T-Mobile has alerted some customers that will be automatically moved to paperless billing — even if they never asked for it.
The notifications have gone out to at least some customers, according to posts on Reddit and a tip sent to The Mobile Report. There are some conflicting reports on when the switch actually happens, with The Mobile Report saying it will occur on November 8, while one Reddit post claimed it would happen on November 1.
While many consumers have moved to paperless to avoid excess paper and physical mail, some subscribers prefer having paper records to hold and review, and may not be comfortable regularly logging on to the site to check their bill. The reports say customers are able to opt out of the switch, but must do so after the change happens, meaning they’ll get at least one bill sent to them digitally. Customers who want to opt out can log in to the site to make a change in their account settings.
This follows another “opt-out” controversy after documents leaked show how T-Mobile wanted to automatically move legacy customers onto newer, more expensive plans, giving them the option to opt out of that automatic migration. Following the public outcry, T-Mobile said it was a “small-scale test” and pulled back from rolling out the initiative.
A move to paperless billing would save T-Mobile from the cost of printing and mailing physical bills. Like other companies across many different industries, it has encouraged paperless billing as a way to also be more environmentally friendly.
Moving to paperless also means customers are less likely to scrutinize their bill, since they would need to actively log in to their site and review the numbers on a monthly basis. That’s one extra step vs. opening an envelope and seeing the bill laid out on paper.
A T-Mobile spokesman wasn’t immediately available to comment.