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T-Mobile Backs Off Plan To Charge $1.50 For Paper Bills

Posted by timothy on from the just-send-me-a-pdf dept.

netbuzz writes "Following a torrent of customer complaints, bad publicity and the threat of a class-action lawsuit, T-Mobile has abandoned a plan announced this summer to charge any customer wanting a paper bill $1.50 per month. While the news is being cheered by many T-Mobile customers, it's not going to be as popular with others who praised the extra fee as an environmentally sound inducement to reduce paper use."

26 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. Just reduce the bill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They could do just the opposite and give people a $1.50 reduction in their bill if they opt-in to a paperless billing system.

    1. Re:Just reduce the bill by mrdoogee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I came here to say this. Why not encourage environmentally friendly behavior, instead of punishing for adhering to the status quo.

    2. Re:Just reduce the bill by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And they could claw back the lost revenue by adding $1.50 onto everybody's bill!

    3. Re:Just reduce the bill by theaveng · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I suggested a similar idea to a bunch of store-owners who were organizing to protest high credit card fees. They said the fees kept skyrocketing, and that meant increased prices, which would hurt the customers. I said if they want to help customers, encourage the shoppers to stop using credit cards by offering a 5% discount for cash payment.

      The store-owners looked at me as if I was nuts. You see they expected credit card companies to reduce fees, but heaven forbid the store owners reduce *their* fees to the customer. That's sacrilegious. Same with T-Mobile - heaven forbid they offer a discount for using paper. They want to collect MORE money not less.

      Aside-

      Discover Card gave me 5 dollars to go paperless. Eventually I decided I didn't like it because I kept forgetting to pay my bill (which ended-up costing me more than 5 dollars in late fees). So I went back to paper. Discover Card balked but when I said, "Give me paper or lose my business," they decided to give me paper statements again.

      --
      FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
    4. Re:Just reduce the bill by Smitty825 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd love to go to a paper-less billing system...except for one thing...

      Why can't the companies just email me a PDF of the bill I normally receive? It would contain the due-date of the bill and how much I owe. If I am splitting the bill with roommates, then it's easy to forward to each other. If I want to keep a record of what I've been charged for, then it's easy for me to store it, etc.

      Currently the way "paperless" billing works is that I receive an email from saying my bill is ready to be seen. I then have to go to their website, enter my username/password (because they've written some sort of Javascript to prevent the browser from remembering it for me), click 3 or 4 times to find my bill and then discover that all of the information is located on 3 or 4 different pages.

      To me, the hassle of receiving a paperless bill isn't worth it...

      --

      Doh!
    5. Re:Just reduce the bill by nine-times · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well what's the difference really? They could say that the bill is $50 and you have to pay an extra $1.50 for a paper bill, or they could say the bill is $51.50 and you get a $1.50 discount for not receiving paper bills. Same thing.

      But you're right in that it's smarter marketing to frame is as a discount rather than an additional charge.

    6. Re:Just reduce the bill by spitzak · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Stores don't do that because it hurts impulse buying. If a customer goes in the store with $20 and a credit card, and sees something desirable for $100, but $95 with cash, they are likely to say "well I will come back when I have the cash" and then forget about the purchase entirely. But if there is no price penalty for the credit card then they will probably use the credit card right away.

    7. Re:Just reduce the bill by azadrozny · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think there is a difference between one login/interface to your bank to pay all your bills, and having to login to the websites of 10+ bill payers to collect all the information I need to pay them. Some of my bills are paid only once or twice per year. I would rather not have to remember all the different logons and passwords for every company who wants to send me an electronic bill.

    8. Re:Just reduce the bill by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Just set up autopay and you get both benefits.

      Yes, you get the benefit of not having a paper record of your bill to use for tax or other purposes, not having a reminder that a bill is due, having the vendor suck the money out of your account before you even know there is a problem with the last bill, and the fun of trying to get the money back when you prove they overcharged you for something.

      Like Comcast, which offered me a "delivered, no cost digital self-install kit" and then went ahead and charged me $10 for it anyway.

      Thanks, I think I'll keep the bill and pay after I see it is correct.

    9. Re:Just reduce the bill by CodeBuster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why can't the companies just email me a PDF of the bill I normally receive?

      If you had ever worked in web application development or computer security then you wouldn't be asking that question. Can you say phising? There are reasons why online banking and other financial institutions, for example, never use e-mail for account correspondence other than to inform you that your statement is ready for viewing without providing any links . The public Internet exists in a constant state of open warfare and any transaction involving money or billing is bound to be targeted by the bad guys. Could it be made secure? Possibly, but NOT in such a way that average users would (a) be able to set it up OR (b) be able to understand and use it properly.

    10. Re:Just reduce the bill by whoever57 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They could do just the opposite and give people a $1.50 reduction in their bill if they opt-in to a paperless billing system.

      For me, it's not worth $1.50 to have to deal with T-Mobile's website. It is the most appalling and annoying site that I have visited for quite a while. Features that used to be there no longer exist and, because of all the scripts and flash, it takes forever to navigate. I'm sure someone at T-Mobile likes the way it "looks", but it is the ultimate example of form before function.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    11. Re:Just reduce the bill by bzipitidoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Going automatic is a scary proposition, fraught with traps. Some fraudulent charge could land on my credit card and be automatically paid before I learn of it. Getting the money back is only one problem. If the charge is big enough, it could overdraw the bank account, and wouldn't the bank love that? Have fun arguing with the bank over the many penalty fees they'll gleefully charge as check after check bounces. Of course, not going automatic means I'm constantly flirting with exorbitant late fees as they play their little games to try to manipulate me into missing the due date. A popular one is to make the monthly due date creep forward, bouncing around a bit to make it less obvious. Over a year, I've had the due date creep from the 15th to the 6th of the month. I dumped that credit card. There's doing without any credit card, but that too is awkward.

