Conference 7.286::dcu

I got this offer yesterday and just finished filling out the form with all the
folks I pay each month. I think it's a great idea. I hate writing out those
monthly checks and addressing the envelopes and mailing them. Now I can spend
a couple minutes on the phone and it's all done.

A couple of gripes with the form though (that I hope Mary Madden will make an
"official response" to):

1. The blocks for filling in the name of the vendor only give 18 characters.
This has made me have to come up with some pretty bizarre abreviations for the
name of the vendor. And since I presume this is the same name put on the "pay
to" portion of the check, I just hope the vendor's banks will cash them ok.

2. There's only one line (again, only 18 characters allowed) for the address.
Two would be much more useful.

One thing I did like is that "standard" vendors like New England Telephone,
PSNH, VISA, etc. don't require you to fill out the vendor address. Just give
them the account number and they can get the money to them.

I think this is a great idea (and about time DCU got it!).

Note that the service is free until Oct. 1, 1991.

-Glenn-

They also don't allow 9 digit zip codes on their form. I'm sure the postal
service won't be too pleased with that!

-Glenn-

P.S.: Why do so many computer folks insist on limiting forms to 1960s vintage
addresses? As if they were to be put on a punched card in fixed columns...

   Glenn, the form says that the transfers are electronic, so they don't
   really need zip code etc...
   
   q
   

Yea, they do need the address. Only some of the transfer are electronic. There
are two sections on the form. One section asks for account numbers for known
vendors like VISA, PSNH, etc. Presumably, they already have an arrangement with
these vendors so that they will accept electronic transfers.

The other section of the form asks for not only the account number but for the
mailing address too. There may be a chance that some of these vendors can take
electronic transfers to, but the smaller ones probably won't be able to. What
they do in this case (according to their instructions) is to mail a check for
you addressed to the vendor the next business day after you call them up and
approve the payment.

So I think the DCU should expant their form and the system (if possible) to
accept 9 digit zip codes, they really are appreciated by the post office and
do make paper mail flow faster. More address lines to ensure that the check goes
to the right place would be nice to.

-Glenn-

    I haven't gotten any info on this.  Is this a GMA-only feature?  And
    wait a minute, they want me to pay for this?  I did this back in the
    '70s for FREE.
    
    Bob

    re. 0 did you receive this packet or info. via hard copy mail
        sent to your home ? i haven't seen anything yet.
    
    Lloyd

Yes, fliers were sent out.

Seems to me that 25 cents per electronic transfer/check is a bargain. It costs
25 cents for a stamp alone, never mind the envelope and the time it takes to
write the check.

-Glenn-

I don't think paying PSNH would do me a lot of good - as I live in Colorado
:-)

Seriously, I have so few recurring monthly payments (between 7 and 12
depending on month-in-quarter) that I really can't see a real savings in
either cost or time.  Whether I buy stamps at 25� each or use the phone is
a wash.  It takes 15 mins/week to do bills - probably 5 minutes longer than
the phone; big deal.  I buy envelopes 500 at a time so the cost increment
isn't high and I buy them once a year (unless my 18 month old daughter gets
to them first :-)

So, I look at Paymate as more work than its worth.

But, that's my situation.

My 2�,
BobW

PSNH is in bankruptcy now, so I'm sure they could use your money. :-)

-Glenn-

How did you hear about this? I got my statement yesterday and there was no
brochure on PayMate. Did it come separately?

Chuck

    
    mine arrived in the mail today.  yours should arrive soon too.
    

Are these guys math whizzes or what?  Here's a quote from the flyer:

Until October 1, 1991, you can access PayMate FREE -- that's a savings
of about $12.00*.

	*Based on paying seven bills for eight months

Let's see -- 7 times 8 times $.25 is what?

        Huh, I read that to mean that after 1 October 1991, there
        would be a monthly fee of "about $1.00" (times 12 is "about
        $12.00") IN ADDITION to the $.25 per bill.
        

    
    
    I got my paymate letter yesterday.....
    
    of the three companies I put down none of them were accepted by
    Paymate, ie Paymate said they coudn't add them to the scheme.
    
    Little companies? Only the City of Colorado Springs, US West Telecoms
    and JC Penney.
    
