Dish wont let me change DUE date on bill

[goaliebob99]

You seem to be missing the point regarding budgeting.

With a budget, every bill is accounted for and is paid on time. The money coming in is accounted for and the money going out is accounted for. There is also money set aside for 'rainy' days, or for vacations, home improvements, car repairs, etc. Perhaps you are living beyond your means and should cut back somewhere. If money is so tight that you have to wait for the next paycheck to pay your bills, moving the due date will do nothing to help the situation.

I'm not trying to be a smart-ass, only trying to help.

No I do understand that, unfortunately thats not how life works some times! The problem is I have already cutted as much as I can and I cant cut anymore without turning essential services off. When you took the paycut that I did and earn as much as I do, you too would be trying to budget the way I am. I was out of a job for over 4 months, and any rainy day funds unfortunately got depleted because it was raining! I work very hard at what I do, and am very underappreceated, as well as over worked. The only reason why I do it is because of the fact that there are no other jobs in my area that pay as well as I had, as they all left and never returned. Just like what happened to me, We were locked out and the plant closed! Unemployment keeps rising, and nothing is happening to fix it. So im doing what Im doing to survive. So I dont appreacate the lecture in how to properly manage my money when im doing so! All im asking for is a little bit of help to make sure that the bill gets paid on time. There are two classes in this country. The super rich like Charlie, or the super broke ones like me. No matter how much I try to scrach and claw to change my status, it seems like you allways get slapped in the face one way or the other.

With all of this going on, I still find time to help others and donate my time to places like soup kitches or help out other vets at work on my own dime. There is a very good reason why I dont want to touch the credit cards, I dont want the debt that comes with them as I have enough already with the monthly bills I have.. If company's like dish cant realize this and work this customers to help adjust things to help them a bit better, then why should I do business with them? This is the common attitude with the company's these days. No one ever puts the customer into customer service anymore.

 

[jwolf]

If you don't like to hear opinions, you shouldn't post in a public forum. I was trying to give some advice, you don't like it, don't use it. Don't start bitching at people that are posting in a public forum regarding a topic that YOU started!

IMHO, dish isn't an essential service if money is THAT tight.

 

[Zero327]

No I do understand that, unfortunately thats not how life works some times! The problem is I have already cutted as much as I can and I cant cut anymore without turning essential services off. When you took the paycut that I did and earn as much as I do, you too would be trying to budget the way I am. I was out of a job for over 4 months, and any rainy day funds unfortunately got depleted because it was raining! I work very hard at what I do, and am very underappreceated, as well as over worked. The only reason why I do it is because of the fact that there are no other jobs in my area that pay as well as I had, as they all left and never returned. Just like what happened to me, We were locked out and the plant closed! Unemployment keeps rising, and nothing is happening to fix it. So im doing what Im doing to survive. So I dont appreacate the lecture in how to properly manage my money when im doing so! All im asking for is a little bit of help to make sure that the bill gets paid on time. There are two classes in this country. The super rich like Charlie, or the super broke ones like me. No matter how much I try to scrach and claw to change my status, it seems like you allways get slapped in the face one way or the other.

With all of this going on, I still find time to help others and donate my time to places like soup kitches or help out other vets at work on my own dime. There is a very good reason why I dont want to touch the credit cards, I dont want the debt that comes with them as I have enough already with the monthly bills I have.. If company's like dish cant realize this and work this customers to help adjust things to help them a bit better, then why should I do business with them? This is the common attitude with the company's these days. No one ever puts the customer into customer service anymore.

Yes kids. We did just go from a complaint about not being able to pick your bill due date, to volunteer work at a homeless soup kitchen.

• You don't like credit cards, don't use em, cut a check.
• You don't want to cut a check because you have to remember, use your bank's bill pay system to do it for you.
• Your bank wants to charge you for bill pay, then take cash to a payment location.
• You don't want to take cash to a store every month, then enroll in DISH's Flex promo for pay as you go service.

And if you don't like all of that...I don't think anyone's going to have any sympathy for you.

 

[danielle_s]

WOW, Almost everyone one of you who have posted a response to GoalieBob's thread have been somewhat vicious.

All he was asking for was what he needed to do to get Dish to change his billing date, not advice on his budgeting or anything else. Yet, pretty much that's all he's gotten from everyone.

I want to send a thank you to: long_time_DNC for sticking to the topic at hand.

When I read threads like this it makes me want to apologize to people like Goaliebob.

I hope things get better for you GB, I'm in an even worse situation than you are currently so I know what your going through. My best advice to you is to use the ceo email address and see if they're willing to work with you.

Thanks for all you do here at Satellite Guys,
Danielle

 

[Jonhern]

you can use a card to pay dish and when you get your paycheck pay the balance on the card right away so you don't incur interest. You will actually cost dish some money doing this since the card company takes 4-5% of the total. Many cards also let you pick your billing cycle so you can make it so it coincides with your dish bill so that after you pay it with your card you have plenty of time to pay it all off when your check comes in before the new cycle. Get a card with points and you can rack them up quickly on top of all that, just make sure you get one with no annual fee. Paying by credit card does not have to cost you a dime if you do it that way. Its the law they have to give a grace period, they can't change that.

