Bell now charging for paper bill

[Mark 47]

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.

[99semaj]

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.

[pillcutter]

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.

[d2e8b8]

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.

[Mark 47]

I agree with everything you stated d2e8b8...It is Bell's approach to the issue that I have a problem with.

[sevenGLR]

Solo's charging $2.00 for a paper bill.

[spensar]

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.

[outinthornhill]

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.

[smootherator]

i don't know why people insist on giving them money lol...bell doesnt get one cent from me...its so liberating lol

[Francois Caron]

The timing of this is hilarious! I've just paid my final Bell bill this week! Had to pay an ETF of $220 to get rid of them (had 11 months left on my contract), but I feel so liberated now. This latest issue just reinforces the wisdom of dumping them immediately.

[dstb]

I have third party internet and pots service with Rogers and I have been getting a paper bill from Bell for three years with $0 balance owning.I have tried to get them to cancel it with no luck.What a waste of paper.

[Skillkeeper]

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.

[mrvanwinkles]

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.

[rogue17]

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.

[ScaryBob]

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.