If a business fucks up the billing and the customer isn't aware...

[kaiser soze]

and the customer continues to pay the bills they believe are the correct ones, should the customer be penalized and retro-actively pay?

I noticed some seriously fucked up charges on my internet/cable - been paying like normal so we thought and I had a good hour chat with Charter to try to figure out what happened and the agent admitted Charter made an error in billing and I told them.

Oddly only 1 month was less than the previous after canceling our cable and we thought it was for the remaining internet service we have. Seriously convoluted billing statement to say the least, wow.

So Charter gave us a $50 credit after an hour chat. All I wanted was some clarity and fairness - we have been paying what we believed were the correct bills.

I saved that Chat for further proof.

[checkyourprez]

you didnt make it totally clear to me if you were over paying or under paying.


but its like jeopardy in my opinion. they fuck up and award you $ for a wrong answer, they correct that shit and taketh away. they fuck up and not award you $ for a right answer, they correct that shit and giveth.

pay what was owed, or get paid if you over paid imo.

[Adam]

Part of the contract of the business to the customer is to provide a service at an agreed rate, if either the agreed rate or service is wrong the customer should be compensated.

Part of the contract of the customer to the business is to pay the bills on time at an agreed rate for a service. If the customer stops paying, underpays or abuses that service then the business have a right to stop providing.

I know that doesn't really answer the question but I didn't fully understand it. I believe the customer is right until proved wrong. I've done my fair share of call centres and one thing a customer doesn't need on the other end of the phone is a smart arse because it solves nothing and just creates more calls or a complaint. I also think that if a customer has been highly inconvenience due to over complicated billing or a misunderstanding, its good business practice to get some sort of good will gesture from the business.

[Guy Incognito]

at our place , if we fuck up and it means customer is underpaying, depending on the sum, we usually just call that a line in the sand and start the correct billing from when noticed or if its more make them pay but be reasonable about it with a fair repayment plan

[kaiser soze]

That is how I would take it as well - considering our bill was paid on time at the rate they charged us. They say we didn't pay for internet when lo and behold it is on our pay statement.

It is really fucked up and I'm convinced they are inflating or skewing numbers

[checkyourprez]

Originally Posted by kaiser soze

That is how I would take it as well - considering our bill was paid on time at the rate they charged us. They say we didn't pay for internet when lo and behold it is on our pay statement.

It is really fucked up and I'm convinced they are inflating or skewing numbers

well it should be a previously agreed upon rate upon the start of the contract. unless you have one of those new usage based plans but i doubt that is the case as you have not stated as such.

so if it was agreed upon that you should be paying X and you were really paying Y, which was lower, than you still were in a contract to pay X, so you should have to make up the difference. just as if you were over paying at Z you would demand repayment or credit of the overage. fair is fair.