Professional, my A$$

You have no idea how close I came in my previous post to asking if there was a heat mat underneath. I advise you to talk to your installer before he does the repair and ask what happens if the heat matt is destroyed during the repair. Making repairs over a heat mat makes things considerably more delicate. It depends on the type of mat and where/how it was installed, and how the installer intends to make the repair. I have a squawk box that I made from parts at Radio Shack. It's essentially a continuity tester. I clip it to the leads of the heat mat when I'm working. If at any time one of the wires is broken, the continuity of the circuit is interrupted and a buzzer sounds. He definitely needs something like that, and it needs to be used during the repair. Mongo

You made a mistake in selecting that payee. Most all bank billpay services have a "prebuilt" selection of common payees -- utility companies, credit card banks, department stores, and so forth. These typically are larger companies that take electronic transfers, and that serve a customer base across a national or regional area. You select one and enter only your customer account number from your bill. The local doctor's office, small-town water company or little local cable TV service, county electric cooperative, the local ambulance service that carried you to the ER, and other such payees are not likely to be listed. For payees that are not "preset" or already listed, there is also a function to "enter payee information" or whatever it may be called, whereby YOU enter the payee's information from the bill you have -- their name, complete postal address, along with your customer account number. That's what you apparently should have done with ComCast. If the payee is "foreign" to the bank's list of payees that accept electronic transfers, then the billpay system will print and mail a paper check. I've been using online billpay for several years, and I *never* use the service's preset payees. I *always* enter my payee information to make sure it goes to the correct place and company. You only have to do that once for each payee you set up ... once the info is entered, you have a personal list of payees from which to choose. Call CitiBank again, explain what happened. They *should* have a way to trace the payment. However, being that it was your mistake, they may enforce a fee to get it fixed ... or being CitiBank (from what I've heard) they may not be inclined to fix it at all.

Although I know the staff often has to wait for the cardco to pay, I often put the tip on the charge and I usually round off so the bill is an even dollar amount or at least on a half dollar. For instance if the bill was $10.50, I'd put $1.50 tip and make it $12 or $2 and $12.50 (or there's the rare time when it was so outstanding it warranted more) and that way it makes it easier as I skim the charge statement. I knew I was there and the amount looks right. I don't like to carry a lot of cash plus I get a cashback bonus on my CCs. I've often left a cash tip and just put a cancelled zero in the tip line. I wouldn't put a note that it was cash or whatever. If the service was horrible, they don't get a tip, or they get the penny tip. It's seldom that happens, but has. Keeping coins or adding to an executed charge statement is a theft. Will the police like to prosecute a 22¢ theft? No, but they should be called anyway. I wouldn't be above embarrassing the daylights out of a petty thief and a manager who won't take action on it. Not going back, if you like the place and food is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Stand up for yourself. I remember years ago a pancake house chain would add a tip automatically to the bill. I never liked that but I knew about it. If the service wasn't good, we'd REALLY make noise about it and would be expecting everything to be perfect if they expect to set the tip. If it's a chain policy that you think is shady, contact your attorney general and make a complaint. They do prosecute places that scam. "Bullying the manager about a corporate wide policy? Good luck with that." I do have to agree with that. Our store policy was The customer is NOT always right! That said, if it's a legitimate dealing, that's one thing, but if it's a theft, that's different. You need to have your facts in order before making accusations, or go in and ask questions. But as a former manager and one who tended the customers and tills too, I can say that bullying only makes the bully look like an idiot. So just a word of caution.