Who’s responsible for years of overbilling?
February 4 2009 by Ellen Roseman
You look at your latest monthly bill and find a mysterious charge that shouldn’t be there. It’s outdated or just plain wrong.
Then, you pull out older bills and discover that you have been overcharged for many years. What a juicy refund you will get.
You call the company and ask for compensation. Too bad, you’re told. You can get reimbursed for one year, maybe two years, of overbilling — certainly not five or 10 years.
Why didn’t you check your bills more often? The company says it’s your fault for not noticing if a mistake went undetected for a long time. You have to take responsibility here.
Bell Canada is notorious for overcharging and giving skimpy refunds. It has a written policy of not giving more than one year’s worth of compensation in a dispute.
Companies that sell energy door to door also shy away from giving refunds when they lock you into a contract by mistake. They think it’s enough to give you an early release. Only if you make lots of noise will they repay you for the overcharges.
I think customers should check their bills and companies should rectify their mistakes in full. Right now, they can deliberately overcharge you and wait for complaints. If they hold you off for a year or more, they’re home free.
I’m posting comments below from customers who want companies to be more accountable for billing errors.
The question of responsibility came up in my column today about a judge whose chequing account was frozen because he had run an overdraft for six months. Some readers thought I was irresponsible to champion his cause. I thought the bank should have made his obligations clear to him before clamping down so heavily.
RG
Feb 4 2009
I recently discovered that I was still paying for a Bell Vista phone rental at $9.90 a month, when Bell had in fact discontinued this over 10 years ago!
I’m copying my original email to an executive at Bell and a subsequent response, which I am not very happy about.
Dear Kevin Crull,
After many frustrating calls to customer service at Bell, I decided to email you with my concern.
I have been a Bell customer for 30 odd years! I also have a Bell mobility wireless phone.
While I was on the phone to a customer service rep on Aug. 29,2008, he noted that there was a Vista rental of $9.90 on my bill. He told me that Bell had stopped charging for the rental of the Vista phone in 1996!!
Needless to say, I was shocked at this information and dismayed that it had never been noticed before. The most horrifying thing of all is I have paid Bell Canada $1,425.60 over a span of 12 years for a rental that was totally unnecessary.
I had to make a trip with my phone to a Bell World store to have this rental cancelled. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just have someone in customer service take it off my bill? They seem to be able to do everything else! Didn’t I pay for this phone tenfold by then?
Bell World removed the rental fee and made a note on my account that a service rep in a specialized department would call me. That was last September. I’m still waiting.
This is a gross error on Bell Canada’s part to have kept charging me for a rental that I didn’t have to pay for. I should have been called about this many years ago!!
Don’t you think I would have jumped at the chance to have $9.90 taken off my monthly bill?
I would expect Bell to do the prudent thing and offer a rebate. If I am not satisfied with a response from Bell, I will find another telephone provider.
Here is the response I received:
From: andre.oulimar@bell.ca
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 7:56 AM
Subject: Bell Canada
This is following your email of Dec. 3 to Kevin Crull, President, Residential Services, regarding a telephone rental set dispute.
I have verified your account profile and am unable to trace any requests for a callback with regards to this issue. I apologise on behalf of Bell Canada for any inconvenience and hope the following information will clarify your concerns.
On Feb. 12, 1996, following a CRTC decision, Bell Canada no longer had the monopoly on repairing interior wiring for customers (jacks and wires) and telephone rentals were no longer an obligation with your telephone service.
Due to the changing marketplace and customer preferences, Bell no longer offers telephone rental options since Jan. 1, 1998.
Customers have been informed of these changes through different messages and inserts with their invoices throughout the years. However, existing customers who rent telephones, such as yourself, have been able to maintain the choice to rent.
When a customer rents a telephone from Bell, we are responsible for any repair to the set or replacement if it is beyond repair. Some customers like this option so they continue to rent.
For our customers who no longer wish to rent, we offer the choice of purchasing the rental set outright or returning it to Bell as it remains Bell Canada’s property. The telephone rental fee is detailed on a customer’s monthly statement.
Mrs. G, in light of the above, I will be unable to comply with your request to provide a rebate on the rental of the telephone set.
Bell has a reputation for honesty and fair play and it would be inappropriate to compensate some customers and not others. As you state, you have returned the telephone set rented from Bell Canada to one of our Bell World stores on Sept. 17 and the charges have since stopped.
