I found out why they turned off my power . . . Ugh . . . - Page 2

 
Just as a caution, I had a related type of problem a few years ago with a
property tax bill. I'd taken over all the bill-paying duties for an elderly
aunt who lived in a different city, and had put a forwarding order on all
her mail, because she didn't want to receive any of it. Unfortunately I
didn't know that the property tax office has a "do not forward" order on
their bills. Furthermore, I didn't know when the bills were mailed or
due--they publish a backup newspaper notice but that didn't reach me. They
sent some kind of delinquent notice which *was* forwarded, and when I called
to explain the situation were nice about waiving the delinquent fee. It
probably didn't hurt that it was the first time the payment was late in 40
years <g>.

Watch out for Sam's Club, too. In all the upheaval of moving the last time,
I failed to notice I hadn't received their bill. They also do not forward
and although the PO notified them of our correct new address, they input it
into their computer incorrectly. It was really fun trying to get all this
straightened out with the guy at the call center in India.

 

elderly

I'm surprised.  Here in NJ, the stance is that you know you have to pay
property taxes, and they're due when they're due whether you get a bill or
not.  If you don't get a bill for whatever reason, it's incumbent on you to
go to the tax collector and pay it.  And if you're late, there's no waiving
the delinquent fee.

 

I switched my two electric bills over to autopay with a credit card a
few months ago.  The charges are itemized nicely on my CC statement
and the card that I use even gives a 2% cashback on utility bills.
Very convenient, never late or forgotten, and I get the float on the
money plus cashback.  (BTW, I pay off the CC bill in full each month.)

Dennis (evil)
--
My output is down, my income is up, I take a short position on the long bond and
my revenue stream has its own cash flow.  -George Carlin

 Dennis wrote:


   I had my phone service on autopay. Didn't worry about it. Didn't
bother to open the envelopes from this strange phone company I never
heard of.

   Then one day my phone went dead.

   As it turned out my phone company had discontinued service in this
area and transferred my account to the strange company. They did not
pick up the autopay.

   I guess the point is not that auto pay is bad, it's not, but you
still need to know what's going on! And it's not always best to go with
the cheapest deal.

   Jeff

 

they're

Snafu, all right, but then, you received several month's worth of bills with
an incomplete address - you could have called earlier.  And if you overpaid
one month to avoid writing a check the next month or two, you should still
have received a statement.  I know it's harder to react to something that's
not there than it is to something that is, but when you didn't get an
electric bill, you could have enquired.

It would be nice if they end up waiving the fee, since the whole thing was
due to a mix-up.  But I wouldn't hold my breath.