Oh geez, because this wasn't BAD ENOUGH - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

lindalove · 10-17-2006, 04:09 PM

I am like, seeing red. HEADS ARE ABOUT TO ROLL.

So I'd been trying for ages to have my auto-payment turned off on my cell phone. I filled out little papers and sent them in multiple times. Yeah, I could have called but it wasn't a HUGE deal at the time. So this month, it STILL wasn't turned off, and t-mobile over-drafted my account because they took the money out before I had a chance to pay them with Jeff's credit card.

So I called and complained, naturally. I was told that they couldn't just cancel the charge (… I have a very very VERY hard time believing that) and that I should call the bank. However they said that they would pay my overdraft fees if the bank couldn't help. That was last Sunday night.

So Tuesday morning I call the bank first thing (because they were closed Monday, even though I had to work, double-yew tee eff? silly bank) and first they made me wait until wednesday to talk to me because it was still a pending charge. THEN they said that they could technically let me file an unauthorized charge report, but that I should try to work with t-mobile again because my report would get snagged a million times because I really AM doing business with t-mobile and it would take forever.

So I called t-mobile back nd was again told that they can't just refund my money and let me put it on a different card but to call again as soon as my overdraft charges hit my account. I of course am less than thrilled that my account is over-drafting because then the bank thinks I suck, but what can I do, right?

Looking over my account, I realized that if I can convince my mom to transfer $15 into my account (because the account transfers clear really fast) then with the money in savings, my account wouldn't overdraft at all with my overdraft-protection. Not over-drafting is obviously the best course of action. Cool right?

Well, the next day I get up and I have a balance of -$90. NEGATIVE NINETY. Welcome to another WTF?!?! moment. Turns out that overdraft protection only applies if you have $50.01 or more in savings. Guess how much I had in there. $48.97. I was like, "ARE YOU FRICKEN KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!??!" If I had known that I would have moved the damn $48 manually of course. But I figured it was an automatic thing no matter what as long as it left me with at least 1 cent in savings (cause they legally can't overdraft a savings account). I was wrong.

So all my pending things went through and I had $57 in fees already applied and I a $33 charge that hadn't cleared yet.

....... lovely. The bank offers to cancel 2 of the 3 overdraft fees that are already posted, which was cool. I love my bank.

So then I call t-mobile.

After leaving me on hold for like, 15 minutes, THE GUY TELLS ME THAT THEY ARE NOT GOING TO PAY MY FEES. At this point, I'm seriously about ready to, in the words of Daniel, "cut a bitch". Or go on a murderous rampage. So I take a very deep breath so that I don't scream at the guy (which I would have loved to do, but I'm at work and people around me were on the phone) and go, "… this is unacceptable. It is not MY fault you guys cannot get your shit together and cancel my auto-debit the first two times I request it. I was told by 3 different people that my fees would be covered because this was YOUR error. If my fees are NOT covered, I can guarantee that next month, I will not be re-signing my contract, and I will also be telling every single person that I know about how poorly I am being treated after being a good customer for so long. Can I please speak to a supervisor?"

So I got put on hold for another 10 minutes, then the guy comes back and says, "Ok I spoke to the supervisor you had spoken to the first time and he said that even though it's completely against policy, we are going to credit you the $57 to your account."

*sunshine and butterflies* "Thank you so much Adam!" *puke*

So at the end of the day, they are covering my fees, but GOD it was a pain in the neck. And I still have a negative balance on my bank account because they "can't give me a refund to my bank account".

So after all that is done, and I thought I was finished.. I JUST FOUND OUT MY GOD DAMN CAR INSURANCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Why? Because the bank wouldn't cash my check because it went through when I had a -$90 balance. So now I have to go open a new account which means I'm going to lose my consistant-customer discount, and blah blah blah.

GAAAAAAAAAAAH WTF?!?!!

Lady Sage · 10-17-2006, 04:20 PM

When it rains it pours dear one... Usually if the bank will write a letter or the company that caused all the rucus they would allow you to keep your consistant-customer discounts... couldnt hurt to try right?

vanblah · 10-18-2006, 06:17 AM

Quote:

I of course am less than thrilled that my account is over-drafting because then the bank thinks I suck, but what can I do, right?

Banks love it when you overdraft; they get an additional fee that way.

All of these "convenience" mechanisms are there to set you up for overdraft. Don't let anyone, even your bank, have control of when debits occur. You can still pay online; but you should be the one in charge of when the payment goes out.

thingstodo · 10-18-2006, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanblah

Banks love it when you overdraft; they get an additional fee that way.

