Consumerist
broken promises
Posts Tagged “
Billing
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broken promises
errors
Reader Richard says he came home this summer to angry parents "because of our sprint bill with the family share plan was insanely high." Of course, it turned out to be the same typo we'd written about before, but we really enjoyed the polite but firm manner in which Sprint asked Richard's parents for $39,952... "today."
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Sprint: Can You Please Give Us $39,952 Today?
Reader Richard says he came home this summer to angry parents "because of our sprint bill with the family share plan was insanely high." Of course, it turned out to be the same typo we'd written about before, but we really enjoyed the polite but firm manner in which Sprint asked Richard's parents for $39,952... "today."
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scams
More Info On The $9.87 Credit Card Scam
MGD at dslreports read our post last night about Prophotosland.com and its fraudulent charge to reader Megan's credit card. He's been following the scammers—"an organized crime syndicate operated from Eastern Europe"—for nearly three years now, and has a ton of highly valuable information on them, including their recent targeting of military personnel stationed overseas. Bottom line: cancel your credit card, Megan, because they've got access to it now—and report the charge as fraudulent rather than dispute it. More »
scams
Watch Out For $9.87 Credit Card Scam From Prophotosland.com
A reader named Megan noticed an unfamiliar charge for $9.87 from prophotosland.com on her WaMu credit card statement, so she began to investigate it. Not only had she never heard of it, but there was no website that domain, and a Google search turns up hit after hit of scam and fraud reports at various websites. It seems to be but one of numerous fronts charging fraudulent $9.87 fees to credit cards. Read Megan's story below and be sure to check out this page for a list of other bogus companies to watch out for.More »
stupid
Soldier Requires Local Media To Get His Money Back From Sprint
While Jeff Cannizzaro was off fighting in Iraq, he was also fighting Sprint. Jeff suspended his phone while overseas, but left some money in the account. While he was away, Sprint kept deducting small amounts from his balance. His wife kept calling and writing emails, trying everything they could think of to get Sprint to stop deducting the money. Nothing worked. More »
hypocritical
Comcast Is Renting Your Land And They're Not Paying Their Bill
When you don't pay your bill Comcast cuts your cable off, but what happens when Comcast doesn't pay its bill to you? More »
billing
Qwest: The Phone Line We Installed In Your Father's Nursing Home Never Worked, But Pay Us Anyway
My father grew up in Ottawa, a small Midwest town in Illinois. For the majority of his life, he had 2 full-time jobs. He was the receiving clerk for a hardware store and he was also a house painter. He went to work between 3 to 5 AM and rarely got home until after dark, 6 days a week. He was very active and self-sufficient so when in 1992 he was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive case of multiple sclerosis, he was devastated as was my entire family. His MS never went into regression and within 5 years he was wheelchair bound, in a nursing home, and very reliant on others.More »
scams
Watch Out For Cramming On Your Phone Bill
Josh discovered a mysterious $13 fee on his parents' phone bill, and as he tracked down the source of the bogus charge, he learned a lot about cramming. The FCC describes it as "the practice of placing unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on your telephone bill" by third party companies, who bank on you being too confused/distracted/annoyed by your hard-to-read bill to notice. More »
sad
Online Convenience Fee Is 63% Of Utility Bill
Reader Michael says:I moved into a new apartment last month, and just received my first electric bill. It is run through a company called AUM Inc. (aum-inc.com), on behalf of my apartment complex. I went to pay the bill online (as I prefer to pay my bills) and I noticed something on the page. In fact, it's on the page no less than 5 different times.More »
billing
EU Pushes For Per-Second Wireless Billing
Viviane Reding, the European Union's Telecommunications Commissioner, is our new wireless hero. She's demanding that wireless carriers in Europe begin billing on a per-second basis rather than per-minute, because "at the retail level, the difference between billed and actual minutes appears to be typically around 20 percent." More »
cellphones
9 Confessions Of A Retentions Representative
Retentions representatives are the cellphone company's last line of defense between you and freedom. One brave retentions representative has come forward to teach us how to craft a direct, earnest request that will lead retention reps to do your bidding. Rivaled in effectiveness only by executive customer support, retentions reps are empowered to strike down nuisance fees and bargain liberally, all to keep you as a customer. If you were ever tempted to threaten your cellphone company with cancellation, this one is a must read. More »
leaks
AT&T To Start Charging You For Paying Them Money
An AT&T insider tells us that starting March 11th AT&T has begun charging customers in the Southeast an extra $5 if they call in to make their payment over the phone by speaking to a customer service rep. He says this is set to be rolled out nationally starting in May. Please only speak to our robots, otherwise you will be punished, thanks.
