Glitches mar BESCOM online bill payment
Even though BESCOM is spending hundreds of crores on IT infrastructure, technical glitches in the bill payment continue to haunt consumers
BENGALURU: Even though BESCOM is spending hundreds of crores on IT infrastructure, technical glitches in the bill payment continue to haunt consumers. Thousands of electricity consumers who had April15 as the last date to pay BESCOM bills are finding it difficult to pay their bills online and are forced to visit a Bangalore One center and stand in a long queue in front of the local BESCOM offices.
Reason: Since the past week consumers are receiving the error message saying ‘The application has encountered some problem. Please wait for some time and try again. If the problem persists please inform customer care.’ https://www.bescom.co.in/SCP/Myhome.aspx.
According to consumers who are now visiting the Bangalore One centers, they are unable to pay bills online for unknown reasons and the problem continues. Till Friday morning the problems continued. A few consumers were able to make online payments by Friday evening. However long queues were found in the BESCOM and the Bangalore One centers.
“Generally I pay my bill on the last date (15th of the month) through the BESCOM website. But this month, even though I have been trying to pay my bill online since Monday, I have not been successful. Every time I receive an error message,” said Ms. Sulochana Mayya, a software professional from Malleshwaram.
“There are two types of online payments. ‘Registered payee’ and ‘direct payment’ (by entering the account number). Many of my friends too had the same complaint. Even though many lodged complaints with customer care the common suggestion they got was to pay in any of the Bangalore One centers or visit the nearest BESCOM office,” she said.
Many consumers say that it is not the first time that they are encountering such a problem.
“Online bill payment is always a big headache. Either we encounter a technical or a system problem. Several times, online payments are not reflected in the next bill. Why does the BESCOM not make the payment error free?” questions Mr. Mahadev Patil, a resident of Mahalakshmi Layout, who was forced to pay two days after the due date because of the problems.