      Some problems I've had with going paperless is it breaks down, and they don't email an actual statement but instead a mere notification that a new statement is ready for viewing on their website. Lot of rigamarole logging into email, finding the email, then logging into the website and finding the statement. Then it breaks down as sooner or later, I get a notice by snail mail saying they were unable to deliver the latest notification by email and are permanently switching me back to paper. Gets real old setting up paperless again and again.

      --
      Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
  2. i like paper bills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I personally like paper bills... It helps me keep track of when I've PAID those bills...

    1. Re:i like paper bills by azadrozny · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I use banking software, however I rely on those paper statements to tell me when exactly the bill is due, and how much. In the past I have opted into electronic statements, but there is no uniformity in how the statements are delivered. Sometimes I get a PDF emailed to me, but often just an email saying the bill is due, then I must login to find the date and amount. This is too inconsistent. I am waiting for the day when I can use my banking software to download a detailed statement from a single application, and then mark it for payment.

  3. discount by lapsed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I doubt that they would have gotten the same reaction if they had offered a $1.50 discount to customers agreeing to receive electronic bills.

  4. So... by ground.zero.612 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When I read things like this I often wonder if the people promoting these environmentally friendly business processes are actually not that environmentally friendly and instead simply motivated by greed. The problem I see is that average (you know, 100 IQ etc.) people are too stupid to realize the business hippy just wants more of their money, and have discovered that using politically correct buzzwords has a calming and mesmerizing effect on the cattle...

    --
    "Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
  5. Paper bills = accountability by stillnotelf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While I understand the environmental argument, paper bills make for accountability. With online-only billing, you have no way to resolve certain account disputes, because they hold all the data! I'm not putting on my tinfoil hat and saying they'll deliberately screw up the records and double bill you - but mistakes do happen. Having a paper trail is the best way to protect yourself from mistakes. Also, consider this: what happens to your account when you close it? How can you prove that you had the account once it's closed if it's online-only? With a paper trail, you can prove it! (This applies more to banks than cell phones...)

    1. Re:Paper bills = accountability by Sandbags · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I agree. For anything interest bearing, anytime I have a billing dispute, for purchase records, and more, I print most of my bills anyway. I keep all copies in file for 5-7 years after the account is closed. (only 3 years for my utilities regular bills).

      Many companies have tried to make me switch to electronic invoices. I only accept where they automatically send a complete invoice as a non-editable file that can be saved (and printed) seperate from e-mail (aka, not embeded HTML), i do not accept from companies that send me a "reminder" as I'll NEVER go there just to print the bill... and why should I at my time and my expense if I'm not getting discounted for the trouble?

      CUT DOWN THE TREES, they're a 100% renewable resource, reduce CO2, and I don't even want to HEAR about landfill space (we have a national shortage of landfills with a multi-hundred year waiting list, and could use as much trash as we can generate that's non-toxic...)

      --
      There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
  6. Dear T-Mobile... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Give a "$1.50 a month Discount" to all customers asking to not have a paper bill sent.

    This goes over very well if you give a discount instead of trying to boost your profit margin.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  7. I hate the lies by Lord+Byron+II · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Companies always pass it off as being "green", but that's not the real reason. T-mobile stores are still overly-lit, selling merchandise that's over-packaged, and handing out paper fliers.

    The truth is that its expensive to print bills. And I don't blame them for wanting to get rid of them, but if you're going to save money, then pass a little of it on to me.

    My bank just paid me $5 to go to e-bills and for me, that was enough.

    Carrot vs. Stick

  8. Signed PDF? by ubergeek65536 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why not allow customers to download or get emailed a digitally signed pdf copy of the statement or bill.

  9. If they could just get it right... by onceuponatime · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I hate that. But only because they get it wrong. O2 do that with the iphone accounts and you cannot get them to change it. I used my iphone for business and have to save the bills so I left them. I wouldn't have a problem if they simply gave you the option to receive the bills as pdf's via email, so the amount of work I have to save them is to just push a button. That would then be preferable to paper bills, however, forcing you to login and navigate their website and download them and if you forget one month do more work is just too much trouble to stay with the provider, so I left them for a provider which did provide paper bills.

    Why can't they just get it right? It's not rocket science.

  10. The farm trees for paper, like they farm wheat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I never understood the "save a tree" crap.
    They farm trees for paper, the same way they farm wheat for bread.
    If I don't eat a slice of bread no one commends me for saving a stalk of wheat.

    Yeah, I know there are other things that are environmental problems besides growing the trees, but it was "saving the trees" that was the root cause of this "don't use paper" admonition.

    Environmentalism causes a lot of superstitious behaviour.

  11. Re:A paper bill is a legal document. by KharmaWidow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The exact reason I get paper bills. I deduct for home business, I need records. Plus, when you go paperless you have to go to their site and manually download the bill. It would be a different story if they emailed a secure PDF to you.

  12. We're not talking about the rights of the company. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We're not talking about the rights of the company. We are talking about the rights of the account holder.

    If you don't have a paper bill, it may be in some cases difficult to assert any rights you have concerning mistakes in the bill.

  13. Re:In practice, there are problems. by SeximusMaximus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are you really denying that people are not able to submit their electronic bills as evidence in cases. You are sorely mistaken is your are claiming that. Electronic records are just as, if not more, vital than purely paper records. E-discovery laws have been added to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, I have shown you the sections of the FRE - but perhaps you would feel better if we all argued in incorrect 'truisms'.