Yeah the CSR's can't actually see the payment info for a specific transaction. You can always hope the other person doesn't notice.
Funny billing issue
This past Saturday I got onto Directv's website to pay my bill. To my surprise, I have a $17 and some change credit on my account. A bit puzzled, I click on the link to view my most recent statement. It accurately shows my last payment posted on 7/1 as an EFT payment. This looks right because I pay all my bills online and rarely write checks. Then on 7/6 it shows a regular payment of a completely different amount. Just to make sure I hadn't gone mad, I pull out my checkbook to see if wrote them a check, nope. Logged onto my bank's website to see if a check for the 2nd mystery amount posted to my account, nope. So at this point it's obvious that Directv posted another customers payment to my account. I call customer service and tell them what's going on. After a bit of time for the rep to "do some research" she comes back and tells me there isn't anything they can do and to just pay what I normally pay. She said that when the person who is missing their payment calls, then they'll be able to straighten it out. Until then, they have no way of knowing where they payment was supposed to go, so it will stay on my account. I'll file this under thing that make you go :eek2:
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Directv: We can keep a bunch of satellites in orbit, but don't ask us to identify who's payment incorrectly posted to your account.
Just seems strange in this day and age that the CSR's don't have the ability to see an image of the check.
Just seems strange in this day and age that the CSR's don't have the ability to see an image of the check.
In this day and age, there may be a pretty good chance that it wasn't a check.mpaquette said:Directv: We can keep a bunch of satellites in orbit, but don't ask us to identify who's payment incorrectly posted to your account.
Just seems strange in this day and age that the CSR's don't have the ability to see an image of the check.
I'm not sure I would want just any CSR to be able to pull up an image of a check with my routing/account numbers and a copy of my signature. That could lead to a whole bunch of other problems.mpaquette said:Just seems strange in this day and age that the CSR's don't have the ability to see an image of the check.
I agree that it’s probably not best to give every CSR access to customer’s financial account information, but I’ll bet there’s some department within the monolithic bureaucracy that has access. It’s likely that physical checks are processed by a lock-box service and they nearly always image all documents, including the envelope, and store that along with the transaction data. There should be some back-office accounting group where a CSR can send a request to have this researched. All it would take is a person looking at the images from that transaction to see where the payment actually belongs.
The problem is that no matter how the payment got to the wrong account, some person out there is short $17.xx and it’s unlikely that D* will actively pursue it. In fact, my guess is that they will send nasty letters to the person whose account is missing the payment. That person will claim it was made but will have to bear the responsibility of proof. Since few banks send back canceled checks, the person will likely have to pay the bank to research the check and send a copy of it to D*. Since that will probably cost almost as much as just paying the erroneous $17.xx arrearage, well, you see the problem…
The problem is that no matter how the payment got to the wrong account, some person out there is short $17.xx and it’s unlikely that D* will actively pursue it. In fact, my guess is that they will send nasty letters to the person whose account is missing the payment. That person will claim it was made but will have to bear the responsibility of proof. Since few banks send back canceled checks, the person will likely have to pay the bank to research the check and send a copy of it to D*. Since that will probably cost almost as much as just paying the erroneous $17.xx arrearage, well, you see the problem…
Don't forget, DirecTV will probably charge the other person a late fee. And when the other person proves to DirecTV that they actually paid on time, instead of crediting the account for the amount of the check and the late fee, DirecTV will probably issue the credit as a promotional freebie.rudeney said:I agree that it's probably not best to give every CSR access to customer's financial account information, but I'll bet there's some department within the monolithic bureaucracy that has access. It's likely that physical checks are processed by a lock-box service and they nearly always image all documents, including the envelope, and store that along with the transaction data. There should be some back-office accounting group where a CSR can send a request to have this researched. All it would take is a person looking at the images from that transaction to see where the payment actually belongs.
The problem is that no matter how the payment got to the wrong account, some person out there is short $17.xx and it's unlikely that D* will actively pursue it. In fact, my guess is that they will send nasty letters to the person whose account is missing the payment. That person will claim it was made but will have to bear the responsibility of proof. Since few banks send back canceled checks, the person will likely have to pay the bank to research the check and send a copy of it to D*. Since that will probably cost almost as much as just paying the erroneous $17.xx arrearage, well, you see the problem…
So now the other customer will have to go through the hassle of proving they paid and fight with DirecTV to get their bill corrected. Then they'll be charged with freebies which will impact their ability to receive future promotions that they will have otherwise earned.
