I REALLY Don't Trust Autopay... and Here's an Example Why

It seems that every organization under the sun tries to persuade us to "go on autopay," ostensibly as a service to help us keep up with paying our bills.

Personally, I have resisted. Resisted, to the point that a couple of my monthly bills get paid through "backdoors" I have accidentally discovered while taking myself off autopay.

Am I Just "Too Old For This?"

Now, some might be thinking "Dude! These are modern times! Get with the program! Everybody uses autopay..."

Maybe you're right... BUT... whereas I am possibly a bit of a technological Luddite in some ways, I'm mostly pretty up to date on technology. And some of that technology is not there to help us, it's there to exploit us.

So Then, Things Go Wrong...

So anyway, this morning Mrs. Denmarkguy comes into the kitchen, frothing at the mouth. Turns out one of her online subscriptions just got triple charged.

How did this happen? 

Well, in the course of taking "updated information" about her debit card (the old one had expired), somehow the system decided to charge her again from the previous payment... but without offering any sort of message or confirmation that the payment had been processed with the new card. Then, in confirming "which payment method" she wanted to "make primary" to use for autopay, she was charged a third time. 

Of course, the company (iTunes) was no help whatsoever. They were more of less of a "too bad, so sad" attitude, pointing out that it just meant she would not be charged her subscription for the next two months.

It's the Principle of the Thing

That's beside the point, from where I am sitting. Financially speaking, three payments of $19.99 is not that big a deal. And to most people, the event would warrant a shrug and a "whatever," but it seems to me that it's this kind of user apathy that leads to our being taken advantage of.

What is the point is that these "automated payment" processes very often function as way for service providers to profit from ostensible "mistakes," as well as to escalate their payment cycles... cleverly disguised as "system updates." For example, the due date for our electric bill has gone from the 25th of the month, to the "2nd Friday" of the month to the "1st Friday" of the month, all in the course of less than two years. 

"What's the big deal?" you might be thinking.

Well, if you consider there are a half million accounts paying an average of $200 a month, getting the money 20 days sooner due to "system updates" that's essentially the company "holding" $100 million for 20 days, in perpetuity. And that's a serious chunk of change. MY change. YOUR change.

But I digress. Whereas I am not into the whole "Conspiracy Theory" end of the equation, I do believe there are constantly new and sneaky ways invented to help large companies nickel-and-dime their customers to death.

And that's part of the reason I keep resisting autopay!

How about YOU? Do you have your bills set up for automatic payment? Do you trust the system to handle your billing appropriately? Have you experienced any weird and/or double charges? Am I just overreacting? Leave a comment-- share your experience-- start the conversation!

(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)