i don't see the problem. it's stated everywhere you pay 12$ to play.
On billing information it's stated you pay 9$ dollars for basic service+3$ for character fee, but they are still 12$.
@shikaree: after they migrated FFXI to they service, the billing it's pslitted like ffxiv. Btw that don't mean you pay some additional fee for 2 simultaneus billing or whatever, the price it's the same as before