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

[lynxstch]

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.

Yes, I am just leaving that amount in the account. I just will leave it there until someone figures it out.

 

[lynxstch]

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..

That will be the next step if we don't get someone in the store later on today to help us out. I always keep note of who I talk to , when, what time, what was said, etc.-- just in case. Been there, done that , way too many times ! I already know how hard it is to get someone to correct account info when THEY are the ones who messed it up. Had this issue with the bank last month! Thanks for the good wishes, I may need them!

 

[BLAZEY]

Unfortunately, my inlaws needed to get passed the frontline customer service reps to speak with anyone with the power to do anything to get it fixed. FIL figured it actually took the other person whose account had not been credited to make a fuss with proof of payment, about the late fees and interest to really get it sorted. The higher ups were able to fix it. Most of my bills are auto pay or through online banking. When I make a cash payment I hold on to my receipt until I can confirm the the payment has posted to the account so I have proof should anything go sideways one it.

 

[lynxstch]

Unfortunately, my inlaws needed to get passed the frontline customer service reps to speak with anyone with the power to do anything to get it fixed. FIL figured it actually took the other person whose account had not been credited to make a fuss with proof of payment, about the late fees and interest to really get it sorted. The higher ups were able to fix it. Most of my bills are auto pay or through online banking. When I make a cash payment I hold on to my receipt until I can confirm the the payment has posted to the account so I have proof should anything go sideways one it.

I NEVER pay bills in cash. All of our bills are also autopay or online paid too. ( Rarely an issue with any of them, but I know it's bound to happen.) I mail a check payment for something every now and then. This is the first time US Cellular has 'messed up', but I am sure it happens a lot. I am hoping when we go in , they will be able to find out if the person who's account wasn't credited has contacted them about the issue. I just don't feel right leaving the 'free month' and part of another month in our account, when someone else may have to pay late fees or charges, or possibly have their phone shut off. This isn't a customer's fault, it's someone who works at US Cellular who did it! I have already found out Corporate Headquarters address, phone number and a few names in case we have to contact them about it.

 

[scrapquitler]

How would one go about doing that?

One way to force a payment to go thru would be (yes, I know I'm in the dark ages)....Mail them a check.

 

[wenrob]

Is it possible there was a deposit put down when the account was started and now you’re getting it back? This has happened to us with the water and power companies. Both were right around three years and completely forgotten about.

 

[lynxstch]

Is it possible there was a deposit put down when the account was started and now you’re getting it back? This has happened to us with the water and power companies. Both were right around three years and completely forgotten about.

Not likely, his company is the one who originally got the phones. They got a whole bunch of them at the same time. A deposit of that size, per phone, would have cost a fortune. Not too long ago, they had each person who had a phone, go to US cellular and have the phones in their own name, instead of the company's and they just give a stipend add a stipend to their pay every month to pay for it. The employees now own their own phones, but the company is technically still paying for them. It just goes into our bank account from work, and then goes out of our account to US Cellular. Not too sure of the reasoning behind it, but as long as they are still paying for it, it's fine by me!

It's worth asking about though, thanks!

 

[jdb in AZ]

My checking account had an extra $200 show up. I waited (and waited) for the bank to fix it. When it hadn't been corrected some six months later I went into the bank and asked about it. They said the bank had been sold and the books had been closed, so they couldn't do anything about it. Reminds me of the "Free Money" square in a Monopoly game.

 

[jackers]

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.

You don't start with the account number, you start with the amount. Run a report that looks for an unpaid invoice for that exact dollar amount and there's your winner - if there is more than one, start comparing account numbers and I imagine you would fine one that is one digit off of OP's account number and probably has a history of making cash payments.

 

[Imzadi]

How would one go about doing that?

Just pay the bill. Don't use the auto payment, use their Bill Pay page and make a payment, so you will have even MORE credit to you, until they figure it out.

It will eventually get fixed and it will leave your account in arrears when the erroneous payment is taken from your account.

Yes, and then the OP will get charged a LATE FEE for their mistake.

