Can Anyone Decipher This??

[dclaryjr]

This is the online rendering of my latest bill. I know I only took six hours of accounting in college, and it was a long time ago, but I still think a bill for a months worth of television should be pretty simple. I'm stumped. What the heck am I paying for??

New Monthly Charge(s) 05/04 to 06/03
ADDITIONAL RECEIVER 5.00
ADDITIONAL RECEIVER 7.00
DHPP CREDIT 15 OF 18 - ADJUSTMENT -5.99
DIGITAL HOME ADVANTAGE PARTIAL MONTH(S) 04/04-05/03 59.99
DIGITAL HOME ADVANTAGE AMERICA'S TOP 250 WITH LOCALS 59.99
DISH HOME PROTECTION PLAN (DHPP) 5.99
DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICE PARTIAL MONTH(S) 04/04-05/03 5.98
DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICEFEE 5.98
DISHDVR ADVANTAGE, YOU PARTIAL MONTH(S) 04/04-05/03 -49.99
DISHHD ULTIMATE 20.00
DISHHD ULTIMATE PARTIAL MONTH(S) 04/04-05/03 20.00
DISHHD WITH 1 PREMIUM PARTIAL MONTH(S) 04/04-05/03 -30.00
PROGRAMMING ACCESS FEE 5.00
Account Charges $ 108.95
Total $ 108.95

All I know is that I signed up for the DVR Advantage plan a couple months ago and was told there would be no price raise. This bill ended up being around $16.00 higher than the last couple of months. I called to complain and they said it didn't show I had the DVR Advantage plan. The CSR said she would put it back in and give me some credit. Now when I check my account, I have a credit balance of over $23!!! This is crazy!!:confused:

[CABill]

The bill you posted reflects ending the DVR Advantage pricing on 4/4 and returning to standard pricing for AT250, locals, and a DVR fee. Since the change was on the 1st day of a billing period, it covered a full month for the "current" period so the "partial" items are full month items. Those same items are duplicated w/o the word Partial for the coming month of 5/4-6/3.

If you look at the previous month's bill, it had the reverse of this line:
DISHHD WITH 1 PREMIUM PARTIAL MONTH(S) 04/04-05/03 -30.00
You had already paid $30 for DishHD (including the $10 for AT200->AT250). This is refunding you the $30 already pre-paid, then charging you $20 (twice) for partial and full month.

Same for
DISHDVR ADVANTAGE, YOU PARTIAL MONTH(S) 04/04-05/03 -49.99
The positive $59.99 charge of $10 more for the partial month offsets the $10 extra credit on DVR Advantage.

I'm guessing you paid the $108.95 bill amount already, then the CSR's credit sent you to a credit balance. Check "Recent Activity" for both the $108.95 and what credits you got. You really were only overcharged by two DVR Fees of $5.98 each. Any credit above that would appear to be gravy.

Are you OK with the $5 no phone line fee? Questions on specific line items? Just wish it made sense from looking at it?

[dclaryjr]

Are you OK with the $5 no phone line fee? Questions on specific line items? Just wish it made sense from looking at it?

Thanks, Bill appreciate the reply. To answer your questions...no, no, and yes. I've been meaning to check into hooking up via the 'net to avoid the fee but just haven't got a round tuit. Your explanations made sense (of course, that may be the wine speaking), and damn right--I wish this and my cell phone bill were more easily deciphered!! :)

So am I right to insist on being back on the DVR Advantage plan? Is that saving me money considering I want to keep 250&Ultimate??

Thanks again!

[dclaryjr]

I forgot to mention you were correct...the bill had already been paid by autobilling (I didn't include the last tax line that brought it up to 116.11

Here's the activity since then that resulted in the credit:


CITY TAXES -0.07
DISTRICT TAX -0.04
STATE TAXES -1.40
05/12 05/12 DISHDVR ADVANTAGE, YOU 05/12 TO 06/03 37.05
05/12 05/12 DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICE 05/12 TO 06/03 -4.43
05/12 05/12 DISHHD ULTIMATE 05/12 TO 06/03 -14.83
05/12 05/12 DISHHD WITH 1 PREMIUM 05/12 TO 06/03 22.24
05/12 05/12 DIGITAL HOME ADVANTAGE 05/12 TO 06/03 -44.49
05/12 05/11 DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICE -5.98
05/12 05/11 DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICE -5.98
05/12 05/11 DHPP CREDIT 16 OF 18 -5.99
05/09 05/09 CREDIT CARD PAYMENT -116.11

[CABill]

Don't call to complain about the credits.:D

I'm GUESSING that you have a ViP DVR and two other receivers (one isn't MPEG4), based only on two lines:
ADDITIONAL RECEIVER 5.00
ADDITIONAL RECEIVER 7.00
So the previous month's bill should have been that $12 plus $49.99 for DVR Advantage, $30 for DishHD plus the 200->250 or $97 plus $6 tax or ~ $103.40. That made the billing mixup increase by two $5.98 DVR fees plus the tax on them. $5.98 is both the DVR fee and the amount you save using DVR Advantage. You appear to be back on that plan and on about the 18th, you can find the next bill online looking like the one before this (but all the above partial items in Recent Activity will also appear.

The reason the credit balance isn't just $11.98 is that in addition to reversing those two items, the billing system automatically computes a prorated amount from the date of a change through the end of the cycle. That gave you an extra ~ $4.50 and some tax, and next month's DHPP credit appeared "early". It will be offset by a $5.99 DHPP charge on the bill so you didn't "gain" anything with it showing up early. The only real extra is the $4.50 above the $11.98 you were "owed" for two DVR fees. So next month's bill should be about $17-18 less than you paid the month before the mixup (whatever its cause).

[dclaryjr]

Don't call to complain about the credits.:D

Absolutely!!


I'm GUESSING that you have a ViP DVR and two other receivers (one isn't MPEG4)

Good analysis...my two VIPs are in my sig.

Thanks again, Bill!!

[normang]

CABILL is the PHD in advanced Dish Bill Analysis...

[dclaryjr]

CABILL is the PHD in advanced Dish Bill Analysis...

Obviously!!

I need to send him a link to my T-Mobile bill to see if he can figure out which teenager is using all my minutes!!:lol:

[jsk]

E*'s bills are confusing. I once called them to explain some charges because I didn't understand all of them and the CSR ended up reading my bill to me without being able to explain it. I finally just gave up and paid the bill.

[CoolGui]

E*'s bills are confusing. I once called them to explain some charges because I didn't understand all of them and the CSR ended up reading my bill to me without being able to explain it. I finally just gave up and paid the bill.

That's surprising to me as the bills have been exceedingly simple for me lately. For example:

AMERICA'S EVERYTHING PAKWITH PLAYBOY AND LOCALS 106.98
DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICEFEE 0.00
DISHHD ULTIMATE 20.00
LEASED RECEIVER FEE 7.00

Now I just switched to DishHD package this billing cycle. I know the bill gets REALLY messy when you change programming. So the following month we'll see how that bill rundown looks.