    Why did they bother sending this scheme west of New England?
    
    How do you lodge a complaint/whyonearth letter with DCU, write it up
    here?
    
    Simon

    This is an official response by Mary Madden of the DCU. That response,
    dated 21-NOV-1990, applies to two entries of this note topic and is
    included below. See note 2.22 for more information. 
    
    Your comments on this response should be posted here or directed to
    to DCU directly at Mary Madden's number (dtn) 223-6735 x207.
        
    Carl Leeber
******************************************************************************
         Response to 228.1
         
         Over the past few months, DCU has launched PayMate, a 
         new bill-payment service, to our sharedraft 
         accountholders.  This service allows members to pay 
         bills by touch-tone telephone for only $.25 each (the 
         price of a stamp).  And, as a special introductory 
         offer, the service is free until October 1, 1991.
         
         After October 1, 1991, members will pay $.25 per bill or 
         a minimum of $1.00 per month.  For example, if a member 
         pays 5 bills in one month, it will cost $1.25 to use 
         PayMate; whereas a member paying three bills will pay 
         $1.00.
         
         Our PayMate application was designed primarily to 
         identify vendors rather than to correspond with them.  
         However, we appreciate the suggestions to expand the 
         vendor address lines and will try to accommodate these 
         requests when we reprint the form.
         
         Because of the anticipated volume of PayMate requests, 
         DCU chose to roll-out the promotion starting on the west 
         coast and moving east.  The final mailing will be sent 
         third class on November 14th to the remaining 11,000 
         members, 6,000 of which are in the MA and NH area.  As a 
         follow-up to the mailings, we are scheduling PayMate 
         demonstrations at our branch locations.  We have 
         scheduled presentations in NY, MD, SC, and GA in 
         December; ME and VT in January; and MA and NH in 
         February and March.
         
         Thank you for your favorable as well as constructive 
         responses to this service.  If you have additional 
         questions or suggestions about PayMate, please contact 
         Mary Madden at DTN/223-6735, x207 or 508/493-6735, x207.
         
                            
         Response to 228.15
    
         DCU receives VAXNOTES extractions without author 
         listings. [EXTRACTOR'S NOTE: Per Digital policy, no user,
    	 personel or internal node names are extracted.]
    	 Therefore, we urge the writer of 228.15 to
         contact DCU at DTN/223-6735, x222 or 508/493-6735, x222 
         to review his/her concern.  Currently, JCPenney and US 
         West Communications are on the PayMate vendor list.
         
         If you have questions or concerns about DCU's products 
         and services, call Mary Madden at DTN/223-6735, x207 or 
         508/493-6735, x207.
******************************************************************************

        re .16 - so, does that mean we won't pay anything until
        October 1991?
        

RE: .17

That's how I read it...

-Glenn-

So has anybody actually paid any bills using Paymate?  I've yet to receive
an acknowledgment of my application.

I just tried calling customer services to find out what is up too. I sent in my
stuff on the 6th of this month and have yet to hear anything. Doesn't give me
that warm and fuzzy feeling that they will send payments for my bills on time...

-Glenn-

    	I could have sworn in the cover letter with the paymate form it    
    said you will receive your packet within 4-6 weeks of processing.
    
    	b

Strange. I finally got through to them on the phone (by calling the MKO office
and having them transfer me) and they told me it should take no more than
2 weeks. But they did verify that they got my application and that PayMate has
it and if I don't hear anything in another week or so to call them back...

-Glenn-

Re: .12  
> Are these guys math whizzes or what?

I suspect they made a typographical error and meant "Based on six months".


Now, another comment on the application form:

Being based in Atlanta, I find it rather disconcerting that Paymate wants me
to list my New England telephone number, and lists utilities such as Boston
Edison, Boston Gas, Mass Electric, NH Electric Co-Op and Public Service of NH.

Looks like a classic case of people assuming that all of Digital is located
in the GMA.

I had been considering this service but I guess I'll just wait 'till they list 
Atlanta Gas Light Co. and Georgia Power as utilities...<sigh>

re .23:

They do allow you to list vendors of your choice, even Atlanta utilities.
Let's face it: the majority of DCU customers *are* in the GMA, so if
they're going to print up one form for everybody, it makes sense to
include GMA vendors.  It's not cost-effective to print separate forms
for each geographical area.

