I dont like the charges either, however there are many other companies that charge for paying in person. Also, many will not even take cash, the option is to buy a money order. They are not that expensive.

Here we go, again. Another avenue that our beloved corporate America is going to use to bilk money out of people, illegally. It is absurd that we would actually have to create laws that prohibit chargeing someone any fee to use cash, but here we are. The problem is that like our energy policy, health care, etc., etc., the government probably will not do anything, or if they do pass legislation, it will be after just about any company that can will use such bastardly greed also and for some time and already will have already reaped billions from such idiotic policies. You do realize that America is truly doomed to a miserable unwinding by greed such as this, don't you?

And people wonder why AT&T is hurting. They are so hard up for cash they are willing to something this silly. If you have a bill with AT&T Pay it off with PENNYS and drop them as soon as you can. Just one more reason I am so glad I don't have anything to do with AT&T any more.

I loathe the way wireless phone companies do business. For this kind of arrogance towards their (captive) customers, a return to regulation would be their just reward.

a cashless one world corporate government
how nice of at&t to bring the dreams of hitler closer to reality

THANKS AT&T!

What money-grubbing weasels! The cost & fees related to owning a phone aren't already enough??? AT&T, you should be ashamed of yourself!

I'm not suprised. every company out there is trying to find a way to get another dime from the us. supply and demand. can you cancel your contract or again be chared a fee. what did you sign when you signed up.

I'm confused. It's a convience or courtesy to pay in cash to AT&T but to my power company if I try to pay online it is a five dollar service charge. Plastic or paper? Pick one.

According to the federal reserve notes cash is legal
tender for all debts public and private.No mention of
being charged extra for using them.

What happened to old fashioned customer service??
AT&T should be ashamed of themselves for stooping so low and taking advantage of people who choose to pay in cash.

Here we go again. Large companies nickle and diming consumers. You can't honestly be shocked. They will find any way to have you pay the salaries of their employees or to pad the bottom line. However, it does cost them more to have you take their attention away from new business than to register a payment on a customer they have already obtained. I understand why the women paid in cash but I also understand why the company charged more to accept cash in the store. I still think it is stupid and really not where I want to see American business go. If the company really needs to cover the cost of doing business, their prices should be increased and stop the nickle and diming of individual customer. Then again, I don't use AT&T and really never would have.

adding fees like that are a rip off to the middle class people who work hard and try to pay their bills on time. charging fees like that are stupid. i would fine another wireless carrier and drop at&t. dont much like them anyways.

This practice should be illegal. Our money states clearly on it it "For all debts, public and private". Charging an additional fee for cash transactions therefore creates a block for some people to settle their debts with legal tender. The Treasury and Fed should have something to say about this and if not, then Congress.

This is one of the most ridiculous things I have heard! I will NEVER use or recommend AT&T and will warn people about this rip-off of customers. Since when can a company refuse legal tender unless you pay a fee for using cash instead of a credit card or check? Sure hope someone decides to sue this company for its practices.

This seems to deny that cash is "legal tender" for satisfaction of any debt.
Additionally, is seems odd to charge a person for transacting ordinary business with a person who is technically acting an "agent" for the company, indeed the only actual people reoresenting the company in person to the public. Try to find even a telephone number for some other identifiab;e person in the company. They are in "secure undisclosed" locations.

From reading this article, I can see that it is not a fee to pay cash, it is a fee to have a person take the payment. Kiosks will accepts checks, CASH, and credit cards. Additionally, a customer who is a "cash customer" could get money orders instead of checks. Last time I checked maintaining a checking account costs money too!

I have a checking account, free checking, a debit card, yet I prefer to pay my smaller bills in cash. I just looked at a $5.00 bill. It still says 'this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private'.
I will not do business with company's which try to make me pay a penalty for prefering to pay with cash.

I guess the word "Legal Tender" does not mean anything anymore..

Are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!! They (ATT) aught to be really embarassed to have this story out, since when isn't cash a viable way to pay your bills? Totally rediculous everyone aught to be outraged.

Clearly they would have charged the same fee whether she paid by cash, check, money order, credit card, etc. The fee was for paying in the store, not just for paying with cash.

That seems a relevant point to mention explicitly in the article somewhere.

the public must be aware of this. i will not do business with AT&T .What a rip off

What now? AT&T is being sneaky again?
Just when you wonder what other ways a business can dream up of ripping off a customer, one truth resurfaces time and time again:
The rich could not possible have become rich without a good deal of dishonesty and deceit. Too bad that being rich is not equivalent to being smart. The rich buy the power and make the rules and just take a look at our economy to see where that has lead us.
Time to dump AT&T. But where do you go? Anybody know of a decent and honorable phone company?

How about something such as a prepaid card (by Mastercard, Amex, etc) that can be reloaded? If the fee associated with the card itself are lower than those of "courtesy" fees, then the user is ahead. Perhaps AT&T also offers gift cards that are redeemable for service.

Wow paying your bill costs more than the bill .., I need to make a company to just get money and no services.

So, what does AT&T do with all of those extra $2 charges? Do they pay their employees more? Or, at least, do they give that employee who had to take the cash a bonus with each paycheck? I mean, if you really want to see it AT&T's way, wouldn't that employee who's been "unnecessarily burdened" by taking a few treasury notes (notice my sarcasm?) deserve the extra money? This is just ridiculous....but it's AT&T, that doesn't surprise me. They're taking advantage of a slow economy, and looking to make some extra coin. Siegel should just come out and say "I don't care about the consumer". Why beat around the bush?

Our legal tender is not legal any longer this not only attacks the poor but the elderly that don't want to spend $3000.00 on a computer that is outdated in a year. I for one have concidered dropping AT&T for crappy service so I think I will today.

Hey ya big brother, won't you help me find my way. Keeping track of just how when with no privacy I pay.

I had the same thing happen to me with Verizon wireless. Except they tried to charge me $5.00 extra to pay in cash. THere is a simple solution, one that I have been contemplating lately. get rid of your cell phones and go back to a hard line. These companies try to get you to think youneed these extra things when we really don't. I only got a cell phone in the first place because I used to commute 50 miles to work. Now my I only work 2 miles away from home so I don't really need it. We as consumers have to start fighting back, because no one else is going to lift a finger to help us. They are all on the take.

AT&T Wireless? No surprise there. Crooks!

Not surprising, it's AT&T. Wake up people! This is change. You want change? Go ahead and elect Obama 'cause you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Here is a good example of why the human race is doomed to failure. People don't care about each other anymore. Our modern economy where whether you matter or not depends on your bank balance is a sign of impending doom. When this whole charade collapses, will you be prepared??? It will collapse. Our markets and way of life are headed for intensive care when all we do is try to take advantage and leverage each other. And we're supposed to be superior to animals- ha!

