What do you do when a company insists you made a payment, but you didn't? UPDATE 9/21/2018

[lynxstch]

I am stumped on this one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen? Husbands cell phone bill (US Cellular) gets auto deducted from our bank account around the 21'st of the month. We got the email notice at the beginning of the month , with the usual amount that would be charged. Today, instead of getting an email that the payment was processed, we get an email that it won't be, because there is a credit on the account? I look up the payment page, and it says we made a cash payment of $72.93 on Aug 8. Which is more than the normal bill would be anyhow, so still leaving a credit on the account. But we didn't make any cash payments- ever! Every other payment on the history page shows as a preapproved credit card payment, which it should.

I call them and ask what the heck is going on. They say we made the cash payment, I say no we didn't, they say yes you did, I said NO we didn't. We have never made a cash payment for his phone, and why would we pay $21.63 more than the bill was to start with, leaving another credit? And why would we make it at the beginning of the month when it's not due till almost the end? I get silence. Then she says- well it shows that you did make the cash payment. So you must have. I think if I had made a cash payment, I would have a printed receipt of the transaction? She says uh.........uh....uh....I gave up and said never mind, I will find out some other way.

We think that they credited someone else's cash payment to the wrong account, and will eventually figure it out so I am still deducting the normal amount out of our account like I do every month. But why are they insisting that we DID make the payment? We are going out tonight anyhow, so will stop in at the local store and see if they can explain it, wanna take bets that they can't?

 

[cvjw]

I bet they credited your account with someone else’s cash payment. They will eventually figure it out when the other person pitches a fit because their payment wasn’t posted to their account.

I would force a payment thru, even though there is a credit. It will eventually get fixed and it will leave your account in arrears when the erroneous payment is taken from your account.

 

[lynxstch]

I bet they credited your account with someone else’s cash payment. They will eventually figure it out when the other person pitches a fit because their payment wasn’t posted to their account.

I would force a payment thru, even though there is a credit. It will eventually get fixed and it will leave your account in arrears when the erroneous payment is taken from your account.

How would one go about doing that?

 

[nkereina]

I'm not confident that they'll actually figure it out, even if the customer pitches a fit. The other customer may be able to produce evidence they made a cash payment and they can all see that it was never posted on their account, but that doesn't mean that they'll trace the erroneous payment to OP's account. They likely fat-fingered the account number or something.

If it were me, I'd escalate the matter and ask them to reverse the cash payment off your account. This way you can continue making your auto-draft payment each month and it won't be your issue if, at some point, they figure out the error.

 

[SteveH]

We use USCC for work, had this happen a couple of times in our 8 years with them, they usually figure it out. You need to escalate it up to a person that can make the adjustment. In our case we usually call our rep. You might contact the local store as they usually have some billing contacts that can assist you beyond the call center monkey.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I bet they credited your account with someone else’s cash payment. They will eventually figure it out when the other person pitches a fit because their payment wasn’t posted to their account.

I would force a payment thru, even though there is a credit. It will eventually get fixed and it will leave your account in arrears when the erroneous payment is taken from your account.

If they "force" a payment, next month they will be in the same boat.

If the company finds the problem and reverses the payment, the OP will simply get a notice that they own whatever $$ amount that they owe.

I would leave it. Keep an eye on the account and be ready to make a payment when it comes up.

 

[mrodgers]

How would one go about doing that?

1990's style. Put a check in the little envelope you get with your bill and send it through the mail.

Or if going to the store, give them the payment and tell them to credit your account so it isn't delinquent because of them fixing their own mistake so you're not charged with the late payment fee.

 

[gotomu212]

If they "force" a payment, next month they will be in the same boat.

If the company finds the problem and reverses the payment, the OP will simply get a notice that they own whatever $$ amount that they owe.

I would leave it. Keep an eye on the account and be ready to make a payment when it comes up.

This exactly. The system is going to continue to not take your autopayment while it shows a credit. Putting additional credits onto the account won’t fix it. Set the payment aside so you have it and then wait to get a bill that shows double. You shouldn’t be in arrears when that happens, it will just look like a bill with double service charges that month and if you pay in full there shouldn’t be in fees or charges.

You alerted the company to the error, you’ve done your due diligence, at this point I wouldn’t waste anymore time on it.

 

[lynxstch]

1990's style. Put a check in the little envelope you get with your bill and send it through the mail.

Or if going to the store, give them the payment and tell them to credit your account so it isn't delinquent because of them fixing their own mistake so you're not charged with the late payment fee.

We don't get a bill, it's sent thru email, so there is no envelope, lol! Can''t send a check as the account is set for auto withdrawal by credit card payment. If I mail a check, they will cash the check and still take the auto pay out, so we will end up paying 2x. We are going to the store later, and will tell them to reverse the cash payment or prove that we put it there. If they can't prove we did, we will just tell them to take it auto pay as it's set to do.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

 

[rwdavis2]

Let it go. They will figure it out.