> It's not cost-effective to print separate forms
> for each geographical area.

I agree.  My reply was somewhat cynical in content -- I do not expect there
will ever be a separate form for this geographical area.  My point is that
the form appears to be tailored specifically for the GMA which leaves me 
feeling like an outsider to DCU.  How difficult would it be to put together
a -generic- form?

Look, the form lists the following under each section:

	TELEPHONE:  
	MCI number
	New England Telephone number

I have neither.

	UTILITIES:
	Boston Edison
	Boston GAS
	Mass Electric
	NH Electric Co-Op
	Public Service of NH

None of these are available here.

	RETAILERS/SERVICES
	Belmont Springs
	Bloomingdale's
	Boston Globe
	Boston Herald
	Filene's
	JC Penney's	(multiple locations)
	Jordan Marsh
	Lechemere
	Lord & Taylor	(1 location)
	Montgomery Ward
	Poland Springs
	Sears		(multiple locations)
	Spiegel

Aside from Spiegel (and any other mail-order catalogs), none of the above
retailers or services are located in the Atlanta area other than as noted.

OK, the instructions say "If you want to include an vendor that isn't shown,
simply write the vendor's name, address and your account number in the area 
provided."  Fine.  They have space for 4 "Other Vendors" on the form.  Other-
wise, I have to photocopy the form...

Just my opinion.

Making it harder for those in the GMA would be an improvement?

    There is a commercial service called CheckFree that offers something
    very similar to this, except that you "write checks" on your PC and
    send them to CheckFree for processing over your modem. It costs $9.00
    a month for up to 20 checks, so it sounds a bit more expensive. But
    everything is dated and time stamped and you get a confirmation number
    back for each check, which I like. In 18 months, I never had a problem
    with it.

	One thing that I discovered is that you can also specify another bank
	as a possible vendor in your list. This is useful if you periodically
	transfer funds to your money market accounts or mutual funds.

	The only catch is that Paymate will only consider vendors for which 
	there have been at least 6 requests.

	So are there 5 other gentle people who would like to specify Dreyfus
	Worldwide Dollar MM Fund as a vendor?

	-amitabh.

Mus have 6 huh? That's strang. What's happens if you get 6 people now and then
in a couple of months one or more of them stops using the bank? Does that mean
all 6 people are screwed?

-Glenn-

    I subscribed to a similar service in Texas a few years ago.  I dropped
    it:
    
    1) Dialing all the right numbers on your telephone keypad is just as
    slow as writing out a check and putting into the envelope.  (I'm not a
    fan of touch-tone services.)
    
    2) The chance for error is greater - "Now did I push $47.52 or
    $475.20?"  When writing a check, you can physically inspect it for
    accuracy.
    
    2) The payment is debited from your account immediately.  When writing
    a check, it usually takes a few days for the check to "clear".  So
    using the service means less money in your account earning interest.
    
    Thanks, but no thanks.
    
    -- dan

That's funny, because I'm finding just the opposite to be true!

1. I can dial and pay bills on a keypad much quicker than writing checks,
addressing envelopes, and them bringing them to the post office.

2. The system reads back my transaction amounts before accepting them so I get
to double-check that I entered them correctly.

3. I have this nasty habit of putting off paying bills until the very last
moment. Sometimes I forget and the bill(s) become late. In those cases, I
can enter my payment via the phone at night and the vendor will have their
payment the next morning. So I get interest right up to the last momemnt; and
I get to control when the funds are deducted, not some random federal clearing-
house.

Sign me, a happy Paymate user,

-Glenn-

>> In those cases, I
>>can enter my payment via the phone at night and the vendor will have their
>>payment the next morning. 

PayMate says to allow several days for payment.  Do you know that it is 
actually done more quickly?

Thanks.

Bruce (a new PayMate user, and happy so far, and would like to get a few more
days of interest ;-)

    This is an official response by Mary Madden of the DCU. The portion of
    that response, dated 22-JAN-1991, that applies to this note topic is
    included below. See note 2.22 for more information.

