Kris Carlon / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Starting this week, paying your T-Mobile bill in a physical store will cost you.
- T-Mobile will charge you $5 each time.
- You can avoid this $5 surcharge by paying online, in the T-Mobile app, or setting up autopay.
Believe it or not, there are lots of people out there who prefer to pay their bills in person. Whether it’s an internet bill, a utility bill, or even rent, swathes of folks like to physically go to a place and pay with cash.
For people who do this for their T-Mobile bill, though, you’re in for a bit of a rude awakening (via Droid-Life). Starting this week, T-Mobile will now charge subscribers a $5 “Payment Support Charge” if they choose to visit a retail establishment to pay their bill.
T-Mobile hasn’t officially explained why it’s making this change. It likely has to do with the process taking up the valuable time of sales clerks who could be focused on other things — like signing new people up for service, selling phones, or otherwise making T-Mobile money.
In a Reddit thread, you can see first-hand accounts of how well this change is being received by both customers and staff. “Three customers today walked out on me cussing me out because of this $5 charge,” is a good example of the responses we’re seeing.
As of now, there is no way to avoid this charge and still pay your T-Mobile bill in a store. Instead, you’ll need to pay on the web through T-Mobile.com, through the T-Mobile app, or set up autopay. Either of these options will be free. Obviously, you can’t use cash for any of these, though. If that’s non-negotiable, then you’ll need to plan for your bill to be $5 higher each month going forward.
