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Bell now charging for paper bill

12K views 24 replies 21 participants last post by  flaminghomer 
#1 ·
Received the following email from Bell after purchasing new phone and renewing contract: "Thank you for choosing Bell Mobility. We appreciate your business. We have now completed your phone upgrade"..."Your bill will be mailed to you as requested. A service charge of $1 per bill will be charged to your account. This charge does not apply if you register for e-bill and preauthorized payment." I had been assured that absolutely nothing would change when I signed the new contract. The CSR I spoke with said the invoice was not part of the contract and they could charge what they wanted for it. Turns out this doesn't apply to onebill customers. Furthermore, just need to sign up for e-bill. It isn't necessary to do the preauthorized payment.
 
#2 ·
Contrast Bell's arrogant approach to the message Primus puts on its bills:

Remember, eBill customers save 50c per eBill for reducing our paper requirements versus receiving a paper bill! Primus Canada is now also donating funds every month to Evergreen. Visit primus.ca/evergreen for more details. Additionally, eBills are only sent if the charges are >$20 for that month, however, customers receive one at minimum every quarter, regardless of amount.
 
#3 ·
I am so glad I ditched Bell back in July. I only had 5 months to go on my contract (after five and a half years) but they still charged me $185.00. They initially wanted to charge me $225.00 but I bitched and they did knock $40.00 off but still.

I like to receive my bills by postal service. I know that I'd be pissed to have to kick in an extra buck every month.

They got some balls.
 
#4 ·
Hi,

Charging for paper (statements/ Bills) is slowly but surely going to become the norm.

For one, the costs to print and mail paper is significant enough that companies see a benefit in reducing it.

Second, the physical process of stuffing paper into envelopes and mailing it sometimes creates errors - like two statements or bills in one envelope, change of address not propagated to the mailing database, etc.

Electronic statements/ bills are not only cheaper but also more accurate as they completely eliminate the physical part of the process which is where errors happen.

They can now sell the idea as environmentally friendly. So they look good while reducing cost.

The goal is not to increase revenue but to encourage migration to electronic delivery through pricing adjustments/ incentives.
 
#7 ·
Charging for a paper bill in one thing. Requiring that you have to sign up for preauthorized payment is unbelievable. I don't give direct access to my bank account for utilities. Too many problems, too many horror stories out there.

Sign up for e-bill, fine. I can't believe that it is even legal for Bell to use coercion to get people to sign up for preauthorized payment.

And there are people out there without e-mail or internet access.

I only have a Bell landline, but if they try this stunt on me I will be switching.
 
#8 ·
My bank encourages clients to switch to e-statements and offers some incentives, e.g. free access to images of cleared cheques (otherwise, there is a hefty fee for searching for cleared cheques and providing a copy and long-term storage - 7 years - of all the statements. It sure beats the shoe-box in the closet system.

Banks have a bad reputation for gouging on fees, but this is one case where the user gets something in return for saving the bank a bit of money. No surprise that Bell takes a different approach.
 
#12 ·
Bell Canada Paper bill charge

Just received an email from Bell Canada stating that there will be a $2.00 charge for paper bills and no apparent charge for e-bill.

Why would I pay to receive a Bill? It seams to me that Bell should be happy to have customers to whom they can send a bill.
To add insult to injury, a Bell internet connection is a resource for which a Bell customer pays money TO BELL. Why would a customer make that resource available to Bell so that they can conduct their business at your expense, especially if the e-bill is received by a Bell wireless device where bandwidth is at a premium.
I hate bills, especially bills for bills.
 
#13 ·
Yes,

I also received the email from BELL about the upcoming *NEW* $2 / MONTH charge for a paper bill in the mail.


This generally / definitely seems to be a *NEW* company / Corporate TREND.

Charging the customer, now, for the "Priviledge" of receiving a hard copy paper bill in the mail - that used to be FREE before.

I think in the business world they call it "EXTERNALIZING" costs and expenses.


The TD / Canada Trust bank did the same thing awhile ago - stating that I would now be charged to have my regular, hard copy, Chequing Account monthly statement - mailed to me. ( a very important financial document )

AND - I started a THREAD on that TD Bank issue myself - awhile ago.