All of these "convenience" mechanisms are there to set you up for overdraft. Don't let anyone, even your bank, have control of when debits occur. You can still pay online; but you should be the one in charge of when the payment goes out.

So true. I only handle a few select things like this. My house payment and car leases. Everything else comes to me for approval through my credit card, which I can always dispute if needed. There are a few e-mails that I authorize but I don't like many companies to have access to my bank account.

Also, you can apply for a credit card type of overdraft protection. I basically have a cc account at the bank with no actual card. This will cover me for up to 2,000. At that point I have to pay the balance by the due date or pay interest.

And finally, given all that's happened, the bank really should cover you with your insurance company if you ask nicely! As you mentioned, they've already been helpful!

hunnychile · 10-18-2006, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thingstodo

So true. I only handle a few select things like this. My house payment and car leases. Everything else comes to me for approval through my credit card, which I can always dispute if needed. There are a few e-mails that I authorize but I don't like many companies to have access to my bank account.

Also, you can apply for a credit card type of overdraft protection.

Agreed & Same with me.

I still look at all my statements every time they arrive. I have saved many bucks over the years catching errors in billing. postings etc. Yes, and I tally every charge listed on the check when I go out to eat.

vanblah · 10-18-2006, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hunnychile

Yes, and I tally every charge listed on the check when I go out to eat.

Slight threadjack here ...

Years ago my wife and I went out to eat with a group of friends. One friend had decided that SHE was going to pay the entire bill. Fine with us.

When she got the bill she signed without even looking at it.

Right as we were leaving our waiter came running up to us. They had accidentally charged her for 200 soups.

200 x $3.95 = $790

I'm guilty about not looking at everything all the time ... but holy cow.

Doug

The_Jazz · 10-19-2006, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindalove

So after all that is done, and I thought I was finished.. I JUST FOUND OUT MY GOD DAMN CAR INSURANCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Why? Because the bank wouldn't cash my check because it went through when I had a -$90 balance. So now I have to go open a new account which means I'm going to lose my consistant-customer discount, and blah blah blah.

I'm not sure what the exact time-frame of this story is, but being an insurance nerd, I may be some help. Unless you've got an illegal insurance policy, what you received from your insurance carrier is most likely a "notice of intent to cancel". All 50 states require at least 10 days notice before they can cancel your coverage, and almost every one starts the clock on the date you RECEIVE the notice, not the day they mail it (generally by adding 2 or 3 days from the date mailed). That means that if you've gotten this all straightened out you can either send them a new check or get them to rerun the one they have. If you've gotten the consistent customer discount and explain what happened (spin it as a double billing), the carrier will probably be happy to keep you as a customer.

Read the fine print of the notice you got - you'll probably find a date in the future when coverage will be cancelled. You may not be screwed yet, but you need to act fairly quickly. Personal auto insurers are battling big time right now for retention, and I've heard of some that have handed down mandates to their agents to do whatever it takes to keep folks on the rolls.

Good luck!

lindalove · 10-19-2006, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Jazz

I'm not sure what the exact time-frame of this story is, but being an insurance nerd, I may be some help. Unless you've got an illegal insurance policy, what you received from your insurance carrier is most likely a "notice of intent to cancel". All 50 states require at least 10 days notice before they can cancel your coverage, and almost every one starts the clock on the date you RECEIVE the notice, not the day they mail it (generally by adding 2 or 3 days from the date mailed). That means that if you've gotten this all straightened out you can either send them a new check or get them to rerun the one they have. If you've gotten the consistent customer discount and explain what happened (spin it as a double billing), the carrier will probably be happy to keep you as a customer.

Read the fine print of the notice you got - you'll probably find a date in the future when coverage will be cancelled. You may not be screwed yet, but you need to act fairly quickly. Personal auto insurers are battling big time right now for retention, and I've heard of some that have handed down mandates to their agents to do whatever it takes to keep folks on the rolls.

Good luck!

No, they definitely cancelled. They never even sent me anything in the mail. I called to find out how much I still owed them cause I lost my bill and the lady said they cancelled me on the 10th. I was SUPPOSED to be insured until the 11th of next month.

The whole ordeal started on the 8th.

Having heard what you have to say about the matter, I think that I will most certainly be finding a new car insurance company. Those bastards.

The_Jazz · 10-19-2006, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindalove

No, they definitely cancelled. They never even sent me anything in the mail. I called to find out how much I still owed them cause I lost my bill and the lady said they cancelled me on the 10th. I was SUPPOSED to be insured until the 11th of next month.

The whole ordeal started on the 8th.

Having heard what you have to say about the matter, I think that I will most certainly be finding a new car insurance company. Those bastards.

