View Full Version : Online Billing/Paper Billing?
cforrest
09-06-07, 06:18 PM
Anyone decipher this message? I currently receive paper bills, which I want. I also am able to see my bill online. Does the message mean I won't be able to see my bill online prior to it arriving in the mail, as I have been able to do? Thanks
Dear Customer,
We recently completed updating our online billing service and are now cleaning up our records. As part of this clean up, we have identified that your account has an active online bill record, even though within the last year you expressed a preference to receive a paper bill every month. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. To correct this discrepancy, we will be automatically de-enrolling your account from online billing after 09/06/2007. Your paper bill will continue to be mailed to the billing address we have on file.
Thank you for choosing DIRECTV
Jeremy W
09-06-07, 06:29 PM
Yes, it means they are disabling your ability to view your bill online.
fwlogue
09-06-07, 06:32 PM
Anyone decipher this message? I currently receive paper bills, which I want. I also am able to see my bill online. Does the message mean I won't be able to see my bill online prior to it arriving in the mail, as I have been able to do? Thanks
Dear Customer,
We recently completed updating our online billing service and are now cleaning up our records. As part of this clean up, we have identified that your account has an active online bill record, even though within the last year you expressed a preference to receive a paper bill every month. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. To correct this discrepancy, we will be automatically de-enrolling your account from online billing after 09/06/2007. Your paper bill will continue to be mailed to the billing address we have on file.
Thank you for choosing DIRECTV
It means that you will no longer be able to see your bill online.
cforrest
09-06-07, 06:43 PM
K thanks guys. Got it on my account & my parent's account as well. That sucks. So much for that :(
JLucPicard
09-06-07, 06:57 PM
You can still keep the on-line billing. You just have to give up the paper bills. D* doesn't want to keep doing both for the same account.
pman_jim
09-06-07, 07:05 PM
Which makes very little sense to me, and I've been round and round with the CSR's on it to no avail. Its one or the other.
BAH!!!!
But regardless of that, D* is still the best thing going in TV land that I have access to, so when you take the one minus with all the plusses it really doesn't amount to much more than a small inconvenience.
IndyMichael
09-06-07, 08:01 PM
I just got that email from Directv, is this any way to treat customers?
Jeremy W
09-06-07, 08:03 PM
I don't know of any other company that actually disallows access to online statements if you receive a paper bill. It's really a crappy policy.
Stuart Sweet
09-06-07, 08:37 PM
It seems a little hinky, sure.
Maybe it's some sort of confusion.
my guess is that they really want to "encourage" on-line billing as it is much less expensive for them.
c'mon - save a tree. If you really want to have a paper backup, you can always print it. I do that w/ my bank statments, but I print 2 pages to a sheet.
Dan
pman_jim
09-06-07, 08:41 PM
No confusion. If you are currently getting paper bills and go to the D* web site to view your online bill, you have to first agree that you will no longer receive your paper bill. I've been round and round with multiple CSR's, and the best they could tell me was, I could agree not to receive my paper bill to view the bill online, then then next month call and request to have my paper bills turned back on, but that would turn off my online bills.
Crazy I tell ya!!
MyDogHasFleas
09-06-07, 08:48 PM
They do not want to send you paper bills, because it costs them a lot of money to do that. So, they incent you by offering to provide your bill online if you agree to give up paper bills. What's so hard to understand?
Personally, I don't have a problem at all with companies who do this (and a lot of them do). If I ever want a paper bill (which I rarely do) I can just print it out.
Jeremy W
09-06-07, 09:18 PM
They do not want to send you paper bills, because it costs them a lot of money to do that. So, they incent you by offering to provide your bill online if you agree to give up paper bills. What's so hard to understand?
