Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/02/19) */ ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesWe enable customers to submit payments funded by a debit or credit card to companies that normally do not accept this form of paymentWe charge a service fee that varies depending on the biller and the amount because we are charged an interchange fee by the Card Networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)ChargeSmart is an optional means of submitting paymentsThe customer always has the option of paying directly with the biller The complainant visited our website late in the evening of 1/25/ChargeSmart's website has a distinct green and gray color scheme with the ChargeSmart Bill Payments logo on every page in the upper left hand cornerChargeSmart states on each page that it may or may not have any direct affiliation with the listed biller(s)These measures are taken to avoid any confusion that customers may experience in assuming that we are their biller, rather than a third party bill payment service The complainant submitted a payment to Georgia Power in the amount of $45.00, with a service fee of $This service fee was fully disclosed in bold lettering in a central location on-screenAlso presented was the information that it takes 2-business days for a payment to post Shortly after submitting the payment, we received emails that indicated that the complainant failed to notice our terms, wherein a payment requires 2-business days to postWe were reached by the complainant by phone the following morning, despite claims that we do not answer the phone, at which point we voided the transaction, as requestedNo funds were taken by ChargeSmart, and no service was rendered, as specifically requested by the customer Feel free to reach out if further clarification is needed to show that ChargeSmart acted in accordance with its terms of serviceWe apologize if there was any confusion regarding our capabilities and relationship with Georgia Power, despite our best efforts to inform the complainant
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 9, 2015/04/24) */ ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesChargeSmart does not own or independently operate this payment network, but acts as an originator of payments being delivered through the network to established banking institutions and payeesWe rely on these payees to keep their own payment remittance information up-to-date as their banking and business relationships change over timeChargeSmart updates its system daily to reflect the most current information within this network to prevent any posting errors or delays for our customers The customer visited ChargeSmart on 2/and submitted a payment to Freedom Mortgage CorpAt the point of sale, we informed the customer through various means that the payment was expected to post within 2-business days, as is to be expected with any of the payments made through the ChargeSmart systemIt is common for customers to promptly reach out to ChargeSmart Support if they have not seen their payment post within the expected timeframeWhile posting difficulties represent an exceptionally low percentage of all payments, ChargeSmart Support is well-versed in these matters and has developed the necessary relationships to resolve these issues when presented to usIn our experience, these posting difficulties are the result of an incorrectly entered account number, incorrectly chosen biller, or an issue specific to the biller that has caused a payment to remain unapplied without further assistance from a Support representative We were first contacted by our customer on 3/30, nearly five weeks after the expected date of postingAt this time he stated that the payment was required to post no later than 3/to achieve a refinance of the mortgageOne of ChargeSmart's support representatives immediately reached out to the customer's mortgage lender to begin the process of locating the paymentWhile researching the matter, it was revealed that the remittance address on file for the lender, as it appears in the aforementioned payment network was not the one the lender presents to its account holdersSince ChargeSmart's payment submissions are done electronically, we did not send a payment to any physical address at all, but rather electronically, to the banking institution that represents the mortgage lenderOur Support representative assembled all of the pertinent information for our customer's as-of-yet applied payment and submitted it to the lender's research team for further review and researchAt the end of the conversation, our representative indicated that we would need some time to further research the matter with both the customer and the lender's assistance The claim that we refused to reimburse the customer for any incurred late fee misrepresents what was actually said by our agentOur focus was to locate the payment and show that it had been in the lender's system all along, thus invalidating any previously applied late fee from the lender themselvesThe claim that we refused to refund our own service fee is also incorrectIn addition to locating the payment, we sought to determine who is at-fault for any posting delays and determine what remedy can and should be provided by ChargeSmartWe understand that the customer wanted his desired remedy to be provided immediately based on his assumption that ChargeSmart had acted negligently, though this assumption was not taking into consideration the true nature of the error Our support representative and the customer agreed to another