Updated Billing Date (5 DAYS EARLIER) [ Edited ]

[letdownagain]

I just happen to run across the following information when looking for instructions on how to change my due date to a later date due to paycheck modifications.  I'm curious... I just wonder while AT&T is modifying people's U-verse due dates to a previous date without guaranteeing that EVERYONE will know before it happens... will they be paying the bounced check fees for people that will be surprised when their over inflated bill amount is withdrawn from their account 5 days before they expect... Oh WAIT... it says right there in the notice I had to hunt for... that "Banking institutions' fees are not refundable".  How nice of you AT&T for [word filter avoidance] with your Customer's once again for no good enough reason!!!!!!...  Oh... and "late fees apply" too.

U-verse bill due date five days earlier than prior monthly due date

Beginning with January 2012 invoices, the bill due date for U-verse customers will be five days earlier than the prior monthly due date. If the bill due date change creates any issues for you, upon request, we will gladly process a change on your account for a preferred bill due date that meets your needs.

Note: Call our Customer Care center, if you need additional assistance.

Important:

• Automatic bill payments will be taken on the new payment due date, which is five days sooner.
• Banking institutions' fees are not refundable; however, we will work with you, if appropriate, regarding AT&T returned transaction charges that might be applied to your account.
• Late charge payment fees apply.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

The only mention that I can find of this is the support article found in the link below:

http://sstdownload.sbcglobal.net/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB412250&cv=812&ct=9001147&pv=3&title=U-ve...

As I read this, it indicate that the change will go into affect with January 2012 invoices (i.e. invoices that will be received in January 2012).  The due dates for those invoices would be in late January and February.  Thus, the first due dates affected would be about 2 months away.  Let's give AT&T the benefit of the doubt and see if notices are given to customers prior to that time.

[Don_H]

My billing is from the 9th to the 8th and the actual due dates were as follows:

10/11/2010

11/06/2010

12/06/2010

1/07/2011

2/06/2011

3/08/2011

4/05/2011

5/07/2011

6/05/2011

7/04/2011

8/06/2011

9/03/2011

10/04/2011

11/03/2011

12/05/2011

As a retiree, get direct deposit on the first of the month and pay all monthly bills on that day. Based on the new plan I would have been late 7 times over the last year.

LOL. Going from always pre-paying to chronic late.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Well, if this is implemented, it appears that you can request that your due be adjusted to one that will still be convenient for you.

[Don_H]

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texasguy37 wrote:

Well, if this is implemented, it appears that you can request that your due be adjusted to one that will still be convenient for you.

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As expected, when I called CS they were clueless about the planned change but I pointed them to the support page and the response was "Oh My !!!, this is going to cause a lot of confusion"

According to the CS rep, there is no way to change a due date but they have the ability to change your billing cycle which automatically changes the due date. The CS rep changed my billing cycle from the current 9-8 to 14-13 in a matter of seconds but apparently this will cause me to get a prorated bill and a regular bill next month. She said the total of the two bills should be my normal payment so all should be ok.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Yes, my guess was that the only way to change the due date was to change the billing cycle which would result in a prorated amount on the first bill after the change.  Since  I have only seen this information in that support article and we have not received any notification, I assume that this has not been implemented.  Thus, I am not surprised that the CSR's would not be aware of this.

I have seen other future changes in support article that never happened so we will just wait to see if AT&T send out notifications on this sometime in December.  Until then, I would not be concerned about trying to make changes to my billing cycle.

[Don_H]

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texasguy37 wrote:

I have seen other future changes in support article that never happened so we will just wait to see if AT&T send out notifications on this sometime in December.  Until then, I would not be concerned about trying to make changes to my billing cycle.

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Whats the old saying from Ben Franklin?  "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

[letdownagain]

I can guarantee you that there are a great amount of people that schedule their payments with the bank or get their paychecks at specific times every month, that don't even Look at their bill notices, and may not even get paper statements anymore because they have a system set up.  I am upset about this because another company did the same thing to me in the past, and I had no clue why I was getting late charges all of a sudden when my process didn't change.  aT&T needs to NOT touch the due date of a billing cycle for anyone unless the CUSTOMER requests it.  I'm sure they have great computer programmers that can figure out how to write the programs around the current dates.  If they don't... get new programmers.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

In my December bill under the News You Can Use section, I see the following notice:

PAYMENT DUE DATE

AT&T is making billing changes effective February 2012 which will

result in an earlier Payment Due Date. This change will not impact

your monthly charges; only the Payment Due Date is changing.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING PRE-SCHEDULED

PAYMENTS: If you are enrolled in AT&T Auto pay, no action is

required and your bank account or credit card will be debited by

the Payment Due Date. If you are using On-Line Banking options,

you may need to adjust your scheduled payment date to insure

timely payment of your bill. You may find your Payment Due Date

on each AT&T U-verse bill. For additional information please visit

att.com/uversedd

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Hmm...financial worries?  And it's not on my other ATT services bill...interesting.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

I just received the postcard shown below from AT&T:

[artim1]

I pay ATT UVerse via auto pay--quite convenient.   Last month the billing date was on the 15th of the month.  This month it is now the 11th. I don't mind ATT doing this---HOWEVER, they should pro-rate the bill and give me 4 days' credit. Otherwise, I'm getting less days of service for the same price I've been paying.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

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artim1 wrote:

I pay ATT UVerse via auto pay--quite convenient.   Last month the billing date was on the 15th of the month.  This month it is now the 11th. I don't mind ATT doing this---HOWEVER, they should pro-rate the bill and give me 4 days' credit. Otherwise, I'm getting less days of service for the same price I've been paying.

