Sprint has been charging a TortDeform blogger’s family $6 a month in local Texas taxes for the past three and half years, but the problem is the family hasn’t lived in the Lone Star State for three and half years. In addition, Sprint has also been charging local Nevada taxes where they now live. When the family asked for a refund, Sprint said they would refund only the last three months, because of “policy.” The blogger’s dad is an attorney, and plans on taking the issue to court. Oops, looks like Sprint picked the wrong partner to tango with.
billing
Dreamhost Busy Cleaning Up The Great Billing Apocalypse Of 2008
By 1.18.08
Dreamhost is busy cleaning up the mess after accidentally overcharging their customers by $7.5 million dollars due to a typo. The process is not going smoothly and we’ve been receiving a mix of complaints and praise.
Time Warner Cable Testing Bandwidth Caps In Texas
By 1.17.08
Ars Technica reported yesterday about a memo from Time Warner Cable (that first showed up on a DSL Reports forum and has since been verified by Retuers) that indicated TWC might soon launch a trial program of bandwidth caps and tiered pricing, aka “Consumption Based Billing.”
Dreamhost Is "Very Very Sorry" For $7.5 Million Billing Error
By 1.15.08
Dreamhost would like you to know that its very very sorry for accidentally billing its customers $7.5 million it wasn’t actually owed. You see, someone typed 2008 when they really meant 2007 and their billing system decided to charge all of their customers in advance for the entire 2008 calendar year. This included debiting huge amounts of money from people’s checking accounts and all the “worst possible scenario” situations you could possibly imagine.
American Airlines Refuses To Accept American Airlines Credit Card
By 1.13.08
American Airlines told Justin that they could not accept his American Airlines credit card due to a bug in their spiffy new booking system. Justin wanted to charge a trip to Disney World on the card, which unlike standard credit cards, is supposed to work exclusively for purchasing tickets with American Airlines.
Sign Up For Yahoo Voice And Receive A $74.95 Charge From Yahoo Personals
By 1.7.08
Yahoo Personals surprised technology guru Russell Shaw with a charge for $74.95 when he signed up for Yahoo Voice. Russell had let his subscription to Yahoo Personals lapse last February and ignored Yahoo’s repeated entreaties to renew his membership. He assumed his account was cancelled, told his credit card company not to authorize any new charges, and did not inform Yahoo when he lost his credit card last May.
Want To Shop At Amazon.com Without A Credit Card?
By 12.12.07
BusinessWeek says Amazon is buying a stake in “Bill Me Later” a firm that offers open lines of credit to customers so they can shop without using a credit card.
Comcast Apologizes For Calling You A Liar
By 11.21.07
George, who was called a liar by an ill-tempered Comcast CSR (who didn’t believe that George had been quoted a lower price than the one that was noted on his account) has written in to let us know that Comcast apologized:
Dish Network: Pay-Per-View Billing Errors Are Impossible
By 11.21.07
Five Cent Nickel has had enough of Dish Network, and the final straw was when they told him that they wouldn’t correct a billing error because pay-per-view billing errors (in which one is charged for a movie that they did not order) are impossible.
Sprint Will Not Stop Billing Me For A Bogus Early Termination Fee
By 11.19.07
In August, my husband and I wanted to change phone carriers from Sprint to Helio. We first looked at the Sprint website to see if our contracts were up. It appeared that my contract was up in January 07 and my husbands was expired by July 07. We called Sprint to make sure. The person we talked to said there was some 1-year renewal that was given to us with a $50 rebate in 2006. We didn’t remember doing this. The man we spoke to said he would get rid of the rebate and add it on to our last bill and not charge us the $150. Great! We thought.
Capital One Bills You Twice In One Month
By 11.8.07
I had an interesting experience with Capital One this morning. After paying our bill in full promptly for 10 years we were notified today that we owe the company a couple of hundred dollars due tomorrow November 09, 2007.
T-Mobile Demands $1,100 From Defrauded Customer
By 10.27.07
T-Mobile is demanding that reader Motoko, a victim of fraud, immediately pay $1,100 before she can port her number to rival Sprint. Last month, Motoko discovered erroneous charges on her bill totaling $1,766; T-Mobile readily admitted that the charges were fraudulent, and told the BBB and Consumerist that Motoko would receive an immediate refund. Instead of a refund, T-Mobile sent Motoko’s another bill and suspended her service. Now, almost a full month after T-Mobile’s PR henchmen at Waggener Edstrom claimed that the company had provided a “satisfactory resolution,” Motoko checked in with another update:
T-Mobile has only given me a partial amount of the credit they promised me in the BBB response. I’ve only gotten $454 back out of the $1,766. Their new response on the BBB website states that my October bill will reflect the full reimbursement of my credit. Unfortunately, the October bill is still $1,100+ and it shows that the second fraudulent line is still active.
The Case Of The Phantom I-Pass Transponder
By 10.24.07
Reader and commenter ChicagoOutfit is having trouble with Illinois’ much-loved tollway system. His I-Pass account has someone else’s transponder attached to it and he’s paying for some random jerk’s tolls. He calls the ISTHA and has it removed, but Illinois doesn’t refund his money and the transponder keeps coming back.
Why I Canceled Comcast
By 10.22.07
Reader “Mr. Pants” writes us with the story of why he canceled Comcast. It’s all the reasons that everyone cancels Comcast wrapped up into one spiffy complaint letter.
Crunch: $4 Trial Membership Secretly Means $138 Real Membership
By 10.16.07
That’s what I got after signing up for a contest at a Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce event (specifically Pizza fest) in July 2007. I took Crunch up on the pass because I wanted to check out what my local Crunch had to offer. Included in the week pass was a personal training session. I went to Crunch 3 times that week and had an enjoyable time; it’s a decent gym and seemed ok.
T-Mobile's Satisfactory Resolution: Cut The Phone Line, Refuse To Refund $1,766 In Erroneous Charges
By 10.7.07
Remember Motoko? T-Mobile sent her a $1,169.84 bill littered with charges from an unidentified number. When Motoko called to complain, T-Mobile admitted that the charges were likely fraudulent, but encouraged Motoko to pay the bill anyway. After posting Motoko’s story, T-Mobile’s PR watchdogs at Waggener Edstrom got in touch and claimed that the situation was satisfactorily resolved. We updated the post accordingly. Well, Motoko sent us a followup email, and here is her version of T-Mobile’s satisfactory resolution:
T-Mobile ended up cutting my line for nonpayment. They simply refused to investigate the matter or to call me back.
Your Bill Looks Fraudulent. Pay It Anyway
By 9.15.07
Update: T-Mobile reports that the situation has been satisfactorily resolved. Motoko disagrees.