conference call the following day to continue researching the matter, but it appears that the customer chose not to continue working with ChargeSmart to achieve an amicable resolution, as he did not call back as he had originally agreed A member of ChargeSmart's management team personally reached out to the customer on 4/after our Support Team had obtained all the necessary documentation of the payment reaching the biller's payment accountThis delay was due to the time required for each respective participant involved with moving these funds to complete their own internal investigation and remit their findings to ChargeSmartThe customer agreed to a conference call at a time that best suited the customer on 4/so that they could speak to the lender together and go over the matter as a groupThe customer did not field this scheduled call, nor did he return the request for a call back to further discuss resolution As originally promised, ChargeSmart continued to work with the biller to locate the payment and determine what had caused the posting error in the first placeWhile going over the matter with the lender directly, we were able to confirm as of 4/that the payment was applied to the customer's account with an effective date of 3/Also noted was the payment the customer made directly on 3/We were also told by the lender that no late fee had been applied to the account as a result of the delay in posting, as no payment was absent in excess of days from the due dateWe are unable to respond to the claim that that a refinance was made ineligible as a result of this delay, as we were not permitted any specific information from the account without the customer's cooperation and permission When addressing the significant delay between when the lender's bank received the payment and it's posting, it was determined that the payment network's information for the lender is out-of-date, allegedly not having been kept current by one of the various banking institutions involvedThe payment was electronically delivered to an account that is not regularly maintained by the biller, but swept on a monthly basisThis is of no fault to ChargeSmart or the mortgage lender, as we both rely on the banking institutions to accurately represent its billersUpon learning this information, we immediately removed Freedom Mortgage as a valid payee on ChargeSmart to prevent further issues while we continue to work with both parties to correct the lender's erroneous network listingWe were also informed by the lender that the name of our customer is not the name on the mortgage accountIt was speculated by one of our contacts at the lender that this discrepancy could have further exacerbated the posting delay Having confirmed that the delay in posting is not a result of any service failure on ChargeSmart's behalf, and that no late fee is reported to have been applied by the lender, we respectfully decline the request to provide a remedy for any such late feeWe are unable to credit our customer for the fee assessed by the lender for payment processing, as this fee was not assessed by ChargeSmartWe have refunded the service fee assessed by ChargeSmart as a convenience to our customerThis electronic refund was issued on 4/and is expected to have posted to their provided payment card no later than 4/It is also our sincere belief that resolution of this matter would have been achieved within two or three business days from its reporting, had we been granted the full cooperation of the customer, not to mention more prompt notification of the posting delay The customer's payment has been applied to the provided mortgage account and the service fee assessed by ChargeSmart has been refunded to the customer, as was requestedWe consider this matter to be resolved and truly regret the trouble that our customer has experienced Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 12, 2015/04/28) */ 4-27- Sent via email: Yes - please close the complaint Best, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/11/04) */ Hello, ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesWe enable customers to submit payments funded by a debit or credit card to companies that normally do not accept this form of paymentWe charge a service fee that varies depending on the biller and the amount because we are charged an interchange fee by the Card Networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)Our fee is clearly displayed before a payment is submittedChargeSmart is an optional means of submitting paymentsThe customer always has the option of paying directly with the biller ChargeSmart's website has a distinct green and gray color scheme with the ChargeSmart Bill Payments logo on every page in the upper left hand cornerChargeSmart states on each page that it may or may not have any direct affiliation with the listed biller(s)These measures are taken to avoid any confusion that customers may experience in assuming that we are their biller, rather than a third party bill payment serviceWhile it is true that are not directly affiliated with WE Energies, they do have the ability to contact us, should they choose to do soIt seems as though the WE Energies support agent with whom our customer spoke had not heard of our bill payment service before To address our customer's specific claims, we do not advertise a hour service numberOur support hours are M-F between the hours of 8am and 6pm Pacific Standard TimeIt is also clear that our customer incorrectly dialed our phone number, as it is a verifiable fact that we do not offer Caribbean cruises, nor do