Can a company charge you for services never requested or received?
In general, you can only be charged for services if there is some kind of contract. The contract doesn't have to be written, but you have to have agreed to it somehow. However, it is possible that you entered into a contract due to some clause in the home purchase contract or the contract with the home owners' association. There are also sometimes services you are legally required to get, such as regular inspection of heating furnaces (though I don't think this translates to automatic contracts). But in any case you would not be liable for services rendered before you entered into the contract, which sounds like it's the case here. No. A company cannot bill you for services you did not request nor receive. If they could, imagine how many people would just randomly get bills in their mail. Ignore them. They don't have a contract or agreement with you and can't do anything other than make noise. If they get aggressive or don't stop requesting money, hire an attorney and it will be taken care of. I have had a couple of businesses do this to me.  I simply ask them to come over to talk about the bill.  Sometimes this ends it.  If they come over then I call the cops to file a report on fraud.  A lot of times the police will do nothing unless they have had a load of complaints but it certainly gets the company off your back.  And if they are truly unscrupulous it doesn't hurt to get a picture of them talking with the police and their van, and then post the whole situation online - you will see others come forward really quick after doing something like this. "Here's another example of such a practice and the problem it caused.  My brother, who lived alone, was missing from work for several days so a co-worker went to his home to search for him and called the local Sheriff's Office for assistance.  The local fire department which runs the EMS ambulance was also dispatched in the event there was a medical emergency.  They discovered my brother had passed away inside his home and had obviously been dead for days.  As our family worked on probate matters to settle his estate following this death, it was learned that the local fire department had levied a bill against my brother's estate for $800 for responding with their ambulance to his home that day.  I tried to talk to their commander about this, insisting my brother had not called them, nor had they transported him or even checked his pulse.  The commander insisted theirs was common practice - that someone was always billed for their medical response.  He would not withdraw his bill for ""services"".  I hate to say, but the family paid the bill in order to prevent delay of his probate issues and from receiving monies that paid for his final expenses."
"To avoid nitpicks, i state up front that this answer is applicable to the US; Europeans, Asians, Canadians, etc may well have quite different systems and rules. You have nothing to worry about if you pay off your credit-card statement  in full on the day it is due in timely fashion. On the other hand, if you routinely carry a balance from month to month or have taken out cash advances, then making whatever payment you want to make that month ASAP will save you more in finance charges than you could ever earn on the money in your savings account. But, if you pay off each month's balance in full, then read the fine print about when the payment is due very carefully: it might say that payments received before 5 pm will be posted the same day, or it might say before 3 pm, or before 7 pm EST, or noon PST, etc etc etc. As JoeTaxpayer says, if you can pay on-line with a guaranteed day for the transaction (and you do it before any deadline imposed by the credit-card company), you are fine.  My bank allows me to write ""electronic"" checks on its website, but a paper check is mailed to the credit-card company. The bank claims that if I specify the due date, they will mail the check enough in advance that the credit-card company will get it by the due date, but do you really trust the USPS to deliver your check by noon, or whatever? Besides the bank will put a hold on that money the day that check is cut. (I haven't bothered to check if the money being held still earns interest or not).  In any case, the bank disclaims all responsibility for the after-effects (late payment fees, finance charges on all purchases, etc) if that paper check is not received on time and so your credit-card account goes to ""late payment"" status.  Oh, and my bank also wants a monthly fee for its BillPay service (any number  of such ""electronic"" checks allowed each month). The BillPay service does include payment electronically to local merchants and utilities that have accounts at the bank and have signed up to receive payments electronically. All my credit-card companies allow me to use their website to authorize them to collect the payment that I specify from my bank account(s). I can choose the day, the amount, and which of my bank accounts they will collect the money from, but I must do this every month. Very conveniently, they show a calendar for choosing the date with the due date marked prominently, and as mhoran_psprep's comment points out, the payment can be scheduled well in advance of the date that the payment will actually be made, that is, I don't need to worry about being without Internet access because of travel and thus being unable to login to the credit-card website to make the payment on  the date it is due. I can also sign up for AutoPay which takes afixed amount/minimum payment due/payment in full (whatever I choose)  on the date due, and this will happen month after month after month  with no further action necessary on my part.  