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Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

Neither here nor there.

If you fall, it's easy for you to get up and get going. If you fall between two stools, things become complicated. You may hit your head against a stool (or even both); the space between the stools may be enough for you to fall down, but not enough to get up; sometimes it may become difficult to get up without assistance. the problems can get complicated. The same applies when you make online payments. It is okay if there are only two parties involved when you make the payment - the credit card/online bank and the service to which you are making a payment. But if there is a third entity, mostly the intermediary, things could get tough. For example, if you are making an online payment from a telecom service provider's portal, it connects to your bank through a payment service. The payment executed from your bank goes via the payment service to the telecom company.

If your payment from the bank is executed, and then something goes wrong before the payment reaches the telecom company, your account will show the amount as debited, but the money will not reach the telecom company. It will most probably lie between the "two stools" - at the payment service company. The telecom company will say it hasn't received the month's payment, while the bank will quote the transaction ID and say the payment is successful. What do you do now? Contact the payment service? You cannot, because in most cases, you will not be even aware that there exists a third party. Even if you are aware, you won't be able to contact the payment service directly as you are not a direct customer.

What is worse is that the customer service guys of the telecom company won't be aware of these complications and you will have a tough time explaining it. All they will be able to say is, "No sir, we haven't received the payment. Please contact your bank." It depends on how well you are able to explain the scenario to the customer service guy. It is easier to write a detailed e-mail to the telecom company, and hope it doesn't fall between two stools.

R. DINAKARAN

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