Time Warner Cable bill payment still questionable

Back in June, I blogged about a significant flaw in Time Warner Cable’s PayXpress bill payment system.

Three months later, nothing seems to have been fixed.

Long story short, if you make a one-time payment from your checking account, PayXpress confirms that “Your online payment has been made,” even though this is not necessarily true.

As Time Warner Cable’s Cathy Jacobs explained to me on June 30, PayXpress is not capable of executing bank drafts in real-time. In reality, the transaction is submitted to the bank later — perhaps a day or two later — meaning that any problem like a typo or an incorrect routing number would not be detected until that time.

For me, this meant an additional $30 return payment fee and a letter from Time Warner Cable threatening disconnection.

After I blogged about this issue, Ms. Jacobs telephoned me to discuss the matter, rescinded the fee, restored my account to good standing, and assured me that Time Warner Cable’s “messaging” about such transactions would be reviewed.

Today, I faithfully submitted my bill payment yet again, but nothing seems to have changed. As you see above, PayXpress still tells me, “Your online payment has been made. A confirmation message has been sent to your Email.”

Indeed, a “One-time Payment Received Notification” did appear in my inbox almost immediately, stating “We have received and are processing your one-time payment of $111.24.”

This, despite Ms. Jacobs telling me that PayXpress has no way of determining whether a payment has actually been made or not.

Any self-respecting Web developer would have at least corrected these misleading messages by now — or possibly found a better payment handler.