raping the poor has always been the "American Way"

AT&T charging $2 isn't as bad as Sprint charging $5 or more to pay your bill in cash.

Which is really crazy when your bill is only $35 every month.

This article is written under the pretense that a cell phone is something that people "need."

If you don't want to pay for a cell phone, don't own one.

Wasn't it also sprint that used to charge to talk to customer service?

I use AT&T, I like the fact that their customer service is in Canada so they are open during US holidays.

Years ago, an ex-girlfriend of mine had Cricket cell phone service. They did the exact same crap with fees for the privilege of paying your bill.

They were especially bad in my opinion. The only fee-free payment method was Visa/MC/AMEX through their web site. However, there was a 3 day lag time in making the payment and it making it's way to your account. Clearly designed to generate more late payment fees and charges.

Trying to pay on the phone cost something like $10, and if my memory serves it cost $1 to check your minute balance too.

It's offensive that they're allowed to get away with this kind of nonsense.

@xmarkd400x: Are you aware of the significant trend of consumers only having a cell phone, and no land lines?

as far as I know, they let you pay over the phone free, they only charge you if you insist on using a live person to pay instead of typing your credit card number into the automated system.

Also, atleast with sprint, you can pay for free in store if you use the payment machine, which I believe takes cash.

I don't know about the at store fee's for pymt, but there is little reason to pay over the phone or even in store. Anyone with online access can easily pay online & that's 70% of the US population right there. The rest can pay with their pymt slip by mail. So really those nickle & dime fees are just at the procrastinators who are to lazy to make a payment in a timely manner & need the extra help & that extra help should be billed.

I have to pay $5 if I want to pay my energy bill over the phone. And $5 if I want to pay through their website. I am not sure about paying cash in person though. This practice is getting scary.

@Skellbasher: Or the fact that you almost *do* need a cell phone now. What are you going to do when your car breaks down? Find one of the three pay phones left in the city?

@Skellbasher: A trend does not imply need. What we need here are some "You don't need it" stickers.

@xmarkd400x: Your comment is written with the pretense that you're in a position to tell people what they need. You're not.

I got my first cell in '04, after moving into this apartment, and going through complete hell with Verizon. I was eight months into a high risk pregnancy, and I needed a phone. Those incompetent scumfucks lied, and over the course of two weeks, I begged and pleaded, skipped doctors appointments to be there when they said they'd show (and didn't), cried, begged, pleaded, and finally sucked it up and had my husband add me to his cell plan. I will have a cell as long as Verizon is my only option for landline, because I would rather die in a fire than attempt to deal with them again.

Wow nice Biased way of writing there... You do know that EVERY at&t store has a paystation that accepts all forms of payment. This is the reason we (yes I work for at&t) recommend you use it rather then the RSCs in the store. It frees them to help other customers.

If for some reason you cannot make a payment at the paystation due to problems with the account or it is out of service then the payment fee will be waived at the register. Every RSC has the ability to waive the payment fee at his station.

So WE DON'T FORCE YOU TO PAY A FEE, There are alternate ways to paying you bill.

I love this site but when you write BS one sided articles with ignoring alot of information it makes me not want to visit.

Ok, I'll open myself up.

To staff a payment center to accept cash payments costs money.

To staff a call center to accept payments costs money.

An automated system to collect your payments costs money too, but not as much as staffing a human.

If the people who use these services don't pay for them directly, we all would pay for them indirectly through higher rates. What's wrong with making those who want to use a service pay for it?

I have always been on the fence about fees for extra bags on airplanes, but this is pushing me to the 'in favor' side.

I am flying tonight, with only a carry-on. I won't be paying an extra bag fee. But if other people on my flight had extra bags, and didn't pay the extra bag fee, I'd be paying for their extra baggage weight in my fare.

I hate the 'nickel and dime' aspect of it, but in some cases, it makes sense to charge the people who need the extra service/luggage/support instead of making the rest of us pay for it for them.

And don't bother with the 'affects the poor' argument. Cell phones and airfare are luxuries.

How does one pay one's credit card bill over the phone?

