Paying bills online is super convenient, but sometimes it's almost too easy.
A Corinth family made a nearly $2,500 mistake and, when they couldn't get it fixed, they called NBC5 Responds for help and got action.
Stepan Perfilev was sitting at his computer paying bills when it happened.
"I accidentally clicked and overpaid them by almost $2,500," he said.
Stepan called immediately and was told the payment would have to be processed before it could be refunded.
"They told me, give us three days in the system," he said. "I waited three days. I called them, went through millions of prompts getting all the right departments and finally get them on the phone and the policy is 21 days."
21 days before the Perfilevs could get their money. That's when Tamara Perfilev started calling.
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"You know it was our mistake, so we were willing to wait it out," she said. "And then the 21 days elapsed. Nothing."
When three weeks turned into six weeks, Tamara was beyond frustrated.
"I was just fed up," says Tamara. "I wasn't getting anywhere and I was getting different stories from a whole chain of people that I spoke to."
That's when she called NBC5 Responds. The Perfilevs received a call two days later.
"Maybe two days elapsed," says Tamara. "Yeah, it was amazing."
"I received a phone call from a real person with real phone number in Houston who said, 'I'm going to be handling this problem from now on,'" Stepan said. "A day later, they sent me a handwritten check."
So if you ever have a consumer problem, Tamara, "Definitely call you guys."
For its part, Cirro Energy says:
"Thank-you again for contacting us while we were working through this matter, and we sincerely apologize to Mrs. Perfilev for the delay in her refund. While reviewing Mrs. Perfilev's account, we learned that we indeed started the check refund process when she first contacted us in December. However, the high dollar amount triggered a separate review. We should have processed the refund much sooner. We have contacted Mrs. Perfilev to inform her that a check for the full refund has been issued, have couriered the payment to her home address and are reviewing our own process to see where improvements can be made."
This is a common mistake. The Perfilevs did the right thing.The first step is to contact who you're paying and ask them to reverse the payment. Failing that, contact your bank and try to stop the payment. Document everything. If all else fails, call NBC5 Responds. So far, we've gotten $16,409.10 back to consumers just like you.
