Neil was not offered a reasonable payment arrangement when he was unable to work

The issue

Neil has several services with Pebble Telco. Last year, he became seriously ill and was not able to work. This significantly reduced the income available to Neil’s family each week. Because of this, he was not able to keep up with his monthly payments and a large debt built up on his account.

Neil contacted Pebble Telco to ask for help. Pebble Telco gave Neil an extension on the due date for his charges, but when the extension ran out he was not able to pay off the full amount. Neil contacted Pebble Telco again, but it refused to consider setting up a payment arrangement unless he paid $350 within the following fortnight.

Neil could not afford this, so he contacted our office.

The investigation

After we referred Neil’s complaint to Pebble Telco’s escalated complaints team, they came to an agreement about how Neil would pay off his debt.

The outcome

Neil agreed to cancel some of his services to reduce his ongoing monthly charges. Pebble Telco agreed Neil could pay off his debt over several months, at a monthly rate he could afford.

*Names of all parties have been changed.