Yes, that is how is was until this month, they withdraw t...

[proud-boomer]

Yes, that is how is was until this month, they withdraw the amount, (or billed to my credit card) one day after the service I used ended. I seem to remember Shaw used to bill it about a week later than that, but I'd have to check back on my prior invoices,  However, I am good with paying a day after I completed the use of my monthly service.  Starting with this month Rogers has charge my credit card on August 21st for my August 8th to September 7th usage, half way through the use, so the are post billing me for half and prebilling me for half. If that double billing on my credit card statement was beyond my finances, I would have to carry that second bill on my credit card and pay 18-25% annual interest on it, while Rogers gets my payment for two weeks I haven't even used yet, interest free.

[proud-boomer]

If you are being offered a special discount for your Shaw/Rogers services, the company is, in effect subsidizing your bill and perhaps under that circumstance they justify a pre-payment if you are getting a substantial discount.  For the rest of us chumps, up until now, we just pay full costs, but they were billing us after our use, which seems fair.  Paying for services one actually has used, even by one day after, is reasonable. Demanding payment for services only half used is a money grab.

[mdk]

@proud-boomer wrote Paying for services one actually has used, even by one day after, is reasonable.

Also reasonable is the opposite, namely "pre-paying your rent on the first day of each month.

>> Rogers has charged my credit card on August 21st for my August 8th to September 7th usage,

Check the "fine print" on your monthly invoice. Rogers announced this change in policy.

You are not being "double-billed". Under their old policy, your payment was due on September 7th. From now on, your payment is due on the 21st day of each month.

If you cancel the automatic debit, you must pay by the 28th day of each month. If you pay through your bank/credit-union, allow a few "business-days" for your payment to reach Rogers back-end computers.

[mdk]

@proud-boomer wrote are they actually changing the due date even for cash clients to halfway through the use cycle?

Check your invoice. If you are not using automatic debt, you have 21 days (not 14) to make a "manual" payment, either via your bank/credit-union, or via the My Shaw Portal.

[mdk]

@proud-boomer wrote So, I now have to pay two months on the same CC bill.

Compare your two monthly invoices. They do not have the SAME "payment due" date.

If you had not manually paid by August 28th (not the 21st for the auto-debit), then the "fine print" on your monthly invoice applies:

Billing Terms

If we do not receive payment of an amount due on your account by the specified required payment date, it will be subject to a late payment charge of 3% per month. This late payment charge will accrue on a daily basis and will be calculated and compounded monthly on the outstanding amount (42.58% per year) from the start date of the monthly service period to which the outstanding amount applied until the date we receive that amount in full.

For you, this "late fee" added to your next Rogers invoice may be less than paying on the 21st day of your billing period with your VISA.  Depending on the "cut-off" day for your VISA account, your payment to Rogers may be after VISA's cut-off date.

[mdk]

@JeffGWpg wrote Why on earth would anyone overpay? 

Only if they did NOT make their previous payment by the due date.  When this happens, Rogers starts charging "daily interest" on the full unpaid amount -- just like credit-card companies do.

So, if you see a "late fee" on your next invoice, and you add exactly that fee to your payment, there will be additional interest between the invoice date and the date that you finally pay. Credit-card companies also "compound" any late fees.

So, if you have a "late fee", overpay by a few dollars. Any "surplus" of your overpayment will become a deduction from the following month's invoice.

[proud-boomer]

I don't recall having used the term "double-billed" in my posts, since it is not double-billing, if you actually read my posts you will realize I stated exactly what you did in response to others.  The only thing I was unsure of, since I am currently on automatic pre-approved billing, is if people who pay manually have the same schedule. By the way, I was just thinking about the term "pre-approved" payment.  I pre-approved payment of my Rogers bill AFTER I used the service, so they have changed the terms now.  Interesting... maybe I should try the same, change the rules on some of my contractual obligations with Rogers.

There is another aspect to this... in the telecommunications industry they often move in lockstep whenever it is to their advantage to do so, so this is even a better reason to fight this, before it catches like a bad virus and become standard.  You see, if everyone just acquiesces and we don't raise a stink, you better believe Bell, and Telus, will pull the same garbage, so the fight is worth it, just to **bleep** this in the bud. 

Telus tried charging an extra fee for credit card payments, as "allowed" under changes approved by the moronic government we have now, but it never went into effect because there was such a strong backlash, and they also lost business, so they cancelled it.  Every time Telus called me (which for a while was a lot) to expand my services, I asked them the same question "Is Telus still planing on going through with their extra credit card payment fee" and when they said yes, I said "Nope not interested in any expansion of my services, Bye!" They eventually got the message that just because they "can" do something doesn't mean users of their services are going to take it lying down.  We do have a modicum of competition in this country still, and we still can choose where we wish to spend out hard earned money.

[proud-boomer]

Now that Rogers no longer send out printed bills by mail (another money grab, and another thing that "caught on" like a bad virus in many consumer industries) I don't always find the time to sign into my account to download the most current bills, so I usually do it once a quarter or so.  I have many more important invoices and statements that need monthly downloading, so Rogers in not on my priority list.

[JeffGWpg]

To say "Rogers is not on my priority list" is basically admitting that changes to billing and pricing is also not on your priority list. So when they make changes, it's your own fault for not noticing. Every utulity and company I get service from does electronic billing. They all require payment by a specific due date. You can't prioritize one over the other if you require that service. It's your responsibility to stay informed. You can turn off auto payments and pay manually on the due date which is only 1 week before billing date. They all do this. It's nothing new. Shaw did not and now Rogers is making the change to their standard. Do I like it? No, but they're not reinventing the wheel here. 

[proud-boomer]

Wow, thank you for letting us know that Rogers is approaching "usury" interest rates at 42.58% a year, so let's figure this out. Rogers has moved my payment requirement up by about half a month.  Rogers would charge me 3% a month on late payments (compounded, monthly (3% monthly x 12 = 36% which compounded monthly comes to 42.58%)). Basically, if I were to use Rogers outrageous 3% a month for late payment, (hey, what's good for them, should be good for me) they just raised my bill by 1.5% by forcing my payment to be half a month earlier. Rogers, in 2023 had 4.13 million internet subscribers, so by that one move alone the company, in effect took in (at their interest rates) $6 million just on one half month change.  Even if we use half their interest rates that's still $3 million, or even a quarter, that's still $1.5 million savings which have now been transferred to their clients. Not bad for just moving a few dates around.  If they are planning to do that for all their subscribers, in all areas of retail business, that was 25 million paid users in 2023, so that would make it a grab of many millions they just saved themselves and shifted to their clients, all by "just" moving billing to one half a month earlier on a one time basis. If I knew the exact income Rogers makes on their monthly billables in retail, I could come up with a tighter number, but let's just say at least $5 million. Not exactly small change.

Thanks for clarifying for us that Rogers is even more greedy than most of us were probably aware of.