Slingshot finance system is corrupt

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roland

15 posts

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#62822 15-Jun-2010 14:56

my 75yr old mother inlaw closed her account with slingshot and was sent a final account of $11.20 to be payed by the 24th of the month which she payed early on the 18th of the month, then recieved a demand from a collection agency for payment of the amount.when we contacted slingshot said they would not deal with it as it was in the hands of the collection agency.

The collection agency say they dont care they have a collection and will not contact slingshot we tried to send them a copy of the invoice and the reciept for payment they refused to give a email address and would not allow us to talk to the person who sent the bill.

we have now contacted the commerce commision and they are now considering whether they can look into the practices of slingshot and there collection agency.

Just a warning be very carefull with this company they openly scoffed at the idea that we might get this fixed.

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#341939 15-Jun-2010 15:01

This doesn't surprise me, what was the time period between the final invoice, payment and the contact from the Collection Agency?

CraZeD,
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xpd

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#341943 15-Jun-2010 15:11

Most collection agencies wont take on a collection under $20.00 - its just not worth their time.

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roland

15 posts

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#341944 15-Jun-2010 15:11

the invoice was due on the 24th, the payment was made on the 18th before that date and the collection agency demand was issued on the 24th that payment was due, they say they were given it on the 12th its just a joke this 75 year old woman going through hell over a $11 dollar payment that she clearly payed.

robbyp

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#341954 15-Jun-2010 15:29

roland: my 75yr old mother inlaw closed her account with slingshot and was sent a final account of $11.20 to be payed by the 24th of the month which she payed early on the 18th of the month, then recieved a demand from a collection agency for payment of the amount.when we contacted slingshot said they would not deal with it as it was in the hands of the collection agency.

The collection agency say they dont care they have a collection and will not contact slingshot we tried to send them a copy of the invoice and the reciept for payment they refused to give a email address and would not allow us to talk to the person who sent the bill.

we have now contacted the commerce commision and they are now considering whether they can look into the practices of slingshot and there collection agency.

Just a warning be very carefull with this company they openly scoffed at the idea that we might get this fixed.

Thats terrible service. It is actually slingshots problem, and they need to sort it out with their collection agency. I would also demand a printout from Baycorp to be paid for by slingshot, to show that this is going to have no adverse affect on their credit ratings.

When the amount is disputed, Baycorp have to refer teh debt back to slingshot anyway.

farcus

1151 posts

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#341965 15-Jun-2010 15:46

are you sure there is only an amount of $11.20 in question here?
As previously mentioned - collection agencies (Bay, D&B) would not accept a debt collection on something of that value. pretty sure threshold for those tow agencies is $50.

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#341967 15-Jun-2010 15:52

Unfortunately I found out the hard way that if an agency is sent a request for collection, it is generally carried out if the paperwork gets far enough... had it happen years ago with Telecom over $17 - the guy I spoke to at the agency said it should never have been processed but someone had let it be done so it had to be collected. Cant remember which agency it was....

Slingshot are usually poking around these forums....surprised they havent said anything yet - you may get a PM from them asking for more info so it can be investigated.

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roland

15 posts

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#342014 15-Jun-2010 17:15

Yes dunn and broadstreet they have cranked the bill up to $13.20 but have threatened various things upto and including being made bankcrupt

farcus

1151 posts

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#342022 15-Jun-2010 17:45

roland: Yes dunn and broadstreet they have cranked the bill up to $13.20 but have threatened various things upto and including being made bankcrupt

haha - that is hilarious (but probably not for your mother-in-law)
There is so obviously an error there - I can't believe they wont listen to you about it (although knowing D&B they are unlikely to look into the issue if you call because of privacy reasons - I'm sure they would look into it if your mother-in-law called in herself (or called in together with you))

robbyp

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#342035 15-Jun-2010 18:25

xpd: Unfortunately I found out the hard way that if an agency is sent a request for collection, it is generally carried out if the paperwork gets far enough... had it happen years ago with Telecom over $17 - the guy I spoke to at the agency said it should never have been processed but someone had let it be done so it had to be collected. Cant remember which agency it was....

Slingshot are usually poking around these forums....surprised they havent said anything yet - you may get a PM from them asking for more info so it can be investigated.

Companies will usually charge an admin fee and late payment fee, to get it over the threshold, eg. a $25 late payment and admin fee. Far enough if it is a valid debt but not on if they have made an error and ignoring their customer, or giving them incorrect information.

roland

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#342046 15-Jun-2010 18:45

she did call many times but they would not allow her to talk to the person in charge of the case only his secretary who now is also to busy to talk now.

its really unbelievable no one will talk to her or us from slingshot or dunn and broadsheet infact the threatining letter demanded her to contact them or face fees of thousands of dollars or bankkrupcy yet they wont deal with her and they have not even included a way of making payment on the threatning letter

farcus

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#342052 15-Jun-2010 18:56

something about this is not sounding right. In my job I deal with Dun & Bradstreet almost daily. When you call D&B you get a call centre rep. As soon as they answer the call and open your file they will see there is an error and contact Slingshot on your behalf. It should be unnecessary for this call to go to a case manager or his secretary. There must be more to this (whether it be error or not) than is obvious if this is what is going on when D&B are contacted.

roland

15 posts

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#342053 15-Jun-2010 19:01

so then why are they not dealing with it or even talking to us

hellonearthisman

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#342057 15-Jun-2010 19:21

Have you tried emailing http://www.geekzone.co.nz/compose_messages.asp?user_name=Slingshot to wake them up to this?

farcus

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#342059 15-Jun-2010 19:27

roland: so then why are they not dealing with it or even talking to us

the only obvious thing I can think of (& collection agencies are sticklers for this) is that the debt is in the name of a person other than the person who is contacting them.
It is either this - or like I said previously - there is more to the story than is obvious.

roland

15 posts

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#342094 15-Jun-2010 20:56

thanks for the link i will try this i know its only $13 dollars but its the principle of it how many times do you let people like this away with it.

we have the invoice with total owing $11.20 and due by 24th may and we have the reciept for payment $11.20 on 18th of may how can there be more to this.

certainly no one is talking to us, jesus she just wanted to close her account and go to a different provider we are not talking about someone thats not capable of paying it.

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