Saturday, November 04, 2006
It's that time of the month
It's the first few days of November, and for us, that means billing calls! When someone signs up for an account, one of the billing options is to pay by a monthly debit from their bank account. If they do this, the billing is very simple: it goes through on the first of each month, every month. Now, preauthorized payments usually take a couple of days to work their way through the bank's system, so those charges don't necessarily appear until two to four days after the first (longer if the first fell on a weekend or there's a holiday in there somewhere).
Sometimes, people NSF. When they do, our system simply deactivates their account. That may sound harsh, but I think it's better than leaving their accounts running and automatically attempting to take the payment again, since most banks will levy a charge of $30 or more per NSF. Anyway, the fact that people NSF isn't the amusing part. What is amusing is the way that well over half of them respond.
"Well, there's definitely money in there!"
OK, sure. I bet it's very likely that your bank's computerized system made a simple oversight with the numbers and told our system that there wasn't enough money, even though there was.
People get huffy about it. They insist that there was enough money in the account. Our system must be wrong. Every time, I answer more or less the same way: "this isn't an issue with our system. When we requested the payment from your bank, the bank's system replied that there wasn't enough money in your account. If you believe that to be an error, please check with your bank."
Most of the time, if I talk to that person again, there's a sheepish reply that they'd forgotten about this payment or that withdrawl, and they ask to have the account billed again, as the problem has been fixed. Sometimes, however, it never gets to that point. The person refuses to believe that it could be their problem.
"Your system must have made a mistake!"
The good thing is that we don't levy NSF fees, so the customer doesn't end up having much to be upset at us for. If they want to have the billing attempted again, we direct them to connect and turn on their account once more. Either they do, and the attempt to receive payment is made again, or they don't, and the account stays dormant.
What I really like is the embarrassed indignation that comes from being caught without enough money. I'm sure it's happened to almost all of it. Your credit card declines at a restaurant, you're caught without cash at Tim Horton's, your mortgage cheque bounces because you forgot about that orthodontist bill... whatever. Life goes on, usually with your money.
Sometimes, people NSF. When they do, our system simply deactivates their account. That may sound harsh, but I think it's better than leaving their accounts running and automatically attempting to take the payment again, since most banks will levy a charge of $30 or more per NSF. Anyway, the fact that people NSF isn't the amusing part. What is amusing is the way that well over half of them respond.
"Well, there's definitely money in there!"
OK, sure. I bet it's very likely that your bank's computerized system made a simple oversight with the numbers and told our system that there wasn't enough money, even though there was.
People get huffy about it. They insist that there was enough money in the account. Our system must be wrong. Every time, I answer more or less the same way: "this isn't an issue with our system. When we requested the payment from your bank, the bank's system replied that there wasn't enough money in your account. If you believe that to be an error, please check with your bank."
Most of the time, if I talk to that person again, there's a sheepish reply that they'd forgotten about this payment or that withdrawl, and they ask to have the account billed again, as the problem has been fixed. Sometimes, however, it never gets to that point. The person refuses to believe that it could be their problem.
"Your system must have made a mistake!"
The good thing is that we don't levy NSF fees, so the customer doesn't end up having much to be upset at us for. If they want to have the billing attempted again, we direct them to connect and turn on their account once more. Either they do, and the attempt to receive payment is made again, or they don't, and the account stays dormant.
What I really like is the embarrassed indignation that comes from being caught without enough money. I'm sure it's happened to almost all of it. Your credit card declines at a restaurant, you're caught without cash at Tim Horton's, your mortgage cheque bounces because you forgot about that orthodontist bill... whatever. Life goes on, usually with your money.
# posted by Terry @ 3:31 PM 
