[Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

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#3115849 14-Aug-2023 20:13

I asked the Palmy hospital for a record of a visit where it was noted I was afib. Heart specialist needed proof of that to progress consideration of a heart ablation. After a week the record is archived then to get something out of archive you’re looking at a 3 month wait.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

eracode

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#3115934 15-Aug-2023 07:58

Spark charge 0.6% if you want to pay your monthly bill by credit card instead of direct debit. I really don't like these surcharges but overall I think 0.6% is sort of fair because it sounds like what the bank charges Spark.

Auckland Council charge 1.75% and call it a 'convenience fee'. They say: "This is a bank charge and is subject to change." I don't for a minute believe that a bank would charge a corporate like Spark 0.6% but that AC would be paying 1.75%.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

cddt

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#3115937 15-Aug-2023 08:07

eracode:

I don't for a minute believe that a bank would charge a corporate like Spark 0.6% but that AC would be paying 1.75%.

On the contrary, I can believe that local government, with its lack of accountability, is not good at negotiating contracts.

eracode

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#3115945 15-Aug-2023 08:27

cddt:

eracode:

I don't for a minute believe that a bank would charge a corporate like Spark 0.6% but that AC would be paying 1.75%.

On the contrary, I can believe that local government, with its lack of accountability, is not good at negotiating contracts.

You may well be right but, as much as I dislike the council, I do have some faith in the abilities of the finance people at AC.

I have just asked them about this via their website - ".... does AC pay its bank 1.75% for these transactions or is AC making a profit on this at the expense of the ratepayers?". Will be interesting to see if I get a response.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

geoffwnz

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#3115948 15-Aug-2023 08:34

eracode:

Spark charge 0.6% if you want to pay your monthly bill by credit card instead of direct debit. I really don't like these surcharges but overall I think 0.6% is sort of fair because it sounds like what the bank charges Spark.

Auckland Council charge 1.75% and call it a 'convenience fee'. They say: "This is a bank charge and is subject to change." I don't for a minute believe that a bank would charge a corporate like Spark 0.6% but that AC would be paying 1.75%.

"Convenience fee" is an annoying description of a fee that benefits the one charging it. So basically you are charging me a fee to make it easier for you to take my money? Cool cool. It's not like I want to pay these bills, it's just a fact of life to have to do so in order to obtain the services they pay for.

MotorDrive Rallying

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#3115949 15-Aug-2023 08:34

MadEngineer: I asked the Palmy hospital for a record of a visit where it was noted I was afib. Heart specialist needed proof of that to progress consideration of a heart ablation. After a week the record is archived then to get something out of archive you’re looking at a 3 month wait.

That seems odd. My wife went to a specialist in Wellington after a visit to Palmerston North ED. He had access to the Central DHB computer so could pull up the records. You'd think ECG results would be stored electronically.

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#3115958 15-Aug-2023 08:51

eracode:
You may well be right but, as much as I dislike the council, I do have some faith in the abilities of the finance people at AC.

I have just asked them about this via their website - ".... does AC pay its bank 1.75% for these transactions or is AC making a profit on this at the expense of the ratepayers?". Will be interesting to see if I get a response.

Consider this

"You can pay your property rates by Eftpos, MasterCard or Visa at one of our customer service centres. There is a 0.67 per cent surcharge for credit and debit card payments."
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/property-rates-valuations/ways-to-pay-your-rates/Pages/pay-rates-in-person.aspx

Why are there different surcharge figures quoted?

eracode

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#3115962 15-Aug-2023 08:54

geoffwnz:

eracode:

Spark charge 0.6% if you want to pay your monthly bill by credit card instead of direct debit. I really don't like these surcharges but overall I think 0.6% is sort of fair because it sounds like what the bank charges Spark.

Auckland Council charge 1.75% and call it a 'convenience fee'. They say: "This is a bank charge and is subject to change." I don't for a minute believe that a bank would charge a corporate like Spark 0.6% but that AC would be paying 1.75%.

"Convenience fee" is an annoying description of a fee that benefits the one charging it. So basically you are charging me a fee to make it easier for you to take my money? Cool cool. It's not like I want to pay these bills, it's just a fact of life to have to do so in order to obtain the services they pay for.

It's all electronic anyway but it's probably not easier for them to receive payment by credit card as opposed to direct credit. There are more steps for them in a card receipt than in a credit to their current account.

What galls me is that AC, as a public service organisation, thinks it's OK to charge us extra (and probably make a profit on it) and call it a 'convenience fee' - i.e. "we'll make you pay for an easy way to pay us" - and hide behind it as a "bank charge".

