Group calls on Ottawa to eliminate paper billing
Posted August 27, 2014 7:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Canadians pay more than half a billion dollars in fees for paper bills every year and an advocacy group is again calling on Ottawa to keep its promise and eliminate charges associated with paper billing.
John Lawford with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre has just released a new report about the costs associated with paper billing.
But how much are Canadians paying? “If you include those folks that are paying both for telecom and banking, it’s up to $735 Million, and that’s before taxes and that’s based on three in ten customers getting paper billing fees. We’re not sure how many customers actually pay for paper bills, because the companies don’t tell us.”
As part of this new report, you spoke with people across the country, and seniors, for the most part, feel taken advantage of. “The billing charge is one that’s completely unjustified because their members have paid their bills and the companies have never had a charge for such a thing and nothing has changed.”
Being on a fixed income can make things particularly difficult. “Suddenly an extra two, four, six dollars a month, which is up to seventy-two dollars a year, added on to their bills for no new service, for those folks, that’s what we heard from those folks.”
Lawford worries that after tomorrow’s meeting, should companies decide to bill for a certain lower rater, other companies who don’t.
