"But I never received a bill!!"

[MrSunshineState]

EVERYBODY who has ever worked in a call center related to a service that can be terminated due to non payment has heard that before!

A few years ago when I was working in a different call center doing customer service for a large cable company, that would be what I heard at least 8 times a day. (once per hour seems about right)

Me: of course
SC: of course

Me: Thank you for calling (company name) this is MrSunshineState, how may I help you?
SC: My cable is out!!!
Me: I am sorry to hear that, let me see if there is an outage, may I have the phone number listed on your account, area code first please?
SC: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Me: And your name:
SC: Sucky Customer
Me: Well it seems Mr/Ms Customer, your service has been terminated due to non payment
SC: WHAT? I never received a bill!!
Me: Well the last payment we received was in October
SC: That was the last bill I got
Me: It's January
SC: Well I never received a bill!!!
Me: I am sorry to hear that, but it does not excuse you from paying for your services.
(Honestly, if I went 30 days without getting a bill from a company, I could call them to verify they had sent one out--hence how I have never been late paying anything ,ever )
SC: But I never received a BBBBIIIILLLLLLLLLLL


Of course they were all lying. No question. We send our bills out at the same time each month. Customers elect not to pay. Get disconnected. Then make it our fault.

Maybe cable and utility company should serve bills like court subpoenas!

[MrSunshineState]

Oh, and my other favorite billing calls were from the people who paid after the bill was sent out and can't figure out why they got a bill not reflecting their payment


Basically went like this

SC: I just got my bill BUT I ALREADY PAID YOU MOTHER *car horn*
Me: Yes, you called in your payment in the 17th
SC: So why are you sending me a bill????
Me: Bill was mailed on the 13th
SC: BUT I PAID IT!
Me: Yes, 4 days after we mailed it!
SC: I don't understand this shit!
Me: *sigh*

[TWOLF]

I love these calls and with cell phone companies like the one that I work for if your registering online it's easy to stop the paperbills. But one thing many people don't know is that the companies don't have to send a bill, it's done as a courtesy more then anything else.

[powerboy]

That is how I got a repossession on one of my vehicles. They never sent the bill for 2 months. Each time I called them up. The first time, I called, they mentioned my grandmothers name paid it by check. Ok, that was taken care of. The second time, they said the samething, but she has not. The tow truck came when I was at home, about ready to go to work. I called the company wanting to know why, and they told me, because I have not paid for that month. I loved that car. Ofcourse, I didn't have enough money, to keep it from getting autioned, and they would not do 2 payments.

[Bonnie Bitch]

EVERYBODY who has ever worked in a call center related to a service that can be terminated due to non payment has heard that before!

(snip)
Maybe cable and utility company should serve bills like court subpoenas!

Holy Thor in Asgard!!!!!
If I had a nickel for every time I heard a variation on that one.......

The worst I had was the SC who b*tched about not getting her bill, and it was our job to notify her.
According to the acct. memos, not only had she been sent her bill PLUS duplicate bills each and every month for the four months during which she had service, she had received multiple e-mails (at an address I verified).
AND -- my company (XYZTV) has a lovely system they use to notify customers -- 7 days before "service interruption," the cust receives a message -- ON THE FRICKIN' TV!!!! The courtesy message blocks the screen for five minutes -- every half hour, until the bill is paid.
I finally had to tell this SC, "Ma'am, we have notified you multiple times. We have mailed you two copies of your bill each month. We have sent you 18 e-mails. Each e-mail contains a link to your XYZTV account on-line. You are also informed of past due balances through our automated voice system each time you call in to XYZTV. In addition, you are receiving courtesy messages every 30 minutes on your television concerning your past due balance. Per XYZTV policy, you have been sufficiently notified. Would you care to make a payment today?"
And the bitch still argued with me! Why? Her bill was "too high," and she was promised at sign-up that she would be paying $39.99 US (plus tax) per month.
She hadn't paid in four months, and her bill was <drum roll> $159.96 (plus tax), which is, to the penny, $39.99 x 4.
Of course, that was my fault. It was also my fault that I wouldn't waive a month's fees for her being "such a good customer."
And she got her parting shot in before hanging up by calling me that really REALLY bad C word (starts with a C, ends with a T, rhymes with )
Too bad for her that I noticed that the usual late fees had not been added to the account. So, being the faaaabulous employee that I am......

