Telstra refuses to hang up on Melbourne customer's 8c bill

How pathetic that you have to resort to newspaper publicity in order to get a crazy bill looked at!

PHONE giant Telstra has spent five months bombarding a customer with demands that he pay a measly eight cents. The telco, which streamlined bills for millions of customers last year to save on paper, repeatedly spat out reminders to Melbourne man Craig Mackley.

Mr Mackley dismissed the request for an 8c credit card payment-processing fee as a joke.

He was swamped with double-page monthly forms after settling a $10.08 mobile phone account in August last year.

"You'd think they'd wake up and get their house in order and stop wasting money," he said.

"I hadn't rung them about it because I thought it was a bit silly and ridiculous. But they keep sending the bill and I keep laughing at them."

The telco, which returned a $3.69 billion profit last financial year, overhauled its bill format several months ago and pledged to cut down on paper.

It is changing to a new system that will stop repetitive requests for tiny amounts of money.

The carrier apologised and cancelled Mr Mackley's overdue account when contacted by the Herald Sun.

"We have removed the charge to the customer and apologise for any inconvenience caused," spokesman Martin Barr said.

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