Oh my gosh, I just discovered something about my cellphone bill!

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
spacer.gif
e-bill_community_email_r3b_16.jpg
e-bill_community_email_r3b_20.jpg


Account Number:Account Number: xxxxxxxxxx

Bill Period: Mar 6 - Apr 5, 2010

Payment on Apr 2 - Thank you...................................... $163.92

Total Due by April 29 $153.21

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Your automatic payment will be debited on April 28th.

I put the above in red in bold and red, it was in teeny tiny print at the bottom.

Now, when I first got my Sprint account my bill was supposed to be due on the first of the month because that is when I get my disability. I got my phones the first week of November because I wanted this to not to be a problem and I even spoke with the sprint rep to be sure of this. Was told...no problem. Suddenly, end of November, got a bill due on like November 28th! I called freaking out. Was told they would fix it. Decembers bill was due like on December 31st. I still called and said why isnt it due on the 1st? Oh, some reason or other.

Then sprint decides they are going to add some surcharge to peoples accounts if they dont do automatic drafting. I freak out because it is all fine and dandy if my due date is on the 3rd or later but if its before then...Im screwed. Well...they cant fix my due date to when I was told it was going to be to start with. Cant do it. Period. So they said most likely your due date will fall at least on the 30th or the 31st of the month and it will take a few days to go through your bank anyway.

Ummmm as you can see above, My due date is the 29th of this month...and....

The are going to debit the money...ONE DAY EARLY! Oh heck no. I didnt authorize that! That gives them one extra day of interest on MY money! And on your money if you happen to have sprint and be in the same situation I am in! Sprint is the 4th largest cellphone carrier...can you imagine what that 1 extra day amounts to? This has to be illegal.

Im ticked. And they have their site down so I cant get in and stop the debiting and they wont stop it verbally over the phone. They say you can only do it on the internet!

When I finally get in, Im gonna be livid. I might just go change my debit card so they cant take the money at all.
[/FONT]
 

MyFriendKita

Active Member
This is why I quit allowing Verizon to automatically debit my account--they were taking their payment long before the due date. Like ten days before, IIRC. Right now I pay it through mycheckfree.com, and I can control when it gets paid. The invoice goes to their website, and I get an e-mail notifying me when I get a new bill.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I do not like automatic debits on potentially high-ticket items like this. Call me a control freak, but I don't want a major oops happening with a large amount of my money.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I cannot imagine a company debiting money before the due date. Other companies dont do that! My water bill isnt done that way. My car insurance isnt done that way. In fact, my car insurance is due today. It is debited out of my checking account. I get an email a week before it is due from them and they tell me that it will be due on the 13th but that due to volume it may take several days to actually be debited. Nice how friendly they are! I have never had my car insurance taken early. Never. Nor has my water bill been drafted early. It is due on the 25th and they debit it on the 25th or the next business day after.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Sprint has done this in various regions for years. It is one reason I will never deal with them unless they are the last company on the planet. Way back when I lived with my folks we used Sprint. They snuck in fees that were not legit, they changed billing dates capriciously which changed the day your bill was due at least 5 times in that first year, and they continually billed the wrong amount or neglected to apply payments that were made for up to a month, then they piled on late fees, disconnected service though it was paid, and charged a fee to reconnect it though the disconnect was their fault.

So far AT&T is pretty reasonable for us. But if we get any real problems that we cannot get help on we call husband's nephew. He is director over quite a few stores and never fails to straighten things out for us.

Part of the Sprint problems that we had were because of the company running the franchise in this area. Numerous legal maneuvers have happened and they were even sanctioned by Sprint, which is rare.

I hope you get this fixed.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Hubby canceled Sprint when he discovered he couldn't use his cell phone in the house. It was absolutely hilarious watching him pace up and down, in the middle of the street, screaming at Sprint's "customer service" dept. Then they failed to shut off his phone on the date he requested, and because he checked to see if he still had service by calling voice mail, they wanted to charge him for another month! The only thing that resolved it was filing a complaint with BBB.