we solicit the age of our customers, nor do we offer free medical alert bracelets We show no record of our customer reaching our actual support number of XXX-XXX-XXXX, though we did receive an email request to cancel the payment on 10/after our business hoursUpon receipt of this email on 10/14, we promptly voided the customer's charge, as requestedNo payment was received and no service was renderedThe ChargeSmart account has been closed, so that no further charges can be made We're truly puzzled by the customer's claim that our toll free number led to an offer for a Caribbean cruise or a medic alert braceletAnyone can, at any time, call our toll free number and verify that it leads to ChargeSmart and ChargeSmart onlyAdditionally, having fulfilled our customer's request to cancel the payment, we consider this matter to be resolved
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 11, 2016/01/05) */ This payment was refunded at the customer's specific request on 12/Refunds typically take 2-business days to post, which would translate to 12/21-The date in which this case was opened was business day number one, which is too soon for the refund to have processed successfullyWe're glad to see that the customer has received the expected refund and closed the case as resolved
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/17) */ Hello, ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesWe enable customers to submit payments funded by a debit or credit card to companies that normally do not accept this form of paymentWe charge a service fee that varies depending on the biller and the amount because we are charged an interchange fee by the Card Networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)Our fee is clearly displayed before a payment is submittedChargeSmart is an optional means of submitting paymentsThe customer always has the option of paying directly with the biller Our customer submitted a payment on Monday November 2nd and shortly thereafter tried to contact our customer support team by phoneWe were experiencing a heavier-than-usual call volume on this Monday morning, within our first hour of the business day, and were unable to field this customer's call within a reasonable amount of holding timeWhen we have a heavy call volume, we ask that our customers provide us a number for a callback, or to leave a voicemail, both of which would be received and handled within the business dayWe show that our customer did not choose one of these two options and was disconnected as a result, after approximately minutes of holdingWe also see that the customer called back and hung up almost immediately twiceWe regret the inconvenience caused by this heavy call volume, but feel that our alternative contact methods provide a fair avenue to resolve customer issues in these cases We did not call the customer back, as no voicemail or callback request was made, and we did not receive any email request to cancel paymentAs such, the payment was submitted to the biller as had been originally requestedUpon receipt of this complaint, we contact the customer's biller and reversed the paymentThe payment was refunded in full, as was requestedWe consider the matter to be resolved, as all customer requests have been fulfilledPlease let us know if any further clarification is needed to show that all requests were met as received
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/05/20) */ ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesAll payments are submitted online by our customers, or by a recurring monthly payment schedule that is also created online This complaint led us to perform an investigation into the complainant's concerns about her personal information and identity, as well as into the alleged conduct of one of our agents The complainant is not a ChargeSmart customer; however it is clear that her email became associated with a ChargeSmart customer's payments in our systemOur investigation has indicated that one of our longtime customers who had used our service to pay down her balance at a department store had mistakenly input her email address when submitting numerous paymentsIt appears that this customer had a tendency to mistype both her name and email address, as we found many examples of mistyped versions of her own name and true email address as being associated with her payment accountAll of the mistyped email addresses contain additional, missing, or transposed digits and lettersMost of these mistypes resulted in failed or rejected email messages, however it seems that with this particular typo, she typed in a valid email address that was not her own, and in fact belongs to the complainantAs is the case with a phone number, the adjustment of a single character can point a communication to an unintended recipient To prevent mistyped email addresses from granting the unintended recipient access to the true ChargeSmart User's account, we do require a predetermined password to be input to view any sensitive information within the accountAdditionally, we require additional verification of personal information to reset a password using an email addressThese measures were put in place specifically to address the respective situations being experienced by the complainant and our customer We determined that this mistyped email address was submitted with a number of individually submitted payments, most likely as a result of a web browser's auto-complete tool drawing on the most recently used email address, as well as having been associated with an automatic payment scheduleWhile