Online payments as a community killer

So, here we go again. Now it’s my cable company getting on my nerves with online billing, and while it’s not their fault officially, it does show the problem with the “savings” of paperless billing. Recently, I noticed my auto-paid bill for my cable, phone and modem had jumped by about $60, no doubt as my one-year special ended. Don’t like it, but hey, I signed it.

The problem is – I didn’t really realize it was about to happen, because the company doesn’t have to let me know. It’s all there online for me to find. Of course, I have to a) remember to look and b) actually remember the steps to get to the billing site. Naturally, I can’t remember my password – so now I have to wait for a PIN to be mailed to me so I can reset my password. So, this is turning into a 4-day endeavor, unless I want to call customer service.

If I wanted to do that, I wouldn’t have set up all the online stuff in the first place.

This comes after a problem I had with Time-Warner Cable in Maine. Again, not their fault, by the letter of the law. I had thought my bill was being paid on my credit card, but it wasn’t. I never received any notice of past due balances, etc. – and found out there was a problem only when my service was disconnected. Could I have checked? Sure. Should I have? Definitely. But pulling the plug without reaching out a little harder – not a great way to build loyalty.

My point here is not that these companies (and others) didn’t anything WRONG. That’s all on me – I need to be more organized. But they didn’t do anything right, either. Their online presences, instead of attaching me more closely to their community, actually made me a less informed, less responsible member. They distanced me from the brand.

One aside – I also received a certificate the other day that I was getting a discount of $20/month from the cable company for being such a loyal customer (having completed my first year). There’s a whole club, and discounts, and more. It’s begging for opportunities for me to become engaged… to love my cable and become an active part of a community.

That came by snail mail. And then made me log into a website and create a separate account from my payment account. Which (eventually) gave me a coupon for a free movie. Which I would need to mail in with the statement I don’t receive.

Missed opportunity.