Dusseldorf - This can happen if left to work the machinery: The utility company now have a reminder sent to more than 23 cents a customer.
"I thought of a bad joke," says Klaus-Dieter Försterling. He had paid his last installment for the electricity bill wrong.
"Instead of 60.23 € I had typed only 60 € for online banking. My mistake, "said Försterling.
That then goes out but the 23-cent warning that is more expensive than the total demand, is on the technology in the public utilities.
"This is our fully automated, because no one looks more about it," said spokesman Michael Pützhofen. Especially with rate agreements, the reminders would be sent in any case. "We'll talk about it but how can we prevent such situations in future."
This madness is not an isolated case: Time and again such bills to the citizens. "When we are reminded, for example, with property tax consistently on principle," says Klaus Wischnitzki, head of the Düsseldorf city treasury.
Small amounts of fees or other items to be transferred instead to the next bill. This saves up another letter.
Reminders are sent when the tax requires at least 10 €. An economically sensible decision. For an order for payment costs, staff costs included, precisely those 10 €.
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