@xmarkd400x: What is this, 1989?

Cell phones are not "luxuries" anymore. They are not "status symbols". The are necessities for many people.

Would you tell a single parent with children that a landline phone is a "luxury?" I certainly hope not. For many people - especially those where everyone in the household HAS to work or is constantly out trying to make ends meet, their cell phone is the ONLY phone.

This isn't 1958 where wifey is at home with the kids, sitting by the phone waiting for Daddy to call at 4:45 to let her know to have dinner ready by 5:15 sharp.

People have hour and a half commutes, and have to pick up kids at day care, run errands, and maybe even leave in the evening to a second job - or go take care of an elderly parent or take a sick kid to the doctor.

I know a lot of people on Consumerist pat themselves on the back for eschewing materialism and living a spartan lifestyle as a way to 'stick it to the man', but a cellphone, in 2008, is NOT a luxury, and paying a 15-20% "fee" for the privilege of paying in cash is ludicrous.

Hmmm, the bill is for the previous month's charges, isn't it? Where does that fall under not accepting legal tender for goods or services rendered?

Verizon wireless uses those pay station kiosks and I find them to be more useful than trying to pay a real person. I had to use them a few times when we were in transition between houses so everything was chaotic. It posted to my account within minutes and they didn't charge me a fee.

I think all of this could be solved by having Congress put some sort of law into play that bans companies from charging you a fee to make a payment.

Just another reason why my wife threw AT&T's cell service under the bus just this month.

@chrisjames: You're under the common urban-legend misinterpretation that everyone has to accept any form of "legal tender" payment without condition, that is not the case.

If accepted, any form of "legal tender" is proof of satisfaction of that debt - but there is no federal law whatsoever forcing anyone to actually do the accepting of that currency.

It is perfectly legal for me to draw up a contract saying "you will pay me $100 a month, in $20 bills only." This is why it's perfectly legal also for any establishment (such as a mechanic, doctor) to put up signs saying they don't take bills larger than $100, for example.

If, however, I did not preclude that in a contract, and you DID pay me in pennies, and I accepted, I can't come back and say you did not satisfy the debt because you paid me in pennies and they turned out to be a pain to deposit. I accepted the payment, you paid in legal tender, end of story.

I do believe sprint and at&t's contracts spell out the fees (albeit in fine print), making them legal.

@tcp100: I find it tiring also. Cell phones are a pretty basic communication tool these days. Since pay phones are almost non existant, people are rarely home and the cost of a cell phone is many time cheaper than a landline that idea that cell phones are a luxury is outdated and false. The same goes for a flat panel TV. I hear that brought up any time any issue involving money issues by certain people. OMG people have flat panel TVs they are mismanaging their money. Ugh. I don't think you can even buy anything else at some retailers any longer. If you can a tube TV is usually about the same price as a flat panel. Flat panels are priced about where tube TVs used to be. So they are really no longer a luxury any more than just having a TV is a luxury.

But there are some people who see anything beyond living in an empty concrete one room apartment eating white rice to be spoiled irresponsible living. Well at least when it comes to others.

@Murph1908: Airfare is a luxury? Love to hear your justification for that. When you need to cross one of the major oceans every so often to visit family it doesn't seem like such a luxury anymore (cruise ships aren't really in the same ballpark if you're just trying to get from point A to point B trans-Pacific or trans-Atlantic, especially if you're poor). Same if you're trying to get to South America.

"Although that particular aspect is a very basic function of the service, I don't happen to use it, so I say screw the people that do. Nevermind the increased navigation required every time another company throws up a new fee maze wall."

When I was still using Qwest + At&T for my phone service, there was a recurring monthly fee of $3 .. to receive my billing statement showing how much I owed.

My last qwest bill that pushed me into voip was a $45 phone bill .. $18 of that was AT&T charges .. the one rate plan .. a single 4 minute phonecall .. nice .05/minute charges on that one ..

