Telus Credit Card processing fee

[implode]

I found out about this from https://forums.redflagdeals.com/telus-add-1-5-credit-card-processing-fee-starting-october-pending-cr...

If this is the case going forward, can I get back paper billing so that I can make payments through the bank?

[JohnnyDoe]

Telus profits are up 21%, but they apparently need to soak existing customers further. I've been a Telus customer ever since they bought BC Tel. They don't care about loyalty.

[WozzaDog]

I do believe they care about loyalty, and I know the care about society, TELUS health is a good example.

Wozza aka Warren Saunders
***

Sent from my iPhone

***Edit: personal info posted

[myorangepumpkin]

Ok Telus, here is how your business was looking end of June 2022:

TELUS annual/quarterly net income history and growth rate from 2010 to 2022. Net income can be defined as company's net profit or loss after all revenues, income items, and expenses have been accounted for.

• TELUS net income for the quarter ending June 30, 2022 was $0.366B, a 34.37% increase year-over-year.
• TELUS net income for the twelve months ending June 30, 2022 was $1.457B, a 50.97% increase year-over-year.

Source = https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/TU/telus/net-income#:~:text=TELUS%20net%20income%20for%20t....

Now..... do you REALLY have the audacity to pursue this blatant cash grab / gouge of attempting to charge customers a 1.5% "credit card processing fee". Like god forbid you give customers a tiny break during this time of record inflation when you are making literally hundreds of millions of dollars in NET profit. This is such a PR fail, it is laughable, how can you possibly be so out of touch and greedy?

[JohnnyDoe]

I remember Telus requesting federal compensation (our tax dollars) for banning Huawei 5G Equipment. They will make the public pay without the help of the feds. They have no shame.

[Brian_Licis]

Feeling the gouge from Telus like many of you are expressing here in this forum; are there other effective means of voicing displeasure on this? I am not seeing any obvious Telus customer service telephone numbers. I will certainly be exploring options for exiting from Telus.

[Clearnet]

This is a blatant money grab from Telus. Doing this only makes Telus look cheap and vindictive. Credit card companies have prevented merchants like Telus from charging customers for credit card processing fees and must accept all cards that bear the credit card network logo -- no matter the cost.  Now that the courts have ruled that merchants can charge a credit card processing fee, Telus jumped at the opportunity to "get back" at the credit card companies by "spreading around the pain" to the customers.

Furthermore, such fees are business expenses that Telus can write off.  So the card processing fee isn't something they end up eating anyways.  The extra sting in the fee is that Telus charges GST/HST on top of the fee. 😡

This also makes Telus petty to go after all their customers to cover for their cost of doing business.  Telus is also being pedantic by saying "you don't get charged a fee when you pay through your bank." Not so. There's a monthly bank fee that customers pay, plus if the payment bounces, the NSF fee is a lot more lucrative. 🤑  Plus the late fee and interest Telus charges on top of the now-late bill.  Telus is making money hand over fist and this fee doesn't even make a dent in their bottom line at the end of the day.  If Telus is so strapped for cash, they wouldn't be touting their "giving back" charity campaigns at every opportunity.

I hope the CRTC will stop Telus from implementing this fee, but Telus is a huge company with an army of smart people working for them.  They'll find another way around this and invent some flowery term fee  -- like the stupid "Government Regulation Recovery Fee" that Rogers was charging their customers many years ago which isn't even a service or benefit that the customer gets in return for paying that fee.  It was just something Rogers made up to blame it on the government to say, "Hey the government made me do it."   Just like Telus is saying, "Your credit card company made me do it." 🤔 😡

[Clearnet]

The long and short of it is we're screwed.  End of story.  Period. Put a fork in it. 😕

The telecom situation is so dire in Canada that our dear government has a tendency to pick its winners and losers. The CRTC is headed by a very telecom-friendly commissioner and will approve this fee. Since the fee also entails GST/HST, which is more revenue for the government.

Sure you can switch to other telecom providers, but the grass is sadly not greener over there.  If I were to jog your memory, Rogers had a massive national outage in July and had one the year previous as well.  Until they get their network up to scratch, they may have another massive outage again. Bell is not any better with their recent controversy surrounding the "sudden departure" of Lisa LaFlamme and their generally negative corporate culture and billing practices. It was fine when I was a Bell customer.  Didn't run into any billing issues.

I've been around the block myself having been a customer of the Big 3.  I got the best customer service at Rogers and the best coverage with Telus.  Bell has the same coverage as Telus out west since they both share towers -- not sure out east though.

So the only workable solution to this problem is to pay through online banking as a bill payment to avoid their "frivolous" card processing fee.  Thank goodness online banking bill payments don't charge an extra fee (generally, dependent upon your banking package).

