2 billing rants

[tvguy]

1) DW needed crutches after surgery. Insurance paid all but 34 cents. The durable medical goods company billed me the 34 cents. Didn't that just cost them more to bill me than they will net? I know my old dentist used to just write off balances of less than $10 because he figured it cost him nearly that to generate a bill, mail it, and then process the payment.

2) Logged onto the ATT site to pay my phone bill. It says the payment is due in August, but says the account is past due. How can that be? I called, and apparently their computer left off 27 cents in taxes from my last bill, and didn't catch it until after my next bill was mailed. How can it be past due when it hasn't even hit a billing cycle yet?

 

[wdw4rfam]

Watch your next bill from att now, they did the same to me last year, and then charged me a late fee because it was "past due"

 

[*Flower*]

Tried to do the same thing to me when I was discontinuing land line service.
I had them disconnect it, called and talked to a human who provided me with the final amount owed. I paid it, and the following month when I checked my account to verify closure, they tried to bill me additional $$.

Called them back with the name of the person I spoke with, and after a bit of a tussle- they finally conceded that it was their error and I didn't have to pay it.

What a pain!!

 

[POOHsie]

Years ago, I used to have Verizon phone and DSL service. They sent one monthly bill for all services. I called the Customer Service number on the printed bill to cancel both services and get a final bill amount, since I was switching to Comcast. Verizon told me the final bill amount and I paid that with my online banking that same day. A few months later I did my usual check of my Credit Report, and there was a negative entry from Verizon Collections. This was a shock, since I paid in full, and I hadn't received any subsequent bill from them.

I called, and the Verizon rep told me that their 2 services were in 2 different locations, so I had to cancel each service individually to get fully cancelled. (They didn't tell me that before!) Since I didn't call DSL to cancel service separately, DSL continued to bill me. Except they didn't send me any bills. My account somehow went straight to "Collections." What a Crock of Stuff! Anyway, the amount was "forgiven" and the Credit Report entry was removed. OMG!!!

 

[Stephaniesue]

I can beat that.

ATT billed me for September service last year, it was a credit to my bill. So I had a negative balance. Two weeks later I get a disconnect notice. They tried to say I didn't pay my August bill, and the September credit had nothing to do with it.

They fixed it, refunded the disconnect amount. I went on my merry way. I kid you not, 2 days later it was shut off again!

I was so upset, I terminated all services with them. This was the second time in a year they pulled this and I was done.

We now have another provider, we pay the same amount, but are happy. And my service isn't shut off when I pay the bill!

 

[DisneyNutMary]

I would pay the medical supply company with a credit card, let them incur the 3% (or whatever it's up to now) fee.
Sorry about the phone bill, I think the advances of computer billing have actually turned people who work for those companies into idiots.

 

[Planogirl]

Keep in mind that many of these bills are generated by a computer and actual people don't even see these. Hopefully they'll be cooperative once you reach someone though.

 

[3boymthr]

With regard to the billing from the medical office. As Plano Girl mentioned some are generated by a computer and never seen by a person. There are also some billing systems that won't allow you to write off a bill until it has actually been billed so even if a person reviewed the amounts before billing they can't go in and write it off even if it is under $1. The review is simply to make sure that the billed amounts are correct.

 

[mousehockey37]

1) DW needed crutches after surgery. Insurance paid all but 34 cents. The durable medical goods company billed me the 34 cents. Didn't that just cost them more to bill me than they will net? I know my old dentist used to just write off balances of less than $10 because he figured it cost him nearly that to generate a bill, mail it, and then process the payment.

2) Logged onto the ATT site to pay my phone bill. It says the payment is due in August, but says the account is past due. How can that be? I called, and apparently their computer left off 27 cents in taxes from my last bill, and didn't catch it until after my next bill was mailed. How can it be past due when it hasn't even hit a billing cycle yet?

My best friend had a .07 gas bill one month. Yeah, he wasn't too thrilled, but mailed them a check anyway.

 

[usnuzuloose]

1) DW needed crutches after surgery. Insurance paid all but 34 cents. The durable medical goods company billed me the 34 cents. Didn't that just cost them more to bill me than they will net? I know my old dentist used to just write off balances of less than $10 because he figured it cost him nearly that to generate a bill, mail it, and then process the payment.

2) Logged onto the ATT site to pay my phone bill. It says the payment is due in August, but says the account is past due. How can that be? I called, and apparently their computer left off 27 cents in taxes from my last bill, and didn't catch it until after my next bill was mailed. How can it be past due when it hasn't even hit a billing cycle yet?

The wonderful world of ATT. The medical should have called that costs nothing. I want to know who makes all these nice decision's that cost us more?

 

[smokeyblue]

A few years ago I had some progressively worsening ENT issues. The doctors office strung me along for months and months having me come back once or twice a month for 7 months. It got so bad that I was in complete agony, so much so that I was living on prednisone, vicodin and aleve. After 7 months he told me that I was a medical anomaly, and that I made his 24 years of medical practice mean nothing I was sooooo mad. I was being a good patient and tried everything his office asked me to do. He should have told me earlier that he wasn't going to be able to help me. So the kicker . . . after months of $20 copays and him taking money from my insurance for nothing he sends me a bill for $5.64 for the nose scope his PA did in the office. $5.64?

I finally got another doctor to refer me to the infectious disease doctor. He told me I had shingles in my throat! After two weeks of antivirals I was feeling good and after 3-4 weeks I was symptom free!

That $5.64 probably would have covered the generic antivirals that gave me my life back!

 

[tvguy]

With regard to the billing from the medical office. As Plano Girl mentioned some are generated by a computer and never seen by a person. There are also some billing systems that won't allow you to write off a bill until it has actually been billed so even if a person reviewed the amounts before billing they can't go in and write it off even if it is under $1. The review is simply to make sure that the billed amounts are correct.

A person programmed the computer and they certainly could program it to write off any bills below a certain amount.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

The wonderful world of ATT. The medical should have called that costs nothing. I want to know who makes all these nice decision's that cost us more?

Calling costs the workers hourly wage. 10 minute call could cost 3.00 or more.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

As annoying as it is, my medical bills come whether there is a balance or not. It is then letting me know that it has been paid or not.

Silly for them to fuss over 34 cents, but I'm pretty sure it is all automatically generated.