[Kara]

Sigh. I could go on for hours about this one. This is one of those calls I get several times a week, sometimes daily.

Why oh why do people think that if they don't receive a bill it means they don't have to pay? If they missed a bill from their gas/electric/water service, they'd call the company, get the amount, and pay it. But a "luxury" service, they think it's a free pass to not pay. Maybe they just think they can get away with it?

Usually by the time they get to me, they haven't been canceled but a late fee has been charged. Now, late fees are either $5 or a percentage of the past due, depending on state law where the customer is located. I've had this fight with customers from every late fee from as little as $.50.

One of my more recent missing bill battles involved a grumpy old man.

SC: We have a problem with this bill, and you people are going to take care of it!
ME: Well, let's take a look at the bill and see what we can do for you. What's the problem?
SC: You people charged me a late fee for my bill due in January. But that's a fraudulent charge and I'm not paying it!
ME: Okay, well, I see the balance was due on 01/10, and we didn't receive a payment until 02/08. Looks like you paid that bill and your February bill together.
SC: That's right. You boneheads didn't send me a bill. How was I supposed to pay it?
ME: I'm truly sorry ( ) you didn't receive your bill, it was sent on 12/18. And you didn't receive it?
SC: That's right. So now you can take off the late fee.
ME: And you haven't recently moved?
SC: No, I've lived here for 30 years.
ME: Now, I don't see you contacted us to let us know you didn't receive your bill that month. And you know there are several other options to check your balance at any time-
SC: Do you sit around all day waiting for bills to come?
ME: No, but-
SC: Well I'm retired and I don't have time to sit around all day waiting for bills to come in.
ME (Uh, if you're retired, you have all the time in the world): And I certainly wouldn't expect you to. But, you've had this account for 3 years, and you obviously understand that you'll be billed every month. And you know your bills are due the same date every month, and you know they arrive in your mail at the same time every month, so...
SC: Look, I'm not going to fight with you about this. Are you going to remove the late fee?
ME: That is a valid fee and it will not be waived.
SC: Then we're done. I'm going out this afternoon to find a company who knows how to take care of people.
ME: Alright, but you understand that all providers charge late fees, and all expect you to take responsibility for making sure your account is current.
SC: *click*

[HawaiianShirts]

The store I work for offers a store credit card. The stores individually issue the cards (through the bank company that handles the money), then an actual credit card company sends the bills and takes payments. Would you believe I have had people in the store complain to me that the company didn't send them a bill?

One guy in particular was annoyed with the store card. He told me he had purchased a TV on the store card for the no interest deal but ended up paying so much in late fees that it would have been cheaper to pay interest on his banks credit card. Why? He lost his second bill for the TV purchase. Then he moved. When the bills finally caught up to him, it was several months later. According to him, we should have realized he had lost the bill and sent him a replacement, and we "should have been smart enough" to know that he had been planning to move and kept up with his new address.

And if that wasn't enough, he expected ME to do something to appease him. I'm supposed to make up for his stupidity on something handled by a separate company? Why can't logic ever work for me that way?

[MrSunshineState]

And if that wasn't enough, he expected ME to do something to appease him.

What an absolute piece of trash. This is why people like that piss me off. HE admits to not paying the bill, but it is still your fault somehow! Because the perfect customer is always right and the evil companies and evil employees of the world are all out to get him!

[ominousoat]

I love how a bill getting lost in the mail is suddenly our "stupidity". Also, the strange concepts customers have about how our system works, as if we personally moniter every account, every day, and track their mail, JUST to make sure nothing is going wrong. Here's a couple of fun examples.

SL = sucky landlord

SL: "I don't want the gas just to automatically go into my name! I want a call every time my tenant moves out!"

ME: "I'm sorry...we don't offer that service, and it's your responsibility to know if your tenant moves out."

SL: "But they don't tell me if they're moving! So you people need to get off your lazy asses and give me a damn phone call if they move out!"

