Anyone else notice that monthly bills are becoming more complicated?

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by Hollytree

Agree with all of the above PLUS:

Have you noticed that certain companies are changing their bill due dates or cycles to an off date, such as the 12 or 14th of the month so that if you routinely pay your bills once a month at the same time for all you could owe accrued late charges?

Yes! And it really really gets my goat when they set the closing date right after the 1st of the month with a due date before the end of the same month. I pay bills the first of the month - that is it - I do not have the time during the rest of the month to open a bill, pull out the checkbook, grab a stamp, record it in Quicken (and even if I wasn't a dinosaur and paid bills online, I still wouldn't have the time to do it in dribs and drabs throughout the month).

When closing dates/due dates are changed and they don't coincide with my paying cycle, I call the company and tell them. They can look at my account and see that I consistently pay at the first month and they usually put a note in my account. As it is, there's normally a "secret" grace period that some companies have but don't tell the customer about.

I will not pay late fees of any sort if I pay my bills within 30 days regardless of what they say is the due date. This determination has not gotten me in hot water (yet anyway :-) ... maybe I should knock on wood.)

[DanLerJoh]

its not just monthly bills but a lot of other business that do these sorts of things. I used to be a rental agent for a large car rental company. All the top selling agents used to just put insurance and other optional charges on the bill without disclosing them and have the customer sign them really quickly. Once people returned their car and received their bill some would complain but most wouldnt even pay attention. The agents would end up with a fat commision check and management was happy because sales numbers were being met. Sure they didnt encourage it but they didnt exactly take issue with it either.

[Affirmed09]

Yes this is really aggravating!!!!!!!!!!!! i wish they would stop

[texdav]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

I've been out of the corporate world for a very long time, so I cannot recall how sales tax that's paid by a customer is internally recorded and then paid out to the respective states.

Thus, I begin to wonder about the $7 sales tax I was charged for the $100 worth of internet/phone equipment that eventually is supposed to be free. By all rights, that sales tax should be refunded to me and a -$7 should be recorded internally on the companies "spreadsheet" regarding the sales tax they've collected.

I think how easy it would be for a company to make an extra $7 off me depending on how they do their accounting. Multiply that measly $7 by millions of customers and, well, we can do the math.

As for the federally-imposed fees and nonfederally-imposed fees that glut our phone bills, it also just occurred to me that they're calculated on the charges before the promotional credits are subtracted. Again, more of my nickels and dimes are going into the profit pockets aren't they.

Crap - I'm sounding so darn cynical!

Kind of reminds you of that free car the companies often give away really.I have a firend that won a truck and then the state and feds wanted thier taxes sure enough.