Penalty Charges

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UzZx32QU

UzZx32QU

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I'm Sick of paying penalty charges on Dr Appointments, Hair cut appointments, Credit card payments, Cable bill pmts, etc etc.

I just got back from vacation and had missed a Dr. Appointment that was made 7 months before for a blood work checkup. The doctor the type that busy anyway and always has extra people waiting for a missed appointment. Well I was charged a $50 missed appointment fee. This was never charged before and was just started. My blood pressure was up when the nurse checked it has was telling me about things to do to get it down. I said something about never coming back would also work. Guess a new doctor being looked for.

Folks that want to charge late fee will never get my business again.

Late fees are bad business. Credit card companies are the crooks of the 21st century. They just change the Bankruptcy Laws to their benefit not yours so they can pile on the fees and keep you in debt for the rest of your life.


Yellow Book comes next. I know it's small but after I got my first bill I was charges a $ 3.00 statement fee every month. Guess what Yellow Book will get ZERO business from me next year. They are worthless anyway. I can't believe I ever got talk into running an add with them in the first place.

I think I'm just getting tired of getting ripped off for small one day mistakes.

Maybe I need another vacation?


framer
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Gee framar: last I looked the credit cards had payment dates which at best give you three weeks to pay and some even four weeks. Ditto Yellow Book. Larson even gives prompt payment discounts.

Ripped off? Ok I'll buy the doctor--in fact I walked out on mine after he kept ME waiting 30 minutes and told the receptionist I had better things to do than wait. But sorry can't agree with you on the credit card things

Now the important thing: anyone charging fees to customers who only pay half and don't show up for 4-6 months? Or storage charges for the same folk?
Same difference, seems to me
 
Yeah,

I just went to pay my cell phone bill and they are charging $2.00 if you pay at thier office. They want you to mail it in. Which is so stupid, And they don't except buisness checks at the office. Again stupid!

The problem with that is that they send the bill about 10 days before it is due. If you don't mail it that day you risk a late charge.

Rip off!


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Framer:

Don't drop that doctor! Next time you go to that cretin for an appointment, charge them for your time, if they make you wait more than 5 minutes.

Your time is money too, and a fraction of an hour is an hour.

Go for it, you'll feel much better, and afterwards they'll always let see the Dr. the moment you go in!
 
When I lopped off my finger with a table saw, I had a series of visits with an orthopedic surgeon. I would ALWAYS sit in the waiting room for a couple of hours when I had a scheduled appointment.

The fourth time that happened, I waited 30 minutes, then went home (or, more likely, back to work.)

For my next appointment, they showed me to an examining room before I even sat down and I thought, "This is more like it!"

Then they locked me in the examining room and let me wait for about two hours.
 
Speaking of penalty charges and other stupid charges:

For those souls who accept American Express cards: Have you read your statement recently?? There is a $4 charge for "paper" statement!!

When I called to find out what in Satan's name was that charge for, they said they want us to get the statement from the Internet only, otherwise it is 4 bucks! And if you have no Internet connection / don't need one? "Tough nuggets" was their answer.

Well, I gave them an earful and told them to close my account. They pleaded (really) with me to keep it open and waived the fee for a whole year.

I suggest you do the same. It is enough that AMEX charges more commission and keeps the money longer, now they want money for a paper statement
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I used to see a physician who, if you missed an appointment, would charge the $10.00 co-pay ($50 is outrageous). I never missed one, but one time I sat in his waiting room for an hour and a quarter. He claimed he was in the hospital, but my wife who worked there, said he was out getting his car serviced.

He finally saw me, but on the way out, his office manager tried to hit me up for the ten buck co-payment. I was seething at this point and told her that I earn $32.00/hour, and I figured that she owed me $22.00. I would take a check.

She sputtered for a few seconds, then I left without paying.

I switched physicians, but this guy tried to hit me up for $1.00/page to have my records photocopied and sent to my new doctor.