    Your comments on this response should be posted here or directed to
    to DCU directly at Mary Madden's number (dtn) 223-6735 x207.

    Carl Leeber
******************************************************************************
         Response to 228.30

         PayMate, DCU's new bill paying service, will set up any
         credit card, bank, utility or cable company immediately.
         PayMate requires 5 or more requests for other, less
         common vendors.  It is very possible that the required
         "5 or more requests" will be met, since PayMate
         currently services over 80 financial institutions across
         the U.S.

         Once the requirement is met and the vendor is set up,
         the vendor will remain on the system regardless of how
         many people request payment to them.

         If you have additional questions regarding PayMate,
         please contact our Member Service Center at
         DTN/223-8444, ext. 224 or 508/493-8444, ext. 224, or
         DCU's communications department at DTN/223-6735, ext.
         207, 239 or 508/493-6735, ext. 207, 239.
******************************************************************************

    Having just paid my first bill via PayMate (I hope), I noticed a
    discrepency between the instructions and what actually happened.  From
    the instructions:
    
    	Verification:
    
    	o After receiving the vendor number and the amount, PayMate will
    	  state the name of the vendor and the amount paid...
    
    What actually happened was that PayMate confirmed the amount, but did
    not state the vendor name.  There was a clicking before the amount that
    might have been an attempt to play a blank voice track (the quality of
    PayMate's voice response system is considerably poorer than the DECtalk
    used by EasyTouch).  I cancelled the transaction and repeated it
    several times, with the same result each time.
    
    Is the documentation wrong or what?  Having the vendor name confirmed,
    and having the documentation match the actual implementation, would
    improve my confidence in the system.  Should problems like this be
    reported?  I'd much prefer to report problems via Email rather than a
    phone number --- more convenient for me, less chance of it being lost
    or mis-reported.  If it matters, this was vendor 902, US West
    Communications.
    
    On a different topic, I was surprised at some of the vendors that were
    not approved for PayMate, most particularly Colorado Springs Utilities. 
    From DCU's response in 228.34, a single request is sufficient for
    PayMate to try to set up payment to a utility.  Thus I infer that it's
    not PayMate being unwilling to pay them, but rather that Colorado
    Springs Utilities is unwilling to accept payments from PayMate.  Is
    this true?  When this does occur, PayMate should tell its customers,
    because sometimes customer complaints to the vendor can change things.

I've found that Paymate tells me the vendor name during the conversation. Maybe
you just hit a glitch?

-Glenn-

    I too encounters this problem.  In a session with paymate, most of the
    vendor names were echoed but 2 were not.  These vendors were not
    nationally based vendors so I suspected that this was the reason.

    I just got a Diners Club statement, and was surprized that it showed a
    past due balance.  This had been one of my first uses of PayMate, so I
    called Diners Club to double check.  I called PayMate to make the
    payment on Feb 1.  Diners Club received the payment Feb 11.  This is
    at least three times slower than if I'd mailed them the payment, which
    takes 2-3 days to be credited.  If this delay is typical, then the
    delay is more trouble than PayMate is worth.

	... considering that my payments to Citibank Visa have been credited
	there within two days of my calling up PayMate. Citibank also owns 
	Diners Clubs, no?

	BTW, if you called up PayMate at least 7 days before your bill due
	date, then you can get reimbursed for any finance charges (upto
	50$) you had to pay DC.

    
    
      Out of curiosity,  is this information confidential?  
    
      I got the form,  and thought it was a neat idea,  but then
    it occurred how easy it would be to compile an automated list
    of a person's spending habits and  create a product similar
    to the now defunct "Lotus Marketplace"...
    
    
    							-al
    

	Did anyone experience problems with PayMate regarding crediting payments
	to New England Telephone?

	I received a notice of non-payment from NET, a bill that I had paid 
	thru' PayMate. I checked with the DCU problem line for this. They
	confirmed that PayMate had debited my account for the amount the day
	after I had made my payment. They checked with PayMate on this (and it
	took them 3 days to do this) and told me that the problem is with NET,
	that they have not credited several customers' accounts (who paid
	thru' PayMate.)

