Cell Phone Bills...

[focus]

We just signed a 2yr, 2 phone contract with Cellular One in February. I was a little worried about Cell One as I'd had issues with them in the past which made me switch providers in the first place...but they had a better rate plan, so....

Anyhow, we had one month free of data services with some free ring tone downloads, after which we had to pay $50/month. I downloaded my free tones. The girl who set up our account told me to give her a call or stop by before the end of the month and just let them know if I wanted to cancel the data package and not get charged for it.

About two weeks later, they sent us two bills. Apparently, when they opened our account -- a process that took no less than 2 hours -- they actually opened two accounts. They put our payment on one account, and then our charges on the other account. Brilliant. So I went into the office, with my two bills, and asked them to fix it. While I was there I asked them to cancel the data service, as I wouldn't be needing that. They assured me that they would take that off my account, that i wouldn't be charged, etc.

I get a bill a few weeks later, and we were charged for the data services for the next month. Sigh. I called them, told them what happened. At first they told me that I hadn't actually canceled the service. Wha...? I argued. I was nice about it. I insisted that I wouldn't pay for the data package, that I had done exactly what was required. They relented, and told me that they would make a one-time exception for me.

What the fuck? A one-time exception because YOU screwed up? uh...thanks...

They said don't worry about paying the $50, and they'd waive the $10 late fee because they would have to do it with a credit on my next bill. Whatever, as long as I don't have to deal with it.

This past month, we got a bill. Payment is due by the 17th. Late fees will be assessed after the 17th, it said. OK. We went online, to THEIR website, and made a payment on the 12th.

Fast forward to this month's bill. $50 reconnect fee. WTF? I call them up, tell them I'm confused because we make a payment every month, on time. The lady on the phone takes 5 minutes to research, comes back, and tells me the bill had been in collections. They received payment on the 16th, and it was one hour late.

She said something about a lock box. A lock box. What?? We didn't mail our payment. "Well then how did you pay??" Nasty tone. Online. YOUR website. on the 12th.

Furthermore, the bill says payment is due on the 17th. EVEN if you didn't receive my electronic, on-line payment until the 16th, we're still good. "Let me check something..."

She comes back 5 minutes later. I guess she checked with her financial department. They would waive the $50 reconnect fee this one time, even though it was an hour late. They could only do it this once, though. Don't be late again.

I would have jumped through the phone and wrung her neck, if I could. I asked her if she thought this was reasonable. That it really took 5 days to collect my online payment? Should I make sure I pay two weeks early next time? Is that enough time? Can I be assured of that? The 16th wasn't even late!! Do you get what I'm saying here? Do you understand? You aren't making an exception for me, you stupid bitch. You just fucked up, and now you're making it right. Do you understand that? (Note: I was much nicer about it.)

"Well, sir, we took the $50 off your bill."

Fine. Thanks. Have a nice day....

[smmokan]

Cell phone companies suck. I posted this in another thread, but my girlfriend is still owed $300 by Verizon because they never stopped charging her CLOSED account and took the money directly out of her bank account. Now its impossible to get that information and money back because the account is closed. Go figure. Those "customer service" agents are fucking pathetic too.

That being said, i've had pretty good luck with Sprint customer service, but I usually only call them when I need them to add something.

[advres]

Make it so it is automatically deducted from your bank account so you don't have to worry about this again. BUT, keep checking your statements to make sure nothing is deducted incorrectly.

[hutash]

I just went through the same cluster with Cingular. Spent a few hours returning a phone, making phone calls only to be told to call someone else, round and round it went. I finally ended up with a service rep. who was great (the first one ever when dealing with any phone company.) She solved all my problems, got my new phone ordered, waved several fees, and corrected all the previous screw ups. If you I could reach through the phone, not only would I not ring her neck, I would have stroked her to a nice orgasm. One go experience with a phone company out of several dozen. It is amazing they are all still in business. And some say PM Gear has bad customer service.

[hutash]

Make it so it is automatically deducted from your bank account so you don't have to worry about this again. BUT, keep checking your statements to make sure nothing is deducted incorrectly.

I would never give them access to a bank account, talk about a recipe for disaster. If you want automatic payments do it through a credit card. If the is a problem the CC company will freeze payments until resolved. The bank won't do squat.

Never ever give a company like this access to any account.

[focus]

Make it so it is automatically deducted from your bank account so you don't have to worry about this again. BUT, keep checking your statements to make sure nothing is deducted incorrectly.

Take a look at Smokkan's post for an example of why I would NEVER give these fuckheads authorization to automatically deduct anything from my bank account.

[Shaggy]

Make it so it is automatically deducted from your bank account so you don't have to worry about this again. BUT, keep checking your statements to make sure nothing is deducted incorrectly.

Never go pre-auth on communications bills. Once they have your money, they're very unmotivated to fix things that go wrong.

Seven years ago Rogers had a "glitch" and charged my account four times for the same bill. caused $105 in NSF fees and took hours on the phone to them, the bank, and the other companys who suddenly couldn't get thier money. They never did compensate me for my losses and time from the mistake.

[advres]

wow... looks like I'm the only one who has never had problems with my cell company. Must be lucky for the last 9 years.