There appears to be nothing more emotive than stories involving billing anomalies by telecommunications companies. They invariably become a public relations disaster for the company involved by invoking public sympathy against the telco.
The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported that a 60 year-old retiree, Luba Kipish, is facing a Aus$23,000 bill and could potentially lose her home after being placed into bankruptcy for not paying an eight year old Telstra Internet access bill for less than $1,000.
Kipish claims the original bill was incurred while her son was living with her years ago. He failed to pay and left home leaving her with the bill and no means to pay for it. Telstra took Kipish to court and had a judgment against her for $1,400, with costs.
She didn’t pay and, despite receiving one call, thought the matter had gone away until six years later in 2007 when she received a revised claim, by then for $2,000. She was taken to court again and the bill jumped to $16,000, despite claims that she offered to pay the $2,000 by installments of $100 every two weeks.
The bankruptcy trustee has since added $20,000 in fees to Kipish's bill, which can only be recovered through selling her only asset, her home.
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