Stupidity... brought to you by corporate mergers

[yesthattom]

Last year my water company got bought by a megacorp water company.

The first big change was that automatic payment (withdrawn from my savings account) stopped. I got a letter warning me that this would happen. Basically, rather than transferring all the automatic payment stuff over to the new company’s database, they decided it would be easier to force everyone to re-enlist in the program.

Commentary: Were so few people enrolled in this program that it wasn’t worth it to write a perl script o extract the data from one system and import it into the other? Sheesh!

So out of protest, I decided not to participate in the automatic payment program. I figured that a year of making them manually process checks should be sufficient punishment for such stupidity.

A year later (i.e. this week) I decide that since I’m going to be traveling so much I decide it time to put all my remaining bills on automatic payment. So I send away for their paper form that lets me sign up for automatic payment. To my surprise, my $69/quarter payments will require a $5.75 “automatic payment” surcharge! That’s 8%!

That surcharge is more than the interest I get on my savings account! It would be cheaper to send a year’s worth of payment!

Bastards! That’s why they wanted me to re-apply for automatic payment! They needed me to agree to pay a new fee, which the old system didn’t have.

Who the HELL approved this merger and what “economies of scale will help the consumer” bullshit did they try to claim?

Comments

[knell.livejournal.com]

Bizarro. Over 'ere it's quite common for utility companies to give you a discount if you pay by direct debit from your bank account, as it's a whole bunch less work for them. I've never heard of them trying to charge for the convenience. Maybe they're missing a trick...

[pyffe.livejournal.com]

I had the same type of thing happen when my small garbage pickup company got bought by WM. They started trying to charge me a "fuel surcharge". Not that I could ask my boss for additional money to cover gas, but apparently the law says they can! I now burn my garbage, as this is legal where I live. Screw them!

Remember when banks implemented the kiosks in order to "save money on salary and pensions by cutting back on employees"? Well, now that it's no longer considered "savings" by not having to pay 'extra' people, we get wacked for the cost of servicing those machines. Funny how when they first came out they were such cost saving things, and now they're just Eating Up Money. Even though the machines haven't changed a bit. Creative accounting 101.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Please, may I pay for the privilege of paying you?

Can you postdate checks, put them in envelopes, and give them to your housemates or Ying to send on or near the appropriate day?

BTW, might I suggest leaving a few blank, signed checks with Ying or another trusted friend in case there's an "Oh shit something is broken and needs $$ now!" moment? or work out ahead of time what that might be -- someone puts it on their credit card and you mail them a check after the fact.

I also highly recommend photocopying the fronts and backs of ALL your credit cards and ID forms (passport and driver's license) just in case things are lost/stolen. Safe places of course! One thing that's extremely useful -- a duplicate driver's license. If you lose your license, you can get a duplicate for a fee (in MA it was $18). Imagine losing your ID 2 days before a flight -- in thise case, Ying or a housemate could overnight you your duplicate.

Just some thoughts. $20 can save some headaches later. I also keep a photocopy of my driver's license in my car with my insurance and registration, because I used to forget my purse a lot. Never had to use it, but I could always cop the "my purse was JUST stolen!" excuse.

[dmk.livejournal.com]

How about using your bank's online system? I do it that way because I like to be in control of what's happening. Most large companies have electronic bills that can either be checked through their website or sent to your bank and view through the online banking system.

[snowboardjoe.livejournal.com]

That's just incredible. I'ver never heard of anyone make customers pay more to setup automatic payment. All the utility companies and other services constantly bug us to move to automatic payment. Some will even offer a small discount too. However, city services is still behind the times as they still can't accept automatic payment for my water bill. So, I use the electronic payments via my credit union where it does not cost anything. I can't even remember the last time I wrote a check.

An 8% surcharge by any company for automatic payment would result in complete hysteria or a riot here in NC.

[la-directora.livejournal.com]

Back when I had to pay a water bill, while living in Connecticut, I paid it to the most fck'd up utility company ever, the Metropolitan District. Their billing was completely screwed up. (I had a friend who was a business consultant who ended up being put onto a project at the company, and he confirmed that there wasn't a single thing about their system that made sense or worked.)

About a year or two after I moved out, I got a bill from them for the water service for the entire time since I moved out. I called them, and ended up in a VERY heated argument with the woman on the phone about whether or not I should be held responsible for water service for a period of time when I hadn't lived at the property in question. Idiots.

I think that on top of punishing them by sending a check, you should also staple the check to the bill. :)

[cpj.livejournal.com]

Well, if you can do it, just pay them in advance.

But paying a year in advance technically hurts you because you could be potentially loosing interest.