It is a shame that the legal tender of cash is being eroded this way. The dollar bill should be revered. Once we are not allowed to pay in cash, then that is when our money is truly not safe. Very strange.

Good Grief, no wonder these people aren't number one. If we can't pay in cash for our services ( which I don't most of time ) then our real dollars must be in serious trouble. How scary is that?

Guess AT&T dosn,t want my business

AT&T is not the only company that charges for paying in cash. Consider that "all" companies now charge for paying with cash when you are paying the cost of a "credit card" sale. Virtually all companies now refuse to give you a cash price; hence, you are the added percentage that credit card companies collect for the stores for accepting their card. This can add as much as 5% to 7.5% additional cost to the price of any item that you purchase - and yet the stores where you purchase everything (i.e., groceries, clothing, car parts, appliance, furniture, etc.) refuse to deduct the extra cost when you purchase items in cash.

Maybe it's time for a boycott of all stores that will not remove the cost for using a credit card when you want to pay in cash.

This is totally outrageous. AT&T use to be a good company. Now, half the time you do not know if it is AT&T or Cingular. You get socked everytime it changes its name. Are the CEO's coherent? My dad always paid his bills on time, in person, and with cash. Yes, he had a checking account and credit cards, and was not poor when he was living. He got socked once for late fees--a snowstorm delayed airlines delivering mail. He said he would never play the games of the "vultures" again. I hope Senator Levins bill passes. My father actually like Senator Levin. An honor, to be sure. Big busines has got to learn--customer service comes first, and it should be free. If these companies cannot hire customer service reps, their screwed. I hang up the phone if I cannot speak to a "human".

Charging a fee for paying with cash is ridiculous! If anything, the customer should be the one getting money for doing so. After all, credit card companies take a share off the top of what the customer pays before the company, such as AT&T, gets the payment. With checks, the bank credits the money to the company and then they usually assess the check writer a per check fee for using their services, (usually about twenty-five cents each), and for years many gas stations also gave the customer a discount for paying in cash instead of with a credit card or check since the transaction took less time, didn't require a bunch of paperwork, and they got their money right away.

In fact today in Shelton, WA and other places we have stopped during our travels as well, there are gas stations that won't take a credit card or check at all. One gas station in Shelton also charges five to twenty cents less per gallon than other stations nearby. Why? Because they don't have to wait for their money, deal with banks or credit card companies, etc. They also don't have to pay for the services of the credit card companies, machines that they use to process the credit cards or waste time checking IDs of anyone submitting checks or credit cards. There are other reasons as well, but I think you get the point, accepting cash saves any and all businesses money, it does NOT cost them more to accept it.

So What's with AT&T charging extra on cash payments? It makes no sense whatsoever to do business that way, and if I used their services I would cancel right now to show them that the customer can only stand just so many of their "fees" before they go elsewhere with their business. We get "feeeeeed" to death as it is.

As customer service disappears, fees like this must be protested. If a for-profit company is in business to do business with customers, then it should be held accountable by the public to address customer needs. Few people will show up in person to pay a bill unless they have special circumstances such as lower income or loss of a wallet. Taking a fee from your own customers for paying cash is an inexcusable level of greed.

See what happens when you try to use cash for everything? The kiosks barely work and are more then likely to give you the wrong information. I've seen it happen. Sending payments thru mail does not garuntee that it will get there before you incur a late charge. I've also seen this happen many times. This is ridiculous! Nickel and diming is stealing.

Another pesky fee and all the consumer will do is complain. We don't need the government to regulate this type of activity, how about the consumer finally standing up and saying "enough is enough" by taking their business elsewhere. That's right it is be a bit inconvenient to switch carriers or have over 60% of customers deluge the corporate mail boxes with electronic and snail mail expressing outrage.

Until the American consumer understands it is THEIR money these corporations are after and instead of just giving it to them we need to make them EARN it, we'll see these fee's continue to grow. Remember it isn't about profit for the corporations it's about the margins, a trillion dollar profit isn't enough if it's only a 10% margin. We the consumer will have to change that mentality not the government.

Now wait aminute - every bill in the US has the words "This Note is Legal Tender for all debts, Public and Private" printed on it doesn't this mean they have to take the amount offered in cash to pay the debt?

You have got to be kidding. Our dollar says, "Legal tender for all debts public and privte".
"Except for AT&T" must be coming out on the new bills. If they refuse cash, except for a "fee", the debt should be nullified.

I thought US Currency is "legal tender" for all debts. Only a thoroughly corrupt Congress,bought and paid for by the Banks,could allow such a flagranr abuse of the people.
I keep telling you dummies,"vote all incumbents out",whether they be Democrat or Republican theives--vote them all out when they run for re-election.

Bklyn Ron

It is just as proper to notify them of, and enforce, a $5.00 fee for reading their promotional mailings. It is a way of compensating for time better spent in other revenue enhancing endeavors.

Just another way for the corporate corrupt entities to screw with you "legally" but immorally.

The banks and corporations want you to be totally dependent on them and to be their financial prisoners. Don't the cell phone companies realize that if they wont accept cash they eventually won't have this customer base, which I am sure is a pretty hefty segment of their business. It may not be $1 Billion a year but I am sure that $100 Million worth is something that you shouldn't plan on loosing due to dumb decisions such as this. I also highly doubt that they pay this person that processes cash payments more that $10.00 per hour - pittance money compared to what they profit from on cell phone usage profit is.

Hmm, let's see -- charge a customer $40.00 per month x 12 months = $480.00 per year ( shear profit) and charge $2.00 x 12 months = $24.00 per year and loose the $ 480.00 account to a competitor! Now let's run a $2,000,000 ad campaign to try to get these same customers back. Somehow, common sense has gone out the window for quick revenue streams that boost stock option payments to the senior management. They make these decisions for their own personal immediate financial gain only to cause the stock to drop in the long run after they have bailed and gone elsewhere.
What happened to developing customer loyalty???

Isn't this the same company that got broken up back in the 70's for having a monopoly??? Now they are at it again if you haven't noticed! Same game - Same team -- new team members!

This country is going downhill rapidly to corportate greed! You see signs of it everywhere!

The writing is on the wall!

Well one more step to a cashless society and ma bell making a comeback that wasnt suppose to happen. Do you really think the goverment is going to do anything about it except encourge it?

I think what AT&T is doing is a disgrace. Does anyone ever notice all the times you go into one of their stores and the employee is talking to one of their friends or is spending to much time with a customer on sales. Once they get you as a customer they want to charge you more money for paying in cash. This is crazy. I am definitely going to drop my pay-as-you-go phone with AT&T and go with another company. In order to stop this nonsence you have to boycot AT&T.

I was told just this week that to continue paying at the AT&T store will cost me $5. Now my ex and I have separated but my phone is still on the account so I can't pay online on his account or just mail it in. This means I have to pay more for my portion of the bill or pay the fee for early termination on my phone and get my own account. I was there and there were 3 reps standing there doing NOTHING! They need paid to actually help a customer with a payment in addition to the salary they draw???? It's ridiculous.

