Forum Discussion

Parough3's avatar
Parough3
Freshman
6 years ago

Why is my bill different every month?

I’m confused at how my bill changes every month. I’m a new customer, since February, and it hadn’t ever been the same, anywhere from $76.23, to $90.00! On top of that, they won’t take my ssi debit card, in which everyone else does, so I have to call it in. They are supposed to give me a 5.00 discount, but they are “accidently” adding it. I even tried to go down on my data, to save money, but nope, it’s still $85.00! I signed up under the impression that it was supposed to be $69.00! That is what I was told.
  • GabeU's avatar
    GabeU
    Distinguished Professor IV
    6 years ago

    Parough3 

     

    The monthly charge for your service plan does not include the lease fee for the equipment.  Unless you paid for your equipment up front, you'll be charged a lease fee of $14.99 each month.  So that's $69.99 for the plan (if that's your plan price), plus $14.99 for the lease fee.  And then there are taxes on top of that, and depending on where you live, there may be a one time annual property tax recovery fee, which varies by name and from state to state.  This is something that is charged by the state or local entity, so the charge is passed onto you. 

     

    As for making payment with your SSI debit card, you may be able to make a manual payment each month by utilizing the "View / Pay Bill Without Logging In" option on the My Account site.   If it's a "Direct Express" card, I know for sure that you can use this method, as I have done so every month for years.  Just make sure to leave the box unchecked that pertains to saving your information for automatic payments.  It's a bit of a pain to have to do a manual payment every month, but it's better than having to do so over the phone, which always makes me nervous on the rare occasion that I've had to do so. 

     

    BTW, HughesNet doesn't accept prepaid cards for automatic payments because of the increased ability of burning companies for payment with those types of cards. Rather than take that chance, they avoid the possibility altogether by not allowing those cards for such.   

     

    As for your bills, you can see them in the way maratsade mentioned.  Login to the My Account site, click on the My Bill header, then click on one of your invoices to view it.  It will show in a popup.  Then, when viewing the popup, you can scroll down and click each of the blue lines to show a further breakdown of the charge.  Click back to go back to the page before when viewing the breakdowns.  This way you can see exactly what you're being charged for, and exactly why one bill may be different from the prior one.  

     

    Edit:  I should have added that you may also have Express Repair, which is free for the first month of service, but then is charged every month thereafter.  It's $7.95 per month, I believe.  This is one of those add on things that the sales agents try to push, but they do ask if you want it, as it's not required.  

    • Parough3's avatar
      Parough3
      Freshman
      6 years ago
      Then tell me why, when I tried to lower my GB, from 20 to 10, to try to save $, my bill stayed the same?
      • GabeU's avatar
        GabeU
        Distinguished Professor IV
        6 years ago
        Parough3 wrote:
        Then tell me why, when I tried to lower my GB, from 20 to 10, to try to save $, my bill stayed the same?

        Did you look at your invoices?  Is it showing the plan reducing in size, but being the same price as the prior plan?  

         

        If so, it's entirely possible that your original plan had an introductory discount, but when you changed to a smaller plan that smaller plan did not have a discount, so it was ultimately the same price.  Did you verify the price of the smaller plan before changing to it so you knew for sure that you'd be saving money?  And I don't mean verifying it on HughesNet.com, but with HughesNet themselves, as what would show on HughesNet.com is for new customers, so those prices may not have applied to you, since you already had HughesNet when you lowered your plan size.  

  • maratsade's avatar
    maratsade
    Distinguished Professor IV
    6 years ago

    You should login to your account and check your invoices under "My Bill."  The invoices will show what they're charging you for. 

     

     

    Parough3 wrote:
    I’m confused at how my bill changes every month. I’m a new customer, since February, and it hadn’t ever been the same, anywhere from $76.23, to $90.00! On top of that, they won’t take my ssi debit card, in which everyone else does, so I have to call it in. They are supposed to give me a 5.00 discount, but they are “accidently” adding it. I even tried to go down on my data, to save money, but nope, it’s still $85.00! I signed up under the impression that it was supposed to be $69.00! That is what I was told.