	Now, my account at NET was finally credited after 16 days, but NET 
	denies any problems on their side.

	Did anyone else have such a problem? I have not had problems with
	any other vendor. So far.

    I have made 10 payments to several different vendors using the Paymate
    service (between 1/29 to 4/6).  TWO (2) of them (thats 20%) were messed
    up BY Paymate.  

    When I added my electric company to the list of vendors, Paymate
    completely changed my GAS company's account number (yes I have the
    printouts from Paymate showing that they originally had the correct
    account number).  Paymate had no idea how it happened.

    After making serveral successful payments to my Discover Card, which
    normally take 2-3 days, my April payment didn't make it.  After
    calling, I found out that there had been a "problem with system" and
    was told to re-do my payment (since it was never deducted from my DCU
    account).

    I think the system is a good idea, but I believe that it is not ready
    for public use yet.  Are we a field test site for Paymate?  

    I don't use them much anymore since it takes me more time to follow-up
    on each payment (since my confidence in Paymate is low, I check up on
    them), than to just write a check and drop it in the mail.

    Oh Well, just my own experience!

    

When I told my wife that I'd signed up for Paymate, she warned me that such
systems have been known to make mistakes.  She convinced me to wait and see
whether people had problems with it.  I'm glad I listened to her.

    This is an official response by Mary Madden of the DCU. The portion of
    that response, dated 21-MAY-1991, that applies to this note topic is
    included below. See note 2.22 for more information.

    Whether you agree or disagree with the response from the DCU, please
    either direct your comments to the DCU directly (dtn-223-6735) or
    post your comments as a REPLY to this entry in this conference.

    Carl Leeber
******************************************************************************
         Response to 228.43

         On April 5-6, 1991, transactions affecting approximately 90
         PayMate users were lost due to a PayMate operator error.
         Because the transaction totals were not verified prior to the
         daily file purge, some payments were not made. Unfortunately,
         DCU was not notified by the vendor until 2 weeks after the
         error occurred.

         PayMate users who made payments on these dates should check
         their DCU accounts to verify that the money was withdrawn, and
         re-enter the payment if necessary.  PayMate will contact
         vendors and cover any late fees that may be incurred due to
         the error.

         We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and
         have met with PayMate management to develop the following
         action plan:

         1.  Audit controls have been implemented to validate daily
         totals.

         2.  Information about system problems that may affect payments
         will be communicated to both DCU and in turn our membership in
         a timely and proactive manner.

         3.  PayMate has agreed to implement a disk backup at DCU,
         prior to transmission of data to PayMate as part of daily
         update procedures.

         If you have any questions regarding PayMate, please call Mary
         Madden at DTN/223-6735 or 508/493-6735, x207.
******************************************************************************

   I think  this  sort of response was what should have happened as soon as
   DCU  discovered  the  problem.   I'd  have  much  more confidence in the
   process, even if there are problems, if I know they are being worked and
   what's being done to prevent a reoccurance.  

   I was one of the users that had payments lost, and I spent about an hour
   on the phone with DCU eliciting a committment to keep us more up to date
   (resulting  in  .-1)  with  problems  and  their  resolution.  One of my
   suggestions  was  to  keep local backups so they don't depend on Paymate
   doing things right.  I feel more comfortable now with the committment to
   keep  local  backups, so that if somehow Paymate does lose something, at
   least DCU will be able to find out which specific customers got lost.

Re: earlier note about New England Telephone.

I called both NET and the PayMate "desk" at DCU about this.  I have seen 
consistent 8 - 10 day delays in payment to NET.  DCU claims this is because
NET is not accepting electronic payments.  NET claims that PayMate waits
until there are several payments to be made to NET and then sends one check.
They're probably both right.

Moral: be prepared for long payment delays for NET and others (DCU wouldn't
give me the whole list, but it includes the Boston Globe).

BTW, other than the April 5-6 fiasco, I haven't had any problems with my
other payees, all of which apparently accept electronic transfer - payment
is made and credited the day after I call.