 

[Imzadi]

My checking account had an extra $200 show up. I waited (and waited) for the bank to fix it. When it hadn't been corrected some six months later I went into the bank and asked about it. They said the bank had been sold and the books had been closed, so they couldn't do anything about it. Reminds me of the "Free Money" square in a Monopoly game.

Did you then head to Boardwalk?

 

[lynxstch]

Just pay the bill. Don't use the auto payment, use their Bill Pay page and make a payment, so you will have even MORE credit to you, until they figure it out.



Tes, and then the OP will get charged a LATE FEE for their mistake.

Thanks Imzadi, that's a good idea, one I hadn't thought of! I have never even seen their bill pay page before, will have to look for it tomorrow. Won't be going up there today to talk to someone , as we just had a bunch of really nasty storms, along with a tornado warning. Not venturing out of the house till all this has blown over!

 

[Imzadi]

Thanks Imzadi, that's a good idea, one I hadn't thought of! I have never even seen their bill pay page before, will have to look for it tomorrow. Won't be going up there today to talk to someone , as we just had a bunch of really nasty storms, along with a tornado warning. Not venturing out of the house till all this has blown over!

Stay safe!

 

[PollyannaMom]

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.

Yes, I am just leaving that amount in the account. I just will leave it there until someone figures it out.

That's what I would do as well. That way, you know it's there when they get around to fixing it.

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

Yep, you tried! (and harder than I probably would have - as soon as they started "insisting", I would have gotten overwhelmed and given up!) The ball is in their court now.

You don't start with the account number, you start with the amount. Run a report that looks for an unpaid invoice for that exact dollar amount and there's your winner - if there is more than one, start comparing account numbers and I imagine you would fine one that is one digit off of OP's account number and probably has a history of making cash payments.

This is definitely what the company should do, but I doubt they will. - Hopefully, someone will at least note the amount on an error report, so when the other customer finally calls, they'll be able to resolve it quickly.

 

[MillauFr]

This is a good example on why paying in cash or sending a check in is a bad idea. You at the mercy of someone entering your account # correctly. I would much rather use the auto withdrawl payment option.

 

[lynxstch]

UPDATE (if anyone cares!)
We went to the store a couple of days after I had posted the thread. They looked it up and said there was no way for them to find out who made the cash payment to our account. Their system only showed a payment, not a name,not a store #, no time, nothing. Guy said don't worry about it. WRONG~~~

2 weeks later, we got a letter in the mail stating that a payment had been credited to our account by mistake. That our account was now 'overdue' and payment had to be made or the phone would be shut off. You would not have wanted to be the rep on the other end of the phone when I called there! She saw no record of a payment being made by mistake, no idea about a letter being sent (even after giving her the reference # on the latter). so had no idea what I was talking about. She said you can make your payment over the phone now if you want. So I give her the information, she comes back and says payment was denied. I said huh? She repeats the credit card # back to me, and SHE had reversed 2 of the numbers . So apparently this happens all the time at US Cellular???


FF to today, they do the auto deduct thing , which is due TODAY, for the wrong amount, as the rest of the credit still showed on the account (they never removed it???). Then they send another email, that the account is past due for the rest of the bill, and if it's not paid immediately , the phone will be shut off.

How is it overdue, when it wasn't due till today anyhow? US Cellular makes the error, and then the customer has to jump thru hoops to straighten it out?? I went to the website, clicked pay bill, and paid the other $21.63. Account is now current, but I am seriously thinking of changing carriers, or not, maybe they are all the same way?

So that is how the story ended. Only took exactly a month to get it fixed!

 

[gotomu212]

UPDATE (if anyone cares!)
We went to the store a couple of days after I had posted the thread. They looked it up and said there was no way for them to find out who made the cash payment to our account. Their system only showed a payment, not a name,not a store #, no time, nothing. Guy said don't worry about it. WRONG~~~

2 weeks later, we got a letter in the mail stating that a payment had been credited to our account by mistake. That our account was now 'overdue' and payment had to be made or the phone would be shut off. You would not have wanted to be the rep on the other end of the phone when I called there! She saw no record of a payment being made by mistake, no idea about a letter being sent (even after giving her the reference # on the latter). so had no idea what I was talking about. She said you can make your payment over the phone now if you want. So I give her the information, she comes back and says payment was denied. I said huh? She repeats the credit card # back to me, and SHE had reversed 2 of the numbers . So apparently this happens all the time at US Cellular???


