Thursday, April 7, 2005

Paying Bills Online -- Maybe

   I was born back in the Industrial Age, and am now living a busy life in the Information Age.  Here is child of the Roaring Twenties paying his bills online like a baby-boomer, or whatever it is that people born late in the last century are called.

   In February I had my Chevrolet Astrovan "smogged", as we call it, and the confirmation of that inspection sent electronically to the state capitol in Sacramento where Arnold Schwartznegger resides.

   AND then I got online and sent my credit card number to the Department of Motor Vehicles for my 2005 registration.  And that was that.  Or so I thought.

   Today I got a notice of overdue automobile registration, with a bill, AND WITH A $ 47 PENALTY ADDED ON.

   Tomorrow, I will put an old fashioned check in the old fashioned red, white, and blue mail box, and hope to get my new old fashioned 2005 decals back... the same way.

   

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I strongly recommend that you fight it rather than pay again, if you have a record of your payment.  And anyway, doing it the old way is no more reliable:

Years ago, I went to the MVD on payday.  I had a lot of cash on me, and needed to get back to work.  So I put the cash and paperwork for my registration in their drop box, and left.

I wondered why the tags did arrive in the mail, but I thought they were running behind.  Eventually I got a ticket for driving on expired tags.  I went to court, got it dismissed, and oh, yeah, paid again, because I couldn't prove I'd paid the fee the first time.

That was about six years ago.  Last year, a bunch of MVD employees were busted for theft.  

Hey, if someone had listed to me, they couldn't have maybe caught them sooner!

Karen

Anonymous said...

A few corrections to my comment - I should have proofread! The cash and registration were in an envelope, not loose in the dropbox.  And the tags did NOT arrive in the mail.  If things had gone well, there would be no story here--not that I'd mind!  - Karen

Anonymous said...

Technology is only as good as the people who invent it and those who oversee it. As most folks these days either consider themselves Einsteins or professionals, it's no wonder everything goes astray. Brink back the cheque book and the village idiot to save us from ourselves. Have a smile
Sylvia xx

Anonymous said...

Be sure to check your statement. If the debit from your credit card for the DMV is on there, send a photocopy with a letter and copy of the overdue notice. Tell them to FIX the problem. LOL

Anonymous said...

Yep i still do things the old fashioned way and feel better about it. Paula