LEVY GAS COMPANIES FOR YOUR TIME ON FALSE BILLS

I READ recently about a lady who kept receiving phantom gas bills from a major supplier, even though she had no gas service and wasn’t liable for any bill.

I am certain readers may have experienced such, and have a friend who received a power bill once for a premises he had never even lived at.

Many people do not know how to deal with such matters, however, the simple solution is this:

When receiving a false or unwar- ranted invoice, write to the company telling them the invoice/bill is not applicable, and ask them to cease and desist immediately.

Tell them that, should you need to undertake any further actions, such as letter-writing, consulting an Ombudsman, or phoning (call queues can be very time-consuming-should the matter not be immediately resolved) that you will invoice them at a suitable rate for every hour, or part of.

I tell them my rate is $135 per hour or part of, plus administrative costs such as letter-writing, so much for every phone call, and so on.

You are legally entitled to charge such entities for your time and your associated costs, should they not resolve a matter quickly.

Lawyers are not the only ones who can do this, so have fun, and enjoy the process. You will be unlikely to ever hear from them again. Gary Oraniuk, Geelong West