Should I ask for confirmation when making a payment to CA?

I would do this: call them, but don't start off the conversation by accusing them of anything. Ask them to look in the screen and find their notes from the last time they talked to you. When they say okay, ask them what the note says.

Hopefully the guy you talked to made a note that you gave him a phone-payment, and they will read that back to you. Then you can argue why it's not posted.

A lot of small companies are just too cheap to do online payments. It is easy to setup a website and might cost $50/month. But to do online payments they would need to integrate the website into their whole financial accounting system, and it could cost thousands of dollars.

Nowadays, most companies should have online payment system because it's so convenient for everybody. I don't have to sort through all the mails, write checks and stop by the post office anymore. But one thing I don't understand is that when I make payment, why can't they or their system generate confirmation number because if it's "I said, he said", I would lose in court because I have nothing to prove (unless I record that phone conversation) So what's purpose of accepting phone payment if they can't give you any confirmation/receipt/proof. For me, I think it's just a scam so they can have opportunity to sue you again or choke you some more

Let me ask, what is a confirmation # going to prove in court? It's still your word against theirs, that they even gave you a confirmation #. You would have to record the call just to show that they really gave you a confirmation #. It's really negligent, to me. What truly matters is what is posted to the account.

Usually when you make a phone payment, they 1) either use software to print a paper check, which they deposit; or 2) type in your account # and bank RTN and turn it into an ACH. End result is (except in your case) that they pull money from your account, and that is proof of the payment.

I will sound like a dick when I say this, but let me tell a story. When I run an ACH, it goes through my computers and the banks computers; neither of them give me a confirmation #. So one day, I had a lady insist that I give her a confirmation #. She wanted to know, like you, how she's assured I'll take the money. I said, quite frankly, "because I have better things to do than play jokes on my customers; and if we just spent 5 minutes setting up a payment, for me to throw it in the garbage, then I just wasted yours and my time." She had to think about it, but still wanted some # that didn't even exist. So I said "hold on, let me get to the confirmation screen." And I typed away on the keyboard so it would sound like I was typing something. Then I made up about a 24 digit number and asked her to read it back to me so we could make sure it was right. She was happy; I was happy (because I did get to play a joke), and that was that. Payment went through the next day, absent a real confirmation number.

EXCEPT, that our computers can print a receipt; and I did print a receipt and mail it to her to make up for my little faux pas.

I didn't see that far as you! Thanks for sharing your insight

I've just followed your advice, I checked my balance online and guess what: the money was really taken out from my account. Now I got really mad: what the heck that guy was talking about, one guy took the money from my account and the other guy said they never receive my payment. I will scream at them!