Reader Michael says:
I moved into a new apartment last month, and just received my first electric bill. It is run through a company called AUM Inc. (aum-inc.com), on behalf of my apartment complex. I went to pay the bill online (as I prefer to pay my bills) and I noticed something on the page. In fact, it’s on the page no less than 5 different times.My bill: $11.84
“Online Convenience Fee”: $7.50That means this convenience will cost me… 63% of my actual bill. In fact, for reference, if I don’t pay my bill until after it’s due, I’ll owe a total of $17.84. That means I can wait until the bill is past due, buy a stamp, and still pay $1.09 less than I would if I paid online today.
This means now I have to go buy stamps, as their kindly enclosed envelope does not include postage.
I’ve attached a screenshot of the payment page. I blacked out my name and apartment complex, I didn’t see anything else identifying on the page.
You know, it was actually on the page one more time, but we cropped it. Sorry.
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@backbroken:
@SaveMeJeebus:
Thank you both for pointing out the obvious. I weep because it took so long for someone to mention that.
I wonder where I have to move to have an $11 electric payment.
Next is that they will only have online bill viewing. And you will have to print out your own copy to mail in with your payment…. nice. Can anyone say “price gouging”?
I’d be far more interested in the Consumerist tracikng down exactly what the BS $1.00 fee for online stamp orders go to. I’m a bit skeptical that it somehow costs them a dollar to relay a note to my carrier to stick a sheet of stamps in my mailbox.
Am I the only one who didn’t think the OP or Consumerist actually thought it would always be 63% of the bill? Yes, it’s a flat fee but it does happen to be 63% of the OP’s bill this time.
All whining about stamps aside, the idea here is that they are charging 7 friggin’ 50 for paying a bill online.
@DrGirlfriend: You have to wonder who’s actually using it? Even if you have to pay for bill payment through your bank it’s probably less than that.
The solution is simple. USE MORE ELECTRICITY!!! That’ll push the percentage down.
$7.50 IS an outrageous fee for that. The ones I have seen for utility bills are typically $1-$3 tops.
I REFUSE to pay any bill online if there is some fee to do so (unless I am in a serious bind where I HAVE to or I will incur some late fee…. which is a VERY rare circumstance for me). My nat.gas & electricity bill does this & I mail out a check to pay them. MY water bill does not do this… so I pay THAT online.
Btw…. I get my stamps free by getting them off of envelopes that the PO forgot to cancell as they went thru the mail or by customers at my work who intended to pay their bill thru the mail (and put a new stamp on the envelope), but decided to drop them off by hand instead. Waste not want not!
@Snarkysnake: your an ass, if you can’t see what this post is all about.
@Kryndis: I’m a bit skeptical that it somehow costs them a dollar to relay a note to my carrier to stick a sheet of stamps in my mailbox.
Back when they first started selling stamps on their website, they had free delivery. Shortly after they added the $1 fee, I asked our local postmaster why the fee was imposed, and was told that because there are several items on the website that are completely fee (check out the Priority Mail “boxes”, where you can have up to 500 small priority mail boxes sent to your house/business), some people were ordering them by the hundred and having them delivered to false addresses, people that didn’t want them, etc..
So they instituted a $1 “Flat rate” charge on the website and only allow delivery to the Registered Billing Address on the credit card to help combat that type of misuse.
Hope that answers the question.
@Southern: Who would give away postage to strangers? Stamps aren’t free.
@Orngbliss: But doesn’t “convenience fee” = “transaction fee”?
@PirateSmurf: The point of the story is that this company charges $7.50 (not just a buck or two) for the “privilege” of using their online bill-pay. I thought it was bad a few years ago when my car loan company wanted $5.00 for processing an over-the-phone payment.
Yes, there are ways around it. But still, doesn’t an outrageous charge like $7.50 (per month if you used it every month) deserve SOME contempt?
@Buran: They don’t give away the postage, Buran — you still have to pay face value for the stamps.
Many of their PACKING supplies, though, ARE free. Many of their flat-rate Boxes, Envelopes, Express Mail stickers, Forms & Labels — THOSE are all free. You can either drive into your local Post Office and they’ll give them to you (for free), or you can have them delivered.