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

surfisup1000

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#3115964 15-Aug-2023 09:01

eracode:

Spark charge 0.6% if you want to pay your monthly bill by credit card instead of direct debit. I really don't like these surcharges but overall I think 0.6% is sort of fair because it sounds like what the bank charges Spark.

Auckland Council charge 1.75% and call it a 'convenience fee'. They say: "This is a bank charge and is subject to change." I don't for a minute believe that a bank would charge a corporate like Spark 0.6% but that AC would be paying 1.75%.

Government changed the law so that credit card fees would be reduced. It backfired, instead, we pay more in credit card fees than ever.

I wouldn't mind so much if retailers were transparent about the fees they pay.

eracode

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#3115965 15-Aug-2023 09:03

Bung:
MadEngineer: I asked the Palmy hospital for a record of a visit where it was noted I was afib. Heart specialist needed proof of that to progress consideration of a heart ablation. After a week the record is archived then to get something out of archive you’re looking at a 3 month wait.

That seems odd. My wife went to a specialist in Wellington after a visit to Palmerston North ED. He had access to the Central DHB computer so could pull up the records. You'd think ECG results would be stored electronically.

ECG traces aren't stored electronically in hospital records - they are separate and on paper.

(Source: Mrs Code is a former nurse specialist who worked in the Heart Transplant Service. Ironically she also had AF and a successful ablation a couple of years ago. She had an ECG at Auckland City Hospital a couple of weeks ago and was handed a printout of her medical notes and separately a paper copy of the ECG traces.)

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

eracode

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#3115970 15-Aug-2023 09:13

Bung:
eracode:

You may well be right but, as much as I dislike the council, I do have some faith in the abilities of the finance people at AC.

I have just asked them about this via their website - ".... does AC pay its bank 1.75% for these transactions or is AC making a profit on this at the expense of the ratepayers?". Will be interesting to see if I get a response.

Consider this

"You can pay your property rates by Eftpos, MasterCard or Visa at one of our customer service centres. There is a 0.67 per cent surcharge for credit and debit card payments."
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/property-rates-valuations/ways-to-pay-your-rates/Pages/pay-rates-in-person.aspx

Why are there different surcharge figures quoted?

That is very interesting to say the least. So: pay by card online - 1.75%pa. Go into their office and take up the time of a paid employee to pay by card - 0.67%.

Maybe their financial skills are not as good I thought.

I will ask them another question on their website about this difference.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Handsomedan

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#3115973 15-Aug-2023 09:18

eracode:
That is very interesting to say the least. So: pay by card online - 1.75%pa. Go into their office and take up the time of a paid employee to pay by card - 0.67%.

Maybe their financial skills are not as good I thought.

I'd say it has something to do with Convenience Fees being able to be charge in an online environment only, while a surcharge is card present, so must meet the criteria for such, which is a reflection of cost.

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Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

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eracode

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#3116025 15-Aug-2023 09:41

I want to check something about my Driver Licence on the NZTA website. This required logging with RealMe - which I did.

After successfully logging in, I was back at the NZTA site where my identity was confirmed but I saw: "The RealMe service is currently not available on NZTA - please try again. If the problem persists, please contact RealMe Help Desk on 0800 664 774."

So I rang the 0800 number and got a message from RealMe saying "We are currently experiencing higher than normal call volumes and are not accepting calls - please call back later".

This has been going on for some time so I wonder whether the RealMe/NZTA thing has ever worked.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Kyanar

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#3116037 15-Aug-2023 10:14

eracode:

That is very interesting to say the least. So: pay by card online - 1.75%pa. Go into their office and take up the time of a paid employee to pay by card - 0.67%.

Maybe their financial skills are not as good I thought.

I will ask them another question on their website about this difference.

Card present transactions incur a lower charge from the banks because the fraud risk is considerably lower - thanks to 3DSecure, the acquiring bank (in this case AC's) actually carries all of the fraud risk. It is very likely that this does in fact reflect the different commission charge they receive for swiping or inserting the card vs entering the number online.

As to the time of their paid employee, they're paying that person whether you come in to pay or not. It would make no sense to somehow try and twist things so that you're somehow responsible for paying them.

Why New Zealand doesn't have the same rule as Australia that surcharges must legally be no more than the business actually incurs in taking that payment, I'll never know.

MikeB4

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#3116038 15-Aug-2023 10:21

That Orcon has gone from dead easy to contact too near impossible

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