It pays not to pay on time

Last January, Maltacom, with the usual bombast and pomp, announced that a scheme was introduced in which those who paid their bill on time and avoided using cash or cheques to effect payment would be rewarded with discounted bills, which discounts were to be deducted in the next available bill. It seemed like a good incentive especially after the price increase in phone services.

On February 14, a month after this press release and during the advertising campaign in the media inviting us to pay in time, I received my Maltacom bill. I paid this bill before the specified date and using the Web4Me! service, hence qualifying for the three per cent discount on the bill and a 50c discount for using the internet service.

Earlier this month I received the April bill. Since both in the media and in Maltacom's webpage's FAQ section one could read that the discounts for early payment would feature in the next bill, I checked my April invoice for the discount I had earned on the February bill. To my surprise, however, there was no early payment discount!

Hence, before paying this bill, I decided to check with Maltacom on how this scheme works and when will I get the discount. I sent the same e-mail three times to the billing enquiries section (of which two have been read for sure) and one to the customer care (!) section... and none of these two sections had the decency to answer my query after four e-mails.

The only option left was to get hold of customer care by phone and when I asked the lady who answered the call about the scheme her answer simply was "But that scheme starts from April!" and when I asked her why did they announce it so early her reply was once again "Yes... but it starts from April!".

I sent my complaint through the Maltacom webpage and the one liner I got back was "Please be informed that discounts will be given on the third bill issued in 2005" (obviously no reason was given why they did not answer the e-mails!).

Judging on this one liner, it seems that neither the bill we had to pay now qualifies for a discount... you can never be sure since they don't put down the details on their webpage and press releases!

So much for all the hype! And what was the reason for publishing the press release in January for something set to start in April and, moreover, when there was still more than one bill to go between the press release and the date which Maltacom is now claiming to be the starting date of this scheme? It would be interesting if someone who was late in paying lets us know whether he was fined the Lm1 on the last bill - which would mean that Maltacom implemented the measures in their favour straightaway but those in favour of their subscribers with a six-month delay!

I know it's my duty to pay on time but it's also Maltacom's duty to keep its promises.

Yet again this is an example of how things work in this country of ours... it pays not to pay on time! Similar to the VAT penalty amnesty given by the government, where some 6,500 businessmen will have penalties of Lm5.1 million waived if they pay what they should have paid months ago till the end of June! VAT money which they had collected from us and which was never their property as if we, poor Joe Public, have given these businessmen an interest-free loan of Lm20 million... and the government giving them another Lm5.1 million discount on what they should have paid as penalties at a time when we are being told to do a sacrifice! And then the government thinks of every possible way to tax and fine every little move which isn't to its liking by the rest of the people.