I'll use tin cans on string before I'll go anywhere near Sprint again.
 

everywoman

Well-Known Member
I pay all of my bills online. The only thing that is automatically debited is my mortgage. The rest I set up on my calendar and it reminds me whenever they are due.
 

flutterby

Fly away!
I had a Sprint cellphone several years ago. They are impossible to work with. I won't do it again. The kids' phones are through Verizon. Not a single problem.

I'm sorry you're having this issue. My insurance (car and umbrella) are drafted automatically from my account, but like you, it is never drafted early.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I have avoided Sprint because of all the koi I have heard from friends...

First I had a pay-as-you-go through Airtouch (now Verizon). Moved to OK with XH, got "real" phone from Cingular (now AT&T)... came back, was still through Cingular for a while then switched to Verizon. I had all kinds of issues with Verizon, including when I got my phone I had 5 bars of signal in my house, 3 years later I was lucky to have 1, I live in an older neighborhood so no new construction. Got charged for all kinds of things I should not have been, had a HORRIBLE time with customer service (Oh, we can't do that, your phone is out of warranty. ...It's WHAT? I have had it for a WEEK and bought it from YOUR STORE!)... The BBB helped here too. Last September I switched to T-Mobile and have 6 bars almost everywhere, 3 at work (no one else has much of a signal here, even with Verizon repeaters all over the installation)... 2 bars at BFF's, with NO CELL TOWER NEAR - no one else gets a signal at ALL there. Hated visiting when on Verizon, because I had to drive 3 miles away to get 1 bar. Their customer service is great. "Oh, you wanted that to start last week? Sure! I've backdated it for you. No, we can't turn off that phone, but let's drop your family plan so it costs less while it's not in use (for Onyxx's phone)"... Yeah.
 

nvts

Active Member
Janet! You can call your bank and have them refuse the charge. Notify Sprint that you're doing so. Then you call the Sprint call center and tell them that you want to make an Executive Complaint. They'll send you to a "save" desk and once you call it an Executive complaint, it goes to a special unit that handles the problem.

Good Luck!

Beth
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I had an awful time with Tmobile and dropped them! I practically got in a fist fight over the telephone with some customer service guy over where Washington Difficult Child was!!!

Basically with Tmobile my plan covered NC, SC, VA and some parts of TN. I got billed for my calls at Jamie's. They said I was in Difficult Child. I told them I most certainly was not! We got into a fight over it. They were charging me 200 bucks for calls made in Difficult Child! I never stepped foot in Difficult Child. I was sitting 45 miles south of Difficult Child. They swore up and down I had gone into Difficult Child. I told them to use their gps to see where I was. They refused. I gave them the exact address I called from...they could see where I was. I was sitting either in Jamies living room or on his front porch! They refused to adjust the bill. I refused to pay it. I never had this problem when Tmobile was suncom. I loved Suncom.

I then got sprint because it was the cheapest family plan with web, talk and text. We also have great coverage here with sprint.

Im gonna end up trying something else. Hopefully today their site will be up and I can get in to change it.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
If you take all your money out of your debit account and they over draft the charges will apply TO YOU.....and so will the fees for termination and reconnect. FYI - thing is? They don't care.....no one does. This inhales deeply.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I know Star. Sigh. Im thinking though...change the debiting to coming out by check instead of debit card. That takes a bit longer for some odd reason. I have noticed that in the past.

That is if I can EVER get back onto their website! It is still down.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Im gonna have to do something if that darned website doesnt come up soon. They tell me when I call that they cant change anything over the phone and that I have to make changes over the internet.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Do you have a Sprint store nearby? THEY can make changes. And over the phone they usually won't because they cannot verify it's really you. Though if the IRS can.......
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Step...I know its odd but they wont even allow the stores to do the changes. I asked. Heck, my son is the one who sold me these stupid things and works as a Sprint Salesperson and is really tired of getting my wrath right now. He cant even make headway with them. Oddly enough, the only part of the system that is up is new accounts...how nice! Interesting how fast they got that back up.

When I call Sprint, they ask me enough junk to verify who I am. We have passwords and special codes. They can actually log in as me and do it when I am on the phone.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Oh my. I'd be pretty peeved right now. That's ridiculous.

I just checked the website myself. Something's not right, because I get the whole thing... But the only LINK there is, is as you've stated - new people.
 
Top