I was talking with a friend about the price of fuel and he told me a minor tale of woe he has had with a local furnace oil company. Said friend uses the bank’s ATM to pay his bills.
In December, he had gotten his furnace oil tank filled and as he is wont to do he marched down to the ATM he uses to pay the bill right away. Well he had forgotten to take the bill with him. He estimated what he owed on the generous side and thought nothing of it. He then started to receive overdue bills each month from this company. The bills show a credit and $0.00 owing. He called up the company and asked if their IT guy could fix the glitch.
A few weeks later the company asked if he would forgive or gift the credit! Ah, no! If credit card companies happily hold a credit why can’t your billing and accounting program do the same? We came to the conclusion that the program the company uses is really old, maybe 30-plus years old and to replace it with a modern version is pricey.
In comparison, having a small postage cost is preferable even though the postage has now exceeded the credit balance. The company, it’s Columbia Fuels. So let’s all over pay our next $1,200 oil bill from Columbia so they’ll invest in a modern billing program! Just kidding!
Jeremy Barnes,
Chemainus