dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
10138

Chuckles0
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN

Chuckles0 to dave

Premium Member

to dave

Re: "I didn't get a bill, " is no excuse!

said by dave:

So, in my experience most companies seem to be on top of billing. Yours, maybe not so much.
These are always people who are habitually late...

Technogeez
Agape in amazement.
Premium Member
join:2007-01-20

Technogeez to DC DSL

Premium Member

to DC DSL
I'm guessing they're probably spitting in your water before it gets to you...

toddbs98
join:2000-07-08
North Little Rock, AR

toddbs98 to Chuckles0

Member

to Chuckles0
If your business is to incompetent to send out bills and invoices you are the one with the real problem not the customers. The customer is supposed to magically know what is owed and where to make payment too? I believe we will see you in the unemployment line before long.

DC DSL
There's a reason I'm Command.
Premium Member
join:2000-07-30
Washington, DC

DC DSL to Technogeez

Premium Member

to Technogeez
Heehee. I haven't lived there for eons now.

Chuckles0
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN

Chuckles0 to toddbs98

Premium Member

to toddbs98
said by toddbs98:

If your business is to incompetent to send out bills and invoices you are the one with the real problem not the customers. The customer is supposed to magically know what is owed and where to make payment too? I believe we will see you in the unemployment line before long.
Nah I'm fine... How's the unemployment line?

Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Mike to toddbs98

Mod

to toddbs98
The law is on his side if it's a perpetuity like billing structure.

Mr Stone
stupid should be painful
Premium Member
join:2001-06-20
From hell

Mr Stone to Chuckles0

Premium Member

to Chuckles0
said by Chuckles0:
said by Mr Stone:

I don't get a bill you will not get paid. I don't give a rats ass what bill it is.

How's that working for you?


It works good for me. I run this by them. You sent me a bill you paid USPS to send this bill to me if I don't get it that is not my problem as I did not hire USPS to do a job you did so you need to check with USPS as to why I didn't get the bill. Yes I have had a few go arounds with ass wipes about not getting bills over the years and I have never paid a late fee.

I will not do the work for anyone that I owe money. The end.
mocycler
Premium Member
join:2001-01-22

1 edit

mocycler to Chuckles0

Premium Member

to Chuckles0
One of my early jobs was as a service rep for a utility company, and I heard this lame excuse a hundred times a day.

I could understand missing one bill, maybe even two under some circumstances, and it's plausible many people might let it slip their mind if they occasionally did not get a bill.

But we'd get customers who had not paid in 4, 5, even six months, claiming they never got a bill. I'm supposed to believe you used service for half a year and it never occurred to you that you might have to pay at some point?

Others may have made partial payments. You can't pay some money then claim you didn't know you owed anything! They were less credible than the ones who paid nothing.

mocycler

Mr Stone
stupid should be painful
Premium Member
join:2001-06-20
From hell

1 recommendation

Mr Stone to Chuckles0

Premium Member

to Chuckles0
This is the about the best bull $hit from a billing department I have yet and I did win.

A year a go I had cancer surgery. Had two bills with the Dr. No problem. I just made a few payment on both each month. On the check I would list the two accounts by numbers and how much was to be put on each. The last time I sent payment to them (After I got the statement) I paid off one and had 142.00 left on the other one. I get a call from them saying I did not make my payment and was told I needed to contact USPS and find out what happen to my letter and for me to call my bank and stop payment and resend it. ( Like USPS gives $hit ) I told them to F### off. I told them I did send the payment and that they needed to find out what they did with the check.

Now the good part.

The next day I checked my bank on line and the checked cleared that day. ( do the math ) but yet I did not send it or USPS lost my letter. LMAOROTF! Now they had already had the check and done sent it to their bank when they called and gave me $hit. Then the next mo I sent the 142.00 (After I got the statement) to them with the account number on the check that they needed to post the money too. About a week latter I get a letter from them with my check stapled to it saying that I did not own any thing that the account with that number had been paid in full. COOL!

