It's a good idea to check your credit card charges.

[JerrySTL ★]

As you may remember, I damned near got scammed out of $7000 earlier this month. So I've been going over my finances with a fine tooth comb.

Today I looked at my credit card statement closely. I had cancelled a subscription to a newspaper months ago, but found that they were still charging me $15.99 a month. I've disputed those charges and I will call them Monday when their subscription office is open again.

I also noticed that my SiriusXM subscription jumped from $6 a month to $24 recently. I called them and threatened to cancel. They made me an offer of $6 a month which I accepted. I also put a reminder in Outlook to check again a year from now.

So I've saved about $32 a month!

[Longjohn ★]

SeriousXM is a rip off company.

[Ralphie ★]

1 minute ago, Longjohn said:

SeriousXM is a rip off company.

They use the Comcast model of jacking up the price. 

[Longjohn ★]

1 minute ago, Philander Seabury said:

They use the Comcast model of jacking up the price. 

Direct TV did that too. Every time they jacked up the price my wife called them and canceled. They asked why she was canceling them and she said it was because of the price increase. They always made her a better offer but it was a pain in the ass to keep calling them every year. When I called to cancel they asked why I was canceling I said because it was my wife’s subscription and she doesn’t watch tv anymore. They didn’t try to get me to continue at a lower price.

[Dirtyhip]

I look at it often enough to catch anything off. We keep it paid off on a weekly basis. All new and pending charges are easy to see. We keep it simple and only charge to one card usually. 

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

1 hour ago, Longjohn said:

Direct TV did that too. Every time they jacked up the price my wife called them and canceled. They asked why she was canceling them and she said it was because of the price increase. They always made her a better offer but it was a pain in the ass to keep calling them every year. When I called to cancel they asked why I was canceling I said because it was my wife’s subscription and she doesn’t watch tv anymore. They didn’t try to get me to continue at a lower price.

We have Spectrum, formerly Time Warner.  If you try that here, they say 'See ya!'. 

[Longjohn ★]

4 minutes ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

We have Spectrum, formerly Time Warner.  If you try that here, they say 'See ya!'. 

Do you have a competitor? Our only choices are Direct TV and Dish Network and they are all the time trying to steal each other’s customers with a one year cheap price deal if you switch.

[JerrySTL ★]

33 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

I look at it often enough to catch anything off. We keep it paid off on a weekly basis. All new and pending charges are easy to see. We keep it simple and only charge to one card usually. 

I like your way of doing the credit card and plan doing the same but maybe every 2 weeks.

[Bikeguy]

4 hours ago, JerrySTL said:

It's a good idea to check your credit card charges.

As you may remember, I damned near got scammed out of $7000 earlier this month.

I missed the $7K scam.   

I have been watching my credit card charges for decades now.   I look almost every day because the charges are downloaded into Quicken.  I get email notices for LOTS of 'conditions' too. 

This wasn't a scam, but a big f up.    Years ago...   I ordered custom length composite and component cables (this was before HDMI) to connect my plasma tv screen to my A/V equipment.   One morning before work I went online to check my CC account.   OMG there was a $30,000 charge on my CC.     It was a charge for the company who made the cables.    I called them.... they are in CA, so they didn't open for business until 10:00 AM central time.     I finally  got them... it didn't take long before I was talking to the 'supervisor'.   He told me he would figure this all out and call me back.    I didn't believe him... but I had to wait.   I was AMAZED in 2 hours he called back.   A large AV company had placed an order.  Somehow my order got stapled to the large order and I was charged $30K for a deposit on the big order.  They fixed everything before the end of the day.  

Then I called the CC company, and asked "How can they allow a $30K charge to my account, and that was more than my credit limit?   I got some BS from them about how they figured it was a charge I made and my account was in good standing so they didn't think there was a problem.    Yeah right...   I told them how I felt about that.

[groupw]

1 hour ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

We have Spectrum, formerly Time Warner.  If you try that here, they say 'See ya!'. 

Huh. I don’t have them down here, but the last time I went to their office, I got a lower rate with more channels and an upgraded modem that gave me more speed! We dropped cable and went to streaming only about a year before we moved. They sent us so many offers to come back at reduced rates. Some were cheaper, but not worth the effort when we knew we were moving. 

[Bikeguy]

1 hour ago, groupw said:

I don’t have them down here, but the last time I went to their office,

At least once a year I make the trip to the local Mediacom office.  Somehow they 'find' a way to keep me as a customer with a lower rate that last 1 year.   What a scam..   I'll assume most people don't bother and just pay.  

[Dottleshead ★]

12 hours ago, Philander Seabury said:

They use the Comcast model of jacking up the price. 

I hate Comcastard.

[MickinMD ★]

13 hours ago, JerrySTL said:

As you may remember, I damned near got scammed out of $7000 earlier this month. So I've been going over my finances with a fine tooth comb.

Today I looked at my credit card statement closely. I had cancelled a subscription to a newspaper months ago, but found that they were still charging me $15.99 a month. I've disputed those charges and I will call them Monday when their subscription office is open again.