Bruce

    One other glitch I discovered was in the enrollment form.  The form I
    had was very unclear on the timing for automatic payments for things
    such as car and student loans.  The form asks for the first payment
    date and the last payment date.  I entered the due dates for my loans. 
    It turns out that the payment date is the date PayMate makes the
    payment.  The lender may not receive payment until a later date which
    could result in a late charge.  When filling out this section, subtract
    about a week from the payment due date to figure out your payment date
    to allow for processing.
    
    I actually enrolled in the automatic section by accident.  I had run
    out of room on the form and entered my car payment and student loan
    payment in the automatic payment section without really paying
    attention.  Because my first enrollment packet did not confirm that I
    had automatic payments being made to both accounts, I ended up double
    paying both accounts (1 automatically, and 1 by me through the phone).
    
    I've cleared both of these things up and it seems to be working very
    well.  With the increase in postage since it was first announced and
    the noticable decrease in the amount of checks I'm using I think the
    loss of interest between paying by phone and having a check in the mail
    will be more than offset.
    
    I do wish they had an 800 number though.  I asked a teller about that
    and he told me they were checking into it.
    
    A gripe I have with PayMate (as opposed to DCU) is the neccessity to do
    everything by mail.  I realize this is probably to protect myself, but
    it is a pain and results in delays.  For instance, it took an extra
    billing cycle to resolve the "late" payments I mentioned above because
    they wouldn't change my payment date over the phone.  Given that we
    have security codes and account numbers I would think we could do this
    kind of thing over the phone.

	I was snagged by the transferred-float effect, too.

	Sure enough, the ATT Universal Card people griped at me about not
	paying them, and then they gleefully stiffed me some sort of
	extortion ("finance charge", I think they call it.)  All because
	I phoned Paymate on Sunday evening, saw a gob of money vanish from
	my DCU account on Monday, and did not see it reappear at ATT until 
	the _following_ Monday!  A whole week of money bouyancy outside my
	control!  Tsk.  That steady-state float account must have a million
	bucks in it.

	(And then several toll calls to area code 508 to pay off ATT's
	extortion, in vain, because a power failure had zapped the Paymate
	machine.)

	Should I take your time to tell you about the electronics technician
	I new in the 60s who forced his creditors visit him at his home to
	collect cash?  Some law in Mass. about how debts get paid...

	Regards, Robert.

    I'm having problem with Paymate also.
    
    I made a payment to AT&T Universal Card in July for a balance due in
    August through Paymate. Then I received a bill from Universal Card
    claimed that I have not even made the minimum payment.
    
    I have the confirmation number of that transaction, so I called DCU
    membership services. The lady told me a payment was instead made to
    Colonial Bank Mastercard, my other Mastercard.
    
    I entered vendor number 152 (Universal Card), but Paymate insisted they
    only read 15 (Colonial Bank). But the confirmation one heard on the
    phone after punching a payment only said : a payment of such amount
    was made to Mastercard, never specified which bank. DCU member services
    said that Paymate uses a new software, does not store data beyond what
    type of card it is. This sounds very fishy.
    
    At that time, I just want to smooth things, so I made the payment to
    Universal Card again on August 27th. The money was withdrawn by Paymate
    on August 28th, but I just called Universal Card, they said they have
    not received the payment. It has been 1 1/2 weeks. How long does it
    take to send a draft from Wisconsin to Georgia????? My letter takes 7
    days to reach Hong Kong. 
    
    Paymate brochure claims that they will pay in about the same time as I
    would by mailing a check. If I mailed the check myself, it will usually
    take 3-4 days. 
    
    Universal Card agreed to apply a temporary credit towards my account
    for now, they are calling Paymate and DCU to find out what went wrong.
    DCU member services have been less than helpful. I called them 3 times
    this week, they would not even contacted Paymate, kept telling me to
    wait.
    
    caroline
    

    
    If I remember correctly, as long as the payment is made 7 (business)
    days before it is due, Paymate is liable for any late/interest charges.
    If you incurred any of those, make sure Paymate takes care of those as
    well!
     

Got a form letter from DCU today saying that starting March 1 the PayMate service
will no longer be available. Resons given are low member usage and unacceptable
service levels provided by PayMate, Inc.