I filed the letter as I knew this was going to bite me in the ass. Well they sent me a bill a few mos latter saying I now owed them this 142.00 but I was going to be a ass hole and not pay them cause the way the treated me about not making the payment when I did and they had done process the payment when they was giving me $hit. So I made copies of all letters and the check they sent back and asked them just how far they thought they like to take this. They then sent it to a collections Co and they called and I told them they need to get the facts and not to call again or I would turn this over a lawyer and sue the hell out them and the DR. Never heard from them or the DR again.

I did not screw up they did and it cost them 142 +.

Again I am not going to do the work for them or anyone else that I owe money.

When one pulls my credit reports I have never had any late payment posted. So something is working for me.
40757180 (banned)
join:2009-11-01

40757180 (banned) to Chuckles0

Member

to Chuckles0
said by Chuckles0:

How can anyone believe this is a valid reason for not paying? Do they think the service is free if statements aren’t showing up? They know they are using the service and know it costs money. Why would you wait until service is interrupted and then complain you haven’t paid anything because you haven’t seen a statement?
So you expect me to remember that I didn't get the bill? If i didn't get the bill i do not pay. My life is busy as it's, now you expect me to remember if I paid the bill or not?

Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Mike

Mod

Yes. It's contract law.

You are responsible for your end of the arrangement.
40757180 (banned)
join:2009-11-01

40757180 (banned)

Member

said by Mike:

Yes. It's contract law.

You are responsible for your end of the arrangement.
I got no problem paying if am notified of the payment responsibility. Aka getting bill in the mail.
40757180

40757180 (banned) to mocycler

Member

to mocycler
said by mocycler:

One of my early jobs was as a service rep for a utility company, and I heard this lame excuse a hundred times a day.

I could understand missing one bill, maybe even two under some circumstances, and it's plausible many people might let it slip their mind if they occasionally did not get a bill.

But we'd get customers who had not paid in 4, 5, even six months, claiming they never got a bill. I'm supposed to believe you used service for half a year and it never occurred to you that you might have to pay at some point?

Others may have made partial payments. You can't pay some money then claim you didn't know you owed anything! They were less credible than the ones who paid nothing.

mocycler
So what would you say when company didn't actually send you a bill? I had this happen with sprint. One day i just stopped getting bills, i never signed up for electronic payment etc. Eventually they confirmed that my bill was "suppressed" whatever that supposed to mean.
mocycler
Premium Member
join:2001-01-22

1 recommendation

mocycler

Premium Member

said by 40757180:

So what would you say when company didn't actually send you a bill? I had this happen with sprint. One day i just stopped getting bills, i never signed up for electronic payment etc. Eventually they confirmed that my bill was "suppressed" whatever that supposed to mean.
If they didn't pay, we shut their service off. When you don't get a bill after a month or two, then the adult thing to do is call and see what's going on.

You don't just blow it off then play dumb when it finally catches up with you. Or pretend that you "didn't know" you were supposed to pay every month. Or claim the bill was lost in the mail every month for six months straight. Or...this is my favorite...pay $50 on a $500 bill then act like you had no idea it wasn't enough.

I'm not talking about the guy who paid on time without fail for decades, then for whatever the reason honestly let a payment slip his mind. I'm really referring to the chronic deadbeats who seemed to always have a reason why it's not their fault.

I worked customer service in a heavily regulated industry and it was very hard to shut someone off. Once we did though, forget it, you were done. We weren't going to swallow any crybaby stories. Only payment in full +deposit would get you back on.

That job was a real life lesson. There are those with legitimate problems and deserve a break, but for every one of them there are 100 professional deadbeats that you have no pity for and can't wait to pull the plug on.

mocycler
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

1 edit

scross to Chuckles0

Member

to Chuckles0
Not getting bills that you would otherwise expect to get can be an early sign of identity theft, where someone has put in a change of address so that it takes that much longer for you to figure out you have a problem. This is especially true for credit cards, so missing bills are not something to be taken lightly.

