Hammond water online payments

When I received my latest bill from the Hammond Water dept., I was pleased to see that they were finally offering an online payment option. This is great, one less check to write and one less stamp to buy. Then, when I went to pay the bill, I saw that the water dept was going to assess me a $2.50 service charge to pay bills online.
I think this is a very poor decision by the Hammond Water Dept. Online bill pay is something that reduces costs and provides better customer service to the customers. They should not be discouraging us to switch to online bill payment by assessing a penalty for doing so.
Credit Card Payments carry a flat $2.50 technology fee for check / debit or credit card payments that will be charged as a separate amount on your statement. You will be redirected to a secure Web site where your payment will be processed.

sparks wrote:

When I received my latest bill from the Hammond Water dept., I was pleased to see that they were finally offering an online payment option. This is great, one less check to write and one less stamp to buy. Then, when I went to pay the bill, I saw that the water dept was going to assess me a $2.50 service charge to pay bills online.
I think this is a very poor decision by the Hammond Water Dept. Online bill pay is something that reduces costs and provides better customer service to the customers. They should not be discouraging us to switch to online bill payment by assessing a penalty for doing so.
Credit Card Payments carry a flat $2.50 technology fee for check / debit or credit card payments that will be charged as a separate amount on your statement. You will be redirected to a secure Web site where your payment will be processed.

Its no different then what Nipsco does as well

Some companies have the payment processed through them themselves, while others outsource to another company

Honestly, I pay the fee instead of having to mail a check and stamp or going out and paying it in person.

I can't remember the last time I even bought stamps

mike3775 wrote:

sparks wrote:

When I received my latest bill from the Hammond Water dept., I was pleased to see that they were finally offering an online payment option. This is great, one less check to write and one less stamp to buy. Then, when I went to pay the bill, I saw that the water dept was going to assess me a $2.50 service charge to pay bills online.
I think this is a very poor decision by the Hammond Water Dept. Online bill pay is something that reduces costs and provides better customer service to the customers. They should not be discouraging us to switch to online bill payment by assessing a penalty for doing so.
Credit Card Payments carry a flat $2.50 technology fee for check / debit or credit card payments that will be charged as a separate amount on your statement. You will be redirected to a secure Web site where your payment will be processed.

Its no different then what Nipsco does as well

Some companies have the payment processed through them themselves, while others outsource to another company

Honestly, I pay the fee instead of having to mail a check and stamp or going out and paying it in person.

I can't remember the last time I even bought stamps

Nipsco doesn't charge a fee to pay a bill online if you pay directly to them with an electronic check. If you pay through their third party provider,EDS, you do pay a fee. Many companies, including Nipsco also offer paperless billing. This saves the company the cost of mailing out bills and is better for the environment.

sparks wrote:

When I received my latest bill from the Hammond Water dept., I was pleased to see that they were finally offering an online payment option. This is great, one less check to write and one less stamp to buy. Then, when I went to pay the bill, I saw that the water dept was going to assess me a $2.50 service charge to pay bills online.
I think this is a very poor decision by the Hammond Water Dept. Online bill pay is something that reduces costs and provides better customer service to the customers. They should not be discouraging us to switch to online bill payment by assessing a penalty for doing so.
Credit Card Payments carry a flat $2.50 technology fee for check / debit or credit card payments that will be charged as a separate amount on your statement. You will be redirected to a secure Web site where your payment will be processed.

its unfortunate but a neccesity. as the sight states this is because of the fees charged by the online company that processes the payments. the fees are the same when trying to pay county tickes and fees through the clerks office as well.

to not charge that fee would in effect be giving on line payers a discount, which obviously is not allowed.

the oracle wrote:

sparks wrote:

