You Owe Us Nothing, And You'd Better Pay Up

from the you-better-pay-up dept

Ah, computer glitches. A man in the UK apparently got in trouble for not paying his telephone and internet bill which came to: £0.00. As one normally does with such bills, the man ignored it - when he received a second note complaining that his phone company, NTL, was not at all happy with him trying to duck out on the £0.00 payment he owed them. He called up the firm to see what he could do, and the women he spoke to suggested sending in a check for £0.00 to let them clear out their system. The company eventually apologized to the guy, saying (obviously) that it was a bit of an error. Update: As someone points out in the comments, this might just be an urban legend.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Ed Halley, 22 Sep 2003 @ 11:49am

    No Subject Given

    There are several instances where people have gotten in trouble for trying to write checks for $0.00; some banking software apparently has hissy-fits with such checks.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      aNonMooseCowherd, 22 Sep 2003 @ 1:55pm

      cheques for small amounts

      There are several instances where people have gotten in trouble for trying to write checks for $0.00; some banking software apparently has hissy-fits with such checks.

      I wonder if he could have written a cheque for a halfpenny or a farthing.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    AMetamorphosis, 22 Sep 2003 @ 12:27pm

    All your zero balances belong to us ...

    American Express likes to bill me each month ... even if I have a zero balance.

    Poor programming on the merchants part.

    SHEER stupidity for the customer service person to suggest I waste my time & checks & postage sending them a check for nothing to fix their faulty system.

    I would have called the local media for some negative publicity for the company ... these kinds of stories always make for good reading.

    Amazing thing is these companies put you through hell for their ignorance and when you waste an entire day straightening them out all you get is a shrug of the shoulders ...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Michael Leuchtenburg, 22 Sep 2003 @ 1:59pm

    No Subject Given

    This is an urban legend, and not even a new one: http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/zero.asp

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Michael Leuchtenburg, 22 Sep 2003 @ 8:52pm

      Whoops

      To further follow up, I emailed The Inquirer, and they responded:

      There's a picture of a Mr Hough in the Luton On Sunday, p14, September 14th
      issue. With cheque.

      Paul Hales

      Paul Hales is the writer of the article. Oops. I can't verify this, not being anywhere near Luton, but it seems fairly legit.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Peet McKimmie (profile), 24 Aug 2005 @ 4:19pm

      Re: Urban Legend

      Just because it is an urban legend doesn't preclude that instance from also being true! I had a nasty exchange with Aberdeen City Council who sent me letters threatening to take action to evict me from my house for non-payment of a £0.00 rent bill that I had previously been told by their arrears department to ignore. I queued for the best part of an hour to give them a £0.00 cheque, but they refused to accept it as, apparently, their computer system won't allow them to enter that amount. It eventually got sorted out, but only with a *lot* of grief.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Paul Silver, 23 Sep 2003 @ 4:26am

    Friend had this for poll tax

    A friend of mine (who, co-incidentally, used to work for NTL) did get a court summons when he didn't pay a poll tax bill for £0.00, but did manage to sort it out with phone calls rather than turning up.
    Personally, I don't mind being sent credit card statements that tell me I don't owe anything - it reminds me I've been good that month.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Precision Blogger, 23 Sep 2003 @ 5:48am

    Teensy Checks

    The check story might be an urban legend, but I REALLY did once get a letter thanking me for paying $0.01 due on my student loan. The letter went on to say that for tax purposes I would want to determine how much of the $0.01 was principal and how much was interest, but that unfortunately the calculation was too complex and they were unable to do it for me.

    The cause (of course) was a round-off error from the previous year when we paid our debt in full. Someone tried to clear the account by manufacturing a phony payment, and we got an unaticipated acknowledgment letter.
    - The Precision Blogger
    precision-blogging.blogspot.com

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Adam Rice, 23 Sep 2003 @ 8:00am

    It happens

    I had a friend back in college who was dunned by the school for $0.00. He went to the bill-payment office, and asked the girl at the counter what to do. She didn't know, so he *insisted* on writing a check for $0.00. That seemed to do the trick.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Chris, 23 Sep 2003 @ 8:52am

    No Subject Given

    The credit card companies typically have a "zero billing" month every three months or so where they mail bills to everybody with an account - even if the account is zero. The primary purpose is to confirm that addresses are still valid.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.