Telstra has dumped its controversial $2.20 administration fee for people paying their bills over the counter or by mail less than two months after it was introduced.
Telstra CEO David Thodey today said the change would be implemented over the next few months and Telstra would automatically refund all of the bill payment administration fees paid by current customers during that time and since the new charge was first introduced on September 14.
"I have listened to the community debate and believe that the way we introduced the fee did not align with our commitment to put customers back at the heart of our business," Thodey said in a statement.
"It is now clear to me that introducing this fee across our existing plans was the wrong way to encourage customers to move to electronic payments. We designed the fee in a way that exempted more than a million elderly, pensioners and disadvantaged people but it was still unacceptable to many of our customers."
Thodey said Telstra was still trying to encourage customers to consider using electronic payments.
"While others in our industry still charge for cash payments over the counter, Telstra will now look for other ways to encourage customers to move to electronic payments, possibly including the introduction of optional electronic-only plans."
Leading seniors' organisation the Council on the Aging welcomed the move, saying the fee discriminated against older people who did not have a computer or use the internet.
"It is great to see Telstra has been prepared to listen to legitimate concerns raised by many groups within the community," the group's chief executive Ian Yates said in a statement. "We also call on Telstra's competitors, who still charge similar fees, to remove them too."
Time also the drop the $10 fee for late payment on Foxtel. The day any competition enters the market for Foxtel, I'm off. Crap service and very expensive.