ANOTHER UNUSUAL DEMAND
The following scans indicate another anomolous demand for payment
again concerning Telstra. In this case a law firm has issued a demand
for payment. This is the same law firm which had earlier acted for the
respondent in a case I lodged against my mortgagee however I believe that
this is irrelevant as Tasmania is a small and incestuous place and this sort of coincidence
should be disregarded.
This demand may not have even issued from this particular law firm for all I know as scanning letterheads
is notorious. The scan is included as many people never get to see what a letter of demand looks like and there
are features which make the demand interesting.
What is anomolous is that I had been paying off this large telephone account which was originally
some $800 as arranged with
Telstra. The story about how this large account was incurred is another story entirely.
While I know you will be struggling to read the scans below they show that payments were received by Telstra
on 17/6/96, 4/7/96, 30/7/96, and 2/9/96 all payments being of $50.00 each. It seems to me to indicate that Telstra's account
was being paid on a reasonably regular basis.
The interesting aspect of this demand for payment is the signature SIMMONDS WOLFHAGEN. There is no Mr Simmonds Wolfhagen
as it is just the name of a law firm. The signature gives the impression that Simmonds Wolfhagen has actually signed
the demand. After I wrote to Mr Wolfhagen detailing my payments no further action was taken.
The point here is that it is the converging nature of this sort of bill collecting which makes it so difficult for low-income people.
While people may be able to stand one or two incidents of this nature - the average person will find this sort of problem disturbing if the incidents
all occur at once. The questions which must be asked include:
Is the signing of letters of demand by a handwritten signature in the name of the company acceptable?
(This would be like getting a letter with a signature from Mr Tax Office, Messrs AMP or Mr Telacom)
2. Why has Telstra put this account in for collection when I have been making reasonably regular payments?
3. Where are the "numerous requests made by our client"? The only request I am aware of was the request shown on the previous
scan.
