Billing Problem

[D. J.]

Hi,

 

I wouldn't bring this up here, but it's been a week and I still only have a quasi-answer to my problem.

 

I opened my credit card statement last Friday to find three charges listed - different invoice numbers, but all from TCH and all on the same day (8-3-04). Each one was for $55 for a total of $165.

 

Trouble is, I only ordered 1 account here on this card. I opened the account on July 1 and was charged a pro-rated amount for that month. Now this comes up.

 

I opened a help ticket and alerted the billing dept. of the error. They got back to me and said there'd been a glitch in the billing program last month and she said she was moving the ticket to another dept. so I would be "refunded" the additional charges.

 

What does this mean? Beats me. I asked, and have yet to get an answer. So am I supposed to pay this excessive and erroneous balance on the card secure in the knowledge that a refund of $110 is headed my way or what?

 

I pay this card in full every month so as not to accrue interest. I certainly don't want to pay interest on charges that don't belong to me. As i said this has been up in the air for a week now - at least on my end - and my husand asked me what's up last night.

 

On a related note: I paid a pro-rated amount for the month of July. Now I'm being billed $55 for the remainder of the year. So where does this "free month" of hosting come into play?

 

Thanks to anyone who can prod this issue into resolution for me.

D. J.

[MikeJ]

You should continue to follow up on your help desk ticket as that's the official channel for billing issues. I can assure you though, that if you were overcharged, you will definitely be refunded the error. It just sometimes takes a little while.

[Deverill]

she said she was moving the ticket to another dept. so I would be "refunded" the additional charges. What does this mean? Beats me.

I'm sure it means they will refund you $110 to your credit card.

 

On a related note: I paid a pro-rated amount for the month of July. Now I'm being billed $55 for the remainder of the year. So where does this "free month" of hosting come into play?

 

The free month only comes when you pay for a full year when you first sign up. The home pages says it this way: " Prepay for one year of web hosting and receive the last month free! "

 

Thanks to anyone who can prod this issue into resolution for me.

D. J.

Unfortunately the moderators here like me do not have access to billing info. There's really nothing we can do. The only ones that can help are the ones who monitor the helpdesk. They don't often monitor the forums so it's really not going to help by posting here. You really are better off going through the helpdesk system for any billing issues.

 

Welcome to TCH and I hope this doesn't keep you from enjoying what I personally think is the best hosting available.

[Head Guru]

Whats the ticket number of your pending billing ticket and I will look into this for you.

 

Bill

[TCH-Dick]

Cant help much on the billing issue, but you were charged a prorated amount the fist month, the beginning of the next month you are charged $55 for 1 year, the $55 is not for the remaining 11 months it is for 12 months, So basicly you have paid for 13 months of service.

[D. J.]

Thanks everyone.

 

Bill, the ticket # is GXT-31826

 

I did try to pay for the full year when I signed up. The thinking was that, by ordering on the first day of a given month, I would bypass the pro-rated charge. But my card was only charged $4.58 for July. I did wonder if the $55 was for an 11 or 12 mo period, but my support ticket reply was never answered.

 

Sorry for putting this here, but I couldn't seem to get answered using the ticket method.

 

By the way, the account in question is only one of four that I handle here at TCH. Three others I admin for others, and now I've moved here myself. I couldn't agree more that TCH is the absolute best host going!

 

No huge problem, and I'm not soured on TCH by a long shot. I knew this would work itself out in time, but I was just concerned about this incident mostly because with credit cards time really is money.

 

Thank again for the input and assistance.

 

D. J. Rock Sign

[Head Guru]

In all fairness to TCH the ticket has only been pending since September 7th.

[TCH-Dick]

Just to not cause any confusion for other people, we have two billing systems, both do billing differently so if your wondering why you werent charged a prorated amount, your account is in our other billing system. One system the billing date is the 1st of the month, the other system the billing date is the anniversary (monthly or anual) of the date you signed up.

 

 

The way the system that bills on the 1st works is if you sign up before the 15th of the month you will be charged the prorated amount for that month, and then charged for a year the following month.

 

If you sign up after the 15th you would be charged a prorated amount for that month PLUS the amount for the year. This keeps the billing date the 1st for all accounts in this system.

 

The other billing system, it doesnt matter when you sign up, since the billing date is the anniversary of the date you signed up, so if you want a $4 plan you pay $4

[D. J.]

*In all fairness to TCH the ticket has only been pending since September 7th.*

 

Well, technically. The date of my original ticket request was Friday September 3. I thought I got it in early enough that I'd catch them before closing, but I guess I missed. Because of the holiday they just didn't see it until Tuesday the 7th.

 

It's been my experience here with tech support that things get solved within an hour - if not in minutes.

 

I realize this is a little more detailed, but all I'm trying to find out is - should I go ahead and pay the full amount on the credit card statement, and I'll be reimbursed, or are they going to adjust the billing directly with the bank? That's what I asked on the 7th and three days later I still don't know.

 

Really, in all fairness to me, it doesn't seem like that tough a question.

 

Mike, thanks for the clarification on the billing. I have no idea which billing system I got. I don't even remember if I had a choice. I just entered the requested data and presto!

 

 

D. J.