Telecom to add credit card surcharge

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom to add credit card surcharge

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NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#834390 11-Jun-2013 18:59

richms: I have tried paying in the past with a printed bill, and since my inkjet was half blocked and there were lines on the barcode it wouldnt scan and they basically refused to take my money.

They pay more of a % for a post shop payment than a credit card so its strange that postshop and posted bill remains free. Im off telecom now since their whole billing system is retarded and it would take a hell of a lot to get me back with them and their arcane practices and systems.

My guess would be the pr risk of charging for post shop is too high.

With post shop, there are probably a bunch of old biddies who only ever use cash and so charging them for the privilege of paying via post shop hen they can't pay any other way because they don't have a bank account or use the Internet or something, would generate a lot of negative pr.

With the way it currently stands by charging for credit card then people who complain about it aren't that big a deal since it is super easy to pay via online banking or direct debit which does not incur a charge and isnt really any less convenient than redit card, apart from you wont accrue hotpoints or whatever.
That is why I just don't understand the big deal over the whole thing. Why not just change to one of those two methods and avoid the fee?

No doubt if telecoms standard pricing was $2 higher but they offered a $2 discount for paying via direct debit or post shop there wouldn't be this outrage, despite the effect being absolutely identical in every way.

mattwnz

20173 posts

Uber Geek

#834393 11-Jun-2013 19:04

I just wonder if the admin to handle direct credits and cash aren't going to outweigh any savings they will make. I know myself that getting people to pay by direct credit can sometimes be difficult, whereas if you have their credit card on record and can be done automatically, it is far more simple. But I guess they have done their sums.

jamespeng

12 posts

Geek

#853357 10-Jul-2013 14:52

NonprayingMantis:
richms: I have tried paying in the past with a printed bill, and since my inkjet was half blocked and there were lines on the barcode it wouldnt scan and they basically refused to take my money.

They pay more of a % for a post shop payment than a credit card so its strange that postshop and posted bill remains free. Im off telecom now since their whole billing system is retarded and it would take a hell of a lot to get me back with them and their arcane practices and systems.

My guess would be the pr risk of charging for post shop is too high.

With post shop, there are probably a bunch of old biddies who only ever use cash and so charging them for the privilege of paying via post shop hen they can't pay any other way because they don't have a bank account or use the Internet or something, would generate a lot of negative pr.

With the way it currently stands by charging for credit card then people who complain about it aren't that big a deal since it is super easy to pay via online banking or direct debit which does not incur a charge and isnt really any less convenient than redit card, apart from you wont accrue hotpoints or whatever.
That is why I just don't understand the big deal over the whole thing. Why not just change to one of those two methods and avoid the fee?

No doubt if telecoms standard pricing was $2 higher but they offered a $2 discount for paying via direct debit or post shop there wouldn't be this outrage, despite the effect being absolutely identical in every way.

it is super easy to pay via online banking or direct debit which does not incur a charge

You are wrong, there might be an even bigger charge if you do it this way. I don't like direct debit from my bank account because I keep all my money in a savings account and only leave a little bit in the everyday account to maximise the interest earning. If you haven't got enough credit in your everyday account and the direct debit makes your account into overdraft, you will be charged a big fee from the bank. I think that is why some people don't like it either. You will never have this kind of problem with the credit card direct debit.

jamespeng

12 posts

Geek

#853361 10-Jul-2013 14:57

rugrat: I pay by credit card automatic payment. Had no letter from telecom.

If they charge for credit card I will pay by cash, I don't believe they can charge for cash, as it's the law that cash must be accepted for all debt repayments. Will cost them a lot more handling cash then credit card charges.

Also currently getting bill by email, will change it back to paper.

I will do the same, also change to another ISP when my contract ends.

I have both telecom and telstraclear broadband accounts at the moment. I think telstraclear's billing system is much better, you can easily set up a credit card direct debit online on their website. Not like telecom, you will have to wait for half a day on the phone and set it up manually with the operator.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#853363 10-Jul-2013 15:00

jamespeng:
rugrat: I pay by credit card automatic payment. Had no letter from telecom.

If they charge for credit card I will pay by cash, I don't believe they can charge for cash, as it's the law that cash must be accepted for all debt repayments. Will cost them a lot more handling cash then credit card charges.

Also currently getting bill by email, will change it back to paper.

I will do the same, also change to another ISP when my contract ends.

I have both telecom and telstraclear broadband accounts at the moment. I think telstraclear's billing system is much better, you can easily set up a credit card direct debit online on their website. Not like telecom, you will have to wait for half a day on the phone and set it up manually with the operator.

Telstraclear don't exist anymore

richms

28198 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#853455 10-Jul-2013 17:26

jamespeng:
You are wrong, there might be an even bigger charge if you do it this way. I don't like direct debit from my bank account because I keep all my money in a savings account and only leave a little bit in the everyday account to maximise the interest earning. If you haven't got enough credit in your everyday account and the direct debit makes your account into overdraft, you will be charged a big fee from the bank. I think that is why some people don't like it either. You will never have this kind of problem with the credit card direct debit.

The only problem with that is you dont get a fee, but telecom dont tell you that it has not gone thru on your credit card and instead leave it so that they can charge you for late payments rather than doing something sensible like SMS or email, or even just trying the card again.

you also have to call them up to set up or change the card details, which is insane for an internet company.

Richard rich.ms

jamespeng

12 posts

Geek

#853474 10-Jul-2013 17:54

NonprayingMantis:
jamespeng:
rugrat: I pay by credit card automatic payment. Had no letter from telecom.

If they charge for credit card I will pay by cash, I don't believe they can charge for cash, as it's the law that cash must be accepted for all debt repayments. Will cost them a lot more handling cash then credit card charges.

Also currently getting bill by email, will change it back to paper.

I will do the same, also change to another ISP when my contract ends.

I have both telecom and telstraclear broadband accounts at the moment. I think telstraclear's billing system is much better, you can easily set up a credit card direct debit online on their website. Not like telecom, you will have to wait for half a day on the phone and set it up manually with the operator.

Telstraclear don't exist anymore

They don't exist but their payment system does. it is still the old telstraclear payment system for old telstraclear customers, I just set up the automatic credit card payment the other day online at "www.telstraclear.co.nz/"(although it looks like a Vodafone website). I don't know how Vodafone's system works. but I do like the old telstraclear payment system.

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kiwirock

685 posts

Ultimate Geek

#853639 10-Jul-2013 23:49

I thought there was something on TV a long time ago (I'm talking 5-10 years ago) about banks not letting merchants charge a surcharge, with VISA anyway?

I remember a few companies I used to use VISA with at the start of the century had to switch to raising the price of their goods, and offer a discount for cash/direct credit to get around the surcharge policies with VISA.

Cheers,
Gavin.

mattwnz

20173 posts

Uber Geek

#853640 10-Jul-2013 23:52

I changed quite recently, they are now allowed to. I don't think the CC companies like it, but they are the ones that charge the fee in the first place.

I don't mind the fee, but only as long as there is an alternative way to pay, such as direct credit. If there isn't, then I don't think it should be allowed.

BazNZ

258 posts

Ultimate Geek

#854090 11-Jul-2013 21:03

I'm going to the Post Shop to pay my Telecom bill....using my credit card!

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