The increasing complications of technology

Veronica said:
Is there a reason you dont do online bill pay.
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I do pay either by automated phone service or online. I only write checks if that is the only form of payment a business accepts, such as my lawn service. The reason I posted that it would have been faster to mail a check for my WIFI is because I spent a frustrating 25 minutes doing it the new "convenient way."

Veronica said:
I also do autopay on some things. It keeps my cards active even if I dont use them. And I get points.
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Other than my mortgage, phone, insurance, WIFI, and utilities, I have a VISA card a MasterCard, 1 gas card, and an ATM card, all of which are paid on a regular basis. None of those cards are ever inactive. I get points for using my VISA and MasterCard, regardless of payment method.

But, I do not do auto pay because (1) I do not keep a large checking account balance, so I want to control when money goes out of my account, not have someone else control it for me. (2) Also, I may change companies I do business with and it may take the former company 2 billing cycles to get me off auto pay, and I want no part of that. (3) Atmos, my natural gas provider, once sent me a bill for $600, when it should have been $80. I called them and they adjusted it. Had it been on autopay, it would have been deducted from my account and may take (at best) a few days to get a correction. No thanks.
 

MACKTEXAS said:
I do pay either by automated phone service or online. I only write checks if that is the only form of payment a business accepts, such as my lawn service. The reason I posted that it would have been faster to mail a check for my WIFI is because I spent a frustrating 25 minutes doing it the new "convenient way."



Other than my mortgage, phone, insurance, WIFI, and utilities, I have a VISA card a MasterCard, 1 gas card, and an ATM card, all of which are paid on a regular basis. None of those cards are ever inactive. I get points for using my VISA and MasterCard, regardless of payment method.

But, I do not do auto pay because (1) I do not keep a large checking account balance, so I want to control when money goes out of my account, not have someone else control it for me. (2) Also, I may change companies I do business with and it may take the former company 2 billing cycles to get me off auto pay, and I want no part of that. (3) Atmos, my natural gas provider, once sent me a bill for $600, when it should have been $80. I called them and they adjusted it. Had it been on autopay, it would have been deducted from my account and may take (at best) a few days to get a correction. No thanks.
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I dont mean to be confusing. Let me try again. Online bill pay it doesnt automatically charge your checking account.
You access your checking account online, go to bill pay and set up a list of who you want to pay.
You type in their addresses and account numbers. All the stuff you would do if you were writing a check.
Paying bills is so easy once you set it up. Whenever you want you can go online and access this list and pick a payee.
For example this month I paid my utilities. I clicked on gas company and put in an amount. I have full control over when and how much I want to pay.

I agree with you on autopay. I only do ones that I know wont change in the future.
The auto pays Im referring to come directly off my credit card not my checking account. I have to pay them just as I would any charge.
 
Veronica said:
I dont mean to be confusing. Let me try again. Online bill pay it doesnt automatically charge your checking account.
You access your checking account online, go to bill pay and set up a list of who you want to pay.
You type in their addresses and account numbers. All the stuff you would do if you were writing a check.
Paying bills is so easy once you set it up. Whenever you want you can go online and access this list and pick a payee.
For example this month I paid my utilities. I clicked on gas company and put in an amount. I have full control over when and how much I want to pay.

I agree with you on autopay. I only do ones that I know wont change in the future.
The auto pays Im referring to come directly off my credit card not my checking account. I have to pay them just as I would any charge.
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Ok, thanks. I see the distinction you're making. Yes, that would be okay. My bank is an independent community bank and rather old fashioned, but they do have a link where I sign in and check all my accounts online, print bank statements, and move money from one account to another - but I've never noticed if they offer paying bills the way you describe. I'll check it out when I go into the site later in the day.
 

I too just spent all morning a bit rattled over this very thing. I have Chase - Amazon card of which I keep locked
until I need to use it. It's been locked for months now. But I get a text from my bank saying Amazon Prime is asking
for a payment from them and text back Yes or No if I agree with this. Well I haven't used it so I 1st need to find out what the heck it is.
I go to log into Chase Amazon and it says password not recognized.
Every time I try to pay on that card or check it I have to redo my password. It's the only company I deal with I have to make a new
password every time, with the texts and emails back and forth for several minutes to say Ohhh now we know you. Turns out it is
my yearly subscription dues so I answer YES to the bank to pay it.
What really ticks me off is No warning text or mail letting me know it is coming due.
Anyone else have this problem with Chase? Takes a lot to get me rankled but this company sure does.
 
