Speculation that telecom are to charge for paper bills ??

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Speculation that telecom are to charge for paper bills ??

wellygary

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#136183 18-Nov-2013 09:53

Can anyone from T/com confirm or deny this throw away line in the Herald this morning?

"Still, in the week that Telecom announces it is no longer posting out paper bills unless you pay a penalty charge, why does this sort of "service" surprise me."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11158632

I remember that V/fone tried this a couple of years ago and it ended badly,

I would be surprised if T/com were going to attempt it again given their much larger customer base (and large number of "genteel" land line subscribers)

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surfisup1000

5079 posts

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#936473 18-Nov-2013 10:02

Ahhhh , yes, the vodafone debacle. They stopped sending out bills and due to a mistake by vodafone they did not process my CC payment despite having authority over my new card.

I didn't receive a bill or notification of any problem until vodafone disconnected my phone. It was a very bad move by VF.

The telecom thing is a bit different as they are sending out e-bills i think.

Inphinity

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#936486 18-Nov-2013 10:24

People still get printed bills sent out?

Side note, note sure what a herald article about AT Hop cards has to do with the topic...

wellygary

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#936488 18-Nov-2013 10:27

Inphinity: People still get printed bills sent out?

Side note, note sure what a herald article about AT Hop cards has to do with the topic...

I'm not sure either, but the Telecom bill thing was a throw away line by Rudman in the last para..

EDIT: the quote has now been redacted from the Herald column,

The Article used to finish with the following Para, which has now been removed, hmm maybe rudman got the wrong end of some rumor somewhere and has now been "re-educated" by Telecom corporate....

"Topping up will be a problem too for those without a computer or credit card. Those with both can do it online. That's if the website settles down. But for the poor and the elderly - the ones most likely to lack either a credit card or computer - there are just those 16 shops or stations for a cash transaction.

For Westies there's just one - the New Lynn Transport station, while the whole of South Auckland, just two are listed - the Papakura Train station or Manukau Institute of Technology, Otara.

Still, in the week that Telecom announces it is no longer posting out paper bills unless you pay a penalty charge, why does this sort of "service" surprise me.

surfisup1000

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#936505 18-Nov-2013 11:05

Inphinity: People still get printed bills sent out?

Side note, note sure what a herald article about AT Hop cards has to do with the topic...

Postage bills are handy for small /home office businesses. I guess you can print the emails though, but emails can be lost in the multitude of daily junk.

Behodar

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#936510 18-Nov-2013 11:12

There is no charge at the moment but there may be in the future.

"If for any reason you need a paper bill, we can arrange that for you. Simply call our team on 0800 803 892 to get it sorted. But please note that there may be a charge for this service in the future and you won’t be able to keep using MyTelecom if you choose a paper bill."

Personally I prefer the paper bill but I'm sure that I'll cope!

MikeB4

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#936512 18-Nov-2013 11:15

I much prefer electronic accounts, way easier to store and manage and recall. Also better for the environment.

old3eyes

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#936569 18-Nov-2013 12:27

The only paper bills I get now are the ASB back statements and Visa bill. I guess the day will come when they go electronic as well. I always have in the back of my mind "what if the email never gets thru"

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#936609 18-Nov-2013 13:24

fine by me ...

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

NonprayingMantis

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#936614 18-Nov-2013 13:28

I hate paper bills. If anything, I would pay to avoid them, not to get them.

mattwnz

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#936619 18-Nov-2013 13:35

There are a number of problems with not receiving paper bills. Firstly you usually need to print them out anyway for tax or business reasons, and they are usually multiple pages. So not only do you need to print them out on your own paper and ink, unless you have a duplex printer, you are using wasting more paper than a bill in the mail would use, which would normally be double sided. So it is shifting the cost onto the consumer, as I am sure they are not reducing their fees they charge you.
Also it further erodes NZ Posts customer base, as I am sure that bills are a large part of the items that they deliver. So potentially with all businesses switching to email bills, it means more lost jobs and less delivery days etc. There are also the companies that manage the sending out of these bills, which is often subcontracted out, so more potential job losses there.
They also get lost amongst all the spam, and they sometimes you may miss them. So when you need them for tax purposes at the end of the year, you have to go back all through your emails, or long into their website, which is a pita.
It is also another job to do, in opening up the email and downloading the bill, and printing it out etc. Getting it in the mail is less work.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

