Phone company tries to money-grub a customer over a few cents, then he matches their energy and earns $9 in technicality fees: 'More like 'penny' revenge'

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jun 2, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

Sometimes the only response to a person's pettiness is to match their energy. 

But the guy in our next story decided to take his own little petty party to the next level when a money-grubbing 'debt collector' came knocking at his door over a few cents. Handling the logistics of switching phone providers can be a challenge and usually companies have a bit of leeway when it comes to overflow days. However, when looking at an extraordinarily small bill that actually costs more to even mail to a customer, wouldn't it be logical to just consider it a wash? 

This wouldn't be much of a story if it were logical, now would it?

After receiving a minuscule bill in the mail, the original poster of this story decided to use company policy against them, playing along with online minimum payments and mail carrier fees until ultimately charging his old phone company more than three times the bill they were trying to collect from him. Keep scrolling for the entire story of 'penny-revenge'!

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9971386368
    via canva
  • 02
    Phone company sent me a bill after I closed my account for a petty amount. So I paid it.
    via LostKnight84
  • 03
    So I recently switched phone service providers. Besides a bit of a headache with migrating my phone number to the new service, things weren't bad. Due to the migration taking a couple
    via LostKnight84
  • 04
    days past the end of my normal billing period the previous Provider sent me a bill for let us say $3.50. Postage alone in my opinion made this a bad move on the service provider part but hey, it is a bill so I will pay it.
    via LostKnight84
  • 05
    I don't want to send my money back by mail as that could risk bill never being paid and I don't feel like calling them and paying them over the phone, so I hop on their website and go to their guest pay since my old account was closed when they migrated my account.
    via LostKnight84
  • 06
    Turns out guest payments are a $5.00 Min. You would think this is where they are trying to screw me but this is actually why I came to pay online. Due to the bill
    via LostKnight84
  • 07
    being under $5 this means they have to send me my change back in the mail. The postage cost of 2 pieces of mail is nearing the difference in change that I expected them to send me.
    via LostKnight84
  • 08
    Their change return mail finally got to me today. They sent me $9 on a debit card. I have no idea how that math works but they are the ones that sent me the bill.
    via LostKnight84
  • 09
    Zym1225 2 days ago Several years ago I had an outpatient procedure done and about 6 months after I received a letter saying I owed $0.00 and if I didn't pay I would be sent to collections. I called the
    via Zym1225
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    number on the letter and told the person that answered, I was ready to pay. They pulled up my account and then got at me that I was wasting their time. I said how do you feel about wasting mine and they hung up.
    via Zym1225
  • 11
    tenorlove 1 day ago My mother got a bill for $0.00 for something or other. They wouldn't let up until she finally wrote out a check for $0.00 and mailed it in.
    via tenorlove
  • 12
    WeToLo42 1 day ago Sounds about as stupid as the reoccurring bill I get for my car payment. I have it set to automatically pay the bill online, but the company keeps sending me a bill of $0.00 dollars every month.
    via WeToLo42
  • 13
    68hoss 2 days ago I had a similar issue years ago, I changed phone companies and somehow had overpaid by 2¢ before closing my account... for nearly a year they mailed me a monthly statement saying my balance was $ -.02.
    via 68hoss
  • 14
    I finally called and got an actual person on the phone, told her to either pay me the 2¢ or figure out a way to get rid of it, it was stupid to waste paper, envelopes, postage, etc...she said "OK, you're
    via 68hoss
  • 15
    right, thanks for bringing it to our attention!". The next month they mailed me a check for $.02. I never deposited it but never heard back from them either so I'm not sure what they did with the balance sheet!
    via 68hoss
  • 16
    Cheyannethedog. 2 days ago That's awesome. However, if you didn't cash the check, it is still sitting in their outstanding checks accounts. Depending on the state, they have to wait 3-7 years and then turn it over to the state as unclaimed property.
    via Cheyannethedog
  • 17
    4linosa 2 days ago • We left att for home internet because they were just not fast enough. It was an easy process to get everything sent back and processed. Or so we thought. They kept sending us money. I
    via 4linosa
  • 18
    expected the first check. Then got a second one. Didn't think anything of it and deposited it. Then I got a third check. ??????? Called them asked . They didn't know. Just cash it. I was beginning to think I was about to owe them money again so I didn't
    via 4linosa
  • 19
    cash the check. All went quiet. Until about the 6th month and I got another check for the same amount as check three. So I deposited it in defeat and decided to just wait for them to ask for their money back. It's been 9 years and they haven't asked about it so i guess I got free money to the tune of about $115.
    via 4linosa
  • 20
    caseless1 2 days ago Use that $9 debit card to make a $9 payment on your closed account. 45 Reply Share Chocobo Dave 1 day ago . Make an $8.99 payment on the closed account.
    via caseless1
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    LePataGone 23 hr. ago Somebody gonna call like: "WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEEEEEAVE?!" 8 Reply Share Flatten Inner Tube 1 day ago This is the way.
    via LePataGone
  • 22
    . dedsqwirl 1 day ago Some guy on r/pettyrevenge said he overpaid his bill by .08 or something. They keep sending him a checks every few months for several years. He won't cash them as it's costing them money and man hours to send out a check.
    via dedsqwirl
  • 23
    Dropthetenors · 2 days ago In school I was charged $0.17 on my lunch account and was given about 3 letters telling me how much I owed. It got paid back. Eventually.
    via Dropthetenors

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Tags

outstanding account revenge phone petty revenge collect petty pay bills money grubbing bill payment Reddit payback funny
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