ME: "We have NO SYSTEM in place to do that."

SL: "Well, you just keep an eye on my account boy!"

Yeah...I think not.

Also:

SOL: Sucky Old Lady

SOL: Why is my bill so high?

ME, after investigation: It looks as if (x) amount was accidentally applied to your account three months ago. Consequently, we just now removed that amount and that's why your bill is so high.

SOL: Well, I don't think that's my responsibility.

ME: I do understand we made a mistake, but that wasn't your money, and this is paying for the gas services rendered. You didn't send us that money three months ago, and you also didn't pay your bill three months ago.

SOL: Of course I didn't, I had that credit.

ME: The credit was from the accidental x amount put on your account, you should have paid your bills normally anyhow, despite the mysterious credit.

SOL: I think you should give me that credit anyway...it's your mistake.

ME, banging head: We will work with you, but we will not give your free money or gas.

SOL: But I'm elderly...


It went on like that for a while.

Why can't people just look at their bills? Or accept that mistakes do happen? Or understand that we don't know if something when wrong the exact moment it happened? Dah.

[Pinkie]

SOL: But I'm elderly...

I get the "But I'm elderly" crap all the time. #1, if your elderly, you've been around long enough to know how this bill paying stuff works. #2, Just because you've been around a while, doesn't entitle you to anything! Well, perhaps some respect.....IF you deserve it, but since you pulled out the "I'm a senior" card, you just lost any and all respect I might have had for you..... Have a nice day!

[CRXPanda]

NEK logic: A company is omnipotent, it's employees are heavenly beings that are directly linked spritiually to said company. If the company offends the customer, the cusomer has the right to smote them all in a biblical way, and feed on their essence.

[BookstoreEscapee]

But they don't tell me if they're moving!

What does that tell you about yourself as a landlord if your tenants just up and move without telling you, apparently more than once?

I once had someone else's payment applied to my account, to the tune of around $200, and I only discovered it because I screwed up when I paid the bill. I wrote my check, sealed the envelope, and sent it off in plenty of time. Then a week or so later, I went to write a check for something else, and discovered my check for the credit card bill was still in my checkbook

So I called customer service, and explained what happened, and asked what I should do, and they told me I had a credit of $100+, because the last payment applied to my bill was over $200. So I looked at my account online, went back through my checkbook, knowing I had not had a bill for that amount, nor had I written a check for that amount for anything else (thinking possibly I sent them a check meant for someone else), then called them back and asked them to look again, because the only explanation was that someone else's check was put on my account. So we sorted it all out (probably saving them another irate phone call in the next billing cycle), and I sent in my check with a note explaining what happened and who I spoke to. So technically I was late, and they could have charged me the late fee, but they didn't, which was really nice of them. And all because I spoke to them like a normal human being!

[Dips]

Some of our OEMs pull that "you never reminded us" crap. The great thing is we have a copy of the contract they signed.

I will usually just ask them to read me the clause which says they only have to pay if we remind them. Of course they can't find it because it isn't there. Or sometimes they play the "I lost my copy of the contract; can you fax me another one?" card.

Then I read the clause which outlines the penalties for late royalties and helpfully point out which page of the contract it's on.

Evenutally they send the payment.

And then the next quarter they pull the exact same crap.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Or sometimes they play the "I lost my copy of the contract; can you fax me another one?" card.

That's a good one. I lost the contract I signed and therefore presumably read through thoroughly before signing, so I didn't know I actually had to pay. Yeah, right.

[SCSlave]

I loathe the "I'm elderly" excuse. Loathe it. I don't give a rat's behind how old you are--and if you are 'elderly' then you know how bills work. You know you have to pay them. When my Grandparents were living, they knew when bills would come in the mail every month..and if they didn't get them when they were expected, they'd call....just to be sure they were mailed. And they certainly would have known if there was a payment applied to the account that they didn't make. They would have called and let them know "Hey we didn't make this payment." But...then again, they were honest people..and never expected to be favored just because they were 'elderly'. They both lived to the ripe old age of 92---and I think their long life had a lot to do with the way they lived it...they never got upset over trivial things like these yahoos do.