Due Date Change

[Kris.121212]

AT&T changed my due date from the 2nd of the month to the 28th of the month. So, I ended up getting two bills this month (July); one due on the 2nd and another for the same amount on the 28th. This doesn't add up for me since I'll also have another bill due on Aug 28th. I have paid Jan - July and now will pay another July and Aug - Dec. I will end up making 13 payments this calendar year instead of 12. I've tried calling AT&T for answers but all I get is that "it will all add up in the end". How does 13 full payments in a year add up to 12 full payments in a year? AT&T documented on my bill that this change "won't impact your monthly charges", but it does... I'm paying an extra month now. Can someone please show me the math that makes this not look like I'm being ripped off?

[kdfederer]

AT&T didn't change the billing end date, they just changed the number of days after the billing end date until your bill is due to 21 days. That is the reason you have to pay 2 bills in one month. If you would check the billing end dates of your bills, you would see that those did not change. You are still being billed for the same amount of days, just now your bill is going to be due a few days earlier.

[sandblaster]

Look at your bills and see the dates for which you are being billed, they will be different. ATT changed due dates to make them standard for everyone. Since your new due date is the 28th, that means your billing cycle ends on the 7th (see article on due date change here). Your billing cycle did not change, just the amount of time until payment is due. The bill due on July 2nd was probably for service from June 8 to July 7 and your bill due on July 28th is probably for service from July 8 to Aug 7.

If your old due date was the 2nd, that means they gave you 25 days to pay your bill, now you only get 21 days, same for everyone.

[Kris.121212]

I understand that my billing cycle did not change. What I'm trying to understand is how I'm not paying more when I'll now be paying 13 payments this year instead of 12. Say my bill was $100 a month for easy math's sake. I paid $100 Jan 2 and every month on the 2nd including July 2. That is 7 months which totals $700. Now I have $100 payment due July 28. I'm up to a total of $800. I will have a payment due Aug 28 and every month on the 28th through Dec. 28. That's another 5 months which totals $500. Add this to the $800 I'll have already paid through July and I'm up to $1300. Prior to AT&T changing my Due Date (or number of days) I would have only paid $100 for 12 months which totals $1200. How is paying $1300 in a year "the same" as paying $1200 in a year??? I know there is a new type of math they are teaching in schools now, but this does NOT add up to being equal. Please show me the math if I'm wrong.

[21stNow · Accepted solution]

You're not being ripped off.  Due to the timing of when your bill was due in the past (close to the beginning of the month), your new timing moves your due date to the end of the month, which will make you have 13 payments in the 2015 calendar year.  You are also paying for 13 billing periods, so there is no rip-off here.  Since billing periods can overlap calendar years, that can throw off the thinking behind what you are actually paying for when you are billed.

I will give an example based on the assumption in sandblaster's email regarding your billing cycle dates, using a hypothetical billing amount:

Due date:                        Billing Cycle:                Billing Amount:

1/2/15                             12/8/14-1/7/15              $100

2/2/15                              1/8/15-2/7/15               $100

3/2/15                              2/8/15-3/7/15               $100

4/2/15                              3/8/15-4/7/15               $100

5/2/15                              4/8/15-5/7/15               $100

6/2/15                              5/8/15-6/7/15               $100

7/2/15                              6/8/15-7/7/15               $100

7/28/15                            7/8/15-8/7/15               $100

8/28/15                            8/8/15-9/7/15               $100

9/28/15                            9/8/15-10/7/15             $100

10/28/15                          10/8/15-11/7/15           $100

11/28/15                          11/8/15-12/7/15            $100

12/28/15                          12/8/15-1/7/16             $100

Hopefully, that clears it up for you.

[GLIMMERMAN76]

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@21stNow wrote:

You're not being ripped off.  Due to the timing of when your bill was due in the past (close to the beginning of the month), your new timing moves your due date to the end of the month, which will make you have 13 payments in the 2015 calendar year.  You are also paying for 13 billing periods, so there is no rip-off here.  Since billing periods can overlap calendar years, that can throw off the thinking behind what you are actually paying for when you are billed.

I will give an example based on the assumption in sandblaster's email regarding your billing cycle dates, using a hypothetical billing amount:

Due date:                        Billing Cycle:                Billing Amount:

1/2/15                             12/8/14-1/7/15              $100

2/2/15                              1/8/15-2/7/15               $100

3/2/15                              2/8/15-3/7/15               $100

4/2/15                              3/8/15-4/7/15               $100

5/2/15                              4/8/15-5/7/15               $100

6/2/15                              5/8/15-6/7/15               $100

7/2/15                              6/8/15-7/7/15               $100

7/28/15                            7/8/15-8/7/15               $100

8/28/15                            8/8/15-9/7/15               $100

9/28/15                            9/8/15-10/7/15             $100

10/28/15                          10/8/15-11/7/15           $100

11/28/15                          11/8/15-12/7/15            $100

12/28/15                          12/8/15-1/7/16             $100

Hopefully, that clears it up for you.