Edit- the new law makes it no less than 21 days

 

[digiblur]

I have several bills that go to my credit card via autopay. My credit card doesn't charge interest until 30 days, if they did change policy they are required to notify you. At the end of the month I use my free billpay from checking account to send a check to my credit card company. Works out great as I get the rewards for using the credit card.

If you don't want to do this, then I would suggest paying your bill early then. If it is due on the 13th then pay it on the 1st. Obviously you'll have to pay a month extra to catch up where you are paying early but it works out to the same after you get it going.

 

[sam_gordon]

bob, I'm with you on the CC thing. It's easy to say "I'll pay it within 30 days", but now CC companies are going to 21 day grace periods. Sure they're notifing customers... make sure you read every flyer and all the fine print that comes from them.

It's very possible there's no way to manually change the due date on Dish's part. The best idea so far is to pay 1.5x the bill for two months. Basically "get ahead". Once you're ahead, you can send your check in on the 30th (with the money coming from the 28th check), and your fine.

Two other points to ponder...
1) I thought most mortgages were "due" on the first, but there's a 15 day grace period. Will it work to pay your mortgage with the money that comes on the 28th?
2) While I agree having Dish is a godsend for keeping kids busy when I need to do something, it is by no means "essential". Neither is my (or my wife's) cell phone. High speed internet would probably be the next to go. Priorities. Each person has their own.

 

[long_time_DNC]

I want to send a thank you to: long_time_DNC for sticking to the topic at hand.

When I read threads like this it makes me want to apologize to people like Goaliebob.

Figured GoalieBob didn't need my advice, just wanted to share my similar experience with trying to change my Dish billing date... Like Bob said you'd think Dish would at least try to help people in this difficult economy...but no, they don't seem to care...

 

[Pen15head]

if dish did change the date, then the customer would probably have to pay a month plus how many days in advance prorated they wanted the date changed to.

for example, if my date is the 1st, and i want it to be the 15th, then to change it i would need to pay 6 weeks worth of bill instead of 4 weeks on the current cycle. and any customer wanting to change the date for financial reasons probably doesnt want to pay a bill and a half up front.

 

[boba]

Goaliebob PLAINLY AND SIMPLY YOU CAN"T AFFORD DISH NETWORK. IT IS NOT AN ESSENTIAL IT IS A LUXURY OPTION YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT.

 

[tedb3rd]

Downgrade for a few months. When the amount you saved builds up over a few months, you will then have enough in 'reserves' to pay on their due date.

 

[EdZackery]

I pay mine 2 weeks late every month, costs me nothing extra and nobody gets upset.
Dish puts bill on my card on the 9th and my card is due on the 23rd. I pay the card off each month with no interest or charges and get a couple hundred a year in my mailbox for me!

 

[Claude Greiner]

If you let it go non-pay disconnect and wait 72 days for the account to charge off, you could then restart it and be able to pick your due date as its associated with the day you start service.

One of the reasons why Dish does not allow you to change the due dates is because everyone would then make it due in the first week of the month when they get their check and then Dish would be swamped with phone calls around the same time every month.

By making the due dates set in stone, based on the activation date it insures a steady flow of calls all month long.

Certain days are more favorable by others to have a bill thats due, Dish cannot afford for everyone to pick that date and be swamped with customer service calls a few days leading up to that date.

 

[Hall]

Hehe, not much sympathy....

Here's another idea I don't think anyone mentioned: Pay it early to get it on "your" schedule. You can change the "due date" yourself, without telling or asking Dish's permission.

 

[rjruby]

This "pick your pay" thing is a pretty recent advent; less than 5 years since I saw the first Chase ads on TV, and my local utility companies STILL don't do it.

The utility billing cycle (electricity, water, gas) is usually based on the meter reading cycle.

I would imagine that any utility would have difficulty implementing different billing dates for readings taken on a particular date.

 

[goaliebob99]

The utility billing cycle (electricity, water, gas) is usually based on the meter reading cycle.

I would imagine that any utility would have difficulty implementing different billing dates for readings taken on a particular date.

Not really, Electricity is read electronically through the lines, and you can report in the readings also. Water here they have RFID tags that the meter readers just drive buy and collect the information. The only one that really shows up on a monthly basis is Nicor (gas). When we first moved in to our home a year ago, all of these guys gave me the option of what billing date I wanted. They just prorated for the period of time that was in between.

Im doing the credit card auto pay thing for now. For the record, I dont have any issues in paying dish or any of my of my bills.. Its just the timing of paying them during the month. I dont think people realize how much of a pay cut I took, (over 10,000) I would consider moving to another area, but I cant just plop my house down on the market and expect it to sell quickly. It's just isn't going to happen. Also, Im not like the guy over at sonic babble who was earning 150,000 a year and got cut down to 80,000. I went from earning a modest 48,000 (entry to mid-level it) down to 34,000 ish (what the state of Illinois pays). I had to take what I did get as thats the only thing that really was available out there. When I went out of work, the unemployment rate was just at 10 percent. Now its at 14.

