If you haven’t noticed; most telecoms companies use the line “no hidden fees or charges” as a cornerstone of their brand. After all, why wouldn’t you market such a strong guarantee?
Unfortunately, confusing monthly phone bills and a lack of transparency in telecoms pricing are regular concerns for account holders.
Bigger accounts receive murkier bills, so enterprise customers could find significant expenditure hidden deep in their plan.
Like Cola, just because there’s “no added sugar” doesn’t mean your body isn’t taking an unhealthy ingredients hit.
In this post, we flag some of the most common hidden charges with some tips and how you can eliminate these fees.
“Managed” Services
An odd fee that you may find buried in your itemised bill, “Managed Services” refers to the — often remote — provisioning and maintenance of your account.
This can be adding new users, features or services… only, most new phone systems allow users to do that independently as standard.
We have discovered through our Complimentary Bill Analysis (See Below) that many of our clients have been paying premiums, even while they were self-managing their account!
It’s in most carriers’ best interest to offer account management for free but there is value in the service if you do pay for it… if you don’t manage your own account of course…
Voicemail (& “Enhanced” Voicemail)
Not long ago, some call carriers opted to discontinue “standard” voicemail in favour of their premium “enhanced” voicemail.
While one must question the existence of a premium service without a standard version (marketing spin, anyone?), the real issue lies with the secret fees.
With 70% of companies dropping voicemail, charging for the “evolution” of a dying facility (Enhancing the Dodo) is a questionable, and all-too-common practice in telecoms.
Rather than turning a profit, forward-thinking carriers are rolling enhanced-voicemail into their service, reducing “out of plan” costs and giving their customers more value.
Call Hunt Groups — or dialling a group with one number — can be charged both monthly and on a per call basis (sometimes both!) depending on the carrier.
Yes, getting in touch with your entire security team or sales department as a whole could be costing you way more than you think.
This is down to both line dependency and supplier setup fees but with Blueface’s UC Portal; you can set up and dial your own Hunt Groups with no extra charge.
So whether there’s a company emergency or a surprise party — you can get everyone into the same room free of extra fees.
Call Forwarding
Call forwarding is a feature that generally only charges you per-transfer although some companies have antiquated configuration fees.
You’re charged minutes because your phone dials out to another phone, often mobile, but some companies charge you out-of-bundle.
According to Hubspot, over 80% of calls go to voicemail or are forwarded, so roughly 4-out-of-5 of your inbound calls may be costing your company extra.
Coupled with the 160% longer sales cycle — voicemail could be costing your company serious time and money.
This essential service should be bundled into your call plan and if it isn’t, consider asking your supplier why or switching straight out.
Call Barring
Call barring is usually first experienced by parents, when their stereotypical teenager runs up an unassailable bill. My first personal experience was mobile calls — or more to the point — their barring from our home landline.
Call barring for business is usually recommended to block premium or international numbers but can block any out-of-package number.
Premium Numbers
These numbers include; 1850 (IE), 0870 (UK), 300 / 700 (US) and a whole host more across the globe.Limiting the numbers your staff (or teenagers) can dial by blocking these numbers may seem like a great idea but can end up costing you more than you had expected.
If call barring isn’t rolled into a “feature pack,” you may regret barring premium numbers; as many companies will charge per-number barred.
Wakeup Calls
Companies legitimately offer this service at a premium of around $10 — $15 per month; totaling over $120 per year.
Sure some folks need help getting out of bed but there are tonnes of apps like Wakie that allows strangers to rouse you from slumber for free.
We’ll admit, we’ve only seen this happen a handful of times over the thousands of analysed bills but bizarre fees crop up more than you think.
Often these are legacy expenses for larger companies or even hotels but smaller organisations should be ever vigilant with their bills.
If you’re spending tonnes on your telecoms, let this post be another free wake up call — it’s time to start saving.
Start Saving Today!
With Blueface, you won’t have to worry about these fees slipping unnoticed into your bill. Get a quote and discover how much you can save with a feature-rich solution without the “enhanced” price.
