CityWest to align its billing system by doubling the Amount Due from customers for March

For some customers of the Prince Rupert based communication company CityWest, March may prove to be a very expensive month for budgeting their communication needs.

In a letter to Customers dated January 24th, CityWest outlined the nature of some changes ahead to their billing procedures for Telephone and DSL Internet services.

At the moment, customers currently receive a bill for the previous months service.

However, beginning in March, the company will be changing the billing process to reconfigure the system to bill for the current month of service.

Which means, when they make the changeover on March 1st, Customers of DSL and Telephone services will be receiving a bill for February and March, as a one time charge combining the two months, which for some residents and depending on the services they use, could provide a hefty bill to be paid.

In their letter to customers,  CityWest reviewed some of the reasons behind the changeover.

The main aspect being the introduction of a new billing system and the desire to have all CityWest services billed the same way. 

CityWest also outlines how the new monthly statement will then be easier to read, adding that the new format for billing is considered the industry practice.

With the new billing system on stream in March, the April bill will return to the monetary level that customers have become accustomed to.

However, customers who now will be facing the double dip for March, might wonder why CityWest didn't spread out the burden of the changeover over say a six month period. Breaking the amount for February into smaller portions for their bill, and spreading that out over a longer period, lessening the impact on the consumer.

That might have been a customer friendly approach to the process, one that would have found favour with the community and ease the burden that CityWest has suddenly delivered as a bit of a surprise way to their Valued customers.

For those that may have difficulties in meeting the added financial demand of the March payment, CityWest offers up the advice to contact the CityWest credit department at 250-627-0947 to make payment arrangements.

The correspondence wraps up with CityWest outlining that they are confident that the changes will be beneficial to the customer in the long run. But neither the letter, or the information posted to their website, provides any background on what benefits this change will provide for.

A full review of the mailer to Customers can be found from the CityWest website