I WENT TO A HOTEL ABOUT 3 YEARS AGO AND WHEN CHECKING IN I HANDED THE LADY CASH AND SHE SAID, "WITHOUT A CREDIT CARD TO BACK YOU UP, YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO STAY HERE." ARE WE COMING TO A TIME WHEN CASH WILL NO LONGER BE ACCEPTED? IN THE BIBLE IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION IT SEEMS TO SPEAK OF SUCH A TIME.

With all the extra fees that the average consumer has to pay, I am wondering when we the consumer can start hitting back. Since 'Time is Money", why can't I charge an outrageous fee to Big Buissness when my time is waisted. For example, ever had a doctors appointment at lets say 10:00 am and did not get seen until 10:45 am or later. Did Ms. Payne in the above example get reimbursed for the time AT&T took from her to stand in the line paying them. I don'think so. It is time we hit them back. They hit us everyday in our pocket books and wallets. What can we do to get it back!

With the advent of the computer age... it's all about survival of the fittest, if you aren't able to meet certain criterea, well... then you won't be able to fully function in certain realms of society.

Just another way that AT&T (and other mega companies) are gouging the public.

Wonders why we have "Legal Tender" printed on our money.

When these companies accept credit card for the payment, they pay a commission to the credit card companies. When the customer pays in cash and save them the credit card fee, they punish the customers. What a logic..Only big corporate heads can think this foolish.

What happened to the day when a company considered it a 'courtesy' that you DECIDED to chose them? Some say 'Suck it up, it's just $2'. Those are the same people that said, 'Suck it up, it's just $0.50' when the gas went from $1 to $1.50 a gallon. Where are we now? Just another example of a large business doing whatever they feel like doing because no one bothers to police them. If I were an AT&T customer, I would take my cell phone into one of their stores, hook in a wired hands free, and do the old 'swing n smash' right in front of the clerks.

On the one hand this kind og thing by big business irks me too. But on the other hand, if you are going to gripe about a $2-$5 fee for paying a cell phone bill than maybe you can't afford to have a cell phone. And if things keep going the way they are you will have to carry a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff to do any good anyway.

Wonders why we have "Legal Tender" printed on our money.

When these companies accept credit card for the payment, they pay a commission to the credit card companies. When the customer pays in cash and save them the credit card fee, they punish the customers. What a logic..Only big corporate heads can think this foolish.

Is this practice illegal?
What happened to "legal for all debts public or private"?
Weakens our dollar even more!

How is this not ILLEGAL!?!?! Since when did the words "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" come with caveats?

And what about people who are trying to shake off their debt by destroying their credit cards? This country is really losing sight of what has made it so wonderful.

It is illegal to charge more for cash, or deny a cash payment, the voilator should have their licience to do business in the state revoked as it for all debts public and private. AT&T sukks and is really the worst company to work for and deal with, it is run by a hateful lot of lawyers and theives. actually a bunch of neo whiney babies who need a good texas red-azz whoopin.

ahhhhh the rich get richer the poor poorer - God bless capitalism

Sounds like a job for Al Sharpten, Oh i'm sorry he's busy w/ Obama

This is just another example of the big guy ripping
off the little guy and as long as the big guy keeps
pocket change in politicians' pockets it will always
be this way. Utilities, fuel, banking, credit cards
health insurance, they all cost more because the
politicians look the other way. It is time to put
Hilary up there an maybe some of this will stop.

I can understand that. Those companies are able to tack on extra charges if you pay by any other means, late fees, processing fees, etc. So with this cash
deal they are out that extra income and ergo, they
now do it to customers who pay with cash. No surprise here.

This is just another example of the big guy ripping
off the little guy and as long as the big guy keeps
pocket change in politicians' pockets it will always
be this way. Utilities, fuel, banking, credit cards
health insurance, they all cost more because the
politicians look the other way. It is time to put
Hilary up there an maybe some of this will stop.

While this process does hurt those least able to afford the extra charge, it really is a fundamental flaw with ATT and other companies that have difficulty blending their overhead and SG&A costs. Taken to the extreme, paying a representative in person at a branch that had recently been renovated could have to pay several fees. The $2.00 (soon to be $5) for tying up someone from generating more sales and breeding new customers; a remodel fee for actually walking on the new in-store carpet and the benefits of the new décor; and a environmental fee for the heat or AC to keep the outlet comfortable. No need to have the 99% of the customers that never set foot in the place have to cover those costs.

Mark Siegel, ATT spokesman, says it helps them save money as it allows the resources (sales representatives) to devote their time to help those choosing a new wireless plan or a new phone. Read that as less sales help at peak times.

And if someone were to drop off a payment during a time when it was a little slow and there were people actual waiting for someone to walk in, would they waive the charge?

And if the cause this group of people to avoid stopping in to pay their bill in person, does that not restrict their ability to market to that segment. One less opportunity to market to their own customer; I know there are some marketing people that aren’t agreeing with the bean-counters decision to more in this area.

For the record I am not an ATT customer, just dismayed with the practice in principal.

It would be nice to have Mr. Siegel’s email address. Since he is the spokesman, he could answer everyone’s questions and it wouldn’t be a conflict because he doesn’t sell phones or plans.

Cash must remain the real legal tender. Our entire economy has been inflated by the cost of credit since its expense has been built in to every price we pay. There should be a discount for cash as the banks aren't charging a fee.

As for AT&T, they need a brighter spokesperson. What I hear is they want their people selling new plans and not servicing the existing ones. Sending one employee to the bank to make a deposit once every few days will cost AT&T a lot less than paying the credit card clearing houses a fee for every dollar taken in.

I would imagine a federal judge looking very dimmly at the idea that AT&T would charge you a late fee because they refused cash offered on a timely basis, insisting that a customer must go get a check. If one turns down (or puts penalties in place for accepting) legal tender, that should be a already prohibited by law.

It's pretty pathetic that most people won't take cash anymore. There are even some stores that do not take payments at the store, it has to be paid on the net or by mail. There always seem to be additional charges if you want your payment credited immediately (paying on-line), or there are charges because they didn't process your payment (by mail) before the 1pm dead line on the due date and then charge additional late fees. No wonder there are serious money problems in the US.

this makes no sense -pay cash whenever you can

My husband keeps telling me that "cash is king;" I tell him he's wrong. This proves...once again...I'm right

Here in Florida, Florida Power and Light charges a fee to pay online or over the phone with a credit card. Amazing gall.

"Perforated bovine", (Holy Cow), it states on our paper money, "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." This means AT&T must accept money for the stated bill, there are no ifs, ands, or buts in that statement on the Federal Reserve Notes. The bills do not state "for a fee."
Free country? They are trying to take the "r" out of free and made it a "Fee Country?"

