3Bb Outstanding Balance

[RedCardinal]

My VPN connection dropped earlier and wouldn't reconnect. Lo and behold all traffic is being redirected to the following page http://110.164.252.136/warning2/NearOverDuePageSoft_eng.php

OUTSTANDING BALANCE

We would like to inform you that there was outstanding balance on your account. To avoid disruption in your internet service, please make payment immediately.

If you have already made payment, we apologize for any inconvenience.

Now here's the kicker - they claim I didn't pay my bill in August 2009. Apart from the fact that I pay all my bills on time, it seems to have taken them 9 months to conclude that I haven't paid a bill.

So I asked what date did 3BB take over TTT as I've been on same line since 2008. 3BB took over TTT on July 27 2009, and seemingly the very first month of operation I failed to pay my bill. The bad news is that all my paid bill receipts are sitting in Europe in my expenses paperwork

Just wondering if anyone else is having problems with 3BB bills from around this time?

[robblok]

I had it but that was because there are 2 barcodes on them sometimes and they did not scan them both so i payed part of the bill and got the same message you did. But it was only 1 month late. But i have had this before with 3bb and then they were wrong but could not prove it.

[Rigsby]

Had the same message when I logged on the other day (but a different scenario).

Rang them up & it seems I owed about 132 Bht from the December bill. When I went to the 3BB desk at Carrefour, I was told that only one of the two barcodes was swiped at 7/11 which resulted in the discrepancy.

I didn't bother to argue the point - 'why was that 132 bht not included in every other bill since ?? Otherwise you don't even know if you owe anything till you get that screen when you logon !!' - 'cos I'd have just got blank looks.

Typical inefficiency.

[nikster]

Good to know. I shall keep my receipts on hand then.

[Pib]

Sounds like the two bar codes on one bill could be the issue if the OP and/or 7/11-type payment service forgot to scan & pay both separate charges with two different bar codes on the combined bill. Then again, it could just be an error from the TT&T and 3Bb merger. But it's a shame they come asking for money from an Aug 2009 bill/from almost a year ago versus your Sep 2009 bill just being double the normal amount to flag the payment issue...they are probably still trying to get all the books to balance almost a year after the merger.

[NanLaew]

I had the same... or similar. I knew I had missed a couple of payments from around the changeover time but there was no way I could pay them at the 3bb shop. They had all sorts of managers and techs pouring over the screen and were all able to confirm that I did owe them the dosh but there was no way their system could reissue or print those bills so I sat there with the 4 thousand baht in my hand and they couldn't get it. While I was out of the country, they called and got my wife who explained the situation that the shop could not accept payment although the system showed I was in arrears as they couldn't duplicate the bill and have a barcode to scan along with the payment. Eventually they mailed copies of the missed bills and it was all taken care of at the 3bb shop. I found the 'convenience' of paying at 7-eleven was lost long ago when UBC and phone bills didn't always get credited in a timely manner so just go to their own offices to make payments now.

[krading]

We've had TOT BB on for eighteen months and the price was supposed to drop after 12 months.

Each month the bill would come and still no reduction even though when we pay at the head office here in Pak Chong I would get the missus to ask about it.

Each month the same reply, "I check. Ok next month fixed."

Finally last month she got them to ring BKK and ask. BKK said we should get a refund but Pak Chong says no refund because BKK won't pass it on to them.

At least we get the reduction now but then we got an automated voice call saying we owe 400 for the 3BB upgrade that I never knew about.

They can always find a way to get at you when they have a monopoly on services.

Can't wait for the competition to get here so I can tell TOT where to stuff it.

[wpcoe]

I had it but that was because there are 2 barcodes on them sometimes and they did not scan them both so i payed part of the bill and got the same message you did. But it was only 1 month late.

When I went to the 3BB desk at Carrefour, I was told that only one of the two barcodes was swiped at 7/11 which resulted in the discrepancy.

Sounds like the two bar codes on one bill could be the issue if the OP and/or 7/11-type payment service forgot to scan & pay both separate charges with two different bar codes on the combined bill.fter the merger.

That should be amazing (but, after all this is Amazing Thailand ), but shouldn't the programming of the 7-11 store (and other places) payment system require that all fields be complete before the transaction can be submitted? In fact, I thought this was the case, since several times at 7-11 when I have paid my bills, the clerk gets frustrated and has to re-do the transaction and I thought it was because some step of the process was not recorded?

And, does 7-11 get to pocket the money for those transactions that are incompletely scanned, and hence never get to the intended recipient?

