CONSUMER PROFILE

EBONY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Ebony was surprised to receive an invoice for her internet and landline service from her previous service provider, since she had cancelled the services and paid all the fees owed until the cancellation date. When she contacted her former service provider, she was told that she had not cancelled her services properly so the fee would not be waived.

She did not pay the fee, and eventually started getting calls from debt collectors. ‘I told the debt collectors that I don’t owe the fee, but they kept harassing me. I told my neighbours about what was happening, and they recommended that I contact the TIO.’

Ebony e-mailed the TIO, which then passed her complaint on to the service provider and asked it to contact her directly. ‘The service provider called me very quickly and offered to waive the fees. They had a completely different attitude once they knew I had contacted the TIO. I’m glad I contacted the TIO when I did, otherwise I would have had to waste a lot more time trying to get the fees waived. Because of the TIO, I felt like there was somebody sticking up for me, and I actually had some power to be heard by the service provider.’

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