This should be illegal. Paying in legal tender should be the standard, not a costly exception.

This is unfair. When a customer pays with cash, that actually saves the receiving company money. Everyone knows that a business has to pay 2.5 to 5 percent for a credit card transaction. From years of experience as a phone system administrator for a local university, I have gained no respect for AT&T and how they operate. Personally, I think AT&T needs to come up with a better explanation for ripping people off. Why don't they just say we are greedy and want to take advantage of you - I would respect them more for telling the truth but, still would never use AT&T.

The AT&T store where I bought my phone and sometimes pay my bill has one of those bill-pay kiosks in it. Unfortunately, since I started going there May 2007, even today, the kiosk has NEVER worked. Sales reps tell me they will have it working soon, but one joked that it will never be fixed.

If they're going to charge me for paying my bill when they won't even bother fixing up their kiosk, I will write to the attorney general about it.

AT&T is just finding another way to rip off people. A courtesy to take cash? How about a courtesy to your customers? Boo-hoo it takes time away from sales reps from making more money for the already overly inflated charges of a cell phone company. The dedicate a service rep for basic questions, and taking cash payments - COME ON BIG BROTHER - no wonder your market share is down.

this is dispicable. Service is definately not the business of At&T and I urge a boycott by all users.

If you have to pay AT&T or any other company to take your payment, stop using them. It's being insane that you have to pay companies to take your payment. Pure greed and nothing else is driving this cost to the consumer.

"We want our associates to spend their time helping customers as they are thinking about their wireless plans or looking at phones."

AT&T pretty much stated above once you are a customer we could care less about you. They are only interested in getting new customers to screw over.

The phone companies screwing over customers? Shocking. What will you tell me next, that they are locking you into 2 year slave terms...ERR commitments that you have to pay an arm and a leg to get out of?

There needs to be some context applied to this situation. As a former wireless retailer, I can tell you how the process actually works, and why there is a "service-fee."

First, most wireless service retail outlets are independently owned, and not owned by the carriers themselves. A small-business owner that accepts cash payments for someone's wireless bill must pay the salary of the employee who is handling the transaction, rent, utilities, and other overhead. When the retail outlet accepts that cash payment, the money is deducted that very night from their checking account.

The "service-fee" is for the retailer who is processing the transaction as a courtesy to the wireless service provider and the customer.

I agree "corporate-owned" stores should not charge "service-fees," but for an independent retailer the "service-fee" is a necessary form of revenue to process these transactions.

WTF? What a load of liberal class warfare dribble. If somebody is too poor to afford an extra $2 on a cell phone bill, why the hell do they have a cell phone? Yeah, they sound very poor to me. What a load of crap. Go get a second job you pathetic loser. Or drop the payment in the payment box like they said.

Oh boo hoo something isn't fair let's get the government involved to ban it. Puuleeze. It makes sense that a retail outlet would rather have associates selling phones than handling cash for customers who insist on paying in person when there are about 85 other ways to do it. Time = Money.

Vote with your dollars! Do not use companies that want to steal from you. If we do not give them the money, they will not charge the fees.

Well , it is crazy to charge people for paying in cash. There may be some costs involved but compared to processing checks and the time needed on bad checks, I suspect this is just a way to make a profit while bragging about your low cost of service( lol). If they are going to charge you for paying in cash, pay them in loose pennies so at least they have to earn the money they make on ripping you off.

The Interstate Commerce Commission needs to look into this. I suspect somewhere this is a violation of some aspect of interstate regulations commerce regulations and free trade.

The statement, "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private", appearing above the signature of the Treasurer of the United States on our federal reserve notes suggests that it is contrary to public policy not to accept such currency at par in payment of a bill/debt.

My pipe dream - I'd love to see a class action suit in which people victimized by a refusal to accept US currency - at par - for a given debt received damages in an amount equal to the debt plus legal expenses.

The victim must be able to prove he/she made the attempt to pay X dollars in cash and was rejected.

(TALK TO YOUR LAWYER FIRST but I suppose you might refuse to leave the premises until they accept your payment at par. If you get arrested (trespass??), give a police statement (corroborated by the complaint) as to why you wouldn't leave); then sue the SOBs for that too!)

I make payments in person in different locations, they
all seem to charge a fee. It is a covienance cost.I recall many years ago (Shamut bank) which is now gone
charged a fee of .25 cents for any transaction. Including deposits. That is where I drew the line,
banks have been getting away with this BS for years.
So much for consumer advocates.

The rich continue to rip off the poor - and soon, there won't be anybody to rip off but fellow richies.

I am not a fan of big government, but in this instance we must press our elected officials for some sort of relief. We (and I refer to the rapidly-dwindling middle class) cannot take much more of this. With the rise in prices far outstripping the increase in wages, we're being slowly bled to death - and soon many folks may have no choice but to start bouncing and kiting checks, which will require them to start paying cash - and the drain will simply open wider. We may all find ourselves in this boat soon.

Its a shame that big buinesses 'force' you to use credit cards, or other means, so that you are forced to pay some sort of 'charge', interest or otherwise.
One washes the hands of the other and they are all in 'cahoots', thus, if AT&T has any type of Bank affilliaions, they have access to credit cards and can charge thier members either the interest on the card, or the interest in person, because they 'didn't use' a credit card and want to bilk the consumer one way or the other. They 'know' what they are doing, and 'know' that they are large enough to get away with it, because of thier unlimited resources to fight any type of legislation to thwart thier moves!

I wish you well...

Jesse

I guess the unbanked would feel better getting ripped off legitimately by a neighborhood bank. I've been fleeced more than a government buyer.

It's just the beginning. Cashless society is around the corner. More and more establisments are refusing both checks and cash.

It used to be in the not to distant past that paying a bill in the store was the only choice and a courtesy, now in the “Economy of Greed” good customer service is a thing of the past and corporations act as if we can’t live without
their services/products; upper management had better reassess that erroneous thought! With things going south fast in this country more people are finding themselves at the short end of the stick and this is the last thing they need. Most are cutting back and if you give someone poor service and charge them to take cash to pay a bill then I would hope that very soon you will be out of business. What ever happened to the cost of doing business in a proper, ethical manner? This so called fee is only a way of getting every penny from those less fortunate and that line is growing everyday. Instead of adding to the problem, use some common decency and courtesy (boy, I bet no one even knows what that is!); you’ll have customers that are happy and willing to use your services and pay their bills!

I don't see this hurting the poor. Perhaps the "unbanked," but not necessarily the poor. We really have to stop designing policies around the 0.05% of the population who don't work, don't pay taxes, commit crimes, etc.

