[ad_1]
Star recently updated its support website to inform customers that they will incur a surcharge if they choose to pay their Astro bill through selected payment channels. The surcharge, which costs up to RM 0.50 per transaction, will apply from January 1, 2021.
AD
Those channels include convenience stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, newsstands, gas stations, and e-wallets. This applies to merchants using Razer Merchant Services, ATX, and Mobility One payment services.
On the other hand, the same surcharge also applies to Astro bill payments that are made through merchants with e-Pay as their payment gateway provider from January 16, 2021 onwards. Meanwhile, Astro has also stated that this surcharge is being imposed by the collection agencies themselves and not the company.
At the same time, Astro also noted that there are still other payment channels such as JomPAY, ATM, online banking and Astro’s own self-service portal that users can use without incurring surcharges. You can check out the full list right here on the company’s website.
However, today’s update still raises a question: why didn’t Astro absorb the surcharge? Some may liken this situation to the directive Bank Negara Malaysia imposed on merchants in 2018 prohibiting them from deferring payment surcharges to customers.
Moreover, the directive only applies to payments by credit and debit card. So generally, this question can only be addressed by Astro and its payment partners, although we are not sure we can get a direct answer for them.
(Source: Astro via Amanz.)
[ad_2]