With either choice,  it is up to the card company to collect money from my account on the day specified, and if they mess up, they cannot charge late payment fees or finance charge on new purchases etc.  Also, unlike  my bank, there are no fees for this service. It is also worth noting that many people do not like the idea of the credit-card company withdrawing money from their bank account, and so this option is not to everyone's taste." I have looked at the conditions of a car rental company, and I believe it provides the answers: Upon pick up of your vehicle, you must present a valid credit card (*)   used to make the booking and which must be in the driver´s name. If   you do not have a valid credit card we will accept your debit card   when you pick up your vehicle. However, as we cannot reserve credit to   cover the potential damage or refueling costs, you will need to take   SuperCover and a fuel tank of fuel at the start of the rental. We will   refund the value of the unused fuel at the end of the rental unless   otherwise agreed with you. (*) VISA, MasterCard and American Express   are accepted. Credit card or Third Party Insurance IMPORTANT: In case of damage, we   will charge you the incurred amount up to the excess. You will then   need to reclaim this amount from the provider of the credit card or   third party insurer. We strongly recommend that you fully read and   understand the terms and conditions of any cover provided by your   chosen provider before you decline any of our optional services.   Without our SuperCover, should you damage the vehicle during your   rental period, we will charge you the corresponding amount up to the   excess, regardless of whether you can subsequently reclaim this amount   from the provider of the credit card or the third party insurer. In   the event you would like to dispute any of the above mentioned charges   you should send your request by mail or email to the Firefly location   state on your rental agreement. https://global.fireflycarrental.com/qualifications-ES.html From that, we can conclude that : It's likely that disputes with customers in case of damage cost a lot to car rental companies, and for the 2 above reasons, demanding a credit card may alleviate it. "Before the prevalence of electronic trading, trading stocks was very costly, dropping from ~15c in the late 1970s to less than a nickel per share today.  Exchange fees for liquidity takers are ~0.3c per share, currently. When orders were negotiated exclusively by humans, stocks used to be quoted in fractions rather than decimal, such as $50 1/2 instead of something more precise like $50.02. That necessary ease of negotiation for humans to rapidly trade extended to trade size as well.  Traders preferred to handle orders in ""round lots"", 100 shares, for ease of calculation of the total cost of the trade, so 100 shares at $50 1/2 would have a total cost of $5,050.  The time for a human to calculate an ""odd lot"" of 72 shares at $50.02 would take much longer so would cost more per share, and these costs were passed on to the client. These issues have been negated by electronic trading and simply no longer exist except for obsolete brokerages.  There are cost advantages for extremely large trades, well above 100 shares per trade. Brokerage fees today run the gamut: they can be as insignificant as what Interactive Brokers charges to as high as a full service broker that could charge hundreds of USD for a few thousand USD trade.  With full service brokerages, the charges are frequently mystifying and quoted at the time a trade is requested.  With discount brokerages, there is usually a fee per trade and a fee per share or contract.  Interactive Brokers will charge a fee per share or option only and will even refund parts of the liquidity rebates exchanges provide, as close as possible to having a seat on an exchange.  Even if a trader does not meet Interactive Brokers' minimum trading requirement, the monthly fee is so low that it is possible that a buy and hold investor could benefit from the de minimis trade fees. It should be noted that liquidity providing hidden orders are typically not rebated but are at least discounted. The core costs of all trades are the exchange fees which are per share or contract.  Over the long run, costs charged by brokers will be in excess of charges by exchanges, and Interactive Brokers' fee schedule shows that it can be reduced to a simple markup over exchange fees.   Exchanges sometimes have a fee schedule with lower charges for larger trades, but these are out of reach of the average individual." I want to send some money to Indian in my saving account but I haven't any NRO/NRE account. It is advisable to Open an NRE account. As an NRI you cannot hold a savings account. Please have this converted into NRO account ASAP. Process or Transaction charges or Tax (levied by Indian bank) on money what I'll send to my saving account in India. I know the process or transaction charges (applied by UK banks) from UK to India. There will be a nominal charge levied by banks in India. If you use dedicated Remittance services [Most Leading Indian Banks offer this], these are mostly free. Is there any limit to get rid off tax? Nope there isn't any limit. This depends on service provider. What types of paper work I'll need to do for showing that income is sent from UK after paying tax. If you transfer to NRE account. There