Just another rip-off

Ok, maybe I’m the only person in the world who feels like this but does it seem to be getting harder and harder to get any sort of service out of anyone – particularly large utility companies – without feeling like you’ve just spent the night incarcerated with an enormous guy named ‘Bubba’?

Let me explain further.

A few years ago I went around to each of the major banks to enquire about their transaction accounts. I finally agreed to open an account with a particular institution that offered the following:

1. Unlimited transactions, for
2. A monthly fee of $5.

Now, this wasn’t the cheapest package but I liked the freedom of the unlimited transactions and the certainty of the one fixed monthly fee.

Just a few short months after I opened that account I received a letter in the mail from my new bank. ‘Dear Mr Mill’ it began – turns out my bank had decided to take advantage of the unilateral variation clause in its standard terms and conditions to completely vary my account features. Now I had a limit on the number of my transactions, my fixed monthly fee was to be increased by 60% and additional transactions would incur further charges.

Recently the telecommunications company that I had been with for about 8 years sent me a bill with a whole new fee – a ‘non-direct debit fee’. Turns out that I was to be charged an additional $2 per month (plus GST) for the inconvenience of me not wishing to hand over my bank account details and authorise them to take whatever they wished! Apparently they had sent me a letter about it – they had also decided to use the unilateral variation clause in their contract to substantially alter the terms of our contract (I was, at that time, locked into a contract with them).

What is the deal with these unilateral variation clauses? Why can’t I all of a sudden say to my phone company – ‘oh, I know we have a contract but I’m going to pay you half as much for twice as many calls’. How far do you think I would get with that? And is there any limit to the extent of the variation? Let’s say you enter a 1 year contract with a mobile phone company – the deal is you get 100 calls for $1 per month. Can they then unilaterally change it to be 1 call for $100 per month? At what point is it such a fundamental change that the contract is over?

Finally, I have two credit cards – both of them have limits. If my credit card provider decides to let transactions occur on my account (admittedly by me) in excess of my agreement with them that their is a certain spending limit – why do I have to pay a fee? They were the ones who allowed it to go over the limit! They could have saved both of us the hassle by simply declining the transaction. It seems to me that setting a limit involves keeping to the limit or having transactions declined. In any event – I cannot see how the bank actually incurred $30 of costs as a result of them allowing me to spend more than we’d agreed. And, if it is not a fair estimate of costs – its a penalty and not enforceable!

This actually happened to me a month ago. Turns out I had overspent on my credit card and I was hit with an over-limit fee of $30! (Actually they hit me with two overlimit fees of $30 but I only found out about the second one when I called). So I called them up and told them I wasn’t going to pay it. They seemed a bit non-plussed by that. They explained what it was and why it had been charged – and I stated again very clearly that I didn’t care what it was, I wasn’t going to pay it! At that point they agreed to credit my account for the two fees, but I still had to pay the full amount (I wanted to pay the figure minus the fee) and then I would receive the credits. Now, good that it worked out ok. Good on the bank for seeing reason – but again, how many people are hit with these fees and just pay them? Why are the banks even trying to impose fees that can’t be justified and aren’t enforceable.

Now, where does this story end? As for my phone provider – I left them as soon as my contract ended, I left my bank just after they changed the fees, and I got my refund on my credit card – but I may yet get my revenge. My former phone company sent me a small final bill – I’ll happily pay it once they refund my non-direct debit fees!

Does this drive anyone else crazy?

***UPDATE: I’ve just remembered another one – when I joined my video library I used to have to return the video before midnight the next day. Then it became 10pm, now its 6pm. They didn’t send me anything out letting me know of this change, they didn’t refer to any part of my membership agreement that allowed this – they just changed the ‘please return by’ bit on the videos!***