Useless games?.
We were away on a holiday last week when I received a phone call from the company. It's someone I never had contact with previously, said he's the branch manager in Qld and is now the operation manager of all branches. He said he's calling to ask for my feedback to improve the business. I thought that's an interesting change and told him to call me again when we're home.
When we got home though, I found out that they still didn't send the property file to my new PM for Orange as promised (to us and DFT), nor that they paid the order from NCAT! So I wrote the guy an email saying that I changed my mind, wouldn't want to have any discussion with them as I didn't see any good intention behind it. I told him about the failure to deliver file and compensation as per NCAT order. He promptly promised me he'd have them all sorted out straight away, would be personally arrange for the money transfer, send all files by email EOB and mail that day, send me tracking numbers of package and even promised to call my local PM to confirm that all are ok. He also said he'd settle the compensation I'm seeking for Taree property (for which we'd have a hearing next week).
The guy told me that he understood if I wouldn't want to provide any input for the company and that's ok, but he'd like to have a discussion with me on how they could better compensate me. I told him I wasn't interested in negotiating anything with them ever again - even for better compensation. If the company is paying for the compensation I'm seeking for Taree property and save me time attending the hearing, then I take it as a positive gesture to try ending the matter in a good way. If not, I'm happy to take whatever NCAT decides next week. He said that's ok too, he'd arrange for the payment transfer soon. He said that the company just wanted to settle the matter and move on too.
A bit later on, I received an email from him saying that the company is happy to offer compensation yada-yada-yada with the condition of non-disclosure and closing this thread in SS. Turns out that's what it's all about! The hyena doesn't change it's spots after all.
This was 2 days ago, and today I checked with my local PM in Orange just to be sure. As expected, no file documents received via email or mail, no phone call. I didn't receive any package tracking number and no payment transferred for the previous NCAT order. All these were just another game with intention of getting this thread closed in SS
Luckily I was pretty skeptical from the start, so had started the enforcement process for the NCAT order as soon as I'm back and continue documents preparation for the hearing. I guess the latest trail of emails with all the different offers and promises, followed by enforcement registration in local court for non-payment, will now be part of the hearing documents - which Tribunal Members may find interesting.
I don't understand though how the company thinks they could get away with not adhering to the NCAT order, as it's enforceable by court. Enforcement means sheriff with Writ and/or Garnishee documents showing up at their office. Why would any business wants that scene in front of their staff? Or is it because they think I'd have problem registering to local court while overseas? Thankfully, there is an online registration recently introduced, so this won't be an issue anymore.
Aside from all these minor irritations in the last week, I'm glad that I won't have to deal with them again after this upcoming hearing next week. I'm not discounting a possibility of another unpaid order from this upcoming hearing, but at least any enforcement will be done via court and sheriff, and I won't have to personally deal with anyone from that company anymore.