Vodafone now charging extra to pay bill online

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# 1006710 16-Mar-2014 13:52

Geektastic:
old3eyes:
Geektastic:
johnr:
joker97: what about prepay top ups?

already covered and no

Why not? Prepay are the bad credit, budget customers surely? Why treat them better than the high value customers?

I disagree with your above statement that " Prepay are the bad credit, budget customers"

Why else do you think prepay was invented?

I have a Prepay debit card, Does that make me a credit risk?

Geektastic

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# 1006712 16-Mar-2014 13:54

From Wikipedia

The history of the prepaid mobile phone begins in the 1990s when larger markets were being sought after by the mobile phone operators. Before this date, all mobile phone services were offered on a post paid basis, which excluded people with a poor credit rating.

mattwnz

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# 1006719 16-Mar-2014 14:11

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Geektastic: From Wikipedia

The history of the prepaid mobile phone begins in the 1990s when larger markets were being sought after by the mobile phone operators. Before this date, all mobile phone services were offered on a post paid basis, which excluded people with a poor credit rating.

Prepay people do pay higher per minute and higher data rates than if you are on a post paid plan, so they are higher margin customers on average. Also no other mobile operator in NZ charge a cc surcharge on prepay topups, that I am aware of.
There are some companies that do charge credit card surcharges, however they tend to be low margin ones, like smaller computer shops. The only physical store in Wellington I have ever been told that there would be a surcharge for paying by credit card was infact a computer store. IMHO , it is a business cost that should be absorbed by the business as part of the cost of running a business, or totally opt out of offering it as an option for payment. Handling cash, chequers, etc also have costs associated with them, which don't get charged a fee on. It probably needs some regulation to outlaw it.

kieran21

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# 1006736 16-Mar-2014 15:09

mattwnz:
Geektastic: From Wikipedia

The history of the prepaid mobile phone begins in the 1990s when larger markets were being sought after by the mobile phone operators. Before this date, all mobile phone services were offered on a post paid basis, which excluded people with a poor credit rating.

Prepay people do pay higher per minute and higher data rates than if you are on a post paid plan, so they are higher margin customers on average. Also no other mobile operator in NZ charge a cc surcharge on prepay topups, that I am aware of.
There are some companies that do charge credit card surcharges, however they tend to be low margin ones, like smaller computer shops. The only physical store in Wellington I have ever been told that there would be a surcharge for paying by credit card was infact a computer store. IMHO , it is a business cost that should be absorbed by the business as part of the cost of running a business, or totally opt out of offering it as an option for payment. Handling cash, chequers, etc also have costs associated with them, which don't get charged a fee on. It probably needs some regulation to outlaw it.

Uh there is regulation, previously (few years back) CC surcharges were not allowed to be passed to the consumer, now they explicitly are allowed by the govt. I believe the change was made to curb the near extortionate rates that credit card payment gateway companies (think banks, DPS Payment Express etc) charged businesses for cash handling, to stimulate competition in this area. In some ways good in that respect, but often businesses seem use it as a strategic excuse to bump up their profit instead of passing on the actual costs.

IMO the ideal would be for the govt to look at regulating the price of electronic cash handling, and then (again) regulate so that businesses cannot pass these costs onto consumers.

MaxLV

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# 1006793 16-Mar-2014 17:24

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Jaxar: I can't say that I'm impressed by this change. VF should be driving people towards self service not putting disincentives in place. Why not make the support number 0900 as well it costs VF to have people answering calls. It is only fair that they pass this on?

Self service? Try Internet Banking. (as JohnR points out, all you pay is your monthly bill)

Vodafone like ALL companies that accept card payments are being charged by MasterCard and Visa (credit cards and debit cards with the MasterCard/Visa logo) and they're just passing on the cost to you because *YOU* choose to pay your bill with a MasterCard/Visa provided service.

MaxLV

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# 1006798 16-Mar-2014 17:40

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johnr:
sbowness:
MikeHales: The fee is charged by Air NZ, Telecom and others but set up a variable credit card automatic payment and no fee applies.

Just because other companies (who are also under the gun; probably not the best examples to cite) do it does not mean that it is the right thing to do. For a company that makes millions in pure profit (not what gets put back into the business), I think this is penny pinching.

Just another reason to look elsewhere.

And what compensation do we get for having to wait 20-30-40 minutes every time we need a problem resolved?

Pure profit! Come on 3G / 4G mobile networks vendors are not upgrading mobile networks for free and then R&D

Last time I checked mobile spectrum for the 700Mhz was not free either

Not...

It's passing on the cost of *you* choosing to use the MasterCard/Visa provided service to pay your Vodafone Bill. That's all. It does not go towards Vodafone's 'profit' at all. Dont want to pay the 2% surcharge? Use Internet Banking.

It's that simple.

sidders80

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# 1006800 16-Mar-2014 17:43

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MaxLV:
johnr:
sbowness:
MikeHales: The fee is charged by Air NZ, Telecom and others but set up a variable credit card automatic payment and no fee applies.

