn't obligate you to pay in any certain way, it does probably say that the the company may unilaterally make changes to the contract which will be considered agreed to if you don't cancel within a given period of time.

It's $1.50 a month. This isn't a big deal.

As RA said, it is NOT easier or cheaper for the recipient if they don't have the Internet. I personally am not at all comfortable with paying my bills online - and that's on my home computer, let alone the people who are forced to do it on library etc computers - and would dump any company that forced me to do so.

I really don't care about the environmental aspect (I don't care too much about environmental issues), but I don't see the big deal in this. My bank has done something like this for a while, same story with my credit card (i.e. charging a rate if you pay your bill or do your banking in a certain way). I just think it's going to have to be something people take into account when they sign up for the service, or when they decide whether to continue a service.

Yeah, I don't see the big deal in this either, but I am pretty concerned with environmental issues. If you feel uncomfortable paying online, there's always the option of going to T-Mobile to pay it, paying the $1.50, or paying by phone. I'm sure they will make concessions for senior citizens or disabled persons on a case-by-case basis.

I don't receive paper bills for anything these days. My rent is automatically deducted from my bank account, and I do virtually all of my banking and bill-paying online. Part of it's my little way of reducing my carbon footprint, and part of it is just wanting to avoid all the paper. Ewww.

I'm not being flippant here: Why should you be able to choose how you pay and not have to pay extra depending on how you pay? All kinds of service providers do that all the time -- require you to pay extra if you use a check or (especially) a credit card (or give you a discount if you pay cash). Almost every company I deal with charges extra if you pay from your checking account by phone -- there is an extra cost to the company that gets passed along to the customer.

If you don't like it, you take your business elsewhere.

Meanwhile, I'm with Munchkin -- the only paper bills I receive now are from the companies that don't give me the option of e-bills. If I need a paper copy, I can always print it off.

I've started to get more into the online bill-paying as well. It's nice to get the confirmations sent to my email, and it makes for easy transitioning to my budgeting (which I do on Excel anyway). Plus, it gives my shredder a bit of a break.

Even my law school has stopped sending paper bills and is doing only e-billing.

Plus, companies really don't owe us that option as consumers. As a consumer, if you want to protest, you can take your business elsewhere (especially with something like a cell phone plan).

if enough customers flooded their customer service lines with these complaints (im not talking just a few a day, but i mean ring their lines off the hook over this), im sure TMobile would back down.

but long gone are the days of the customer always being right.

Thank goodness. There are lots of times when the customer doesn't know what he/she is talking about.