No More Receipts? Must Log In?

General discussions and other topics.
20 posts Page 1 of 2
by JoeyVirgo » Wed May 22, 2019 12:00 pm
Sonic recently informed me that I will need to log in to find out whether my Sonic bill has been paid or not. Who is Sonic kidding?

If Sonic doesn't get its money, it's going to let me know pronto -- whether I log in or not!

This is a shitty-ass idea: less service for more money!!! Sonic doesn't even inform the customer when the rates are raised and now it's going to even stop providing receipts -- unless the customer logs in to her or his account!

Nice no-thinking about the customer!

Sonic, instead, is going to annoy all of its customers on a monthly basis to remind them about an automatic bill-paying debt but it's not going to provide a receipt on a monthly basis as it used to -- because Sonic thinks annoying customers about their debt while providing less customer service at the same time is the way to achieve success, eh?

What a load of horseshit!

And to think Sonic wasn't even going to contact me about this "new idea" at all!

Bravo for the CEO of the new Sonic Shit Ship! Look out for the Shit Ship Annoy!

I would never have even learned about Sonic's change of policy if I had no emailed the billing department concerning the Reminder Notice.

Sonic doesn't even give the customer the courtesy of being informed about the policy change in advance. What lousy customer service!

When does it ever think of its customers?

It's nice that Sonic wants to protect customers' privacy to the best it can and offer the lowest price for the Internet & phone -- I'm grateful that Sonic exists to give customers these things -- but customers are people, not machines, and having to log in and make your own receipts for billing purposes is a useless, tacky bit of chicanery that only serves Sonic, not the customer.

Annoyed Annoyed Annoyed

One Long-Time But Highly Dissatisfied Customer

P.S. Looks like Sonic provides a forum for customers to bitch like Orwell's 1984 screen for unsatisfied people to shout "Hate! Hate! Hate!" -- but the forum itself doesn't have clear operating instructions or guidance. How ironic! Sonic acts like the government, "We're from the Government [Sonic], and we're here to help!" Run!!!!!
by anonymous1023 » Wed May 22, 2019 12:43 pm
I don't know if I agree with the exact wording but I do at least agree that Sonic should continue to send a receipt via email, either text or pdf.

Also, the email with embedded tracking images is fishy.
by jacob.karinen » Wed May 22, 2019 4:22 pm
I'm sorry you guys aren't happy with the new invoicing system. I understand where you're coming from and I assure you I will be passing along your feedback. Hopefully, we'll see some changes that help make our invoicing easier to understand and with all the relevant information around our user's service.
Jacob K.
Community and Escalations Supervisor
Sonic
by JoeyVirgo » Wed May 22, 2019 8:16 pm
Again, my complaint and others is NOT about Sonic's "invoicing system." It's about Sonic's NOT INVOICING -- and it's not a system -- it's an avoidance tactic. Discussion about this matter cannot be rational since Sonic's decision is so incredibly and utterly stupid. Every customer everywhere gets a receipt for purchasing. No customer has to WORK to get a receipt. It's part of the courtesy system for business trade. Sonic's delivering a big F.U. to its customers. That's pretty obvious.
by dane » Wed May 22, 2019 11:04 pm
We have heard for many years that our text-based email invoices were inadequate and unprofessional. They were challenging to read, but also because in general the amount only changes a minor amount, they were more of an annoyance than a useful item. Also, we were asked instead for archives, rather than emails that could be lost.

So, we developed a new PDF-based invoice that's easier to read and understand, and a web based archive for those who want the full record of invoices. And we limit the email now to a simpler "your renewal was processed", which linking to the web archive for those who want it. Based upon feedback from most members, this seems to me to be the best compromise. That being said, we can't please everyone, and we've gotten feedback from some who miss the text invoices and hate the PDFs, from those who want the full invoice via email, and more. Some don't like the layout or fonts of the new invoices, or the fact that they're multiple pages. I think that no matter what we do, we won't satisfy everyone.
Dane Jasper
Sonic
by JoeyVirgo » Thu May 23, 2019 6:08 am
The invoices were and are unprofessional looking and they are hard to understand. So you received those complaints and you did nothing about it -- except remove them and force the customer to go fetch them if they want them. Ha! That's pretty funny.

And now you use the same refrain you use on other issues, "Can't please everybody."

That's pretty lame.
by JoeyVirgo » Thu May 23, 2019 6:27 am
"We have heard for many years that our text-based email invoices were inadequate and unprofessional. They were challenging to read, but also because in general the amount only changes a minor amount, they were more of an annoyance than a useful item. Also, we were asked instead for archives, rather than emails that could be lost."

The invoices were unprofessional and hard to understand. But instead of improving them and making them look professional and easy to understanding, you decided to do away with the idea entirely? Where's the reason in this? Say again?

What guarantee is there that the new approach will give better results? Has the customer been given a preview of what to expect? No.

" . . . the amount only changes a minor amount."

No, that's not true. When you raise rates, the change isn't minor -- and you don't inform the customer when you do raise rates.

The decision-making process here -- the actual thought process expressed in the decision-making is clearly unsound and clearly off-center.
by js9erfan » Thu May 23, 2019 6:29 am
Some of us don't mind the new format as long as the total amount billed is on that monthly email notification. This saves a step or three in logging in if the amount looks correct - especially for those who split household bills and could simply forward the email with the invoiced amount included.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9521
by tikvah » Thu May 23, 2019 5:24 pm
Why can't you make an opt-in or opt-out email version?

I am one that appreciates the email invoices. In fact, I consider them very very important? Why? Because sometimes I get surprises.

I don't want to have to log in every month just to check if I got a surprise charge for something. I want to see it right away.

For the nonprofit I help run, it's essential for us to have a full accounting each month.

I didn't find them unprofessional; they're just basic text invoices. What's wrong with that? They were clear and easy to understand and easy to forward bits to people (like the surprises to the Board).

Please allow people to choose to get them. We already know your system is set up to generate them, so the software part isn't even hard. Don't assume what is and isn't useful to me. Not having email invoices is going to be a major PITA for me. I have so many accounts with Sonic that I can't even remember the number (I think it's 2-3 separately billed ones and 6 domain names/web accounts).

Don't force people to spend up to an hour every month tracking down the invoices and checking for problems. You all don't even let me make corrections if I've waited too long. Now you're putting it on us to do all this extra work to find mistakes or changes and let you know. All because you chose to flip a switch and stop a feature.
by mkutner » Thu May 23, 2019 8:47 pm
At the very least, I'd like to see in the "Payment Scheduled" email:
  • Payment amount
    Payment date
If the payment amount looks strange, then I'm OK to log in to get a PDF statement.
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