Last week I received a letter from Optus advising me that they will going to charge me a fee per invoice paper if I don’t switch to their online billing service. I find this quite wrong so I am going to post the following letter:

Mr Anthony Hearne
Marketing Director, Consumer
SingTel Optus Limited
PO Box 888
North Ryde NSW 1670

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

Dear Mr Hearne
Thank you for your letter dated 6 March 2009 advising me to “Switch to online bills now to avoid the $2.20 paper invoice fee that starts from 1st March 2009.” I inform you I will not be switching to online bills and will not be paying this new fee of $2.20. I will pay the normal part of my monthly invoice but allowing the new fee to accumulate each invoice.
This new initiative is discrimination against people who do not have e-mail and to people who find it easier to have paper bills.
The cost of sending bills, paper or otherwise, should be the responsibility of the company as a part of the overheads, not of the consumer. Plus, to be charging $2.20 per paper invoice, for a service that would cost your company a faction of the fee, is over priced.
Yours sincerely

Darryl Sellwood

PS. A copy of this has been posted to my online blog.