I trust you will understand our position on this matter and hope you will find this explanation helpful.
Sincerely,
André Oulimar
Executive Office Associate
Bell Canada’s Executive Care Solution Centre
514-495-7591/ 1-866-673-4034
————————————————————
I don’t recall ever having received the option of continuing a rental or not.
A representative did speak with my husband on Dec. 4, but didn’t inform him of the rental option. I would like to know when and how I was notified.
Wouldn’t it have been good customer service to follow up with a Bell customer, even on a yearly basis to review their satisfaction, and ask: “oh, by the way, do you want to continue to pay for the rental of your Vista phone?”
I only discoverd this charge by accident in reviewing my bill with a customer representative.
MS
Feb 4 2009
On Jan. 16, someone claiming to be from Bell Customer Care called me. It turned out to be another company trying to sell me a Long Distance Plan, which I did not want.
However, the caller mentioned that I was already signed up with a long distance provider. Since I knew I had not signed up with anyone, I asked who this provider was. She said it was Bell Canada.
I called Bell’s billing department to ask if I was on their long distance plan. I was surprised to find out that I had been paying $5.96 since October 2004. This charge shows on my bill as “First Rate TM 24 hours”.
I pointed out that I never signed up for a long distance plan. I’m on automatic billing. Since my bill consists of my home phone and also my cell phone and internet, I had not been aware that the “First Rate TM24 hours” $5.95 charge was actually a long distance plan. Nowhere did it mention “Long Distance Plan”.
Also during this whole time that I was apparently signed up with Bell as my long distance provider, I had always continued using other discount long distance providers for my (mostly overseas) long distance calls.
During all these years, why did Bell telemarketers continue to call me and ask me to join their long distance plan? (It was probably because I was still using discount long distance providers.) I had been saying no thanks. But until Jan. 16, no one had ever pointed out to me that I was already signed up with Bell.
I spoke to a supervisor, who said he might be able to offer me a 6-month or perhaps a 1-year refund, but couldn’t make any promises.
I asked for proof that I had actually signed up for a long distance plan with Bell. If they couldn’t give me that proof, I now wanted a complete refund.
Most customers (naïve as it may sound) trust companies they’ve been dealing with for years. When they say no to a Bell telemarketer, they shouldn’t have to worry that the service they declined will be put on their bill without their knowledge under some disguised name i.e. First Rate TM 24 hours.
I never thought Bell would add a service I didn’t order onto my bill without my knowledge. With the automatic billing, I didn’t take much notice or query the First Rate TM 24 hours charge.
In my defense, this charge didn’t mention long distance plan. And since I never stopped using the other discount long distance providers (which Bell also noticed as their telemarketers kept on calling, trying to sell me their long distance plan) I honestly was unaware that a long distance plan had been added to my account.
Bell should have notified me after this service was added to confirm that I was indeed satisfied. Now that would have been customer care and could have prevented all this.
I am wondering how many other Bell customers are unaware of what the charge codes on their bill actually mean and are also paying for services they didn’t ask for or want.
Our stand is: Two wrongs don’t make a right. A company can’t just add a charge to an account without the customer’s consent. But if they do and the customer doesn’t notice right away, the company isn’t automatically entitled to keep it.
If Bell wants to credit our account with a year, they can. However, we do not consider this is a settlement and we want to keep this file open. We sincerely hope they will rethink their decision and give us the full refund, along with an apology we feel we are entitled to.
MS
Feb 4 2009
I am beyond outraged at your article “How not to treat a Loyal Customer.”
Some facts:
Overdraft is NOT a line of credit. It is NOT to be used as such. Hence the high interest charges.
As per the terms and conditions, it is not a line of credit and must be repaid monthly. Can this so-called Judge not read? Does he not understand Money 101?
Why does this judge who lays down the law of the land think it’s okay not to follow the rules himself?
I would highly question his spending habits if he is living paycheck to paycheck on an overdraft. He needs credit counselling if he thinks running an overdraft for over six months is appropriate. He should have paid that balance immediately as requested.
You state “banks can go overboard in their efforts to manage credit risk, as Marvin Zuker’s story shows.”
You cannot be serious when you state that banks are going overboard. He is running a balance on an account that is NOT to be used as such! He is 100% completely responsible for the treatment he received at BMO.