Quoting the EMAIL I received from BELL :

"...we are pleased to let you know that as of June 2012, Bell is moving to e-bill as our standard method of delivering invoices ... "


" ... you will be charged a $2 monthly fee for paper bills."


" ... we would like to invite you to choose e-bill only. "


" If we don't hear from you by June 1, 2012, we will continue to deliver your paper bill and the $2 fee will apply."


I should ask BELL again ... if they understand the meaning of "CANCEL SERVICE !"


Regarding the TD BANK ... I went in and had a discussion with a Bank Rep about the *NEW* hard copy mailed chequing acct statment charge.

I asked the Bank REP:

"Does the bank plan to start increasing that charge in the near future, say every 6 months, like what the CABLE companies Do ?

Does the Bank plan, in the near future, to start to use this charge as a new source of revenue and profits? For the CEO and Shareholders?

Answer: NO. I Don't think So. (which is a straight LIE - my opinion)

I also heard / read somewhere ... that it's TRUE ! ... That BANKS are starting to behave like UTILITIES (ex CABLE co ) - and treating customers like sources of revenue, rather than investors, and charge their customers for every little service they provide. ( this we see already ) Because I certanly do NOT receive any INTEREST on my money in any of their chequing accounts.

I guess, with interest rates low, BANKS need to find new sources of revenue.


BELL - with competition - too - it seems - must need to find new sources of REVENUE. (or at least ways to SHOVE OFF their Responsibilites and business COSTS on to their CUSTOMERS )


YEESH. Imagine it now - being charged for the Priviledge of receiving your hard copy bill.

They don't even want to send you the bill anymore.

Perhaps time to just CANCEL that BELL service.

And go with something else. Or nothing else.


Totally agreed with Original Poster- That company has GALL telling me, the customer, we're gonna charge you to send you our bill. Or else, we invite (force) you to go to e-billing.

We're gonna use the service YOU pay for - to send you your bill.

[ What if I decided to ask them / PROHIBITED them from communicating with me in any way - via the on-line service that I pay them for ? EH ? ]
[ Dear BELL, You will communicate with me, the customer, ONLY with a written hard copy letter ? You will NOT email me. I do not wish to communicate with you in any way via email or on the internet - for personal reasons. Thanks. ]

What a bunch of Corporate Welfare Cases.

Don't even wanna send you the hard copy paper bill anymore.
Wanna charge you for it.

They figure it's should be *your* cost and expense to get your bill / and not theirs.

Hello BELL? Anybody home?

Because I thought YOUR COMPANY's BILLING WAS YOUR RESPONSIBILTY - not mine.

Oh ... and by the way ... I am expecting a TWO DOLLAR a MONTH reduction in my monthly service fee - to re-imburse me for the money your company will be now saving, for a service that you previously provided to ME, your customer, that you now wish to charge ME for.

Because you are POCKETING that savings now. Or else charging me now for your "cost of doing business".

Or perhaps ... I will now charge you FOUR DOLLARS a MONTH now, my personal service charge, for my time, and my trouble, and my use of my own on-line service, which I pay YOU for, to do your BILLING functions for YOU.
( since you're too cheap and lazy to do it yourself anymore )


Where the heck are we going with this nonsense ?

Cancellation is high on my mind for this BELL "service".

Talking to my Member of Parliament is high on my mind for the TD BANK stunt.
 
#14 ·
Yes it is a trend. Soon all companies will be doing this.

As for the TD Bank. It is not just the CEOs eh. It trickles down to the employees. A Teller canget $3000 or more as a Christmas bonus. And depending how long you have been with the bank and your position it is in the tens of thousands.

But that privilige e bill thing really pisses me off.
 
#15 ·
Canadian banks just posted another round of record profits. I got smart years ago and invested part of my RRSP in bank stocks. It's the best investment I ever made. The thing that pisses me off is that much of the extra money collected will probably go into the pockets of the CEOs that made the changes. Charging for statements is the type of no-brainer decision that looks good on a company's financial statement but impacts those who can afford it the least.