we do have the ability to adjust the email address used for automatic payment information, we cannot prevent our customers from mistyping their own email addresses in such a way that they match another individual's email address When the complainant called into ChargeSmart Support to address her concerns, the agent with whom she spoke was alarmed by the allegation of identity theft or fraud, as we take those matters quite seriouslyThe agent in question asked a number of probing questions to glean as to whether or not this was an account created with the complainant's identity, or if it was a simple matter of a mistyped email addressIt does appear that this line of questioning allowed the complainant to obtain some information belonging to our customer who had mistyped her email addressWe regret that this information was divulged and have taken necessary actions to educate and discipline the agent in question, so as to prevent this misstep from occurring in the futureWe did indeed follwith our customer, and are confident that this is simply a matter of an elderly customer having trouble typing accurately, and not one of identity theft The complainant's personal information, banking credentials, payment cards, and other identity factors are not known to ChargeSmart, and therefore have not been compromised as a result of our customer's inability to correctly type her own email addressAt no point has the complainant's computer been tampered with by ChargeSmart, nor has ChargeSmart shared her email address with outside partiesAny communications sent to the complainant's email address are not associated with any of her own personal informationWe have also taken the necessary measures to remove her email address from the ChargeSmart system, so that she will no longer receive these emails that were troubling herWe trust that the results of our investigation, as well as the measures we have taken may serve as a resolution for this complaint Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2014/05/21) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Thank you very much for the thorough investigation on all accounts and for verifying the security of my own personal informationI would hope that all would agree how ODD it was to have a name so similar to mine (what does [redacted] even mean? It is exactly my last name, except for the errant space between the E and CSO unusual, so of course, identify fraud was my first worryOne credit application stolen from my mail and they're off.) I appreciate very much that you have disguarded my contact information, and hopefully the real customer/client has been educated in how to properly use her Charge Smart accountThank you for your time [redacted]
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/02/19) */ ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesWe enable customers to submit payments funded by a debit or credit card to companies that normally do not accept this form of paymentWe charge a service fee that varies depending on the biller and the amount because we are charged an interchange fee by the Card Networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)ChargeSmart is an optional means of submitting paymentsThe customer always has the option of paying directly with the biller The complainant visited our website late in the evening of 1/25/ChargeSmart's website has a distinct green and gray color scheme with the ChargeSmart Bill Payments logo on every page in the upper left hand cornerChargeSmart states on each page that it may or may not have any direct affiliation with the listed biller(s)These measures are taken to avoid any confusion that customers may experience in assuming that we are their biller, rather than a third party bill payment service The complainant submitted a payment to Georgia Power in the amount of $45.00, with a service fee of $This service fee was fully disclosed in bold lettering in a central location on-screenAlso presented was the information that it takes 2-business days for a payment to post Shortly after submitting the payment, we received emails that indicated that the complainant failed to notice our terms, wherein a payment requires 2-business days to postWe were reached by the complainant by phone the following morning, despite claims that we do not answer the phone, at which point we voided the transaction, as requestedNo funds were taken by ChargeSmart, and no service was rendered, as specifically requested by the customer Feel free to reach out if further clarification is needed to show that ChargeSmart acted in accordance with its terms of serviceWe apologize if there was any confusion regarding our capabilities and relationship with Georgia Power, despite our best efforts to inform the complainant
