T-Mobile to penalize tech-inept with BS paper billing fee
As fully immersed in technology as younger generations in the US are these days, we sometimes forget that there are still generations and demographics in this country who simply haven’t latched on to tech the way we have. The spunky bunch above who have gathered around a laptop to check out BGR simply aren’t representative of older generations and let us not forget the countless people in this country who cannot afford computers. The simple truth is that there are a magnitude of reasons why someone might not own, use or even know how to use a computer. Apparently however, T-Mobile thinks its poor and elderly postpaid subscribers should be penalized for being unwilling or unable to embrace a digital lifestyle.
According to Tmonews, starting September 12th T-Mobile will begin charging a mandatory fee to customers who have not opted into paperless billing. Notices to that effect will go out with this month’s bills. The fee will reportedly be $1.50 per line, so if you have a family plan with five lines you’re looking at an additional $7.50 each month. For nothing.
Forget the fact that T-Mobile’s online billing system is weak and confusing at best — the simple fact is that paperless billing isn’t for everyone. Carriers charge enough fees without piling on with garbage like this. Now, we’d love it if T-Mobile was doing something like this in an effort to be more environmentally conscious but it is blatantly obvious that this is not the case. If a carrier wanted to encourage subscribers to go paperless for “green” reasons, it would reward those who oblige by giving them a nominal discount, not penalize those who cannot or do not oblige for whatever reason.
If this new paper billing fee becomes a reality and you or someone you know is affected by it, we strongly urge you to contact T-Mobile and the FCC to voice your objections.
UPDATE: The author of the original post emailed us to let us know about a correction to his report. The $1.50 charge is apparently going to be per account, not per line. We still think this stinks — it’s just not quite as pungent now…
You can voice your opinion all you want – it is not illegal and is good business practice. It costs T-Mobile money to send out a monthly statement and therefore in an effort to get rid of this cost they are charging people who do not use online billing. You can say they should give a discount to people who use Paperless billing already but that is the same exact thing that they are doing. People do not realize weather you get charged more for being in one group or get a discount for being in a different group – they are the same exact thing except that the latter sounds better. What if they just raised their monthly charge and gave the discount back down to the original price to people who use paperless billing, would you agree to the charge then? Costs of everything that needs to be shipped are going up therefore their costs are going up – so should they raise everyone’s prices for the amount of money they spend on paper billing or just the people who use the paper billing?
It’s about time everyone else started charging… I support the push to go green… with the carrier I’m employed with we charge $0.49 for paper statements if you’re enrolled in online billing also… So IMO I think the fee is definitely something that’s good… now the cost of it… HMMMM that’s another thing… LOL
My company requires ORIGINAL invoices for reimbursement. Anything printed from a PC is considered suspect is not allowed. With online purchases, the packing slip must accompany the online invoice.
Every carrier in Canada (as far as I know) charges this fee, im kind of surprised its just hitting in the US now. Tmo will be the first but expect everyone else to follow suit shortly after
“If a carrier wanted to encourage subscribers to go paperless for “green” reasons, it would reward those who oblige by giving them a nominal discount, not penalize those who cannot or do not oblige for whatever reason.”
Aren’t those two things really the same? However way you decide to present it to the customer, the bottom line is that it will cost more to receive a paper bill.
What would make more sense here is to have something like $1.50 for each bill, rather than each line. So if a family has 5 phones on one account they would only be charged $1.50 for the one bill.
Of course, the catch here is that when something is said to be “free”, it really means “included in the price”. So until now, people who went paperless were still technically paying for the cost of receiving a paper bill.
This reminds me of the “0% financing” that stores advertise so often nowadays. There’s no such thing as 0% financing. You are paying the interest, it’s just hidden for you within the price. So if you pay cash upfront, it means you should get a discount of close to 10%. It’s too bad that people are too stupid to see this though.
There’s no such thing as “free”, people!!
it is $1.50 per BAN (Billing Account Number) not per subscriber. It is $3.49 per BAN for detailed billing as well.
of course it’s not illegal, its just stupid, T-Mobile has typically had good marketing in the past (though I still refuse to subscribe because their network has always lagged behind Verizon and AT&T in the NYC metro area where I live)
of course they can charge people extra for the convenience of paper billing, but they shouldve worded the announcement, plus if what I hear is true about a terrible online billing system, its just going to drive more and more customers into the arms of the Big 3 or regional carriers who dont take their customers for granted
FCC? haha tmobile is probably one of the most laxed wirless company out there. I have verizon, att and tmobile. Only with tmobile do i have the cheapest rates, best plan vs cost, and the one with the best customer service. They go out of their way to make the customer happy and to retain you for as long as possible. I have the tmobile grandfather 59.99 BIS plan, unlimited text, data and 1000 minutes. Seriously.best.ever.
