Geez, they said I could deduct 10%
By TheRealDawn
@dawnald (85146)
Shingle Springs, California
November 3, 2009 10:50am CST
Got a bill in the mail yesterday. The nice medical center wants me to pay a balance due. Now granted, it isn't a hug amount, less than $100, but it's the principal of the thing. This is the phone call I am procrastinating but will definitely make this morning.
When I went in for my wonderful procedure in August they told me (there in the office and also prior to the appointment on the phone) that if I paid $20 down right there, that when I got the bill I could deduct 10%. So I did. And then when I got the bill, I deducted the 10% and paid the remainder.
Guess what the bill is for? That's right, give yourself a pat on the back. It's for the 10% that I deducted. Now I have to call them and straighten it out.
Don't you hate having to straighten things out with companies that are billing you when they are wrong? 
5 people like this
16 responses
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
3 Nov 09
that just reminded me of the time when after being in the hospital for a broken shoulder, I was taken by ambulance
one whole block to the rehab place. later I was billed for
copay for fifty dollars to the ambulance co, which I paid
and I will be darned, I got a bill from the ambulance co for the whole thing, all one twenty five,onehundred twenty five dollars so I called up my insurance co. the nice lady told me yes they had sent the ambulance co. their share of the bill ten days before, she told me do not send them any more money, they are just double billing you. I said,but isn't that illegal? and she
said,yes but you are a senior citizen and theythink most seniors will not know about that and will just go ahead and pay them that bill. well this senior citizen did not fall for that, I just wrote them and told them they had already been paid. Never heard another word out of them.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
Well good for you, Hatley, for not paying it!
PS I just called on my bill, spoke to one person and got it removed (hopefully lol). Maybe there IS hope for world peace.
@sid556 (30959)
• United States
4 Nov 09
Yes I do. I have currently 2 credit cards that I paid off and inadvertently overpaid them. It isn't much but don't you know that they just keep sending me statements with a -12.00 balance. I finally called and asked why they didn't just send me the money they owe me. They said that I have to request it. Now isn't that just cool. I said, "Could you guys get any cooler? If it were the other way around and it was I that owed you 12.00, you'd be sticking me with a 30.00 late fee!" They just replied that it was their policy.
2 people like this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
4 Nov 09
Well DUH. 
Seriously, why would they do anything to YOUR advantage? lol
Seriously, why would they do anything to YOUR advantage? lol
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
3 Nov 09
oh yea.the one hospital up here billed me for use of the ER,when my doctor had switched my surgery to a different hospital.
incidentally,i'm glad she did.it's on the national news right now for at least 5 "wrong side" surgeries.
2 people like this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
3 Nov 09
Yes its a pain in the behinder......I had a charge on a credit card once for a security company...well I never ordered it.....it took umpteen calls to finally get someone to respond to me...kind of like....that's not my job! And they did reimburse me for the money they took from me.....or charged to my account...
2 people like this
@savypat (20216)
• United States
3 Nov 09
I have learned to have my ducks in a row before I make that dreaded call and to give myself plenty of time because you just know the first person will never be able to help you, in fact by the time the call ends I have usually told the same story to so many people that it's printed in front of me when I close my eyes. Good Luck
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
Ah yes the dreaded transfer from one line to the next to the next. And if they have outsourced their phone unit it will be even worse!!!
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
6 Nov 09
Yes, I really hate being given a hard time, not to mention being put on hold, transferred around, stuck in an automated system...
@msfrancisco9369 (10002)
• Boston, Massachusetts
6 Nov 09
Nice to hear that it was fixed immediately. Cheers to that Dawn!
1 person likes this
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
3 Nov 09
it is very annoying when something like this happen, isn't it??? i always hate it when i have to fix something because of somebody else's fault and usually i ask for a compensation because it takes out my precious time and the phone bill as well... :-) take care and have a nice day...
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
No charge on the phone and it got taken care of right away, hooray!
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
3 Nov 09
I spend at least 2 hours on the phone messing with insurance and accounts and billing. Trying to get them to let my sons prescriptions to go through is horrid. I hope they straighten things out for you.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
2 hours, yikes. In my case, I did call and got it resolved right away. At least I hope so...
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
4 Nov 09
No, they don't. But I did get it fixed right away, so that was good!
@GardenGerty (160883)
• United States
4 Nov 09
If you did not get it in writing, they will insist that they are right however. I do hate dealing with stuff like that.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
4 Nov 09
I signed a paper somewhere, would have no problem producing it if necessary. Surprisingly they gave me no trouble over the phone!
@cloudwatcher (6861)
• Australia
3 Nov 09
I presume that when you paid the bill, you wrote on it WHY you were deducting the 10%? Otherwise the person processing it (most likely an office worker not acquainted with the procedure) probably just thought you were paying part of it because it was all you could at that moment.
I see from another comment that it is fixed, so another problem faced and remedied.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
No, but what I did do is write the amount I was paying in a box they have on the bill, "agreed upon amount". I was crediting them with more intelligence than I should have, maybe. :-)
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
I did round UP to the nearest cent...
Anyway, it's resolved...
@royal52gens (5488)
• United States
4 Nov 09
I have been fighting for months for the insurance company to pay a bill that they should have paid many months ago. I hate when they can't get things straight. It is frustrating when I have to do my job and theirs also. I hope you get your situation straightened out soon.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
4 Nov 09
It was surprisingly easy. Hope you get yours straightened out also.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
3 Nov 09
hi dawnald Yes I expected that. convenient of them to forget
that they had said deduct ten percent.Oh yes I do hate it as
I have phone the At and T and tell them not to charge for ]
installing my phone when there was no installation required'
as the person who had this room before me had had a phone so
the line was still there. Hence all the phone guy had to do
was turn on the line in my name and plug in my phone. He told
me himself there was no chargefor turning on the phone for me. Yet I am being billed in installments for fifty dollars.I
have to argue this and just hate it.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
I hate it too. They tell you one thing and do another. I'll do some kind of business over the phone and they'll tell me they're waiving some fee or other. Invariably when the bill comes, there is the fee that they promised to waive.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
3 Nov 09
i HATE IT WHEN ANYBODY TRIES TO RIP ME OFF & IT SOUNDS LIKE THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO do to u. Hope u come out on top w/them. Good luck.
1 person likes this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
3 Nov 09
Hope u don't have to. seems like around here when something like that happens it is a pain in the rear getting it straightened out.
1 person likes this
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
3 Nov 09
Now I would not make that call. No way. I would write a letter and have it delivered by hand and have someone signed that they received it. I hate thse confrontational thingy's. They would keep you in hold and all sorts of delaying tactics. A paper trail is a must.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
3 Nov 09
You know, that's not a bad idea. But I think I will give the call one try and if they so much as put me on hold or try to transfer me, then I will write the letter. 
