have you ever read your bills to find out what you are being charged?

I definitely read all of my bills and any kinds of correspondence that might be enclosed. In doing this, I found out that my heating oil company had decided, without my consent, to increase my monthly equalized payment that is deducted directly from my bank account (I pay the same amount each month for 10 months of the year to offset my yearly consumption). At the end of the previous year, I had a balance owed to ME of over $500 (for which they sent me a check). I called the company and asked how on earth they could justify taking MORE money each month when I had clearly overpaid the year before... all I wanted to do was to maintain the same payment. They told me that my letter was an "automatic form letter" (so they do this to ALL their customers apparently!!) and, when they looked at my history in the computer, they apologized and left my payment alone. It's unfortunate for people who don't bother reading or even opening their bills (in these days of automatic bank withdrawals for bill paying)... there are plenty of services out there that can really rip you off! It's worth the fight against them too!

I learned the value of this years ago. Like you I was checking my bill and was being charged for survices that I was not getting and had not signed up for. I was mad and called them. They waned me off the phone so badly taht they took all the past charges off too. lol I now keep a better eye on my bills. I had a friend who was charged for Pay per view movies that she was not watching. Upon research , she found out that her neighbor was watching them at his home and she was being billed for them. CRAZY world.

I was once. I had a company call me to switch long distance phone services and the things they stated were much better price wise then the service I had. Well I switched and then got the first bill. I hit the roof. I called them up and I didn't bother talking with the general worker. I went right to a supervisor. Now the nice thing was I had every thing written down from before. I told him exactly what the worker had said, her name and all the details. They tried to say that I must have misheard and other stuff but they finally backed down. They not only got me switched back but also paid the local phone companies charges for switching long distance service plans.

OHHHH, you hit a nerve! Ha! Yes, I have started reading them with a very discerning eye. My cellphone bill is the world's worst for having things added. One month, they added roadside assistance to all three of the family cell phones without my asking for it. The charge was 4.99 PER PHONE!!! Imagine if I had just paid the bill and not read through it...imagine if they did that to 1000 customers...no wonder these companies are so wealthy! Another month they had listed all these text messages on my daughter's phone....which is really odd, because we have text messaging blocked on the teen's phones!!! On both occassions they removed the charges. I read every charge card bill and other bills just as carefully. I work too hard for my money to have it eased out of my pocket in such a sly way! *puts on trench coat*

this has happened to me before. i just keep on paying my phone bills although they were coming in month after month in such huge sums thinking that those long distance calls reflected in the bills were really true. there came a time though when i was convinced that there was a call therein which never took place. i cut the services of that telephone company from my house. i had no better choice. because even if i have already lodged a complaint at their office, they still continued with the practice.

No. If my bill is over $80.00, my cell that is, I would probably look at my bill. But, since it is usually around $69-$71, I do not bother.

Bills are when my "eagles eyes" and my Scottish heritage come into full play. I question everything that does not seem correct I dont care if it is only $1.00.

Good for you. This is a common thing that companies do. And they do it for this reason: So few customers actually look at or compare their bills from month to month. They will add whatever charges they think they can get away with. The same thing goes for all these monthly sign-up extras. They get you to try out a new product and take an automatic fee out every month. And after years and years, most people have forgotten what they bought or have never used the services they are paying for. Phone companies are the biggest rip-off artists next to Internet scammers. If you can understand your phone bill, especially your cell bill, you must have a doctorate degree in technological deciphering.

Yes indeed Eaforeman, the telephone company is the worst offender. I go over my bills with a fine tooth comb. You have to or you would be getting ripped every month, you should have taken that one step further and had them credit you for the over charges for months.

I'm always doing battle with my telephone or cellular service. I am repeated being charged for various email services even though no one is authorized to make changes on my phone bills. I actually even shut off my cable because I got so tired of the increases every month. It made sense anyways because nobody here really watches enough tv to justify paying so much in cable.

I went through this 15 years ago when I first seperated from my husband and found out although I had been giving him my pay checks to pay bills all of the bills were 3 months behind - I had to cut every corner possible and got real familure with all the 'extras'. Force of habit now - I have a long list of questions I ask first and continually check my bills to make sure they are correct - questioning any thing out of the norm.

yes, it happened to me also on my phone bill. There are long distance charges on my phone bills. I really dont know how did it happened, i checked it with the phone company but they cant do anything about it. My advice, is to always check your bills to avoid those unnecessary charges.

I have never bother to read my bills until recently when my electricity bills and telephone bills were way to high. It is a good habit to check your bills every now and then especially telephone bills. Sometimes they charged you for phone calls that you never made. It is a tedious job but it will save you some money.

Ya actually last week me and the girlfriend where going through the phone bill and seen charges we had no idea where they came from. Long story short it turned out that our phone company was switching over tio some new billing cycle and ended up over charging us by about $50.

Many years ago we read our phone bill to find we were being charged for internet access. We pulled out 3 past bills to find that they charged us for the past 3 as well. We didn't have service with them. We had to dispute it with the company, it took a while, but we won.

I read ALL my bills. I also reconcile my credit card bills to make sure that I was charged correctly. So many people know that we don't check our statements and they can add extra money to your check and keep it. That happens quite a bit actually, and they're never caught because people don't check it. I also make sure my phone, cable, electric, and all that has only my charges on it. I've had something on my cell phone bill that belonged to a different number once.

one would be fool enough not to check on his bills before paying it as it is always important to keep a check on your expenditure. Well my experience is also been a similar one as i cut down on my internet expenses by ignoring useless downloads.