That said, in the past I've dealt with places that wouldn't send out a bill or a statement unless you actually owed them money. If the balance was zero or negative (you were due a refund), they didn't mail anything in order to save money (also a convenient way of potentially holding on to your refund indefinitely, I might add - my wife has this problem with a doctor's office right now). If you have something that you only use on an irregular basis (say a secondary credit card) then it might be easy to overlook the fact that you should have gotten a bill but didn't.

I had this happen once with Sears, where I let my wife charge a whole $10 on my Sears card, even though I rarely used it (something about using the card and getting a major discount or free shipping or something, but she didn't have her own card). It so happened that we moved about that same time, and even though we sent out change of address cards Sears claimed they never got one. We never got any forwarded bills from them, either, but after 90 days or so I got a nasty-gram saying "Pay up or else!" (funny how that managed to make it to the new address, no problem). Anyway, after asking my wife about it she said she thought I'd gotten the bill and paid it, while I thought she'd done it, when in fact we never got a bill at all. As I recall, after explaining the situation to Sears they forgave the late fees, but a year or two later when we applied for a mortgage this $10 was one of the few things that showed up on my credit report that I had to explain. As soon as we were approved I immediately called Sears and cancelled the card - probably not something I'd necessarily do today, because at the time it was the oldest account on my credit history and they tell you you need to protect and preserve that.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to thedragonmas

Member

to thedragonmas
the BBB is worthless. you were better off filing with the State Atty. General. at least the State has som pull where the BBB can just be told to stick the complaint up their ass and the company goes on about its day to day business.

thedragonmas
Premium Member
join:2007-12-28
Albany, GA
Netgear R6300 v2
ARRIS SB6180

1 recommendation

thedragonmas

Premium Member

said by hottboiinnc4:

the BBB is worthless. you were better off filing with the State Atty. General. at least the State has som pull where the BBB can just be told to stick the complaint up their ass and the company goes on about its day to day business.
true enough, i learned that later on with another company. over a contract dispute (am i the only one that holds on to those "disclosures" that banks and credit cards companys send?) after i sent them a lovely letter with copys of all of them with the pertanant information highlighted and the state atty general as a CC on the bottom. suddenly the issue "resolved its self".

im not one of the deadbeats, but "stuff" happens. it helps if the rep actually LOOKS at the account history before making an assumption.

the worst for this IMO are utilitys, namely power/water when we moved a few years ago power was in my mothers name, we gave them the new address to mail the bill to. they said to allow 2 - 3 months for the final bill to show up at the new addy. it never showed up, but you know what did show up? a collection letter from the local credit bureau called about it, sent letter, every thing i could, but nothing worked. so there getting $1 a month untill its paid off. which should be some time in 2030. interestingly enough, it hasnt had a negative effect on her credit history. and no, i dont plan to keep paying them $1 on it. soon as i get other stuff in my life taken care of first theyl get paid off. learned a lesson on this one. next time i move and they say "2 - 3 months" im calling every freaking day to the billing dept to find out the balance

Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

1 edit

Selenia to Chuckles0

Premium Member

to Chuckles0
That is why I switched to electronic bill paying over the internet for most things. I was getting too many statements not delivered in some places. The same companies always seemed to be the offenders. Pay it online a couple times to get the rhythm going, then setup autopay for convenient days-done, solved! I did this years ago and only wish I done it sooner. It can be hard to keep track of multiple bills when some of them end up missing in action for one reason or another. I think this is indeed a problem(probably companies wanting late fees, as it always seemed to be the same offenders with me, as I said), but simple use of technology provides an elegant solution, if I do say so.

