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harryspar's profile

Guru

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552 Messages

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 9:44 AM

New Admin Fee?

I hear everyone is getting a brand new fee, called the "MOBILITY ADMINISTRATIVE FEE".

 

What is it, how much is it, and what is it for?

Expert

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12.2K Messages

11 years ago


@hojbjerg wrote:

@wingrider01 wrote:

@harryspar wrote:
Difference is, if I went to the other carrier I would be agreeing to the charge at the BEGINNING of the contract, which is OK.

I'm not putting words into anyone's mouth. I have no idea who does or doesn't think ATT is within thier rights to impose a $30 fee next month if they want to cover $30 of expenses. I'm simply sutting the question out for public comment: If
1) it is OK to add fees below the line if they are for business expenses rather than taxes, and
2) ATT has more than 61 cents od expenses per month then
3) what is the limit?

 


@harryspar wrote:

If you think it would be OK for them to add a $30 "Business Expenses" surcharge on every bill, well, I think that's absurd. AT&T thinks that's fine.

I know where my limits are but do not know where yours would nor do I speculate, what is the limit for the cost of gasoline? What about electricity. If you feel that the .61 cents is your limit then change carriers, it is as simple as that.


Sorry - it is not that simple. The problem here is that you cannot simply change carrier because most people are still locked into their contract. 


You are not locked into your contract, there is a method to leave your current contract and go to another carrier, it just depends on how strong your conviction is to the issue that is causing you discomfort, if it is strong enough you hav the means, it just costs you financially. Have walked away from numerous contracts that cost me plenty - a lot more then the maximum etf of a cell phone becasue I disagreed with the companies policies and requirements.

Guru

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552 Messages

11 years ago

Update: over the last 24 hours or so, the story of the admin fee starting getting coverage from news outlets and tech blogs. If there is bad publicity over this ATT might blink. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few days and weeks.

Teacher

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5 Messages

11 years ago

Arguing over what the fee is called or what AT&T claims is its purpose is irrelevant , the bottom line is that is just additional income for AT&T.  They came up with an amount per line that a group of corporate executives felt would be small enough to avoid the outrage similar to what Verizon experienced.  The fact that other companies do it does not make it right, but this is something that is not limited to phone companies.  I have had charges added to my cable bill, electric bill and city water/sewer bill to "allegedly" pay for things that used to be covered in the monthly base fee.  And airlines now charge for checking bags, printing boarding passes, etc. I'd rather they all just be upfront and say they are raising prices for their service and/or product.

Contributor

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1 Message

11 years ago

Here is a Blog that I found that relates to this discussion - Enjoy!

 

Analyst Blogs

May 23, 2013, 8:35 p.m.
Joe Hoffman Principal Analyst

AT&T announces a heavy-handed imposition of an arbitrary 61¢ fee per user and sets the twitterati ablaze. Megabits of commentary angst like “worst outcome” “destroy net neutrality” “punish their customer” have been spilled over this.

But why would AT&T do this? Because they can, and it is all in the pricing strategy. Now that AT&T is comfortable with their shiny new pricing tools and flexibility that comes with them, looks like someone in the Executive MBA program has discovered Price Elasticity of Demand.

The mathematically challenged can skip over this, but elasticity simply indicates how much AT&T can jack up the price, lose some customers, and make more money on those that remain.

 

But why 61¢, why not $1 or $5 or $10? Because AT&T understands price elasticity of demand. When AT&T raises the price by 61¢, they know hardly anyone is going to bail on them, and so can impose this with impunity. $1 or $5 or $10 is just too much to swallow all at once, but give them time. For now, $500 - $600 Million will flow right to the bottom line. Brilliant! No fancy software tools, no focus groups, no high priced engineers and programmers, and no iPhone subsidies. Just a raw, brute force price increase. In six to 9 months, add another fee, then rinse and repeat a few more time. Marketing beats engineering every time!

Companies exist to maximize profit and are not charitable institutions. The entire goal of a pricing strategy is to get the various segments of their customer base to pay up to their willing maximum. The “punishments” spoken about are a psychological means to encourage people to willingly part with the maximum.

But why 61¢? Why not 99¢? That has some something to do with pricing psychology. Gasoline is priced in tenths of a penny as in $3.99 9 . Let the gas station on the opposite corner price at $4.00 and watch the line form across the street. And cell plans at AT&T are priced the same way - $39.99 and $69.99. Q.E.D.

Why a fee and not simply a price increase? Data usage is beyond mass market comprehension, so keep it simple - $30/3 Gigabyte. $50$/5 Gigabyte. And, don’t punish the customer and keep overages fair and reasonable - only $10/1 Gigabyte. After all, the mass market has no way of knowing how many Gigabytes they are consuming, though some might check after the fact. And how does AT&T count these Gigabytes?

Suppose AT&T decides on a direct price increase - how awkward do these sound?

$30.61/3 Gigabyte. Or maybe $30/0.980 Gigabytes? Or maybe $40.60/month? So, keep the plan and price simple, but goose the profits with fees. Now this sounds like an airline or a bank, not necessarily role models for sure, but it gets us to the point where everything of value is priced and monetized. Just wait until BigData Analytics reach full stride, “Would you like a Gigabyte of data with your fries, sir?”

Contributor

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2 Messages

11 years ago

Administrative Fee is nothing more than overhead cost and cost of doing business. BY ANY OTHER TERM A RATE INCREASE THEY ARE TRYING TO DISGUISE !

Contributor

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2 Messages

11 years ago

By any other terms a rate increase disguised

Contributor

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2 Messages

11 years ago

We have been on the phone with AT&T for about an hour and a half. They've been dodging questions, giving vague answers. Masking fees is not good business.

 

Guidelines>

Professor

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23 Messages

11 years ago

Mobility adminstratiive fee my rear!!! Just another BULLCRAP fee as a revenue generator. 

$51.24 additonal cost a year on a account of 7 lines. 

 

Greedy AT&T. 

Tutor

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2 Messages

11 years ago

$14.64/year on our 2 lines. I really don't understand how this cannot be considered a breach of contract and grounds for dismissing the contract without prejudice or penalty.

 

I have no doubt AT&T will make it 4 years in a row now with the lowest customer satisfaction rating.

 

Expert

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12.2K Messages

11 years ago


@n1tr0 wrote:

$14.64/year on our 2 lines. I really don't understand how this cannot be considered a breach of contract and grounds for dismissing the contract without prejudice or penalty.

 

I have no doubt AT&T will make it 4 years in a row now with the lowest customer satisfaction rating.

 


@becasue the only cost that pertains you being able to terminate a contract early with no etf is the cost of the voice plan - if you contracted for 500 minutes @ 39.95 for 2 years before fees and they raised it to 49.95 6 months into your contract then you can cancel with no etf, federal, state, local, recover costs, e911 costs regulatoy fees, features such as data or text plans do not factor into the contract, this is documented in your TOS, FUP and cellular agreement.

 

Guess 113 million wirless customers, the lowest churn rate in the industry for the last few years trumps the bolxed up CS survey's that rags like Consumer reports puts out. they mist be doing something right - oh almost forget the number 2 cellular carrier in the nation and giving verizon a good run for their money.

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