Unnecessary Fees And Processes

January 25, 2010 ·  

Invoice

Invoice

Recently I have been noticing a rise in fees that have been added to various accounts with some amusing names (handling or processing fee). Telstra last year tried to implement a fee where you had to pay extra to pay over the counter your bill. This fortunately was removed by the public pressure.

Some banks charge you more to use the over the counter services than the electronic services. Other organisations also have fees and charges that appear on the bill and they don’t have to be the large public companies that are mentioned earlier.

These fees and charges are possibly being seen by some of the internal accountants and financial officers as ways of raising additional revenue without increasing the price of the good or the service.

But the impact from the customer point of view, far out weighs any benefit that these unnecessary fees and charges incur. It is not just the large companies that are doing this practice. Many small businesses seem to be adopting the practice but be careful.

Recently I had my car serviced and when you look through the bill there was four separate little fees, none of which exceeded $5, that were added on after the labour component and the parts component, etc. It leaves a sour taste in your mouth as a customer. The additional revenue that the business has charged adds up across all customers, but what is the impact on the customer.

Instead of the service or the experience being remembered, the little fees and charges take a bigger significance. It is always the little things in business that have a big impact and unfortunately these little fees are having a far bigger impact than  most businesses are crediting.

So have you gone down the path of imposing some little fees, service charges or levies on your clients? If so I would seriously reconsider these and just consider increasing the price and accordingly, increasing the experience the customer has.

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