We were using autopay for the qwest bill. When we switched, the final qwest bill auto deducted from our account and we had a zero balance .. a little over a month after the switch to vonage, we got a standalone bill from AT&T for long distance service ... there was one legit charge for a long distance call I had made, but some additional charges that were processed AFTER my landline service had been terminated .. $5 or $6 .. I spent about 3 hours on the phone (just teh principle of it all) and finally got a CSR who was willing to take the charges (other than the LD call) .. That got us down to ~$2.50 for the call .. we forgot to pay .. a few days ago, we received another AT&T bill in teh mail .. the balance was reduced to $0 .. LOL

@bohemian: "But there are some people who see anything beyond living in an empty concrete one room apartment eating white rice to be spoiled irresponsible living. Well at least when it comes to others. "

Amen, so well said.

There seems to be this odd idea as of late that unless you're living in squalor, you have no right to say anything about money.. Unless you're filthy rich, in which case you shouldn't mind being endlessly ripped off, either.

You know what? Even if someone is poor, yet works hard day in and day out, I really don't have a problem with them indulging in some "luxuries" - and if they do so, it doesn't mean they revoke all rights to complain about being ripped off.

I find it amazing how quickly people can judge someone's financial status and needs and then declare what they deserve to have. Please.

It saddens me that America has gotten so materialistic that cell phones are no longer considered a luxury.

Hell, IMHO, a land-line phone is a luxury.

Food, Water and Shelter are necessities. Anything else is there to make your life easier. I'm not against people having a phone (or television, or a car, or whatever), but just recognize that they are not necessary for you to survive - they're just there to make things easier.

@xmarkd400x: i don't see the pretense of need at all in this article.

regardless, that is irrelevant to the discussion. whether it is a need or a want, the article still points to a business practice that is unfriendly to the consumer.

isn't that the whole point of this website? *checks url* yes...it's still called the consumerist.

now sit down & stfu.

@tcp100: Ah, yes, the US Treasury actually covers this. Sounds good enough then.

@TheUncleBob: Uh, ok. So, what do you do when your house catches on fire?

Run around outside and yell? Wait for someone to drive by in hopes that they have a phone?

What about when someone in your house has an accident, or you need to call poison control because your kids swallowed something funny?

A landline phone isn't a necessity?

Maybe it isn't air, water, and food - but it certainly isn't a luxury.

Do you live in a hut?

@jamar0303:
Sure.

You don't NEED to cross the ocean.

And as far as cell phones, just because something become ubiquitous and is owned by a majority, doesn't take it off the 'luxury' list. Cable TV, iPods, etc. are luxuries.

You don't need a cell phone to maintain a 'reasonable standard of living'.

@tcp100:

Using the automated payment stations in many cell phone stores is free (and accepts cash).

Putting money into your checking account is free. Most of the cell phone companies offer auto-draft or one-time bank/card payments. Writing a check and putting a stamp into an envelope only costs you the time, the envelope, and the stamp it takes.

In short, this article is downright stupid because there are a multitude of ways to pay without getting charged a fee.

Chase Mortgage is far worse. You can make fee-free payments on their website, but they have a 2 business day lag time, ending at 3 PM on a given day. So if, for example, your payment is due on the 15th and it's a Sunday, you have to have your payment sent through the website by 3 PM on the 12th, Wednesday. If you forget, or you get paid on that Friday and would rather wait, you're paying at least $12 to pay by touch-tone phone, $20 if you need to speak to a human.

(I know, the same group who doesn't need cell phones pays their mortgages 2 weeks ahead of time. That's wonderful for you.)

Chase doesn't have a brick & mortar presence in my area. To top it off, I never asked for Chase- they bought my mortgage from a company with 1/3 the fees. But that's ok Chase, keep your $12, I'll just never sign up for any of your other products.

What a lie. The entire premise is a lie/ These companies including ATT have enough stupid and customer punitive policies in place. Is it really necessary to mischaracterize some of them and present them out of context. Place your complaints with your local congressmen. Congress can put an instant end to this bullcrap. Thats right, congress works for ATT.

