I feel like an old grump always complaining about the various acts of lunacy I see committed when it comes to customer service & store policies. At the same time, I want to ensure that you, my faithful readers, don’t make the same mistakes in your business. Please forgive me for yet another negative post, but if you learn a lesson from it, then it is a worthy endeavor.
I recently went into the local store of a cell phone provider to pay my bill instead of mailing them a check. I was informed that this particular company charges $3 for “Bill Pay” in store.
Now, let’s get this straight. The company in question gets the money sooner because I paid using my debit card instead of mailing a check that would take another 3 days to get to their national headquarters, and then a few more days to get processed & cleared through the banking system. Yet they feel the need to charge me $3 for what exactly? Coming into their store?
Three dollars represents about 5% of the bill. Does this seem like a ridiculous charge to anyone else? Please, if you have this type of policy, reconsider it and think about the long term effects. I can guarantee you that as soon as my current contract is up with this particular provider all they will see is a cloud of my dust leaving their store. Hope the $3 was worth it!
Categories: Business Development, Consumer Interest, Management.
I just read your post about the ‘charge for paying in person’ that you ran into at a cell phone store. There is another part to that scenario. Some cell phone stores charge that if they are a ‘reseller’ for that cell phone company, but if you go to a ‘company store’ you don’t get charged the extra fee. BUT, it is not always apparent whether the establishment that you are entering is one or the other. That also becomes an issue when you make a change to your plan or the store personnel promise to do something. If it is a ‘reseller’, the ‘company’ may not honor the promises made by the ‘reseller’.
I guess that, once again, it is very important to know with whom you are doing business.
Jim…Thanks for helping explain the possible reasoning behind the “extra” charge for paying a bill in person. While it is now clearer to me, I don’t know that it excuses the behavior.
Doesn’t it seem this practice by the ‘reseller’ could do considerable damage to the brand(s) they represent? I can’t imagine the ‘parent’ company charges the ‘reseller’ a fee to collect money for it, so that cannot be a justification for charging the end consumer an additional fee.
If the ‘parent’ company encourages the ‘reseller’ to charge the end consumer a fee for collecting in-person payments as a revenue generation source to offset the overall fee paid by the ‘reseller’ to capitalize on the ‘parent company” brand, then they are doing themselves and the ‘reseller’ a disservice.
No matter who ultimately ends up retaining the $3 I paid to fulfill my end of an obligation, this action was damaging to the brand of the ‘parent company’ and if it was a reseller, they’ve lost a customer.
Poor business decisions that support short term growth but undermine long term stability should not be dismissed, accepted, or tolerated by the consumer or the ownership/management of a company.
Businesses should keep in mind the concept of positively rewarding the activities they wish their employees & customers to repeat.
From this situation, I have learned that this particular cell phone company, or reseller, doesn’t want me to pay in person despite the fact this practice gets them the money up to a week sooner. Perhaps they have hidden costs associated with the transaction & handling of money I am not aware of, so I will gladly play by their rules.
At the same time, it does run counter-intuitive to my own personal experience as a former retail store manager who understood that cash flow was king and that it’s almost always preferable to have your money now versus waiting several days for it.
As for your point to the importance of “knowing who you are doing business with,” you are absolutely correct. That nugget of wisdom should be taken to heart by all parties involved; consumer, reseller, and parent company.
Sorry, if this response was a bit confusing. I am doing my best not to “name names” of the parent company and/or reseller as I have a strong personal conviction that one mistake doesn’t mean a business, or person, should be thrown under the bus. The whole point of this blog post was to open the eyes of the readers who own their own businesses to the “little things” that can upset a customer. It reminds me of an analogy that has been made into a fairly well known motivational seminar called 212 Degrees. At 211 degrees, water is liquid, at 212 degrees it becomes steam. That one “little” degree means a world of difference to the impact something can have. It can change the entire nature of a substance, or situation.
Thanks for your thoughts Jim and thanks for reading my blog!