The thing that would concern me the most is the emailing of unencrypted bank statements. That opens the potential for collection of personal financial data by outside agencies. I receive an email that says the statement can be viewed by logging on to the bank's web site.
 
#16 ·
Let's please stay on topic here.

This has become standard practice for all companies, especially telecoms. Rogers, Telus, Virgin, Fido, Wind, Mobilicity, Koodo, Teksavvy, and Primus all charge for paper bills. Bell is actually late to the party here. It has nothing to do with profit, with the cost the cost of sending physical bills, Bell (or TD or any other company) will make somewhere between nothing and very, very little by charging for paper bills. Besides, they don't want to actually charge you for the paper bills, they want you to switch to ebilling.

ebilling is instantaneous, environmentally friendly, and cheap. There is no question that it saves the company money, but there are benefits for consumers too.

As far as I know, Shaw is the only major telecom not to charge for paper bills at this point.
 
#17 ·
Electronic statements/ bills are not only cheaper but also more accurate as they completely eliminate the physical part of the process which is where errors happen.
If the average consumer prints off their horrendously inefficient 6 page bill (which contains numerous colour logos and two pages of boiler plate text) on your typical inkjet printer, the cost to the consumer might be 20 to 25 cents a page which makes the cost to produce at least a $1.

Is ebilling cheaper for customers? NO.
Is it cheaper for the company? Yes.

Charging for an invoice is the height of monopolistic arrogance. Can you imagine if you went into a retail store and they said that it would cost an extra 50 cents to print, tear and handling the receipt but you can save if you go home and print it off on your printer?

At MacDonalds "For 99 cents would you like to upsize your fries and a receipt with that?"
 
#18 ·
It has nothing to do with profit, with the cost the cost of sending physical bills, Bell (or TD or any other company) will make somewhere between nothing and very, very little by charging for paper bills.
Sorry TC but it has everything to do with profits. The cost of printing, collating and mailing bills is very expensive.

By offloading the printing cost on the consumer, they save millions a month. IN essence, its a price hike without the government getting involved.

FWIW, I believe the practice (like system access fees) should be banned. Cutomers should have the option of SAVING $2 a month off of their POSTED rate.

If Bell or Rogers etc advertises $19.95 a month for a plan then that should be how much the consumer pays otherwise Bell should be required to advertise it as $21.95 per month.
 
#19 ·
Why would you print it, unless you actually need to submit it for something? Read it on your computer and make a backup to a USB drive, cloud storage, or another PC if you're concerned about keeping them safe.

I'll grant that it's the savings for the company that motivates them to eliminate paper bills. But a paper bill is not a part of your plan. Insisting that we have a right to paper bills suggests that companies have an obligation to send them just because they did in the past. I don't believe that's true anymore.
 
#21 ·
Folks,

IMHO this is about increased profitability. It has zero to do with going Green. It's another income stream thats not confined to Bell. Telus does it on my home phone, and Shaw does it on my Cable bill.

My perception of these companies dropped substantially due to this => especially when they make bullcrap statements about Customers coming first, and then Customer Service. It's all about taking more $$ from your pocket.

I find it a disgusting premise.
 
#23 ·
Bell charges $2.00 for paper bill

I am a Bell customer for years, internet,television,and phone services. I am being charged $2.00 for the privilidge of subscribing to the internet service. If I cancel the internet service, they will not charge me the $2.00 for the paper bill. I receive only one bill now for all three services. The agent told me this $2.00 charge was for envoirnmental reasons. If I cancel the internet service I will use less electricity and also help the envoirnment.
 
#25 ·
only slightly off topic...

My complaint with Bell is that you have to choose either paper OR ebill. I work from home so I expense my internet to my company. I have a reminder set up in Outlook so I remember to pull up the ebill, print it to PDF, and attach it to my monthly expense report. I prefer ebill, but the other half actually sits down and does the bills every month, and since he prefers paper bills, we were...well, not happy, but willing to shell out the $2 for paper, but then we lose ebill. So now when I do my expense report, I print out the one page ebill, and put it on the pile with our other bills. Still less paper than the mailed bill, and we save the $2.
 
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