Citibank had this offer to give a cash back of Rs.50 for paying utility bills through their online portal. Guess what... I took it up.
I decided to pay the BESCOM (electricity) bill online. This was my first time paying a utility bill online and was not so sure about the whole thing. This nervousness stems not because of my lack of trust in citibank but more from my lack of trust in the e-functioning of the government services. None the less, I took the risk and the payment from the citibank side was quite straightforward. I was surprised by the details they wanted, but that only made me believe that they would actually make the right payment. Now that money was out of my account, the onus was on me to ensure that it reached its destination.
After making the payment, Citibank had suggested that the payment will be made in 2 days. I waited exactly 2 days and called up Citibank (coz I was sure I would not get a decent person from BESCOM on the phone). Quite promptly and as expected, the Citibank call gave me no reply. They said the money is gone, we have sent the money, call up the vendor and find out. So, I reluctantly tried to get the BESCOM numbers from their site. They have all the numbers alrite, but no one picks those numbers! Anywayz, I remembered reading in the papers a while back about Bangalore One. I didn't know what it had or didn't have and gave it a shot. And by entering the same details I entered at Citibank, I got the details of how much money I had to pay for the month! Now, I was happy the site worked, but also psyched that my payment was not reflected!!
I resigned to the thought that an inevitable trip to the local BESCOM payment center is in the offing. Just for luck, I tried the Bangalore One site again today and guess what... the payment was made!! A day late... but it was made! I don't know what I am more happy about, the fact that the payment was made or that I am gonna make 50 bucks from citibank or that e-governance has actually arrived!
.... Duh! of course its the 50 bucks!!
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