FF to today, they do the auto deduct thing , which is due TODAY, for the wrong amount, as the rest of the credit still showed on the account (they never removed it???). Then they send another email, that the account is past due for the rest of the bill, and if it's not paid immediately , the phone will be shut off.

How is it overdue, when it wasn't due till today anyhow? US Cellular makes the error, and then the customer has to jump thru hoops to straighten it out?? I went to the website, clicked pay bill, and paid the other $21.63. Account is now current, but I am seriously thinking of changing carriers, or not, maybe they are all the same way?

So that is how the story ended. Only took exactly a month to get it fixed!

Yeah at this point I’d cancel that contract and move on. Everyone has billing errors but the number of errors and problems with payment on this one would have me wondering if I was on candid camera at this point.

 

[Imzadi]

Yeah at this point I’d cancel that contract and move on. Everyone has billing errors but the number of errors and problems with payment on this one would have me wondering if I was on candid camera at this point.

Yes, I'd move on too. Just think, someone else probably had their phone turned off for non-payment, as they can't find any record that s/he paid, so they probably wouldn't credit their account properly, even if they showed the cash receipt.

Switch to Tracfone. It's ALL prepaid, You can choose how many minutes & plan you want each month. It's probably less than what you pay now, depending on how much you use your phone. AND they have auto-deduct for each month with a slight discount.

You can also "Bring Your Own Phone" and port your phone number over. So you can probably use the same phone & phone number you have now and only change your service provider. I'll help you out if you are interested in going that route.


NOTE: If you want to keep your current phone number, your current phone must be active with that number, so that you can port the number over to the new carrier. This is for ANY carrier you decide to switch to.

 

[lynxstch]

Yeah at this point I’d cancel that contract and move on. Everyone has billing errors but the number of errors and problems with payment on this one would have me wondering if I was on candid camera at this point.

LOL I have to agree, I thought we were being punk'ed. There is no contract, so there would be nothing to cancel. We are going to give it some serious thought. But we live in a really small city, where there aren't a lot of choices for wireless carriers. I really wish there was a Sprint here, I would switch in a minute!

 

[lynxstch]

Yes, I'd move on too. Just think, someone else probably had their phone turned off for non-payment, as they can't find any record that s/he paid, so they probably wouldn't credit their account properly, even if they showed the cash receipt.

Well whoever it was, apparently proved they made the payment, or US Cellular wouldn't have sent a letter telling us it was credited to our account by mistake. My guess is their phone got shut off before they realized what happened, and then they figured it out and got all over US Cellular about it.

Switch to Tracfone. It's ALL prepaid, You can choose how many minutes & plan you want each month. It's probably less than what you pay now, depending on how much you use your phone. AND they have auto-deduct for each month with a slight discount.

You can also "Bring Your Own Phone" and port your phone number over. So you can probably use the same phone & phone number you have now and only change your service provider. I'll help you out if you are interested in going that route.



NOTE: If you want to keep your current phone number, your current phone must be active with that number, so that you can port the number over to the new carrier. This is for ANY carrier you decide to switch to.

I actually have tracfone for my own phone. I have had tracfone for at least 10 years now. I asked you a zillion questions before I switched to a newer phone with them, lol! You were the one who told me how to tell what carrier the tracfones were using around here. Your help was invaluable to me, so thanks again!


The US Cellular phone is husbands. It was/is his work phone. Work used to handle it all, but they got tired of doing it all, so as the contracts were up, they gradually switched to having the employees take the phones over. The business still pays the bill (thru a stipend in their pay), so it's still considered a work phone, even though he now owns it instead of them.. He doesn't want to have to keep adding minutes to the phone every few months, and with all the use his phone gets between emails, texts, calls, etc, he would be using way too much data for a tracfone. (so he says anyhow). But switching carriers is a definite possibility at this point!