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@21stNow

I marked this as solved because this is the best explanation I have seen on this problem.

[sandblaster]

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@Kris.121212 wrote:
I understand that my billing cycle did not change. What I'm trying to understand is how I'm not paying more when I'll now be paying 13 payments this year instead of 12. Say my bill was $100 a month for easy math's sake. I paid $100 Jan 2 and every month on the 2nd including July 2. That is 7 months which totals $700. Now I have $100 payment due July 28. I'm up to a total of $800. I will have a payment due Aug 28 and every month on the 28th through Dec. 28. That's another 5 months which totals $500. Add this to the $800 I'll have already paid through July and I'm up to $1300. Prior to AT&T changing my Due Date (or number of days) I would have only paid $100 for 12 months which totals $1200. How is paying $1300 in a year "the same" as paying $1200 in a year??? I know there is a new type of math they are teaching in schools now, but this does NOT add up to being equal. Please show me the math if I'm wrong.

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Deleted my post because @GLIMMERMAN76's explanation was much better then mine.

[21stNow]

Thanks Glimmerman76!

[Kris.121212]

First of all, I am completely aware that billing cycles can cross calendar years. I was only using a Jan thru Dec example to keep it simple. My math is the same if I use a Jan thru Dec time-frame or any other 12 month time-frame which includes this July. Secondly, the explanation is trying to show that I'm paying for services not fully received, and that's not the case. The explanation provided is using an example as though my bill due on July 28 will be for a billing cycle of July 8 - Aug 7 and that's not true. AT&T is not fronting me from Jul 28 - Aug 7. In fact all of the examples are showing a due date covering a billing cycle that over-laps. My bill due on July 28 is for billing cycle of June 8 - July 7. But at this point, between Customer Service folks I talk with not having any idea how this is working out to be equal, my math which shows that in any 12 month period of time which includes this July I will be making 13 payments, and the rationale provided on this forum (that everyone is agreeing with) which tries to explain this by showing I'm paying for services I haven't received yet, I have a headache. Thank you for your time and attempts: I'll pay my additional July bill and let AT&T get it's 13th payment. I guess I don't have to understand or even think it is fair, as my bill is due whether I agree with it or not. It's up to the FCC to do the auditing. Again thank you for your time.

[bill100]

Had the same problem.  They changed my due date and I did not authorize such a change.  I was never notified and when I went to pay I was told there was no way to change anything and ATT does not report to credit monitoring service.  But I checked it and it was reported late.  A manager Jessie was supposed to get me a letter saying ATT does not report to credit bureau but nothing ever came.  Now I find I have two bills one due on the 1st of August (the new date) and one due on the 4th of August (old date) for more AND showing that the first bill is overdue.  Not sure how it can be overdue when 1 August is not even here yet.  ATT has gotten out of control.  Of course at this hour of the night no one is available to fix this.  Probably time to find another cell phone carrier.

[21stNow]

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@Kris.121212 wrote:
First of all, I am completely aware that billing cycles can cross calendar years. I was only using a Janthru Dec example to keep it simple. My math is the same if I use a Janthru Dec time-frame or any other 12 month time-frame which includes this July. Secondly, the explanation is trying to show that I'm paying for services not fully received, and that's not the case. The explanation provided is using an example as though my bill due on July 28 will be for a billing cycle of July 8 - Aug 7 and that's not true. AT&T is not fronting me from Jul 28 - Aug 7. In fact all of the examples are showing a due date covering a billing cycle that over-laps. My bill due on July 28 is for billing cycle of June 8 - July 7. But at this point, between Customer Service folks I talk with not having any idea how this is working out to be equal, my math which shows that in any 12 month period of time which includes this July I will be making 13 payments, and the rationale provided on this forum (that everyone is agreeing with) which tries to explain this by showing I'm paying for services I haven't received yet, I have a headache. Thank you for your time and attempts: I'll pay my additional July bill and let AT&T get it's13th payment. I guess I don't have to understand or even think it is fair, as my bill is due whether I agree with it or not. It's up to the FCC to do the auditing. Again thank you for your time.

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OK.  I had to make an assumption as I didn't know your actual billing cycle and related payment due dates from your original post.  I could change the dates to match accurate information, but it would still have the same result.  As long as your billing cycle doesn't change so that you are paying for the same service dates twice, you aren't being ripped off.  If the billing cycle stays the same, the payment due date can be at any time.  You would only pay for any particular service date once, not twice.

