I know mobile phone companies are going paperless, setting off a lively debate here. But I didn’t know that Canada’s largest bank had done the same thing.

In May, RBC Royal Bank stopped sending paper statements to its personal banking clients. David, who wrote to me, doesn’t remember getting any notice.

I went through a lot of paperwork this past weekend and realized I hadn’t received a statement since April. The May and June statements I printed from the computer, assuming they were lost in the mail.

When I noticed I hadn’t received July’s statement either, I finally broke down and called the bank. It turns out they just decided not to send me statements any more.

The rep explained that it was my responsibility to call them to ask to continue to receive statements. Of course, I got the whole pre-scripted lies about how RBC cares about the enviroment. RBC only cares about this quarter’s profits.

The move came at a time when fees went up. David used to pay $4 a month for 15 debits, plus one automatic payroll deposit, and 50 cents for each additional debit. Now his $4 a month covers 15 debits, but no payroll deposits, and he pays 65 cents for each additional debit.

He also complains that RBC bungled his order of new cheques last May.

I had finished cheque 100, so asked that it start at 101. This was too challenging a request, as the order I received started at 151. I want sequential cheques for my accounting/taxes, so had to call again asking for a correct set to start at 101.

Ellen, you would have thought I had asked for the keys to Fort Knox. The woman on the phone refused, stating I had to go into the branch and give them the cheques starting at 151 before they would order me a set at 101.

I refused. It was their mistake, not mine, I wasn’t going to be inconvenienced. It took over 4 phone calls before someone would help me. The big joke? The next set of cheques came and started at 001!

Another phone call, begging, please, can you submit a simple cheque order for me? Again, the same hassle that I’d have to go into the bank before anyone would help me. As if my whole existence in May and June was planning how to rip off a set of cheques.

Matt Gierasimczuk, an RBC spokesman, promised to send David’s complaints to the client care centre to follow up with him and make sure it wouldn’t happen again.

So, why did the bank move to electronic statements only?

At RBC, we firmly believe that reducing our environmental footprint, and promoting more environmentally friendly practices, products and services, is not only our responsibility as Canadians, but it’s also good business.

Since January 2006, over 4.7 million RBC accounts have switched to eStatements, saving approximately 980 metric tonnes of paper or 28,000 trees every year.

If a client wishes to continue receiving paper statements, however, we are more than happy to provide this at no cost.

David’s response? No, thanks.

I could get them for free, but it’s similar to the Rogers negative option billing fiasco years ago.

Their customers should have to call them to request a change, not have paperless forced on them and have to contact them to get what they were always getting.

Home insurance companies offer discounts for a bunch of reasons. Here’s an article I found that mentions 15 ways to save, but omits one key fact.

If you own your home free and clear, you can save on home insurance. Canadian Capitalist noted this in a recent post.

Take If Shari, a reader who paid off his mortgage in 2004. He wanted his insurer to pay back all the foregone discounts.

We have been insuring our home and two cars with Aviva for many years, paying several thousands dollars each year.

Just yesterday, I have discovered that they allow a discount on home insurance if you are mortgage free. The amount is quite significant at $80 for just this year.

Aviva never notified us of the existence of such discount. If we had been aware, we would have definitely advised them earlier.

I told him that I doubted he would be reimbursed for six years, but he wanted me to try. So, I contacted the company complaints officer, whose number I found through the Financial Services Commission of Ontario.

Guess what? He got a positive response the same day.

Ellen, it worked! Someone called to say she will be giving me a refund of all the past years’ overpayment. Thanks to you! Ellen, you don’t know your own power!

Glenm Cooper, the media contact at Aviva, said my interest helped speed up the refund. But it would have come anyway because the customer had attached a letter from the bank, testifying to his mortgage-free status since 2004.

So, ask your insurer about mortgage-free discounts. I called mine (TD) and found it offered one, though this discount didn’t make the list at its website.

I’m still waiting to hear why the insurance companies think there’s less risk once the mortgage is paid off. Maybe readers can explain it.

News flash: I’m giving my evening course at University of Toronto, Investing for Beginners, starting Thursday, Sept. 16. Here’s a link for information and registration.

A new report by the SeaBoard Group, called Death Grip, says Canada’s wireless phone companies bind customers to overly long contracts. As a result, the penalties we’re paying are “downright draconian.”

The cost to cancel your iPhone 4 contract after six months is $256 with AT&T in the United States. Compare that to Canada’s big three — $500 with Rogers, $600 with Bell and $680 with Telus.

In Canada, the most popular contract length is 36 months. This is twice the length of a typical British postpaid contract (18 months) and one-third longer tha a typical U.S. wireless service contract (24 months). The longer the contract is to begin with, the larger the penalty for breaking it will be.

Quebec has passed a new law that says the penalty for breaking a contract can’t exceed the value of the subsidy given on a new phone — and must go down every year. See my CBC commentary about the new Quebec law here.

SeaBoard says the new entrants (Wind, Public Mobile and Mobilicity) can’t compete because the spectrum they’re using isn’t yet supported by the hottest of the smartphones.

