Bell cellphone billing error topped $3,000

If you have been overcharged for a long time, you may not get a full refund. Here’s why.

Here’s a great reason why you should be checking your monthly bills and asking questions about any charges you don’t recognize.

If you have been overcharged for a long time, you may not get a full refund.

Dhun Noria trusted Bell Canada to send accurate bills and didn’t check them each month. He’s a 40-year customer and very loyal to the company.

But after disconnecting his cellphone in 2006, he kept being billed for it until this year. The error only came to his attention when he planned to buy another cellphone.

“We had a few services provided by Bell and we paid the invoices on time,” he says. “It wasn’t until January that I realized I was paying for something I did not own.”

When he called Bell, he was reimbursed for three months’ service ($160). Later, he was promised credits (worth $1,000) on his future wireless service.

Why didn’t he get back more than $3,000 in erroneous cellphone charges during that six-year period?

Under Bell’s written terms of service, customers have 90 days to question or dispute any fees. Otherwise, they are deemed to accept them.

If you don’t check your credit card bills, you may not spot dubious charges from companies whose names you don’t recognize.

Related: How to avoid premium text-messaging fees 

Beth O’Shaughnessy found a $76.72 charge from a firm she didn’t know while looking at her CIBC Visa account online.

“On further reviewing our bill, we realized this was the second charge from the same company, with another one in the same amount two weeks ago,” she said.

The company, Digital Star, has attracted many online complaints across North America for charging people’s credit cards and not delivering any goods or services.

George Wark found Digital Star charges of $74.95 and $2.16 on his BMO MasterCard bill. He, too, didn’t remember dealing with the company.

“I’m very meticulous about checking my bank accounts regularly, despite whatever security measures are claimed to apply,” he said.

He was told to fill out a fraud form and wait for the bank to investigate the suspicious charges. He would get a refund in a few months if the charges were indeed unauthorized.

O’Shaughnessy didn’t like the lengthy refund process. After contacting me, she got her money back from CIBC within a week of finding the charges.

Doug Cunningham notified me about an error on his American Express credit card bill.

“Despite paying my balance in full on Jan. 4, more than two weeks ahead of the due date, I was assessed an interest penalty,” he said.

“When I called Amex, they said a number of clients were billed incorrectly due to a widespread computer glitch. They immediately reversed the charge and apologized.”

Jolene Price, an Amex spokeswoman, confirmed that some cardholders were billed interest charges on their January statements — even though their accounts were current and their payments were received on time.

Refunds would be given to those customers on their February statements, “regardless of whether or not they called in to our service centre,” she said.

Cunningham’s response: “Bear in mind that Amex is quick to charge interest if the bill isn’t paid in full. I’d like to see if they give interest credits to customers who made overpayments in January.”

Related: How to reduce US roaming fees

I’m keen to hear from readers. How frequently do you catch billing errors and get them reversed? Have you been shortchanged on a refund because you didn’t report a mistake promptly?

My advice: Pay attention to all your monthly bills. Go through the charges line by line. Call to ask about anything that doesn’t ring true.

Finally, never assume the numbers are correct. Companies rely on you to bring billing issues to their attention. If you don’t, they’ll blame you for being lazy instead of shining a mirror on their own inaccuracy.