Another example from another area of life is to consider two hourly workers who make the same amount of money and work the same amount of hours.  One gets paid bi-weekly and one gets paid semi-monthly.  Even though one gets paid 26 times in a year and the other 24 times in a year, they still earn the same amount of money over the course of that year, regardless of when they get paid.

[sjs314]

I have to laugh at the logic of saying this question is "solved"
I understand what is being stated as an adjustment to the due date so that "everyone" is given the same amount of time to pay their bill now, 21 Days but the issue lies I the fact that depending when your billing period ends as in Kris's case or as in my case( ex. Jul 5-Aug 6) payment due date previous was Aug 3 but my new due date is Jul 26.
Since I just paid my bill on July 3 and now have to pay AGAIN on July 26 Any way you look at it I am making 2 Payments this month(July) in my case an extra $206.
It also causes me to make an extra NEXT payment for the calendar year.
It is not fair to all of AT&T customers since a customer with a due date of let's say July 28 and new due date of July 22 still only had 1 payment due in July NOT 2!
I lost $206 of my spendable income for the month of July since I had to make 2 payments this month.
AT&T must think their customers are very dumb or that we have money growing on trees.

[sandblaster]

Well, if you budget your expenses on a monthly basis, I can see why you would be upset. However, the original question was the OP thought they were being charged more and that is not the case. Every bill you get is still for a different service period, you are just being asked to pay it x days earlier and for some people that happens to put that first adjusted due date in the same month as the last. You say it is unfair but how about those customers who had less than 21 days to pay? As with everything, you can't please everyone so matter what they do, someone is going to be upset but at least now all customers are given the same number of days to pay their bill.

[Kris.121212]

To sjs314: Thank you!!!!  Finally someone else who gets it. I'm so frustrated with AT&T support right now; their attempts to make logical the fact that some of us will be paying for 13 billing cycles is getting near comical.  Good luck with your endeavors, I hope you have better luck than I did. 

[Kris.121212]

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@sandblaster wrote:
Well, if you budget your expenses on a monthly basis, I can see why you would be upset. However, the original question was the OP thought they were being charged more and that is not the case. Every bill you get is still for a different service period, you are just being asked to pay it x days earlier and for some people that happens to put that first adjusted due date in the same month as the last. You say it is unfair but how about those customers who had less than 21 days to pay? As with everything, you can't please everyone so matter what they do, someone is going to be upset but at least now all customers are given the same number of days to pay their bill.

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Really sandblaster, you are not helping AT&T's cause.  Your posts get more and more desperate each time; and makes a frustrated customer even more frustrated.

• Yes, crazy me, I do budget my expenses on a monthly basis.  Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of just spending money willy-nilly.  I wish I did, and I wish a second payment to AT&T was just a grain of sand on a beach.  I'm just not that lucky.
• My original question boiled down to: How is paying for 13 billing cycles in a 12-month period of time fair?  I never said AT&T was billed me double, I never said AT&T over-charged me, and I never said AT&T billed me for something I didn't receive.  My complaint has always been that I had to pay AT&T twice in the month of July and that I am paying for 13 billing cycles in a 12 month period of time. Using my previous examples, I will be paying $1300 in 12 months instead of $1200.  That fact alone means "I am being charged more".  In my original post, I mistakenly tried to make this simple and used the terms calendar year instead of "12 month period of time".  My bad.
• As far as being unfair for customers with 21 days vs 28: First, I never made the choice as to how many days I had to pay a bill. AT&T made that decision for me. Second, if I had the choice of either paying in 21 days vs. paying in 28 days (then get stuck paying a second time in July and having a 13th billing cyle), I most definitely would have picked the 21 day.  It's not my fault that AT&T had various days, yet I'm being punished in their attempts to get everyone to the same number. Why not give everyone 28 days to pay?  No one would have been giving a 13th billing cycle, no one would have received a second bill in a month they already paid.  Oh wait, that would mean AT&T wouldn't have gotten an extra billing cycle from some of us - now that wouldn't have been fair at all.
• And finally: "You can't please everyone" - well now that's just a typical cop-out response.  We all know that AT&T has never made a mistake with their "Creative Billing Techniques". Oh wait, what was that Court Ordered rebate check I received from AT&T for being unfairly billed for taxes or fees, or something??? But I'm sure that all stemmed from AT&T just trying to make things fair for every customer but not being able to please everyone.

Don't worry Sandblaster, I will be contacting:

• Mr. Randall L Stephenson, Chairman & CEO
• Ms. Carmen Nava, Senior VP of Customer Experience
• and filing a complaint with the FCC