But at least they'll get three months of Starz for free. :nono2:
reminds me of a funny billing issue my aunt had on her bank account...5 figures got transferred in there..she called to ask what was up..took a while but they found out some company paid their quarterly tax bill to her !
also someone else was paying a certain bill of mine for 4 years and i didnt realize it. And the company knew it wasnt my fault so didnt come after me for that bill. I now will have that company in my life for a long time because i'd call that good service
also someone else was paying a certain bill of mine for 4 years and i didnt realize it. And the company knew it wasnt my fault so didnt come after me for that bill. I now will have that company in my life for a long time because i'd call that good service
Having been on the other side of the issue with D* a number of years ago, I can tell you it won't be a walk in the park. My check was credited to someone else's account and I didn't know about it until I woke up one Saturday morning to watch the NCAA B-Ball tournament.
No service.
I called and was told that my account was overdue and the service wouldn't be restored until they got the payment and $25 late fees. This being Saturday and before the internet was big, I was screwed.
On Monday I called my bank and found out that the check had cleared. I paid $19 for a front and back copy and faxed it to D*, telling them to just turn on the service. Got home and no service. Called again, got told that anyone could forge a facsimile and that I had to send the original check.
Called the bank the next morning (Tuesday) and asked for the check, was told that I'd have to pay $25 for an interim statement. Went down to the bank, paid the $25. Went to the P.O. and sent a certified letter, that cost me another $5.
Friday and no service, call D*, I’m told that they don’t have any record of the check and that I’ll have to fax them the return receipt when it arrives. It arrives on Saturday. Fax the return receipt to D*. Call again. The department that deals with the problem is closed for the weekend.
Then, I’m asked if I have a credit card. I give them my credit card number and stay on the phone until I have service. Three weeks later I get a letter from D* telling me that they have found their error and that I will be receiving a service credit. Two months later I get a bill finally showing the service credit.
I never got a refund of the late fees they charged against my credit card and no one wanted to hear about the other $49 I had in expenses for their error.
So, all I can say to the poor guy who got your credit is: “Be sure and check your credit report, the b------s will report you as a late payment and it will take a year to get it cleared.":lol:
No service.
I called and was told that my account was overdue and the service wouldn't be restored until they got the payment and $25 late fees. This being Saturday and before the internet was big, I was screwed.
On Monday I called my bank and found out that the check had cleared. I paid $19 for a front and back copy and faxed it to D*, telling them to just turn on the service. Got home and no service. Called again, got told that anyone could forge a facsimile and that I had to send the original check.
Called the bank the next morning (Tuesday) and asked for the check, was told that I'd have to pay $25 for an interim statement. Went down to the bank, paid the $25. Went to the P.O. and sent a certified letter, that cost me another $5.
Friday and no service, call D*, I’m told that they don’t have any record of the check and that I’ll have to fax them the return receipt when it arrives. It arrives on Saturday. Fax the return receipt to D*. Call again. The department that deals with the problem is closed for the weekend.
Then, I’m asked if I have a credit card. I give them my credit card number and stay on the phone until I have service. Three weeks later I get a letter from D* telling me that they have found their error and that I will be receiving a service credit. Two months later I get a bill finally showing the service credit.
I never got a refund of the late fees they charged against my credit card and no one wanted to hear about the other $49 I had in expenses for their error.
So, all I can say to the poor guy who got your credit is: “Be sure and check your credit report, the b------s will report you as a late payment and it will take a year to get it cleared.":lol:
CSR said it was a check. Apparently it appears different than the online payment I made which appears as "EFT Payment." The mystery payment show as just "Payment."JLucPicard said:In this day and age, there may be a pretty good chance that it wasn't a check.
So you're ok with the waitress on the local greasy spoon having access to your cc number or the clerk at Wal-Mart having access to your check routing number, account number, signature, etc., but you wouldn't want a Directv CSR to see it? I don't see much of a difference here.RegGeek said:I'm not sure I would want just any CSR to be able to pull up an image of a check with my routing/account numbers and a copy of my signature. That could lead to a whole bunch of other problems.
It's 2008 people, the majority of checks are cleared as images these days. It's very common for businesses to have access to the images of those items since the original items are not available.
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