Bogus charges on bills

[jdcnow]

Good afternoon, y'all! Hope you are both well and WARM, today.

Well, listen, friends. My mom wanted me to look at her phone bill (from our phone company, called CenturyLink) that she got yesterday. Some of these taxes and surcharges I have to just shake my head and roll my eyes at! ACK!

My older brother made two long distance phone calls on her phone on this statement we got yesterday.

One was to a town 25 miles away, during the day, and lasted for 28 minutes. $3.08.

One was a call to a cell phone number based 100 miles away, but the person lives here in town. That was 3 minutes, made as a night/weekend call, $0.33 was the price of that call.

Total of just those two calls alone >> $3.41

Now for the taxes on just those two calls - oh brother!
And all these fees are totaled up for both calls together, as each separate fee per line item on the bill. And I'm copying all these word for word straight from the bill.

Our city's local sales tax, $0.06
Our state (Texas) sales tax, $0.44
Total sales taxes, $0.50

Now for the surcharges...

Carrier Universal Service Charge - $0.46
(The Federal Universal Service Fund helps keep local service rates affordable to all and provides discounts on services to schools, libraries, and low-income families.) OK, I can see that. That's fine.

Equalization Surcharge - $0.03
(This charge is imposed upon each customer recieving intrastate long distance service in the amount of 1% of the charges for in-state long distance calling.) OK, that's fine, as well.

Texas Universal Service Charge - $0.11
(The Universal Service Fund helps keep local service rates affordable to all and provides discounts on services for the relay center and low-income families.) OK, I'm fine with this, although I do have some questions/curiousities about it >> By "relay center", I assume they mean the TTY relay center for the hearing impaired. And Texas has a separate fund for the low-income families apart from the Federal one mentioned above. OK, I'm fine with both of those.

Those 3 add up to $0.60 in fees, OK, fine. The one charge that seems bogus is the last one...

Carrier Cost Recovery Charge - $2.99!!!
With no explanation or description on the bill as to why that particular charge is in effect.

Put that $2.99 with the $0.60 in other fees, plus the $0.50 in sales taxes, and it comes to a whopping $4.09 in taxes and fees alone for phone calls that totaled $3.41. Un. Friggin. Real. The services rendered are actually cheaper than the taxes and fees incurred because of thoses services.

I don't know, but something just smells about that $2.99 fee on that long distance.

Just going up and down my mom's bill again, for her local phone service, all the taxes (911, Fed, State, Local, and municipal right-of-way fee) add up to $5.12.

The other charges look fine, except the Federal Universal Service Fund is repeated again, under the local service fees, at $0.91. The Texas Universal Service Fund charge is also a repeated line item under the local service fees, at $1.35.

Any one else just get the feeling you're being had by your utility companies when you look at the bill?

I'd just like to see some of the baloney charges you get nailed with.

Thanks, y'all!

 

[LGNTexas]

That's why your phone bill is often six pages long!

 

[Lord Booticus]

Pretty sure we don't get this breaking up of tax amounts on our phone bills in England. Get the break up of how much each phone call cost, then get a sub total than get given the overall VAT (Value Added Tax) then a grand total.

I also find it odd how in American movies of TV shows when someone buys something the cashier will saying something like "Thats $4.00 plus tax comes to $4.60" do products not just have the overall price on them all ready? Or do you not get the actual price until you get to the till? Or is it all just Hollywood bull?

 

[bendted]

She should get a cell phone. No bullshit charges or taxes. I did the calcualtions and even with my poor man's cell phone my rates are cheaper than what she paid on a per minute basis. I no longer have a land line and spend less with a cell than I did on my land line's flat rate.

 

[swerve]

We run our business out of a home office and pay AT&T an additional amount for FREE long distance...

EVERY SINGLE MONTH for OVER A YEAR -- they STILL bill us the additional LONG DISTANCE amount...

I'm talking HUNDREDS of dollars...

EVERY SINGLE MONTH my partner has to call them to adjust the bill...

LATELY, they've been saying that they CANNOT adjust the bill and we need to pay it and HOPE for a credit later...

We contacted our PSC (Public Service Commission) -- and AT&T isn't even afraid of THEM!!! Didn't phase them in the slightest...

I guess they're one of those companies that are TOO BIG TOO FAIL!!!

Where is Teddy Roosevelt when we need him???

 

[jdcnow]

^^ About T. Roosevelt >> I know, right?!

I also find it odd how in American movies of TV shows when someone buys something the cashier will saying something like "Thats $4.00 plus tax comes to $4.60" do products not just have the overall price on them all ready? Or do you not get the actual price until you get to the till? Or is it all just Hollywood bull?

In the USA, sales tax rates vary from state to state. And even then, here in Texas, the official rate is 6.25% ($6.25 for every $100.00 spent) - with a provision written into the law here that individual cities/counties can raise it an additional 2% and keep that 2% for themselves. 99% of cities do raise that additional 2%, although some don't

But you are right, it's always "(price) plus tax" here, because of the varying rates.

 

[roadtripboy]

State taxes can be confusing in the US. My state South Carolina does not charge tax on food items. Say, if you bought lettuce, apples, steak, etc., no state tax. But, the bag of dog food and those cleaning products you bought, they have sales taxes on them.

 

[T-Rexx]

I once used a Cricket phone.

They charge lots of additional fees for various obscure "services." For example, I noticed a $3.00 fee for processing mail-in checks, so I stopped by one of their stores and paid in cash one month.

They charged me a $3.00 "convenience fee" for using the store!