Our cable internet went out last month, right after they upgraded the network speed for the whole neighborhood. When the rest of the neighborhood came back up, we were still down, so the technician had us undo the splitter because the signal was low. This worked, and she sent a technician out to fix the signal.
He tried to charge us for it. We told him, "Don't do anything we have to pay for. This worked until the upgrade, then it didn't work. It's your problem, not mine." He said fine, installed a line amplifier, and left.
They billed us for the call. I called billing today to have it taken off. The woman didn't even ask for an explanation. She just believed me when I said I shouldn't have been charged and took it off.
My initial, nasty, suspicious thought is that they just charge for all service calls and automatically refund the ones that get complained about. I figure the number of people that don't bother to complain makes this a profitable policy.
I can't think of any other reason except really shoddy business practices why they wouldn't want some explanation as to why I don't think we owe them for the service call.
Dagonee
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Dags, I suspect that is true. And I have had very similar experiences with a number of companies.
Annoying as heck, neh?
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
Ouch. What cable service do you use? (I'm guessing Comcast)
--j_k
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
I do have to say, never underestimate a large company's ability to fail to track things...
I disconnected my comcast account three times before I moved out here... it didn't go away until early this month.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Cynical and suspicious?
Nah, just a future lawyer...
(And I can say that 'cos I am one. )
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Rivka, that is annoying as heck.
I use Cox.
Jim-Me, I normally suspect incompetence before dishonesty. But if the service guy was incompetent and submitted the service order so that it should be charged, shouldn't some checking be needed before erasing the charge?
The phone support lady could be incompetent, but I would expect a billing person's first rule to be "don't give away money." Unless she's really disgruntled or something.
Imogen, I amaze my friends, and even some classmates, with my ability to create weird but plausible conspiracy theories. It's a technique that would serve me much better as a defense attorney, since they don't have to prove their theories. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I would be suspicious, too. So it's not just you. But it could also be you just wound up with a nice, honest, helpful customer service rep who believed you. Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Another possibility, which would cast the company in a slightly better light: Billing you was a legitimate error. The company has decided from past experience that regardless of whether the customer is correct, it is cheaper for them to concede and drop contested charges (perhaps up to a certain $ amount) than spend the time and manpower on tracking them down and confirming them.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
That is a possibility, rivka. Leaves open the possibility of all sorts of customer shenanigans, so it might not remain cheaper if this becomes generally known. Good thing for them I'm such an honest guy. Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I know there are companies which actually have policies like this. 1800flowers is one of them.
Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
Most utility companies are required to track every single time they even look at your account. They usually put a note on your account every time they go into it, stating why they're looking at it, and if you're on the phone, what your complaint or whatever is. So it's most likely that when you called for the billing error, the lady looked at your past calls, noted the reason for the service failure, and credited your account.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
That's not nearly as fun a theory, Boon. But it is more plausible I guess.
I could have saved a lot of money on 1800flowers if I'd known that. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Also, your history with the companies that have generous refund policies like that plays a factor. I work for JCPenney, and we track returns. If we have a pattern with a person returning things repeatedly, without receipts for credit, theoretically they would notice that. I say theoretically because as someone who has worked there for 2 years, I have seen people abuse the return policy repeatedly and never seen anything done about it.
However, they have caught people and charged them with fraud before.
If you have a good history with them, even if you are wrong about this particular charge, they would be likely to take it off rather than lose you as a customer.
Kwea
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Good thing I didn't mention we're cancelling next month, then.
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