I cancelled my PayMate account a couple months ago because of all the vendors I
deal with they could only send payments to one of them. Not cost effective when
that happens. For PayMate's own survival I would think that they would make a
relationship with more vendors in order to make their service useful.

-Glenn-

Gee, I had a bunch of vendors: Commonwealth Gas, Visa, Mastercard, Discover,
	Exxon, Telephone
I found it kind of handy.

>>> I found it kind of handy.

Yeah, me too. Easier and cheaper than paying by check. I've used Paymate since
DCU first initiated the service, and had only one small problem, when my VISA
bill didn't get paid on time. I called up the bank that issued the VISA and
they took the finance charges off my bill without any problem. The late payment
might've been Paymate's fault, but that was also the only bill that I failed to
pay about five days before it was due. At any rate, I didn't lose any money. 

I'm gonna miss Paymate. I was even growing fond of that pseudo-sexy voice on
the other end of the line!

Vicki Meagher

	I had also liked PayMate, but had a problem with a payment to Boston
	Gas. The latter said they had not received my payment from PayMate
	which I had made in June 1991. It finally got resolved in November 1991,
	but it took a lot of calls from me to DCU, and to Boston Gas.

	When I went to cancel my PayMate account after that, the teller at 
	the TAY2 branch had told me that DCU wasn't too happy with PayMate
	because of several complaints like I had, and that PayMate was not
	doing too well financially either - they were laying off people.

	I wish PayMate had its act together. 

   It took  them  about  3  months  to  get  a payment to the phone company
   straightened  out.  Meanwhile I was getting threatening notices from the
   phone  company,  not too great.  But except for that, it's been fine.  I
   too  wish  Paymate  had  its  act  together.  I mean, how hard can it be
   anyway?

My first and only experience with PayMate was a bad one.  I'm glad they
canned it.  Association with that company was bad for the DCU's
reputation.  I meant to send then a thank you note for canning them - I
might still.

I just got a letter saying they were discontinuing PAYMATE.....
noone ever asked me what I thought about their service



I loved it...don't know what
level of service means but I never had any issues except those
rooted in my own ignorance of some things....a quick call to DCU
straightened me out...I will use such a service if one is offered.

I think they could charge for it and compete with the post office.

If you have a PC or even a clone and a modem, you can use CheckFree and link it
into Quicken or Microsoft Money, telepay your bills, and have immediate local
copies of all transactions...no trusting you typed touch tone keys correctly.
Then, you can also do some automated money management.

If I were to use a PayMate kind of service, this would seem more suitable to
me.

BobW

I like Paymate too, but if the volume is such that the per-payment cost is
say $1.00, perhaps the right thing to do is get rid of it in these
times of watching expenses. I wouldn't use it if I had to pay $1.00
per payment. It may be a luxury that DCU can't afford right now.

>I'm gonna miss Paymate. I was even growing fond of that pseudo-sexy voice on
>the other end of the line!

Yeh, the first time I called I thought I had one of those 1-900 numbers that
are advertised all over the cable stations :-).

So does anyone know of any alternatives to Paymate?  

I only have accounts at DCU right now so I'm not familiar with what other banks
might have a similar program?

I thought I heard a radio ad for something called "Easypay" at Western Union. 
But after calling their 800 number (and being forwarded 4-5 times until I found
someone who had even *heard* the term "Easypay" before), I was told it let you
payed in cash at a W.U. local office.  I guess I wasn't paying that close
attention to the ad?

                                                               _Mike

    If you have a PC (MAC or DOS), you might look into the financial
    package called Quicken.  It has an option for electronic payment
    through a company called Checkfree.  I have been using Quicken for two
    months and it has worked great.  I just signed up for Checkfree and
    haven't any experience yet.  I will post some when I start using it.

>    through a company called Checkfree.  I have been using Quicken for two

Do you have a number for Checkfree?  It sounds like they might be the one to
contact and see if they have any paymate like services set up with
Massachusetts banks.

Does anyone know the company that provided the PayMate service for the DCU?

                                                                 _Mike

    The sales telephone number is 800-882-5280.
    
    Their technical hotline is 614-899-7500.
    
    They use Compuserve as their transport mechanism, so there might be a
    Compuserve option that you can use.