Before they instituted the the $1 fee, people would just go to the website, order hundreds of envelopes, boxes, and whatever else was “free” and then put someone else’s address in the “Deliver To” field.
So (according to my postmaster, anyway), they added a cursory $1 charge, payable ONLY by credit card, so that they can validate the shipping address, and help prevent people from just going online and telling the USPS to “Deliver 500 Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes” to some made up address (or the address of someone you’re trying to piss off).
@forgottenpassword: I wouldnt spread that around, I believe that is a federal offense, best to keep stuff like that hush hush when the Govt is involved.
@jenl1625: not when most companies change convience fees to process pmts. Crying about it and late charges because he has to send it in the mail using a stamp when bill notifications usually come 2-3 weeks before they are due.
Yeah, contempt…
@unklegwar: except that with Ticketmaster the convenience fee isn’t really for a convenience. Since most venues have bought into Ticketmaster’s monopolistic tactics the fee should just be re-labeled the “screw you” fee.
I have a similar situation with my apartment complex’s online utility bill payment service (and my car loan).
The solution? My Bank of America checking account has free online bill payments. I process all my online payments through there w/o any retarded convenience fee.
@Snarkysnake:
@ju_ju_eyeball: Understand which concept of which website? You have [insert grammatical term] in that sentence. It might be a dangling participle which could fall and hit someone.
Unfortunately I had the experience of having to deal with AUM. In 2007 I moved into an apartment complex that used AUM as their third party utility billing company. Because the apartment complex was the actual client it was very difficult working with AUM.
I had to contact them because of billing errors and that told me that I had to contact my apartment manager because that was the information they received.
What was even worse is that when I moved out, I was expecting my full security deposit back, however the apartment complex took a portion of those funds to pay my last utility bill instead of mailing it to me.
My advice: Stay clear of AUM.
I use them too. Horrible!!!!
@Snarkysnake: you are missing the point and being an ass at the same time.
its CHEAPER for the company to receive and online payment. digital money transfers cost $0.00 and you also dont have to pay someone to sort the mail, open the mail and enter the information into the system.
its faster and cheaper for the damn company to get money via the internet so they are idiots for charging this fee. they should want people to pay via the net not try to make them stop.
If this is the biggest hassle the OP has with a move, he should thank whatever deity he can.
To the original poster: Look on the back of your utility bill and the odds are that they list several different ways to pay your bill.
The electric company that services my region has drop boxes in a chain of food stores and their own salaried magical fairies empty the boxes 6 days a week by 7PM. They include a return envelope in with my bill and if I misplaced it, there is a stack of envelopes on top of the drop box for their customers to use.
As long as the payment is in the box by 7PM by the due date, it’s considered paid on time. I go to that food store at least 4 times a month anyways, no problems there.
I don’t have to worry about ripoff surcharges, stamps, U.S. Post Orifaces, banks forgetting to pay my bill on time or anything like that.
To Southern:
C’mon. Even if Visa/MC is charging said electric company 2.5% of the actual transaction, who gives? Please take into account the HUGE profit most electric companies are making. I’m sure they make more than enough money on just profit alone. Having online bill pay that is FREE would be better used as a marketing tool, rather than one that runs customers off. Now they are making your life inconvenient, and I’m sure all our time is valuable… And who wants to go by the post office, if you really, really don’t have to?
Paying for something like this is just pure greed. At one time I thought credit cards were accepted for the customers convenience, now it is the opposite.
My property also uses them (AUM) and these guys are shady. Due to the way they do business, you will never get an answer as to why your monthly bill went up or down. Apartment managers send you to AUM and AUM has a simple answer – “you owe a portion of the property’s total usage”.
So if someone were to leave their water running by mistake, you will be paying for them…its completely ridiculous.
I am sure a class-action against them is in order due to totally deceiving tactics. They never send their statements a couple weeks in advance of your deadline increasing the chances of a late payment. They do not seem to have a concept of ‘post-marked by’ either. Its just money making tactics.