makryger wrote:For every one of you, there are ten people who don't pay attention to their bills, making this a profitable strategy. I can't tell you how many times I've had to call Verizon wireless when they've secretly changed the bill and charged extras and screwed up the billing process- always in their favor.
This.
Nothing in my life--nothing--is autopay. You send me a bill, and I will decide whether to send you money as well as how much.
It's lazy Gen Y that allowed this behavior to begin. "Hey, nobody wants to work at their lives anymore, so what happens if we just throw stuff onto their bills/credit cards?" And suddenly billions of dollars started flowing in, a couple dollars at a time.
How many times have I seen people scream about how they've been "ripped off" by their cable companies--only to read further and find out that their bills were on autopay and they've been paying some extra amount, sometimes significant, for the last 24+ months? Then they expect sympathy from the reading audience as they whine about how "Comcast would only credit back for the last two months, saying that I was responsible for reading my bill!! Whaaaa!"
Nowadays I have to fight the 20 somethings who man the cash registers of the world, who don't have even the basic grasp that a customer might want a copy of his credit card receipt. More and more I watch as the sweet young thing slams my card through, hits a button, and then rushes off--and I have to be loud and pretty much fight for a copy of my receipt. Yes, sweetheart, I do want that receipt, because I keep them and compare them to my statement every month. The very concept of taking the time to do that is beyond so many people nowadays.
I have no sympathy for people who don't look at their bills before they pay them, for people who just blindly pay any charge that anyone puts in front of them.
Several years ago I got an $8.99 "subscription" charge on a credit card. Huh, I don't recognize that one. And the phone number on the charge was missing the last two digits. The CC company took it off for me, but another one went through the next month. Same thing. Then the next month--and at that point the CC company said the only way to fix this was to report my card stolen and get me a new card. They were not interested in WHO was sending this charge through; they only cared that they wouldn't continue to remove the charge. Turned out this was a huge scam, millions of people were caught up in this, but the CC companies didn't care. It was income to them for every one of those charges that got paid. As far as I know, this scammer was never caught.
Watch your statements, and make sure they're right. And don't whine about "oh, that takes time and effort!" If you want to be that lazy, be prepared to pay heavily for the privilege.
