13 February 2012

Efficiency or Stupidity?

| Vix
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I know I’m having a whinge about a NSW govt agency, but I suspect other RIOTers would have had similar situations…

Just received an invoice from the LHPA…for 62c!!

Given postage is currently 60c this means that they are so efficient they can print (on letterhead), stuff it in an envelop (a cheap one!) and stuff the envelop in the post box…all for 2c!! Gosh, they must be super-efficient…or simply stupid!

It seems I can’t Bpay an amount of less than $1 – so I think I’ll pay the dollar and demand a refund for the overpayment – surely they’ll be able to effect that for 38c!

Anyone else received stupid invoices?

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housebound said :

sepi said :

We got a stern letter from Family Allowance saying that we may have been paid 1.11 in child care benefit in error and that legal action may be undertake to recover the funds…. we never heard anything further and as far as we knew we never got any child care benefit.

Our neighbours used to get three letters from Family Allowance every year – 1 saying they hadn’t been assessed yet, 2 saying they weren’t eligible because of their income, 3 saying how much money they would get. They usually arrived in the same week, and sometimes on the same day.

We get a barrage of letters from them too. Often on the same day. Some of them start off with ‘this letter replaces all previous advices from us’ – but how to tell which letter came last when they arrive in a big bundle. the system is insane. I don’t think even the staff know how it all works.

Felix the Cat7:43 pm 13 Feb 12

bigfeet said :

I would stick a dollar coin to the invoice and mail it back. Include a note saying that you would like the change donated to a registered charity (of their choice) but that for tax purposes, you would like a receipt for the account AND for the charity mailed back to you.

Isn’t it illegal to send cash money in the post?

Known_only_as_Jack6:37 pm 13 Feb 12

I closed one of my accounts with a credit union, with 1c balance. Sure enough the cheque arrived 2 weeks later.
On my next visit I asked them to cash it. They went from enthusiastic to bewildered in 2 seconds flat.

sepi said :

We got a stern letter from Family Allowance saying that we may have been paid 1.11 in child care benefit in error and that legal action may be undertake to recover the funds…. we never heard anything further and as far as we knew we never got any child care benefit.

Our neighbours used to get three letters from Family Allowance every year – 1 saying they hadn’t been assessed yet, 2 saying they weren’t eligible because of their income, 3 saying how much money they would get. They usually arrived in the same week, and sometimes on the same day.

Telstra sent me a monthly $3.11 ‘credit’ bill every month for over three years, following a change of mobile phone providers. I did ring them, but they were reluctant to send me a cheque or transfer the money to my fixed line account.

After three years of a monthly bill i didnt have to pay that was routinely binned, I received a cheque for $3.11

Holden Caulfield5:33 pm 13 Feb 12

Ben_Dover said :

Unfortunately;

http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/zero.asp

Yeah, I’d wondered if the tale was just that, a work of fiction. A good yarn all the same.

We got a stern letter from Family Allowance saying that we may have been paid 1.11 in child care benefit in error and that legal action may be undertake to recover the funds…. we never heard anything further and as far as we knew we never got any child care benefit.

Holden Caulfield said :

There’s the $0.00 invoice story from a number of years ago. Pretty hard to top that, and its consequences, I’d reckon.

Great story! Love it.

I was receiving invoices for -$3.00 (approx) for months from a major telco. Although at least that was by email and not snail mail. I guess you can’t program a computer to have common sense.

I have an opposite yet similar minor issue. Apparently due to some poor accounting I was deprived of $1 in super. Now I get sent yearly a letter telling me about my $1 (in big bold print) and to transfer it to another fund. The problem is I’ve already wasted $1 of my time reading and opening the letter. The hassle required to get the dollar mopved alkso requires certified copies of documents etc.

I rang and said can they just stop wasting my time and theirs and either donate that $1 or get rid of it somehow. I was told the only thing they can do is transfer it to another super fund, however I need to prove who I am, which requires alot of effort on my part, so I said no thanks, you just keep sending me an annual letter instead.

Holden Caulfield said :

There’s the $0.00 invoice story from a number of years ago. Pretty hard to top that, and its consequences, I’d reckon.

That was my afternoon giggle…

EvanJames said :

LHPA have got desperate since they were prevented from scamming money off people on small residential blocks. World’s most useless body, try getting help off them for ANYTHING and good luck with that. Or try emailing them and find that you have to be on their white list for your email to get through! They’re rubbish.

Maybe you could sticky-tape your coins to the notice, and post it back?

Love the idea .. can you image the face of the poor chump who opens the mail! Good luck finding a 2 cent piece!

bigfeet said :

I would stick a dollar coin to the invoice and mail it back. Include a note saying that you would like the change donated to a registered charity (of their choice) but that for tax purposes, you would like a receipt for the account AND for the charity mailed back to you.

😀

Gold!

I would stick a dollar coin to the invoice and mail it back. Include a note saying that you would like the change donated to a registered charity (of their choice) but that for tax purposes, you would like a receipt for the account AND for the charity mailed back to you.

The efficiency probably lies in having one automated system to automatically generate and send out invoices, regardless of the amount.

Holden Caulfield said :

There’s the $0.00 invoice story from a number of years ago. Pretty hard to top that, and its consequences, I’d reckon.

This is what happens when we let the computers think they’re smarter than us .. though in some cases they clearer are.

Holden Caulfield11:52 am 13 Feb 12

There’s the $0.00 invoice story from a number of years ago. Pretty hard to top that, and its consequences, I’d reckon.

For 37 months before Telstra was finally privatized, I received a monthly bill for 22 cents. I had a 2 cent coin, but the Telstra shops refused to accept it. Couldn’t pay by credit card, and they told me a cheque would be unacceptable and a payment of 25c could not be contemplated as i would then receive credit statements for 3c.

When the mexican finally took over, the 22c bills stopped. I am eternally grateful to him for this (but nothing else).

When OneTel went belly up, I owed $0.87 to OneNet. Due to an error in their systems, the first two invoices went astray. Eventually, the administrators contacted me by phone, and asked why I hadn’t paid. After much discussion, the address error was discovered, and we all had a good laugh. Three days later, I received a letter of intent declaring that I would be summonsed if I didn’t pay the bill. One cheque sent, and they were happy.

LHPA have got desperate since they were prevented from scamming money off people on small residential blocks. World’s most useless body, try getting help off them for ANYTHING and good luck with that. Or try emailing them and find that you have to be on their white list for your email to get through! They’re rubbish.

Maybe you could sticky-tape your coins to the notice, and post it back?

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