In March, 1999, a man living in Kandos (near Mudgee in
NSW) received a bill for his as yet unused gas line stating
that he owed $0.00.
He ignored it and threw it away. In April he received
another bill and threw that one away too.
The following month the gas company sent him a very nasty note stating they
were going to cancel his gas line if he didn’t send them $0.00 by return
mail. He called them, talked to them, and they said it was a computer error
and they would take care of it.
The following month he decided that it was about time that he tried out the
troublesome gas line figuring that if there as usage on the account it would
put an end to this ridiculous predicament.
However, when he went to use the gas, it had been cut
off.
He called the gas company who apologised for the
computer error once again and said that they would take care of it. The next
day he got a bill for $0.00 stating that payment was now overdue.
Assuming that having spoken to them the previous day
the latest bill was yet another mistake, so he ignored it, trusting that the
company would be as good as their word and sort the problem out.
The next month he got a bill for $0.00. This bill also
stated that he had 10 days to pay his account or the company would have to
take steps to recover the debt.
Finally, giving in, he thought he would beat the company at their own game
and mailed them a cheque for $0.00. The computer duly processed his account
and returned a statement to the effect that he now owed the gas company
nothing at all.
A week later, the manager of the Mudgee branch of the
Westpac Banking Corporation called our hapless friend
and asked him what he was doing writing cheque for $0.00. After a lengthy
explanation the bank manager replied that the $0.00 cheque had caused their
cheque processing software to fail. The bank could therefore not process ANY
cheques they had received from ANY of
their customers that day because the cheque for $0.00 had caused the
computer to crash.
The following month the man received a letter from the
gas company claiming that his cheque has bounced and that he now owed them
$0.00 and unless he sent a cheque by return mail they would take immediate
steps to recover the debt. At this point, the man decided to file a debt
harassment claim against the gas company.
It took him nearly 2 hours to convince the clerks at
the local courthouse that he was not joking. They subsequently assisted him
in the drafting of statements which were considered substantive evidence of
the aggravation and difficulties he had been forced to endure during this
debacle.
The matter was heard in the Magistrate’s Court in Mudgee and the outcome was
this:
The gas company was ordered to:
(1) Immediately rectify their computerised accounts
system or show cause, within 10 days, why the matter should not be referred
to a higher court for consideration under company Law.
(2) Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by the man.
(3) Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by all the
Westpac clients whose cheques had been bounced on the day our friend’s had
been.
(4) Pay the claimant’s court costs; and
(5) Pay the claimant a total of $1500 per month for
the 5 month period March to July inclusive as compensation for the
aggravation they had caused their client to suffer.
And all this over $0.00.
This story can also be viewed on the ABC website.
both very good.