If this was a credit card and you choose not to pay the request balance after 30 days, you know what happens? The credit card company will FREEZE your account till you either pay the balance in full or the required amount.
This is not a new practice at any bank or lending company. It is written in the terms and has been done for years.
So his account was frozen, he couldn’t write checks or do any banking? That is what happens when you think you don’t need to follow the rules. He deserved this! Your privileges get taken away when you don’t follow the rules.
I pay my credit card every single month and I use it for every single purchase. I respect the terms, and use it as intended. I pay 0% interest.
Rob in Madrid
Feb 5 2009
Every time an article runs like the one about the Judge with an overdraft, people automatically assume that having credit is bad. I don’t understand that. People run overdrafts or use lines of credit for a variety of reasons and they don’t pay them off for the same reasons, this doesn’t mean there a bad credit risk or somehow less human!
Rob in Madrid
Feb 5 2009
Secondly when was the last time you read and UNDERSTOOD the fine print of anything, whether it’s installing some software on your computer or renting a car or opening a bank account or CC, simple fact is no body does and I can gauantee that MS didn’t either.
BTW I ran an overdraft on my account for years and the bank never said anything!
Rob in Madrid
Feb 5 2009
BTW here’s the terms and conditions for opening a new account over at the Star, did anybody bother reading them before signing up?
ps sorry about the 3 comments but you can’t edit comments
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Last updated: March 28, 2008
Chavez
Feb 7 2009
If you don’t understand the rules, Rob in Madrid, you shouldn’t be using the service. Also, don’t lump everyone into your category. Just because you don’t understand things, doesn’t make us all dim-bulbs.
Tom
Feb 14 2009
My issue of being charged is with Goodlife Fitness.
To anyone thinking of going to a fitness club: Avoid them at all costs.
Five years ago, when I moved back to Belleville, Ont., I signed up with them. For two years, it was great. I enjoyed working out there and taking part in their squash leagues. The problem came when I left.
I moved away from Belleville and I let them know this. During that two years, I had moved out of my parents’ place and was living on my own.
Anyway, I went in and asked to cancel my membership. I was told by the gentleman there, yes sir, I’ll cancel that right away and we’re sorry to see you go.
I explained that I was moving to a place that didn’t have Goodlife but I would recomend them to anyone. Oh boy, I wish I could take that back now.
That day was over three years ago. Since then, it has been numerous trips to Goodlife and being told over and over again, yes sir, it’s being cancelled and I’m sorry that the previous person didn’t do their job but it’s cancelled now.
I have been emailing their head office and this is my favorite quote I got.
————————————————————————————————-
Good Afternoon Tom,
Thank you for your email. I can certainly appreciate your frustration with the situation.
I have pulled your membership file from our archives and the only thing other than your membership agreement is a change of banking and a hold form.
Unfortunately, there is no request to cancel. In order to provide you with the requested refund, we would need you to provide proof of cancellation as we have none on file.
I have cancelled the membership moving forward, the last payment being October 10th, allowing access until November 6th. I am sorry if this was not the answer you were hoping for, but again, if you can provide the necessary documentation, we will be happy to re-evaluate the situation for you.
Thank you again and enjoy the rest of your day.
————————————————————————————————-
The necessary documenation. I love that. How about this for your documentation? You closed your location I went to two years ago and apparently switched me over to another one without my permission.
And to top this off, this is my favorite thing. This didn’t stop the charges either. I still got more charges afterwards. I had to put a full stop payment on this from my bank (where, of course, you have to pay a stop payment fee).
Now they are trying to go after me in collections for their fees charged after that email was sent out where I was assured my membership was cancelled.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand it’s my responsibility to keep an eye on my bank statements and I do. But when a company says that they are cancelling your account, you expect them to follow through.
This wasn’t just a one-time thing with them either. I was repeatedly told that, oh yes, this was cancelled. Alright it’s cancelled. Every time I hear the name Goodlife, I just want to scream.
Tom
Feb 14 2009
Oh, just got to add why moving out of my parents’ place was important — because all the correspondence I have with them always gets shipped to my parents.
I have complained numerous times. Written to the company and changed it at the Goodlife place itself. And still they sent the stuff to my parents.
And then the collections people tried calling my parents. It was ridiculous. It was finally the collections people that got my address changed to the correct one, because Goodlife apparently can’t even do that right.