Within the last week I twice received bills from utility companies that ignored payments received before the new bill was issued, let alone sent. The last instance was such a bill from Dominion Gas, a energy company doing business in West Virginia. My previous experience of this kind was with US Cellular, on December 23. It is possible that these are both honest mistakes, but for the following reasons I am getting suspicious. First, this is not the first time. Second, in both cases it is difficult and inconvenient to get in touch with the company. To me, this suggest the possibility of purposeful action in the hope that the consumer does not notice or, if she or he notices, gives up in frustration after many unsuccessful attempt to contact the company.
What are the experiences of readers "out there?"
