CHECK YOUR BILLS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU PAY THEM

[no_hypocrisy]

I have AT&T for cellular. I pay on time and I pay by check b/c I don't trust doing payment online or AT&T deducting from my account.

The bill is due on the 15th of every month. Last month, my bill arrived on the 4th. I sent it out ASAP the next day, even using the Post Office that is a distributing center for quick delivery.

I just got my Feb. invoice with an $8 late fee. And AT&T wouldn't remove the late fee. Claimed my payment was received on the 19th, two weeks after I mailed it. The rep stammered that there was a holiday. Fine, but that should have allowed another 9 days from NJ to IL for delivery. And then she tried to push a payment program that was unacceptable to me, even offering to cut $10 from my monthly fee. And I responded that with the addition of the other three contracts that deduct from my account, I could be facing at least another $35 for overdraft fees from my bank.

I failed at convincing her that my payment wasn't late. For all I know, AT&T delayed posting my payment in order to get their extra $8. I may have to change carriers.

So, my point being to check your bills to see if you're being given a late fee that you shouldn't have incurred.

[NJCher]

1. I had that happen to me with

A pep boys synchrony account about a year ago. Seems to be some game they’re playing.

I got them to remove it by telling them I would pay them off immediately and wanted nothing more to do with them. That’s when they backed off.

It would have been ok by me to dump them. I was just playing games with their interest free money anyway.

[Karadeniz]

2. We need a CFPB !!!!!!

[SheltieLover]

3. Yes!

[sleroy49]

4. Time to cancel

Time to cancel (if you can) or at least threaten to cancel. I have had zero luck being nice to these people. The threat of cancelling their perpetual revenue stream usually gets them to back down.

[CanonRay]

5. This is exactly why I pay bills through my bank

Thought I resisted for years.

[Native]

6. This is why I pay bills online - I get a confirmation number for each pay't, and then I log date, time & conf. # of my

pay't on a monthly spreadsheet. Companies have no sympathy any longer for any payments made by mail.

[Otto_Harper]

7. This is nothing new

Many, many years ago, my wife had a credit card which pulled the "it came late" nonsense every single month. What we did, at the time, (this predated electronic payments) was to start paying using REGiSTERED mail, Return receipt, show name, time and place where delivered. (Yes,this was pricey,but still cheaper than the monthly fees they were nicking us with).

The next month, we had all of the information in hand, and when they tried to claim late delivery yet again, I called them. At first, they would only speak to my wife. So, we called back on speakerphone, where I explained to the call taker, then her manager that we now had evidence in hand of mail fraud, a felony offense. If the bogus charges were not rescinded immediately, their notice of late arrival, combined with the USPS records would be submitted to the Postal Inspection Service for investigation.

The bogus charges on her account went away until we could transfer the outstanding balance elsewhere.

[Elessar Zappa]

8. That's why I pay online.

They email me usually within 5 minutes that it’s been processed.

[Enter stage left]

9. Check "Visible". It's a spin off from Verizon that is cheap, no hidden fees and 5G fast.

The downside is they use AI chat to get you signed up, but you can get past it by threatening to quit. They then connect you with a live person.

[Shambala]

10. I've also had that happen to me in the past

but just attributed it to the slow mail system. Interestingly enough I received a bill from SunRun yesterday, March 4, with a payment due date of Feb 22. I just paid online line and there were no lates fees so probably nothing nefarious, and I know there are consumer protections (for now) about providing enough turnaround time in a billing cycle to pay but still, that late bill got me pretty cynical.

[Laffy Kat]

11. I thought that's why there are postmarks.

Doesn't a postmark prove you mailed it way before it was due.

I disagree with not paying by phone, though. I've paid all of my bills by phone for years. They give you a confirmation number at the end of the transaction. I've never had a problem and will often pay on the day they're due, depending on my situation.

[Sogo]

12. What you need to say to them when they appear to not be backing down,

"Look, I'd like to keep doing business with you, but..." Usually, in my experience, at the suggestion that you'll termination your relationship with them, they'll back down; especially if you've consistently paid on time and been a long-time customer.