The phone bill saga
So in the 2nd half of September I discovered that my mobile phone company was withdrawing money from my account that could not be linked to my subscription / invoices for my phone.
saga step 1: helpdesk "mobile" can only confirm me that I have a subscription for which I am supposed to pay my invoices. I only have 1 sim. They cannot check if I have other services from the firm or why this money would be taken away from my account (but I could also phone the "internet" help desk")
saga step 2: a written request to explain me the reason they've taken my money away , results in the swift reply: for your sim for phone number xxxxx (not mine) at name of Mrs Goofball.
A quick phone call to xxxx resulted in a nice conversation between 2 Goofballs. Apparently I had started paying her bill during the summer.
Saga step 3: phonecall to helpdesk "mobile" confirms that there seems to be something strange and they'll investigate. Surely they'll refund my money back asap. They'd phone me back.
Saga step 4: I get an sms telling me not to pay my own open invoice during the pending investigation
(not that I intended to do so, knowing they owed me twice as much money as I was owing them).
Saga step 5: I get an sms that the amount is credited and I should pay the rest amount
(so I wait, leaving my invoice open)
Saga step 6: I get an sms that my invoice is overdue
Saga step 7: after a couple of days I phone the helpdesk anyway to tell them to double check as I don't want any issues with my open unpaid invoice that I surely didn't pay while waiting for the credit note. They need some study time in my file and then tell me that when I got the step 5 sms, the amount was paid on my account. There would be no credit note balancing my invoice: I simply had to pay tmy invoice as the amount was on my bank account. Anyway, step 6 was automated, even if there was a file open on my number and they could not stop this type of warnings.
(I quickly checked on my mobile bank app and confirmed that 12 days later the money was NOT on my bank account). I was assured it'd appear any moment now, they have 2 payment runs a week and then it could take 2 days blah blah blah. At my request they'd make a note in file that my sim could not be blocked yet and that I wanted my money asap. But once again she told me to pay my invoice.
Saga step 8: after another 4 days of waiting and a discussion with Jan, I decide to pay my open invoice after all. After all I could then leave the next invoices open...in the mean time I had already plenty of proof that they owed me money and were working on it one way or other...just not in an effective way. I use their app to pay the outstanding amount which is much to my confusion all of a sudden a bit lower than the open invoice....
Saga step 9: a few days after having paid that undefined amount, I see my new invoice.
It has my subscription for the next month (ok), it has the full credit amount they owe me (yes!! ok) and ...it holds a fine for not paying my previous invoice in time(wtf!?). this all resulted in the weird outstanding amount that I had already paid that previous weekend.
So I phone the helpdesk again, explaining them all of the above, telling me them I am happy to see they credited the money that I had paid for someone else but due to step 4 and 5 I had not paid my invoice as instructed. Since all of this was their fault, I'd refuse to pay a fine for being late with my payment.
She understood completely but once again: the fine was an automated step by the systems that nobody could stop. So don't you worry, your next invoice will be credited with the amount of the fine that you've paid too much now. She had registered it, sent it on written confirmation while we were talking.
....so let's see if saga stops at step 10 with a correct invoice for my subscription - the fine I refuse to pay.
(and apart from that I'm a bit in shock that for a 1 week overdue bill they fine people with 60% of their monthly subscription value...wow, fast and out of proportion, don't you think?)
saga step 1: helpdesk "mobile" can only confirm me that I have a subscription for which I am supposed to pay my invoices. I only have 1 sim. They cannot check if I have other services from the firm or why this money would be taken away from my account (but I could also phone the "internet" help desk")
saga step 2: a written request to explain me the reason they've taken my money away , results in the swift reply: for your sim for phone number xxxxx (not mine) at name of Mrs Goofball.
A quick phone call to xxxx resulted in a nice conversation between 2 Goofballs. Apparently I had started paying her bill during the summer.
Saga step 3: phonecall to helpdesk "mobile" confirms that there seems to be something strange and they'll investigate. Surely they'll refund my money back asap. They'd phone me back.
Saga step 4: I get an sms telling me not to pay my own open invoice during the pending investigation
(not that I intended to do so, knowing they owed me twice as much money as I was owing them).
Saga step 5: I get an sms that the amount is credited and I should pay the rest amount
(so I wait, leaving my invoice open)
Saga step 6: I get an sms that my invoice is overdue
Saga step 7: after a couple of days I phone the helpdesk anyway to tell them to double check as I don't want any issues with my open unpaid invoice that I surely didn't pay while waiting for the credit note. They need some study time in my file and then tell me that when I got the step 5 sms, the amount was paid on my account. There would be no credit note balancing my invoice: I simply had to pay tmy invoice as the amount was on my bank account. Anyway, step 6 was automated, even if there was a file open on my number and they could not stop this type of warnings.
(I quickly checked on my mobile bank app and confirmed that 12 days later the money was NOT on my bank account). I was assured it'd appear any moment now, they have 2 payment runs a week and then it could take 2 days blah blah blah. At my request they'd make a note in file that my sim could not be blocked yet and that I wanted my money asap. But once again she told me to pay my invoice.
Saga step 8: after another 4 days of waiting and a discussion with Jan, I decide to pay my open invoice after all. After all I could then leave the next invoices open...in the mean time I had already plenty of proof that they owed me money and were working on it one way or other...just not in an effective way. I use their app to pay the outstanding amount which is much to my confusion all of a sudden a bit lower than the open invoice....
Saga step 9: a few days after having paid that undefined amount, I see my new invoice.
It has my subscription for the next month (ok), it has the full credit amount they owe me (yes!! ok) and ...it holds a fine for not paying my previous invoice in time(wtf!?). this all resulted in the weird outstanding amount that I had already paid that previous weekend.
So I phone the helpdesk again, explaining them all of the above, telling me them I am happy to see they credited the money that I had paid for someone else but due to step 4 and 5 I had not paid my invoice as instructed. Since all of this was their fault, I'd refuse to pay a fine for being late with my payment.
She understood completely but once again: the fine was an automated step by the systems that nobody could stop. So don't you worry, your next invoice will be credited with the amount of the fine that you've paid too much now. She had registered it, sent it on written confirmation while we were talking.
....so let's see if saga stops at step 10 with a correct invoice for my subscription - the fine I refuse to pay.
(and apart from that I'm a bit in shock that for a 1 week overdue bill they fine people with 60% of their monthly subscription value...wow, fast and out of proportion, don't you think?)
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