Sallie Mae takes their payment website offline and then charges fees to pay by phone Wilkes-Barre, Nationwide
For the second time this year, Sallie Mae's payment website has been down when I attempt to pay. When I attempt to make a payment over the phone instead, they tell me I have to pay a $10 service fee, and that they can't waive it.
The last time this happened, I made my payment the first day the payment site became available again. Sallie Mae charged a late-fee. When I called customer service, they said they couldn't waive the fee and transferred me to the payment processing center. The payment processing center told me they couldn't waive the fee, and that I needed to go back to customer service, but that customer service wouldn't help me until the fee was paid.
I asked to speak with a supervisor, who verified that the website had in fact been down and that there WAS NO WAY FOR ME TO HAVE AVOIDED A FEE under the circumstances. (I had to get this out of him by him to problem-solve a way out of the fee loop- he couldn't do it). He again referred me back to payment processing, so I asked for the supervisor's number there. The man I was speaking to said he didn't have the supervisor's number. I asked him who DID have the number for the payment supervisor, and this manager told me HE DIDN'T KNOW. I asked him to refer me to someone who would know who would know, etc...
Ultimately, I got the name and number of an executive who was supposed to give me a call-back, and he never did. I gave up and paid the stupid fee.
Now it's happening a second time- exactly the same scenario.
Jennifer
New York, New York
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Dawniredskins
Centreville,Virginia,
U.S.A.
down systems
#2Consumer Suggestion
Tue, July 15, 2008
You know... maybe try to pay your bill two or three days earlier... that way, if SLM's system is down, you have a few extra days to take care of your payment, and just schedule the date for your payment to be the date you were going to pay it anyway (ie: if you were going to pay on Wed. 07.16.08, go to the system on Sun. 07.13.08 and schedule the payment for 07.16.08... or, if the system is down on Sun, that gives you 3 more days to try the system)...
SLM's payment website is not the only website that goes down when your payment is due... if you pay this online, I'm sure you pay many other bills online too... maybe some credit cards, maybe a car payment, etc... those sites go down all the time. I can't tell you how many times my credit card companies websites are down and I have to make a payment... I just schedule them ahead of time... that way, I never have to worry about being late. I learned that the hard way, just like you have... you shouldn't bad mouth Sallie Mae because you wait until the last minute on this one.
good luck!