I didn’t pay that either.
 
Gentlemen & ladies Do yu notice you are complaining aboutthe bussinesses that always seem to be successful? Come on jump on the band wagon the banks do it the phone companies do it the doctors do it they are all making money big time!~
I am going to post a sign right now there is an exit fee from my store that will be $10.00 cash please no credit cards or checks!~
The fee will be waived of course if a $500.00 purchasce is made!~ But they will have to pay the exit fee when they come and pick up the framed piece!~
 
Just last week I was visiting with my Dr.. He asked me about retirement. I said I couldn't because of the high cost of medical insurance. He said that he understood because he knew how expensive it was. He said that the cost of medical insurance for his employees was unbelievably high. Then he looked at me and wanted sympathy.

How Ironic?

Mitch
 
Amex is charging for paper statements? It's because they have to pay for the postage on the three or four solicitations they send me EVERY week trying to tell me about airline rewards programs. Have you ever noticed the waste that some companies produce by mailing out junk that goes in the trash. Citibank sends us something almost daily...to our house. No wonder their interest and fees are so high.
 
Originally posted by Mecianne:
Amex is charging for paper statements? It's because they have to pay for the postage on the three or four solicitations they send me EVERY week
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Exactly! I get about 3 mailings from them to my house and almost a daily one to my business! Plus those slicksters they hire to call me and offer extra business cards to my employees!

I am seriously thinking about ditching this lousy credit card. I doubt my customers would mind; they always ask shyly "do you accept AMEX??", I guess they know darn well very few shops accept it these days.
 
Mecianne:
When I get those envelopes with un-solicited and un-wanted 'junk mail', I just take off the part with my name and address on, and place the rest back in their prepaid envelope and mail it back to them. Costs them money and doesn't add to my trash.
 
Amex has been charging that fee for a while now and Discover does too for a paper statement. I get them e-mailed to me and save about $11 a month between the two.

Yellow Book just went to the monthly statement fee, I'll probably pay them several months at a time to lessen the statements. That's what I do with the liability insurance that also charges a ststement fee.
 
I believe that you can also request that your Amex & Discover statement be faxed rather than e-mailed. Our garbage service also recently started charging a $1.00 for a "paper" invoice - Am I seeing a trend here?
BTW, next time you're talking to Amex or Discover - ask them for a lower merchant discount rate - they will do this once annually - but, you have to ask!
 
Framer, I agree with you buddy!!! The Doctors are the worst! I had a Doctor apointment in august, I was made to wait 1:30-2 hours, when they finally called me in the room the nurse saw me and left... I then waited about 30 more minutes and the Dr. came in, asked me a few questions, made me get undressed and left me... I waited another 45 minutes!!!!!!! By the time he came back I was asleep. Then get this... If you pay that day (if you have no insurance like me) you only have to pay half... which was $75, so I paid it in the Doctors' office... then I was sent to get some lab work.. the lady at the desk was to incompetent to take my payment, I had to pay somewhere else and they gave me the wrong fee... a few days later I got a statement in the mail saying I owed them another $40 on top of the $20 I paid the day I came in because I didn't pay the correct total on that day!!!! I AM STILL PISSED!!!!! What a rip! They got to hear from mean Angie that day.
 
Are you ready to hear the other side???

My husband & I own a Dental office as well as a frame shop. Six months ago we just started to charge for missed appointment fee’s………here is why. Most patients don’t understand that our Dr. is booked with only 1 patient per appointment. Appointment times vary from 45 min up to 2 hours, in that time he will only see that patient. When a patient just doesn’t show up our staff of 4 sit around , we cant give the appointment away to our waiting list because those people need enough time to drop what they are doing and drive in…by then the time we had available is gone and the next patient is already there.

Just think if you were in pain and wanted to get in right away wouldn’t you appreciated it someone called to cancel their appointment and let you get in.

