Maltacom's billing system

I refer to a complaint lodged by Carmen Micallef of Qawra in her letter Late Telephone Bills (September 30).

We have investigated the case and would like to clarify certain issues mentioned in the letter:

Telephone bills issued on Wednesday, September 6, were posted on Monday, September 11, and not on September 20 as the customer claims. One must bear in mind that September 8 was a public holiday - followed by a weekend.

The computer system was down for maintenance on September 22 and not September 23. On that day, payments were still being accepted at Maltacom branch offices.

Nevertheless, in consideration that customers may have avoided going to Maltacom offices on that day, and to ensure that there was enough time to cater for payments input late into the system, the cut-off date for late payment interest for the bill run in question was extended to September 27.

The "due date" is relevant to the early payment discount only and therefore customers are only liable to the Lm1 late-payment charge when the next bill is generated (after two months in the case of residential customers) and in the case that the previous bill is still in arrears.

We hope the above explanation is sufficient. Customers who have any further queries are welcome to contact us through the website www.maltacom.com or by calling our customer helpline: 2121 2121.