On Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:24:06 -0500, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> And what happens when--not if, but when--Cingular fucks up big time and
> you get an $8000 charge on your bill?

I write the bank and tell them to reverse the charge. I'm confident that
when the bank weighs my word against Cingular's, I'll do well. There's a
reason that cell phone companies as a group rate pretty close to the bottom
of all industries in consumer approval. And it's a credit card -- I
definitely would not let them do a bank draft or debit card.

I've done OK with correcting Cingular billing errors ... as long as I
assume I'll have to call several times. Last year I got a $9.99/month cram
from mQube on my bill. Talked to several very nice CSRs over the next few
months. At least two of them looked hard enough to realize that I'd paid
the cram more times than even I had counted, and issued credits for all. At
least I think the last one succeeded ... still need another billing cycle
to check it.

> Better that you review the bill first and then go to their web site and
> put it on your card. If the bill doesn't pass your review, no harm
> done. You put the ball back in Cingular's court to get you a correct
> bill.

For me there's a real benefit in not having to worry about whether a bill
gets paid on time. If I get busy and don't want to deal with bills for a
while, I'm mostly safe. I still have to deal with the credit cards (not
willing to let them draft automatically), but otherwise I've pretty much
got all critical bills on autopay. I'd get the 1% card rebate either way,
but this way it's automatic. If you don't mind scheduling and checking
these things, then your way is a good one. People differ.

Edward
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Art Works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org