AGL Gas & Electricity....minor rant

We have both gas and electricity with AGL.

A few weeks ago I get an SMS saying I owed ~$44 for the gas. A week later I get another one saying it's ~$55 and pay up or disconnect. So I paid the $55, and there has obviously been some late fee applied in the interim.

A week after that I get the Electricity bill via email (which, over 6 months, only took three online applications and one phone call to set up), and even after taking off the current bill we are still ~$80 in credit, and yet I get a late fee on the gas.

So a phone call to them this morning and they very kindly agreed to reverse the late payment fee, but not until after some extreme, yet fundamental logic had to be applied. "Luke, I bought apples from you one day and overpaid you, and the next day I bought oranges from you and underpaid you, but not by as much as you still had in credit for the apples....so you still have some of my money.......and you want to hit me with a late fee for the oranges? Are you serious??"

"Ah well they're two different accounts you see" he said triumphantly.

"They both have the same account number Luke. The enquiries phone number on the bills is the same for both. And you, that is Luke, can handle enquiries for both, can you not? I'm guessing by now that you can see where I'm coming from."

"arrr, (insert unintelligible strangled word sound here). Yes ok, I can reverse that late fee."

"Good. I suggest your computer has a look around at all the data available to it, before sending out such messages. Goodbye."



These large corporations think they can do as they please until you beg to differ, and even then they only correct it under sufferance. Makes me wonder just how much they get away with, that is never queried.

A bit like my experience with my gas provider. Who shall remain nameless.

For the last three quarters I have not received the actual bill by mail. However, I do get the overdue notice with the late fee slugged on it. Complain, fee reversed. Their response last time was, "Watch out for your next bill and let us know if you don't get it." So they want me to do their administrative work, which I pay them to do as part of the price I pay. Astounding. Buckpassing at its best. Of course I said no to their kind offer and let them know that I can invoice them for my time to monitor my account for them. Seems they didn't like my offer.

Cheers

Nows here's one I don't understand. Mate changed house and received a pamphlet from his new provider with the sweetener - if you pay by the due date, you get a 10% "discount".
Next bill arrives and indeed it has two amounts - one 10% less than the other which he pays. There is also a $3.50 "mailing out" charge attached. He rings up and asks to set up direct debit - not a problem BUT he can no longer get the 10% discount? Why - because the company cannot guarantee that the bank will clear the payment to by the due date!!!!????
But he says "I can ring you up the day before the bill is due and pay by credit card or debit card and still get the 10% " that is correct they say BUT, direct debit is different:?

Mate now has the account emailed and pays the day before hence getting 10% off and no $3.50 mailing bill.

We switched cable companies. We don't like to use a credit card for recurring charges. We wrote a check. The cable company installer pulls out a company smart phone, takes a picture of the check, does some wizardry, writes "VOID" across the face of the check and says you're paid / thank you.

About a week later the cable company calls and says "Your check bounced". I say, "No, it didn't bounce." After some nonsense the cable company says that the check was returned and that they charge a fee for returned checks.

I go to the bank and the branch VP says, "The check never reached the bank." He further says that the phone processing probably included the check number as part of the account number. Then he called the cable company and basically told them what they were going to do to resolve the issue.

The cable company then apologized to me over the phone.

I had problems with my internet and emails totalling 6 weeks just before and after Christmas. I was promised a credit on my Telstra account which did not happen.
Last week, I wrote a letter to the CEO, giving them 14 days to fix it or I was taking the matter to the Telecom Ombudsman.
This afternoon, I received a phone call from a very pleasant lady saying that she had been given the task of sorting it out. A confirmation email followed soon after.
The tone of the email suggested that backsides were going to be kicked.

Chesand beat me to it - for phones & Internet there is the Telco Ombudsman, some states have a separate power ombudsman's office, otherwise bother the relevant Minister's Office - often quicker but you can't get compensation for annoyance, only actual costs.

My father got the opposite. Was telling one electricity provider that he was not receiving bills. This went on for some time, but he is honest so kept reminding them every few months. About a 18 months later they cottoned on to it, try to send him a bill for 18 months. Turns out they can only back bill for 3 months, so he got over a year of free power!

I thought they could go you for 9 months so you have done well at only three