I am outraged!! This is such crap, why should real money be non useable in this world without a extra fee. It is just another way of ripping off the people. The car rental people have been doing this for years! What if you don't want a credit card (that someone is going to rip off) or wish to use a check that you have to pay money in the first place to get? Lets just keep ripping off the public until we get mad enought to do something about it. It is coming, the people will only take so much and I think they are about at their limit. Remember the "Tea Party"!!

So Mr. Mark "Arrogant" Siegel presumes to know what is "better suited" for those who might want to pay in cash from time to time? Of course we all know that the need for his associates to "help people" translates into "get them to pick the most expensive plan possible." Who is he kidding? Help indeed! Yes, he's all about helping. If they won't even take payments after the sale, imagine what would happen if you had a problem after the sale! But of course this is typical of American business greed and shortsightedness.

Free to pay by mail, internet or drop off?

How do you figure?!

It costs nearly 50 cents for a stamp these days.
Depending on your connection, internet access costs a bare minimum of around $12. And to drop something off in person... Well, I don't need to remind anyone of the prices at the pumps these days...

I'm not a moron. Which ever way you want to pay your bill, you're still paying extra.

Congress needs to pass a law outlawing this. You should not have to pay a fee to pay your bill. This is just totally stupid. Also customer service should be free and Congress can pass a law forcing the big wig companies to give all their customer services for free.

Also, Anti-Trust Law Suits should come back into play. Especially if Delta merges and to break up AT and T. Maybe even to break up some ISPs as well. I remember when there use to be hundreds of ISP's now there are just a few.

I can walk into any AT&T Wireless store on a slow day and find sales associates standing around. What cost is it to AT&T if one of them took my bill?

would this be tantamount to refusing cash? If so, it seems there are laws requiring that the legal currency of the nation be accepted for payment of debts, and such refusal could amount to voiding the debt itself. Anyone know the facts of this?

Just another fee to pay. Our federal government, under Republican leadership (oxymoron), has failed to provide any oversite into fees charged by banks, credit cards or any other host of other industries. While our jobs are going overseas their is no where to turn for consumer protection. Coporations and the rich fail to realize that when they have all the money, it will be worthless. Disagree? Check the value of the dollar against forgien currency.

Its another example of the Bush Admins. policies of letting big business stomp on the little guy.
I know some of you will say how can this be Bush's fault?
It is because they know there will be no action taken and this kind of business is encouraged. There is no reulatory oversite what so ever.
So its open season on the middle class and the poor.

AT&T is not the only company with this policy. I realized several years ago when I was a customer with Sprint that they charge over $5 for you to pay your bill in the store. This policy is ridiculous and inappropriate. As a customer, you are trying to prevent the bill being late and avoid a late charge, but instead you get slapped with the in-store charge. It's just another way for them to make more money off of their customers and it's just wrong.

The explanation is simple: Pay online through the website, pay online through online banking, pay over the phone, pay at kiosks, pay by automatic debit, pay by mailing a check... ALL FREE.

Take the store sales rep's time, pay a convenience charge.

Some places don't allow you to pay your bills in the store at all. Best Buy is the world's largest electronics specialty retailer and they don't accept payments in their stores. AT&T is providing a convenience and charging for it. I don't see the problem.

This is making an issue where one doesn't exist. Radio Shack was doing this for Sprint PCS phone bills a decade ago. Old news.

On our paper money, it says "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private". In other words, U.S. currency cannot be turned down as payment for a debt. As such, I wonder about the legality of charging a fee for the use of cash. The Justice Department, Treasure Department and some state attorneys general need to weigh in on this horrible practice. My rule is going to be, if you don't want my cash, you don't want my money...and your competitor will be happy to get it!

it's a disgrace and just another way for comapanies to extract money from the consumer. And what a load of bull about the representative is able to spend more time with clients... they're school kids/college students who tell you lies to buy a mobile phone so THEY can make their commission. I'm sick of this fast track country that thinks about how to make the next buck, rip the consumer off and then when you ask for assistance they act like they're doing YOU a favour and then want to charge you extra. What are we letting this country come too... Greed! No wonder mental illness is on a rise people are driven to it.

This is so bogus!! I know people who are unable to obtain a bank account, even though the restrictive behavior was years ago and no longer applies. Once banned from getting a bank account they will be on the outside forever. They have to pay part of their paycheck JUST to cash their paycheck at a check cashing agency and NOW they have to pay more to pay their bills in CASH?? This is insane!! What happened to fairness in this country? It obviously doesn't apply to the people that can least afford to demand (legal fees don't fit in a poor persons budget.)fair treatment.

Big Corporation at it again, trying to nickel and dime the customers any way they can get their hands on more money. This should be illegal period. This is disgusting and AT&T should be fined big time. Make AT&T an example, so other Big Corporation won't even think about doing it.

This reminds me of the "Administrative Fees" some companies have on gift cards, which if not used quickly slowly eat away at the balance until your gift card is worth $0.

It should be a banned practice, and legal US Currency should be accepted everywhere at no additional cost.

It is important to be able to rip off poor people. Wealthy people will not let you rip them off and if you want to make unreasonable profits you have to steal from someone. Stop picking on these multi-million dollar companys and help them find more ways to rip off the average person. It's for the good of the people that count.

Unfortunately, cash is becoming obsolete in this society. My husband and I ran into this problem last summer on vacation. We were trying to avoid using our credit cards because we're trying to pay down our credit card debt, not add to it and chose to pay cash where we could. Each time we paid for our hotel we got strange looks.

We even tried to pay for our rental car in cash, offering to pay upfront if necessary. The company we reserved our car with said that "they didn't take cash at that location (an airport)". Another agency was willing to deal in cash, but the ensuing hassles we received almost ruined the entire vacation.

Its a shame that society at large doesn't think twice about this. I happen to like having some change and bills in my purse instead of plastic.

I agree. The company is prejudice in its comments. Payment by any other form than cash is based on credit. If the sales associate can sell phones and plans, she can accept payment by cash. Big business esp. cell phone companies are already capitalizing off consumers with their outrageous "cell phone plans", which they deem competitive. Let's go back to how the check was invented and the introduction of of the plastic cash.

Boo hoo... If you don't have a credit card, why bother to have a cell phone?

Years ago taking the payment would have been called cusotmer service, but American capitalism has left that concept far behind. Consumers pay more and more for less and less. Both political parties posture but don't resolve. Economically America is losing the lead because of our corporate corruption, greed, and lack of vision. The only regulations companies hate are the ones directed towards them .. laws and regulations hurting the consumer always get their full support.

I just pulled both a five and a one dollar bill out of my wallet. On each is printed, "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." I am certain this is on all denominations. Silly me, I thought that meant you HAD to take it when someone offered it to pay a debt they owed you. Somehow I think that if I suddenly decided that, due to the falling dollar, I would only take Euros or gold bullion from anyone who owed me money, Uncle Sam would take a dim view of me.