Edit: Oh yes. It seems I have yet to encounter billing errors when ordering services online in the same manner. Seems some companies couldn't get my billing right when ordering via customer care rep. So, the same solution tackles another problem, as computers don't typically have the same tendency towards mistakes that humans do.

dcurrey
Premium Member
join:2004-06-29
Mason, OH

dcurrey

Premium Member

Had a huge problem with Countrywide Mortgage. They would send statements about a day before due date. Changed to coupon book payments did this for a few months then went back to sending late statements. Always had to send check with account number and note with account number hoping they wouldn't screw it up. It was like they wanted me to be late so they could take on late fees.

When Bank of America took over they solved the late statement problem by not sending me anything. I have yet to see a bill from BoA. Just refinanced to get them out of my life. Well that and a 2% reduction of interest. Hopefully they don't screw that up and say I am not paying and foreclose my home.
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

scross to Chuckles0

Member

to Chuckles0
I switched to electronic bill payment over 20 years ago, and while in general it's been a terrific convenience, it's not been without it's problems. At first no one knew what to do with it ("What do you mean by "I want to pay my bill electronically"?"), then everybody jumped on the wagon, but some insisted that you to use their own special service for it, sometimes at an additional fee! Then CheckFree (who I was already using) pretty much took over, and life was good for a while, with only an occasional bill being mishandled. Then CheckFree got greedy/stupid, to the point where they ticked off a lot of their customers (including me), so I switched to the free bill payment service which was by then being offered by my bank.

So life is good again, for the most part. My single biggest problem now is the "magically changing due date", where I set a bill up for recurring payments but the payee then adjusts the due date back enough (often without adequate notification, I might add) that I end up paying a late fee anyway. I suspect that this is often done just to tweak revenues a bit.

I'm having that problem and worse with my utility company right now. They switched to a fancy new billing system a couple of years ago, and my due date kept changing (creeping back a day or two with each new bill), which made it hard to set up recurring payments without eventually incurring a late charge. Then it settled down to around the 15th of the month, which was fine. Now they've started pushing it back again, so unless I start adjusting the payment dates again then I'll eventually get a late charge.

To make matters worse, they used to send out email notifications saying "Your bill amount is XXX and due on XXX." Then they switched to "Your bill is due on XXX" with no amount; now I notice they've switched to "Your bill is due soon; go to our web site for the details." Except that they recently went in and randomly changed every body's passwords and so now I've managed to lock myself out. No problem (there's a contact number listed), except when I call that number I get dumped into phone-mail hell, with no option for addressing web site issues, nor even an obvious option for speaking to a "real live human being". Arrrgh!!!

This is either massive incompetence, or a clever means of padding their income with late fees. Normally I would get think the former, but knowing how some of these software companies work ("Buy our expensive new billing software and we'll show you surefire ways of increasing revenue!") it may very well be the latter.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to thedragonmas

Member

to thedragonmas
as soon as service is shut off or changed into another name final readings should be done with a final bill sent out. Seems like someone didn't do their job to start off with at the power company.

H2OuUp2
Happy to be here
Premium Member
join:2002-03-15
Oklahoma City, OK

H2OuUp2 to Chuckles0

Premium Member

to Chuckles0
I have all my bills due on the 15th, but pay them on the 1st. This way I don't ever have a late payment.

This may not be a feasible solution for many; but works for me.

As for one company GMAC I would pay ahead, and then they would send me a bill with NO PAYMENT. I would pay extra knowing I had extra money this month and it would be tight next month. They would apply it towards principle, then try to charge me a late fee and interest.

I finally got the damn loan paid off and NEVER again will I use GMAC ever!

I know what my bills are, and have an Excel spreadsheet of everyone of them. If it doesn't get checked off, I'm calling to make a payment and find out why I didn't get a bill.

You would be surprised how many times I have actually been given a credit for doing this. Companies are not fallible, they make mistakes monthly. You also have to check your statements very closely or you could be screwed out of some money.

Once after taking some of my employees to Zio's I noticed I had an extra $80 tip on the bill (yes I tipped him good). Usually my expense accounts are well over 5K so this was just a blimp on the radar.

I contacted Zio's and the employee had done this to several customers. He was fired my entire bill was credited and we didn't pay a dime.

