A weird charge on our Spectrum bill
By Lena Kovadlo
@lovebuglena (52167)
Staten Island, New York
May 23, 2023 2:05pm CST
So hubby forgot to pay his Spectrum (cable/Internet) bill in April. When we got the May bill it was for two months' worth of service. The amount we owe for April should've been the same as that for May. April showed an amount that was about $5 higher.
I went to download the April bill and saw that we had a partial month charge on it. It said "promotional discount" under it. The amount was $4.xx (forgot exact cent amount). If it is a promotional discount the amount should have had a minus next to it. Instead it was added to the bill.
I contacted Spectrum via chat about this. He had no idea what happened and why a promotional discount was added instead of being subtracted. He removed the charge for me. I thought he'd tell me that our April total we have to pay will be less by that amount, or at least the May one, but no. It will be reflected in our June bill. I guess that's because the April and May bills have already been generated.
I am glad I caught this and hope this kind of thing hasn't happened before. We do not get paper bills anymore (unless hubby forgets to pay) and I don't think he checks the bills online prior to paying.
10 people like this
7 responses
@RebeccasFarm (91299)
• United States
23 May 23
Cable companies are the biggest criminals in the USA next to utility companies.
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (91299)
• United States
23 May 23
@lovebuglena You can add her to the account Lena..so she can speak but I bet they would be bamboozling her.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
23 May 23
@RebeccasFarm Originally when I was opening the account I was trying to open it under her name but because she was not with me to get on the phone they opened it under my name but put hers second, though I think her being second is only on the portion of the bill that gets mailed if you pay by mail. The account is only on me in reality. I wanna see if I log in to my gas account online if there is a chat person there. I'd prefer that over calling.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
23 May 23
My mom's gas bill is under my name because when I called to open the account I could only open it under my name, not hers. Anyways, her readings are always estimates, as opposed to being actual readings. Her meter is in the garage, so someone has to come and get into the garage to read it. I wonder if anyone ever comes. I am sure that the estimate readings are not in her favor. I should finally call the company and find out why it is always estimate readings. I'd ask her to call but as the account is under my name they probably won't talk to her.
2 people like this
@AmbiePam (120630)
• United States
23 May 23
I remember accidentally catching my cable company charging me an extra $9.99 a month several years ago. I had turned in a box for my bedroom as I np longer wanted to pay for TV access in there. Come to find out, even though I turned it in, and canceled that aspect, they had continued to charge me for six months. As they had discontinued the paper cable bill I had not automatically noticed. I was pretty ticked off.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
23 May 23
I would be ticked off about it as well. When I switched to Spectrum services from Time Warner services in my mom's house (account is on my name) I had no idea that the cable TV part of it will be IP streaming instead of the cable box. They sent me a new modem and told me to return the old one. They never told me to return the cable box. We are not getting charged for it but I wonder why they haven't told me to give them the cable box back. I wonder if it still shows up in my online account. Or if it disappeared.
2 people like this
@AmbiePam (120630)
• United States
23 May 23
@lovebuglena That is a good question.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
23 May 23
@AmbiePam Shortly after we switched to Spectrum services, my mom turned on the cable box and it wasn't working. I contacted Spectrum via chat and that is when we found out we have IP streaming and can no longer watch TV via cable box. I had no idea what I was getting wasn't going to be cable box TV. At that time I asked if I have to return the box as no one told me to. The guy said I should but I never got anything from Spectrum actually telling me to do that, so haven't returned it.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
23 May 23
That's a smart thing to do. We are paperless and hubby pays the cable bill so not sure if he checks or not before paying.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128831)
• Gainesville, Florida
25 May 23
I have autopay set up for all of my bills, but I have notifications set up so that I get a message if any one of my bills is more or less than it should be each month. That's what alerts me to take a closer look; otherwise, I don't every pay attention to my bills.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
25 May 23
I hope you’re never overcharged for anything. I had no idea you can get notified if changes in your bill.
@JudyEv (381909)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 May 23
It pays to check all accounts/bills nowadays. It's so easy for extra amounts to appear and we never notice them.
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
24 May 23
We always get paper bills. Why should I spend our money running off the bill on the printer? Spectrum sucks. We are now paying $272 now that the promotional period is over with. Before we were paying 245. It's highway robbery.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
24 May 23
We don’t print out Spectrum bills. If needed we can view them in our online account. It’s not like we need to show bill to anyone.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (52167)
• Staten Island, New York
24 May 23
$272 is too much for sure.
1 person likes this
