DTV's Questionable Autopay procedures

[lsilvest]

Does anyone else find DTV's autopay billing procedures a little disturbing? They ding your account for the charges before ever presenting you with a detailed bill. I don't know of anyone else that does that. You should be notified of the pending charges before they make their withdrawal in case there are any errors on the bill. Their methods suggest that we should have implicit trust in their accounting system which is really laughable. Their accounting is so convoluted I don't think they even understand it.

This is one of the reasons I generally don't use autopay and only did so in this case because of the $10 a month charge otherwise. Fortunately, I use a credit card that has virtual numbers with set $ and time limits so they can't get any more than what I allow anyway.

 

[raoul5788]

You can see what the charges are going to be online before your card gets charged.

 

[lsilvest]

You can see what the charges are going to be online before your card gets charged.

That's not the way it's happening and do get my bill online. I get the notice that my bill is ready just after the card is charged. At best it's simultaneous. The point is that there should be a reasonable amount of time from billing to when the charge is taken. One week would be reasonable - 1 day or less is not.

 

[stardust3]

Does anyone else find DTV's autopay billing procedures a little disturbing? They ding your account for the charges before ever presenting you with a detailed bill. I don't know of anyone else that does that. You should be notified of the pending charges before they make their withdrawal in case there are any errors on the bill. Their methods suggest that we should have implicit trust in their accounting system which is really laughable. Their accounting is so convoluted I don't think they even understand it.

This is one of the reasons I generally don't use autopay and only did so in this case because of the $10 a month charge otherwise. Fortunately, I use a credit card that has virtual numbers with set $ and time limits so they can't get any more than what I allow anyway.

That is good idea, will have to remember that. My brother got dinged for over $300 a couple of months after he signed up. It was an error on their part, they apologized and made it right but it took a few days for the money to be credited back into his checking account. Using a check card for auto pay is not something I would personally do to begin with. The virtual CC with limits is the way to go.

 

[raoul5788]

That's not the way it's happening and do get my bill online. I get the notice that my bill is ready just after the card is charged. At best it's simultaneous. The point is that there should be a reasonable amount of time from billing to when the charge is taken. One week would be reasonable - 1 day or less is not.

If you go online a couple of days before your card gets charged, you can see what the bill is going to be.

 

[thedamaja]

I always get my bill email about two weeks before the charge.

I just checked and my last email was received on the 12th with a charge date of the 26th.

 

[charper1]

I always get my bill email about two weeks before the charge.

I just checked and my last email was received on the 12th with a charge date of the 26th.

same here; mine is almost always 12 - 14 days before charges

 

[Hutch1814]

same here; mine is almost always 12 - 14 days before charges

Write a check every month so it don't really apply to me

 

[Jimbo]

Write a check every month so it don't really apply to me

Haven't wrote a check in ages ....

 

[lparsons21]

You can see what the charges are going to be online before your card gets charged.

SOME credits will be on your account a day or two before they ding the credit card, but not all of them.

While I'm used to the screwy D* way of taking money not owed if you use CC Autopay, I don't like it. Technically until the bill is generated and ready for me to view, it isn't even owed money. And when you actually see the bill, it shows the due date which is definitely not the day they take the money.

In 68 years on this old ball of wax, I've never seen a company do it this way.

 

[brad2388]

I hate autopay anything i wanna see a bill before i pay someone. Its always easier to get a credit before u pay than after!

 

[downthedoor]

Does anyone else find DTV's autopay billing procedures a little disturbing? They ding your account for the charges before ever presenting you with a detailed bill. I don't know of anyone else that does that. You should be notified of the pending charges before they make their withdrawal in case there are any errors on the bill. Their methods suggest that we should have implicit trust in their accounting system which is really laughable. Their accounting is so convoluted I don't think they even understand it.

This is one of the reasons I generally don't use autopay and only did so in this case because of the $10 a month charge otherwise. Fortunately, I use a credit card that has virtual numbers with set $ and time limits so they can't get any more than what I allow anyway.

I think if you use a debit card then you get the two week notice, otherwise little to no notice. At least that is what I remember reading somewhere a long time ago...

 

[lsilvest]

I think if you use a debit card then you get the two week notice, otherwise little to no notice. At least that is what I remember reading somewhere a long time ago...

Thanks for the observation. That would explain the discrepancy between what some of us have experienced. Since the debit card charge is gone with the wind, it's even more imperative to have advance notice since any refund would have to be by check and I don't even want to think about the time frame on that. Just because a credit card charge can be reversed doesn't justify the immediate ding. If there were a big enough error it could max out the card and create a lot of problems.

 

[mdram]

i get a bill in the mail @ 2 weeks before its due
then autopay takes out that amount

 

[gadgtfreek]

I've seen this complaints before.

As someone who has just about always been on auto pay, Ive been able to see the bill ahead of time and the charge is just about the same time every month. Not really what Id call "disturbing", more "predictable".

 

[bbixler]

People that are seeing their bill 12-14 days prior to being charged.....what are you autopaying with? Credit Card, Debit Card, Checking Account?

 

[charper1]

debit

 

[jcrandall]

I also pay with credit card and they charge it the second they generate the monthly invoice.

I don't really like it either, there is zero time in the event of a billing error - such as the SEVERAL times they didn't apply credits until days later due to their system issues.

Pretty poor business practice if you ask me.

 

[jcrandall]

Sent up a question to get clarification, it is exactly that - tied to credit card (immediate) or debit card (15 days after bill):

Dear Mr. Crandall,

Thank you for writing us about your auto bill pay.

Since you are enrolled in recurring credit card, the payment is deducted the day your bill is generated each month. With this, we charge your credit card every 26th of the month. You may want to change your payment option by enrolling your debit card for auto bill pay.

With recurring debit card payment, your payment is withdrawn 15 days after the date your statement is created because debit cards are tied to your checking account. As such, your debit card will be charged every 9th or 10th of the month, depending on the number of days of the month.

 

[charper1]

"change your payment option by enrolling your debit card for auto bill pay."


this what I do; better payment monitoring, no instant payment AND not credit!