Checking bills

[kat]

I just saved a load of money by actually checking my bills. I only moved into my place in November and everytime I've had an electric bill it's been wrong. I have economy 7 heating, which means in the night my electric heating is cheaper, it takes in heat and releases it in the day. But they got the day and night rates the wrong way round :whip: So I just called them up and its saved me about 140 pounds! My neighbour is having similar trouble with her water.

K

[delicious]

I always check bills and receipts. Where I live most stores will give you the item free if they over-charged you. (Not Target, though, they don't give you Jack.)

I just bought asparagus for $1 a pound, only to realize that I'd been charged $4lb. It happens quite a bit.

[goettling]

This happened to me two times on a credit card. My check cleared the bank, but they did not credit my account. Good thing I looked at my statement and what a pain it was to prove to the company that they did not credit my payment. One was for 500.00 that I had to prove.:whip:

[goettling]

I had to laugh because this is what I was thinking when I started to read this.


I just saved a load of money

By switching to Geico... Okay, that is what it reminded me of.:p

[Starblossom]

Yeah I always watch them put my groceries through to make sure I'm not overcharged. Right now utilities are included with my rent, but in May when I move, I may get stuck with heat and water as separate and I'll have to worry about that. Blah.

ETA: oh yeah also I always check to make sure I'm paid. My summer job wound up not paying me my final paycheck. I wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't checked my bank statement to see if it had gone in. I had to contact the company, and they eventually gave me my $500 that I otherwise would not have gotten!

Also, I keep track of all my hours and then check my paystubs. Usually they're fine, but there have been a few times at my housekeeping job when they left me 12 hours short! And everytime they temporarily transferred me over to the hotel in the next town, I had to harass them into giving me the gas money they had promised!

[piratebean]

On the issue of groceries: I have a second job as a cashier in a grocery store (I'm in the US). One thing that's very common around here is that stores have advertised specials each week. That means that hundreds of prices have to be changed in the checkout system each week...and I can't tell you how many times this doesn't work. Our store starts new specials each Sunday, and the prices are all screwed up.

I would recommend - especially if you shop in stores that have regular price changes - to go over your receipt. At least make sure that the items you bought on sale actually came up on sale. Sometimes it's hard to catch these errors as your groceries are being rung up, but you can always take the receipt home and look at it - and bring it back to the store if you notice any price discrepancies. (Or look at it in the parking lot or what have you.) I think most stores would give you a refund of the price difference if you did this within a reasonable amount of time (say, during the week of the sale itself). And, as mentioned above, many stores have a guarantee that an item will be given to you for free if it was rung up at the wrong price.

Also, find out what day your local store changes prices (It's usually Saturday or Sunday). Be extra careful with checking your receipt that day, because that's the day that most of the errors will still be in the system. (As they're brought to the staff's attention, they get fixed in the system.)

[jenni-anti-fur]

most of the stores where i shop--if it wrings up wrong you get one item free-

but some places do the self check-out--i dont patronize those cause it takes a job away from someone...well they overcharge bigg time--from the yelling i heard the stuff wasnt coming up on sale.....and doesnt give the right change.

i saw this at a store too--after the cashier rings it up--they scan your dc/orb cc and it doesnt go through sand they scan it again--and maybe again--and the woman ahead of me got charged three times.

peace and love

jenn:pibo:

[piratebean]

I (unfortunately) work part-time as a cashier, and, at least in the store where I work, if your debit or credit card doesn't go through, and the cashier swipes it again, you can't get charged twice. Once the transaction goes through, the bill on the register goes to zero, so I could scan someone's card over and over, but there's no way they could be charged more than once. Just FYI.