[Pib]

I had it but that was because there are 2 barcodes on them sometimes and they did not scan them both so i payed part of the bill and got the same message you did. But it was only 1 month late.

When I went to the 3BB desk at Carrefour, I was told that only one of the two barcodes was swiped at 7/11 which resulted in the discrepancy.

Sounds like the two bar codes on one bill could be the issue if the OP and/or 7/11-type payment service forgot to scan & pay both separate charges with two different bar codes on the combined bill.fter the merger.

That should be amazing (but, after all this is Amazing Thailand ), but shouldn't the programming of the 7-11 store (and other places) payment system require that all fields be complete before the transaction can be submitted? In fact, I thought this was the case, since several times at 7-11 when I have paid my bills, the clerk gets frustrated and has to re-do the transaction and I thought it was because some step of the process was not recorded?

And, does 7-11 get to pocket the money for those transactions that are incompletely scanned, and hence never get to the intended recipient?

If the funds don't transfer from 7-11 to the intended recipient the funds stay in 7-11's bank account so to speak. But you can get a refund if you take the unpaid bill and 7-11 earlier payment receipt back to 7-11. I don't know how far back they can look, but they can see in their system if the funds transferred or not to the intended recepient. Saw this recently happen with the mother-in-law's phone bill...the phone stopped working one day, called the phone company via cell, phone company said service had been suspended due to last month's unpaid bill...a relative went to the phone company center and paid the overdue bill...phone turned back on...relative went to 7-11 with receipt from earlier 7-11 payment....7-11 gave the refund...still not clear on what 7-11 did to verify the payment never reached the phone company, confirm it was just not a phone company billing error, etc. But since 7-11 can't pay bills past due, you need to get the refund and pay the new/updated bill, or go to the intended recipient's service center to pay/clear the bill.

[Pib]

Sounds like the two bar codes on one bill could be the issue if the OP and/or 7/11-type payment service forgot to scan & pay both separate charges with two different bar codes on the combined bill.fter the merger.

That should be amazing (but, after all this is Amazing Thailand ), but shouldn't the programming of the 7-11 store (and other places) payment system require that all fields be complete before the transaction can be submitted? In fact, I thought this was the case, since several times at 7-11 when I have paid my bills, the clerk gets frustrated and has to re-do the transaction and I thought it was because some step of the process was not recorded?

I expect the two separate bar codes are like two separate bills...one bill/bar code for phone service and another bill/bar code for internet service...a person could have one or both bills/bar codes. The great, great majority of bills are just one bill with one bar code so the 7-11 folks are in the groove/routine of scanning one bar code per bill. Pays to watch close/double check exactly what got paid as soon as they hand you the receipt.

[filingaccount]

I have had the occasional discrepancy with various communications providers. For one reason or another my payments sometimes doesn't get "confirmed" in their systems and thus I "owe" them money.

What I do is the following:

1. Keep scanned copies of all bills and payment confirmations (receipts etc).

2. Ask the service provider to forward me a copy of the supposed "outstanding" bill. I state I will pay if the bill is indeed outstanding. (most fail right here, and then I just say "ok, so no outstanding bill. No need to pay as there is no bill." Sometimes they try to argue that I should pay anyway, then I just say "how do I know you are not trying to cheat me? I will not pay because someone contacts me. What happens if I contact you and say you must pay for something? Could be good business to ask for payments without proof." Makes them silent 99.9% of the time.)

3. If copy of bill is sent, I counter IMMEDIATELY via email stating bill <x> was paid and supply electronic copies of said bill payment.

4. Wait for them to fumble the ball.

[grin]

Similar problem: over a year ago I went in to pre-pay Maxnet for a month as I was going to be out of the country for 6 weeks. About a year later I had the same problem with my internet connection. The month that they claimed I owed them for was the same one I prepaid but fortunately I save all of these receipts. It turns out that even though I presented a past bill with my account number on it at the time my payment was applied to some random account. At first they did not want to change the payment to credit my account but a little persistence paid off.

[Langsuan Man]

A possible explanation

I had my service turned off when they switched from TT&T to Triple B and noticed that my first bill under Triple B had two due amounts. The first one was to TT&T and the second one was to Triple B

Subsequent bills rolled both charges into one for payment to Triple B, so evidently they worked out a way for Triple B to pay TT&T

I also use the Bill Pay feature of my SCB Bank account, which saves the reference number of the bill, so I don't have to worry about those pesky 7-11 receipts