[WozzaDog]

If you believe that you can’t change the outcome. I invented GPS navigation, video on demand for airlines, colour laser separation for scanners, and a who bunch of other changes like removing the Canadian houses only for adults and not children, bought in VISA debit to Canada.

At the end of the day, it comes down to P&L. If the cost of managing the complaints and reduction of income, a loss of income, then the decision may be reversed.

Bank fees are an operational cost of sale expense if tied to a transaction. But every transaction from all systems including direct deposits cost any organization. And so to the number of staff to manage the banks, their PCs, training costs, their be if it's. So the real question is how far do any organization go, and at what point do all he operational costs get itemized!

I'm going to start a new thread that's not focused on credit card expenses, but itemized operational expenses.

Get Outlook for iOS

[Elochai]

If TELUS is going to bill me a credit card processing fee for making a payment, then all TELUS stores should be accepting debit card payments within store. When at a TELUS store in my home town, you are told credit card only for payments.

TELUS shouldn’t be allowed to refuse payments by debit card within store if they’re charging a fee to customers on credit cards and making it the only accepted method of in store payments.

[Exactchangeonly]

I have switched my communications back to receive a paper statement. I will be going to my bank and withdrawing the exact amount tgen paying it at the Telus store by my home. I'm guessing that will cost Telus WAY more than 1.5%. Fortunately I only have to do this for 6 months until my contract ends.

[noreason]

If I see the credit card fee charged on my bills, I will switch to manual mailed cheques to Telus - the postage cost is about 1.5% and I get free cheques from the bank but having to process this will hopefully be just as inconvenient to Telus as they are being to us.

I will also look to another competitor that doesn't charge a stupid credit card processing fee.

[myorangepumpkin]

You can complain to the CRTC about Telus' intent to pass on the Credit Card processing fee
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/contact/#complaint

The CRTC has received a ton of complaints on this topic, add your voice to the heap, hopefully Telus smartens up and reverses their tone-deaf position on this subject.

[Annoyedcustomer]

Are there any other Canadians out there who think the new 1.5% credit card fee is ridiculous? From a company that charges among the highest wireless rates in the world? I will be taking my business elsewhere. 

[MikeC1]

One word- Ludicrous!!!!

Sent from my Mobile

[Elochai]

Yes a lot of us, I have asked to be switched back to paper bills on October 5th (which the representative didn’t do for me as asked 3 times, but got that straightened out yesterday with another phone call) because of this decision just so I can now get a proper invoice with the information I’ll need to send TELUS a personal post-dated cheque. May cost me a $1 or so in postage, but better then $6 for a stupid fee that already calculated into our bills before this court ruling.

What doesn’t make sense is that TELUS rather charge this fee and have a negative impact on the environment. Think about it, I’m now switched back to paper copies because of this fee, I now have to use paper cheques, and envelopes; which then have to be delivered to TELUS by plane and trucks that burn fossil fuels; then they get to pay a fee to process my personal cheque.

So wouldn’t it be better to not cause a negative impact to the environment, accept my payment by credit card without price gauging me like all the competitors are doing ? Don’t see this fee being charged by Bell or Rogers, they’re probably more happy with TELUS charging it and sending customers their way.

[Jacy]

I just want it noted how awful it is that Telus has decided to pass on credit card fees to its customers. Telus Data charges are already highway robbery and this multimillion dollar company has decided to pass these charges on to their customers at a time when people are struggling to pay for food and gas due to inflation. Shame on you Telus!!

[BMcG]

Why is Telus charging 1.5% on credit card transactions.We are already paying ridiculously high fees as it is. To say it is the cost of doing business is nonsense. Maybe Telus should get rid of its reward program. That should cover the cost of processing credit card payments. 

[BMcG]

Why is Telus charging 1.5% on credit card transactions? We are already paying ridiculously high fees as it is. To say it is the cost of doing business is nonsense. Maybe Telus should get rid of its reward program. That should cover the cost of processing credit card payments. 

[dbeddows]

I'm not one to get onto forums or social media but I need Telus to understand just how unhappy that you made me this morning.

I have been a Telus customer for many years now and I've never been late to pay.

This morning the day after receiving my new invoice I went online to pay you and while I was about to submit a message popped up to warn me that now your going to charge a 1.5% credit card processing fee. Yes I know that all companies pay a processing fee which is considered apart of doing business.

I find this ridiculous that you are stooping this low and charging this fee.

You should be embarrassed that you have even considered this after having record profits year after year,

I for one would be happy to switch over to any American network that would like to come to Canada and compete with Canadian monopolies.

[polecat]

@dbeddows  Do some research --------Devil you got Devil you get.

[Nighthawk]

There's already a existing discussion about the fees here: https://forum.telus.com/t5/My-Home-Account/Telus-Credit-Card-processing-fee/td-p/128231 . It dates back to August when the credit card fees were all over the news.