What a joke. The Banks have swindled us all and now the rest. Watch the VISA commercials, CASH is shown as a SLOW down? WHAT????? What the hell happened to Cash on the Barrelhead????? GO to HELL big banks and anyone who penalizes cash. I will not do business with you!!

AT&T is forgeting who their customers are ... all of them.
What a crock of crackers.

Excuse me! Talk about greed!!!!Charging a fee to collect cash payments is "a way to help cover our costs while our reps" should be helping customers buy other services and products and not bother the reps with non-money making procedures.
These people must take their leads from the oil and petroleum theives.

I looked at my cash a while ago and it said "legal tender for all debts public and private". Do they need to add that users may be penalized for use of this currency? Pul-leze! If they have customer service personnel, they should serve everybody the same way, especially when it comes to paying for goods and services. What, will the poor find themselves surcharged at the grocery store next?

Here we go again, lets make it harder for everyone. I thought that it was customer service, but I guess AT&T does not need new or current customers. Change carriers, I am sure that other carriers will be willig to take cash. AT&T probably doesn't trust their employees to not pocket the cash.

I think this is a great idea! If she does not have a checking accout she can get herself down to Wal-Mart and place her cash on a Visa debit card or obtain a Money Order from the post office. It is very dangerous for a store to have a large amount of cash on hand. I think all stores should stop accepting cash. Imagine how much less crime there would be. No more "hold ups" same for muggings you can shut off even a prepurchased debit card.

Basically, this fees is doing what AT&T should be doing: paying the employeees'salary. I seriously doubt that the few minutes it takes to accept cash is going to lose any sales.

I am glad I'm not with AT&T!

I think this is a great idea! If she does not have a checking accout she can get herself down to Wal-Mart and place her cash on a Visa debit card or obtain a Money Order from the post office. It is very dangerous for a store to have a large amount of cash on hand. I think all stores should stop accepting cash. Imagine how much less crime there would be. No more "hold ups" same for muggings you can shut off even a prepurchased debit card.

How totally absurd, being charged a fee to pay your bills. Collecting money from your customers is just a cost of doing business. The business community needs to start understanding that there is just a portion of the cost of doing business that they are going to have to eat. No one has yet to explain to me why I have to pay a “processing fee” to buy a car or anything else for that matter. The cost of closing a transaction is just a part of the cost of doing business. So a stockholder doesn’t get an extra penny in dividends because there is a cost of doing business, welcome to the world. Caulk up another one for the MBA’s. It may make me sound like an old geezer but 20 years ago you didn’t have this kind of crap. My experience has been that you didn’t see this kind of consumer abuse before the MBA became such a popular degree to hold. While I am not anti-education, this stuff really makes me wonder about what our kids are being taught in college today. Society as a whole needs to better police what our kids being taught at all levels. It just feels like all the prospective MBA’s are being taught is how to think-up new ways to screw everybody.

I find this type of practice very unsettling, it is not like you are having to hire a person specially for this. I would bet "Customer Associates" Stand around all day with nothing else to do. How shameful of AT&T

Customers are the main reason why people go into business.People should not buy AT&T servicesuntil they change these policies on fees.

When do we get to charge AT&T for allowing them to be our carrier? Sounds fair to me!

That is becoming the norm for all cell phone companies, and other companies I deal with. I live in the Omaha area where there is a huge usage of Cricket cell phones. They require no contract & offer unlimited minutes and text for as low as $45 a month. They charge $5.00 to pay at one of their hundreds of locations. On the other hand, I am running into more and more places that charge extra to pay a bill online. We lease a vehicle through Nissan and they charge extra to pay online. We can now pay our car tag renewal online for an extra fee.
My grandaughter works for a bank in Omaha in a low income area that charges people $5 to cash their checks if they don't have an account, and then those same people pay $5 extra to pay their phone bill so that is $10 right off the bat the first of every month they are charged. Sprint also charges extra to pay at a store or Kiosk.

You have to be kidding charge for cash is not the issue ite the heck with service attudite, if I had a account with AT&T it would be cancelled

Well, the credit card companies do the same...rip off the poorest among us. If you don't have the money to pay your credit card bill, then they just jack up your APR some more and add on a late fee. How can they not see that they're making the situation worse?
The older I get, the fonder I become...of dogs.

THIS is inexcusable. I would refuse to pay and take my business elsewhere.

Accepting cash costs the company more is a BS cop out. They pay WAY more in fees per month for all the electronic gateways to allow online payments and credit cards. Thos fees get very expensive too. I know becuase I'm an IT guy who is responsible for that stuff where I work. Its funny how companies think paying hundreds a month for those kinds of services saves them money. I also love how common sense has gone right out the window these days. Oh and have you been in an AT&T store recently? I would think thier people would pay us to come in and pay our bills with cash just for human interaction lol

Next time pay in pennies, it is a legal tender make the %$#@*()@'s work for their blood money

It's not suprising that unscrupulous companies such as AT&T have found yet another revenue opportunity to increase their profits and take money from consumers. Convenience fees are golden cash cows for american corporations. Nothing will be done to rein in abusive behavior at corporations until Bush is out of office.

Sorry AT&T, but providing CUSTOMER SERVICE shouldn't cost the customer. This is outrageous, just like gas stations charging extra for those paying with credit cards. Sure the merchant companies collect their cuts, but THAT'S THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS! Let's see how long a gas station would last if they only accepted cash.

Pay by the minute phones are a bigger scam. My pay by minute phone cost me over $100.oo per month and I probubly got less then 300 minutes of talk time. at first they sound like a cheaper way to go, but if you do the math it really adds up. Often times if you talk for 1 muntite and 5 seconds they round up and charge you for two. This is just another way to take advantage of people who do not know any better. By the way, if you make less money you are almost garanteed a higher interest rate on a mortgage, car loan or credit card. Your income is as much a factor in determining credit as your credit report. Two percentage points more on a home loan can add up to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of extra dollars paid out over the years. The less you make the more you pay. This doesn't sound very fair to me. Capitalism? yes. American... Maybe.
This is a good article Bob.

One of the MANY reasons why, despite the allure of the iPhone, I will NEVER be a customer of AT&T.

Outrageous! I was going to switch to AT&T because I wanted an iPhone but forget it! I will just stick with what I have rather than deal with crap like this!

It is a sad day when a company like AT&T gets so greedy that they resort to charging folks to pay their bills. Banks keep upping the atm fees they charge, our country is becoming so greedy and it will be our downfall. My grandaughter worked for Cingular and loved her job, made good money, then AT&T merged with them, they raised her sales goals, lowered her bonuses and added so much stress that she hates it now. If she does not meet her goals she gets wrote up, 3 writeups and she is fired. She has to meet goals for new activations, features, accesories and they keep increasing these goals. Now they are so greedy that they don't want their sales clerks to take time for a payment for fear they might loose a sale. SHAME ON YOU AT&T

mental note:
never using AT&T for anything!!!

