So far, you know that we had massive trouble just with having the cable installed. Here is what has happened since then. See also Trouble with the Cable Company: Part I.
After my husband received the first bill, he called me with the account information so that I could set up the online bill pay service. I set up the service with our checking account information and set the automated pay to recur on each day the bill is due. Well, no one told us that it takes up to two billing cycles for the information to go through! I was expecting a payment to go through on the first of the month and here it was over a week later and still nothing. I checked our cable account and saw that the computer said our account was past due. I got on the phone with the cable company once again. That was when I found out about the billing cycle.
By the time the next billing cycle rolled around, we had changed banks and I mistakenly forgot to change that information in the online bill pay account. So another due date went by and I had to call the cable company and do another payment over the phone. Right after I got off the phone with the billing representative, I went into the online bill pay account and changed the bank information. Problem solved…or so I thought.
This billing cycle came around and the same thing happened again! Plus, the online bill said that I never paid last month’s bill. I called another representative who told me that she had in her computer that I had paid that bill and the only amount due was for this month. Okay good. So I then asked to speak to someone who was in charge of the eBilling service. She said that she would transfer me to the tech support for that department. What I ended up getting was the automated bill paying service! I was so frustrated at this point I was ready to spit! I called – again – and talked to another representative – again – and he told me that there is no eBilling tech support department and he does not know why someone told me that. “I do apologize for that,” he said. By then I was getting quite tired of apologies. “Okay,” I said, “Let’s just set up this payment and get it over with.” It was at that moment that I got disconnected. Grrrrr!
I called the billing department AGAIN and got a peppy gentleman named Lee who promptly explained to me that even though our account was already registered online that if the bank information is changed, it will still take another billing cycle for the automatic payment to take place. He then said that his computer showed that an automatic debit was set up for the next cycle. Hallelujah! He also told me that the eBilling cycle is different from the regular billing cycle, which accounted for the last month’s payment still showing up there. He took my payment over the phone and we ended on that note. Thank you, Lee, for being the only person besides Isaiah who has truly been able to help me!
Now as I sit here in front of the computer pouring out my story, I am so emotionally exhausted from all of this I just don’t know what to do with myself. This is where I pass on some messages to you.
1. ALWAYS keep a list of names of the representatives you talked to, the date and time you talked to them, and what information they gave you. That way if you have to refer back to the situation later, you have your own record.
2. ALWAYS get all of the information. If you sign up for online bill pay, make sure you take note about how long the service takes to get set up and take effect. It could save you past due balances and fees.
3. ALWAYS monitor your billing statements. If your cable company (or utility company) has online bill pay, check to see whether the online billing cycle corresponds with your paper statement cycle. That way you don’t get confused like I did.
Now that I have brought this to your attention, I hope that you have benefitted from my mistakes. Feel free to tell me about any of your experiences like this, or perhaps how I may have prevented you from making a similar mistake.