Just because other companies (who are also under the gun; probably not the best examples to cite) do it does not mean that it is the right thing to do. For a company that makes millions in pure profit (not what gets put back into the business), I think this is penny pinching.

Just another reason to look elsewhere.

And what compensation do we get for having to wait 20-30-40 minutes every time we need a problem resolved?

Pure profit! Come on 3G / 4G mobile networks vendors are not upgrading mobile networks for free and then R&D

Last time I checked mobile spectrum for the 700Mhz was not free either

Not...

It's passing on the cost of *you* choosing to use the MasterCard/Visa provided service to pay your Vodafone Bill. That's all. It does not go towards Vodafone's 'profit' at all. Dont want to pay the 2% surcharge? Use Internet Banking.

It's that simple.

True or pay at post office and let Vodafone pay the cost of using NZ Post as their collection agent.

Sid

richms

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# 1006855 16-Mar-2014 20:41

Geektastic:
Why else do you think prepay was invented?

Because people have erratic usage patterns and dont want to commit to a certain spend each month when they can get better value from a prepaid service and not get yet another bill to have to worry about paying on time?

Richard rich.ms

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# 1006857 16-Mar-2014 20:43

Paying at the post shop needs a printout as their old scanners cant scan a phone screen for the barcode off a PDF. Thats an additional cost for me so its also a hassle.

I am not accepting the 2% charge and will be closing my old ihug email addresses and paying the amount owed, and no more than that.

Richard rich.ms

sidders80

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# 1006862 16-Mar-2014 20:47

richms: Paying at the post shop needs a printout as their old scanners cant scan a phone screen for the barcode off a PDF. Thats an additional cost for me so its also a hassle.

I am not accepting the 2% charge and will be closing my old ihug email addresses and paying the amount owed, and no more than that.

I believe they can accept payments with just giving out a mobile number too. In any event I am not happy to pay 2% surcharge when I am using a Visa Debit as its my money and not credit. I can set up VF as a bill payee and pay which is easy too but seriously want to pay $40 a week every week at post office towards my bill so there is a fee to VF for every payment made.

Sid

richms

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# 1006872 16-Mar-2014 20:53

Then they may start to charge for that like GEM visa and a couple of other non-bank issued cards charge you to do payments. Plus you cant use a CC at the post shop on bills, just postage services.

Richard rich.ms

sidders80

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# 1006874 16-Mar-2014 20:55

richms: Then they may start to charge for that like GEM visa and a couple of other non-bank issued cards charge you to do payments. Plus you cant use a CC at the post shop on bills, just postage services.

Visa Debit is not a credit card. It is your own money and is linked to your everyday account and post office accepts that. I am talking purely a debit card here and not a CC.

Sid

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# 1006877 16-Mar-2014 20:59

sidders80:
richms: Then they may start to charge for that like GEM visa and a couple of other non-bank issued cards charge you to do payments. Plus you cant use a CC at the post shop on bills, just postage services.

Visa Debit is not a credit card. It is your own money and is linked to your everyday account and post office accepts that. I am talking purely a debit card here and not a CC.

They accept visa debit as it's just an eftpos card when used in person in NZ with swipe or chip terminals. That is why you press the chk or sav button, not crd.

Richard rich.ms

sdav

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# 1006878 16-Mar-2014 20:59

MaxLV:
johnr:
sbowness:
MikeHales: The fee is charged by Air NZ, Telecom and others but set up a variable credit card automatic payment and no fee applies.

Just because other companies (who are also under the gun; probably not the best examples to cite) do it does not mean that it is the right thing to do. For a company that makes millions in pure profit (not what gets put back into the business), I think this is penny pinching.

Just another reason to look elsewhere.

And what compensation do we get for having to wait 20-30-40 minutes every time we need a problem resolved?

Pure profit! Come on 3G / 4G mobile networks vendors are not upgrading mobile networks for free and then R&D

Last time I checked mobile spectrum for the 700Mhz was not free either

Not...

It's passing on the cost of *you* choosing to use the MasterCard/Visa provided service to pay your Vodafone Bill. That's all. It does not go towards Vodafone's 'profit' at all. Dont want to pay the 2% surcharge? Use Internet Banking.

It's that simple.

Or business could stop accepting cc as a form of payment.

sidders80

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# 1006880 16-Mar-2014 21:02

richms:
sidders80:
richms: Then they may start to charge for that like GEM visa and a couple of other non-bank issued cards charge you to do payments. Plus you cant use a CC at the post shop on bills, just postage services.

Visa Debit is not a credit card. It is your own money and is linked to your everyday account and post office accepts that. I am talking purely a debit card here and not a CC.

They accept visa debit as it's just an eftpos card when used in person in NZ with swipe or chip terminals. That is why you press the chk or sav button, not crd.

exactly what I am saying its an EFTPOS and NZ Post accepts it so I would not have any issues paying my bill at post office.

Sid

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