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Rant: ebilling

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
I hate paper mail, but with paper mail you open it and see whatever it is. The bill information and so on. Ebilling came along, which is great because I don't have to deal with all this paper stuff that I have to later on shred.

BUT...

Why can't they just send me a PDF right in my email. I don't want to have to login to some stupid interface I just want to open an email and have the information in front of me, the same way it works with paper billing, except instead of a piece of paper it's on my screen. Nooooo that would be too easy. Instead each individual company has it's own login system which means for each utility I need to have a separate user name and password, just to view a freaking bill. Yeah yeah security blah blah. It's up to users to protect their email. An email is more secure than a piece of paper physically sitting outside your house all day while you're at work.

This is the same kind of reasoning that hospitals are in the dark ages and still use fax. They think a fax machine sitting next to the bathroom in the waiting room is more secure than an encrypted email.
 
I've often wondered the same thing. Comcast is a good example... They send me a notification with nothing but a total. No itemized list of charges and no announcements of forthcoming rate changes or other account news that I find in the PDF version of my bill that I must login to their customer service web site to view.

My gas and electric bills are the same, just a total and a due date. Does someone actually consider this information too sensitive to be sent via email?
 
i just pay everything when i get paid at the end of the month. its conveniently within the due date periods for my bills.

i have gotten to logging in and paying everything with a rewards credit card, too. ebills from the bank are more convenient, but i dont get rewards for using my checking account so...login, click, pay, done. usually during breakfast coffee. ill take the annoyance for the card points.
 
I prefer the hassle of shredding over having to log into multiple sites to view an e-bill. And I've found it quicker to scan paper than looking at a screen (scroll, scroll, scroll).

I can stack the mail until the end of the week when I go through it all. With e-bills, I have to check every time I get an email notice that my bill is ready or else I might forget to check later. And autopay just makes me lazy and it's too easy to not even review the online statement. That's on me, I know, but the paper statements just work better for me.
 
Security? Privacy?

Out of all the hubub about privacy and data security, you want companies to transmit personal information over the net instead of having a modicum of control over it by keeping it within their own servers?

Paper mail being less secure isn't an argument against companies not transmitting info over email.
 
NikolaeVarius said:
Security? Privacy?

Out of all the hubub about privacy and data security, you want companies to transmit personal information over the net instead of having a modicum of control over it by keeping it within their own servers?

Paper mail being less secure isn't an argument against companies not transmitting info over email.
Click to expand...

I don't really consider sending the numbers that are readable off the publicly available meters a security or privacy issue.

They don't need to include the account numbers and other information but a basic bill like:

PowerCo Bill summary
Usage 1000kw @ 6.8cents / KW: $68.00
Tax: $8.32
Hookup fee: $2.00
Meter fee: $4.00

Total $82.32 due 1/1/2045

"For more information please visit us at www.powerco.fake"

Is not really "private" nor a "security risk."
 
Think about it. If they sent a PDF out to everyone, it would take a lot of bandwidth. It's much easier to just log in and view your bill at your leisure instead of them sending it and it potentially going to your junk mailbox or you missing it or it being too large for your inbox to handle.
 
slag said:
Think about it. If they sent a PDF out to everyone, it would take a lot of bandwidth. It's much easier to just log in and view your bill at your leisure instead of them sending it and it potentially going to your junk mailbox or you missing it or it being too large for your inbox to handle.
Click to expand...

All of my ebill pdfs are 85kb to 115kb. Doesn't sound like an issue.
 
I will switch to electronic billing the day that I actually benefit from it. That hasn't happened yet with the vast majority of companies. With paper billing, I get a hard copy reminder that a bill is due. As long as that bill is by my computer, it hasn't been paid (although I try to pay it immediately). I get a permanent record for tax time, free of charge. I don't have to do any extra work other than go to the mailbox which I do anyways.

With electronic billing, I have to remember every bill's due date, I have to do the work to log in, and I have to pay to print copies at tax time. And yet the company saves printing/shipping costs. I get the pain, they get the benefit. Transfer half of those savings to me (or at least SOME form of actual benefit), and I'll do electronic billing.

About the only time that I have done electronic was with Vanguard, where their fees are waived. That is an actual benefit for me (no fees) and a benefit to the company (no printing / shipping costs).
 
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dullard said:
I will switch to electronic billing the day that I actually benefit from it. That hasn't happened yet with the vast majority of companies. With paper billing, I get a hard copy reminder that a bill is due. As long as that bill is by my computer, it hasn't been paid (although I try to pay it immediately). I get a permanent record for tax time, free of charge. I don't have to do any extra work other than go to the mailbox which I do anyways.