The fee was put in place not to make money, but rather to have people take us seriously when we say PLEASE JUST CALL if you can’t make your appointment, allow us to give it to someone else! We understand if things come up, we don’t charge for the first 2 time’s it happens but some people make it a habit of not showing up.

Something else to think of....before we had the fee’s we would have about 5-6 broken appointments a week. After we notified patients of our new office policy we are down to maybe 1-2 a month. I have charged the fee only 2 times in the last 6 months. The patient in pain on the waiting list is happy because they can come in faster, The Dr. is happy because he keeps busy.

So I hope you rethink about not going to any Dr. who has a missed appointment fee policy in place. Sometimes its there to help all the patients in the long run.
 
When I get those envelopes with un-solicited and un-wanted 'junk mail', I just take off the part with my name and address on, and place the rest back in their prepaid envelope and mail it back to them. Costs them money and doesn't add to my trash.
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- Sarah

It might be better to include your name and address and write " Remove this name and address from all mailing lists immediately" on the offer and then mail it back in their postage paid envelope. Another method is to fax it back to their toll free fax number. This serves to get you off their list and also stop the wasted paper, otherwise they will continue to send mailings to you and the problem of unwanted mail will contiue.
 
I had a problem wiht a dr tooooo busy to make his apts....booked 3-4 people for same time slot, etc

the last time I had to wait 1 hr + tfor scheduled apt i presented him with a bill for MY time(at that time I bill @55/hr for contract programming).....didnt have that kind of problem ever again! wont work everywhere, but give it a shot...may wake some inconsiderate &^^$%$#@ up!!!
 
I sometimes wish we charged for missed photo sessions too. It always amazes me that people make an appointment with us then fail to show up or call to say they won't be there. We know some studios that have gone to requiring that people prepay for their appointments, no refunds if you miss it. There are times when we are booked solid, it would be nice to know when someone can't make it so we could schedule someone else. Right now we just call the person who didn't show up and try to reschedule them.
 
Rarely do doctors book their own appointments, though they probably have some input into how they're booked.

I've seen the triage charts: 5 minutes for a sore throat, 10 minutes for a broken ankle, 15 minutes for a massive heart attack . . .

I wouldn't want to be the one doing the scheduling.
 
I can relate to what Artimis so eloquently said. My wife is a piano teacher. It's amazing how often people call and want to change their lesson times. I don't know how she keeps up with it- it would drive me crazy. She makes every attempt to accomodate their needs, spending her own time calling other students to try to shift things. She doesn't get paid extra for this. Sometimes people have situations "come up" at the last minute, or simply mess up and forget to come. Most people understand that Terry could have used that time productively- had she known well in advance that the lesson was off- but that last-minute changes or no-shows leave her with slots of time that are basically unproductive both timewise and financially. They say "my bad" and go on with life.
However, some people are just clueless, thinking the whole world revolves around them, and actually expect a makeup lesson in these situations. Sorry- that's both rude and unrealistic.

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Rick
 
Missed appointments are a drag for all concerned. I love dentist's offices because they call and remind me the day before. It is so easy to get sidetracked, and forget even the most important dates.

It can go the other way too. After preping for my very first colonoscopy
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I arrived at the hospital to find that the Dr.'s office had neglected to book my appointment there. I just looked at them in horror and dismay and told them that there was no way I could go through that prep again, and the nurses took pity and made sure I got my exam. Whew!

Rebecca
 
Originally posted by AnneL:
I sometimes wish we charged for missed photo sessions too. It always amazes me that people make an appointment with us then fail to show up or call to say they won't be there. We know some studios that have gone to requiring that people prepay for their appointments, no refunds if you miss it. There are times when we are booked solid, it would be nice to know when someone can't make it so we could schedule someone else. Right now we just call the person who didn't show up and try to reschedule them.
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Maybe you could go halfway and ask for a downpayment for 'setup' or something like that? People are less likely to miss an appointment if they have money down on it.
 
