The announcement by Bill Express to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday does not, in my view, fully inform the market. Investors have not been told of the tsunami of anger the changes announced by Bill Express has unleashed by newsagents against the company.
To my mind, Bill Express ought to inform the market that:
- Bill Express, without forewarning replaced its long standing commercial terms with newsagents with new terms.
- The terms are contrary to those enshrined in agreements with newsagents.
- The new terms have been applied retrospectively.
- The new terms are less favourable for newsagents, most are immediately worse off
- Bill Express is not responding to complaints from newsagents
- Newsagents have complained to the ACCC about the behaviour of Bill Express, citing unconscionable conduct and false and misleading conduct
- Individual newsagents have commenced action on state based legal forums
- Groups of newsagents are openly seeking and sharing advice on class action against Bill Express
Some reading my posts about Bill Express will think that I’m enjoying the mess they are making on their relationship with newsagents because of my involvement with eziPass, the alternative to Bill Express. I am not. Until a few weeks ago I and my team at Tower Systems were actively working with Bill Express in an effort to ensure a viable relationship between their offer and newsagents.
Indeed, for the last four years we have worked closely with Bill Express, seeking to bring to newsagent point of sale systems facilities which cut the time it takes to pay bills and process electronic vouchers. Bill Express only progressed these projects when it suited them and not when it suited newsagents.
They have botched their relationship with newsagents and which I understand the commercial focus of the changes announced this week, Bill Express has only taken this step because it suits them. This is not about newsagents at all.
If the market was more fully informed about Bill Express behaviour against newsagents over the last few months I’d expect their share price to be lower than its is today.
The market at large is indeed misled by the letter BillExp put out to ASX.
So far there has been no public outcry in the media by newsagents over this shameful business treatment.
Maybe it’s high time they face some music.
As to what BillExp say that we are better off with this performance based incentives,it’s utterly nonsense in our case and definitely with others as well.
For those non-billexp members, the mthly equip rental is $544.50. The original proviso was that we get an advert rebate and subsidy to cover shortfall and at the worst we would break-even and not be out-of-pocket.
Otherwise we would not have signed the contract at all.
It would have made no business sense to try and make up the rental expense through the petty commissions they were giving us with missing major billers and missing local council.
So on good faith we took the package on.
So now halfway through,no advert rebate and no subsidy!!
We hardly do any bopo transactions at all given the demographics of the area we are in.
In all the years since bopo was first introduced I can say we’ve hardly hit a total 10 related transactions.
Most people we introduce the product to was put off by the hefty charges upon charging/using bopo card.
So I am now calculating the no. of bill payments we would need to do per month to just break even per mth @0.70 : 778 ie 26 per day
If I meet Ian Christiansen now, I would love him to pull the rabbit out of the hat.
If anyone from Bill Exp is reading this blog, pls do pass on my message, it’s your job to keep the boss in contact with the real world.
For those that say their friends are able to make it /better off despite the changes, I would also love to know how they do it.
Helen, sounds like you are from a small town? I can tell you many post offices are not doing much more transactions than that. In fact if they do less than 833 a month they are charged a shortfall fee. After time the equipment will be taken away by post if the trascations drop too low.
If more small town newsagents had taken the time to talk to their post office people they would have found out how few transactions were being done in many small towns, not the “thousands a month” that many outsiders presumed. I did have a discussion along those lines with a newsagent who could see he wasn’t going to have a viable proposition, but when he sold his business, the new owners were only aggressive. They believed that the post office had better find something else to make money if they were going to struggle when losing transactions.
There has been a very big misunderstanding in this area of the amount of transactions actually out there in the market and available for bill express to steal from post.
Then take in to account the internet, direct debit, and phone payments, and this is not an area of growth that can be shared with other players, honestly.
This Bill Express business is a shambles. Is reassuring to know that we are not the only ones who will be losing $’s and that there is indeed an outcry but that doesn’t get as back to at least break even. I have considered not processing payments as the system is so slow, but with the new structure we will be worse off. What is ANF there for if not to fight for us as a united body. The staff at BXP are so arrogant..!!
Clem,
Like I said b4, we took bill exp on good faith given endorsement by ANF and salesmen pitch that we would not be out-of-pocket.
A rep from ANF even came along with the BillExp salesman to promote the product.
Even so I did not even think at worst that we’ll be getting this treatment now having to subsidise the company’s losses and pay full amount to opt out of contract.
Even the banks ,being famous for dealing the raw end of the deal ,when you pay off loan earlier, you don’t end up having to pay off all its projected interest earning capacity just a penalty that you can acknowledge.
Yes, very naive thinking in the first place about having honour in contracts, you would say.
On hindsight, it all seems a scam from the very beginning.
Any future salespersons would not find it that easy to sell me anything now.
When the first hit of losing the subsidy came, it was bad enough that it would take a chunk out of my DialT commision.but now that the advert rebate is cancelled I would need to sacrifice all that I earned in my own right and contribute shortfall.
Where is the right and fairness in this?
I might as well break off my right arm and give it to them to make use of it.
Hi All
I reading these blogs with great interest. I’ve recently received a call from Bill Express’s contact centre following a letter I sent on 2 March and several emails CC’d to the ANF. The BE Contact staff have advised me that our rental agreement has been fullfilled and that their was nothing more to be paid. If this the case then the new arrangements are not as bad as they would first appear. Please don’t think that this means I am happy with them by any means!! My query then is how many other agents are in the same position and have also received the same advice that they have nothing more to pay?
The second question is now that the agreement has been fulfilled who picks up the tab for repairs/maintenance of monitors etc. Still haven’t had an answer to this one!
Regards
Mark Fa
Mark,
Had you completed your contract term with Bill Express ??? or are they waivering what what was left on your contract??
Hi John
The 4 year term of the contact has lapsed in March 2008. Hence I have completed my obligation. To this point we have not had any debits for the rental removed from our account since March. No whether this is because of the agreement being fulfilled or the fact that BE has had to get a new Direct Debit User (third party collection agency) in place I am not 100% sure. Will no more when the month date for rental payment comes and goes later this month.
Regards
Mark Fa
Helen, don give them the idea. They may do another variation to contract and demanding that too.