Hill Cone on ACC

Those who are against choice and competition for ACC should read Deborah Hill-Cone. Many small business owners will have similar experience:

Last year I paid my premium using internet banking. This was not easy as I had to ring them up to get the bank details – they refuse to put this on the invoice although surely it must be a popular way of paying bills these days. After I had paid it I received a letter saying I still owed the money. When I rang their call centre they told me to ignore the letter. Next, I received a letter from some debt collectors. This time when I rang ACC’s call centre they rummaged about and uncovered the till-now unknown fact I had two levies, one for me and one for my company (both for the same amount, hence the confusion) and I had only paid one. I immediately paid the other and thought the matter had been resolved, until I received a letter from ACC with a cheque saying I had paid double what I owed and they were sending half the money back. Argh.

I couldn’t face explaining ACC’s own error to them so I just tore up the cheque and figured we were square – bad idea, since it led to a another round of debt collector letters. Come to think of it, I am just hoping that the $887 is all I owe and there isn’t another premium lurking.

Considering stress is now considered a worplace hazard, it sounds like ACC is Deborah’s biggest OSH risk 🙂