(Photo: afagen)
errors
Bennigan's Decides To Tip Itself $5
A little tale to remind you to keep an eye on your credit card statements from reader Rebecca. What you're charged may not always be what you signed.I was recently at the Bennigan's on Route 22 in New Jersey for dinner with some friends. I had never been to this particular Bennigan's but my friends had warned me that the service was extremely bad their last visit. I enjoy Bennigan's the most out of the fast food chains and it was the closest one so we decided to give it a shot anyways.More »
success stories
EECB Scores Direct Hit On T-Mobile
Reader Rob got some bad information from a T-Mobile sales rep and it resulted in a huge text messaging bill. He launched an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) and got a very pleasant response: More »
settlements
AT&T Mobility Agrees To Refund Money To Florida Customers & Pay $2.5 Million To State's CyberFraud Task Force
Florida's Attorney General scored a victory for consumers last week, when AT&T Mobility agreed to refund fees that third-party vendors snuck onto thousands of accounts under the guise of "free" ringtones, wallpapers, and text content. They also agreed to hand over $2.5 million to help fund the state's recently-created CyberFraud Task Force, to spend $500,000 for "consumer education on safe Internet use," and to start policing third-party vendors better and make sure all billed items are clearly described. More »
hotels
Reader ds143 wrote in with a reminder to ask hotels about added fees before reserving a room. He booked a six-night stay at the Comfort Suites in the Bahamas for his family of four without realizing that the hotel levied a $6 per person, per night "energy surcharge." The financial sucker punch set ds143 back $144.
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Comfort Suite's Shady "Energy Surcharge" Costs You $144
Reader ds143 wrote in with a reminder to ask hotels about added fees before reserving a room. He booked a six-night stay at the Comfort Suites in the Bahamas for his family of four without realizing that the hotel levied a $6 per person, per night "energy surcharge." The financial sucker punch set ds143 back $144.
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follow-ups
Comcast Apologizes For $2 Charge, Says It Will Make Sure CSRs Don't Do That Anymore
After we posted yesterday about Ian's surprise $1.99 fee for asking Comcast to stop mailing him junk mail, a Comcast rep contacted Ian and apologized for the confusion, explaining that the fee is real but "it is not for changing marketing preferences." Read his full email after the jump.More »
hidden fees
We don't mean to influence the "Worst Company In America" voting, but check this out: if you call Comcast and ask them to stop sending you anything other than your bill, they'll agree but quietly slap you with a $1.99 "change of service" fee. Like most made-up, totally indefensible fees from cable and cell phone companies, Ian found that a chat with a customer service agent can get the fee removed. Update: Comcast has responded to this and apologized for the fee.
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Comcast Will Charge You $2 To Stop Sending You Junk Mail
We don't mean to influence the "Worst Company In America" voting, but check this out: if you call Comcast and ask them to stop sending you anything other than your bill, they'll agree but quietly slap you with a $1.99 "change of service" fee. Like most made-up, totally indefensible fees from cable and cell phone companies, Ian found that a chat with a customer service agent can get the fee removed. Update: Comcast has responded to this and apologized for the fee.
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