Berit Hedemann is one of many consumers who were annoyed by sky-high invoice fees. The retired news employee works as a writer from his home office and must send a paper copy to the accountant. Therefore, she needs a paper invoice sent by post, and it has cost a lot. Many companies charge close to NOK 80 in fees for this. – When I saw a case on Dagsrevyen where the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority and the Norwegian Consumer Council said that the fees were illegally high, I thought that this is not something I can relate to, says Hedemann. – What did you do then? – Then I started protesting and writing e-mails. Threatened with compulsory fines In several reports over the past six months, news has put the spotlight on high invoice fees. According to the Consumer Council, the worst offenders are parking and toll companies, doctors’ offices and many large telecoms companies. According to the law, it is not allowed to charge a higher fee than it costs to send the bill to consumers. Norges Bank has previously calculated that the real cost is NOK 6–10. LETTER. In September, the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority sent letters to Telenor, Telia, ICE and Convene and asked them to explain the high invoice fees. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news So in September, the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority sent letters to Telenor, Telia and ICE and asked them to justify the size of their fees. The inspectorate threatened with compulsory fines and infringement fees if they did not change their practice. Then a letter arrived By this time, Berit Hedemann had written many e-mails and started to get answers to her complaints. She had referred to the Norwegian Consumer Protection Agency and news’s reports. An electricity company and a telecommunications company agreed to reduce the fee only for her, because she had passed the age of 74. Others refused, and sent a debt collection claim because she did not pay the fee. COMPLAINT: Berit Hedemann complained about the fee for paper invoices to many companies. There were many letters. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news – I’m not a brawler. I don’t like that arguing, but I got so annoyed eventually, says Hedemann. But then on 13 November, a week ago, she received a letter from the broadband company Viken Fiber. They are reducing the fee from NOK 49 to NOK 12.50 from the first of December. – It was really nice and something completely different from the NOK 79 that many other companies charge, says Berit Hedemann. Down 87 per cent Lyse AS has 1.7 million customers in, among others, Viken Fiber/Altibox and ICE. They confirm that the company has decided to reduce the fees for all customers who receive paper invoices. – We actually chose quite quickly to interpret the rules in accordance with the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority’s interpretation and chose to lower our fees for paper invoices, says Andreas Veggeland, who is head of communications at Lyse AS. LISTENING: Lyse has chosen to listen to the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority’s interpretation of the rules and is sharply lowering the fee for paper invoices. Photo: Thomas Ystrøm / news This means that Lyse will be the first telecommunications company to comply with the new rules and only charge cost price for sending paper invoices. The fees for ICE customers will be reduced by as much as 87 per cent – from NOK 55 to NOK 7. Altibox/Viken fiber customers get a slightly smaller reduction – from NOK 49 to NOK 12.50, but it is still a 75 percent reduction. – We have slightly higher costs in the Altibox system. There is a very large reduction in fees, says Veggeland. The Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority is satisfied The Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority is very satisfied with the decision Lyse has taken to use real costs as the basis for the size of the invoice fee. SATISFIED: Deputy director of the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority Tonje Drevland thinks it’s great that Lyse is reducing the invoice fees. Photo: DAG JENSSEN – It’s great that players who bill consumers are taking the change in the law that came almost a year ago, says deputy director Tonje Drevland. She says that the companies that do not do so will be followed up. This includes both Telenor and Telia, which send out paper invoices with high fees on behalf of doctors’ offices No change Telenor charges NOK 79 in fees for sending out paper invoices. Neither they nor Telia agree with the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority’s interpretation of the rules. Communications director Hanne Knudsen at Telenor writes to news that they have made a thorough assessment of their practice against the Financial Agreements Act and believe they follow the rules. Telia is of the same opinion. Both companies are in dialogue with the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority. Both Telenor and Telia emphasize that they want as many customers as possible to choose electronic invoices because it is simpler, free and better for the environment. Worth fighting At Kjelsås in Oslo, Berit Hedemann is very satisfied with the decision, even though there are still many companies that have not changed their practice. USEFUL: – It is useful to fight, says Berit Hedemann. Photo: Snorre Tønset / news – I think it’s great. It pays to fight, as they said in the old days. But one thing is that I want it for my accounts. Another thing is that there are a whole bunch of people who are no good at online banking, and have not learned the digital system, says Berit Hedemann.
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Telecom company bends and sharply cuts billing fees – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
