scrubbedexpat091

We had a payment come out 10 days early from a company we do business with and never had an issue with them up until now.

They send an email statement before the payment is due which clearly shows the payment due date, and clearly states the payment will be taken on or after that date, and it's always taken on that day or the next business day if a weekend but never before.

We call them and spend an hour on the phone with them, the entire time and 3 levels of phone agents are all the same, we would never take a payment early there must be a mistake over and over.

We will gladly send or fax you the statement you sent, which they kept saying they did not need over and over.

Gave up after an hour.

Called RBC, explained the situation, and they sent us to the branch to show the statement, and RBC reversed the NSF as it was clearly taken early and without notice, so that part is good and RBC provided good service.

I've taken away the privilege all of the companies we pay with auto-payments from doing so, and they can be paid the old fashioned way.

Technology and convenience might be nice until something goes wrong and a company won't admit mistakes.

magnumpi

This is why I don't have any, except my cell bill, come out of my account on auto payment thingy.

I get bill, look at bill, lose bill for a week or three, then pay bill just before next bill arrives :@)

caretaker

I love direct withdrawl, never be late, never drive without insurance because I forgot to pay. Car plates, phone bill, etc. Buying 4 years of driver's license saved me $20 or so, it's great.

scrubbedexpat091

Until a company screws up. lol

Have to keep ICBC on auto pay though, it's that or pay in full.

The rest that were though, I have cancelled and will just pay them like I used to, through on line banking.

I agree it's convenient, but when a company screws up, it is frustrating and could potentially cost you money if your bank is kind. Luckily as we have very good history with RBC and not history of NSF and proof it wasn't our fault, they reversed it, otherwise it would have been nearly 50 bucks.

magnumpi

Exactly

MikeUK

A few years ago maple leaf food admitted a big mistake

a few do... many don't


No surprise

scilly

I've not found many companies that admit they've made a mistake ..............


Mistakes are the reason why I refuse to have many direct debits ................. we have 3 life insurances paid by direct debit, 2 transfers to savings accounts, and our health insurance transfer done by DD, and that is it.


I insist on getting paper bills and invoices for everything else.

Stinkypup

I'm presuming that you accept them emailing you invoices / bills and you then print them out for your records?

scilly

nope!

at the moment, I still trust Canada Post to deliver the mail more than I trust the safety of the internet


yep, I know ................ I'm a dinosaur

scrubbedexpat091

I haven't found a company who will email bills. Closest any do is posting them online in your account which isn't bad, but a pain to sign in to several accounts each months to download and save them.

If they can send me an email asking to to sign in to view the bill, you'd think they could just include the bill in the email.

Mail theft is too high so I try and have nothing delivered but a few government agencies insist on mailing stuff still.

scilly

do you have community boxes then?

We still have door delivery, which is safer than community boxes. I will be thinking again when the community boxes are imposed on us ............. though I cannot imagine where Canada Post is going to put a block of the things!

scrubbedexpat091

Apartment boxes, so I guess you can call them community boxes...lol

Apartments never had door to door, just mailboxes in the lobby or in the parking area depending how the building was built.

scilly

Yes, apartment mailboxes are considered Community boxes. But these will be out in the open, and visible to everyone going by.

Halifax will be getting the community boxes for single family homes "this spring"

Hence my arranging to open a joint bank account with daughter to ease the transfer of birthday etc money gifts

Vancouver is supposed to be getting them within the next 2 years ......... we've been told that no-one will have to walk more than 1 km to and from the house, and have been assured by Depak Chopra, President of Canada Post that seniors have told him that they "want" to walk more

Seniors and disabled people who cannot walk that distance can request continuation of home delivery. They haven't even thought about parent with toddler having to walk that distance.

Vancouver Parks Board have already issued a statement that no community mail boxes will be allowed on park-controlled land ........... it is otherwise in Halifax, as daughter will have to walk about ¾ km to the nearest park where her box is being installed.

The community boxes in Surrey are the ones that make all the news, as the crims continually find ways and means of breaking into newer "safer" boxes, often within a day of them being installed

R I C H

At my last property, the community mail box was over 5kms away. I only bothered with it once a week, too much hassle to visit it more regularly.

scilly

R I C H .......... if you think of the density of houses in Vancouver proper, not the rich areas but those where the lots are 33' wide, 6 or 7 houses to a block, the Community Box needed to be within a 1 km circle of a particular house will be close to the maximum number of individual boxes allowed

Quite honestly, I do not know what is going to happen here ........... there just is the space to allow for a community box PLUS stopping area for 2 cars

It is going to be interesting to see how it works ............ and by then I should be old enough to claim the seniors "inability to walk that distance and require home delivery" anyway!