Refund is delayedafter wrong bill paid paid

Refund is delayed with incorrect bill paid

THE FIXER szimmermann@suntimes.com Mar 11, 2011 02:10AM

THE FIXER HAS SAVED YOU

$1,119,115

Dear Fixer: My wife pays all of our household bills online by our bank's online bill-paying system.

When attempting to pay our Citi AAdvantage MasterCard bill that was due in early February, she accidentally had the payment sent to CitiMortgage. The amount was $18,865.85 (it was so generous since the bill included payment for my Cubs season tickets).

The conundrum is we have no tab with CitiMortgage. They were a finance lender to us well over seven being ago at another home and that loan has long been refinanced/paid off. I neglected to take out CitiMortgage as a payee from the online system, and unfortunately they were listed aptly next to Citi AAdvantage, which is how my wife checked the incorrect box and had the payment sent to CitiMortgage.

I identified the mistake within two days, but our bank indicated the cash had already been sent and received electronically. We have since called the bank several times, and they say they cannot do no matter what business since CitiMortgage already has the cash.

We have called CitiMortgage numerous times and have written a epistle and provided them with evidence of the incorrect payment, but they keep asking us for an tab number, which we of course do not have. They do not admit our ancient tab number since it has long been paid off. They also said they need to hold onto the cash until they are sure we don't owe them no matter what business, which may take months. We keep getting lost in a world of red tape.

Agreed the generous sum of cash, and the fact that we still had to pay Citi AAdvantage our bill, you can imagine the conundrum this mistake has caused. Next week, it will be very nearly a month since I identified the conundrum; but, nothing has been resolved. Any help would be appreciated.

Bryan Segal, Riverwoods

Dear Bryan: It's a excellent business you had another $18K on hand to pay the bill or we'd be having a discussion in this area late payment fees and other nasty penalties.

It's simple to see how this may maybe happen. (The Fixer once helped a reader who'd accidentally checked the payment box for Comcast instead of ComEd.)

We were pleased to help speed this up a bit. We got in touch with the media relations public at Citigroup and CitiMortgage, and you soon heard from a nice female in the office of the president. They were able to locate the $18,865.85 and gave you a choice of maintenance it on the credit card as a credit or getting it back in your bank tab. You chose the end, and the funds were quickly transferred back.

Knowledge is potential

One of the best things to come out of the recent reforms at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is a new database of perilous products. The database launches now at SaferProducts.gov, even if since manufacturers have 10 days to respond to the reports, it will take a modest bit longer to be completely up and running.

In the past, parents who've wondered whether they were the only ones whose kid fell out of a high chair or virtually choked on a teething ring had to do their own sleuthing. Most likely they would never get a complete picture of the breadth of complaints.

The database aims to exchange that, by finally making public reports to the CPSC in this area products that cause illness, injury or death.

Consumer advocates like Nancy Cowles of Chicago-based Kids in Danger hope it will go a long way headed for preventing tragedies such as the 32 babies known to have been killed by unsafe drop-side cribs. (All models of drop-side cribs will be banned from sale as of this June; millions of them already have been recalled.)

Another cut of in rank: Make sure you mail in those registration cards that come with new products. That way, if there's a retract, it'll be simple for the manufacturer to inform you.

Getting the runaround over a consumer conundrum? Tell it to The Fixer at suntimes.com/fixer, where you'll find a simple form to fill out.

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