I was lulled into a false sense of security when Victoria Electricity came to my door offering energy-saving light bulbs. Before I knew it, I had signed over from my existing utility provider (I wasn't happy with them anyway). The rates were comparable but I guess I was trying to find a reason to leave my old provider.
As with most utility providers, residents are given a discount for on-time payment. Rather than set up a direct payment from my credit card, I wanted to maintain control. So, each month, I paid them on time albeit somewhat later in the evening (between 8 and 11pm) given the need to do home duties (cooking, cleaning, child-rearing) first.
Once my bills started coming, I noticed that I wasn't receiving the discount. I called them and realized that their call centre is completely offshore. They mentioned that while I paid on time, they take a day to process credit card payments and that's why the discount wasn't applied. To avoid this, they asked me to pay early next time. Of course that didn't sit well. I wanted control of when I paid. The operator at the other end refused to see my side. While I argued that I tend to pay all my bills this way (mobile, broadband, water) and have never had an issue, they are the only business that ran like this. I asked for a supervisor but he also stuck to script and said that this was a condition of my contract. I mentioned that I would be more than happy to leave to which he replied, "I'll connect you to accounts".