After I bounced my check for the water bill, I contacted the department of public utilities (via email because I couldn’t wait on hold while I was at work) to inquire as to whether they would attempt to send the check through a second time, or if I should just pay the bill over the phone via their 800 number.
I was surprised to find a response within a half hour. I was told they wouldn’t put the check through a second time, and if I went ahead and used the 800 number to pay my bill, they wouldn’t charge me a fee for the returned check.
Sounds like a bargain, eh?
So, I did what they instructed. I had to pay a $6 fee in order to pay the bill on the phone, but $6 is still less than the returned check fee would have been, so it was still in my favor.
Except that they *did* put the check through a second time. It cleared. The payment I made over the phone did not.
How lovely that now I get to spend my Friday trying to find a moment at work to call my bank and find out what, if any, fees I’m facing for this latest development. Think it’ll carry any weight with them to forward the email the department of public utilities sent me?
I so do not need this right now.
Update: The bank can’t do anything. The electronic payment cleared when my paycheck was deposited overnight. Now I’ve paid the bill twice. Oh joy. I’m pretty certain the city isn’t going to be issuing any refund, either, so my effort to start 2008 off fresh has already been derailed.
I have no one to blame but myself, but I swear if either one of my kids asks me for a dime, you’ll be reading about me in our local paper…
ARGH, there is no end to the pissed I would be if I were you
Defninitely don’t bother with a refund. But you could look at it as you’re ahead on your next water bill. And maybe you could get them to apply the $6 to a future water bill too. Although it might not be worth your time to ask.
ARGH! That is infuriating. Hopefully your water bill stays close to the same most months, at least you won’t have to worry about it next month then.
The only problem with not getting a refund is that the bill comes out quarterly and I’d forgotten about it last time around, so it was doubled. That means the total is a significant portion of my paycheck.
I had five bills due out of this paycheck. With the extra money gone out of my account, I can only pay two of them.
And did I mention that my bank charged me an additional $20 for the electronic payment not having cleared? AFTER I’d talked to them and explained what was happening? I’ll be fighting that one.