US Bank's Pay-a-Person, Follow-Up

Here is the not at all helpful response I received from notifying US Bank of the sad tail described here.   They have completely missed the fact that their business partner's website is non-function in at least one popular web browser, that US Bank's website issued a beta software worthy server-side error, probably forwarded from ZashPay, and also that the transaction itself is in limbo, so far.

From: usbank@usbank.com 
To: Me 
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:29:12 -0700 
Subject: usbank:dm: Chimp 

Dear You,

Thank you for allowing us to assist you through U.S. Bank's email services.

I am sorry to hear of the problems experienced by this issue.  Please have the recipient check their browser settings below to see if this will clear up the problem for them:

*  Clear Cookies/Temporary Internet Files by selecting the wrench icon located in the top right hand corner of the browser window.
*  Select Tools followed by Clear Browsing Data.
*  Make sure the options displayed below are checked and click Clear browsing data:
        Clear browsing history
        Clear download history
        Empty the cache
        Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data

*  Select the wrench icon located in the upper right hand corner of the browser.
*  Select Tools followed by Options.
*  On the left hand side of the window, select Under the Hood.
*  Click Content Settings.
*  Ensure that the settings allow Cookies, Images and JavaScript.

If they need immediate assistance with accessing Zashpay's services, they can also contact Zashpay's Customer Service at 877-898-5343.  They are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We appreciate your business.  Thank you for choosing U.S. Bank.

Sincerely,

David Myers
Email Operations
U.S. Bank 24-Hour Banking and Financial  Sales

Update: The next morning the mystery transaction had been applied to my checking account.  This means one of two things.

1)The money was sent to an email address other that my address of record with US Bank (both are correct, but the payer used an address not known to US Bank).  But I got the money by entering the address the sender had used in to US Bank's site.  So, in order to capture a payment, you just need the transaction number. The email address does not have to match.  That's not much security given that the email address and transaction number are sent in a plain text email.  

2) Either that or someone manually fixed this specific transaction.  

Either way, I don't think this service is fully cooked, and the sloppy website at ZashPay does not fill one with confidence.  

US Bank's Pay-a-Person

US Bank has a new-ish service called "Pay-a-Person".  Using this service, a US Bank customer can transfer money to another US Bank customer without any fees or extra charges.

Leaving aside the ridiculous name, this sounds great, right?

...Right...  ...

Well I finally had the opportunity to give this service a try.  Someone send me money using 
Pay-a-Person.

When someone pays you with this service, you receive an email, sent to the address entered by the payer.  The email contains a transaction number and directions to go to the website "ZashPay.com/claim".

By the way, that is just how it appears in the email.  

ZashPay.com/claim

It doesn't say "http://" and it's not a link, it's just bold.

So anyway, I loaded up the ZashPay website, and what greeted me was my first hint that this would not be going well.

This is the ZashPay website in the current version of the Chrome browser.  There are two text entry areas, but the first one is locked, you can't type in it.  The button doesn't work.  And you can only enter some limited number of characters in the second text area.

But my personal favorite on this page are the tiny bits of a couple characters up in the upper right corner.  That's a nice touch.

Note to the chimps at ZashPay...

Dear Chimps at ZashPay,
This is 2012.  It is not 2000.  It is also not 2001, nor 2002.  Nor is it 1999.  If your web developer says it's hard to create something that work in any remotely contemporary browser, get a different team.  Hint: tell them to use HTML.  It works quite well.
Sincerely, Chimp

So I loaded up the ZashPay website in Firefox.  This worked.  I entered my email address and the transaction number from the email.  I then was presented with three choices; 1) sign in with an existing account, 2) create a new account, which requires my bank routing and account numbers, or an option specifying that I am a using with my financial institution.

Well option one was out clearly.  Option two is a possibility, but I do not have a blank check with me (did I mention it is 2012?  Yes?  OK, good, just "checking").  Option three seems right, so I checked that one.

ZashPay then presented me with a simple message stating that I should go to the website of my financial institution.  Fair enough, ZashPay, fair enough...

Next stop, US Bank's website, which actually has a pretty good track record.  I use it quite a lot.  Sure enough in the Bill Pay section, I find a Pay-a-Person link that allows for claiming money.  So far so good, except for the silly name for this service.  Why does it even need a name?  Seriously?

I was presented with a nicely formatted dialog allowing me to enter the email address the payment was sent to, and the transaction number.  On enthusiasticly clicking the attractively, but tastfully, colored button, I was presented with this:

Reference Id: ls18*2012-09-24-10:58:41:361*Thread:32-418530

Please try again later.

Awesome!!!

Update: See the a following on this still unfolding tale here.