Originally posted by Sarah Winchester:
Mecianne:
When I get those envelopes with un-solicited and un-wanted 'junk mail', I just take off the part with my name and address on, and place the rest back in their prepaid envelope and mail it back to them. Costs them money and doesn't add to my trash.
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That's a good idea, except I think I'll circle my name and request that they take me off of their mailing list.
 
.

I used to cut my name off the credit card application and stuff that and other kinds of other junk mail; coupons, special offers, etc. into the envelope.

I figured, "Let them deal with all the trash". I was so tired of throwing all that away.

I finally realized that it made more sense to leave my name on the application. Now, I write "No thank you - please remove my name from your list" right on the face of the form and mail that as well as any inserts and the original envelope back to them.

I was told once (not sure if it is true) that it costs them much more than 37 cents to receive their pre-paid envelopes back.

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Ham


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How would you like to learn of a few framers who don't pay for their orders, 6-8 month after delivery was made, yet have the nerve to come with new orders and feel insulted when put on COD?
Your ingratiating posts are tapping on my nervs. If I (or anybody else except Bill) was to post such a childish complaint, you would have given me the business discipline speech, but in with Bill you turn into compassionate anti-establishment, rebellious business persons, which is a plane oxymoron. Who stops you to penalize your costumers/suppliers for being late with their payment or make you loose time? Fear of loosing them? But who needs an indolent or crook client/supplier/partner anyway? Paying in time is about keeping your part of a contract, and your word is worth money. This is why others take your orders over the phone and this is why paying for not keeping your promise is just neat business to me.
 
Originally posted by Whynot:
How would you like to learn of a few framers who don't pay for their orders, 6-8 month after delivery was made, yet have the nerve to come with new orders and feel insulted when put on COD?
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I agree that they have guts to think that should be given "terms" after such a payment record.
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I've had late fees charged on credit cards even though I mailed the payments in weeks ahead of time. They some times hold your payment and post it after the due date just so they can charge extra fees. I know, I've caught them at it and called to complain. Didn't do any good, they don't go by the date on the check or the post card but by the date they post it.

It did do some good though when I caught the company we lease our printer from doing same thing with the monthly reports we have to fax in. We had a couple reports that were faxed in on the due date but weren't posted till later and we were charged late fees. Each time, I called to complain and got the fees dropped. The last time it happened, I got really mad at them and they transferred me to a supervisor. It hasn't happened since, now they are always posted the day they are faxed.
 
If true, that's a scandalous practice and yet one more reason to prefer paying on line. That way you are solely responsible for when the payment is being made, and save at least the cost of a stamped envelope and potential aggravation with lost or late mail.
If we knew that much as to find this forum and post in here, we certainly could learn how paying online works. After all it's strange that we were fast to use electronic means (credit card machines), in order to get to be promptly paid by our debtors, but still send our payments out by snail mail, forget paying or pretend to be repeatedly reminded of our dues.
I am not necessarily pleading for perfect contractual behavior; but then it's just fair to pay a price for being neglectful, forgetful, lazy or foxy.
 
Originally posted by AnneL:
they don't go by the date on the check or the post card but by the date they post it.
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I think that if you check the terms you will find it says that they must receive the payment by X o'clock on the due date. Capital One has been notorious for not posting payments on time, so I've started sending our payments by UPS so that we get proof of delivery. I've had to use that proof a few times.
 
Originally posted by David N Waldmann:
QUOTE]I've started sending our payments by UPS so that we get proof of delivery.
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Doesn't that negate whatever savings you get by using that companies card?

Switch card companies. There is a ton of them out there.

What's in your wallet?
 
we dropped AmEx a long time ago, because of their billing us for a statement. When Discover tried it a few months ago, we called them to cancel takeing Discover as well. Guess what!?!? Seems that if you tell them that you don't have computer access at work, and do not mix work with home, AND do not give out your Fax number, you can get them to waive the charge.

We don't pay for our paper billing.

It always pays to ask. Stay firm, and don't let them railroad you!
 
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