IrishEyes said:
Turns out it is
my yearly subscription dues so I answer YES to the bank to pay it.
What really ticks me off is No warning text or mail letting me know it is coming due.
Anyone else have this problem with Chase? Takes a lot to get me rankled but this company sure does.
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Nope.
I always get an email saying the Prime fee will be due soon, and another email when they apply the charge.
 
Complicated technology? Tell me about it. It seems that it can do almost anything. That pay-by-phone barcode zapping, blows my mind. I tell you, it's called a smart phone, but when I can't find it, then it's not so smart. You know when you misplace your phone? How smart would it be if that smart phone could help. "Where the hell are you?" "Under the covers where you left me!"
What I need is a phone with the kind of technology that I understand.
phone2.jpg
 
David777 said:
Anyone logging into say a Google gmail account has to use the same annoying two-step authorization as @MACTEXAS described. A reason I avoid using that email except for travel lodging and such.
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A gmail user can decline the offer to do 2FA, which I did sometime ago. That decision can always be reversed in the future, if desired.

David777 said:
Microsoft, given the Windows 11 operating system running on my new HP Omen 35L desktop, has forced me to use the new Pass Code PIN system every time I power up and boot my computer. I have not bothered to understand how that really works, so do not yet trust it. For years, I have been one to always SHUTDOWN, each day, then power up, and REBOOT into Microsoft Windows each day instead of what many do, leaving their computer on continuously day after day, week after week, a potentially dangerous strategy hackers love.
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I just set up Windows 11 on a laptop I'm giving to a friend, I chose to require a log-in with a password, as I do with my Linux machines, and is a standard practice in IT security. No PIN here, but I've seen it before, just a weaker security solution than a password IMO.
 
Pretty much all my stuff is auto pay now except for a few things. They're all stuff I can pay for online.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
Tried to pay my WIFI provider online. After entering password to my account with them, it says they first need to send a code to my email. So, I tried logging into email, but can't do that until my email provider texts a code to my phone, which is required to complete the email login. So, I got the text, entered the code, and was logged into email.

So then I went to look in email for the code the WIFI provider said they emailed, but there is no code from WIFI provider. Instead, there is a link to log into my account with them: "click here to open." I clicked, and got a new window with a login screen, which I don't need, since I already have a window with their login screen open, as I'm still waiting for a code to finish logging in.

Called WIFI provider to explain the run around, and he said I could just give him my payment by phone for "only a $10 fee." I said no, I will not pay $10 when it's your company's fault for not sending the code. Thanked him, and hung up.

Then, went back to WIFI account. Screen says, "We sent you a code, enter the code." No, they did not send it. Then I scrolled down and saw this: "Did you get the code we sent you? If not, click here to get another code." Clicked that, then went back to email; finally got a code then entered it, and completed my payment.

All the above took around 25 minutes. In pre-technology days, it would have taken me under 5 minutes to write a check, put it in a stamped envelope, then I could just drop it in the mail slot the next time I drive by the post office.
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Can't you still pay by mail? I always pay my bills over the internet through my bank account. My husband always paid the old-fashioned way by mailing a check. I don't have a problem doing that, but the price of stamps is up to 78 cents. Another problem though by mailing a bill payment in is that the USPS is slow and sometimes we'd get the bill two days before it was due. (USPS told me that they were told to tell customers to allow 7 to 10 days when you mail something). If you mailed it, it would be late and you'd get a late fee or if you paid it over the phone, they'd charge you. They get you coming and going.
 
TeePee said:
Can't you still pay by mail? I always pay my bills over the internet through my bank account. My husband always paid the old-fashioned way by mailing a check. I don't have a problem doing that, but the price of stamps is up to 78 cents. Another problem though by mailing a bill payment in is that the USPS is slow and sometimes we'd get the bill two days before it was due. (USPS told me that they were told to tell customers to allow 7 to 10 days when you mail something). If you mailed it, it would be late and you'd get a late fee or if you paid it over the phone, they'd charge you. They get you coming and going.
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Disregard the last post regarding bill pay. I didn't read all of the responses thoroughly and my posting wasn't applicable there.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Technology is great when everything goes as it should, but horror stories abound abouth when things don't work as they should. It's insane that they wanted to charge you $10 to pay by phone!