I also noticed that my SiriusXM subscription jumped from $6 a month to $24 recently. I called them and threatened to cancel. They made me an offer of $6 a month which I accepted. I also put a reminder in Outlook to check again a year from now.

So I've saved about $32 a month!

I have seven different credit cards and when I reconciled them last night, as I do around the 23rd of each month, against the spreadsheet where I keep track of each credit card charge divided by card, I began to think I'm crazy for having that many, even if it is to max-out my cash-back and it's good for about $1000/year.

I set up all my credit card due dates to be the 15th of the month, right after the 2nd Wed., 8th to 14th when I get my Soc.Sec. check which usually covers it.  The end-of-statement-period dates all end by the 22nd, so I reconcile them on the 23rd or so each month.

I've found increases in rates - I once had 3rd party gas and electric service that jumped them way up - and I found small $1+ and $2+ charges in consecutive months to a card for HULU, which I don't use but was probably an honest mistake by somebody entering their card number wrong - I learned HULU sends the number in without checking name, etc.  The credit card company said that's how hackers often work: starting with small charges to see if you notice, so they changed my card number.

 

 

[Ralphie ★]

1 hour ago, Dottles said:

I hate Comcastard.

Last niight n Youtube I was watching suffering through one of their commercials aboot how fast their service is as it was skipping.

[ChrisL]

Like many here I go through the annual ritual with Sirius XM.  Sorry sir that was a one year offer that expired and there are no current offers.  We’ll just cancel my service then…. Well since you are a valued member let me see what I can do… Back to $10 a month.

We have Spectrum and we used to shop for specials but they no longer offer them.  If you want a lower bill you have to select a lower plan.  We just cut our bill in 1/2 but lost 3/4 of our channels. 

[bikeman564™]

15 hours ago, Philander Seabury said:

They use the Comcast model of jacking up the price. 

one reason I canceled cable

[bikeman564™]

14 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

I look at it often enough to catch anything off.

This. I only use it a couple times per month, so its easy to notice anything.

[sheep_herder ★]

First thing I do when the bill arrives. Also one reason I do not pay ahead before the bill arrives.

[Dirtyhip]

1 hour ago, bikeman564™ said:

This. I only use it a couple times per month, so its easy to notice anything.

We use it for just about everything we buy.  The rewards are nice.  Might be enough rewards to pay for a couple solar panels.   The problem with debit cards is that a fraud takes that money directly out of your account.   Fraud protection is there, but they haven't actually pulled the cash from your account with a normal credit card.  

[bikeman564™]

1 hour ago, Dirtyhip said:

We use it for just about everything we buy.  The rewards are nice.  Might be enough rewards to pay for a couple solar panels.   The problem with debit cards is that a fraud takes that money directly out of your account.   Fraud protection is there, but they haven't actually pulled the cash from your account with a normal credit card.  

Nice, and I agree about debit v. credit.

[Square Wheels]

On 9/23/2022 at 5:31 PM, Longjohn said:

SeriousXM is a rip off company.

I agree.  I've had it for a long time.  They try to renew me for about 250 a year.  I call to cancel and they offer me a year at 7 a month.  Seems fair enough.  Even though my car runs off an Android operating system, it does not have Android Auto and it's clunky to connect my phone.  It does have Apple Carplay, but I have an Android phone.

[maddmaxx ★]

On 9/23/2022 at 6:31 PM, Longjohn said:

SeriousXM is a rip off company.

Yahoo was pretty serious.

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

On 9/24/2022 at 10:13 AM, ChrisL said:

We have Spectrum and we used to shop for specials but they no longer offer them.  If you want a lower bill you have to select a lower plan.  We just cut our bill in 1/2 but lost 3/4 of our channels. 

This.

The last time we 'negotiated' with them, they agreed to take $5 (that's right folks, FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS! ) of the monthly bill and leave all the channels intact.

They took the $5 off alright, but they also cut 40 channels too.  It wasn't really such a great loss, as about 30 of the 'channels' were just duplicates of what we were already getting. 

Right now in my area it's either Spectrum or Dish.  And the Spectrum people are no dummies, as they price their packages just below what Dish charges so it's more expense and trouble to switch.  Verizon Fios has supposedly on the verge of putting fiber into our area, but they're no dummies either so they're not going to undercut Spectrum by much when they finally get the fiber in.

[Longjohn ★]

4 minutes ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

This.

The last time we 'negotiated' with them, they agreed to take $5 (that's right folks, FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS! ) of the monthly bill and leave all the channels intact.

They took the $5 off alright, but they also cut 40 channels too.  It wasn't really such a great loss, as about 30 of the 'channels' were just duplicates of what we were already getting. 

Right now in my area it's either Spectrum or Dish.  And the Spectrum people are no dummies, as they price their packages just below what Dish charges so it's more expense and trouble to switch.  Verizon Fios has supposedly on the verge of putting fiber into our area, but they're no dummies either so they're not going to undercut Spectrum by much when they finally get the fiber in.

I eliminated my bill entirely when my wife passed. I never watched tv anyway except when I was caring for her.

[Ralphie ★]

My wife goers through the Sirius BS.  I am much happier with Radio Paradise.