Bottom line check your bills, especially your cell phone bills, they seem to screw up the most; and its usually in their favor.

HardwareGeek
join:2003-11-15
Brooklyn, NY

HardwareGeek to Mike

Member

to Mike
said by Mike:

Yes. It's contract law.

You are responsible for your end of the arrangement.
You are right its contract law, but all credit card companies have in their agreements that they will send you a monthly statement. They failed to do so if you didn't get it.
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

1 edit

scross to H2OuUp2

Member

to H2OuUp2
said by H2OuUp2:

As for one company GMAC I would pay ahead, and then they would send me a bill with NO PAYMENT. I would pay extra knowing I had extra money this month and it would be tight next month. They would apply it towards principle, then try to charge me a late fee and interest.
I had a credit card company try to do that to me, too. They got my payment a little early (see my reference to the "magically changing due date", above - I had moved the payment date back a bit specifically in order to avoid a late fee), before it was technically the start of the next billing cycle, then pretended that I was "late" on that next cycle. If they had gotten the payment a couple of days later then I would have been fine. They only got away with this once or twice before I caught on to their scam and cancelled them.

Chuckles0
Premium Member
join:2006-03-04
Saint Paul, MN

Chuckles0 to 40757180

Premium Member

to 40757180
said by 40757180:
said by Chuckles0:

How can anyone believe this is a valid reason for not paying? Do they think the service is free if statements aren’t showing up? They know they are using the service and know it costs money. Why would you wait until service is interrupted and then complain you haven’t paid anything because you haven’t seen a statement?
So you expect me to remember that I didn't get the bill? If i didn't get the bill i do not pay. My life is busy as it's, now you expect me to remember if I paid the bill or not?
So you just say to yourself, "Cool! I didn't get my $statement I don't have to pay this month! Yahoo! This one is free."

Yes I expect you to remember.
Chuckles0

2 recommendations

Chuckles0

Premium Member

Saying you didn't receive a bill and complaining your service is interrupted is like your girlfriend has missed her last 9 periods and you're surprised you're a father.
moes
Premium Member
join:2009-11-15
Cedar City, UT

moes to Chuckles0

Premium Member

to Chuckles0
My gas company has been trivial as of late with bills, They used to come on the 11th of every month, I would then pay it and all would be good. Seems now they moved to a different processing center and are now sending me the bill 3 days after it is due and I am having to pay late fee's. I've notified them about this and they still are not doing anything about it. so gas bill was a total of 103.55 this month + 35.00 late fee. They blamed the postal service and I even asked the post master about this and they watched the mail and sure enough there getting the bill after the 11th.

thedragonmas
Premium Member
join:2007-12-28
Albany, GA
Netgear R6300 v2
ARRIS SB6180

thedragonmas to Chuckles0

Premium Member

to Chuckles0
said by Chuckles0:

Saying you didn't receive a bill and complaining your service is interrupted is like your girlfriend has missed her last 9 periods and you're surprised you're a father.
id agree if where talking a company that lets you go a few months before cutting you off.

not here. WG&L here cuts you off the day the bill is due if they dont get payment by 5PM

i.e. if your bill is due on the 7th and your payment dont get there by 5pm they WILL come to your house that day and disconnect you. you then get charged a late fee. and a reconnection fee what i love about this is, right on my bill on the front it states "no second notice will be sent" and on the back of it it states "failure to receive bill does not exempt penalties".

skuv
@rr.com

skuv to 40757180

Anon

to 40757180
said by 40757180:

So what would you say when company didn't actually send you a bill? I had this happen with sprint. One day i just stopped getting bills, i never signed up for electronic payment etc. Eventually they confirmed that my bill was "suppressed" whatever that supposed to mean.
I probably wouldn't assume that I never had to pay for the service ever again.

"Oh man, they stopped sending me bills! They must have magically forgot about my account but still supply me with service. There is no way this can go bad for me!"
Expand your moderator at work