This type of thing happens to me far too often.
When I opened my phone bill recently, I was surprised to see a $14.95 charge from ILD Teleservices, a company I’m pretty sure I’d never head of. When I called ILD, I was told that the charge was for an “800-number voice mail service.”
I explained that I had never signed up for an 800 number, and that no one in my family could have done so. That’s when the ILD representative pointed out, to my embarrassment, that I’d been charged the same amount every month for six months in a row.
(Guess what? I don’t always examine my phone bills.)
The representative agreed to give me credits for three months, but told me that if I wanted credits for the other three — a total of $44.85 — I would have to fax a letter to the company. (Note the incredibly arbitrary rule.) I hesitated. As the father of six-year-old twins and a writer with constant deadlines, I wondered whether sending the letter (and making the inevitable follow-up phone calls) was worth the trouble.
There was a time when I would have made as many phone calls as it took to set things straight. Back when I believed that if an error had been made, it ought to be corrected. End of story.
But these days, I think less about justice and more about my sanity. Do I really want to spend hours on the phone trying to recover $1.38 or $9.31 or even $44.85? Shouldn’t I learn to “let go of the little stuff” — not for the company’s sake, but for my own?
Then again, if people stop reporting billing errors, companies may realize they can get away with accidental overcharges. Or worse.
So, with a view to deterrence as much as enrichment, I wrote the letter and faxed it off. Let’s see if I get my $45 credit.
In the meantime, I’d like to know how you decide what to do about minor billing errors.
If you woudn’t call a company about $2, how about $20, or $200? Where do you draw the line? (And has your line moved as your income has one up or down, or as the circumstances of your life have changed?) Has the recession had an effect?
When you do pursue a billing error, is it just about the money? Or is it “the principle of the thing?”
If so: What principle?
Fred Bernstein
Fred Bernstein has degrees in architecture (from Princeton University) and law (from NYU) and writes about both subjects. Born on Long Island, he lives in New York City and has two young sons, Aaron and Jacob. ...
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anne day says:
Fred, I too am plagued with these things -- odd charges on my Amex bill (and yes, like you I don't always check)
charges for credit card services --magazine subscriptions that I didn't order -- I always get indignant and usually get my money back-- but do i have the time? -- NO- NO -NO -- but I get so ticked off that I usually pursue these odd charges and threaten to quit the credit card and usually get satisfaction if I threaten to cancel the credit card/phone service/whatever. I find that these companies do not want to lose my business. I just learned from JCrew if I want to pay my bill online in advance they will charge me ten bucks but if I pay it on the day it is due --no charge -- I am closing that account. It is all getting too complicated and I am reacting but I find that my indignation is costing me much too much time and i am not sure how to deal.
steve says:
i think that for most it's about the principle. people don't like to feel cheated no matter how much money they have. if time is money, it's rarely worth it to fight these battles.
Rebecca Taylor says:
For me, sometimes the choice comes down to this: Can I afford to take time off work to spend an hour on hold listening to bad jazz music? I am sure many people ignore 2 bucks here and there because the cost of trying to fight it is greater than the overcharge.
Jenee says:
Fred, this very thing happened to me on something I accepted when I opted to get a free credit report after a box of financial papers did not make it in my move (mind you, I gave them NO information for payment, as there was none. Suddenly (well, yes, six months later) I was being charged $19.95 for some sort of credit alert service??? First off, how did they get my debit card information? and remember, this is a company that's primary existence is to monitor fraudulent credit activity. This I found out after phoning the phone # associated with the charges that appeared on my banking statement.
"What? THIS is fraudulent activity! I don't know who you are, nor have I authorized anyone from your company to debit my bank account." She agreed to reimburse 3 months of the charges. In order to be granted the other 3 months, I had to write a letter to the company. I did write that letter, ccing my lawyer, and received full reimbursement of the remaining 3 months BACK into my bank account after I asked them to send me a check and to leave my account alone. That they were NOT authorized to interact with my banking.
The disturbing thing is how they ever got the information in the first place. Maybe from that damn box that never arrived.
Thanks for all you do on so many levels. What a great venue for voices sadly affected by crazy customer service (a bit of an oxymoron, if you will).
Best,
Jenée
Meghan says:
When I got my first credit card at 18 years old, I called indignant about a "finance charge" on my bill. When the woman gently began, "When you have a credit card, there's something called interest," I blushed up and down and apologized for taking her time (I didn't know that's what interest is called on the bill).
Anyways, now I try to stay on top of when I've given my info out, especially online. Almost always, any weird charge is some "special offer" or "renewel fee" I didn't see mentioned in the fine print. Less than 25 bucks, I'll save myself the battle and cut my losses-maybe ask about what steps would be required for a refund when canceling whatever bs service they've got me on but otherwise move on.
Mason Lerner says:
Man, this seems to happen all of time. And like you were embarrassed to learn, it can happen half a dozen times before you even get it. I had a bank charge me 200+ dollars randomly one time for "security" purposes. When I called them and yelled that I would hope that security was kind of part of the standard package, they dropped the charge. But those smaller ones are harder to deal with. The problem is, 15 buck five times a year becomes a nice weekend vacation you couldn't afford to take over time.
Anna Mod says:
The same thing happened to me with some internet voicemail that I do not remember ordering. I was billed $14.95 for 18 months. When I canceled they did give me three months credit with little effort on my part. A week later I read your piece and decided to try for the full 18 month refund. No way. I feel like a fool, which they reminded me of, for not more closely examining my bill. The bill was on auto pay to a credit card and I never would have know had I not decided to cancel my land line service. I never used the service and thought a full refund would have been a nice thing for them to do. It is about the money these days. When I had more time, it was about "the principle of the thing."
Ilona says:
Dear Fred,
I am the Director of Marketing for ILD, and I'd like to follow-up on your article. After reading about your experience, I’d like to investigate your case and track the charge back to its original source to determine an appropriate course of action, and also to ensure that all of your charges have been removed and you are not charged in the future.
As a bit of background, ILD Teleservices is a payment processor of online transactions between merchants and consumers. Using ILD's Bill to Phone service, merchants can offer customers the option of billing products and services directly to their home phone bill, allowing them to make purchases without having to disclose credit card information.
I will be happy to conduct an investigation immediately, so we can solve this problem. I’ll need the phone number of the line that was billed as well as the best way to reach you (phone or email). Please send this information to my attention at askild@ildmail.com. We can also block your telephone number in our system to ensure you no longer are billed by any service provider using ILD for billing services, if you'd like. There is some useful information on ILD Teleservices’ blog about how people can protect themselves from unauthorized transactions. http://www.ildteleservicesblog.com/?p=232
If anyone else would like me to conduct a similar investigation of the charges on their phone bills, they can send me the same information to askild@ildmail.com. Please also include your contact information and the billed phone number, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Ilona Olayan
Fred Bernstein says:
I received a subsequent e-mail from Ilona Olayan of ILD, in which she explained that the 800-number charges had been placed on my phone bill by a company called American eVoice.
Ms. Olayan ontinued: "If we discover that a merchant is engaged in billing unauthorized transactions, we take immediate action which can include terminating our billing agreement with that merchant.
. . . In mid-2008, ILD discontinued its payment processing services to American eVoice."
Anyone care to read between the lines?