Just one more way to get ripped off. Just great :(

forget ATT. Use a Trac Fone or a pay as you go phone.

When did America become the land-of-the-liar when doing business. I thought the ethos we were trying to promote include honesty. How do businesses expect their customers to react when there is a 'hook' buried in everything? As a public school teacher, how do I prepare my students for this climate?

forget ATT. Use a Trac Fone or a pay as you go phone.

Just one more way to get ripped off. Just great :(

http://pompanobeach.ws

I work for a Verizon Wireless franchise/independent store. The program we're required to use is owned by a third party. When taking a cash payment it gets deposited into our company account. This third party (a Fidelity partner) charges us $3 for every bill that gets sweeped/payed out of our company bank account due to a cash payment. It's unfortunate that it's come to this. What makes me laugh is the people will refuse to pay this nominal fee and drive 10 miles to pay at a kiosk with no fee, but waste their time and gas.

Pay by the minute phones are a bigger scam. My pay by minute phone cost me over $100.oo per month and I probubly got less then 300 minutes of talk time. at first they sound like a cheaper way to go, but if you do the math it really adds up. Often times if you talk for 1 muntite and 5 seconds they round up and charge you for two. This is just another way to take advantage of people who do not know any better. By the way, if you make less money you are almost garanteed a higher interest rate on a mortgage, car loan or credit card. Your income is as much a factor in determining credit as your credit report. Two percentage points more on a home loan can add up to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of extra dollars paid out over the years. The less you make the more you pay. This doesn't sound very fair to me. Capitalism? yes. American... Maybe.
This is a good article Bob.

This is not a new "thing". Take a look at Time Warner Cable...they have been doing this for three years minimum.

What the heck is going on with these companies!? There used to be a time where banks found it too expensive for their customers to do simple transactions at the bank itself. So along came the Green Machine (ATM now) and it was to relieve the tellers (automatic TELLER machine) of some of the mundane tasks. If you wanted to process a transaction with the teller, you were charged a fee. And now, we're charged a fee for using ATM's. Seems like companies these days have a dedicated department for thinking up new ways to FEE us to bankruptcy. I've never cared too much for AT&T's practices, 2 year contracts, automatically renewed contract for changing something simple in your plan and now this new fee for paying in person just means nothing has changed at AT&T.

It's a courtesy to take cash? What ever happened to "legal tender for all debts public and private"? When I was growing up we were taught that if someone owed you money and offered to pay in full, in cash, you had to accept it or you were freeing them of the debt.

My, how times have changed.

This is a horrible piece of reporting. The focus is on a fee for paying in cash, yet the fact is the fee is paying in person. The report does not address the logical question: is there a fee for paying in person with a check?

It's call free enterprise. If a company wants to do it, deal with it or change companies.

What ever happened to: "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE"????
It appears that banks, AT&T and others are now trashing that timeless mandate and guess what, as usual our elected public officials in Washington, only TALK about stopping the practice, and not doing anything about it NOW.
It's true they will take the money offered but you have to pay a penalty for using it as it was intended.

It is illegal to not accept cash. Read on the note it states " this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" American consumers wake up , We have the power to affect change. Big brother is watching all electronic and bank transactions. Orwell was only off 20 years.

I think this is just another way, Like the Banks to get $ from there customers and fatten their bottom line.
What happened to customer Service????? (it is no longer in exsistance)
The General public has no more rights.

I would be standing there with 500 pennies. If they want to charge me for paying cash, they will pay for it in time and effort too.

This is one more reason why I am dropping my AT&T cell phones next month and going with a pay-as-you-go phone for my family.
(PS: AT&T (SBC Yahoo) also raised their rates and sent the info via junk snail mail).

Does this also mean they will not accept cash for a product or service which they are selling without upping the price? What has happened to customer service?

WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO. POOR PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A CHANCE. I HAVE A DOCTOR FRIEND WHO TELLS ME THAT HE CAN NOW CHARGE, LEGALLY, FOR TALKING TO A PATIENT OVER THE PHONE FOR GIVING ADVICE OR FOLLOWING UP ON AN APPOINTMENT. ONE DAY, HOPEFULLY, THE TABLES WILL TURN AND IT WILL BE THE POOR PEOPLES TURN TO HAVE THE UPPER HAND, I DOUBT IT. SIGNED, DISGUSTED.........

Slowly, inexorably, we ease towards that cashless society that will bring about the "Mark of the Beast"
spoken of in Revelation. Nobody will be able to buy or sell without it. The technology is already in place. Google "Mondex"

drop the service then if they want to charge you to pay the bill. easy enough really.
or - ask the store manager to sign a paper stating that they refuse to drop the fee, that you had arrived to pay your bill, but since determined that since the fee is nto being waved, the store has therefore refused payment for the bill.
take the note, have a copy made for the manager, and leave the store.
you made a good faith effort to pay the bill - in full - and was refused the ability to pay unless the fee was assesed as well.
they can not refuse a payment. if they do, that in effect offers you a way out of the contract.
people really need to stand up against this kind of fee charging BS that is proping up all over the country.
id say drop them next time they refuse payment.

this is business as usual in corporate america. under the republican administrations the corporations have a green light to screw over their employess and rip-off their customers in the name of increased profit, higher compensation for their executives, and excessive income for their major share holders.

I recommend every AT&T mobile customer go into the stores and pay in cash, preventing any retail sales from happening until AT&T becomes customer centric and publicly appologizes for forgetting why they are in business.

companies have been doing this for years. it's nothing new. it's not right, but it happens. just another example of corporate greed. they REALLY want that extra dollar or two, so much so that they're willing to tell a good customer to step off.

Reminiscent of Orwell's "1984". If you are forced to save money by paying with an ID type of account, whether credit card or checking, tracking your activities becomes easier. Cash slides under the radar.

So much for "legal tender for all debts, public and private." It sounds illegal to me. In essence, they are declining payment for the bill if cash is paid. They are saying that paying the amount due didn't satisfy what is owed.

I agree with the customer. I have a bank account but I think that paying your bill in the store shouldn't be a negative thing. The only reason AT&T doesn't want there tellers to take payments is because it takes time away from making money. There tellers can't help more people buy phones. It's got nothing to do with customer service. It's stinks and someone should do something.

What a scummy trick. They do this because they can't legally refuse cash as it is "legal" tender of the U.S. so they tack on fees to discourage you. Go to some other company and tell AT&T where to go.

We will take our business elsewhere! No more AT&T or others like it!

AT&T does the same thing if you want to pay your residential bill in person as well. There's a reason they're consistently rated towards the bottom in customer service.....

I can't believe this that cash is a burden on AT&T because a teller has to be utilized. What the hell do they have teller for anyway? What do they do when they are not processing cash transactions? For those who don't believe Government should not only regulate but punish such Corporate Predators for these things then you are naive.