You cannot get an iPhone that works on the AWS spectrum –at least, not today. So, if you are in the market for a smartphone in Canada and elect to get a subsidized phone rather than pay Apple the full $779 (32GB), your only option is a three-year contract from Bell, Rogers or Telus.

And, given that it is your only option, well, one can appreciate that the incumbents are loath to break ranks and give up the three-year handcuffs. So, without the smartest of smartphones driving competition, inertia prevails.

This 32-page report is written in techie talk, so if you find it a slog, just go to the chart on page 17. It shows the iPhone 4 cost over the lifetime of a contract in Canada is $3,689, compared to $2,396 in the U.S. and $1,598 in the U.K.

Shrink the contract terms and make the subsidies more transparent, SeaBoard advises wireless carriers. Otherwise, consumer anger will invite more regulation.

Carry on, though, with the contractual death grips in place at present and you will simply be inviting the government’s “help” to sort it out.

The choice is clear, but be careful: act soon, or the Future may well not be Friendly.

Geoff, a reader, came up with this slogan in a comment yesterday on truth in labelling.

So, let me tell you, Geoff, and other readers too, that I don’t think all companies are bad and all customers are good.

The problem is that companies have too much power to bamboozle customers. If they can get away with it, they’ll do it.

In their promotion and advertising, companies only tell one side of the story. Any negative stuff that customers need to know is omitted or buried in the fine print.

Misleading advertising is rarely prohibited unless rivals complain about each other (that’s why Rogers now says “Canada’s reliable network” instead of “Canada’s most reliable network”).

Class action lawsuits are effective in stopping misleading advertising. But they’re hard to organize, so we don’t see them with great frequency in Canada.

This leaves a vacuum that companies can fill.

They can say what they want to attract you and then make it impossible for you to understand what you’re agreeing to.

They can avoid the use of plain language in their terms and conditions, deliberately making them difficult to read.

They can make you sign long-term contracts with high cancellation fees, inserting clauses that allow them to change the terms and conditions without penalty.

They can outsource their customer service departments and supply you with little in the way of help, support or advice, all in the name of efficiency and cost-cutting.

That’s why I’m standing up for the majority of customers who keep companies in business and want to see fair dealing.

I’m trying to give power to customers, instead of letting big business control all the plays.

Through the Internet and the Toronto Star, I can restore some balance to the lopsided relationship between companies and their customers.

And in my view, that’s a good thing.

I often take guided tours in places where I’ve never been. It’s annoying when you’re taken to a souvenir store and forced to wait for everyone in your group to finish shopping.

It’s an unspoken truth that tour guides get a commission on everything sold in shops where they direct customers. But the truth is getting out. I saw a sign in a market warning that guides earned 30 to 35 per cent of the price paid in some stores. “Shop on your own,” it said.

How would truth in labelling work for companies I write about in this blog? Let’s think about what Enbridge, for example, would say about its budget billing plan.

* We can set your monthly instalment payments too low and send you a large bill after almost a year has passed, without doing any mid-term reviews.

* We can charge you 1.5 per cent a month in late fees if you can’t pay this large bill within a few weeks, even though we made the error.

* We can ask you to call us if you’re in financial difficulty, but we can make it hard for you to reach our call centres.

* We can sign you up for this budget billing plan automatically if you’re a new customer without giving you a choice.

* We urge you to check the budget billing plan data each month, knowing that we can make large errors, and to ask for an increase in your instalment payments if you haven’t been billed enough.

If such messages were in bold print, in large type, on all monthly statements, I’d agree that Enbridge customers were truly warned about the billing problems they could face.

Aeroplan also needs to beef up its truth in labelling. I’d like to see warnings everywhere that your points will be zapped in one year unless you stay active and that buying anything at a partner retailer (such as Esso) will ensure you won’t lose your points.

Any other examples of proper disclosure that readers want to share would be welcome.

You’re dying to go to Paul McCartney’s concert in Toronto on Aug. 8 and 9, but the seats you want are sold out. So you try the resale market for tickets.

You find an ad on Craigslist for four tickets at $150 each. That’s a great price, you think. The seller is a flight attendant for British Air, who had a last-minute schedule change and can’t get to the concert after all.

You check her out and decide to go ahead. But the tickets never arrive in Canada, even though you’re given a tracking number with the Brirish Royal Mail.

Barb’s story, which you can read below, shows how easy it is to get swindled by a stranger with a good story. In future, Barb says, she’ll heed the Craigslist warnings to deal only with sellers she can talk to on the phone and meet in person.

Carol also told me about her elderly dad, who took his new iPhone on an overseas trip. He needed help with his reception problems, but didn’t realize the device’s roaming feature had been turned on. Of course, he faced a big bill later, which I was able to get reduced.

Travelling with smart phones can be expensive, as Carol’s story shows. I’d welcome advice from readers on how to cut costs, such as unlocking the phone and buying a SIM card in the country you’re visiting.

I covered this topic a few years ago, but I’m wondering if things have changed.

It’s a hot summer, so why not write about expensive new fridges that don’t work?