There should definately be laws in place to prevent this. You can't render a service or product then charge extra for paying the bill...especially not with cash. I can understand charging extra for 'express payments', but if you are early, just trying to pay your bill...

Companies are looking to nickel and dime everyone to cover increasing costs, but they had better look other places than bill payment. The government won't allow that for long.

@chrisjames: Payments are made a month in advance.

@bohemian: Cheapest "box" TV at Wal*Mart is about $100. Cheapest Flat Panel is about $250. And since when do people *need* a TV?

@jamar0303: Create me a story where someone *has* to travel overseas for a live saving medical procedure, then I'll concede that airfare is not a luxury. Seriously, I'm fairly well off and have never *had* to go overseas.

@bohemian: Simply because someone recognizes the difference between a necessity and a luxury doesn't mean they think spending money on luxuries is mismanaging money.

@mac-phisto: The pretense of "need" in the article comes from the "Oh, the poor, the poor..."

@tcp100: What happens if terrorist come and attack my house and try to kidnap me? I guess some automatic machine guns are necessary as well.

People lived in houses for many, many years before phones were invented. Those houses caught on fire. People survived.

Don't get me wrong - a phone (a cell phone) is nice. I have one. But the goal of the cell phone is simply to make life easier. Nothing more.

@jamar0303:

"you need to ... visit family it doesn't seem like such a luxury anymore"

Visiting family seems like a luxury to me. I don't need to visit my Grandma every other summer.

@Dobernala: Putting your money into your checking account is not free.

Checks cost money, (albeit not much), and very few checking accounts that are free have no minimum balance and no fees. As the article explains, the people that use these services usually are the ones without checking accounts or credit cards.

I have never used such a service, and I wouldn't. Then again, I have the "luxury" of a checking account and credit cards (aha, see how this turns around!)

Those without checking accounts must get a money order (which adds another fee) to pay by mail, and few without checking accounts would have a credit card.

If you read some of my posts, I'm not exactly always against the big bad company. However, in this case, I cannot see how it's justified. If it doesn't cost me something to call up and have you check why my calls are dropping, I don't see why it should cost $2-$5 for you to process a payment (which often uses the same web interface that people can use to pay online for free.)

The article is useful perhaps to some, because perhaps they did not realize all the alternative ways to pay. The elderly would be an example other than the poor or misinformed..

@TheUncleBob: I was thinking precisely the same thing. It reminds me of Spaceballs where Lonestar tells the princess to take "only what she needs to survive". In regards to her hair dryer, she says "I can't live without it!".

I think there is a great value to the things we have in America and almost take for granted. Not too long ago, it used to be if you were stranded on the side of the highway, you were at teh mercy of passers-by or you were walking to the nearest gas station. Now, with cell phones, people can get assistance quickly, easily and safely. Without discounting the value of cell phones, it's sad that people have bought into the marketing and have allowed a perceived need to be created.

@Murph1908: Mmm? Well, I suppose that's along the lines of "you don't NEED to see any of your family once you leave the nest" (which is why I cross the Pacific ocean every so often), which while technically true, is rather callous. It also hardly accounts for those who come to the US because they are missing one of the three necessities at home.

@Diet-Orange-Soda: Have one of the 100 people in site with cellphones make a call for you. It might be less convenient, but it's still better than the days when you had to find a pay phone.
@tcp100: You will not die without a cellphone, yes they are nice, and yes I have one, because I have no home phone. But I HATE that anyone can bug me at any time, since it is always with me, and have considered switching back to a home phone only. My parents made it 20 years as a 2 income family working 60 hour weeks each driving 30 mins each to work without cellphones.... I reiterate, you will not die without a cell.

That said, if you only have the money for 1 phone, probably makes more sense to go cell than home for most people.

@TheUncleBob: "People lived in houses for many, many years before phones were invented. Those houses caught on fire. People survived."

I of course do not know for sure, but I would absolutely put money on the fact that before telephones, fewer people survived in such situations.

Today, that would be even moreso - last time I checked, the fire watchtowers were unmanned and the water cisterns at every corner had been removed, and the town crier has long since retired.

