People should die for this

[lupi]

So in our enlightened age of Internet and knowledge and convenience for all, i've now got a second utility bill I can no longer pay online without forking over an additional $3 processing fee. Now when I saw these for CC only payments, that's OK cause i'll just use a bank draft.

Now these fool are even charging for a bank draft unless you sign up for autopay. Well tricks on you idiot. I'll just be joining the ranks of others now dropping the $.49 instead of $3 and your processing cost get to go up cause you seem to want to have those extra letters come in.

City council want to do something useful, outlaw these stupid fees for bank drafts would be a good start.

 

[Chiropteran]

My condo's water bill is like this. Can't pay it online without paying some stupid convenience fee. I'm convinced that the company handling the water is owned by a friend of someone on the condo board, and they are splitting the profits.

 

[Sonikku]

lol, "convenience fee". While we're at it let us charge them a $3 convenience fee too because it costs them less to process than handling snail mail. Better yet, let's just call it even and omit the fee altogether.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Agreed these are just like businesses that charge regulatory fees. These aren't taxes or surcharges they are fees to protect their margins. If the need to take in more money they should raise the rate.
This reminds me how its cheaper to mail a paper tax return than electronic file. Bugs the hell out of me I bet the paper filers cost 20x as much to process.

 

[Sonikku]

Time Warner is big on the fees bug too. They aren't obligated to advertise the cost of the fees when advertising their service so you can find yourself paying upwards of nearly half of your bill in just fees alone depending on the package and how long you've been a customer. (they feel entitled to charge you a little more for the same internet package every year for example) They make a damn business model out of it.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Just sign up for bill pay on your bank's website. If the receiver isn't in their system they're mailed a physical check.

It's genius. You do everything online, your bank does all the effort, and the utility gets a check that they didn't really want to pay to process in the first place.

 

[Homerboy]

Just sign up for bill pay on your bank's website. If the receiver isn't in their system they're mailed a physical check.

It's genius. You do everything online, your banks does all the effort, and the utility gets a check that they didn't really want to pay to process in the first place.

Bingo.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The thing that gets me is the "convenience fee" for movie tickets. Even though I print the ticket. And it isn't any extra work for them.

It has gotten to the point that I have given up seeing movies opening weekend so that way I can walk up and buy a ticket without the fee.

 

[zinfamous]

Just sign up for bill pay on your bank's website. If the receiver isn't in their system they're mailed a physical check.

It's genius. You do everything online, your banks does all the effort, and the utility gets a check that they didn't really want to pay to process in the first place.

This is what I do. Though I never knew there was this fee if paying directly to companies?

 

[Jeff7]

Ah yes, another "Because we can" fee that really should have a little middle finger emoticon shown next to it on the bill.


Most businesses would try to encourage you to avoid paying by physical means due to the processing costs.

Just sign up for bill pay on your bank's website. If the receiver isn't in their system they're mailed a physical check.

It's genius. You do everything online, your banks does all the effort, and the utility gets a check that they didn't really want to pay to process in the first place.

Yup, might as well do this.

 

[QueBert]

Processing isn't free, most places pay a monthly fee + 1.5-2.5% + a set per transaction fee. My insurance company charges $5 to pay online. If my insurance was $250 a month, they would be paying close to, if not more for the processing then they're charging me. Not a bad deal imho. Banks don't do shit for free, so are companies that offer online paying suppose to take it in the ass and lose money or something? The alternative is to bump up the prices for everyone to cover the extra money they pay so they can offer online bill pay.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Processing isn't free, most places pay a monthly fee + 1.5-2.5% + a set per transaction fee. My insurance company charges $5 to pay online. If my insurance was $250 a month, they would be paying more for the processing then they're charging me. Not a bad deal imho. Banks don't do shit for free, so are companies that offer online paying suppose to take it in the ass and lose money or something? The alternative is to bump up the prices for everyone to cover the extra money they pay so they can offer online bill pay.

Everything in business costs money. That does not mean it is appropriate to charge for it 'below the line'.

You don't pick up bananas at the grocery store for $0.57/lb, and then get charged an extra $0.10/lb "shelf stocking fee" at the checkout.

Fees like the one in the OP should be illegal. You are free to price however you like, but the full cost should be represented honestly as the advertised price.

A similar problem exists for "introductory offers" that obscure or flat-out do not show the actual cost, especially when a term commitment is involved.

 

[dullard]

Just sign up for bill pay on your bank's website. If the receiver isn't in their system they're mailed a physical check.

It's genius. You do everything online, your bank does all the effort, and the utility gets a check that they didn't really want to pay to process in the first place.

Exactly. Why not have your bank mail it and save you the $0.49 stamp cost?

Or, heck there is nothing that can go wrong with autopay, unless you decide not to open your bills any more (and that would be a moronic move). You get ~20 days to dispute it or cancel autopay before it is actually withdrawn. So, if there is an issue, cancel the autopay when you see the erroneous bill.

 

[BurnItDwn]

My condo's water bill is like this. Can't pay it online without paying some stupid convenience fee. I'm convinced that the company handling the water is owned by a friend of someone on the condo board, and they are splitting the profits.

