....sat down to write out my bills and noticed that I did not get a billing statement this month from GMAC Smart Lease and I know the payment is due on the 30th of each month. So I called the 1-800 number and asked why I did not recieve one. I was told by the woman I spoke with that some statements went out this month and some didn't. I asked if they were having computer problems and she said it depended on who was doing the billing. I asked if they subcontracted this out and she said yes. I asked if it was Y2K related and she said she did not know. Good thing General Motors has all their Y2K issues worked out.....NOT! Interesting thing was they wanted me to verify my address and phone number???????? Usually, you are asked for a social security number or maiden name!

-- Vern (bacon17@ibm.net), October 27, 1999

Answers

I leased an Olds in August and so far all the monthly bills have been on time.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 27, 1999.

Might not necessarly be a y2k problem. I have received my statement on time.

They might however have different contractors to mail all their billing out. If a company had problems they would probably not announce it to the world WHY they had this problem.

I believe it's up to each call center what to use for verification. I have been asked about my address and telephone number. Other times they used my social or mothers maiden name.

-- STFrancis (STFrancis@heaven.com), October 27, 1999.

Yes - the data asked for to verify who you are varies from place to place.

Funny thing is: most of the time I don't recall 'writing" these fields in the original credit card application......

There have been many "odd" transactions I've found this year paying bills - interest refunds (for example) of a few decimals of a percent (almost verybody), missed bills (Chevron, Exxon, NAPA), double charges (Sears, Master Card), deleted charges that weren't actually ever charged in the first place, etc.

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Look very, very carefully at each statement from here on. Things are more likely to get even more interesting, but most especially after the first of the year.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), October 27, 1999.