When I received my latest bill from the Hammond Water dept., I was pleased to see that they were finally offering an online payment option. This is great, one less check to write and one less stamp to buy. Then, when I went to pay the bill, I saw that the water dept was going to assess me a $2.50 service charge to pay bills online.
I think this is a very poor decision by the Hammond Water Dept. Online bill pay is something that reduces costs and provides better customer service to the customers. They should not be discouraging us to switch to online bill payment by assessing a penalty for doing so.
Credit Card Payments carry a flat $2.50 technology fee for check / debit or credit card payments that will be charged as a separate amount on your statement. You will be redirected to a secure Web site where your payment will be processed.

its unfortunate but a neccesity. as the sight states this is because of the fees charged by the online company that processes the payments. the fees are the same when trying to pay county tickes and fees through the clerks office as well.

to not charge that fee would in effect be giving on line payers a discount, which obviously is not allowed.

That's one way to look at it. However, there is a cost to have employees accept checks, enter payments in the computer, go to the bank,etc. Has the water dept. studied how much it costs per transaction to manually handle checks and cash? I would bet they spend more than $2.50 per transaction, once postage and stationary is added in. If that is the case, it makes more sense to waive the fees and reduce manpower as online bill pay catches on. If you add up the total cost for each employee, including health insurance, social security and pension liability,employees are far more costly than computers. There is also a significant savings to implementing paperless bills for customers who want them.

Oracle, we've three houses in Indiana, all three bills are automatically deducted from checking accounts, with no fees.

With things the way they are, if the city of Hammond is that hard up, that they can't connect to your automatic deduction in the checking account without going through a third party, it's time to get rid of the employees, a little bit, though. This day and age, we have utility bills deducted, loans, any bills, with no surcharge.

I don't understand your reasoning with having to outsource for a $2.50 fee. If I feel it's cheaper to have it automatically deducted, have the money in place, the only reason they outsource it, is because if everyone did it, we wouldn't need half the employees at the Water Dept.

We did all our bills like that for years and got rewarded with no penalties, vs. being penalized for automatic payment. Get with it, Hammond!

I have to add to this: we've paid three Nipsco bills with no charge, deducted from bank accounts. The water bills, I've had to pay in person, or we had to mail them. That's a pain in the a-hole with three properties...not only that, but a business besides the homes, in Indiana. If Hammond wanted to make money, make it easier than the old days of walking in, and hiring people to stand there, then, they can train their employees to keep up with the times. I won't pay the service charge of saving the water department money and time. And, Timely Payments - why penalize people who have the drive to be on time, vs. the ones who let their bills pile up and ask for help or get cut off?

I know, the ones that are willing to pay, pay for those willing not to pay on time.

I refuse to ever give any company free access to my bank account to pay a bill.

I want to review my bill prior to any transaction taking place.

Mike, I am in the process of doing all the bookkeeping for the year. We've two houses in Hammond; one is now a rental. The other home is in Bass Lake, inherited from Grammaw. The businesses, is one is the Campground in Bass Lake, and the combine all that, I'm not traveling here and there to gather bills, and my ex is on top of everything. He knows what goes out and what comes in. He's not stupid.

But, for the conenvience of things, since we're not all at the same place at the same time, we focus on a secured account, that you can't possibly screw us on. It's monitored, and secured. Not on this computer, but others.

I can tell you from doing the bookkeeping, I know my prices, I know what bill belongs where, and it's done automatically through a secure account.

However, when it came to the Hammond water bill, a damn trip there, would make me mad. Even though it is close, I just keep thinking of old times where you and your parents made a trip on a Saturday to the electric place, the gas place, the water place when your dad got paid. That's obsolete today. It's ridiculous to even charge someone for paying what money it takes to keep a department going...vs hire a bunch of people telling you, they are on the phone, go to the next one, which is busy with another one, then ending up at the window after you've resolved a situation. It's stupid. It's out-dated, and to be charged for paying on time, ...it's so outdated, it makes me laugh.

I know of no one that doesn't pay on-line. No one. Even if they were rich, had a kid that downloaded something, the bank notifies you. Which takes me to my present situation: in this case, it helped. I got a fraud notice on my credit...makes me steps closer to the thieves that broke in my house. What is gone, is gone...but I'll make the cops look look silly when I'm done. There isn't anything else they could do to me but the best thing: try using my credit. I got that straightened out real quick.

