I know, "pay your bills deadbeat" and I did...1 day late. I have had an account at this utility for over 3 years and have never been late. My bill is a fixed $37/month (rental townhouse community), which I think is absurd for 1 person, but that is beside the point. Anyways, I was out of town and dropped off my check the day after it was due. I just got my new bill today and there is a $50 past due charge tacked on. I was under the impression that there was a law out there that said late fees could not exceed a certain percentage of the bill, but I am probably just dreaming. IMO, a 133% late fee seems ridiculous, especially for an account in good standing. I will be calling them tomorrow to see if there is anything they can do. Otherwise, I will chalk this up as a stupid lesson.
Message edited by: BMRisko on 2009-11-09 17:08:09 CST
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Just threaten to cancel and change water companies. Oh wait the government gave them a monopoly. Nevermind, free markets aren't all they are cracked up to be. Pay your bills deadbeat.
Don't know about the legality of the charge, but have you tried contacting the utility, explaining the situation and asking if they can waive the fee this one time given your good payment history and the fact your payment was one day late. Granted you might not get as far with this approach as with a CC, cell, or other company in a competitive industry, but it would be my first step before trying to do anything else.
Also, might want to set up an automatic bill payment in the future.
one2gofst said:Don't know about the legality of the charge, but have you tried contacting the utility, explaining the situation and asking if they can waive the fee this one time given your good payment history and the fact your payment was one day late. Granted you might not get as far with this approach as with a CC, cell, or other company in a competitive industry, but it would be my first step before trying to do anything else.
Also, might want to set up an automatic bill payment in the future.
I will be calling them tomorrow. All my other bills are set up on automatic withdraws, except for this one. When I first signed up, they did not offer automatic withdraw, your only option was to mail or drop off a check. I will definitely check back with them for that option or see what my options for auto bill pay are. I'll admit I was a day late and I will gladly pay a late fee, but 50 freakin' dollars? FML
If it is a utility company, they are probably regulated by some govt. agency. Complain to them (assuming they approved a hefty late charge to begin with).
If it is a bill from the city, might be worth looking into any local ordinance that addresses this, but chances are you may be SOL.
OP. You left out a critical detail. Are you paying the utility directly or some kind of condo association? What date is on the check? Does the bill say it was due by 5pm, or not specify at all?
lonestarguy said:OP. You left out a critical detail. Are you paying the utility directly or some kind of condo association? What date is on the check? Does the bill say it was due by 5pm, or not specify at all?
I pay the utility directly, but everyone in the complex has a flat rate. I know people who own houses in the area and pay less than half of what I do for water, so I think something funky is going on there, but that is another dilemma all together.
Date on the check is 11/1...bill was due 10/30, which is a Saturday and they are only open M-F. I dropped it off Monday (11/2, but first business day past the due date) when I got back in town. Bill specifies "bill due in office by final due date or in the night deposit box by 8am the next business day". I dropped it off after 8am, so I'll admit that it was late. There is obviously no grace period, as I discovered...
Message edited by: BMRisko on 2009-11-09 19:48:59 CST
tripleB said:Just threaten to cancel and change water companies. Oh wait the government gave them a monopoly. Nevermind, free markets aren't all they are cracked up to be. Pay your bills deadbeat.
Why in the world, I would want two water companies running pipes in my areas? This is one type of monopoly that I guess I wouldn't mind.
It depends if it is the town or a utility. If it is the town, most likely you are sol--you can still beg; if it is a utility, you can try beg, debate and threaten them.
I think late fees may be categorized in some contracts as liquidated damages. Liquidated damages represent a precalculated estimation of damages for a specific breach, and may be an unenforceable penalty if they don't correlate to the damage. In this case, a $50 late fee for being one day late would seem to be an unenforceable penalty. Worth it to fight about it in court -- doubtful (unless someone makes it a class action).
It is a utility, but they seem to be in bed w/ the county in some way or another (I'm not too versed on all the agreements, etc). However, there seems to be a lot of "bad blood" and upset people with regards to work bids, crazy fees tacked onto bills to fund sewer replacements in different parts of the county, etc. All of this seems unrelated, just interesting...
bigdaddycincinnati said:I think late fees may be categorized in some contracts as liquidated damages. Liquidated damages represent a precalculated estimation of damages for a specific breach, and may be an unenforceable penalty if they don't correlate to the damage. In this case, a $50 late fee for being one day late would seem to be an unenforceable penalty. Worth it to fight about it in court -- doubtful (unless someone makes it a class action).
I just read through my contract and there is no mention of how late fees are calculated...or for what it is worth, no mention of any fees. Obviously these are probably on file at the office.
The contract does say that the utility adheres to existing laws established under the state of TN. I know metro Nashville late fees on their water utility (just from research) are ~10% of the late bill. $50 just seems astronomical on a $37 bill, but I guess that's a hard lesson if they won't reverse it.
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