Article: Cingular to not return payment checks

In the San Francisco Chronicle 9/5/2003

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...5/BU301388.DTL

"...The change being made is that Cingular will debit payments
electronically from customers' bank accounts. Checks will not be sent to
the bank for clearing and thus will not be returned with bank statements.

Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."

--
Frank Harris in San Francisco

---

› See More: Article: Cingular to not return payment checks

Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<bjcs59

> Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
> debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
> the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
> amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."

This is cause for being able to terminate your service without
a termination fee. They are going to have to notify customers
of the waiver of the termination fee for cancellations.

In article <[email protected]>, Steven
Scharf <[email protected]> wrote:

> Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<bjcs59
>
> > Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
> > debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
> > the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
> > amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."
>
> This is cause for being able to terminate your service without
> a termination fee. They are going to have to notify customers
> of the waiver of the termination fee for cancellations.

They already have in San Diego, CA. I got the notice in my bill late
last week. They don't really explain much except that they won't be
returning your check and that your payments will now go through as
electronic debits. According to the article you can opt out of it. You
can bet that I will be calling on Monday to do just that. My cancelled
checks have saved me more than once over the years (not with Cingular,
other companies.)

[email protected] (Steven Scharf) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<bjcs59
>
> > Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
> > debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
> > the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
> > amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."
>
> This is cause for being able to terminate your service without
> a termination fee. They are going to have to notify customers
> of the waiver of the termination fee for cancellations.

Why exactly would this be cause for early cancellation? Cingular is simply
going to present checks electronically instead of physically. Many
merchants are switching to this faster, cheaper and more efficient
way to accept checks. I haven't dug out my last Cingular contract in
awhile, but I don't recall it saying anything about what forms of payment
they accepted or didn't accept.

I was given two opportunities to void my contract in my last two-year
extention- once when they changed the coverage area, and once
when the changed the fees for call-forwarding. I didn't take either
"out" as I was happy with my service. I just don't see how not returning
a check to your bank constitutes a material change in the contract. They
are still accepting check payments, but they are processing them as EFTs-
heck, Wal-Mart's been doing that in my area for over a year.

Todd Allcock wrote:
> [email protected] (Steven Scharf) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>>Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<bjcs59
>>
>>
>>>Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
>>>debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
>>>the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
>>>amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."
>>
>>This is cause for being able to terminate your service without
>>a termination fee. They are going to have to notify customers
>>of the waiver of the termination fee for cancellations.
>
>
> Why exactly would this be cause for early cancellation? Cingular is simply
> going to present checks electronically instead of physically. Many
> merchants are switching to this faster, cheaper and more efficient
> way to accept checks. I haven't dug out my last Cingular contract in
> awhile, but I don't recall it saying anything about what forms of payment
> they accepted or didn't accept.
>
> I was given two opportunities to void my contract in my last two-year
> extention- once when they changed the coverage area, and once
> when the changed the fees for call-forwarding. I didn't take either
> "out" as I was happy with my service. I just don't see how not returning
> a check to your bank constitutes a material change in the contract. They
> are still accepting check payments, but they are processing them as EFTs-
> heck, Wal-Mart's been doing that in my area for over a year.


OMG! Do people still actually scribble some ink on a little piece of
paper intended to represent some handwritten amount of money and
present it for payment of goods or services? Okay, I'm only being
partly facetious. There's only one reason I still use checks,
they can't (won't) deal with electronic payments. The blank checks
around here (assuming I could even find them), are still preprinted
with ____99 in the date field. Needless to say, I absotively hate
those little strips of paper!


--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten' ICQ = 35253273
"All that we do is touched with ocean, yet we remain on the shore of
what we know." -- Richard Wilbur

Why wouldn't presenting the official bank record showing the debit amount
save your butt just like presenting a cancelled check? The debit shows who
it was paid to and for how much...eeek people have some strange addictions
to paper checks don't they?

"Not Really Here" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:070920032006204161%[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, Steven
> Scharf <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<bjcs59
> >
> > > Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
> > > debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
> > > the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
> > > amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."
> >
> > This is cause for being able to terminate your service without
> > a termination fee. They are going to have to notify customers
> > of the waiver of the termination fee for cancellations.
>
> They already have in San Diego, CA. I got the notice in my bill late
> last week. They don't really explain much except that they won't be
> returning your check and that your payments will now go through as
> electronic debits. According to the article you can opt out of it. You
> can bet that I will be calling on Monday to do just that. My cancelled
> checks have saved me more than once over the years (not with Cingular,
> other companies.)

In article <[email protected]>, Rich Rusho
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Why wouldn't presenting the official bank record showing the debit amount
> save your butt just like presenting a cancelled check? The debit shows who
> it was paid to and for how much.

Well my bank doesn't charge me for returning my checks, so why show
them a copy of my statement when I can send them a copy of the check?

Hello,

How can I find opportunities to void my contract? Is there a website or
something I can go to? Thanks.

