Why do they have pay centers for bills?
By icyorchid
@icyorchid (2564)
United States
October 6, 2008 11:33am CST
Why on earth do they have pay centers to pay our bills when we can't get to the company?
I was under the impression that they were there for convience for us to pay our bills. NO they are NOT!
I paid my water bill on Friday at noon at a pay center only to find out that it never made it to my account yet and that it may take 5 DAYS for it to post! Called the water company today to find out if it had posted and found out that they are NOT affiliated with pay centers, so I called the pay center and he said they work for an independant company who picks up the payments and they post the payments or send checks, whatever. I AM LIVID!! 
My water was in danger of being cut off this morning!
I also made a payment to my cable bill on Saturday morning, not knowing what I do now and I called cable to let them know a payment had been made and I was told I was going to be cut off tonight if the payment was not posted. I have a receipt saying it was paid and the woman could not take any info from me. She also said it would take up to 5 days for it to post. On the receipt it says 1 or 2 days. So since I paid it on Saturday, I am thinking today is day 1 so I hope it posts by tonight!
I am so upset by this......WHY DO THEY HAVE THESE CENTERS IF THEY AREN'T THERE TO HELP US??!! I know I am not the only one who pays bills last minute, so I don't get this at all.
I would have paid it online, but my daughter hurt her foot and I could not get to the place to get my prepaid money card to upload money to do it.
So I have paid my bills and am still in danger of being cut off. This SUCKS Big Time!
My water was in danger of being cut off this morning!
I also made a payment to my cable bill on Saturday morning, not knowing what I do now and I called cable to let them know a payment had been made and I was told I was going to be cut off tonight if the payment was not posted. I have a receipt saying it was paid and the woman could not take any info from me. She also said it would take up to 5 days for it to post. On the receipt it says 1 or 2 days. So since I paid it on Saturday, I am thinking today is day 1 so I hope it posts by tonight!
I am so upset by this......WHY DO THEY HAVE THESE CENTERS IF THEY AREN'T THERE TO HELP US??!! I know I am not the only one who pays bills last minute, so I don't get this at all.
I would have paid it online, but my daughter hurt her foot and I could not get to the place to get my prepaid money card to upload money to do it.
So I have paid my bills and am still in danger of being cut off. This SUCKS Big Time!1 person likes this
7 responses
@kbourgerie (8780)
• United States
6 Oct 08
I recently opened an account with JP Morgan Chase who insisted that I set up my account to pay my bills online. Well, I asked them at the time, how long it would take my rent check to arrive at its destination. So what they did was sent out a "test" check to my address and said I could estimate the time that it would take my rent payment to arrive by how long it took the "test" check to get to me. It took over a week. Now whats the sense in that, when I can walk to the office and pay it myself? I am becoming a firm believer in paying the company directly online or taking it down to their office. All this "bill pay" is nothing but a bunch of bulldookey and I don't trust any of it. I hadn't had a checking account in a long time and was perfectly happy with just getting paid on a paycard and taking care of things myself. My experience in the one month that I have had this account has been nothing but a comedy of errors. Already, someone has hacked into my account and is taking payments of $7.99 for something I've never ordered. I'm really close to closing my account and going back to keeping my money in a cookie jar. LOL.
@icyorchid (2564)
• United States
6 Oct 08
Go to the bank and tell them about the $7.99 they will get it back for you.
I don't have a bank because of the hassle it is to get there before they close to put the money in there to pay the bills. lol I rather just have the money.
No fees or anything if you have cash. lol
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
6 Oct 08
Huh...that is pretty surprising. Years ago I had to use one of those pay centers for my Entergy bill and I was told that by using it the payment would post within 48 hours.
I know you don't have a car, but for the cable bill you can pay that at any service center. I think there is one by you. I know there was one over on Williams.
@icyorchid (2564)
• United States
6 Oct 08
Not anymore:( They closed it.
I called and spoke with collections twice and there is nothing they can do except do an extension on the bill I just got and then they'd need payment by the 15th! LOL NOPE She said it would take 3 days to post, so now I don't know who to believe.
@p3halliwel2005 (3156)
• Philippines
7 Oct 08
Awwww..That's too bad..I pay in pay centers too and I didn't know it's how they do it. I do get delay in payments too but maybe you could talk to the people who's going to cut your services and tell them that you paid on the pay center and they should honor it since the pay center have their name on it for their services as well. I always talk tough to the cutters when I had already paid and they end up giving up on me. Hope you get through this. Take care!
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
7 Oct 08
That is awful. I went through that one time with my home mortgage. They say they got it one day late and was going to foreclose on me. That is ridiculous when I was never late one time before. I mailed it enough time to get there also but it took them forever to apply it to my account. they actually sent me my check back and made me go to Western Union and do a wire transfer to them.
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
7 Oct 08
i'm so sorry to hear about your predicament. it's really frustrating to have paid the bill but yet run the risk of getting cut off.
we don't have pay centers like that in my country. we have pay machines instead. these machines are everywhere and we can pay our bills through that. our payment card is linked to our bank account so we don't need to upload money to do it. the machine will then transmit the information to the respective organisation. it takes one working day for our accounts to be updated. it's all done in the backend so it's pretty convenient.
@littleowl (7157)
•
7 Oct 08
Hi icy...my daughter and I have that problem even when we pay at paypoint outlets..it drives us livid too..it's just as well that we keep the receipts all the time..I normally like to either pay over the phone to a real-life person or a bank rather than these automated services and pay centres..they can be usless.
The one thing though is you know you have paid them so worry not..here in the UK if you can't pay one month or even if you only pay what you can afford they don't cut you off and by law they cannot cut your water off as that is the one thing that we all need to live on,drink,wash,bath or shower and clean with...so in the US in should be the same...you will be alright keep smiling..blessins littleowl