It's very easy to understand. The thing is, no other company does it like this. Now, I do know of companies that charge extra to receive a paper bill, but I have never heard of any other companies that disallow online access if you choose to receive a paper bill.
lonewoolf
09-06-07, 10:25 PM
I'm from the old school. I prefer looking at billing statement w/o using electricity and filing it for seven years. Also the statements always include something that DTV is offering for that particular billing period that you might not otherwise know about like free previews for example.
I'm from the old school. I prefer looking at billing statement w/o using electricity and filing it for seven years.
I'd hate to see your filing cabinet.
Tax returns - 7 yrs to forever
Bank statements - 5 to 7 years
Utility bills (including D*) - only until the next one comes showing I was credited for the previous months payment
It's very easy to understand. The thing is, no other company does it like this. Now, I do know of companies that charge extra to receive a paper bill, but I have never heard of any other companies that disallow online access if you choose to receive a paper bill.Nor have I. It's a petty and customer-antagonistic decision to block online access to your bill. :mad:
lonewoolf
09-07-07, 12:05 AM
I'd hate to see your filing cabinet.
Tax returns - 7 yrs to forever
Bank statements - 5 to 7 years
Utility bills (including D*) - only until the next one comes showing I was credited for the previous months payment
Why?
JLucPicard
09-07-07, 12:12 AM
Most companies that I know of did not have a situation where you were getting both a paper bill and on-line access. Most make you decide on one or the other - as has been mentioned, if you want on-line access you agree to no longer receive paper bills. D* happened to do things at some point in a way that some people were getting both. Now they are trying to clean that up.
I realize people may want to keep a paper copy. But I also think I have yet to see someone with a computer and on-line access that doesn't have a printer connected to it. And a lot of these places have a .pdf version that is very nearly identical to their snail-mail version.
OK, so I don't get the mini 'what's on DirecTV this month' flyer, or the perfumed inserts or the 'free gifts just for the inflated shipping costs gimmicks'. I'll easily give up the snail-mail D* bill to have the ability to view on-line - I always know where I left my computer, or I can access the information at work if need be.
If I had a cabinet where I file past bills? That's what the little printer icon at the top of the screen is for. Save the labor/printing/postage costs and maybe launch another satellite in a couple of years! :lol:
ajwillys
09-07-07, 07:36 AM
c'mon - save a tree. If you really want to have a paper backup, you can always print it. I do that w/ my bank statments, but I print 2 pages to a sheet.
I have a program that allows me to 'print' anything to a pdf file. It's great, I use it for all my online bills, online purchases, and anything else I *may* want in the future but really don't want to print off. The pdf's then get backed up nightly during the normal backup schedule. Here's what I use:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
It's free, open source, and installs as a print driver on your pc. It's one of the most useful programs I have.
cgiannetto
09-07-07, 07:52 AM
I also got that email yesterday. I suspect in my case it was because DirecTV took it upon themselves sometime last year to automatically enroll me in their "e-bill" system and I complained about it. Since then, my bank has instituted a new online system whereby they can go and fetch statements from many vendors and DirecTV happened to be one of them. When I signed up for that it must have re-enabled DirecTV's e-billing service but given the note I had sent them previously, they kept the paper statements coming anyway.
In any event, I have no issue with it now since my bank's online billing system will keep the notifications & statements in a prominent location until you dispose of them, making it difficult to misplace or forget about. I was trying to find a way to turn off paper statements from DirecTV but once e-billing is turned on, I guess they figure you've already done that so it's not an available option (at least not one I could find). However, now that I had to go back through the process of enabling e-billing, I'm pretty sure that paper billing will stop so I guess this was a good thing.
TimGoodwin
09-07-07, 08:02 AM
The only reason I don't like the online bill pay is if they mess up and charge you with something that you should not be paying for, it goes right on your credit card. Just last week they said that I did not return a replacement HR-20 when I had. It got cleared up but this was after the charge went on my account. With online bill pay that would go on my credit card.
I currently receive a paper bill and am able to view my bill on line. My checking account is debited each month for the charges. To date I have not received any such notice from D*. That will probably come today or very soon.
