Mobile Phone Bill
Submitted by iana on Wed, 2014-10-01 18:19
Just wondering if others when they receive their mobile phone bill, have a charge for "Non Direct Debit Surcharge", this sounds a bit suspect to me.
Its like if you go into a shop and buy using cash, and they add on a charge for not using your credit card.
Any thoughts on this?
tim-o
Posts: 4657
Date Joined: 24/05/11
Fark that
Get on to the Telecommunications Ombudsman
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
I seem to remember something
I seem to remember something in the press about this stuff recently. You may find that you have agreed to it in the pages and pages of the 'terms and conditions'.... didn't you get your lawyer to read them first????
Perhaps look up the dept of commerce website and do some searchest there. May have some explanation or assistance.
Fish! HARD!
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
id second tim-o go to the
id second tim-o go to the ombudsman , he will be your best help ever for free
last year we came back from Europe, Telstra sent me a bill for 12k , yeh right , you can imagine my reaction ,
anyway Telstra basically said eat sh!te as you must pay , contacted the ombudsman , .he put the complaint to Telstra, 7 days later they reduced to back to $350
they also tried to say the amount of the bill was calculated on what was written in the small print , blah blah blah ,
try him and see how you go
how much coin are you being hit for ?
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Telstra try on
I got a new mobile the other day from the local Telstra shop and then asked about a plan etc,
I was given three options pay through direct debit, my reply, no I don't trust you to get it right, which got me a strange look from the girl behind the counter.
Option two, we can send you an account via email and you can pay on line, my reply no thanks I'm not going to put any financial details on line I don't have absolute faith in internet security, again strange look from girl behind the counter.
Option three, we can send you a bill via the post but you will incur a two dollar surcharge, my reply are you serious are you bloody serious, no I'm not going to pay a two dollar surcharge for getting your bill and paying in legal Australian currency, get me the Telstra shop manager please.
Young man with the look of I'm going to sort this silly old fart out look on his face comes over and start to tell me that they are the only options available to paying a Telstra account.
Me in a raised voice, in the quite crowded shop don't give me such a load of crap (a lot of people stop talking and pretend to not paying any notice).
I then proceeded to tell him how Telstra have the most complaints lodged against them of all the telcos for mistakes on bills, blatant over charging, and failing to make good on under takings to it's customers.
Next thing another person (female) comes over asks what appears to be the problem, I cut the male person off as he was about to explain his version of what is wrong, she is the told how I see the situation and that I'm very "miffed" by the options put to me.
She then asks if I'm a senior and hold a seniors card, my responce yes I do. No problem then no surcharge applicable pay sent out bill at counter all's well.
Ashen
Posts: 1042
Date Joined: 22/03/13
An option if you don't want
An option if you don't want a Telco to automatically deduct funds from your bank account is to have it emailed to you. You can then pay via bpay or print it out and pay over the counter at aust post etc.
A fish in the hand is worth 10 in the water!
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
think about this
by law now we don't have 2 and 1 cent coins any more there is supposed to be rounding up or rounding down to the nearest 10 cents , what Telsta do is round up but not down and add the 1,2,3,4 cents that should have been rounded down to your next bill , think about that if they are doing it to 15 million customers its big big dollars they are scamming I have complained to the communication ombudsmen about it but its in the to hard basket for them
iana
Posts: 652
Date Joined: 21/09/09
Getting back to the origional point.
I have been reading on "Whirlpool" that quite a few customers have been upset by the charge for not having direct debit, or rather giving anyone access to your bank account.
Optus and AAPT do it and others probably will follow suit. Apparently thanks to the Government OK-ing it, it is a legal charge.
All of my banking and bill paying is via Bpay and have found it satisfactory. I am moving to paperless invoicing(which means instead of them printing the invoice, you have to print it out).
I think the phone companies must hate me, my bill has nearly doubled in the last 12 months as they find more ways to increase my charges. Its gone from $18 to now a whopping $32 ------ oh forgot to mention that's for two phones.
The plan or contract I am on was taken out just after bag phones came out, and I only pay for what I use. So I would think the phone companies would like me to drop that plan.