Is it just me?
Here’s an account of my late afternoon phone calls.
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Me: My lawyer didn’t receive my December payment that I made via e-pay and her email to me today says she hasn’t received the January payment either.
Banker: I’ll call the company that administers e-pay and see what happened.
Me: That would be great. Thank you.
10 minutes later
Banker: The Great E-pay Administrator has 2 open “incident reports.” It will take several business days to figure this out, but they say that the December payment was actually deposited.
Me: Does that mean that someone else cashed my lawyer’s check?
Banker: You can ask Great E-pay Administrator to send you a copy of the front and back of the check to see who cashed it and when. Here’s their number. You should also give them permission to talk directly to Lawyer. It will make resolving this a lot easier.
Me: Ok. Thanks!
Call Lawyer
Me: Hi Lawyer, here’s the deal on those missing payments. I give you permission to talk to Great E-Pay Administrator company about this account. Oh and by the way, they say that that December payment was cashed. It might still take a couple of days to figure this out.
Lawyer: OK. Well, as long as we’re working on it.
Me: I’m going to call the Great E-Pay Administrator company and give them permission to talk with you about this and ask them to send us both copies of the cashed check.
Lawyer: OK. Thank you.
Call Great E-Pay Administrator company (GEA)
GEA: Thanks for calling Great E-Pay Administrator company. My name is Gina. Can I have your social security number?
Me: Hi. Here’s my name, social security number and shoe size. Can you talk with me about one of my payments?
GEA: Hi Mrs. X
Me: It’s not Mrs.
GEA: Oh, OK. So, Mrs. X how can I help you tonight.
Me: Look. I told you, it’s not Mrs. I’m calling about an inquiry I’ve started on a couple of payments. They happen to be to a divorce lawyer, so it’s really really not Mrs.
GEA: click.
Not to be dissuade, I call back.
GEA: Thanks for calling Great E-Pay Administrator company. My name is Kelly. Can I have your social security number?
Me: Hi. Here’s my name, social security number and shoe size. Can you talk with me about one of my payments?
Kelly@GEA: Hi Ms X, how can I help you tonight.
Me: I have a couple of inquiries open and I’m calling to follow up on a couple of things. First is that I want to give Great E-Pay Administrator company permission to talk about my account with Lawyer.
Kelly@GEA: Oh, well that goes without saying. As soon as you open an inquiry we have permission to talk with the biller.
Me: Oh. Ok, well….The person at my bank said I had to give you permission. Now the other thing is that my bank person said the December payment has already cleared….
Kelly@GEA: Well, that’s not exactly true. When you send a payment we have three options. We can send an electronic payment, a corporate check or a laser check.
Me: Yes, I…
Kelly@GEA: In this case we sent corporate checks so that meant that we debited your account 4 days before the due date so we took the money out of your account for the December payment on December 3rd.
Me: Yes. I know all that. But the person from my bank spoke to someone at your company within the hour and was told the check was cashed.
Kelly@GEA: Oh. Yes, it was cashed on December 13th. Now, the thing that I would recommend that you do is request that we send you a copy of the check so that
Me: That’s exactly what I was trying to ask for! Wonderful!
Kelly@GEA: Oh. (clearly, I broke her stride.) Well, what is your fax number.
Me: I don’t have a fax number.
Kelly@GEA: Well, I can fax it to the bank or to the lawyer. What are their fax numbers.
Me: I don’t have their fax numbers. Can’t you just send me a copy in the mail.
Kelly@GEA: You don’t have access to a fax?
Me: No. Not one that I can sit and wait at until this fax arrives.
Kelly@GEA: Oh. It might take a couple of days. It would take 5-7 days if we mail it.
Me: Why so long?
Kelly@GEA: Because of processing time. I can fax it to any branch of the bank. Do you have another phone, you could call the bank and ask them what the fax number is. Or you could call the law office.
Me: No, the bank is closed now. Look hang on, and I’ll see what I can find on their web-site. (I find the fax number listing for the branches.) Oh, here it is. Here’s the number xxx-xxx-xxxx. Can you send that attention to Diane? I think that she’s the main teller. And then just put a note that I’ll be in sometime this week.
Kelly@GEA: I’m not going to be able to do that.
Me: Do what?
Kelly@GEA: Put a note on the fax. Somebody else in research will be faxing it.
Me: And you can’t tell them what to put on the cover sheet?
Kelly@GEA: No.
Me: So, I’m just supposed to let you fax this over to them and they don’t know what it is or what it’s for. It will never be there when I get there.
Kelly@GEA: Do you want to call the lawyer and get her fax number? Or you could call me back tomorrow.
Me: Look, I don’t have time for this today. I’m not going to have time for it tomorrow. I’m taking time out of my schedule to fix something someone else messed up. You’re really not making this easy for me.
Kelly@GEA: So…
Me: Look I’ll have to call you back.
It takes me a few minutes to regain my composure and realize that I’m getting a headache from all this. I pick up the phone and call the Lawyer.
Me: Hi Lawyer, look here’s the deal with the Great E-Pay Administrator company. (and I begin to launch into the story.)
Lawyer: I was looking through some more payments and found your December payment.
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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The weirdness continues 2009
Primarily 2008
Already?! 2007
January 8th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
that sounded like my day on Friday
January 8th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
P.S. I also recall my divorce attorney not being entirely organized
January 8th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Ugh, tell me this didn’t happen to you. What a waste of time and energy. Hope the headache went away.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Registering for school was the same way. The first time I went to register at the school they said I had to register online. So I registered and paid online. I checked for approval everyday for 10 days. So on the 10th day I started calling the school they insisted I wasn’t registered. So I took names down and finally spoke to the same person three days in a row. The fourth day she said to go ahead and come to the school and she would give me a transfer application to fill out. When I get there they dont let me see her and they tell me they don’t have paper applications. I wanted to hurt the young girl sitting on the othe side of the counter. I took a deep breath and launch my story. She walks behind a door and comes back with, guess what, a paper application. After I fill out the paper application she tells me it will take 3 to 5 days to process. I expalin that my classes are closing today and I don’t have 3 to 5 days. She rolls her eyes and walks behind the wall again. This time she comes back in 10 minutes and tells me I am registered and I can now go see a counselor. That ordeal is whole other story.