Has this happened to you? In looking over a recent invoice from an Internet service provider, I noticed that there were two charges for $1 each that seemed to have nothing to do with the actual service. One was called “paper invoice” and the other “non-automated payment.” I happened to be in just the right mood to call the 1-800 customer service number, suffer the “please listen carefully as our menu options have changed” routine, and then be connected to a call center in India. You’re on hold just long enough to contemplate what the unemployment figures might be if the American company you're calling about hadn’t exported these jobs to India.
It was 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in Maine, so it was 6:15 p.m. in India. After an exchange of pleasantries including, “How is your day going so far, sir?” designed to defuse whatever phone rage is about to be unleashed, she and I eventually got down to business. My business was to ask whether the two $1 charges on my bill were what they appeared to be: attempts to pass on to me the cost of sending me an invoice. And they were.
Rather than unleash a rant that would unfairly funnel many of life’s other pent-up frustrations into the ear of a customer-service innocent, I simply said, “That’s ridiculous,” and as soon as I said that, she said those fees would be removed from my bill. There was no argument, no discussion, just, “OK,” and now I don’t have to pay it. When I also said that, if in the future, those fees again showed up on my bills I still had no intention of paying them, the answer was, “OK, that portion of your bill will be removed, sir.”
So, the squeaky wheel does in fact get the grease. I couldn’t help but wonder how many other companies are charging me for the cost of sending me a bill and getting away with it. Pouring over the minutia on any invoice is low-quality time, but that’s exactly how they get away with the brazen act of charging you for charging you. I looked back over some past bills only to find that I had been paying this punitive fee (which punishes me for bringing my business to them) for months. One phone call ended the madness.
It was 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in Maine, so it was 6:15 p.m. in India. After an exchange of pleasantries including, “How is your day going so far, sir?” designed to defuse whatever phone rage is about to be unleashed, she and I eventually got down to business. My business was to ask whether the two $1 charges on my bill were what they appeared to be: attempts to pass on to me the cost of sending me an invoice. And they were.
Rather than unleash a rant that would unfairly funnel many of life’s other pent-up frustrations into the ear of a customer-service innocent, I simply said, “That’s ridiculous,” and as soon as I said that, she said those fees would be removed from my bill. There was no argument, no discussion, just, “OK,” and now I don’t have to pay it. When I also said that, if in the future, those fees again showed up on my bills I still had no intention of paying them, the answer was, “OK, that portion of your bill will be removed, sir.”
So, the squeaky wheel does in fact get the grease. I couldn’t help but wonder how many other companies are charging me for the cost of sending me a bill and getting away with it. Pouring over the minutia on any invoice is low-quality time, but that’s exactly how they get away with the brazen act of charging you for charging you. I looked back over some past bills only to find that I had been paying this punitive fee (which punishes me for bringing my business to them) for months. One phone call ended the madness.
My car loan from Chase Auto Group has a $5.00 convenience fee for paying the bill online... makes me scratch my head and think about who is the convenience going to? me or chase auto group?
So instead of writing a check and paying stamp to send the check in the mail - i would rather pay a $5.00 fee not to pay the cost of the stamp?
mean while it costs Chase Auto Group more money to process my check manually by me sending the payment via snail-mail instead of electronically... where there is no human interaction what so ever! after reading my loan contract many times i have found out that I can make up to four payments a month to meet my minimum payment... so out of spite I write four different checks a month and mail it to Chase Auto Group... it cost me almost $2.00, however it makes me smile because i know it cost them more to process my checks.
Posted by: Joel W | 01/12/2011 at 10:20 PM