 

[BLAZEY]

The same thing has happened to my inlaws with their electric bill. Electric company says there is a $300 credit on the account and it's set up for autopay. I feel sorry for the person that made the payment and didn't get it credited to their account. In-laws get the same runaround the OP did. He told them it wasn't his job to find out why he has an overpayment, but the Electric Company's job to credit the correct account. He said you are charging someone else interest and fees for non payment because you can't credit the right account. FIX IT! It took a couple of months and he had to get passed the frontline call centre people and speak to a manager to get it sorted out.

 

[Skellingtonj]

If they "force" a payment, next month they will be in the same boat.

If the company finds the problem and reverses the payment, the OP will simply get a notice that they own whatever $$ amount that they owe.

I would leave it. Keep an eye on the account and be ready to make a payment when it comes up.

Same it’s only $20 dollars. Not worth going up the ladder for.

 

[dclpluto]

Some of your questions been asked but you asked the person why would you pay more than the bill was. A lot of people put down extra money all the time. I’m about 6 months ahead on my electric and one year ahead on my oil bill. Say my electric bill is 150 I might send them 200 dollars have some credit in there. Some months I take the month off and not pay them anything. But always like to leave a cushion in there.

 

[lynxstch]

This exactly. The system is going to continue to not take your autopayment while it shows a credit. Putting additional credits onto the account won’t fix it. Set the payment aside so you have it and then wait to get a bill that shows double. You shouldn’t be in arrears when that happens, it will just look like a bill with double service charges that month and if you pay in full there shouldn’t be in fees or charges.

You alerted the company to the error, you’ve done your due diligence, at this point I wouldn’t waste anymore time on it.

That makes sense that they won't/can't t take auto pay as long as it's showing a credit. They need to remove the payment that we didn't make. If we just leave the account as it is now, next month it would only show a credit of $21.63, so the rest of the $29.67 would be due. They would deduct that amount from auto pay. BUT--It's his work phone, and we can't take a chance that they would shut it off.I would worry about waiting a month or 2 to see if they figure it out on their own, and then tell us we owe fees/charges/ and /or shut the phone off.
If they can't straighten it out in the store tonite, and reverse the cash payment off of the account, then we will have to figure out something else to do about it. I just hate things like this, they bug me till I figure out what happened and get it fixed, lol!
Thanks for the help!

 

[lynxstch]

Same it’s only $20 dollars. Not worth going up the ladder for.

It's not only $20. They say we paid $72.93 in cash so they took the $51.30 that the monthly bill was, and left the $21.63 as a credit on the account. I want that entire cash payment off, so they can take the auto pay of $51.30 out.

 

[lynxstch]

Some of your questions been asked but you asked the person why would you pay more than the bill was. A lot of people put down extra money all the time. I’m about 6 months ahead on my electric and one year ahead on my oil bill. Say my electric bill is 150 I might send them 200 dollars have some credit in there. Some months I take the month off and not pay them anything. But always like to leave a cushion in there.

Yeah I get that. That's great that you are able to do that and always have that cushion.

But if they actually look at the account, they can see that the bill is always only around $51, not $73, and they could see that we only have the exact amount taken out thru autopay. (going on 3 years now). I wouldn't all of a sudden go in and overpay and in cash! lol!

 

[BLAZEY]

It's not only $20. They say we paid $72.93 in cash so they took the $51.30 that the monthly bill was, and left the $21.63 as a credit on the account. I want that entire cash payment off, so they can take the auto pay of $51.30 out.

Not to mention the cell phone company has another client they are charging late fees an interest to, for non payment who may not know that their payment wasn't credited, and their phone may be shut off etc.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Op
I totally agree with you. And a telephone call will not protect you.. when they eventually figure it out, if they ever do and then say ur delinquent as they ‘ve deducted the Incorrect amount as there was a credit showing.
Obviously someone made an error when inputting the cash payment. When you go there, tell them to provide proof of payment made.. which will then show the location/time/amt etc and that documentation “may” move things along.
I would be sure to document all your conversations with names/ID and ask for ur acct to be noted and provide you with that info ( ref#). you would be surprised how
Easily It can become Your issue when an account is not correct.
Sorry ur dealing with this nonsense and using your time/energy to get it resolved. Best of luck!!
A call to Corporate wouldn’t hurt either..

 

[DisneyHardin]

I wouldn't worry about it. There is no way for customer service to figure out who the payment was supposed to go to because how would they even figure out which number of the account number was the one that was typed wrong. Most likely, even if they figure out where the mistake was made eventually due to the person who actually made the payment producing a receipt that has your account number instead of theirs, the cell phone company will most likely just eat the cost of the mistake.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

If the store associate can’t help you, then I would just leave the amount you would have paid in your account as a buffer in case they figure out what happened. If they figure it out they will just do an auto deduct from your account but there is a good chance they won’t let you know they are doing it until it has already processed. This way you won’t end up with an overdraft.