Check's in the mail

Checking utility payments it was noticed that a certain utility had not received the last payment. The payment had been paid by check and mailed. Partly being old school, partly because online payments incur a “convenience “ fee, and partly because the only way to set up a recurring payment is to allow the utility access directly to your checking account (Not happening),

When I called to check (sorry had to) the problem, of course, I could hear the cliché of you know what being in the mail. Just as I’m sure the customer service rep could as well. But mine really was. Never missed a payment. Never had an issue, until now. All I could be told was that they didn’t receive the payment. Which is what I expected after checking the online account. What I wanted to know?  What was the problem on their end? I was told that there couldn’t be an inquiry unless the payment had been received and not applied to the account. There was no interest in recording a complaint, passing on a note to management, nothing.

I abandoned this tact and focused on the issue at hand, how to correct the missing payment. Once taken care of I thought of how this should have been handled and here we are.

If a decade's old customer called your business complaining of a lost payment, wouldn’t you want to know if there were a problem or potential problem in your accounting? Maybe not theft or misappropriation but just a systemic breakdown that could be easily fixed.

A simple record check would reveal that there has never been an issue with this client in the past. Now while there are a multitude of reasons why someone could miss a payment, someone with a sterling payment record should be given the benefit of the doubt. Depending on the size of the business it would not take long to review the procedures for handling invoices and payments.

After a thorough review, the customer should be re-contacted and informed of the findings. If no issues were found at least the assurance that the matter was taken seriously would be conveyed. The customer could then go about settling the payment.

The basis of the utilities’ investigation consisted of the customer service rep asking me what address I mailed the payment. Which was not a bad question, I guess, except that the answer was the address that is printed on the provided envelope. I was then told to check with the post office. That suggestion wasn’t even met with a reply.

I am sure lots of people try to put one over on utility companies. Rich or poor, whether you can pay or not, everyone needs power and water. Utilities have the option of turning off services for non-payment. Other businesses have usually already provided a product or service and would have to sue for remittance.  If there is a problem with the payment system the problem should not have to be solved by the customer. Even if customers have a history of non-payment complaints of accounting issues should be considered valid and investigated. Why wait until there is an embezzling problem to discover it? 

Regular reviews of systems and procedures should be conducted. Even for small businesses. Most small business operation offices are staffed with only a few people. Some employees wear more than one hat; most are trusted and well known. But therein lies the problem, sometimes. I’ve seen employees clean out smaller companies because they know the systems and where the weaknesses lie. No reviews or inspections are completed until it’s too late.

By the way, the utility apparently found the first payment and cashed it over a month after being mailed. Now I have a credit. WooHoo!