Charges
By me
@dfollin (27267)
United States
July 10, 2008 10:15pm CST
As a lot of you know I am on social security that I get the third of each month and I do not have a car.
have a car.When I moved to a new county I had to get my utilities from different companies.When I called them to get service
I was informed that I could have my due date a few days after the third.Then I start getting my bills with the due date
of around the twentieth of the month and when I called the company to get an extention I was told that I can not change the due date because
they are done by zip code.I call to pay my bill late on the third and am told that there is an aditional $10 charge for paying over the phone.
The only other way for me to pay is to come into their office and pay,which I cannot do because I have no car and the bus does not go there.
I changed my cell phone service during the late afternoon time on the second and was told that my billing date would be on the second and
I could change it by calling the billing office after I got my new phone.I was also offered to use the the fastpay,where my payment would be removed from
my account automatically each month.If I did not sign up for that then I will have to pay an additional $4.99 per month.
Today,I called and found out that my due date was scheduled for the third because of me
signing up so late in the day,but because I am using the fastpay they will go into my account to get the money three days prior to my due date.
Now is this fair? What do you think? Has this happened to you?
2 responses
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
11 Jul 08
That really stinks that the companies will not work with you. It seems it would make more sense to work with you than against you, and I would call and speak with a supervisor. Our utility company charges a rate of 2 1/2% of the total bill for a late fee. The charge that really hurt us was the one truck payment, we paid over the phone because it was the due date and since we called after a certain time it was $50 late fee and there was a western union fee (I have no idea why were charged that we paid with a debit card) of 14.95.
I hope that you can talk to someone and get it all fixed up for you. Good luck!
@dfollin (27267)
• United States
11 Jul 08
We start paying a late amount after the hour.For example,my electric bill is about $120 each month and if I don't pay it on the 17th by 2:00 then my bill goes up $125 (about).Then a few days later I get a cut off notice.I call them and tell them that I will have no money till the 3rd.They tell me everytime that they do not make payment arrangements and they can note it on my account and it is up to the employee who does the cut offs as to whether or not I get cut off.I spoke to a supervisor and was told the same thing that he has no way to over ride it.Your western union part of your bill is how they pay for your over the phone transaction.I found out what they do is when they say press 2(or whatever) to pay your bill it does not go to another line in the company,it goes to another company that is a payment processing company that charges,or they don't make any money and then wire it to the utility company.It is a scam,that is legal to get money from the little guy.
Thanks for the best response!
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
11 Jul 08
Man that really stinks. I think a lot of these companies are just trying to get an extra buck. They need to understand that people get money at different times and need their bills to be due at different times. I remember once when I had a credit card they said I could move my payment date if I needed to.
1 person likes this
@dfollin (27267)
• United States
11 Jul 08
Companies tell me that they have set the date for then.Then I get my bill and find out that it is for a different date.I call them then and am told that it cannot be for that date and cannot be changed because I live in the area of the date on my bill.
