Dear Editor,

On May 25 I sat down in the comfort of my home to perform a simple task I’ve been doing for a number of years now. The mundane task of paying my bills via TeleScotia.

Whenever a bill, such as a utility bill, is successfully paid over the phone the payee (me) is given a set of numbers called a reference number. I received a reference number for all my bills paid, and as usual I wrote them all down, feeling satisfied that for another month I wouldn’t have to worry about another bill.

On June 15 I picked up my landline to make a call and was informed that outgoing calls were barred because of non-payment of a bill. Without any worries I calmly retrieved my reference number, called LIME and told them the mistake must be on their end because I paid the bill and had my reference number. LIME was kind enough to give me back my phone service and promised to investigate. Again, I was calm because I had my “insurance” in the form of a reference number.

On June 23 I was again surprised when calls from my phone were barred once more because of the same non-payment of bill issue. I lost my cool and “let LIME have it” because I had my “trusty” reference number of my bill payment transaction. LIME said they had no record of receiving payment and they advised me to check with my bank, which I did.

I called Customer Care at Scotiabank and told them what had happened. To my surprise, they said that indeed there were no records of me paying LIME via TeleScotia. I told them that upon “successfully paying” the bill via their system I was given a reference number which, to my mind, was confirmation or evidence that I had paid a bill. That, I later learned, is really a false sense of security.

The customer service representative simply told me that even though I was given a reference number, what happened in my case was a computer glitch. This, to my mind, isn’t very comforting. I was told that the funds were never paid over.

But what if the bill affected was my electricity and I had to go home to darkness and spoilt food in my fridge? What if I had an elderly sick person at home who required some kind of life support electrical system?

I’m thankful that it was “just” the phone bill that was affected and nothing else, but the reason given to me about a “computer glitch” is really disheartening and has served to make me discontinue using TeleScotia from now on.

I take this opportunity to thank LIME for their patience in investigating this matter. And thanks to TeleScotia, I am now forced to pay two months’ bills because LIME did not get last month’s.

Thumbs down to TeleScotia.

Maurice Brown

mozizb@yahoo.com