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 9, 2015/04/24) */ ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesChargeSmart does not own or independently operate this payment network, but acts as an originator of payments being delivered through the network to established banking institutions and payeesWe rely on these payees to keep their own payment remittance information up-to-date as their banking and business relationships change over timeChargeSmart updates its system daily to reflect the most current information within this network to prevent any posting errors or delays for our customers The customer visited ChargeSmart on 2/and submitted a payment to Freedom Mortgage CorpAt the point of sale, we informed the customer through various means that the payment was expected to post within 2-business days, as is to be expected with any of the payments made through the ChargeSmart systemIt is common for customers to promptly reach out to ChargeSmart Support if they have not seen their payment post within the expected timeframeWhile posting difficulties represent an exceptionally low percentage of all payments, ChargeSmart Support is well-versed in these matters and has developed the necessary relationships to resolve these issues when presented to usIn our experience, these posting difficulties are the result of an incorrectly entered account number, incorrectly chosen biller, or an issue specific to the biller that has caused a payment to remain unapplied without further assistance from a Support representative We were first contacted by our customer on 3/30, nearly five weeks after the expected date of postingAt this time he stated that the payment was required to post no later than 3/to achieve a refinance of the mortgageOne of ChargeSmart's support representatives immediately reached out to the customer's mortgage lender to begin the process of locating the paymentWhile researching the matter, it was revealed that the remittance address on file for the lender, as it appears in the aforementioned payment network was not the one the lender presents to its account holdersSince ChargeSmart's payment submissions are done electronically, we did not send a payment to any physical address at all, but rather electronically, to the banking institution that represents the mortgage lenderOur Support representative assembled all of the pertinent information for our customer's as-of-yet applied payment and submitted it to the lender's research team for further review and researchAt the end of the conversation, our representative indicated that we would need some time to further research the matter with both the customer and the lender's assistance The claim that we refused to reimburse the customer for any incurred late fee misrepresents what was actually said by our agentOur focus was to locate the payment and show that it had been in the lender's system all along, thus invalidating any previously applied late fee from the lender themselvesThe claim that we refused to refund our own service fee is also incorrectIn addition to locating the payment, we sought to determine who is at-fault for any posting delays and determine what remedy can and should be provided by ChargeSmartWe understand that the customer wanted his desired remedy to be provided immediately based on his assumption that ChargeSmart had acted negligently, though this assumption was not taking into consideration the true nature of the error Our support representative and the customer agreed to another conference call the following day to continue researching the matter, but it appears that the customer chose not to continue working with ChargeSmart to achieve an amicable resolution, as he did not call back as he had originally agreed A member of ChargeSmart's management team personally reached out to the customer on 4/after our Support Team had obtained all the necessary documentation of the payment reaching the biller's payment accountThis delay was due to the time required for each respective participant involved with moving these funds to complete their own internal investigation and remit their findings to ChargeSmartThe customer agreed to a conference call at a time that best suited the customer on 4/so that they could speak to the lender together and go over the matter as a groupThe customer did not field this scheduled call, nor did he return the request for a call back to further discuss resolution As originally promised, ChargeSmart continued to work with the biller to locate the payment and determine what had caused the posting error in the first placeWhile going over the matter with the lender directly, we were able to confirm as of 4/that the payment was applied to the customer's account with an effective date of 3/Also noted was the payment the customer made directly on 3/We were also told by the lender that no late fee had been applied to the account as a result of the delay in posting, as no payment was absent in excess of days from the due dateWe are unable to respond to the claim that that a refinance was made ineligible as a result of this delay, as we were not permitted any specific information from the account without the customer's cooperation and permission When addressing the significant delay between when the lender's bank received the payment and it's posting, it was determined that the payment network's information for the lender is out-of-date, allegedly not having been kept current by one of the various banking institutions involvedThe payment was electronically delivered to an account that is not regularly maintained by the biller, but swept on a monthly basisThis is of no fault to ChargeSmart or the mortgage lender, as we both rely on the banking institutions to accurately represent its billersUpon learning this information, we immediately removed Freedom Mortgage as a valid payee on ChargeSmart to prevent further issues while we continue to work with both parties to correct the lender's erroneous network listingWe were also informed by the lender that the name of our customer is not the name on the mortgage accountIt was speculated by one of our contacts at the lender that this discrepancy could have further exacerbated the posting delay Having confirmed that the delay in posting is not a result of any service failure on ChargeSmart's behalf, and that no late fee is reported to