Blind At Both Ends

[cabinetman]

Got this story this morning. All you can do is throw up your hands.
.

[DUD]

I went thru that when I paid off a credit card one time, however in My case I overpaid

by $.23 and I got tons of mail and phones calls. Bill

[jhart]

Saw that on TV the other night. Hard to believe the stupidity!!!

[crokett]

"My question is, how come it wasn't paid when the (original) bills went out?"

In other words, she is saying 'rather than us take some responsibility to avoid stupidity, this is your fault for not paying the proper amount in the first place".

[LCHIEN]

one time I was P.O.'d at American express for some reason so I overpaid a statement by about 10 cents. And then did not use the card for about a year. I was happy to see that they sent me a statement each month stating I had a .10 balance, but eventually they just "absorbed" my money... I was hoping they'd issue me a check or keep spending 30-some cents every month to send me a statement.
Legally I suppose I had a valid complaint but I didn't do anything about it.
OTOH i never see an companies (like the water co. in the article linked by the OP) just forgiving small amounts of debt. If Amex can absorb my 10 cents why can't the water co just forget the penny?

[cabinetman]

OTOH i never see an companies (like the water co. in the article linked by the OP) just forgiving small amounts of debt. If Amex can absorb my 10 cents why can't the water co just forget the penny?

What else makes no sense is that mailing a bill and invoicing for a penny costs more to mail than what could be recovered. It seems if it's computerized, there would be some software that does the comparison. But removing the human factor obviously dehumanizes the interaction.
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[radhak]

"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"

That collector should lose her job just for displaying her...ignorance is the closest word i can think of.
She wants manual review for this? when a small check in the program ("don't print letter if amount less than $1") would do?

I so wish jobs and salaries were based on common sense and ability...yeah, i know, i should lose my right to post here for thinking that stupid wish !

[Richard in Smithville]

I would have no problem paying the 1 cent bill. In fact I would promptly run down to their office with my penny and a television news crew!

I had a problem with a store credit card once. they claimed I owed a few dollars in interest. This went on for some time with me explaining that it was paid in full, and I had not only a reciept plus a statement showing a zero balance( I kept getting the zero balance statements through the whole thing). Their records were showing different and eventually a collection company got involved( threatened to take me to court). I explained to the collection company that they were more than welcome to see my statement either at my home, or I would be happy to show them in frount of a judge. They stopped calling.

[Uncle Cracker]

I remember getting a bill from Office Depot once for $0.01 (apparently, an extra one cent of interest had accrued between the time they billed me, and the time I paid the balance). I called them and asked if, rather than writing them a check for a penny, and then using a 30-cent stamp to mail it to them, could they just carry it over to the next month's billing, as I had made some other purchases. No, they insisted that I send them a check! The level of stupidity that exists in some places in this world is often very frustrating...

[LinuxRandal]

What else makes no sense is that mailing a bill and invoicing for a penny costs more to mail than what could be recovered. It seems if it's computerized, there would be some software that does the comparison. But removing the human factor obviously dehumanizes the interaction.
.

Normally ANY unpaid amount on ANY bill, gets rolled over to the next one. I would be asking how was this not rebilled, and how many Enron accountants are in their billing department.

[rcp612]

According to the 2000 census, there were 16,019 households in the city.
At $.01 each, that could add up to--------$160.19.
OTOH---- 16,019 X $.42 = $6727.98 in postage.

[tfischer]

"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"

That collector should lose her job just for displaying her...ignorance is the closest word i can think of.
She wants manual review for this? when a small check in the program ("don't print letter if amount less than $1") would do?

What keeps people from just underpaying their bill by $1 every month then?

-Tim

[Daibach]

Even Revenue Canada's tax form says something like:
"Generally we do not issue a refund or charge for an amount owing less than two dollars"

It's foolish to send a bill for an amount less than the cost of sending the notice and processing the payment.

[radhak]

What keeps people from just underpaying their bill by $1 every month then?

-Tim

Your outstanding amount gets added to the bill next month.
If you don't use their services ever after that, or use it so little that your bill comes to less than a $1, you don't ever get a bill, till the amount goes beyound $1.

[crokett]

Years ago I got a bill from a CC company for 11 cents. It was the amount I'd mistakenly underpaid by + the penny of interest. I called the company and was told 'there is nothing we can do' so I taped 11 pennies to the pay stub and wrote a note on it pointing out that it cost them more to mail this to me than they were getting. The next statement from them had a 0 balance.