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I think nothing shocks me now days!

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    I think nothing shocks me now days!

    Well now that my BK is almost discharged I am sticking to a very strict budget. I have been paying all my bills on time now and keeping a close eye on my checking account daily.

    So I make my cell phone payment on 7/09. On Tuesday I login to check my checking account and what do I find, but not just one, but two payments have been debited from my account. I only paid the bill once. I looked back at my phone records and on their website it listed that I only paid the bill once. So I go around to the bank and they say it is the phone companies mistake. i go home and call the cell phone provider and they submit a claim to resolve the problem. I explained that on my bank records it shows their company debited 85 dollars from my account twice and i only authorized one payment.

    I log onto my checking account today and the money is still not back in my account. I go onto my cell phone account and now i have a credit on my account for 85 dollars. I call the cell phone provider again and ask why my cell phone account was credited for 85 dollars and why the money was not put back into my checking account.

    Now I got a laugh out of this one. I was told to be able to refund my money back into my account they would need "a bank statement with my checking account number and routing number". So I am on the phone with the rep and actually said this is crazy. You have debited my card twice without authorization, then you even credited my phone account for another 85 dollars. I said you have all my information. This went on for about 30 min. They wanted me to fax all the information. I don't have a fax machine so I am sent around to my local phone store. In the mean time I have to stop by my bank and have them type up a statement that has my checking account information with my routing number because my bank statements only have a checking account number not route number.

    I get around to the store and now they need a copy of the two debits made on my account. This was not told to me on the phone, but lucky for me I went ahead and brought a copy.

    The rep in the store said this is happening all the time now. It is normal for the company to do this and normally they will just credit the phone account. She said it was not right and she was glad someone was finally speaking up and getting the money to go back into their account.

    So the end result I was given another 35 dollar credit on my next phone bill and also will have my 85 dollars credited back to my checking account. So word to the wise this is happening more and more now days.

    I did list this creditor on my Bk, but I have remained current on my bills. If this keeps happening I will have to walk away from the contract. I will not keep going through this every single month. Especially since I am trying to save money, not just give it away.
    Chapter 7 filed on 4/23/2010
    341 meeting on 5/28/2010
    Discharged on 8/19/2010

    #2
    I'd go prepaid if I were you. Also write checks and don't do the auto debit thing if that keeps happening. Only reason I have a contract is due to my work. They give me 95 a month for a smartphone plan.
    Filed: 6-7-2010 341: 7-15-2010 DISCHARGED: 9/17/2010

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      #3
      What cell phone provider do you have?

      Comment


        #4
        At&t
        Chapter 7 filed on 4/23/2010
        341 meeting on 5/28/2010
        Discharged on 8/19/2010

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          #5
          I had the same problem with a hotel. My grandfather died and we had to fly to Puerto Rico. It was almost impossible to scrape the money together to fly down there and get a hotel. There were no relatives for me to stay with. Anyway 2 days before we were leaving, the hotel charged me twice for my room. They admitted their mistake, but it still took 2 weeks to get my money back. Its so easy for them to take your money, but you have to jump thru hoops to money back!!

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            #6
            Check out Walmarts new pay as you go phone plan, runs off Verizon network and for unlimited minutes, texts, and internet it is only $45 per month

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              #7
              All good answers to this bad situation. That is the problem with debit vs credit cards. Credit card banks will generally credit your acct for the "mistake" while it is being investigated. With debit cards and ACH's it is up to company to put the overpayment back into your acct. Your bank's hands are tied. Notice sometimes when you use a debit card to rent a car or reserve a hotel room, they put a "hold" on your checking account which has an "overage buffer" just in case your bill is more than expected. Then you have to wait for anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks to have the difference credited to your account.
              We then have automatic deduction payments, on say a car loan, the banks will discount you a percentage point or two on your apr if you use auto payments. Trouble is if your checking balance is too low, and unless you have overdraft protection, you'll get hit with overdraft fees as if you wrote a check for the payment.
              I signed up with a gym that knocked off $50 from the yearly membership fee with monthly dues deduction from my checking account. The first month, the accounting office for the gym deducted the entire membership fee from my account over 1k. And of course the bank paid the ACH whick overdrafted my account by $500.00. Next came 1 bounced car payment check and 2 weeks with having to wait for the gym to credit my account!

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                #8
                This isn't the same thing but when Countrywide was bought out by BofA they told me I hadn't scheduled my mortgage payment for the month and if I didn't pay it I would be dunned for non-payment. Well, I was sure I'd scheduled it but because they insisted, I gave them the information at that point. Well, two days later there were 2 charges for my mortgage payment - which kicked in my overdraft protection. When I called they said I had to send them the 'proof' HUH??? that they had done that. t took 5 trips to Kinko's to fax them the information because their machines were not working and then another 2 weeks before they credited my account. Ridiculous!

                The next month they tried to take an automatic payment, without my authorization and my bank would not allow it.

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                  #9
                  Why would you allow auto-debit against your account, credit card, check card, debit card whatever? I use online bill pay and I generate the payments monthly FROM my account to the cell phone, gym, etc., I do not allow any company to automatically debit my account. So when I filed, the only payment I had to worry about on automatic debit was IRS. Keeps things neat, no surprises. Just my 2 cents.
                  Stopped paying: 08/10, Filed CH7: 08/27/10 , 341 & No Asset Report: 10/6/10, Last day to object: 12/06/10, Discharged: 12/07/10, Closed: 12/08/10
                  AHEM.....NOT AN ATTORNEY, NOT ADVICE, ETC, ETC

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I hadn't allowed automatic debit, which is why the bank declined it when they tried to do that. I'd scheduled the payment on-line but in the conversion from Countrywide to BofA I think they had massive problems - hence my fax not going through. When I called them, they convinced me I hadn't set it up - about the only time I did not print out a confirmation for my records (that will never happen again!), so I paid it over the phone. THEN they tried the next month to do the automatic withdrawal and the bank would not let them.

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