Google - public data

There are allot of people out there that are out of work, so im sure that im not the only one. I'm just one of the lucky ones to have what I do have! God has blessed me in many ways, some more than others. So for someone to say, that were not going to work with you to help you out a bit, its just completely wrong and they need a different outlook.

I understand claude's outlook on why dish does what they do! He knows more about how dish currently operates than what I do. But there should be someone in the executive department that could do this on a case by case basis when needed. As many times that I have called dish not once did any of the CSR's recommend Credit Card Auto pay. It wasn't until I posted here that someone did. Honestly I myself didn't even think about it. As much as dish loves to push it during their Charlie and Tech chats, Maybe dish needs to force every employee to watch these chats on a monthly basis as they obviously dont train their CSR's on it.

EDIT: I wanted to put this in perspective with other county's in the us. Where I live, were 2 percentage points lower than Elkhart, IN. But much much higher than anyone else.

 

[jlong27]

I had this same problem and asked this very same question here. I don't want to use a credit card to pay. My solution was to us BofA online bill pay and request ebills. I wanted to move my due date to around the 16th of each month to better budget for bills. Dish refused to move the due date. The ebill shows up just before the 15th, the day I get paid, and I pay it around the 16th. The actual due date is around the last day of the month.

My house payment is due on the 1st and every other bill is due after the 15th because I could choose to move all my other bills due dates. It is much easier that way and I don't need a credit card. I don't know why dish doesn't understand the usefulness of this. They could move the date and prorate the next bill. But no...

I got flamed here too for asking this very question and happened to stumble across my own solution. Granted I pay my dish bill really early, but at least I don't have any problems that way. Like my wife seeing money in the account and spending it. Which is what triggered this for me.

I was on autopay to get the cinemax for .01 a year and still am. I just pay the bill before the autopay date and it works.

 

[jlong27]

Here's my post on the subject. Ok, I didn't exactly get flamed and there were some solutions. I just like my solution best.

Can you change the billing date? No!

 

[MikeD-C05]

Since October of 2008, I have had to change everything I do in the way of finances too. My wife had to go part time at the state where I work too. Due to family concerns and because of my son. Somebody has to take care of my son Mon- Fri while I'm at work so this was the best way to do it, rather than pay someone else to do it. We lost half of her income and her check went from take home pay of $2000.00 down to $805.00. At first I was working over time to make up some of the money to soften the loss in her income , then my job changed and I am not allowed to make over time any longer. We made $67,000.00 in 2008 and this last year only $52,000.00. So I can relate to your plight Goaliebob.

We had to cut our all personal spending for ourselves or $400.00 a month or $200.00 each, then we had to cut out the cell phones and saved $85.00 . We cut out Xm on our cars and saved $22.00 a month.The DISH bill was cut down to top 250 and I finagled discounts and credits from them too . We also cut out all extra duo tuner receivers except for one. I traded them in for one 722k and a 211k. I turned the 211k into a dvr and saved on the dvr fee on my kid's tv.

I also finagled all kinds of money from my 401k and my wife's 401k to pay off credit cards. I borrowed money from my credit union and paid off $15,000.00 of credit card debt . WE now owe about $5000.00 to Bank of America but it is at 3.9% interest for life of the loan. The other $14,000.00 is owed to the credit union and the other is in 401ks that we pay ourselves before take home pay. We have a credit union visa card, the Bank of America visa that we only have debt on and a Best Buy card that I only use if I can pay it off the same month. All other cards we closed and cut up.

Seems we had been living way past our means for years, just like the country is still doing. This made me cut down all non essential crap and we save money now. We don't go out to eat but once a month , no movies unless we really want to pay out of our pocket. THis was before the recession became official. Now have $4000.00 in my savings and I since we got the $800.00 Obama" make work pay credit" refunded in my tax return , that I had no idea I was supposed to take, but we got it anyway, I have enough now to pay off one of my wife's 401k loans so I can bump my take home amount by $84.96 a month.

The thing I learned from this last year and a half is this. My family is important, my home, my job, my church. I no longer buy electronic gadgets or movies, cds etc, when I'm bored. We watch tv as a family , we eat together as a family and we are closer than before. It is tight sometimes, but we seem to manage to get by and we save a little money each month. I don't even miss the way I used to live, buying crap I don't need , going places I can't remember. Bad Times will change eventually and there will be improvement on the job front. But you just have to learn to be Flexible and change your expectations in life to fit your circumstances. WE all are guilty of having champagne taste on beer budgets. It is time we all learn to live within our means , because we are never going back to the way it was in the 90s. WE can not continue to live on credit cards and hope it all gets paid off someday.

Have faith Bob it will get better. God bless you and yours.

 

[Bobby]

Well said Mike! You laid out how you overcame financial difficulties in the easiest way to anyone to understand. I also paid off my credit cards and auto loans with my 401K and life is considerably easier now. Of course one has to have availability of a 401K with enough in it to make that work.