One reason that I do not wish to cancel a paper bill is because I am single and live alone. If something happens to me I want a paper trail so that my family can see that the bills are paid or cancel services if I should die. Of course a highly organized person would have written instructions for survivors or a power of attorney.
The option to print a copy online each month for that purpose to me is to time consuming. I spend enough time in front of the screen doing other things that are more interesting and fun like reading this forum.
On another down side every paper bill that is eliminated reduces postal service jobs and raises postal rates.
I get all my bills online where possible. I also get the emails with the free offers and other promotions.
I print my online bills to pdf so i have a long term copy but still dont need paper.
I can buy an eSATA (no not the one on my hr20) cheaper than it costs to buy the paper to print it all out on.
I get a paper bill for all of my bills. All but one I pay on-line but I totally prefer the paper bill in the mail. I really regret that DirecTV will no longer allow me to view my bill on-line. That is a totally stupid policy, and like others I have gone round and round with them on this in the past (which is most likely why I got this email also).
On another note...
On another down side every paper bill that is eliminated reduces postal service jobs and raises postal rates.
If every single legitimate piece of mail were eliminated tomorrow, the post office would still have more than enough to do with all the junk mail out there. I don't get any, because my wife and I have worked VERY hard to achieve that. But my neighbor, and my mother, both get several POUNDS of mail a day. The post office is at no risk of losing jobs.
Carl
The only reason I don't like the online bill pay is if they mess up and charge you with something that you should not be paying for, it goes right on your credit card. Just last week they said that I did not return a replacement HR-20 when I had. It got cleared up but this was after the charge went on my account. With online bill pay that would go on my credit card.
There's a difference between AutoPay and online bill pay though, I get an "e-bill" delivered to my online banking account, I chose how much to send to D* along with when to send it and it comes out of whichever account I chose to send the money from, either deposit or credit.
As to the rest of the mail lovers I guess it's a personal preference thing, just to me it's on less sheet of paper I need to shred :)
SDizzle
09-08-07, 12:38 AM
I received this e-mail yesterday as well.......I always checked my bill online for accuracy when I received the e-mail, then the paper bill went in the file on the wall for bills to be paid during the first week of the month when I sit and pay all bills, all done online. But, the paper stub was just a "reminder" that I needed to pay it, as I will not let D* just auto-debit my account.
mikefeuer
09-08-07, 06:52 AM
I got my email last night. I tried to speak to billing reps twice. Wound up on hold for a long period of time, neither knew what I was talking about, and after they got a sense of why I was calling neither claimed to know why this was being done. (even if we do)
I need my paper bill and I have enjoyed the "luxury" of getting an email notifying me that there is a bill ready for me. I like being able to review it on line and I can see any discrepancy before the paper arrives. I also liked viewing the history.
I wound up using the online form to send an email voicing my disapproval. I understand the costs, but it's just another way to alienate customers.
MrSDHab
09-08-07, 10:01 AM
I don't know of any other company that actually disallows access to online statements if you receive a paper bill. It's really a crappy policy.
Bingo...dumb policy
I don't know of any other company that actually disallows access to online statements if you receive a paper bill. It's really a crappy policy.
I know Verizon does, but I have only used Verizon's and D's websites. There may be other companies that do both. I let D know I didn't like not being able to see my bill online :mad: For what I'm paying D that is a very small thing to ask them to do for me, but they are keeping that policy :down: :raspberry
Jeremy W
09-08-07, 01:22 PM
I know Verizon does
Verizon the landline phone company? Verizon Wireless doesn't do this.
Verizon the landline phone company? Verizon Wireless doesn't do this.
Yes the landline phone company. And I don't know how I could have forgotten this one, but Discover Card also has bills on its website plus paper bills.
Jeremy W
09-08-07, 01:43 PM
Yes the landline phone company.
Well at least DirecTV has some company in this terrible practice.
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