Happier diner Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 3 hours ago, mad_manx said: Most people especially the elderly are not aware that Manx Telecom charge around £4.20 a month for a paper bill !! Helped another friend save £4.20 a month by switching to e-billing . I suspect that many are blissfully unaware of this rip off fee. Why is it a rip off. Providing a paper bill these days has a cost. They don't insist on you having one. It's optional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad_manx Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 7 minutes ago, Happier diner said: Why is it a rip off. Providing a paper bill these days has a cost. They don't insist on you having one. It's optional. BT in the UK only charges those who have an Internet connection and still want to have paper bills As far as I know Manx telecom charges £4.20 per bill to even those with a fixed line and no Internet. That's where I feel it's a rip off.. I understand that there are costs but surely this is way too much Manx utilities for example gives a 50p discount if you opt for E billing ( so in effect a 50 p fee per paper bill ) which seems fair. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopek Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 1 hour ago, Happier diner said: Why is it a rip off. Providing a paper bill these days has a cost Do you think the programme for e.billing doesn't have a cost?,The website maintenance, the IT staff? are you being charged less for e billing or just not as much as paper billing???😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 1 hour ago, mad_manx said: BT in the UK only charges those who have an Internet connection and still want to have paper bills As far as I know Manx telecom charges £4.20 per bill to even those with a fixed line and no Internet. That's where I feel it's a rip off.. I understand that there are costs but surely this is way too much Manx utilities for example gives a 50p discount if you opt for E billing ( so in effect a 50 p fee per paper bill ) which seems fair. Postage, paper, envelope, printing, stuffing and despatching. Everything has a cost and 50p doesn't even cover the postage. If you wanted it brought by stagecoach, I suspect it would cost even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KERED Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 6 hours ago, woolley said: Postage, paper, envelope, printing, stuffing and despatching. Everything has a cost and 50p doesn't even cover the postage. If you wanted it brought by stagecoach, I suspect it would cost even more. I blame it all on the Pony Express meself: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad_manx Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 16 hours ago, woolley said: Postage, paper, envelope, printing, stuffing and despatching. Everything has a cost and 50p doesn't even cover the postage. If you wanted it brought by stagecoach, I suspect it would cost even more. My issue is that they are targeting the vulnerable . I.e elderly who only have a fixed line and no Internet As I mentioned in the earlier post BT for example do not charge for paper bills in such cases . Charging a fee is fair if you are an Internet subscriber as you then have a choice.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A fool and his money..... Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 (edited) I can tell you all you need to know about MT's attitude to vulnerable customers A few years ago we lived near an old lady who lived on her own. She had no family on the island, just a home help that came in a couple times a week. My wife looked in on her one day and found her upset that her phone wasn't working. I was duly dispatched after work to see if I could get it going - I couldn't. There was no mobile signal at her house so I phoned MT when I got home to report the fault. They wouldn't let me, citing data protection. I did point out to them that they printed and distributed her name, address and telephone number to every property on the island, but I wasn't the account holder and they wouldn't budge. So back to her house, loaded her into my car in the middle of winter and brought her to our house. Phoned MT again. Here's the thing - it was nothing to do with data protection - they wanted her to agree to a £120 call out charge if the fault was in the house! She did, I took her home. Three or four days went by and there was no sign of them, so I rang them up again, same performance, wouldn't speak to me, loaded her in the car again to our house, phoned them again. She was told the reason they hadn't fixed it yet was because she was on the lowest service level, however if she upgraded by paying more per month they would come out quicker. She had no option but to pay up, she agreed, they fixed it the next day without visiting the house, all good. Fast forward a couple of years, her phone went faulty again. I was wise to the reporting procedure by now so my wife phoned and pretended to be the old lady. It took them a week to fix it! I pointed out to them that she'd been paying for an increased SLA for two years, their response was to refund 1 month of payment! Basically they'd been ripping her off for two years, they had no intention of meeting the SLA, but knew as long as she didn't have a fault they could charge it anyway. They are no better than someone who would rob a little old lady in the street! Edited June 13 by A fool and his money..... 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A fool and his money..... Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 17 hours ago, woolley said: Postage, paper, envelope, printing, stuffing and despatching. Everything has a cost and 50p doesn't even cover the postage. If you wanted it brought by stagecoach, I suspect it would cost even more. There is indeed a cost involved. The question is, who's in the best position to meet that cost. The vulnerable old lady pensioner with no other option to access her bill, or the company that generates many millions of pounds in profits each year? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 I don't disagree where the customer has no option. I think where there is family they should lend a hand to access the bill online for the elderly person. It's not only faceless corporates that don't live up to their responsibilities to the vulnerable. Often their own families don't give a toss either. Kudos for sorting the old lady out by the way. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopek Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 3 hours ago, mad_manx said: harging a fee is fair if you are an Internet subscriber as you then have a choice.. I'm not sure it is 'fair'? Would you pay your Bank extra charges because you don't want an 'on line banking'? Would you agree to pay more income tax because you don't want to do on line returns??? Should you pay your kids school extra because they don't have on line access??? See where I'm going,........ Where does it end? When MTel had a shop in Vic St, 90's, they stopped taking cash payments! Why? Cheques were OK, they had to bank them and all the banks were within walking distance anyway. Is it just to 'bend' you to their desires??? 1984? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A fool and his money..... Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 2 hours ago, woolley said: I don't disagree where the customer has no option. I think where there is family they should lend a hand to access the bill online for the elderly person. It's not only faceless corporates that don't live up to their responsibilities to the vulnerable. Often their own families don't give a toss either. Kudos for sorting the old lady out by the way. Whether the family live up to their responsibilities or not, MT simply shouldn't, or shouldn't be allowed to rip people off (especially elderly and vulnerable) people in the way that they continue to do. The fact that they still do says a lot about where we are as a society. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 56 minutes ago, Kopek said: I'm not sure it is 'fair'? Would you pay your Bank extra charges because you don't want an 'on line banking'? Would you agree to pay more income tax because you don't want to do on line returns??? Should you pay your kids school extra because they don't have on line access??? See where I'm going,........ Where does it end? When MTel had a shop in Vic St, 90's, they stopped taking cash payments! Why? Cheques were OK, they had to bank them and all the banks were within walking distance anyway. Is it just to 'bend' you to their desires??? 1984? Pretty sure my bank said it would charge for paper statements, so having online banking, I went paperless. Whether they gave the same option to those who did not have online banking, I don't know. It is the way of the world. However, what should happen for essential services such as utilities and banking, is that vulnerable customers should be flagged as such and so not subjected to any charge for paper statements or invoices. Not sure how, in practice, that could be achieved, but there should be some thought applied. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad_manx Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 (edited) 30 minutes ago, Gladys said: Pretty sure my bank said it would charge for paper statements, so having online banking, I went paperless. Whether they gave the same option to those who did not have online banking, I don't know. It is the way of the world. However, what should happen for essential services such as utilities and banking, is that vulnerable customers should be flagged as such and so not subjected to any charge for paper statements or invoices. Not sure how, in practice, that could be achieved, but there should be some thought applied. If you are set up for online banking then it's perfectly reasonable to charge for paper statements. But many elderly folk are not set up for this. My relatives are with HSBC and barclays and neither charge for paper statements .. I think between gas and electric , one of them charge 50p for paper bills and the other doesn't.. Edited June 13 by mad_manx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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