Why you should always check your bills: University students who were wrongly charged $400 after moving share houses take on electricity giant - and end up not paying a cent
- New Zealand students Lani, Ashley, and Sidney were wrongly overcharged
- The women had a 12-month contract with Trustpower for internet and electricity
- The company sent them a $400 early exit fee for a 24-month contract
- Women fought the company and went to the media to tell their story
- Trustpower blamed the mistake on 'human error' and has apologised
Three New Zealand university students have finally won their battle with an electricity giant after they were wrongly overcharged on their final bill.
Roommates Lani McNamara, Ashley O'Neil and Sidney Hing signed a 12-month contract with Trustpower for internet, phone, electricity and the Neon streaming service last year.
The three girls asked to cancel their deal earlier this year when they decided to move to another house.
However, the company sent them a final bill of $400 - nearly four times the amount they had expected to pay.
'I read through the terms and conditions and I knew that wasn't right,' Lani told 1 News Now.
New Zealand roommates Ashley O'Neil (left) Sidney Hing (center) and Lani McNamara (right) were wrongly charged $400 on their final bill with Trustpower
The three university students had signed up for a 12-month contract of internet, phone, electricity, and Neon streaming service, last year. The company accidentally charged them an early exit fee for a 24-month deal
The friends were aware they would have to pay an early exit fee which they understood to be $95.
When they notified the company of the mistake, Trustpower said their records showed they had signed up for a longer deal and charged them a termination fee for the 24-month contract.
Lani said she asked the company for proof they had signed up for that deal, accusing them of breaching consumer rights.
Despite several attempts to get them to correct the error, Trustpower was adamant the fee had been correctly added to the bill.
Frustrated, the girls decided to go to New Zealand consumer affairs programme Fair Go, to tell their story.
Trustpower has since apologised and blamed the mistake on 'human error.' The company also took care of the final bill which was worth $800
Shortly after, Trustpower apologised admitting the mistake was due to staff using the wrong product code when the girls signed up.
'We failed to provide the service we should have. Her exit fee should have been reversed,' they told the news outlet.
Trustpower claimed staff 'let system data drive their action rather than use common sense.
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'Put simply, we let Lani down.
'We do our best at Trustpower to get it right, but sometimes we get it wrong.
'There is no good reason we didn't make contact with Lani earlier, and we are profusely sorry,' the company said.
Trustpower ultimately wiped the entire final bill, which was worth about $800 total.
