rant: water board won't waive the extra fees...

[tmc]

- water bill is due 20th.
- got notice yesterday from water board saying payment not received.
- called today: they said they have received the payment since sending the notice. but they won't waive the extra fees that they charge.
- never missed or late on a payment for 3+ years at this address and this particular payment was made (sent to them) on 16th (before due date).
- nobody's fault i guess - but will have to pay the extra fees and they even charge a fee for sending the late fee notice :-(.

edit 1:
my guess the check was sent properly on 16th.

but the water board received it after 20th. they must have sent the notice on 23rd. i received the notice yesterday and they must have received the payment yesterday as well.

postal delay? not sure. that is why i said nobody's fault.

edit 2:
yes, i just checked my past payments at my bank online - they have posted pdf image of the check - thus a physical check sent by mail.

 

[buck]

I had tea this morning.

 

[MrChad]

How did you send the payment? Electronically or by mail?

 

[PepePeru]

you should definitely water board the water board.

 

[tmc]

Originally posted by: MrChad
How did you send the payment? Electronically or by mail?

thru' my bank - online payment - free service from my bank. but they still send a check i believe - since this water board don't take electronic payments.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: tmc

Originally posted by: MrChad
How did you send the payment? Electronically or by mail?

thru' my bank - online payment - free service from my bank. but they still send a check i believe - since this water board don't take electronic payments.

If they received the check after the due date, you're out of luck. If they received it in time but applied the late fees in error, I would fight it.

 

[Hoober]

How can they charge you a late fee if you paid the bill before it was due?

 

[tefleming]

Originally posted by: tmc

Originally posted by: MrChad
How did you send the payment? Electronically or by mail?

thru' my bank - online payment - free service from my bank. but they still send a check i believe - since this water board don't take electronic payments.

take your documentation to the bank. it sounds like it was their screw up.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Hoober
How can they charge you a late fee if you paid the bill before it was due?

Because date received > date due?

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: tefleming

Originally posted by: tmc

Originally posted by: MrChad
How did you send the payment? Electronically or by mail?

thru' my bank - online payment - free service from my bank. but they still send a check i believe - since this water board don't take electronic payments.

take your documentation to the bank. it sounds like it was their screw up.

I agree. I would ask the bank why it took 10 days to deliver the check. That seems unreasonably high.

 

[Bu B3ar]

Originally posted by: tmc

Originally posted by: MrChad
How did you send the payment? Electronically or by mail?

thru' my bank - online payment - free service from my bank. but they still send a check i believe - since this water board don't take electronic payments.

when you send money through bank bill pay, they usually send an electronified check (Google Check 21 if you need clarification). I highly doubt that they send a physical check. E-checks should be presented within 24hrs, and afterwards take the same amount of time to be processed as a regular check.

If you got it in on time, contact the better business bureau, you shouldn't be charged late fee's if you weren't late :Q

 

[tmc]

my guess the check was sent properly on 16th.

but the water board received it after 20th. they must have sent the notice on 23rd. i received the notice yesterday and they must have received the payment yesterday as well.

postal delay? not sure. that is why i said nobody's fault.

 

[tmc]

btw, i still don't see the money taken from my checking account. i think it is a physical check.

edit - yes, i just checked my past payments at my bank online - they have posted pdf image of the check - thus a physical check sent my mail.

 

[Elganja]

Originally posted by: Hoober
How can they charge you a late fee if you paid the bill before it was due?

bill pay still sends paper checks to whoever you are paying BUT some bill pay's have connections with your billers to pay electronically. I'm guessing the water company falls into the former of the 2.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: tmc
btw, i still don't see the money taken from my checking account. i think it is a physical check.

edit - yes, i just checked my past payments at my bank online - they have posted pdf image of the check - thus a physical check sent my mail.

It takes a while for the checks to actually get printed then mailed sometimes. How much were the fees?

 

[allisolm]

When I pay a bill online it tells me the date that the biller will receive payment. Right now, any payments I make electronically have a pay date of 2/26/09. Any payments that require an actual check say that the payment will reach the biller on 3/02/09.

To avoid future problems, you might want to see if your bank does that as well. It does seem like they should be able to get a check to a local? business in less than 5 days (although the 16th was a holiday and that probably threw them off . :roll: )

 

[Newbian]

And here I thought this was going to be a thread about the fees hookers will lower if you let them water board you. 🙁

 

[olds]

I am not clear on how the payment was made but if it was mailed, I thought everyone went by the postmark?

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: NSFW

Originally posted by: tmc
btw, i still don't see the money taken from my checking account. i think it is a physical check.

edit - yes, i just checked my past payments at my bank online - they have posted pdf image of the check - thus a physical check sent my mail.

It takes a while for the checks to actually get printed then mailed sometimes. How much were the fees?

Where is the convenience in that? It's freakin' 2009 and they still have to print out little pieces of paper and put them in envelopes and stick them in a mail box? 19th century technology FTL.

Maybe the troglodytes at the water board could take their late fees and use them to buy a computer that takes online payments.

 

[phoenix79]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: NSFW

Originally posted by: tmc
btw, i still don't see the money taken from my checking account. i think it is a physical check.

edit - yes, i just checked my past payments at my bank online - they have posted pdf image of the check - thus a physical check sent my mail.

It takes a while for the checks to actually get printed then mailed sometimes. How much were the fees?

Where is the convenience in that? It's freakin' 2009 and they still have to print out little pieces of paper and put them in envelopes and stick them in a mail box? 19th century technology FTL.

Maybe the troglodytes at the water board could take their late fees and use them to buy a computer that takes online payments.

This is not unusual. The utilities company here is the same way.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: phoenix79

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: NSFW

Originally posted by: tmc
btw, i still don't see the money taken from my checking account. i think it is a physical check.

edit - yes, i just checked my past payments at my bank online - they have posted pdf image of the check - thus a physical check sent my mail.

It takes a while for the checks to actually get printed then mailed sometimes. How much were the fees?

Where is the convenience in that? It's freakin' 2009 and they still have to print out little pieces of paper and put them in envelopes and stick them in a mail box? 19th century technology FTL.

Maybe the troglodytes at the water board could take their late fees and use them to buy a computer that takes online payments.

This is not unusual. The utilities company here is the same way.

Still unacceptable IMO. I work for Portland General Electric and our customers can pay their bills on our website.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: phoenix79

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: NSFW

Originally posted by: tmc
btw, i still don't see the money taken from my checking account. i think it is a physical check.

edit - yes, i just checked my past payments at my bank online - they have posted pdf image of the check - thus a physical check sent my mail.

It takes a while for the checks to actually get printed then mailed sometimes. How much were the fees?

Where is the convenience in that? It's freakin' 2009 and they still have to print out little pieces of paper and put them in envelopes and stick them in a mail box? 19th century technology FTL.

Maybe the troglodytes at the water board could take their late fees and use them to buy a computer that takes online payments.

This is not unusual. The utilities company here is the same way.

Still unacceptable IMO. I work for Portland General Electric and our customers can pay their bills on our website.

Yep..most people don't realize that if the company they are paying (not their bank) isn't set up right, a check gets printed and snail mailed. When I was working in cellular, it was pretty common to have people getting late fees and sometimes having their service shut off because their electronic payment from the bank was taking over 2 weeks to get processed. It really wasn't anyone's fault...its just the way it worked out.