You say "luxury doesn't mean they think spending money on luxuries is mismanaging money" - but in this context, labeling a cell phone as a luxury implies that.

@tcp100: So what about those payment stations that are free?

If you can have a cell phone with a monthly bill, I don't see why you can't have a checking account with a minimum balance or a credit card (you had to qualify with some kind of credit check to get the phone).

AT&T doesn't even *have* to accept your payment in person or over the phone with a live operator, yet they offer it as a luxury and you complain.

@K-Bo: "Have one of the 100 people in site with cellphones make a call for you. It might be less convenient, but it's still better than the days when you had to find a pay phone."

You do know not everyone lives in NYC, right?

There are still many places in this country where people work and live everyday where there are no people walking around, no payphones, and no places to stop and use the phone if you need help.

"But I HATE that anyone can bug me at any time, since it is always with me"

Is it still under warranty? I do believe that power switch can be repaired.

@Dobernala: I would agree with you here about the monthly bill -- for people in this situation, a prepaid cell phone is probably a better option.

@EGBTMagus: You obviously didn't read the article: [redtape.msnbc.com]

@Dobernala:
"AT&T doesn't even *have* to accept your payment in person or over the phone with a live operator, yet they offer it as a luxury and you complain."

I don't complain personally - I have never used such a service. I always pay online.

I just find it a bit annoying, since 10-15 years ago, paying your cell phone bill via the phone was commonplace and free (Sprint had an automated, free system back in the day - not sure if they still do.)

The argument is that these fees are a recent phenomenon, and in line with the trend of companies adding fees at every corner for every "service" they offer.

I left a bank that charged me $2 to make a "teller transaction". I don't like depositing large sums at the ATM, and being able to bring such a deposit to a teller is what I'd consider a core service of a bank. To have them charge me for that was just plain out of line.

I can see where this is a bit different because a bank exists to take deposits whereas paying your bill is ancillary to a cell phone company, but the point I'm making is that people are becoming more and more complacent to fees for everything, which makes it easier for more and more of them to creep in.

@tcp100: I don't live in NYC, I'm from a small town in NC called Kernersville. Just as tiny and out of the way as it sounds, but there are still people with cell phones everywhere, and were even 10 years ago when I was driving a crappy car and had no cell, so yeah, i've had to ask to borrow a cell before, and you can do it pretty much anywhere.

As for the power button, there are 3 people who need to be able to get me at any time, because of health reasons. I just wish I had a home number I could give everyone else so they wouldn't bug me.

Yeah, I love those conveinience fees. I just bought three $5 tickets for an upcoming Mets game. Direct from the mets, online. Each ticket carries a $2 fee. Fine, I expect that. But then there is a $4.50 'order charge'. And if I wanted to print the tickets at home on my own printer with my own paper? Another $2.50. If they mail me the tickets? No aditional charge.

I've gotten almost to the end of the sale on the phone and when the cust. reps say that there's a $10 (or whatever) handling fee, I refuse to pay it. I demand that they wave the fee- the reps are trying to make quotas anyway and I tell them I will not pay today if it requires me to pay a fee. I am 1 for 1 on this strategy and hoping that a small sample size doesn't destroy my point.

Interestingly, this forces increased utilization of debit and credit cards for everyday payments- which benefits banks, credit card companies, and AT&T if you use their branded cards.

For those without credit cards or debit access, or those you pay back check via the mail, the risk of rebate-style payment "breakage" increases. This is a margin maker for AT&T.

I imagine this is part of a overall "revenue maximization" scheme designed to turn the payment process into a revenue generator through fees, which do not show up on price quotes.

Kind of clever is a way- but only works in a semi-monopolistic business environment.

Adding insult to injury, Geico penalises you for paying your car insurance bill in automatic "eBilling" payments. This is after they have guilted you into switching to eBilling because it saves one more tree from being turned into your monthly paper bill. As a Geico customer I have the privilege of paying $4 every time my bill is automatically deducted, paying on time and without paper. Thanks Geico for screwing the good guys. (You were still cheaper than Progressive though and I thank you for that.)