Sometimes the strangest things happen.
While trying to get a handle on my sister’s finances, I found that her credit union has been faithfully sending a monthly automatic payment for her cable bill (I’ll leave the company unnamed, although we all know who it is). The most recent payment was just made in September.
The problem is that her service with Honolulu’s cable provider was discontinued either in December 2013 or in April 2014 (according to the company, which has provided two different answers so far). For more than two years, those monthly payments have apparently just gone into the ether, as the cable company says they have no record of receiving them.
I made several telephone calls and a personal visit to their customer service, confirmed that the service had been cut off long ago, but came up blank about where the money has gone for these past couple of years. And when I asked, they failed to provide any information on how to push the case up the chain of command so that it could be resolved.
I fumed for about ten minutes, then decided to shift the burden from my end to theirs. If information on where to go to resolve billing disputes isn’t readily available on the company website, or provided by customer service, it doesn’t seem like breaking the code should be my problem. Instead of trying more frustrating telephone calls, I put all this information into a complaint which was then filed with the Cable Television Division of the Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs (with copy via registered mail to the cable provider). Those went out late last week.
Last night I received a phone call from a supervisor for the provider, requesting copies of my sister’s bank statements showing the monthly payments, which will be forwarded to their accounting department.
It’s quite a lot of money (possibly more than $4,000) to have just gone walkabout.
And to boost the frustration another notch, I contacted her credit union to stop them from making the next monthly payment. The credit union says the provider is supposed to control the payment and order it stopped. If we do it from the client’s end, there’s a $25 fee, as if the payment error was our fault. If it’s not resolved by the time this month’s payment is due, I’ll order a stop and ask the cable provider to reimburse that expense as well.
Isn’t it interesting how sharing this tale of frustration has already made me feel better?
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Yet another reason I’ll never be their customer ever again.
Sounds to me that there may also be material there to support a criminal complaint for theft. If Oceanic has been accepting money for services for a couple of years that they didn’t provide, that sure sounds like unjust enrichment to me. Perhaps a letter to the AG might also be in order
I don’t understand why a vendor would be allowed to control when to stop making payments. That just sounds wrong. However, I learned long ago that any recurring payments should be put on credit card.
“For more than two years, those monthly payments have apparently just gone into the ether, as the cable company says they have no record of receiving them.”
someone didn’t see it on their computer screen so they concluded it didn’t exist. it’s like negotiating with a robot.
That happened to us with a commercial Hawaiian Tel account. Lines were disconnected, and due to their unbelievably complicated billing our bookkeeper didn’t notice we were still being billed for them. They responded to our letter, though, and refunded the money pretty quickly. The only auto-pay I have is for UPS and I watch it like a hawk.
I hate auto-pay! I personally never use it, but my husband does for some things. Too many things can go wrong in this day and age. We’ve been lucky so far, knock wood. And dealing with Oceanic Time Warner, if that’s the company you dealt with, is often frustrating all by itself. Not like the old days when anyone you spoke with was here in Hawaii.
In the midst of dealing with a health crisis, a billing screwup is the last thing you need. Hopefully, it is just a mistake. But if any fraud is going on, you’d best go through your sister’s accounts with a fine tooth comb to make sure that all other withdrawals and payments are legit.
I generally love auto payment. However, I did have to fork over a “stop payment” fee to get an automatic payment to end when I couldn’t get the financial entity to cancel an insurance account. The irony is with online banking, if I had set it up as an e-payment I could have stopped it myself for free, but the auto pay was set up in the days of paper … modern life!
Hi Ian,
When this happened to me for the same company about 5 years ago, I found the money had gone to the State Of Hawaii under the escheatment laws. I took a couple of months but I did get the money back. You can check on the states unclaimed property site.
Thanks
After a similar experience, my wife and I never use auto-pay. We prefer to continue patronizing the United States Postal Service.
I have refused to use this type of service for just this type of reason. I require statements mailed to me, and I pay by check mailed. I do not consider online banking secure.
Magic letters for telecommunications companies (oceanic cable provides phone service btw) is PUC. Sure fire way to light a fire under local companies keesters that answer to the PUC. Just mention that to customer service you’ll definitely see a change in tone.