Amazing Story

What a world? (country NSW)... On Thursday, 24 January 2002, Derek
Guille broadcast this story on his afternoon program on ABC radio.
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 was 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 apologized 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.

I'd love to swap bills with him! Mine is high as the Moon!:(