So the gas company came out and SHUT MY GAS OFF!

[TheWizardOfMudd]

Brother, did I learn a lesson. I paid the bill over the Internet on May 10. They took the money out of my bank account on May 12. Then they come out and shut my gas off on May 18? SIX DAYS AFTER GETTING MY MONEY? WTF?

I guess they mean it when they say "allow five business days for the payment to be credited to your account."

PS: My hot water heater is electric so I was not the least bit inconvenienced.

[Viking12]

1. Did you use the "billpayer" program provided by your bank?

Many companies don't accept direct electronic payments so your bank simply prints a paper check and mails it to pay those bills. It actually takes longer than writing and sending the check yourself. I too learned this valuable lesson the hard way.

[supernova]

2. Automatic bill draft

from the bank account is the way to go. The utility gets their money when they want it. You don't have to rmemeber to write a check. Just remember to record it.

Sorry that happened to you.

[FarmerOak]

3. I only pay online bills direct,

never that crap where the bank cuts a paper check.

That seems awfully fast for a service cutoff... now be honest, Mudd, were you in arrears to these people beforehand? They usually take months before they actually turn off your service, if I remember my youthful days of cavalier attitudes toward my credit rating.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

4. Yes, I was behind

I tried to pay once and the pay site was down. Then I kinda, heh, forgot about it for a while. B-)

PS: I use my debit card. That's why it only took em' two days to take my money. The gas company uses an independent service called ChoicePay whom apparently THEY NEVER COMMUNICATE WITH! ;)

[Nite Owl]

5. I recently had a problem with Verizon.

The bill was paid to a different Verizon account. I called my web bill pay and they took care of it but in the meantime I got a phone shut off notice after one month. They had the money and it was taken out of my account on time too. This after 30 years of a perfect record of paying on time.