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Huh?  The only thing that is changing is the due date.  The billing period remains the same.

[chuckcr5]

I've had Uverse internet for over 2 years now.  When I first opened the account the due date was around the 22 or 23rd of each month, it might vary one or two days... but that's it. 

Since August of 2011 the due date has started moving forward nearly every month... the 20th, then 19th, etc.  This month I get a bill due on the 17th!  

I own and operate a small business and I'm on a BUDGET, I use a CC to pay my internet bill and that card cycles on the 19th of each month... now I'm going to have TWO internet bills on the same month's credit card statement?  

I spent over an hour on the phone with "customer service" Tuesday night, spoke with (3) different reps... not a one of them could help me.  When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told the wait time was 40 minutes or more, and that it would be more to my benefit if she were to take my name and info and email the supervisor to call me back.  She guaranteed me that I would get a call either Wed or Thurs.... which NEVER took place. 

I tried to call again this evening, only to get a "sorry that department is currently closed, please call back during business hours"   ??????????????????????????

The service is good, but it aint that good.... not to mention it's over-priced.   If they can't get the billing situation stable, prior to this month's due date.... I'll terminate my service.  

It's not like there aren't other providers out there.... ATT had to learn the hard way with my cellular service.... they're about to learn another lesson.  

2-17-12... solve the problem by then or I'm done. 

chuckcr5

{post merged}

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

chuckcr5--

Try contacting Alex, one of the AT&T Community Managers for further assistance.

[B4e]

As a matter of fact, I called AT&T about this because I am disabled and am on a fixed income that arrives on a set date each month. This cannot be changed! After costing me too many units on hold (I have a Tracfone), the rep finally decided to give me to her supervisor because she just couldn't deal with the issue. The superviser was calm, pleasant and reassured me that it (keeping my account auto-payment on its old date) would be taken care of with no problem. She even gave me her name! Well, when the beginning of the month in question arrived and I went to the bank for the money that would get me through the month, almost $70.00 in banking fees was gone because AT&T did not keep their word!

I put it down to not having called soon enough (even though I'd called almost a month prior!) and was sure it would be rectified - and the correct autopay date adhered to as assured me by the supervisor - the next month. It was NOT. Once again, almost $70.00 in banking fees gone! I had to take the bill off of auto-pay because AT&T simply cannot be trusted to keep their word.

For someone on Disability, $70.00 means a choice between paying for meds or eating for half the month in question. I went hungry. Thanks, AT&T!

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Try contacting Alex, one of the AT&T Community Managers for further assistance.

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B4e wrote:

As a matter of fact, I called AT&T about this because I am disabled and am on a fixed income that arrives on a set date each month. This cannot be changed! After costing me too many units on hold (I have a Tracfone), the rep finally decided to give me to her supervisor because she just couldn't deal with the issue. The superviser was calm, pleasant and reassured me that it (keeping my account auto-payment on its old date) would be taken care of with no problem. She even gave me her name! Well, when the beginning of the month in question arrived and I went to the bank for the money that would get me through the month, almost $70.00 in banking fees was gone because AT&T did not keep their word!

I put it down to not having called soon enough (even though I'd called almost a month prior!) and was sure it would be rectified - and the correct autopay date adhered to as assured me by the supervisor - the next month. It was NOT. Once again, almost $70.00 in banking fees gone! I had to take the bill off of auto-pay because AT&T simply cannot be trusted to keep their word.

For someone on Disability, $70.00 means a choice between paying for meds or eating for half the month in question. I went hungry. Thanks, AT&T!

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[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Use the link in the message above to contact Alex.

[ATTAlexCM]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and contributing to this topic. If your question is account specific, please send me a Private Message with your name, account number, phone number and the best time to contact you.  We'll get you in touch with the appropriate group.

*To send a private message, you can either click on the link in this message or click on the little blue envelope in the upper right hand corner, click "compose new message" and type my username in the "Send To" field.

Regards,

Alex

[Consistent-Due-…]

The people on this thread and several others are simply asking for the due date to be consistent every month. This should not be a challenge for a corporation as big as AT&T. American Express and countless other billing entities manage to keep a consistent day of the month for due dates. Why is this so hard for AT&T? The answer should not be "Go on automated billing and don't worry about it". Please just explain to people how they can request the same due date day of the month, every month. Or say that AT&T with all its resources is incapable of doing this. It can be left to the individual then to determine whether this is a shakedown mechanism or merely lazy programmers for AT&T's billing application. At any rate, the information will be out there for consumers to decide whether they want to remain UVerse customers.