Thursday, October 3, 2019

Telekom customers asking for printed bills

More and more telephone bills are sent digitally instead of by mail. If you do not have internet, you will not be able to see your bills anymore, criticizes an MDR-NEWS-listener. However, customers without an Internet connection can insist on being sent by mail under certain conditions.

Many companies only send their invoices digitally via e-mail and save paper and postage. So also the German Telekom. But what happens to older people who do not have Internet access? That's what MDR-AKTUELL listener Frau Scholz from Uhlstedt-Kirchhasel near Rudolstadt would like to know. She fears that her mother will no longer get her telecom bill, and asks: "Are there any telephone bills only in digital form or are they still sent to customers by mail?"

Recipient can request bill on paper

For the Cologne-based lawyer Christian Solmecke, who specializes in digital topics, the question must be answered clearly: "The sales tax law states that an invoice may be issued either on paper or in electronic form, but if the recipient of the invoice wishes to have a paper form, then he can explicitly demand that, "says Solmecke. The recipient must, however, pay for receipt in paper form.

These fees are only due, if the company has a pure online offer. Deutsche Telekom also offers its services in regular shops - and therefore the bill is always free of charge, confirms company spokesman Markus Jodl:

Upon request, Telekom customers can still receive their telephone bill at no additional cost on paper and by mail. This applies to fixed and mobile customers.

Markus Jodl, press officer Deutsche Telekom

Telekom prefers digital invoice sending
However, as the current example of our listener shows, this possibility is not always obvious. "Of course we would be very happy if more and more customers do without the paper bill, save the invoice digitally and no longer print it," says Jodl.

About 90 percent of all invoices are already sent digitally, according to Telekom. The interest of the company in this is understandable, because by the digital dispatch by E-Mail postage is saved. How much is saved, there are no numbers. Sustainability and the protection of resources are in the foreground, says Jodl.

Biller can contractually stipulate shipping
Back, however, to the legal aspect: Attorney Christian Solmecke points to a special situation for customers: Every biller can advance agreement in the contract that he sends invoices only in digital form. "Then the bill recipient can not switch later and say he wants to have the paper now," says Solmecke.

The Scholz family from Uhlstedt-Kirchhasel have solved the problem by now. The phone bill arrives again as a printed letter - completely analog and without the Internet.

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