YOU ARE GOING TO HOLD MY MONEY HOW LONG?

Talk about a double standard.

Published on June 6, 2006 By Moderateman In Current Events

One thing we all have in common we have to pay some type of utility bill.

Gas, electric, phone, water, cable, satellite, Internet service provider.

What do they all have in common? besides greed!

There is ALWAYS A PENALITY for paying late, be it five dollars or more, in bog bold letter there it is 5.00 if payed after.. some random date. The dmv has different late payment schedules, 25.00 after this date, 55.00 after tat date, 90.00 after the next one. When will it end?

Now I know we can always get around late fees simply by paying our bills on time. Something I heartily recommend.

So this is my gripe, We get ready to move, we pay out final bill, in full I might add, Then I ask "when can I expect my refund"?

Suddenly it's like no one understands you. Then finally you get an answer. 90 days! What I holla! I have paid all my bill on time, never missed a single payment. Why 90 days? They answer with , well we keep your money just in case any late charges arrive. That's it! the final insult. You say if I have payed all my bills and the service is shut off, how can there be any late charges>/ Now they hit you with it's "company policy" So I ask if I am going to get interest on the money the are holding for 90- day? After the laughter stops I hear "of course not" I say well when I am late you charge me late fees {remember them}? Do I get to charge you late fees? More laughter, some snorting in the background.. Nope. So I say you get to use my money for 90 days and I get nothing? That's right sir, some giggling now.

What's Up with this practice? is this just a California rip off or is this universal?

Comments (Page 2)

Moderateman

on Jun 07, 2006

13 by Adventure-Dude
Wed, June 07, 2006 4:35 PM

They aren't legally supposed to. But who's checking in on them?

do you know for a fact what they are doing is illegal?

Moderateman

on Jun 07, 2006

#14 by BakerStreet
Wed, June 07, 2006 5:45 PM

There may be more precedent now after all the AOL scams of "forgetting" to cancel accounts when they are ordered to be. Last time I checked, though, you were pretty much at their mercy.

I heard so many horor stories about AOl that when I left I demanded an immediate Email saying I canceled order. IO got the Email and that was that.

Moderateman

on Jun 09, 2006

you know if they do this nation wide aets say 10,000 peopletimes 85 dollars fro 90 days, that's is alot of intrest.

bakerstreet

on Jun 09, 2006

heh, that's nothing. A lot of these now check your credit. I called a rural Tennessee phone company to see what they would charge to have a telephone line brought to the house I was renting, and they asked for my social security number. I told them I wasn't necessarily ordering, that I wanted to know what it cost.

She stuttered and stammered and asked again, and I asked why they needed it. She said that in order to tell me how much the deposit would be they had to run my credit. If I was deemed a "risk" it would be more than the normal deposit.

That seems heinous, but consider the opposite. What if they are running your credit to see how much you can AFFORD to pay? I'd be willing to bet that people who come up as fairly well off don't end up cheaper, and probably end up paying more, since they'll be more apt to be able to pay it painlessly.

Dr Guy

on Jun 09, 2006

She stuttered and stammered and asked again, and I asked why they needed it. She said that in order to tell me how much the deposit would be they had to run my credit. If I was deemed a "risk" it would be more than the normal deposit.

Then there is the other side. I told them that I could not afford a deposit (this was 28 years ago) and if they would just set up my phone, I would pay them religiously. They did, and I did.

bakerstreet

on Jun 09, 2006

She wouldn't even discuss it with me until I gave my SS#. I wouldn't give my SS# without signing some sort of contract as to how they'd use it. They refused, and I got a cell phone.

Moderateman

on Jun 09, 2006

they get you coming and going, where I live there is one phone serive, that's right one, frontier communications, that is the only service you can get to have your phone set up, you can get what ever long distance service you want. Now frontier not onmly takes a 80 dollar deposit, they make you pay the first two months bill in advance, that's right you first bill, doubled. This is why I have no landline just cells phones. The local service you get cost 31.50 a month and the only call that is NOT a toll call is downtown rio vista and Isleton another small town ACROSS THE river {sacramento} Who says there are no more monopolies?

Dr Guy

on Jun 09, 2006

She wouldn't even discuss it with me until I gave my SS#. I wouldn't give my SS# without signing some sort of contract as to how they'd use it. They refused, and I got a cell phone.

I am an old fart.

There were no cell phones in 1978 (and Ma Bell still owned all the teleophones!)

Moderateman

on Jun 09, 2006

#23 by Dr. Guy
Fri, June 09, 2006 5:44 PM

She wouldn't even discuss it with me until I gave my SS#. I wouldn't give my SS# without signing some sort of contract as to how they'd use it. They refused, and I got a cell phone.

I am an old fart.

There were no cell phones in 1978 (and Ma Bell still owned all the teleophones

I still have not made up my mind if breaking up Ma Bell into 285654312849056754 smaller companies is a good idea.

bakerstreet

on Jun 09, 2006

It wasn't. They just turned a monopoly into the Five Families who meet a few times a year with a bowl of oranges on the table.

Moderateman

on Jun 10, 2006

Reply By: BakerStreetPosted: Friday, June 09, 2006It wasn't. They just turned a monopoly into the Five Families who meet a few times a year with a bowl of oranges on the table.

great anology, don bell, capo di tutti capi

Dr Guy

on Jun 10, 2006

I still have not made up my mind if breaking up Ma Bell into 285654312849056754 smaller companies is a good idea.

Me either. But Cell phones are killing them. So I guess it is moot.

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