After I did so, I heard from other readers whose kitchen appliances were on the fritz and whose patience was wilting fast.

As usual, Sears’ name came up. This once mighty department store has a new philosophy: Satisfaction is not guaranteed, nor is your money refunded.

Readers wanted to know why some major appliances were lacking in durability and built not to last. Was this a plot to sell more extended warranties? And why did retailers wash their hands of products they sold after the first year?

Vacuum cleaners, luckily, are not designed for built-in obsolescence. But a new model, Airider, caught the attention of a Star freelancer, Vicky Sanderson, who wrote a positive story this year.

Unfortunately, the company behind the Airider, based in Barrie, Ont., has been unable to fulfill orders quickly or give money back to customers. The owners keep promising refunds, but don’t deliver. So, I figured it was time to air this story, so to speak.

This is not a fly-by-night company nor a scam, says vice-president Phil Wright. But what do you call a firm that cashes cheques from customers and gives nothing in return?

You can read more from Wright and his frustrated clients below.

Edward Carson has a Telus Mobility account. He’s not happy that he has to pay $2, starting in September, to get paper bills delivered by mail.

Most other wireless carriers already charge for paper bills, says Jim Johannsson, director of media relations at Telus.

The paperless revolution has been slow to arrive. But it may accelerate if more companies decide to bill customers a few dollars apiece for old-fashioned hard copies.

Telus is making a one-time donation to the Nature Conservancy of Canada when customers switch to paperless. But shouldn’t it give customers an incentive, such as a discount arising from their cost savings?

Read the conversation below between Carson and Johannsson. Then, share your views.

Utilities are not known for great customer service. Since their prices are regulated, they’re always trying to cut costs.

Enbridge, a gas utility in Ontario, gets many complaints about recurring billing errors and difficulties in getting them corrected. I talk to their executives on a regular basis.

But the temperature is soaring this month because Enbridge bungled its budget billing plan (BBP), a popular option that lets you divide your payments into equal amounts throughout the year.

As I said in a recent column, Enbridge makes adjustments each July to balance the bills. In most years, customers have a credit or only a small debit to pay in July.

This year, Enbridge set the amounts too low. It has a message here that admits to making the initial mistake and compounding it by not doing a mid-season review to make sure that customers’ bills were on track.

I find the company’s case contradictory. If the monthly BPP instalments were set last August, how did the large variances escape notice for a year? See the Q&A below:

Why did Enbridge not do a review of my plan?

Earlier this year, we did review the overall performance of the Budget Billing plan and the balances appeared to be in line for the majority of our customers at that time.

Come on, Enbridge, this explanation is full of gas. It’s your job to keep things straight for the 800,000 customers in your budget billing plan.

I’m on the BPP myself and waiting to receive my July bill. But when checking my June invoice, I saw a large deficit between gas used and gas billed under the BPP ($318.28). My monthly gas use has dropped from the previous year. If not, the gap would be even wider.

Yes, it’s true that customers can monitor the BPP on their own, using information shown on each bill. But many trusted Enbridge to get it right, as in previous years. They’ll be less trusting in the future.

I’ve been hearing cries of outrage from recipients of the budget-busting July bills. They’re also furious about waiting on hold when they call to make payment arrangements.

We’re currently experiencing higher than normal call volumes related to Budget Billing Plans. We apologize for the long waits and thank you for your patience.

If you made errors affecting hundreds of thousands of customers, then why not hire more temporary call centre staff? Why not keep the phone lines open later in the evenings and on weekends?

Enbridge has extended the weekday hours from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. That’s not enough, according to the people who are calling me in frustration.

This week, the lines stay open until 8 p.m. I called today and spent 23 minutes on hold to speak to a rep. He said my final bill isn’t ready yet, but estimated that I’d owe $236.27 in gas charges that weren’t on my monthly instalments.

Added fees are getting out of control. I’m tired ot seeing large companie advertise one price to lure you in and then jack it up with a multitude of extra costs.

My CBC radio commentary on this topic attracted lots of comment. I referred to a study by the Public Interest Advocacy Group, calling for new consumer laws to curb the misleading practice.

One outcome is a loss of faith among the buying public. How can you trust lowball prices that don’t reflect what you’ll pay down the road when you get the bill?

Advertised airline fares are a big offender, as are cellphone plans. Utility bills have transportation and delivery charges, customer charges and debt retirement charges added to the commodity price.

And let’s not forget the “provincial benefit” on fixed-price electricity contracts — not a benefit, but a hefty surcharge.

I’d like to see more pressure on companies to adopt all-in pricing. Upstarts in an industry can also lead to change.

New cellphone entrants offering unlimited monthly rate plans — namely, Wind Mobile, Public Mobile and Mobilicity — have pushed Rogers into launching its own copycat brand, Chatr Wireless.

When extra fees are excluded from prices, you feel surprised, shocked and abused. Your trust in sellers is gone. The integrity of the shopping experience is in tatters.

Here’s an example below of a Bell Canada customer struggling with a plague of extra charges on his bill.