While I have not had as many problems with cable companies as, say, Chrissy has, I have learned the dangers of auto-bill pay through my dear, dear friends at Comcast.
Now, you know me, I can pretty much epitomize the definition of “flake.” So, seeing as all the utilities in my apartment are in my name, I was so excited to see the myriad of “automatic bill pay” options that would lessen the chances of me forgetting to pay my bills. I’m enrolled for my rent, for my power, and (until today) for cable. Oh and my credit card. Forgot about that one.
Anyways! I haven’t had any problems with auto-bill pay for my rent, power, or credit card. Comcast, however, seems to have missed the memo on automatic bill pay. I signed up for automatic bill pay in October two days before my payment was due for that month. Nowhere did it tell me that enrolling in auto-bill pay would not ensure my October bill would get paid, so I assumed it would.
November rolls around and I get my bill saying that I have an existing balance. No biggie. I call Comcast, explain what happened, they said “No biggie. You won’t have a late fee and we’ll just roll all the charges into one.” Great, thanks. The end of November rolls around and, 2 days before my bill is due, I check and it still hasn’t been paid. I call again and they explain that the draft occurs the day the bill is due.
Me being the flake I am, I don’t check the day it’s due assuming that all will go as planned since auto-bill pay is the greatest thing ever and has worked perfectly for me in other places. Eeeeeeeh! (That would be my attempt at conveying th buzzer/you’re wrong sound in print) Wrong answer. December rolls around and I’m STILL carrying a balance from OCTOBER on my bill.
I call and apparently it’s a problem in the billing department but I won’t be negatively affected in any way. Except, you know, my monthly budget being screwed up when they finally get their act together and start the automatic bill pay. I sigh and think fine. They have to get it right now, it’s been 3 months. It can’t take them that long to put a draft through when other companies have gotten it right from day one.
Eeeeeeh! Wrong again. I got my Comcast bill this morning and, yet again, I’m carrying a balance and now owe the lovely folks at Comcast approximately $360 and they’re billing me for late fees. Which I don’t owe. Why can’t I just switch to Verizon? Oh, right, because my apartment complex only carries Comcast. *Sigh*
Close Encounters of the Me Kind 
Wow, that’s really pretty special. I’d tell you to just send them a check, but then they’ll probably ALSO take the money out of your bank account themselves, so you’ll pay twice….so yeah, unless you’re not going to choke if that happens… which I would….
I am sorry for the trouble. I work for Comcast and I would like to offer my help in resolving this.
If you are willing to provide the phone number on the account, I will make sure that this is taken care of for you.
Best Regards,
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com
Thanks Mark! I just got off the phone with Comcast and they’ve opened a ticket number to look into this and have credited me for the late fees. So far, so good!