Excess fees charged by Comcast for paying by check

You think thats bad, my water company charges a fee to pay over the
internet!!! Its all automated and they charge a fee? Now thats greedy.


Im lucky my bank offers a free service where I can schedule a check to
be mailed out and the bank mails it out.

But in response, the way things are going Comcast is looking to go
more automated so that charge gets more people to go over to that. For
me id rather they do that then make all the customers pay for it by
raising the overall prices. Id say just pay with a credit card, now
these CC companies offer online protection against fraud. Its happened
to me twice and i never had to pay. Plus when someone screws up a
charge you lost that money till they figure out you were right and
they credit it back. With the CC you arent responsible for the charge
till they prove you are wrong.

I think anyone who still pays with a check should be charged a fee.
Why? Because it takes more time to process and costs them as well to
take the check payments. Live agents aren't working for free. I am a
cashier and I still don't get why people pay with checks at stores
either. It holds up the line, wastes time and pretty soon when you
pay by a check it will be electronically processed right then and
there, so why not use a debit card? Walmart has already gotten on
board with this procedure. Honestly, I think it is time to get with
the times or pay the fees.

I think that what Comcast is doing is great, prioritize the cost
towards those that demand more service. You feel more comfortable
using non-automated services for routine transactions, fine; you'll
just have to pay more for your comfort. It costs more money for
companies to pay for employees rather than automated services.
Whether it sits well with you or not, you use up more services than
about 80% of the consumers out there who satisfactorily utilize
programs in place to expedite and improve the efficiency of the
economic model. You wanna know why American companies have a hard
time modernizing and gearing for global competition in the wake of
Europe and Asia's recent modernization, take a picture of your mother,
there it is.

I can almost guarantee that they are still using their website to do
your payment. I worked for a company similiar to this and people
always called in stating they didn't want to make payments online. We
never told them that the same system they use we use. We simply
completed the transaction and ended the call.

Another reason why I don't like comcast, yet, it's the only internet
provider available around here right now!

I read it to mean that any CHECK BY PHONE will have a $4.95 fee
attached. I still think it's stupid but that is what it sounds like
to me.

Citibank student loans charges $15.00 for a phone payment! The payment
is only 78.00! When they told me that I was SHOCKED.

Countrywide charges $4.00 a month for automatic debit.

You would think they would WANT you to pay electronically or over the
phone because they get their money faster and don't have to worry
about processing the mail. Geez!

That was really fast! Thanks Comcast and PlanetFeedback.

At 5:37 tonight I got a phone call from Comcast executive office in
response to this letter. I had no idea, even after all these months of
participaing on PFB, that they could get a response *that* fast.

They have assured me that my local Comcast office was wrong, that we
will be able to mail our check in without incurring a fee and they
apologized for the confusing language in their announcement.

I really appreciated the quick response.

Thanks, Comcast and PFB!

That's ridiculous and highway robbery! I used to pay my Chase bill by
phone and they started charging a fee. I think it's extortion to
charge people a fee to pay their bill. In their mind, you get charged
a fee if you're late and you get charged a fee if you try to pay
ontime.

Excellent, respectful letter. And I agree: It's highway robbery.
Can it really cost them that much to process it?

Wow! I'm surprised they can do that. Can you imagine a grocery store
charging you for having a cashier process your transaction?
If it's possible, maybe try paying a little more than your bill each
month so you have a credit and then there will be one month you don't
have to pay (therefore no fee) and you can save the money from that
month and start paying two months at a time.
I know it's a hassle, but I can't imagine they'll change thier policy
so at least it'll be less money in fees in their pocket!

I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate when places do that. Actually $4.95 isn't
high compared to some... ugh