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#936623 18-Nov-2013 13:42

mattwnz: There are a number of problems with not receiving paper bills. Firstly you usually need to print them out anyway for tax or business reasons, and they are usually multiple pages

So not only do you need to print them out on your own paper and ink, unless you have a duplex printer, you are using wasting more paper than a bill in the mail would use, which would normally be double sided. So it is shifting the cost onto the consumer, as I am sure they are not reducing their fees they charge you.
Also it further erodes NZ Posts customer base, as I am sure that bills are a large part of the items that they deliver. So potentially with all businesses switching to email bills, it means more lost jobs and less delivery days etc. There are also the companies that manage the sending out of these bills, which is often subcontracted out, so more potential job losses there.
They also get lost amongst all the spam, and they sometimes you may miss them. So when you need them for tax purposes at the end of the year, you have to go back all through your emails, or long into their website, which is a pita.
It is also another job to do, in opening up the email and downloading the bill, and printing it out etc. Getting it in the mail is less work.

no you don't. you have to keep records, but they don't need to be paper records. I have never printed out any e-bills I have received.

the rest of your argument basically boils down to people arguing that the motorcar will put buggy whip manufacturers out of business.

Yyrael

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#936624 18-Nov-2013 13:43

While there is a push to phase out paper billing more and more I do not believe that there is any cost to retain these at this time. The option has been removed to get a paper bill from MyTelecom as part of this push however you are still able to request a paper bill by calling 123

johnr

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#936626 18-Nov-2013 13:45

old3eyes: The only paper bills I get now are the ASB back statements and Visa bill. I guess the day will come when they go electronic as well. I always have in the back of my mind "what if the email never gets thru"

Have you not stopped these online?

coffeebaron

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#936631 18-Nov-2013 14:03

How about: "on account customers can receive a $1 off their monthly bill if they elect to receive their monthly bill via email only"

That way, default is still a paper bill, but an incentive to receive paperless. Would be much better received by customers than the option of:
GET YOU BILL BY EMAIL OR ELSE WE ARE GOING TO CHARGE YOU MORE!!

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shk292

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#936666 18-Nov-2013 14:42

NonprayingMantis:
mattwnz: There are a number of problems with not receiving paper bills. Firstly you usually need to print them out anyway for tax or business reasons, and they are usually multiple pages

So not only do you need to print them out on your own paper and ink, unless you have a duplex printer, you are using wasting more paper than a bill in the mail would use, which would normally be double sided. So it is shifting the cost onto the consumer, as I am sure they are not reducing their fees they charge you.
Also it further erodes NZ Posts customer base, as I am sure that bills are a large part of the items that they deliver. So potentially with all businesses switching to email bills, it means more lost jobs and less delivery days etc. There are also the companies that manage the sending out of these bills, which is often subcontracted out, so more potential job losses there.
They also get lost amongst all the spam, and they sometimes you may miss them. So when you need them for tax purposes at the end of the year, you have to go back all through your emails, or long into their website, which is a pita.
It is also another job to do, in opening up the email and downloading the bill, and printing it out etc. Getting it in the mail is less work.

no you don't. you have to keep records, but they don't need to be paper records. I have never printed out any e-bills I have received.

the rest of your argument basically boils down to people arguing that the motorcar will put buggy whip manufacturers out of business.

Exactly. People seem to forget that companies only have one source of revenue - the customers - so arguing for inefficient systems to be retained just to preserve jobs is not sensible.
Far better to have electronic records, easily filed, retrieved and backed up, than reams of paper cluttering up the office

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