Impossible to Change Primary Account Holder to Bill Payer - Now No Refund?

This should be such a simple fix - refund the credit.  That is what the Clark County Water Reclamation did.  I sent them a letter explaining that although he name on the bill is different,  I paid the bills and I asked to be refunded. They asked me to provide a  payment history report from my bank .... and when I did - they sent me the refund check.  Why is this so difficult?

And seriously,  what am I to do now?  Cox has doubled down - the refund check can only be sent to the primary at the address on file, per policy.  Forget the facts, thats the policy.  So what is policy when the check comes back as undeliverable?  Can I get my money back then?

I have the equipment and want to return it so that I can get on with my life.  WHAT AM I TO DO? Lets remember this equipment is in the homeless guys name right?  So bill him then.

You unjustly keep my hard earned $200 and I'll bitterly throw your 4 boxes in the trash.   What an idiotic  way to do business. 

Hey - here's a novel idea . . . HOW ABOUT LETTING ME RETURN THIS EQUIPMENT TO YOU - AND HOW ABOUT YOU RETURNING MY MONEY TO ME?

Have you consulted your bank about returning the payment? Assuming it was done as an ACH (Electronic Debit to your account), you should have rights to sending it back. There are a number of return codes. I would have your bank send it back as a R-07 which is Authorization Revoked by Customer. What will happen is cox will get it charged back to them and then they can track down the primary account holder.

Kusig you are my hero!  Thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge - I so appreciate it.  I am a tiny bit worried that the payment was processed over 3 months ago . . . but I certainly have proof that I have been trying to resolve this directly with the merchant the whole time  . . . right?  Anyway I am giving it my best shot Monday morning.  I really can't thank you enough!  

And allow me to post Cox's customer service thread (and I use that term lightly).  This is possibly the worst treatment of a really good customer I have ever experienced:

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Thank you for contacting Cox Communications. Cox is committed to

providing the best customer service possible.

The account holder used his social security number to establish this

account. Although your name is listed as an authorized user, this only

provides you access to obtain information about the account or make any

changes to the services. Had this account gone unpaid, you would not be

held financially responsible and any outstanding balance would go on the

account holder's credit report.

Once the account is closed, the credit balance would be refunded in the

form of a check and only issued in Duane's name. If this money is yours

then it is between Duane and yourself to resolve that matter.

To keep your cox.net email address, all Cox equipment would need to be

returned to our office in order to have the account closed. Since your

email address is not the primary email account, we would need to delete

the email address from our server (this will cause you to lose all saved

emails & contacts) and then the new Cox Internet account holder would

need to authorize the addition of this email address. If your name is

listed on the new account as well, authorization from the new account

holder will not be necessary.

To avoid this issue in the future, we recommend establishing Cox High

Speed Internet service in your name as this will ensure you have full

authority over your email address and complete financial responsibility.

I hope that we have been able to provide you with the information

requested. If we can be of any additional service to you, please do not

hesitate to contact Cox Communications again.

Dear XXXXXX,

Thank you for your response.

Anyone can submit payment on a customer's behalf. Since this account is

in his name, the refund is legally his and there is no way for us to

verify if he was reimbursing you for the payments coming out of your

bank account. You are correct, name changes will only be processed under

the mentioned circumstances; however, notarized Account Release/Account

Assumptions forms can be submitted by both parties in order to have a

new account established in your name and have any equipment/balance

transferred over.

If this documentation cannot be provided and the refund check is

returned undeliverable, it will remain as a credit on the closed account

and reported under his social security number as unclaimed property with

the Nevada Treasurer.

Thank you,

See what your bank can do. I know the ACH rules for sending most unauthorized or authorization revoked transactions is only 60 days. I can't stress enough that when customers have a problem they should notify their bank immediately to not miss valuable windows. Hope for the best. Let us know how it turns out.

I live in Baton Rouge and have bill and address in MY name but another person pays the bill. Set up 2nd internet account for payments to any one including COX. I have been a Cox cable cust. for25+yrs and internet since inception. Took me a looong time to find the person to tell me what to do.

Again, cable and internet was paid by me for yrs. Recently had to switch my Moms cable bill for her to pay after paying hers along with mine for years. Took me months to get a Cox tech with the SMARTS to get the job done. Open secondary internet [no charge] under your name to pay bills.[She pays by M/C] Hope this helps

PS--Write to better BBB if this is not resolved--Cox get doesn't care a lot of times!!!!