Over pay utilities then request refund, rinse repeat?
 

Hmm.. my water company charges $1.95 per fee per $1000 charged... looks like i can request refund straight from website..

Has anyone over pay utilities and then requested refund?

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...62fbf30d5b.jpg

How many people do you think have tried that gambit on a utility company???

What they will do is give you a credit for your upcoming utility bills and hang onto the money.

If you become insistent on being reimbursed, they may just send you a utility company cash card if they have it, or another type of gift card.

But, what the heck, give it a try and let us all know how it went. You can be the first DP on this thread ;)

True and I agree with you. But did you see the link to automatically request a refund on the screen shot?

One click and they say they are processing a refund. Fingers crossed.

If good MS practice is to never do MS with your main bank, why would you mess around with your utilities?

You can do it once or twice - especially if you need a one-off to hit a spend target - but it's not scalable or something you should do regularly.

Like they're going to come down and shut off your water because you "accidentally" overpaid your bill too many times?
If this works on anyone's electric or gas bill its definitely a go because you can just switch operators if they get pissed.

You are missing the point, the other posters are just pointing out that this is neither a sustainable or scaleable form of MS. Way too much to go wrong. What you going to do, pay $5k on a $500 utility bill each month ?
There are easier ways of MS'ing

Surely they'll process the refund to the original method of payment?

Curious how this turns out, OP may be onto something big. It will depend on how updated their backend systems are.

I know of someone that for years kept his analog gas meter flipped around for ~20 days out of every month and when the meter guy came he would just input the number into the system, and the system would process it as if it were a mistaken reading the month before, because this month is a lower number than last month, and the system issues a check to "refund the difference." This happened every month, they were literally paying him for using their gas, and the system never picked up that the numbers on that account's meter never went up and just kept going further and further down, and the system just kept issuing him checks instead of bills.

Just trying to prove a point that just because something shouldn't work, doesn't mean it won't work. You have no idea how long its been since they updated their backend system, if ever. (Even if they have a nice modern looking website to pay your bills and view your account, that's just a front end it still might be tied into a backend system from the 1900's.)

@fatlard please keep us posted what happens.

It has been a couple days later.
I do not think they will close my account. Not sure if they legally can. Here are the rules for overpayment for my state.
https://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar...00G01100R.html

My account is now zeroed out. I will have to monitor when the check comes. I will put $1000 next time and request a refund next time.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d4e569aa73.jpg

You're paying the utility directly with a credit card? And then requesting a refund and getting a cheque?

deleted

Just read thru it says that they must issue direct refund, sounds like it needs to be a check. Pretty cool if this works.
Is there a limit how much you can pay at a time on a credit card?

It is $1000 at a time.

Not sure what game you're playing at Mr 46 posts ... but welcome to Flyertalk!

There's nothing in the thread above about how he's paying the utility. One presumes given the forum that ultimately the money is coming from a credit card. But it would be relevant if it's one of the various payment processors that allows you to pay bills that don't directly take credit cards.

And there's nothing in the thread explaining why he's expecting a cheque the document linked just says "direct refund" which could just as easily be "to original payment method" like refunds normally are. Is he just assuming or has he actually been told to expect a cheque? Moreover there's even text saying there can be specific billing programs exempted from refunds which could perhaps include any credit payments.

Fwiw I would expect if they do issue cheque refunds and he did this more than a few times he would be informed they would no longer be accepting credit card payments on this account.

A couple of years ago I needed a quick $5K spend, so I paid my solar provider $5K on a bill that is $92 a month. But I haven't messed with it; I'm just letting the balance run off.