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My Daily Rant – Chase Online Bill Payment

February 12th, 2008 by Kenric

I had another post ready to go today but I had to replace it with a rant.  I don’t get upset often anymore, but I cannot stand incompetent people. On top of that I can’t stand incompetent people who can’t admit that they are wrong.  Even moreso incompetent people who believe they are right in the face of overwhelming evidence.

So here’s the story:

Someone called me accusing me of not paying a certain bill.  To prove that I paid I had to get copies of the deposited checks.  I pay my bills using Chase online bill payments. 

For those that don’t use online bill payments, these bills are paid in two ways, electronically or paper check.  They are paid electronically if the payee can accept electronic payments.  Most banks, mortgages, utilities and large stores can do this.  If the payee is Joe Schmoe who doesn’t have a checking account, the bills are paid by the system cutting a check and mailing it to the payee.

So I walk into Chase and ask for copies of my checks that I’ve paid to this person.  The guy behind the Chase customer service counter tells me that there is no paper copy of the check because online banking pays things electronically.  I tell him that the check was to a person, therefore a paper check was issued.

He tells me that online banking means no checks, its all done via ACH transfer.  The money magically moves from my account into Joe Schmoe’s account without any banking information at all.

“How does it get transferred electronically to Joe Schmoe?”
“It’s goes directly into their checking account”
“What if they don’t have a checking account”
“Then you can’t do an online bill payment to that person”
“Well it says in my account I paid $550 online to Joe Schmoe”
“You must have put an account number down then”
“Yeah, I put Joe Schmoe.  What bank account did it go into then?”
“Into his account”

“So you are telling me that you have no way of finding out where this money went?”
“Yes.”
“So you work at a magical bank that gives away money with no records.”

So this went on for 15 minutes with this guy refusing to believe that an online bill pay would generate a paper check.  Then he started to get frustrated.  I was thinking, WTF, I can’t get a check image and this guy is getting mad at me.  So I finally get his manager. What turned out to be a simple request turns into me explaining to the people at Chase how their online bill payment process works.  She is as clueless as he is.  She basically believed the same thing as the first guy. The money is just magically transferred.

Then I had to resort to offering them concrete proof because the common sense that banks actually keep track of their checks was just so unbelievable to them. I offered 3 ways of proving this to them.

1. “I sent $2,000 to my dad last week via online bill payment. I know that he physically has this check. Want me to call him and have him fax it to you.  I will show you that it’s a paper check. “
2. “How about if I go online and pay myself $1, I will come in next week and show you a paper check.”
3. “Let me log into my account right here and I’ll send you a $1 check and we’ll see if it shows up magically into your account or if a check shows up in your mail.”

They declined all three proposals.  The manager says to the first guy, “Will you call the Chase online bill payment department and ask if they send paper checks?”

He unwillingly calls and responds, “They say they do send paper checks to companies that are not set up to receive electronic payments.”

That’s WTF I’ve been trying to tell you for 30 minutes!!!! So now I have convinced them that there are indeed paper checks. Now comes the next step.

“So, now how do I get a copy of my cashed check?”
“You can’t, we don’t have images of online bill payments.”

Here we go again…

“So you mean to tell me that you have no idea who cashed my check? Chase just mails the check away and debits my account and there is no further tracking of my check? What kind of stupid ass bank is this, why don’t you just mail them cash?”
“Our system cannot get copies of online bill payment checks. We only see paper checks that you wrote.”
“Ok, when a person walks into the bank with my online bill payment check and cashes it, what happens to the check? Someone must stamp it and put it somewhere. It doesn’t just get shredded.”
“Would you like to call the Online Bill Payment department?”
“Yes”

I leave the bank frustrated and ready to stab that guy in the eye. I dial up my cell phone on the way home.

“Chase Online Bill Payment, how may I help you?”
“Um, I made some bill payments online to Joe Schmoe and I need copies of the cashed checks.”
“What’s your account number… (personal info) blah blah blah… Ok what’s the name of the payee and the amount?”
“Joe Schmoe, $550″
“I see it here, would you like me to fax you copies of the cashed checks?”
“Yes…. Thank God.”

I should have just stayed home.  Tomorrow I’m gonna go back to the bank and show those two idiots copies of my cashed checks.  How do you like them apples!

On a totally off topic side note, I put up a new site today with all my kitchen tile backplash pictures.  It’s called, what else…  http://www.kitchentilebacksplashes.com/.

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