Saturday, April 9, 2011

Threat of autopilot finances highlighted by $16 million cable invoice

Several companies claim that computerized billing systems make life easier and bills more accurate. One cable consumer has been charged $16 million for one month’s worth of television. Watching the March Madness games on pay-per-view was the beginning of this overcharging nightmare. This particular bill has been reversed already. The lesson, however, is that keeping an eye on your finances is incredibly essential. Article source – $16 million cable bill quickly reversed by Time Warner by MoneyBlogNewz.

Cable invoice costs $16 million

Daniel DeVirgilio is an Ohio resident who subscribes to Time Warner cable service. At the end of last month, DeVirgilio received notification that his credit card had been dropped when he tried to pay his cable bill. A charge of $1 million per basketball game during March Madness was put on his account by Time Warner. This added up to $16.4 million total. Upon being informed of the glitch, Time Warner reversed the charges.

The danger of financial autopilot

Daniel DeVirgilio, like many other people, had his cable invoice set to autopay. Monthly invoice pay services where consumers just give over their credit or debit card number take place often. Each month, the invoice gets paid on its own. Invoice payers don't have to worry about this. If the charge hadn't been $16 million and gotten his charge card dropped, Daniel DeVirgilio would never have noticed. This is the only reason why he noticed something wrong.

The bills need to be paid

The $16 million cable invoice teaches at least one thing. It may not be a good idea to use autopay. Remember due dates of bills is never easy. Everyone has trouble with it. You can do several things without forgetting to pay your bills while waiting for them to arrive. The first option is to do the simplest thing — pay each invoice the day you receive it. Financially, that may not always be possible, so tracking the due dates on a calendar you see every single day is another way to make sure you don’t miss anything. Lastly, you can put your bills on auto-payment, however schedule a few hours, once or twice a month, to read over each invoice to ensure that there are no surprises. A $16 million cable bill is unlikely. Still, you may end up losing a lot with a couple extra dollar charges every month.

Information from

Digital Life Today

digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/04/04/6405791-time-warner-charges-man-164-million-for-cable-service?GT1=43001

Yahoo News

news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110325/ts_yblog_thelookout/ohio-man-gets-a-16-4-million-cable-bill



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