Paying bills
By bdugas
@bdugas (3578)
United States
March 8, 2008 8:05am CST
I went into the office to pay my cell phone bill the other day, it was not late. I went there because I was having a problem with my phone and needed to let them know so they could fix it, the battery gets so hot you can hardly hold it. Haven't had it 2 months yet. After I gave him my money for the bill, he informed me if I chose to come to the office to pay my bill then there will be a charge for them taking the money over the counter. Excuse Me! I'm here to pay you and you are pentelizing me for bringing you the money and getting it there before it is late. He said too much time in processing paper work, so they want all bills either paid online or over the phone, with a debit or credit card. Or at a pay station that they have set up, now isn't it a shame that he had to take a few minutes to punch in a few numbers to show I had paid. What is wrong with people, they complain that the jobs are going away, this person said this was a waring the first time but I would pay an extra $5. if I came to the office again. You would think they would be happy you brought it to them and they didn't have to track you down for the payments. What happens to the people on fixed incomes and people that dont' have debit or credit cards. And I don't choose to use mine over the internet as I have been been through the debit card theif once and will not use it online again. To me this is rude and I should have the choice to pay as I please in whatever way I see fit, cable company is the same way if they dont' get it in a debit or credit card you are assesed a fee of $5, each time you pay. I think this is to just get more money out of you.What do you think, do you think these extra fees are right?
2 people like this
4 responses
@ctrymuziklvr (11057)
• United States
8 Mar 08
I'm almost not surprised! With technology the way it is today everyone wants to be paid online or by phone and they should realize not everyone has a pc and internet. My feeling is what the heck are those people behind the windows getting paid for any way?
1 person likes this
@bdugas (3578)
• United States
8 Mar 08
i can tell you what most are doing behind the counter that is working especially at night, I play canasta at yahoo and I have to wait on some people while they go wait on customers, soemtimes they will say oh i got a customer let him wait, bet the boss don't know that he is paying someone to play games on his computers on company time
@rocky777 (353)
• India
8 Mar 08
I don't really know if it is to get money out of us poor consumers, but I do know that $5 is a lot of money for a few minutes work. Does the phone company or cable company really pay $5 for 5 minutes work? For an 8 hour work day, that comes to $360 a day, or $1800 a week. I sure would love to work for your phone company!
@bdugas (3578)
• United States
8 Mar 08
yes and was told not long ago that it is about to go up, wouldn't you think they would just be grateful that you do business with them. So the poor don't have a chance, banks do not want to do business with people that only have enough money to pay their bills with so most don't have debit or credit cards, I used my debit card to pay a bill with the online banking and they withdrew over $2500. it was a 8 month fight with the bank to get it back, so don't use it anymore for that. I was told companies are trying to weed out the poor customer,what a shame this country has come to
@smacksman (6053)
•
26 Mar 08
Isn't it ironic that when credit cards first came out you were often charged an extra 2.5% if you wanted to pay by card. Now they sting you if you don't!
The company still has to pay that 2.5% on a credit card payment so let's see - 2.5% of $200 is $5 so if your bill is less than $200 they win all ways if they charge you over the counter.
What a cheek!
ps. Power companies are now charging an extra £4 in the UK if you pay by cheque each month and don't pay by a standing order (direct monthly deduction from your bank account) Hmmm.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
21 Mar 08
This sort of thing has happened to me before at a bank, and no I do not think those extra fees are right, nor would I ever pay one. Also, you will want to check your statement later on to make sure the rude clerk did not put the fee on your account after you left thinking you would not notice. That, too, happened to me once at the bank, and although they took the charges off when I complained, it was still annoying.
This is one reason I use TracFone which is prepaid and displays the remaining minutes and time left each time the phone powers up. It might not work for people who talk a lot on the phone, but for me it is perfect as I buy a card once a year and use what I need with no bills and no contract. We have used several phone companies before and they were all flaky.
There is no excuse for the kind of rudeness you encountered.