Call the department of insurance and tell them the above. The carrier has to give you 10 days notice for nonpayment of premium. They have to show proof of mailing as well, and just saying "we mailed it on such-and-such" date doesn't count.

Unless you just want to change carrier, which is your perogative.

Cynthetiq · 10-19-2006, 08:14 AM

yet another reason to NEVER let anyone access IN to your banking accounts.

I give them access to charge my credit card, which is bad enough, but I can dispute it with them and with my credit card company. Gold/Platinum has its advantages.

And that over draft thingy... another scam to lull more money out of your pockets. There is no such thing as a free lunch. EVER.

Contact your state attorney general, chances are there are others who have made this same complaint.

ratbastid · 10-19-2006, 08:16 AM

Submit your story to http://www.consumerist.com . It's a blog that's all about stories like these. What's great is, major corporations are now reading that blog and dealing with people's customer service nightmares that get posted there.

thingstodo · 10-19-2006, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

And that over draft thingy... another scam to lull more money out of your pockets. There is no such thing as a free lunch. EVER.

Actually I do have overdraft protection up to $2K that doesn't cost me a penny, even if I use it. I only have to pay the statement on time to avoid charges. Perhaps it's the type of checking account I have?

lindalove · 10-19-2006, 06:22 PM

I would like to say that T-Mobile has actually worked very hard to get me compensated for my troubles. They did credit me for all of my overdraft fees, and when I told them about my car insurance being cancelled (I am definitely ditching the insurance company btw) they were very apologetic, sent me to Advanced Customer Care, and the guy there took excellent care of me .

I was seriously considering switching carriers, but they offered me $200 off of a $350 phone that had mentioned being interested in previously.. yeah, I'll take my Blackberry Pearl for $150 and call us even now. Thanks guys.

Honestly, now that I've had some time to cool down, I do think they did a very good job of fixing their mistake. The auto-debit is turned off now, I'll be paying all future bills by check, etc. I'm pretty satisfied now.

I am pretty pissed off at the insurance company though.

The bank also did me ok, they refunded 2 of my 3 overdraft charges.

Thanks everyone.

Shauk · 10-27-2006, 07:32 PM

well, not to be obvious, but.... you need to make more money or something. :\

Maybe I'm just anal about my finances or something but having extra money to account for the world of stupid people we live in, is a necessity, not a luxury.

The_Jazz · 10-28-2006, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindalove

I am pretty pissed off at the insurance company though.

Linda,

I'm glad almost everything worked out for you. That's good news. However, from the information you've given me, the cancellation of your auto insurance is illegal. They can't do that. It doesn't matter what state, since they're all very consistent on this particular point. They have to give you 10 days notice of cancellation. Period. Every single time. Now, you have to make the decision if you want to stay with that company, but if you do, it's an easy fight for you. Tell them that you never received NOC (notice of cancellation) and that your policy states that they have to notify you within 10 days of their intent to cancel. If they can't or won't show you the proof, get the department of insurance involved. Let me know if you need a name or number, and I can track one down at work pretty quickly and easily.

Trust me, I know this issue backwards and forewards - I've had some nightmare accounts that have cancelled, and everything has to be documented very carefully. Then again, this may be too much of a hassle for you, especially if you've already replaced the coverage.

Good job on the rest of it, though.

