Direct TV tries to bill me AFTER account canceled

SCVJeff wrote:

Pirate wrote:

Colo Native wrote:
that's why I don't do auto pay. Then they don't have your info.

I love auto pay. I can go camping and not worry about bills being paid. If you plan on cancelling, go into your account and cancel your autopay before closing out your account.

Well maybe the rules have changed, but once upon a time the company you were authorizing autopay to was the only one that could shut it off short of you canceling the bank account. Sounds crazy but that was our experience with BofA at the time.

There are two types of auto-pay:

1. You give the contract company your credit card number, debit card number, or bank account info; they set up the auto-pay from their end. With this, the contract company has control because they have your information. THEY pull the payment from the bank/card. THEY decide when and how much to pull from your account/card. You have to go through them to cancel the payments. If they choose, they can continue to take money out of your account even if you tell them to stop (or cancel it on their website).

2. You use your bank's billpay system. With this, you give your bank the contract company's information (account number, billing address, etc.), and YOU tell your bank when to send it and how much to send. The contract company has no access to your bank account or card. They are NOT authorized to withdraw money from your account at any time. If you don't want to pay, you cancel the payments with your bank and the contract company has no control at all. You can change the amount or date the payment is sent to fit your needs. You do not have to contact the company and have them change it. You do not have to cancel your card or close your account to stop an unscrupulous company from taking your money. AND your account/card information is not stored in that company's database so there is less chance to have your security breached (if they hack into Comcast's system, your bank account information isn't there - you only have to worry about your bank's data being breached).

I do the latter. I have my electric and gas bills set up on "level payments" (meaning the company spreads out the usage over the year so you pay the same amount each month). The rest are pretty much the same amount each month. Every 6 months, I update the amounts if needed. The rest of the time, I just ignore it. When I canceled my cable, I just stopped the payments on my end. When I did a balance transfer on a credit card, I just went in and canceled the payment to the old card and started the payments to the new card. Easy peasy and I control it all.

Sounds like business as usual for DTV from my past experiences with one of the most lying and deceptive companies I have ever dealt with.

Pirate wrote:

Colo Native wrote:
that's why I don't do auto pay. Then they don't have your info.

I love auto pay. I can go camping and not worry about bills being paid. If you plan on cancelling, go into your account and cancel your autopay before closing out your account.

Well maybe the rules have changed, but once upon a time the company you were authorizing autopay to was the only one that could shut it off short of you canceling the bank account. Sounds crazy but that was our experience with BofA at the time.

Ed_Gee wrote:
I wonder if those people who seem so willing to forgive these billing "mistakes" that cause them great hassle would be as forgiving if it were their surgeon who made the honest mistake . . . . .

Direct TV = Surgeon :h

Ed_Gee wrote:
I wonder if those people who seem so willing to forgive these billing "mistakes" that cause them great hassle would be as forgiving if it were their surgeon who made the honest mistake . . . . .

Funny you should mention this. This actually happened to us. My wife had surgery, and the doctors left a sponge inside. Oops! They realized it, came out and talked to me. Of course they had to go back in to remove it.

I did not expect to be billed for 2 surgeries! When contacting the insurance company, the insurance company had NO PROBLEMS paying for the doctor's error and the second surgery .... which we were ready to fight. I would have thought the doctor and hospital would simply do the right thing, it was there mistake..... Nope! They charge for everything.

Since the insurance had no scruples paying twice, and we met all our deductibles, we rolled over and moved on.

But, this still isn't right!

Pirate wrote:

Colo Native wrote:
that's why I don't do auto pay. Then they don't have your info.

I love auto pay. I can go camping and not worry about bills being paid. If you plan on cancelling, go into your account and cancel your autopay before closing out your account.

Excellent idea! Much better than fighting to get a refund which should have never been billed for and paid to begin with.;)

I'm not sure why anyone would think this isn't simply a mistake. Did they bug you about it? Did they threaten to go to collections? Call em' tell em' they screwed up and move on. This is an unfounded personal vendetta over nothing .

Ed_Gee wrote:
I wonder if those people who seem so willing to forgive these billing "mistakes" that cause them great hassle would be as forgiving if it were their surgeon who made the honest mistake . . . . .

If it happened right after I cancelled and when I called they corrected it right away, then yes, I am willing to forgive them. Sometimes it really IS just a mistake. And no one is going to die because they messed up with my bill once.

If it happened a second month, then there is something wrong - whether it's intentional on their part or a crummy computer system, it is no longer just a simple mistake. In this case, I don't forgive them.

Comparing a billing mistake to a surgery mistake is rather extreme.

I try to use autopay whenever I can. I used to forget to pay bills all the time. Only time I had a problem like this was when US Cellular tried to charge me for 3 months at one time and refused to fix it. 2 and a half years after I switched carriers I ended up getting a $60 refund check from them.

I wonder if those people who seem so willing to forgive these billing "mistakes" that cause them great hassle would be as forgiving if it were their surgeon who made the honest mistake . . . . .