The downside of internet bill pay with E*TRADE

In October I paid a bill via automatic bill pay from Etrade. I had the address/acct # of the vendor from a previous bill I had paid so I simply made the payment to that vendor. A month or so goes by and I get a letter from the vendor stating that the bill was still outstanding.

When I called the vendor to tell them the date I had paid it they claimed no knowledge. So I sent a note to Etrade on December 12, 2011 asking for a copy of the check. On December 13, Maria Romela Victoria M. Francia from Etrade responded that it would cost me $5 to get a copy of the check. On December 16, I wrote to go ahead and get me the copy and charge me the $5. Later that day, I got an email from Gregory Castronova stating the following:

"I have ordered a copy of the check to be mailed to your house. It should take between 5 and 7 business days for your to receive the check.

As you are aware, your account will be debited $5 for this amount."

On January 15, 2012, I sent a note back stating that I didn't get the copy in the mail and asking why I couldn't just have a pdf copy emailed to me. I called and spoke to Damien in customer service and he said the pdf email copy would take 2-3 business days. So around January 18, I received the pdf and sent it to the vendor. The vendor then stated that I sent it to their old account and they have a new address. So I asked, "Where's the money? It's not in my account." The vendor said something like, "Ask your bank".

So then I sent a note back to the bank asking what to do to resolve it and got an email from David Gearring at etrade asking me to call to work it out over the phone.

So a few days or a week later I called and spent 30 minutes on the phone with the resolution that they should just cancel the original check and send out a new one. The rep on the phone told me he would only call me back if there was a problem doing that. I went to check the account today (February 2, 2012) and nothing has been done in the account and nothing in the email box about what he didn't do. Unfortunately I can't remember his name because I was in the car at the time of the call.

So now I'm stuck repaying the bill and just hoping that someday the check bounces back as never having been cashed. Maybe I'll go back to sending checks in the mail ;)