have been applied by the lender, we respectfully decline the request to provide a remedy for any such late feeWe are unable to credit our customer for the fee assessed by the lender for payment processing, as this fee was not assessed by ChargeSmartWe have refunded the service fee assessed by ChargeSmart as a convenience to our customerThis electronic refund was issued on 4/and is expected to have posted to their provided payment card no later than 4/It is also our sincere belief that resolution of this matter would have been achieved within two or three business days from its reporting, had we been granted the full cooperation of the customer, not to mention more prompt notification of the posting delay The customer's payment has been applied to the provided mortgage account and the service fee assessed by ChargeSmart has been refunded to the customer, as was requestedWe consider this matter to be resolved and truly regret the trouble that our customer has experienced Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 12, 2015/04/28) */ 4-27- Sent via email: Yes - please close the complaint Best, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/11/04) */ Hello, ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesWe enable customers to submit payments funded by a debit or credit card to companies that normally do not accept this form of paymentWe charge a service fee that varies depending on the biller and the amount because we are charged an interchange fee by the Card Networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)Our fee is clearly displayed before a payment is submittedChargeSmart is an optional means of submitting paymentsThe customer always has the option of paying directly with the biller ChargeSmart's website has a distinct green and gray color scheme with the ChargeSmart Bill Payments logo on every page in the upper left hand cornerChargeSmart states on each page that it may or may not have any direct affiliation with the listed biller(s)These measures are taken to avoid any confusion that customers may experience in assuming that we are their biller, rather than a third party bill payment serviceWhile it is true that are not directly affiliated with WE Energies, they do have the ability to contact us, should they choose to do soIt seems as though the WE Energies support agent with whom our customer spoke had not heard of our bill payment service before To address our customer's specific claims, we do not advertise a hour service numberOur support hours are M-F between the hours of 8am and 6pm Pacific Standard TimeIt is also clear that our customer incorrectly dialed our phone number, as it is a verifiable fact that we do not offer Caribbean cruises, nor do we solicit the age of our customers, nor do we offer free medical alert bracelets We show no record of our customer reaching our actual support number of XXX-XXX-XXXX, though we did receive an email request to cancel the payment on 10/after our business hoursUpon receipt of this email on 10/14, we promptly voided the customer's charge, as requestedNo payment was received and no service was renderedThe ChargeSmart account has been closed, so that no further charges can be made We're truly puzzled by the customer's claim that our toll free number led to an offer for a Caribbean cruise or a medic alert braceletAnyone can, at any time, call our toll free number and verify that it leads to ChargeSmart and ChargeSmart onlyAdditionally, having fulfilled our customer's request to cancel the payment, we consider this matter to be resolved
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 11, 2016/01/05) */ This payment was refunded at the customer's specific request on 12/Refunds typically take 2-business days to post, which would translate to 12/21-The date in which this case was opened was business day number one, which is too soon for the refund to have processed successfullyWe're glad to see that the customer has received the expected refund and closed the case as resolved
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/17) */ Hello, ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesWe enable customers to submit payments funded by a debit or credit card to companies that normally do not accept this form of paymentWe charge a service fee that varies depending on the biller and the amount because we are charged an interchange fee by the Card Networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover)Our fee is clearly displayed before a payment is submittedChargeSmart is an optional means of submitting paymentsThe customer always has the option of paying directly with the biller Our customer submitted a payment on Monday November 2nd and shortly thereafter tried to contact our customer support team by phoneWe were experiencing a heavier-than-usual call volume on this Monday morning, within our first hour of the business day, and were unable to field this customer's call within a reasonable amount of holding timeWhen we have a heavy call volume, we ask that our customers provide us a number for a callback, or to leave a voicemail, both of which would be received and handled within the business dayWe show that our customer did not choose one of these two options and was disconnected as a result, after approximately minutes of holdingWe also see that the customer called back and hung up almost immediately twiceWe regret the inconvenience caused by this heavy call volume, but feel that our alternative contact methods provide a fair avenue to resolve customer issues in these cases We did not call the customer back, as no voicemail or callback request was made, and we did not receive any email request to cancel paymentAs such, the payment was submitted to the biller as had been originally requestedUpon receipt of this complaint, we contact the customer's biller and reversed the paymentThe payment was refunded in full, as was requestedWe consider the matter to be resolved, as all customer requests have been fulfilledPlease let us know if any further clarification is needed to show that all requests were met as received