What i mean is if they want to charge me 1.50 for it, even though i am young, I could care less.
The problem I have with this and the oter cariiers pushing paperless is that I receive nothing fom it. Now if they want to knock $5 off my bill every month or a good percentage, then maybe. Sprint use to do this some years back, one of the many perk I received from them and I thought highly of them for it. If you’re not going to reward the users, then who cares, as the article says, they already charge a ton of fees, I’m sure paper billing is hidden in there somewhere.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Detroit Lakes North America
Why do you hate tmobile so much zach?
> People do not realize weather you get charged more for being in one group or get a discount for being in a different group – they are the same exact thing except that the latter sounds better.
No, it’s not the same thing. Charging more for something increases the company’s bottom line. Giving a discount for something decreases the bottom line. If T-Mobile were to give a discount to those who choose electronic billing, their income would decrease.
That’s the way to reduce waste. Most paper bills are reviewed once and then sent straight to garbage. It wastes resources and pollutes environment – all in a name of ignorant who are not willing to learn.
It is definitely $1.50 per account (BAN) and was BGR talking about when tmo planted a tree for every person who went paperless. You might have helped the environment and saved some of these people a $1.50 as we come to present times. Tmo is still the best value and $1.50 doesn’t even put a dent in that fact. If you get a loyalty plan from them the value is even better.
Paper billing is like pay phones. They once had their place, but now are just a waste.
With the carrier I work for you’re only charged the paper bill fee if you sign up for online billing and do not cancel the paper statement, which is truly understandable… why continue to get a paper statement when you can view the same statement online… i personally prefer this method, because I will only trash the paper bill if it does come… I hate paper bills..
This BS! The reason why I don’t go paperless is because my mom tmobiles site is lacking when it comes to checking my bill. Plus my mom likes to actually have a bill in her hands where she can carefully of through everything. I could understand a $1.50 per account but per line is stupid. That means my bill is going to be going up an extra $4.50 because I like the convenience of getting a bill in the mail. So stupid.
Just wondering, is this grounds to end our contract early? Even know this is pissing me off, I don’t want too because they still offer the best plan for me. Just wondering for other people.
For the most part, I agree with Faruk: “penalizing” customers who don’t opt for paperless billing, and giving “discounts” to those that do, amounts to about the same thing. The only difference is that T-Mobile would have to raise rates $1.50 per line so as not to be at a loss for the paperless discounts.
Where a majority of customers aren’t “tech-inept”, though, it wouldn’t be worth it to announce an effectively non-existent price-hike in order to make the few truly “tech-inept” feel like they were’t being penalized. Thus, charging a fee for the paper statements is the better option.
The $1.50 charge is NOT for per line of service, but rather for PER ACCOUNT.
Do a search for a “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. That’s a good enough reason for a mandatory charge of $1 for a plastic bag and $1.50 per line. Those who don’t understand the implications of their convenience must be penalized.
How about if you are elderly over 65 you would get free regular bill mailed to your home, and if you want detailed billing you would pay $1.59.
Many senior citizens are scared of computers and this would help the environment and promote customer satisfaction.
If they didnt have to increase the price for paper billing in the past, why should they start if that was an option for this paperless billing fee. I think they should not bill extra for the paper billing, and agree on giving an incentive to people who choose paperless billing.
Simply stated this is stupid. If someone doesn’t have internet service, now they’re suppose to go sign up for service? Or some other means to use the internet? How ignorant!
I wish for all those who think it’s such a great idea, that your electric utility company would start charging you an extra $10.00 a month for not having a solar energy system in your home, apartment, condo, or whatever. They would charge you until you installed such a device, with the notion you weren’t being green enough. Man do I wish I owned your electric utility service!
Do this instead, MiniMe: search for “totalitarianism.” Your comment of “Those who don’t understand the implications of their convenience must be penalized” was very Stalin-esque. Congratulations, you are now a mini-enviro-dictator. Now move to Sweden.
As far as T-Mobile’s charge for a paper bill: I would cancel my contract immediately unless they provide three things: 1) a discount for going “paperless”, 2) a coherent online billing system, and 3) immediately acccessable .pdf archives of the last 7 years of my bills (for tax/audit purposes). Otherwise, blow wheels DT.
Jon,
I am completely in agreement with what you just said. Thank you for being the voice of reason here.