colorbars
join:2003-03-20
USA
| New "convenience" fee
This month I noticed a new "convenience" fee tacked onto making credit card payments on Qwest's website. This is to spite credit card payments being much less costly to process versus almost anything else.
In the real world "convenience" has nothing to do with it. The dead giveaway is that they will waive the fee (no doubt out of the goodness of their hearts) if you sign up for autopay. (P.S. processing a credit card payment automatically costs them the same as if you initiated it manually.) Sorry, ain't playing that autopay game. When Qwest screws up (which they do) there's not a lot of recourse when they already have your money.
So back to paper checks you go, and all the extra processing costs with it. I suggest everyone else do the same. |
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travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Santa Fe, NM | Many banks offer "push" billpay at no charge. This allows you to control the payment, execute it electronically and avoid the Qwest charge. |
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caffeinator
Coming soon to a cup near you..
Premium
join:2005-01-16
WA, USA
 ·WebBand
| said by travelguy  :Many banks offer "push" billpay at no charge. This allows you to control the payment, execute it electronically and avoid the Qwest charge. +1 on that.
I've been paying both Qwest and my local ISP that way for years and have never had a problem.
It's nice when the bills are paid before I can get my grubby hands on da loot and possibly screw it up manually. 
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My 9/11 Tribute..online since 9/14/01
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bksmith5
Premium
join:2001-04-07
Fargo, ND | reply to colorbars
Or you could set up a bank account via routing/checking acct # and then make your payment when it is due. |
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neilsh
join:2004-08-12
Bellevue, WA | So how much is this convenience fee? Is it more than the cost of a 44cent stamp? If so, I see myself digging out my checkbook. |
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AthlGrond
Premium,MVM
join:2002-04-25
Aurora, CO | Don't forget the price of your check too.
(Though I'm not endorsing the practice of charging this fee.) |
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caffeinator
Coming soon to a cup near you..
Premium
join:2005-01-16
WA, USA | Well, at my bank, the checking is free as is the online billpay option. I don't even have a CC, debit card or paper checks at all. I rack up perhaps $8/mo in ATM fees, that's it.  |
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colorbars
join:2003-03-20
USA
| reply to colorbars
Paying directly out of a checking account is also a bad idea for the same reason that I don't want to do Auto Pay. Too much of an opportunity to screw up leaving me to clean the mess. Good luck trying to get a company to put money back if they took it out in error.
The "convenience fee" I got charged is $1. Not a lot by itself, but multiply that by 12 months in a year and who knows how many millions of customers who pay manually each month and you can see where it adds up quick. Oh, and it's an end-run around the state utility commissions for good measure. |
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bksmith5
Premium
join:2001-04-07
Fargo, ND
·Qwest.net
| said by colorbars :Paying directly out of a checking account is also a bad idea for the same reason that I don't want to do Auto Pay. Too much of an opportunity to screw up leaving me to clean the mess. Good luck trying to get a company to put money back if they took it out in error. As with everything in life: it's your choice. I suppose that I've just been lucky for the last year and half that I've been paying this way. My bank has quite a number of protections put in place to cover its members in cases of abusive companies (from what I've experienced so far, anyway). My local water/sewage bill can either be paid by check or by credit card -- but credit card payments require a convenience fee of more than $1 so they get a check from me. It's all about what your level of risk aversion is combined with your tolerance of fees, if there are any, that will determine if you stay with paper checks or use electronic payment methods.
Good luck, no matter what you choose. |
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AthlGrond
Premium,MVM
join:2002-04-25
Aurora, CO
 ·Comcast
| reply to colorbars
said by colorbars :Paying directly out of a checking account is also a bad idea for the same reason that I don't want to do Auto Pay. Too much of an opportunity to screw up leaving me to clean the mess. Good luck trying to get a company to put money back if they took it out in error. I auto pay off my credit card not my bank for just that reason.
--
To paraphrase a Tina Turner tune for Climategate, "What've objectivity, empiricism, honest debate, and skepticism in the face of blatant skulduggery got to do with it?" |
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Tehrasha
join:2004-12-15
Vinton, IA | reply to caffeinator
I rack up perhaps $8/mo in ATM fees, that's it.
Nearly $100/yr in ATM fees? Yoikes!  |
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UHF
All static, all day, Forever
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-24
clubs:
 ·Callcentric
·VOIPo
 ·surpasshosting
·Qwest.net
 ·Dish Network
·Future Nine Corpor..
| reply to colorbars
said by colorbars :Sorry, ain't playing that autopay game. I noticed this as well. It was one more nail in the coffin that made me decide to port my number out to VOIP and switch from DSL to my local municipal broadband provider, the one where I know all the techs on a first name basis. I'm sick of Qwest's bullshit. |
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designgears
@qwest.net
 from:
designgears
| reply to colorbars
Use the qwest gift card to enter your credit card information.
Just the number and the expiration date. Worked for me today. |
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designgears
join:2010-01-14
Salt Lake City, UT | reply to colorbars
Just enter your credit card number and exp date in the qwest card section. No Fees, problem solved another way! |
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colorbars
join:2003-03-20
USA | That definitely sounds like an error, but I'll take it. I wonder if the Qwest card uses a credit card processing network and if your card is the same network it will go through. What network is your card on? |
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QwestUser
@privatedns.com
| Colorbars, it is my experience that when you instruct Qwest to charge your monthly fee to a credit card (or when you update the expiration date of an existing credit card used for billing), then Qwest charges your credit card $1.00 as part of the billing setup process. This one-time fee appearing on your credit card statement should show as a credit on your next Qwest bill -- i.e., you do not lose the $1.00.
Is this what occurred? |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| said by QwestUser :
Colorbars, it is my experience that when you instruct Qwest to charge your monthly fee to a credit card (or when you update the expiration date of an existing credit card used for billing), then Qwest charges your credit card $1.00 as part of the billing setup process. This one-time fee appearing on your credit card statement should show as a credit on your next Qwest bill -- i.e., you do not lose the $1.00.
Is this what occurred?
That has not been my case. It is charged $1/month. I recall Qwest posted a notice of this change in December while paying that it would be a $1/month in the future. |
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travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Santa Fe, NM
| reply to colorbars
said by colorbars :Paying directly out of a checking account is also a bad idea for the same reason that I don't want to do Auto Pay. Too much of an opportunity to screw up leaving me to clean the mess. Good luck trying to get a company to put money back if they took it out in error. It sounds like you may be confusing the two types of electronic billpay. The "bad" type is where you give the company you are paying your account number and they pull the funds out out your checking account. You are right to be concerned about this type of arrangement.
The "good" type is the push type where you tell your bank who to pay, how much and when. The bank then either cuts a check or transmits the funds electronically. This isn't any different than writing a check by hand, except that you don't have pay for check stock and postage. |
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AthlGrond
Premium,MVM
join:2002-04-25
Aurora, CO
·Comcast
| I don't think my Qwest bill has ever been the same from one month to the next (despite the services never changing =/). Sounds like the kind of arrangement that you are talking about wouldn't work for me.
--
To paraphrase a Tina Turner tune for Climategate, "What've objectivity, empiricism, honest debate, and skepticism in the face of blatant skulduggery got to do with it?" |
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azzonie
join:2004-04-13
Phoenix, AZ
1 edit | reply to colorbars
I guess you have never been in buisness. The credit card company charges buisnesses to accept your card so acceptng a charge card or a debit card as a form of payment costs the company more money. Plus they additional equipment to buy and maintain and they have to pay a monthly processing fee in addition to the percentage the CC companyy is charging them. That is why a lot of buisness give cash discounts or have minimum charge amounts. |
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