Charging $2.50 for paying on time? Get real.

I pay it online URright, BUT I ONLY PAY AFTER I SEE A COPY OF THE BILL ONLINE

I have had Nipsco try to overcharge me before, where the math did not line up with the info they provided on the bill. If I had auto bill pay, I would have paid $73 more than I had to, and guess what, if I had just had auto bill pay, it would have been paid and I may not have noticed it untiol it was to late to correct it.

I have had Comcast try to double bill me for PPV's before. Again, if I had auto bill pay, I would have paid more than I should have.

That is exactly why I review the bill first, then pay, because otherwise they can do what they want, and some people are stupid enough to never look at the bill, and just allow it to be taken from the account(like my grandma who had overpaid for natural gas in Lafayette for 10 months before I noticed it last year). and funny thing is, it took 4 months to get the $236 she was owed back, because they refused to even say that she was overcharged, even though her own bills showed it, and they tried the excuse of "it took to long to notice" crap

Mikey...I just read your response. We monitor all the bills, and pay them online - almost everyone after reviewing them.

The only one we never paid on line and got screwed on, was the house my son got...the meter was broken before he bought the house, and he was charged for it. We tried to fight it, but gave up. The water bill is still the idiot of all that I refuse to pay online for. The rest...4 different Nipsco bills, I monitor the useage, I know what to expect, and it is automatically deducted.

We've ran into problems with Nipsco, but since we had bank records, and prior billings, I know my shitz.

I don't give away the automatic deduction without analyzing, and observing. Believe me, they know my name. I am a witch when and if they try to screw me. I do the bookeeping better than they do at Nipsco. Or, any place. I have my eyes on the books every month. I know what goes out electrical and heating.

I put up a shitz fit with the water department...they owe me, I don't owe them. Which is why they need to get rid of some people and get updated.

I think I missed your point. I don't have automatic deduction except for Nipsco. We pay online as bills come in and with the water department, my pass problems, we gave in and moved on.

The bills we pay, outside of Nipsco, is paid directly on-line, after we observe them.

As I mentioned, we did have a problem with a broken meter which was broken before my son bought a house in Hammond elsewhere, and we tried to fight it...and yet, they made us pay for it. (HIM). They were to remove that meter because it was a vacant house long before he took it over, but fighting them was useless. His father knew his rights, but you can't argue with the ignorant. Because his father knew his rights, and got kinda mad about it, they wouldn't budge. So they just paid it, to move on.

The person who sold the house was responsible. The city was resonsible for removing that broken meter and inspecting it before it was purchased by my son. My son got stuck with the bill. That's how it is in Hammond. Plus, he had to pay for a new meter.

Why didn't an inspector inspect that meter when the fomer tenant moved out? It was owned by a landlord, and it was a piece of shitz for a house. He made it nice, and still had to pay for a new meter after he bought the house. My logic is, the house shouldn't have been put up for sale, until they made that old landlord fix the meter. The Hammond Water department said it was his fault that he wasn't there when they went to replace the meter. Why wasn't the meter replaced and inspected before the house was bought by HIM? You see, they work their way around shitz, and the person who wants to make things better gets bonged over the head for the things they should have made the FORMER owner correct before it was put up for sale. We need 100 clones of Voter.

Backtrack...Im tired. I won't pay online with the water dept., wth a surcharge. I will never, ever pay a bill online that requires a surcharge that HIGH.

I'll lick an envelope before giving them a convenience charge. If it's so convenient, get rid of your employees and give us a break. That's the only account I would welcome if they would allow it witout a surcharge. Otherwise, they can stick it. My ex has the same bank account since the '70s, any problems, he calls. So, I'm not worried about being corrected when I have an objection.


I've learned you can't give out an automatic deduction with certain utilities. I learned that before the era of computers, via checkbooks.