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/05/20) */ ChargeSmart is an online bill payment service that submits payments to a network of auto loan, mortgage, education loan, utility companies, and other miscellaneous biller typesAll payments are submitted online by our customers, or by a recurring monthly payment schedule that is also created online This complaint led us to perform an investigation into the complainant's concerns about her personal information and identity, as well as into the alleged conduct of one of our agents The complainant is not a ChargeSmart customer; however it is clear that her email became associated with a ChargeSmart customer's payments in our systemOur investigation has indicated that one of our longtime customers who had used our service to pay down her balance at a department store had mistakenly input her email address when submitting numerous paymentsIt appears that this customer had a tendency to mistype both her name and email address, as we found many examples of mistyped versions of her own name and true email address as being associated with her payment accountAll of the mistyped email addresses contain additional, missing, or transposed digits and lettersMost of these mistypes resulted in failed or rejected email messages, however it seems that with this particular typo, she typed in a valid email address that was not her own, and in fact belongs to the complainantAs is the case with a phone number, the adjustment of a single character can point a communication to an unintended recipient To prevent mistyped email addresses from granting the unintended recipient access to the true ChargeSmart User's account, we do require a predetermined password to be input to view any sensitive information within the accountAdditionally, we require additional verification of personal information to reset a password using an email addressThese measures were put in place specifically to address the respective situations being experienced by the complainant and our customer We determined that this mistyped email address was submitted with a number of individually submitted payments, most likely as a result of a web browser's auto-complete tool drawing on the most recently used email address, as well as having been associated with an automatic payment scheduleWhile we do have the ability to adjust the email address used for automatic payment information, we cannot prevent our customers from mistyping their own email addresses in such a way that they match another individual's email address When the complainant called into ChargeSmart Support to address her concerns, the agent with whom she spoke was alarmed by the allegation of identity theft or fraud, as we take those matters quite seriouslyThe agent in question asked a number of probing questions to glean as to whether or not this was an account created with the complainant's identity, or if it was a simple matter of a mistyped email addressIt does appear that this line of questioning allowed the complainant to obtain some information belonging to our customer who had mistyped her email addressWe regret that this information was divulged and have taken necessary actions to educate and discipline the agent in question, so as to prevent this misstep from occurring in the futureWe did indeed follwith our customer, and are confident that this is simply a matter of an elderly customer having trouble typing accurately, and not one of identity theft The complainant's personal information, banking credentials, payment cards, and other identity factors are not known to ChargeSmart, and therefore have not been compromised as a result of our customer's inability to correctly type her own email addressAt no point has the complainant's computer been tampered with by ChargeSmart, nor has ChargeSmart shared her email address with outside partiesAny communications sent to the complainant's email address are not associated with any of her own personal informationWe have also taken the necessary measures to remove her email address from the ChargeSmart system, so that she will no longer receive these emails that were troubling herWe trust that the results of our investigation, as well as the measures we have taken may serve as a resolution for this complaint Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2014/05/21) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Thank you very much for the thorough investigation on all accounts and for verifying the security of my own personal informationI would hope that all would agree how ODD it was to have a name so similar to mine (what does [redacted] even mean? It is exactly my last name, except for the errant space between the E and CSO unusual, so of course, identify fraud was my first worryOne credit application stolen from my mail and they're off.) I appreciate very much that you have disguarded my contact information, and hopefully the real customer/client has been educated in how to properly use her Charge Smart accountThank you for your time [redacted]