Do you ever bother to look at your utility bill, cell phone bill, cable bill or credit card statements to see if your charges are accurate?
With the advent of automatic bill payment, it’s only easier for us to stop looking at our monthly bills entirely.
Errors do occur from time to time, and they’re usually not in our favor. You may get an electric bill that is normal for the Brady Bunch family, but there’s no way it is right for just you and your spouse. Maybe your cable company tacked on pay-per-view movies you never ordered.
Sometimes, a quick call to customer service can resolve the mistakes. Other times, disputing a bill can take some time and energy.
Last month, I received a $571 utility bill for five weeks of heat and electricity for a rental property I own in the Midwest. The bill was completely inaccurate since the house was vacated at the time.
It took a couple phone calls to get the bill corrected. The charges were reduced from $571 down to $366, but it still was not correct. A final call to the call center shaved the bill down to $242.61. It felt like a victory to get over a 50% reduction on the bill.
When dealing with customer service agents, I find that using the skill of building rapport works best for having corrections made. If you think about it, customer service reps are taking hundreds of calls a day from angry, unhappy or even outrageous customers. Being professional and polite makes a big difference in your favor.
Here is what I found that works. You can use them yourself to make the call as painless as possible and get the results you are looking for, like a reduction in your bill.
Never use automatic bill payment
Once the company has the money, there is less incentive to reverse the charges. Also, you will become lazy and forgo looking at your bill each month on a consistent basis.
Be prepared before you call
Have a copy of your bill in front of you and know which specific parts you are disputing. Have copies of your past bills with you if you need them to make a point. Have a notepad and pen handy because you’ll want to make notes during the conversation and write down the customer service representative’s name and extension. It is beneficial to talk to the same representative if you need to make a follow-up call.
Be friendly
Be polite, be friendly and say the customer service rep’s name several times during the conversation. You would be surprised what kind of vulgar names these reps are being called by outraged customers. Start out on a good note by asking them how their day is going.
Start with “I have a question about my bill.”
If you open with an accusation, they will be on the defensive. Communicate to them the specific part of the bill you are concerned about. It is possible that after you point it out, they may notice it is a mistake on their own and fix it before you need to ask. Address each error one at a time if there are several.
Call on Friday
Friday mornings are a good time to call. Most people are in a better mood on Fridays as opposed to earlier in the week, as they are often looking forward to the weekend. Avoid Mondays and days after holidays, since those times are the busiest.
Don’t be afraid to call back
If you feel you are not getting anywhere with the representative, politely end the call. Call back a different time. It’s amazing how you can talk to two different agents and get two entirely different results. Even before I make the call, I look up to the sky and hope I will be connected to the right person.
What would have happened if I did not look at the bill and just paid it? I would have been out a couple hundred dollars. So make sure you check every bill that comes in. Be consistent each month. It is your money, so follow these tips and your money will not be left on the table for businesses to stuff their pockets with.
Update: Back in January, I wrote an article how life happens to us while we are making other plans. I mentioned that I received bad news at the beginning of the year when one of my tenants was breaking the lease on one of my rental properties 7 months early in the dead of winter, and a brutal winter, at that.
It took 2 ½ months to get a new tenant. I stated that I was going to stay on top of the situation and not let a negative situation grow worse. The $571 utility bill came from that rental property, another obstacle I needed to overcome. I kept a positive outlook, and in the end, things are back to normal. Life does happen to us while we are making other plans. It is how we react to life that will make all the difference.
Tim Mann is a highly sought-after financial coach who meets with local clients in his sunny office in Los Angeles, CA as well as clients from around the world via phone and video. He wrote the best-selling book Money on Your Terms, and conducts his biweekly radio show, The Money on Your Terms Show, to educate people on all aspects of money. Tim spent the majority of his career in the world of finance working for companies such as Morgan Stanley, Investor’s Business Daily, and Silver Star Automotive Group. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Real Estate. He is passionate about having people live with money on their own terms instead of everyone else’s terms.
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