OT Paying bills online

[Guest Terry]

Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

 

An email is secure enough for me. We are talking about a utility

bill, not a CIA document.

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

Pretty much true for most online bills, isn't it? And - emails are not the

same thing.

 

Terry wrote:

> Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

>

> An email is secure enough for me. We are talking about a utility

> bill, not a CIA document.

[Guest David H. Lipman]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

From: "Terry" <kilowatt@charter.net>

 

| Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

|

| An email is secure enough for me. We are talking about a utility

| bill, not a CIA document.

 

Tell them you don't have Internet connectivity and you require a postal mail bill of service

to be sent to you.

 

--

Dave

http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html

Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

Well yeah. I use online banking, but have paper bills sent here. I

think it's a good combination of both.

 

David H. Lipman wrote:

> From: "Terry" <kilowatt@charter.net>

>

>> Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

>>

>> An email is secure enough for me. We are talking about a utility

>> bill, not a CIA document.

>

> Tell them you don't have Internet connectivity and you require a postal

> mail

> bill of service to be sent to you.

>

> --

> Dave

> http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html

> Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

[Guest Colin Barnhorst]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

Email can be spoofed. Some phishing emails are very cleverly done.

 

"Terry" <kilowatt@charter.net> wrote in message

news:ac04b892-67a7-41b7-9f28-b84ce0f82028@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...

> Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

>

> An email is secure enough for me. We are talking about a utility

> bill, not a CIA document.

>

[Guest Phisherman]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:44:41 -0700 (PDT), Terry <kilowatt@charter.net>

wrote:

>Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

>

 

My utility companies send me an email showing the amount due. I then

login to my local bank website and send an electronic check to the

utility company. No need to login to the utility account. No need to

allow the utility company to withdraw funds from your bank account (I

hate that!). Companies have been known to be careless about data

security and losing off-site backups.

 

>An email is secure enough for me. We are talking about a utility

>bill, not a CIA document.

[Guest Bob]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

 

"Phisherman" <noone@nobody.com> wrote in message

>>Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

 

How would they know it's you if you didn't log on?

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:22:32 -0400, Phisherman <noone@nobody.com>

wrote:

> On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:44:41 -0700 (PDT), Terry <kilowatt@charter.net>

> wrote:

>

> >Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

> >

>

> My utility companies send me an email showing the amount due. I then

> login to my local bank website and send an electronic check to the

> utility company. No need to login to the utility account. No need to

> allow the utility company to withdraw funds from your bank account (I

> hate that!).

 

 

Although I too don't allow payments to be automatically withdrawn from

my bank account, I *do* allow automatic charges to a credit card

account. I think it's much easier to dispute credit card charges if

necessary.

 

To me, the advantage of such automatic payments is when you're

traveling. I prepay a single account before I leave, and don't have to

remember to prepay many accounts.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:03:22 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"

<kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:

> On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:22:32 -0400, Phisherman <noone@nobody.com>

> wrote:

>

> > On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:44:41 -0700 (PDT), Terry <kilowatt@charter.net>

> > wrote:

> >

> > >Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

> > >

> >

> > My utility companies send me an email showing the amount due. I then

> > login to my local bank website and send an electronic check to the

> > utility company. No need to login to the utility account. No need to

> > allow the utility company to withdraw funds from your bank account (I

> > hate that!).

>

>

> Although I too don't allow payments to be automatically withdrawn from

> my bank account, I *do* allow automatic charges to a credit card

> account. I think it's much easier to dispute credit card charges if

> necessary.

>

> To me, the advantage of such automatic payments is when you're

> traveling. I prepay a single account before I leave, and don't have to

> remember to prepay many accounts.

 

 

My apologies to all for replying to this off-topic thread. I didn't

realize where it was posted and how off-topic it therefore was.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest PD43]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:

>My apologies to all for replying to this off-topic thread. I didn't

>realize where it was posted and how off-topic it therefore was.

 

Just in time too! I was about to give you 40 lashes with a wet noodle

<g>

[Guest Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:27:47 -0500, PD43 <pauld1943@comcast.net>

wrote:

> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:

>

> >My apologies to all for replying to this off-topic thread. I didn't

> >realize where it was posted and how off-topic it therefore was.

>

> Just in time too! I was about to give you 40 lashes with a wet noodle

> <g>

 

 

LOL! Which I deserved!

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

[Guest Bob I]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

Read up why.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=data+privacy+utility+billing

 

Terry wrote:

> Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

>

> An email is secure enough for me. We are talking about a utility

> bill, not a CIA document.

>

[Guest M.I.5¾]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

 

"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message

news:p3vcu31g6fsbe83ama4fdv2om99qvjk7ph@4ax.com...

> On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:22:32 -0400, Phisherman <noone@nobody.com>

> wrote:

>

>> On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:44:41 -0700 (PDT), Terry <kilowatt@charter.net>

>> wrote:

>>

>> >Why do utility companies make you log on to view your bill?

>> >

>>

>> My utility companies send me an email showing the amount due. I then

>> login to my local bank website and send an electronic check to the

>> utility company. No need to login to the utility account. No need to

>> allow the utility company to withdraw funds from your bank account (I

>> hate that!).

>

>

> Although I too don't allow payments to be automatically withdrawn from

> my bank account, I *do* allow automatic charges to a credit card

> account. I think it's much easier to dispute credit card charges if

> necessary.

>

 

You have obviously never tried. Automatic charges to a credit card do not

have anything equivalent to the direct debit guarantee. Whereas you are

entitled to have anything recredited to a debit card that does not meet the

terms of the direct debit mandate (even if the bank cannot itself recover

the funds), no such entitlement exists for credit card charges.

[Guest PD43]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

"M.I.5¾" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote:

>You have obviously never tried. Automatic charges to a credit card do not

>have anything equivalent to the direct debit guarantee. Whereas you are

>entitled to have anything recredited to a debit card that does not meet the

>terms of the direct debit mandate (even if the bank cannot itself recover

>the funds), no such entitlement exists for credit card charges.

 

Credit card charges are simple to dispute in the USA.

[Guest M.I.5¾]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

 

"PD43" <pauld1943@comcast.net> wrote in message

news:rkshu3p62sm4jf7c9ion3acjroqlrh23ds@4ax.com...

> "M.I.5¾" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote:

>

>>You have obviously never tried. Automatic charges to a credit card do not

>>have anything equivalent to the direct debit guarantee. Whereas you are

>>entitled to have anything recredited to a debit card that does not meet

>>the

>>terms of the direct debit mandate (even if the bank cannot itself recover

>>the funds), no such entitlement exists for credit card charges.

>

> Credit card charges are simple to dispute in the USA.

 

Credit card charges are simple to dispute anywhere, but actually getting the

money credited back is not so easy if the card issuer doesn't want to do it.

[Guest PD43]

Re: OT Paying bills online

 

"M.I.5¾" <no.one@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote:

>> Credit card charges are simple to dispute in the USA.

>

>Credit card charges are simple to dispute anywhere, but actually getting the

>money credited back is not so easy if the card issuer doesn't want to do it.

 

Here the proof that it was a legitimate charge rests on the business

that accepted the card, not on the holder of the car. Dispute the

charge, and it's automatically charged back to the business until that

proof is established.