is no paperwork required. It is implicit. If not you have to establish that the funds are received from outside India, keep copies of the transfer request initiated, debits to the Bank Account in UK, your salary slips, Passport stamps etc. Well, it really depends on for how long the quote has been made. But yes, when you're honoring it, you should let them know that this is a once of thing and that you're out of pocket doing  it. Most people will understand and when you make the appropriate quote next time around,  especially when elaborate where the additional cost that you did not account for initially, come from. It's important to maintain customer trust by being transparent. You can justify higher prices with time needed, material needed or whatever comes to mind. It's just important to convince that customer that without it, they  wouldn't get this superb service that they're getting now. Why would you want the company who failed to be the one monitoring your credit?   Bankrupt them and be done with them. They're likely going to be sued into insolvency and that in turn should create an about-face to the other credit companies.    The last thing anyone should want is giving additional or further responsibility to a company with the largest personal information leak of all time. Obviously, the credit card's administators know who this charge was submitted by. Contact them, tell them that you don't recognize the charge, and ask them to tell you who it was from. If they can't or won't, tell them you suspect fraud and want it charged back, then wait to see who contacts you to complain that the payment was cancelled. Note that you should charge back  any charge you firmly believe is an error, if attempts to resolve it with the company aren't working. Also note that if you really ghink this is fraud, you should contact your bank and ask them to issue a new card number. Standard procedures exist. Use them when appropriate. "Sue the debt collectors in small claims court.   There are several example stories around the internet, but this is a well written one from the consumerist. If your phone is a cell phone: ""it  is against the law for a company to  leave a pre-recorded message on your  cell phone."" In fact, the call frequency increased   once they realized they had reached a   live person. I called each of these   companies multiple times, and though I   was given assurances each time that my   number would be taken off of their   lists, the calls continued, morning,   noon and night. At my wits end, I   decided the only way to have the   harassing calls stop was to file suits   against the collection companies. It's   very important to understand that it   is against the law for a company to   leave a pre-recorded message on your   cell phone. Armed with this knowledge,   I filed suit against several of the   collection companies. I filed in small   claims court so I did not need to hire   an attorney, and the process was as   simple as completing a paragraph on a   complaint form. For evidence, I had   over a hundred Google Voicemail   transcripts showing the times the   companies called and the text of the   pre-recorded messages. Mysteriously, the calls all stopped   immediately on the same date the   collection companies received the   certified letters stating they were   being sued. Then a new flurry of calls   began pouring in. This time it was   their attorneys. The attorneys representing these out   of state collection companies were all   desperate to settle out of court. hey   did not want to incur the expense of   traveling for court or hiring a local   law firm who wasn't on retainer. They   also understood they had no   justifiable defense for the calls. To   make a long story short, so far I have   successfully sued 3 of these   collection companies and settled for   more than $5,000 out of court. All it   cost me was $35 and 20 minutes per   suit. Making these companies pay is the only   incentive for them to stop their   illegal and harassing practices. If   more consumers knew their rights and   actually took a few minutes to stand   up for them, it would become less   profitable for these companies to   conduct business the way they do now. -Source And whether you have a cell phone or land line,  It is illegal for the debt collectors to tell you they are calling to collect a debt for someone else under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (wikipedia, ftc docs). What Remedies Are Available If The   Debt Collector Violates The Law Under   the Fair Debt Collection Practices   Act, you have the right to sue a debt   collector in state or federal court   within one year from the date of the   violation. If you win, you may recover   damages in the amount of any losses   you suffered as a result of the   violation, plus an additional amount   of up to $1,000.00. You may also be   able to recover court costs and   attorney fees. If the same debt collector has engaged   in unlawful conduct with a number of   consumers, it may be possible to find   a lawyer who will file a class action   lawsuit. -Source With regard to whether you can sue under FDCPA if you are not the debtor, one FDCPA lawyer (take with grain of salt) says yes: Did you know that it doesn't matter if   you owe the account the debt collector   is calling you about or not? If a debt   collector violates the FDCPA (the   federal Fair Debt Collection Practices   Act, 15 USC 1692 et. seq.) that debt   collector could be liable to pay you   statutory damages, actual damages,   attorney's fees, and court costs. -Source"