GNG News Guy
04-25-2008, 12:47 PM
http://i.dslr.net/urls/71/4471.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Human-Contact-Costs-Extra-At-ATT-93894)
As companies look to cut corners wherever possible, a growing trend is to require you pay extra if you want billing interaction with a human either by phone or in person. Comcast recently started charging customers $4 (http://thegng.org/shownews/91357) to pay their bill with a human by phone, and $2 to pay in person at a billing center. We mentioned in March that AT&T is prepped to start charging $5 in May (http://thegng.org/shownews/92416) if you want to talk to a live billing rep over the phone. MSNBC (http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/04/paying-cash-at.html#posts) discovers the practice after an id theft victim (forced to close her checking account) was charged $2 for trying to pay AT&T in cash:Payne objected to the "administrative charge" that was added to her bill but got no sympathy. Instead, she said, she was told she should consider herself lucky because the fee was about to go up to $5.
"We want our associates to spend their time helping customers as they are thinking about their wireless plans or looking at phones," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel says. The concept of a human contact fee actually began at the National Bank of Chicago in 1995, when they started charging customers to speak to a live teller. It has since flourished in popularity as companies across industries seek to please investors by nickel and diming their customers wherever humanly possible.
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Human-Contact-Costs-Extra-At-ATT-93894)
As companies look to cut corners wherever possible, a growing trend is to require you pay extra if you want billing interaction with a human either by phone or in person. Comcast recently started charging customers $4 (http://thegng.org/shownews/91357) to pay their bill with a human by phone, and $2 to pay in person at a billing center. We mentioned in March that AT&T is prepped to start charging $5 in May (http://thegng.org/shownews/92416) if you want to talk to a live billing rep over the phone. MSNBC (http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/04/paying-cash-at.html#posts) discovers the practice after an id theft victim (forced to close her checking account) was charged $2 for trying to pay AT&T in cash:Payne objected to the "administrative charge" that was added to her bill but got no sympathy. Instead, she said, she was told she should consider herself lucky because the fee was about to go up to $5.
"We want our associates to spend their time helping customers as they are thinking about their wireless plans or looking at phones," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel says. The concept of a human contact fee actually began at the National Bank of Chicago in 1995, when they started charging customers to speak to a live teller. It has since flourished in popularity as companies across industries seek to please investors by nickel and diming their customers wherever humanly possible.
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Human-Contact-Costs-Extra-At-ATT-93894)