I don’t live in the city so when Telstra sends a 14 day invoice we tend to receive it about 12 days later (for some reason). They say we could have “electronic bills” but then I have to pay extra to print those out so I prefer the paper bills.
We they send the next bill and if we haven’t paid the previous one for some reason, the harassment starts. Phone calls from an unlisted number (I usually ignore unlisted numbers as they are often scams). If you do answer, a loud recorded voice tells you your account is overdue and gives you options… none of which allow you to speak with anyone.
They called 5 times on Tuesday, 8 times on Wednesday (I picked one of these ones up, heard what it was about and paid the account online) and then another 6 times on Thursday. If I did that to my customers I’d have none left.
Surely this must be considered harassment… even my most annoying customers don’t call me that often.
Telstra’s debt collection system sounds pretty special, but two honest questions. Have you discussed the delivery delays w/Telstra to see if you could get modified paper billing arrangements (maybe they could not because of inflexible IT systems or because they want to push everyone into e-billing); and considering you may have a valid reason to print your bills that costs about $0.06+/- a page, is that cost more than the aggro you routinely experience?
Back to the harassing calls, this might be a useful link for you.
Edit: Corrected wrong link
Yes… often and painfully.
Call me old fashioned but it the principle. Also, I get hundreds of emails a day and bills can be easily missed or junked. They have told me about their wonderful online system but I’m tired of trawling through company marketing sites to view my account details.
Thanks for the link… will check it out.
EDIT: Just checked that link… it’s US based so probably less useful.
Ooops. My bad. Apologies. Too many tabs open and not paying attention. I’ll fix up the prior link too.
That’s great, thanks.
That site says:
As a guide, if contact is necessary, it should be limited (unless you request or agree otherwise) to:
• a maximum of three phone calls or letters per week (or 10 per month)
So 19 calls over a few days would definitely be in the realm of excessive.
I’d say 19 auto calls a day is absolutely excessive, I’ve shared this story with my colleagues. This might be a bit much to ask, but if you could send me any call logs or otherwise a record of the auto-dialler calls that might prove useful. If you do sent it, community@choice.com.au is an email address I watch.
If any other readers have had similar problems with Telstra’s auto-dial debt recovery, make sure to leave a comment.
Do you really need to print these out?
We used to print out electronic bills, but now find it easier to save them electronically for future reference.
Most accountants will also accept electronic invoices on a storage media for tax purposes as well (some now actually prefer electronic copies as they save all client infornation electonically on their own computer system.
When we need ro refer to a bill, we just open up the electronic one.
The electronic invoice file sizes are also small as they are usually pdf documents.
We also usually pay using Bpay…and the electronic copy reduces risk of incorrectly entering payment details as these details can be cut and pasted direct from the electronic invoice.
Maybe asking for electronic invoices could resolve future headaches in relation to time taken to receive hardcopies by post.
The only thing to remember is to add the sender/details to any automatic spam filter so that they are not captured by such filters (spam filters allow esclusion settings to ensure that genuine emails are not captured by the filter). This is the case where the electronic invoices are emailed…and not available for download at the biller’s website.
Problem is they are always from an unknown number so there is no proof… the only reason I know it’s them is because: I’ve picked up and had my ear blasted; it’s gone through to answering service; or it’s diverted to my mobile and I’ve picked up and had my ear blasted.
Well it’s not a matter of life and death but I find it easier to organise my accounts that way… it’s a preference.
Have you considered paying your average invoice, when you know the bill is due, then when the invoice does arrive through the post, you will only have to worry about a few dollars you owe, or they will provide a credit of a few dollars?
With the new credit reporting coming into effect in May 2018, everyone who is late, even by a day, will end up with an unfavourable credit rating over time by not paying their bills on time.
Ok, just crawling out from under a rock obviously, but what new credit reporting? Do you have a link? Sorry, I must have missed this one completely and when I did a search I could only find information on the big banks new credit rules being implemented in July 2018. This one you’re talking about sounds like a massive smash in the face for consumers.
Here you go.
That statement is precious. Translated into reality it means if you are doing well in life you can do better, but if you had a blip, minor or especially major, good luck to you getting credit.
And you’ve got to love this statement from creditsmart.org.au. “It might sound a bit strange, but it can make it more difficult to borrow money or buy things on credit if you’ve never applied for credit before”
Strange? I would use the word “Coercion” or perhaps “Extortion”
Many years ago I had to buy a watch from a local jeweller on a payment plan to start a credit history in the US. A few months later the card offers started rolling in and never stopped.
Consider the potential plight of new migrants!