Idots! the greed in corporate america is very sad.

How can it possibly be legal for an entity to charge a fee for paying a bill in cash? Pulling a one dollar bill out of my wallet, it states prominently on the front that "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE".

Another reason not to accept cash is security against theft. The office where I pay my rent was robbed, so the manager changed all future rent payments to checking account to a money order for those who don't have a checking account.

Total BS. Fee this and fee that. A wiseman once told me "every knows how to spend YOUR money better than you do." I would tell AT&T shove it where the sun doesn't shine and move to a compeititor.

My solution would be to change companies if possible. A T & T has the most complaints of any of the phone compainies and getting bills straightened up is a chore. A recent attempt to help an ill friend's incorrect bill took 15 calls, a threat to start legal action and reported to the state and federal agencies before any acknowledgement that they were wrong. Then it took 3 weeks to get a refund. The lady dropped A T & T once it was settled. Dump dthem.

AT&T's policy is really eye-opening. It's basically saying, if you are not in our store to spend more of your money, we don't care about you as a customer. We'll charge you for darkening our door.

While AT&T's points are entirely valid, one has to wonder whether such moves prove to be shortsighted. While in the short term they may collect some extra fees and/or drive customers to other payment options, they may be sacrificing an ideal up-sell opportunity. Given the amount of effort wireless providers put into moving customers to other plans (with the two-year contract clock reset), this would seem like an ideal opportunity to have the representatives chat with a customer regarding contract options, accessories, the latest and greatest handheld to hit the market, etc. To one on the "outside," it would seem there's more value in that than any savings derived driving customers to a slightly more economical payment method.

weaksauce. it makes no sense if they're going to charge a fee if you walk in the store and use that rep's time as opposed if you were to do the same with a call center rep with the same job title. except being that it is over the phone.

This is pathetic!!! It is another way for the large companies to deplete the interest, and morality of the entire country's population along with the ever increasing 150 billion dollar per year profiting petrolium Industry. (Exxon, BP, Chevron etc).. In the near end they will have to pay dearly for their greed. Some people can not even fill up their gas tanks to drive and persue decent jobs to afford this monumental disgrace upon the countries struggling economy. I don't have all day to write about this atrocity bought upon the US economy by these selfish organizations. Only if congress and president Bush would get off their asses and realize this large amount of money being robbed from the struggling hard workers, could entirely assist in reviving this Country's thriving willingness and ability to address and diminish this 10 trillion dollar monster deficit they have gotten us into.

"It is a way of saving money ... it helps us keep our costs lower" is another way of saying "We want to squeeze every penny out of you than we are legally allowed."

Gotcha Capitalism at it's best. Meanwhile the financial institution scum on Wallstreet are buying 80 million dollar plus homes in Florida. Gee, where do these companies get the extra cash? Go figure

This is just like AT&T providing cell phones in no/low coverage areas and still charging you the
$175 cancellation fee when you return it for not
providing the service for which you bought it. Do
like I and all my friends do - don't do any business
with AT&T or affiliates...

If CorpCo can figure out a way to charge for the air we breath, they will. Pay up or suffocate, they don't care. The growth in profits in the credit and banking industries isn't from generating new business or from interest on loans, it's from fees. The constant nickel and diming of anyone they can pull in to their sticky grasp. Other corporations looking for more ways to suck their own nickels and dimes from America's pocketbooks. Those nickels and dimes, (and dollar$), add up. $5-$15-$30 here and there times thousands = real cash....and profits. Forget customer service being part of a companies goal. Employees are for selling, selling, selling. A customer coming in to pay a bill is wasting their time. Wake up America. If you're not outraged you're not paying attention.

I'm not going to do business with AT&T anymore, thats for sure

Hmmm, interesting. First, they sign you up via a contract of adhesion, giving you a Hobson's choice of either "pay us every month, and we will keep charging you ad infinitum, even if you cancel or our service sucks" or "go without service".

(Bob does an EXCELLENT job of explaining them at http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/07/the-small-print.html)

Now, I have to PAY for the PRIVILEGE of giving them my money??? In other words, "Please, AT&T, I owe you $100 for my service this month, so I'll bribe you with an extra $2.00 to TAKE my money FROM me!!!"

And, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the whole POINT of your service and your contracts of adhesion is so you can MAKE money!! Ok, you've made your money off of me for this month, and now you want MORE?? Why not just increase my bill every month for no reason, even if I have the unlimited talk plan?!? Oh, wait, YOU ALREADY DO THAT!!!

Another salient point I would like to make is that the customer service representatives are in the stores, because, as AT&T representative Mark Siegel explains, "We want our associates to spend their time helping customers as they are thinking about their wireless plans or looking at phones." -- Duh, isn't that how you generate this revenue in the FIRST place?!? I would think you would be HAPPY that I'm paying giving you my7 hard earned money.

In communist China, if you are sentenced to death, they take you out back, shoot you in the head and then bill your family for the bullet! Can we expect a bill broken down so that I will get a charge for my share of the rent on the store where I just paid my bill? How about a surcharge for the electricity to light the place and to operate the cash register that the customer representative has to use to put all that money into??

AT&T makes it sound as if they are INSULTED by Ms. Payne's attempt to pay her bill. "Honestly, Ms. Payne, what were you thinking?!? We might actually have to interact with a CUSTOMER!" Is Ms. Payne's money no good now? Is AT&T afraid of catching something by touching her cash??

Can we expect this type of behaviour from our local grocer next? I can imagine a mother with three small children, who has exactly enough money to buy cereal and milk, but wait...she doesn't have the $5.00 surcharge for a cashier to take her money....Aw, sorry kids, you get to go to bed HUNGRY.....(again)

Will a smile be $1 extra? And if we want courtesy do we need to tip? If they introduce tipping, maybe the bank can reduce pay to the clerks. Somewhere we have lost our bearings in this business world.

This is ridiculous, what ever happened to "legal tender", I was taught in high school that if anyone ever refused cash as payment you weren't obligated to pay them. I know that they didn't refuse cash but it seems that they're trying to get to that point.

What about the self-checkout lines at stores, why don't they offer a discount since your doing all the work yourself and not using the cashier? Instead the next thing you know they will start charging a fee for using the cashier.

These companies are taking advantage of the consumer and something needs to be done. What happened to 'good old fashioned' customer service where the companies reps.where thankful for the business whether to buy a product/service or just to pay a bill. Really now...how much time could it possibly take away from a buying customer to take someone's cash. And better yet...how many customers are really in a store like this that it would take so much time away from another buying customer. The bottom line is that everyone wants to make money at the most easiest and convenient way and customer service isn't in the program anymore. I am truly disgusted with the corporate world of today and maybe if people weren't so needful these days they would find a way to put these businesses in their place and not buy from them in the first place!