---ParaG


"jer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Todd Allcock wrote:
> > [email protected] (Steven Scharf) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> >
> >>Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<bjcs59
> >>
> >>
> >>>Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
> >>>debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
> >>>the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
> >>>amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."
> >>
> >>This is cause for being able to terminate your service without
> >>a termination fee. They are going to have to notify customers
> >>of the waiver of the termination fee for cancellations.
> >
> >
> > Why exactly would this be cause for early cancellation? Cingular is
simply
> > going to present checks electronically instead of physically. Many
> > merchants are switching to this faster, cheaper and more efficient
> > way to accept checks. I haven't dug out my last Cingular contract in
> > awhile, but I don't recall it saying anything about what forms of
payment
> > they accepted or didn't accept.
> >
> > I was given two opportunities to void my contract in my last two-year
> > extention- once when they changed the coverage area, and once
> > when the changed the fees for call-forwarding. I didn't take either
> > "out" as I was happy with my service. I just don't see how not
returning
> > a check to your bank constitutes a material change in the contract.
They
> > are still accepting check payments, but they are processing them as
EFTs-
> > heck, Wal-Mart's been doing that in my area for over a year.
>
>
> OMG! Do people still actually scribble some ink on a little piece of
> paper intended to represent some handwritten amount of money and
> present it for payment of goods or services? Okay, I'm only being
> partly facetious. There's only one reason I still use checks,
> they can't (won't) deal with electronic payments. The blank checks
> around here (assuming I could even find them), are still preprinted
> with ____99 in the date field. Needless to say, I absotively hate
> those little strips of paper!
>
>
> --
> jer email reply - I am not a 'ten' ICQ = 35253273
> "All that we do is touched with ocean, yet we remain on the shore of
> what we know." -- Richard Wilbur
>

Not Really Here <[email protected]> wrote in article
<070920032006204161%[email protected]>:
> According to the article you can opt out of it.

Ah, I see that now. So if you can opt out, then it's not a
contract breaking tool. I guess they're in hot water for
not informing people of the opt-out option unless they
inquire about it.

Personally I can't see why people don't just automatically
charge their cellular bills to their credit cards. One less
paper or electronic check to write, plus miles or cash back
bonuses.

[posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]

Heck, I pay mine in the store, in person. Checks have this nasty habit
of getting there too late, and then taking way too much time to clear
the banks. A payment made by check can actually cause a cancelled
contract- it takes too long to get from your mail box to their bank,
back to your bank.

Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> In the San Francisco Chronicle 9/5/2003
>
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...5/BU301388.DTL
>
> "...The change being made is that Cingular will debit payments
> electronically from customers' bank accounts. Checks will not be sent to
> the bank for clearing and thus will not be returned with bank statements.
>
> Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
> debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
> the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
> amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."
>
> --
> Frank Harris in San Francisco
>

[posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]

William Bray wrote:

> Heck, I pay mine in the store, in person. Checks have this nasty habit
> of getting there too late, and then taking way too much time to clear
> the banks. A payment made by check can actually cause a cancelled
> contract- it takes too long to get from your mail box to their bank,
> back to your bank.


And this is precisely why I stopped using checks altogether. I get a
payment notice, I access my account electronically, schedule an EFT,
and I get another notice when the EFT occurs. If I feel like it, I
could download my entire account history into Quicken, or just glare
at it on screen. Personally, I don't care if they know they've been
paid, my account history says they got paid - and any further
discussion about non-payment is a problem between my bank and them,
not me.

--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten' ICQ = 35253273
"All that we do is touched with ocean, yet we remain on the shore of
what we know." -- Richard Wilbur

jer <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> OMG! Do people still actually scribble some ink on a little piece of
> paper intended to represent some handwritten amount of money and
> present it for payment of goods or services? Okay, I'm only being
> partly facetious. There's only one reason I still use checks,
> they can't (won't) deal with electronic payments. The blank checks
> around here (assuming I could even find them), are still preprinted
> with ____99 in the date field. Needless to say, I absotively hate
> those little strips of paper!

I'm with you. Between using my credit card, automatic debits,
on-line bill pay from my bank, and the occasional use of those
green pieces of paper with the dead presidents on them, I probably
write out maybe a dozen checks a year, and NEVER carry a
checkbook on me.

Rich Rusho wrote:
> Why wouldn't presenting the official bank record showing the debit amount
> save your butt just like presenting a cancelled check? The debit shows who
> it was paid to and for how much...eeek people have some strange addictions
> to paper checks don't they?
>
-------------

It's much easier to prove that you only atuhorized a certain amount when
you have the written record in your hand...mistakes happen, especially
when humans are entering number after number, mistakes are bound to happen.

-------------

> "Not Really Here" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:070920032006204161%[email protected]...
>
>>In article <[email protected]>, Steven
>>Scharf <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<bjcs59
>>>
>>>
>>>>Customers will still have to send in checks, though. This is how the
>>>>debit process will be initiated each month. Cingular just won't go to
>>>>the trouble of sending them on, thus saving the company a considerable
>>>>amount of money -- although it won't specify the exact sum. ..."
>>>
>>>This is cause for being able to terminate your service without
>>>a termination fee. They are going to have to notify customers
>>>of the waiver of the termination fee for cancellations.
>>
>>They already have in San Diego, CA. I got the notice in my bill late
>>last week. They don't really explain much except that they won't be
>>returning your check and that your payments will now go through as
>>electronic debits. According to the article you can opt out of it. You
>>can bet that I will be calling on Monday to do just that. My cancelled
>>checks have saved me more than once over the years (not with Cingular,
>>other companies.)
>
>
>