With electronic billing, I have to remember every bill's due date, I have to do the work to log in, and I have to pay to print copies at tax time. And yet the company saves printing/shipping costs. I get the pain, they get the benefit. Transfer half of those savings to me (or at least SOME form of actual benefit), and I'll do electronic billing.

About the only time that I have done electronic was with Vanguard, where their fees are waived. That is an actual benefit for me (no fees) and the company (no printing / shipping costs).
Click to expand...

You should get a job at once of those TV product commerical companies that make a huge deal over the most trivial of tasks
 
dullard said:
With electronic billing, I have to remember every bill's due date, I have to do the work to log in, and I have to pay to print copies at tax time. And yet the company saves printing/shipping costs. I get the pain, they get the benefit. Transfer half of those savings to me (or at least SOME form of actual benefit), and I'll do electronic billing.
Click to expand...

Agreed

Getting a bill in mail = reminder + easy way to look over everything I need to know without "login" or other steps needed.

Screw Ebilling....never done it, never will
 
imagoon said:
All of my ebill pdfs are 85kb to 115kb. Doesn't sound like an issue.
Click to expand...

My view is a bit different. I work for an insurance provider and itemized bills can be pretty large. We allow users to sign into a portal and view their bill there, but some of them can be in the MB range and above and we also have to deal with phi.
 
NikolaeVarius said:
You should get a job at once of those TV product commerical companies that make a huge deal over the most trivial of tasks
Click to expand...
Being slapped with a $25+ late fee and a possible hit to your credit score because you have no physical reminder that a bill is due is not trivial to many people.
 
slag said:
My view is a bit different. I work for an insurance provider and itemized bills can be pretty large. We allow users to sign into a portal and view their bill there, but some of them can be in the MB range and above and we also have to deal with phi.
Click to expand...

Yeah you are insurance, that doesn't really compare to someones electric bill.
 
dullard said:
Being slapped with a $25+ late fee and a possible hit to your credit score because you have no physical reminder that a bill is due is not trivial to many people.
Click to expand...

Easy... don't be late on payments. Calenders exist. A multitude of bill aggregation services exist. I spend all of 30 minutes a month tracking my bills and have had 0 problems.
 
imagoon said:
Yeah you are insurance, that doesn't really compare to someones electric bill.
Click to expand...

The rant was about Ebilling.. I wouldn't want my electric bill emailed to me either. Alert me that its due at least a week in advance so I can sign into the portal and pay it.

Cell phone companies don't email my bill to me. They tell me its due and provide a link to log into to take care of it.
 
Vdubchaos said:
Agreed

Getting a bill in mail = reminder + easy way to look over everything I need to know without "login" or other steps needed.

Screw Ebilling....never done it, never will
Click to expand...

This. Bank statements are the only thing I've gone paperless on. Any type of bill where I have to spend money, I prefer a paper bill. Makes it easier for me to remember when to pay them.
 
slag said:
The rant was about Ebilling.. I wouldn't want my electric bill emailed to me either. Alert me that its due at least a week in advance so I can sign into the portal and pay it.

Cell phone companies don't email my bill to me. They tell me its due and provide a link to log into to take care of it.
Click to expand...

Cell phone companies will send it to you via email if tell them to. The bill they send will have the account number and address XXXXX'd for Sprint and Verizon. However I opt for the one liner that says "you owe $45" and then I send it from my bank.

That may be a key difference for me though. I get the ebills and still send them a bank issued check from my banks portal. I never bother logging in or paying the extra convenience fees that most have for paying online.

On the electric bill front, I don't care if they email me public information. This information is available as public docs so there is no privacy to worry about.
 
I pay (nearly) all my bills through my bank's website (Bank of America). I set up ebills through BoA IF I can easily view and download the complete monthly bill from BoA's system. If I can't get the bills that way I insist on the creditor mailing me paper bills (so far noone charges extra for that yet) AND I tell the creditor why.

I'm not going to go to a separate website, use different password, etc. for each creditor. If they can't figure out how to set up a user friendly system-as opposed to forcing users to jump through their hoops, then the creditor can bear the cost of paper billing and mailing.

You have to balance the value of your time versus their convenience, and start from the viewpoint that the creditor cares next to nothing about your convenience.

Perhaps some day if they actually give ME a financial benefit for using their ebilling system then I'll bend.
 
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