They started doing this for my city water bill as well. I just pay like 6x as much as my monthly bill, and then they owe me negative money, they dont like when I do this, but, then I only have to pay twice a year and eat the fees twice, all while pissing off their accounting people.

 

[lupi]

Looks like the bank does have an easy billpay option to do this. Never checked before though as I never had need to, they all always accepted free bank ETF even if they did charge for a CC payment.

And in this "battle", the couple checks I did send in allowed me to comment on their new policy on the memo line of the check, can't do that with billpay.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah I think it's retarded how behind most utilities are. When I changed my bank, I'd say about 80% of them required me to mail a void cheque. WTF? Why can't I do this shit online or through the phone or something?

On subject of ebilling, why can't they just send the bills in my email instead of having to sign into a separate interface for each and every utility? Security my ass, an email mailbox is more secure than a mailbox sitting outside that anybody can access. Stop it with this whole thing of having to sign up for ebilling and having to login to a system, just send it to my email.

I rarely look at my bills anyway, I just check what comes out of the bank and only go check if something does not seem right.

 

[cbrunny]

murder seems a bit harsh for an unnecessary $3 fee.

On all other points, I agree completely.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I think it's pretty sad for a creature to think that people should DIE for a little bit of inconvenience.

But that's just me

 

[QueBert]

Everything in business costs money. That does not mean it is appropriate to charge for it 'below the line'.

You don't pick up bananas at the grocery store for $0.57/lb, and then get charged an extra $0.10/lb "shelf stocking fee" at the checkout.

Fees like the one in the OP should be illegal. You are free to price however you like, but the full cost should be represented honestly as the advertised price.

A similar problem exists for "introductory offers" that obscure or flat-out do not show the actual cost, especially when a term commitment is involved.

Stores work costs like rent, electricity and those kinda of overheads into the price. They don't have to offer credit card processing, shit like rent and electricity are not optional. I don't want a store to up their prices to incorporate CC processing fees when I don't ever use a credit card. I LOVE that a lot of gas stations and a lot of other places add fee's if you use a card, I use cash only so those fee's keep me from having to take it in the ass. My favorite doughnut store up the street was cash only until recently. They take cards now, and as a result I have to pay more for my doughnuts because they decided to hike the prices instead of charging fuckers who want to swipe for a doughnut or 2 an extra quarter.

 

[Chiropteran]

Do you think receiving a paper bill & check in the mail is free? They pay people to open and go through the mail, stamp and deposit the checks, update account numbers, etc. Nothing was ever free. The costs were already baked into the service for personnel required to handle paper checks, accepting online bill payments actually saves them money compared to hiring people, but they have the nerve to charge a convenience fee.

I don't want a store to up their prices to incorporate CC processing fees when I don't ever use a credit card.

Did you even read the thread before you wrote your rant? The complaint is charging of a convenience fee even for bank draft payments, no credit card processing required. There is no way this actually costs the business more money than hiring someone to manually open paper bills and file accordingly, yet they charge a fee anyway, because they can.

 

[OutHouse]

these fool are even charging for a bank draft unless you sign up for autopay.

fuck that. I will never ever sign up for autopay anything and getting a penalty for not doing so should be illegal. nobody or business will ever get access to my accounts to pull out money.

 

[Sureclire]

Reminds me of the old Ticket Master days.

 

[Homerboy]

Reminds me of the old Ticket Master days.

Old? They still milk the hell out of you when buying tickets online.
Hell I just bought a gift certificate for the Milwaukee Brewers online -- cost me $8 in fees? WTF?!?!

 

[3chordcharlie]

Stores work costs like rent, electricity and those kinda of overheads into the price. They don't have to offer credit card processing, shit like rent and electricity are not optional. I don't want a store to up their prices to incorporate CC processing fees when I don't ever use a credit card. I LOVE that a lot of gas stations and a lot of other places add fee's if you use a card, I use cash only so those fee's keep me from having to take it in the ass. My favorite doughnut store up the street was cash only until recently. They take cards now, and as a result I have to pay more for my doughnuts because they decided to hike the prices instead of charging fuckers who want to swipe for a doughnut or 2 an extra quarter.

This thread is not about CC fees, which are generally forbidden by merchant agreements anyway.

In all honesty though, I have no real issue with reasonable/actual CC fees being charged to the customer so long as there is an alternative method of payment available (cash/debit/cheque).

The cost of actually processing any electronic payment is not my problem, any more than the cost of going to the bank to cash a cheque is.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Processing isn't free, most places pay a monthly fee + 1.5-2.5% + a set per transaction fee.

That explains the reason behind why someone with one-time payments, like the DMV or county clerk would charge a processing fee. It wouldn't explain a difference between charging for a one-time payment and not charging for autopay.

I think the reason for the difference is risk and the additional costs associated with accounts that are paid manually.

Accounts on autopay are paid the same day every month and undoubtedly have a very high transaction success rate. Anyone who sets up autopay and doesn't always have the money (or a line of credit) will soon run into all kinds of issues. Accounts paid manually, when you look at all accounts, aren't handled nearly as smoothly and they cost the utility time and money.