Brain Damaged Bureaucracy − 7 March, 2008
On February 15th, I finally got reimbursed for the business trip I took in Sicko back in the first week of December. I recovered $1,366. I carried that amount (plus another $70 I did not recover) on my personal credit card for over two months. While I waited, I could not pay without dipping into savings, which I was unwilling to do.
Why the delay? The University was closed for 7 business days over the holidays. Then, each little step in the reimbursement process took time. Justifying the unexpected $126 cab ride to the airport took more time than it was worth. Although I got reimbursed for it, most of the $126 was eaten up in bank fees and credit card interest.
Here are all the steps in the very tedious process:
1) I got my receipts in order. That took about an hour because of the exacting demands of my division’s travel reimbursement guidelines.
2) A few days later I had to submit additional paperwork because the cab receipt wasn’t up to snuff.
3) An administrator painstakingly pored over each receipt, annotated it, and stapled it to an 8 ½” x 11” piece of paper. This person also had to fill out an expense report.
4) Someone had to haggle with “the powers that be” over the cab ride to the airport.
5) An administrator had to sign-off once the claim was complete.
6) A mountain of paper had to reach the accounts office by campus mail. That can take days.
7) I had to plead with my administrators to pressure the accounts office to pay me mid-month rather than at the end of the month.
8) The accounts office had to process my claim.
9) A wire transfer from a University account had to be made to my bank account.
Based on a public record of University salaries of the people involved, I calculate that the reimbursement process cost the University somewhere between $230 and $360. That is between 17% and 26% of my total reimbursement.
In the meantime, I accrued $106 in bank charges and credit card interest in the desperate time during which I tried to find some way to pay a bill that wasn’t mine with money I didn’t have. In my desperation, my own mistakes caused the bank charges.
But why, indeed, did the trip expenses go onto my personal credit card in the first place? Because an administrator told me that I could not get a cash advance. I thought it was odd, because I’ve gotten cash advances in the past for business trips. Post-trip, the most veteran administrator told me that I should have gotten a cash advance. Whoever had told me otherwise was just plain wrong.
I wish that person were paying my credit card interest and bank fees!
Why the delay? The University was closed for 7 business days over the holidays. Then, each little step in the reimbursement process took time. Justifying the unexpected $126 cab ride to the airport took more time than it was worth. Although I got reimbursed for it, most of the $126 was eaten up in bank fees and credit card interest.
Here are all the steps in the very tedious process:
1) I got my receipts in order. That took about an hour because of the exacting demands of my division’s travel reimbursement guidelines.
2) A few days later I had to submit additional paperwork because the cab receipt wasn’t up to snuff.
3) An administrator painstakingly pored over each receipt, annotated it, and stapled it to an 8 ½” x 11” piece of paper. This person also had to fill out an expense report.
4) Someone had to haggle with “the powers that be” over the cab ride to the airport.
5) An administrator had to sign-off once the claim was complete.
6) A mountain of paper had to reach the accounts office by campus mail. That can take days.
7) I had to plead with my administrators to pressure the accounts office to pay me mid-month rather than at the end of the month.
8) The accounts office had to process my claim.
9) A wire transfer from a University account had to be made to my bank account.
Based on a public record of University salaries of the people involved, I calculate that the reimbursement process cost the University somewhere between $230 and $360. That is between 17% and 26% of my total reimbursement.
In the meantime, I accrued $106 in bank charges and credit card interest in the desperate time during which I tried to find some way to pay a bill that wasn’t mine with money I didn’t have. In my desperation, my own mistakes caused the bank charges.
But why, indeed, did the trip expenses go onto my personal credit card in the first place? Because an administrator told me that I could not get a cash advance. I thought it was odd, because I’ve gotten cash advances in the past for business trips. Post-trip, the most veteran administrator told me that I should have gotten a cash advance. Whoever had told me otherwise was just plain wrong.
I wish that person were paying my credit card interest and bank fees!
Comments:
intrepideddie (March 7, 2008. 04:19am)
Company I work for is much the same. Even with a "corporate card" for travel expenses, the card is still in *my* name and gets billed to *me*. I seem to have this problem every time I travel. It's not their dime, so they're in no rush to get the bills paid. Jackasses. Fortunately, I can call the credit card company and explain the "issue" and they have always waived any fees resulting from late payments.
peahayes (March 7, 2008. 12:58pm)
Wow, which credit card company do you use?
intrepideddie (March 7, 2008. 02:11pm)
The corporate card is Visa through US Bank. I'd be surprised if most card companies didn't offer the same leeway if you asked. If they don't, I'd look for another card company. They should be kissing your butt... not the other way around.
kga245 (March 8, 2008. 06:15pm)
its on purpose. Studies show that employees will spend less of the company's money if it has to come out of their pockets first. Its purely about cost savings even if in the end it ends up taking more time and resources to process the expense. Crazy, yes. That's what happens when the lefthand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
peahayes (March 8, 2008. 06:59pm)
One thing I forgot to mention in Sicko was that the per diem for L.A. was the same as it would have been for Podunk, USA, despite the fact that LA is quite expensive. I'd thought that the University allowed a higher per diem for expensive locations, but not my division. Also, others I talked to at the conference had more liberal per diem rules, such as no receipts required for expenses over a certain amount, or a blanket per diem, no questions asked.