I cancelled my Bigpond wireless broadband account when I moved from Kalgoorlie to Mount Gambier. It wasn’t cheap at $89 a month for about 250MB of data and the kids broke the modem, so overall it was a lost cause and superfluous.

I was actually in credit when I closed the account because I had inadvertently paid a couple of months while also having a direct debit drawn. Bigpond said they would reimburse me with a cheque.

Yesterday however, I noticed there have been two more direct debits made after I cancelled the service.

I tried to login to the account online, but couldn’t because the site said it no longer existed.

I rang Bigpond, and after the usual pressing of buttons and background music, was told that “due to the exceptional volume of calls” (or similar) they couldn’t help me and I should ring back tomorrow (Saturday)!

You’re kidding, I thought. Undeterred, I rang again and this time was placed in a queue, only for about five minutes, which is acceptable.

After explaining my problem, and waiting on hold while the kid spoke to his boss, Bigpond said they would send me a cheque for the two debits made after I cancelled the service.

Thanks, what address do you have for me? I asked.

Kalgoorlie. Wrong. That made me think the previous operator I spoke to not only failed to cancel the debit, he probably didn’t organise for me to receive a cheque for my credit balance.

Correct.

Hopefully this matter is now closed.