Cutting what were multiple long phone calls to VF CS short..

Back in July 2017 there was a problem with my regular standing order for payment of my VF Cable ADSL service. I noticed this perhaps around 2/3 weeks afterwards, it was before my next regular payment, so sent a manual payment for July.

I never received any communication from VF about the delayed payment and never thought about it again.

Since then there has been no further issue with my standing order payments and every month $99.99 is paid to the VF account.

Yesterday, Saturday morning, my Internet service was not working. I called VF and after 2.5hrs I managed to find out that my service had been suspended due to an outstanding balance of $583.

I double checked all my payments and not a single one was missed. After much debating I managed to have VF send me through all their account records since I have never had a bill sent to me and I wanted to match up with my bank statements with their accounts to prove payment had been sent.

During this process it was discovered that they had really messed up all my contact details. The phone number they had for me was missing the last 2 digits, they had my old address from before I transferred my service to my new address and they had an incorrect email address. I have no idea how a telecoms company managed to not realise that a 9 digit number is not valid nor be able to update an account address after moving the service across to it.

Anyhow, I worked my way back through my bills and discovered that my late payment in July 2017 had incurred a late payment fee of $17.25, applied to the September bill. Working forwards from there I see that every month my $99.99 is received on time as usual however they then start adding an additional $17.25 every month, for late payment of their late payment fee. This continues, increasing to $18.50 in March 2018, all the way through to December 2019 when they then decide I owe $500+ of accumulated late payment fees and that I must pay this in order to get my service back.

I really don’t believe this to be fair or just in any way. Even if they had recorded my contact details incorrectly they were absolutely aware of my new address since they had to send someone to install the service in my new address and there was no real attempt to contact me.

Besides the ridiculous late payment fee, during this I also noticed that they had increased my service cost by $3 at the beginning of the year and to make things even worse, I actually went on the VF front page to ensure what they are charging me is correct and the same service looks to be cheaper than what I am being charged.

I’m currently with no internet service which is a real problem since I go on holiday in a few days and my video security system is dependant on there being internet as well as my home automation gadgets - that is not to mention the lack of general internet access and streaming services that I can no longer use. I never realised just how reliant I am on having a 24/7 connection.

Yeh, venting my anger but also wondering on what anyone else thinks - is this really legit? Can they really charge me charges for charges that I wasn’t advised about and then for it to total so much?