20 December 2011

Transact - late payment fee to double

| Namloot
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Fellow Rioters,

Yesterday when I checked the mail I was quite surprised to receive two letters from Transact. The first was my December invoice and the second was a reminder that my November invoice was overdue (my bad).

Subsequently Transact have applied a late payment fee of $5.50 and also advised that this fee will double to $11.00 from mid January. How can this be justified and are the other telco’s going to follow suit?

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I’ve been paying Transact through ACTEW’s epay site, which has been hassle-free. Hope that continues for a while yet…

Felix the Cat3:17 pm 21 Dec 11

Clown Killer said :

.

For mine, I never pay more frequently than quarterly, irrespective of how frequently bills are sent – going online more than once every three months is simply too much of a hassle and it’s not as if there’s any downside.

But you seem to be online pretty much every day posting on RA so why is it a hassle to get online and pay your bill?

Clown Killer said :

As long as its not proportional to the outstanding amount they can charge what they like.

No they can’t, any late payment fee can only be an amount less than or equal to the reasonable cost of them recovering the debt. If it’s an amount greater than their real cost of recovering the debt then it get counted as a penalty, and courts will not enforce penalty costs.

Clown Killer12:03 am 21 Dec 11

As long as its not proportional to the outstanding amount they can charge what they like. Just weigh up where the benefit lies – avoiding the LPF or paying when it suits you.

For mine, I never pay more frequently than quarterly, irrespective of how frequently bills are sent – going online more than once every three months is simply too much of a hassle and it’s not as if there’s any downside.

johnboy said :

My ISP just debits my credit card, seems to work well for everyone.

+1

$5.50 or $11.00 seem reasonable LPF’s to me. I’d cop that. What I object to is banks charging $25-$35 for the privilege of missing a payment date.

inlymbo said :

I struggle with their ever changing BPAY customer reference number on each monthly invoice (no it does not stay the same it changes each month?) .

Why DO they do this?? It’s unlike every other Bpay transaction I do. It really can’t be that hard…

Transact’s late fee kicks in too soon.

It might be two or three days before you receive an account, and a further one or two days before you get around to dealing with it. Add three more days for slow bank action and that’s eight days.

I have just insisted that Transact remove a late fee from my last bill. The took it off very meekly even though I didn’t offer any particular reason.

They have always charged this fee, I know. I have had it a few times. I struggle with their ever changing BPAY customer reference number on each monthly invoice (no it does not stay the same it changes each month?) and thus send the payment into the unknown realm of BPAY….. boo hoo.

dungfungus said :

In case you hadn’t heard Namloot, ownership of TransACT recently changed and it is now being run by real businessmen using their own money; not a bunch of overpaid enthusiasts funded by ACT ratepayers and dopey superannuation funds so the penalties are totally justified. Welcome to the real world.

+1

GBT said :

I am hoping they take a much larger role in the future, including adjusting TransACT’s prices which are fairly excessive.

Hey look!! The cows are coming home!

Erg0 said :

johnboy said :

My ISP just debits my credit card, seems to work well for everyone.

My ISP (which now owns TransACT) does the same thing. I expect it will be an option for TransACT customers soon, if it isn’t already.

I wouldn’t hold your breath. iiNet have pretty much said it will be business as usual for TransACT, at least for the time being. I am hoping they take a much larger role in the future, including adjusting TransACT’s prices which are fairly excessive.

If only they could double there service stands. Try calling 133061 and press option five for support, I’ve yet to have someone answer the call, I give up after about 40 minutes and call another business unit.
I’ve done this 3 three times over the past week. My land line has been out for over a week, outages are not not unusual. If I ever see transact on a resume……

Isn’t there a difference between a fee and a penalty? The problem the banks are having at the moment is justifying their fees because it seems they do not reflect the true cost that the fee is suppose to cover and is therefore a penalty. Why would it cost $11:00 for a computer to re-print a bill?

johnboy said :

My ISP just debits my credit card, seems to work well for everyone.

My ISP (which now owns TransACT) does the same thing. I expect it will be an option for TransACT customers soon, if it isn’t already.

I think you’ll find as you have a contract with them their penalties for paying late need to reflect the true financial cost to them.

A couple of large class actions against the banks are currently exploring this very law.

Ring them up and find out how they arrived at that figure. Maybe mention Maurice Blackburn or Slater and Gordon and see what they say…..

My ISP just debits my credit card, seems to work well for everyone.

Well they are a private company so can charge whatever they like. Telstra charge more than that.

You know, if you pay your bills on time it isn’t a problem….

I see no problem with it, to be honest, I would not see it as a problem even if they raised late payment fees to 1000 dollars per period, to encourage people to pay on time.
As far as increase in fees goes-they probably just trying to recover cost of managing bad accounts.
Totally justified, IMO.
I always pay my bills on time or in advance. 🙂

In case you hadn’t heard Namloot, ownership of TransACT recently changed and it is now being run by real businessmen using their own money; not a bunch of overpaid enthusiasts funded by ACT ratepayers and dopey superannuation funds so the penalties are totally justified. Welcome to the real world.

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