I tried to pay a doctor bill for a tele-visit via a website that was provided on the bill. It also had a code I was to enter that had letters, numbers and dashes. When I entered the code, they seemed to have run out of room for the last character. I thought if I removed one of the dashes, it would fit. That didn't work. I even tried another browser. I've gotten three bills and tried three times but still haven't paid it. I hate to give my CC number over the phone and haven't trusted the P.O. in a long time. Since I won't see that doctor again until next month, with trepidation, I'm just going to mail a check.
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I wound up calling and paying with my credit card.
 
TeePee said:
Can't you still pay by mail? I always pay my bills over the internet through my bank account. My husband always paid the old-fashioned way by mailing a check. I don't have a problem doing that, but the price of stamps is up to 78 cents. Another problem though by mailing a bill payment in is that the USPS is slow and sometimes we'd get the bill two days before it was due. (USPS told me that they were told to tell customers to allow 7 to 10 days when you mail something). If you mailed it, it would be late and you'd get a late fee or if you paid it over the phone, they'd charge you. They get you coming and going.
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Yes, I can mail a check, but I try to avoid mailing checks whenever possible. My WIFI provider also has a local store 2 miles away where I could drop in and pay the bill in person like people used to do 50 years ago. Even with it's disadvantages, I'm trying to use technology as much as possible, since doing so will likely become inevitable in the not-so-distant future.
 
David777 said:
As a tech person, I refuse to use online banking and only suffer having to do what everyone did decades ago, receiving bills via USPS mail, then sending out via USPS, stamped envelopes, paper checks. That way, I escape the ever-changing and potentially hackable digital landscapes. A couple trustable services like AT&T only use bank auto payment processes, that I'll endure. In any case, I only have a few bills each month, unlike business owners.
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My BIL is COO of a multi-state banking system and said thieves have been going "old school" lately. People are stealing mailed personal checks and altering the checks to make the payee a dummy company. He said it's gotten so bad he suspects postal workers are involved.
 
I may be a bit paranoid, but there is no way in hell I'm ever gonna use a smartphone for banking, paying bills, or shopping.

Data transmitted via cellular radio waves can never be secure by it's very nature. Of course the industry would have you believe it is completely safe;)
 
MACKTEXAS said:
Tried to pay my WIFI provider online. After entering password to my account with them, it says they first need to send a code to my email. So, I tried logging into email, but can't do that until my email provider texts a code to my phone, which is required to complete the email login. So, I got the text, entered the code, and was logged into email.

So then I went to look in email for the code the WIFI provider said they emailed, but there is no code from WIFI provider. Instead, there is a link to log into my account with them: "click here to open." I clicked, and got a new window with a login screen, which I don't need, since I already have a window with their login screen open, as I'm still waiting for a code to finish logging in.

Called WIFI provider to explain the run around, and he said I could just give him my payment by phone for "only a $10 fee." I said no, I will not pay $10 when it's your company's fault for not sending the code. Thanked him, and hung up.

Then, went back to WIFI account. Screen says, "We sent you a code, enter the code." No, they did not send it. Then I scrolled down and saw this: "Did you get the code we sent you? If not, click here to get another code." Clicked that, then went back to email; finally got a code then entered it, and completed my payment.

All the above took around 25 minutes. In pre-technology days, it would have taken me under 5 minutes to write a check, put it in a stamped envelope, then I could just drop it in the mail slot the next time I drive by the post office.
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Yep! And with all the glitches we receive just trying to pay a bill, they expect us to trust auto-driving cars! :oops:

Some technology is decidedly a real bonus - like GPS (for the most part) -- none of it works 100% and when it's used as a tool for customer service, it is often VERY frustrating!

I go with auto-pay on some things, and online bill pay thru my bank with the rest. I rarely pay a bill on their website.

Hang in there! It's not going to get any better; I'm afraid.
 

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