10-17-2006, 04:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
lindalove Registered User	Oh geez, because this wasn't BAD ENOUGH I am like, seeing red. HEADS ARE ABOUT TO ROLL. So I'd been trying for ages to have my auto-payment turned off on my cell phone. I filled out little papers and sent them in multiple times. Yeah, I could have called but it wasn't a HUGE deal at the time. So this month, it STILL wasn't turned off, and t-mobile over-drafted my account because they took the money out before I had a chance to pay them with Jeff's credit card. So I called and complained, naturally. I was told that they couldn't just cancel the charge (… I have a very very VERY hard time believing that) and that I should call the bank. However they said that they would pay my overdraft fees if the bank couldn't help. That was last Sunday night. So Tuesday morning I call the bank first thing (because they were closed Monday, even though I had to work, double-yew tee eff? silly bank) and first they made me wait until wednesday to talk to me because it was still a pending charge. THEN they said that they could technically let me file an unauthorized charge report, but that I should try to work with t-mobile again because my report would get snagged a million times because I really AM doing business with t-mobile and it would take forever. So I called t-mobile back nd was again told that they can't just refund my money and let me put it on a different card but to call again as soon as my overdraft charges hit my account. I of course am less than thrilled that my account is over-drafting because then the bank thinks I suck, but what can I do, right? Looking over my account, I realized that if I can convince my mom to transfer $15 into my account (because the account transfers clear really fast) then with the money in savings, my account wouldn't overdraft at all with my overdraft-protection. Not over-drafting is obviously the best course of action. Cool right? Well, the next day I get up and I have a balance of -$90. NEGATIVE NINETY. Welcome to another WTF?!?! moment. Turns out that overdraft protection only applies if you have $50.01 or more in savings. Guess how much I had in there. $48.97. I was like, "ARE YOU FRICKEN KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!??!" If I had known that I would have moved the damn $48 manually of course. But I figured it was an automatic thing no matter what as long as it left me with at least 1 cent in savings (cause they legally can't overdraft a savings account). I was wrong. So all my pending things went through and I had $57 in fees already applied and I a $33 charge that hadn't cleared yet. ....... lovely. The bank offers to cancel 2 of the 3 overdraft fees that are already posted, which was cool. I love my bank. So then I call t-mobile. After leaving me on hold for like, 15 minutes, THE GUY TELLS ME THAT THEY ARE NOT GOING TO PAY MY FEES. At this point, I'm seriously about ready to, in the words of Daniel, "cut a bitch". Or go on a murderous rampage. So I take a very deep breath so that I don't scream at the guy (which I would have loved to do, but I'm at work and people around me were on the phone) and go, "… this is unacceptable. It is not MY fault you guys cannot get your shit together and cancel my auto-debit the first two times I request it. I was told by 3 different people that my fees would be covered because this was YOUR error. If my fees are NOT covered, I can guarantee that next month, I will not be re-signing my contract, and I will also be telling every single person that I know about how poorly I am being treated after being a good customer for so long. Can I please speak to a supervisor?" So I got put on hold for another 10 minutes, then the guy comes back and says, "Ok I spoke to the supervisor you had spoken to the first time and he said that even though it's completely against policy, we are going to credit you the $57 to your account." sunshine and butterflies "Thank you so much Adam!" puke So at the end of the day, they are covering my fees, but GOD it was a pain in the neck. And I still have a negative balance on my bank account because they "can't give me a refund to my bank account". So after all that is done, and I thought I was finished.. I JUST FOUND OUT MY GOD DAMN CAR INSURANCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Why? Because the bank wouldn't cash my check because it went through when I had a -$90 balance. So now I have to go open a new account which means I'm going to lose my consistant-customer discount, and blah blah blah. GAAAAAAAAAAAH WTF?!?!!

10-17-2006, 04:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
Lady Sage Mistress of Mayhem Location: Canton, Ohio	When it rains it pours dear one... Usually if the bank will write a letter or the company that caused all the rucus they would allow you to keep your consistant-customer discounts... couldnt hurt to try right? __________________ If only closed minds came with closed mouths. Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open. It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.

10-19-2006, 08:14 AM	#10 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	yet another reason to NEVER let anyone access IN to your banking accounts. I give them access to charge my credit card, which is bad enough, but I can dispute it with them and with my credit card company. Gold/Platinum has its advantages. And that over draft thingy... another scam to lull more money out of your pockets. There is no such thing as a free lunch. EVER. Contact your state attorney general, chances are there are others who have made this same complaint. __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

10-19-2006, 08:16 AM	#11 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	Submit your story to http://www.consumerist.com . It's a blog that's all about stories like these. What's great is, major corporations are now reading that blog and dealing with people's customer service nightmares that get posted there.

10-19-2006, 06:22 PM	#13 (permalink)
lindalove Registered User	I would like to say that T-Mobile has actually worked very hard to get me compensated for my troubles. They did credit me for all of my overdraft fees, and when I told them about my car insurance being cancelled (I am definitely ditching the insurance company btw) they were very apologetic, sent me to Advanced Customer Care, and the guy there took excellent care of me . I was seriously considering switching carriers, but they offered me $200 off of a $350 phone that had mentioned being interested in previously.. yeah, I'll take my Blackberry Pearl for $150 and call us even now. Thanks guys. Honestly, now that I've had some time to cool down, I do think they did a very good job of fixing their mistake. The auto-debit is turned off now, I'll be paying all future bills by check, etc. I'm pretty satisfied now. I am pretty pissed off at the insurance company though. The bank also did me ok, they refunded 2 of my 3 overdraft charges. Thanks everyone.

10-27-2006, 07:32 PM	#14 (permalink)
Shauk Confused Adult Location: Spokane, WA	well, not to be obvious, but.... you need to make more money or something. :\ Maybe I'm just anal about my finances or something but having extra money to account for the world of stupid people we live in, is a necessity, not a luxury.