Subject: When machines overtake .....Computers - CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS
True story
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
that 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 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, 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 gas 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 a 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 had 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 two hours to convince the clerks at the
local courthouse that he was not joking.
They subsequently helped 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 processed.
[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 (Australia) website.
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"You are never given a dream without the power to make it come true." -
Richard Bach
Shanker
