Don't Neglect Your Bills

As you will see, I am not referring to ex-Presidents which a penchant for dirty deeds in the Oval Office. I am however referring to those pesky compressed wood pulp planes that come in the mail indicating you owe someone for something.

In general, we enjoy receiving mail when it is birthday cards, holiday cards, get well cards or some other correspondence personally created for you. Bills, however fall into an entirely different category. No one likes them. No one wants to pay them. Everyone would rather chuck them in a desk drawer and forget they ever existed. Unfortunately, if you do that, you receive bigger bills which is not good either.

Reviewing bills of course gives you the opportunity to ... actually see what you are paying for. A novel idea, I know. You get to determine if you are being charged what you should be, if your plans or packages have changed, or if there is a legitimate billing error that you should not be responsible for. Most companies however have a time frame that you can dispute a bill if you do not agree with it, usually around 30-60 days. After that time, if you don't agree with it, tough. You should have picked it up before.

Excerpt from T-Mobile Terms & Conditions:

Incorrect Charges. If you believe your bill contains an incorrect charge, you have 60 days from the date of the first bill that contains the charge to notify us or you waive any right to dispute the charge. To notify us, please contact Customer Care at www.t-mobile.com, (800) 937-8997, or 611 from your Phone. We may require you to describe the dispute in writing.

Bonus Tip: If for some reason, you don't receive a bill one month, don't interpret that to mean you aren't responsible for charges listed on the invoice lining the bottom of your mail carrier's bird cage. Instead, you can be proactive and contact the business directly or the post office to check the status of delivery. After all, you surely didn't forget to use the service that month too.