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Check your rates: Couple's warning after being overcharged for more than a decade

<p>A disgruntled couple from the NSW south coast town of Kiama have slammed their local council after discovering they have been overcharged by around $8,000 for a rubbish bin they weren’t even using.</p> <p>The couple, Kim and Geoff Oppert reached out to <em>A Current Affair</em> to warn other ratepayers to carefully check the fine print on their bills.</p> <p>The pair had made the decision to downsize their red-lid general waste bin after their daughter moved out of the family home, which ideally would have lowered their rates.</p> <p>Due to a mistake on their bills - clouded by legal jargon - the couple were paying twice as much for their red-lid garbage bin.</p> <p>This meant Kiama Council had been charging them for TWO bins for the past 12 years.</p> <p>"Look at your rates notice and check you're paying for just one bin," Mr Oppert told A Current Affair.</p> <p>"Over 12 years we paid $16,000 in garbage waste disposal and it really should have been half that," he said.</p> <p>"Our rate notice doesn't clearly say how many bins we have. It's bureaucratic speak no one could understand."</p> <p>When the couple finally realised the mistake they went straight to the council.</p> <p>"But they would only give us a refund for two years and quoted some tax act as the reason why," Mr Oppert explained.</p> <p>"It is so unfair and just not right," Mrs Oppert added.</p> <p>"It was their mistake not ours, and they admitted it.”</p> <p>Mr Oppert seeks to warn all Australians paying a council for a bin service, "Check your rates notice and make sure you're not getting ripped off.”</p> <p>Kiama Council were made aware of the situation and gave a partial refund to the couple.</p> <p>"When this matter was brought to our attention, Kiama Council acted quickly to rectify the situation, in accordance with the law, as outlined below.”, a Kiama Municipal Council spokesperson said in a statement.</p> <p>“We refunded the amounts of $805.72 for 2021-22 and $818.61 for 2022-23.</p> <p>The couple have not received a full refund due to tax laws.</p> <p>"The Office of Local Government has advised that, where charges go back more than 1 year, the Recovery of Imposts Tax Act 1963 applies as follows", the spokesperson continued.</p> <p><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2023/03/BINS-PIC.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p>"In addition, Kiama Council is now working on an audit of all our urban and residential waste services to ensure our charges are correct.</p> <p>"Council reminds all ratepayers to check their bills and if anything is unclear, please get in touch with us to discuss, we are always happy to help."</p> <p><em>Image credit: A Current Affair/Kiama Municipal Council</em></p>

Real Estate

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Outraged truckie overcharged $57k in tolls

<p dir="ltr">A truckie who was wrongly charged $57,000 from NSW tolls has slammed the government for offering him credit in return, rather than a refund. </p> <p dir="ltr">Jason Clenton was one of the 45,000 motorists who were charged double on tolls.</p> <p dir="ltr">He slammed Transport for NSW’s offer of credit, which meant he would actually have to use $57,000 worth of tolls to get his money back.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This is an absolute joke by Transport NSW and E-Toll," he told 2GB.</p> <p dir="ltr">"As a business owner, I'm absolutely disgusted."</p> <p dir="ltr">Jason deactivated his account stating that the credit is “absolutely no good for me”. </p> <p dir="ltr">"I don't have an account from E-Toll because of the misuse of stealing money from our business account, unauthorised."</p> <p dir="ltr">Transport for NSW’s Chief Operations Officer Howard Collins apologised for the errors and says they are working on returning people’s money. </p> <p dir="ltr">"Transport for NSW apologises unreservedly once again to all our customers affected by these unacceptable errors. We continue to do everything we can to minimise any further customer impacts," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Roads Minister Natalie Ward also apologised for the damning error claiming it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Money & Banking

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4 common resort extras – and how to avoid them

<p>Below are the most common holiday rip offs and how to make your trip less costly and more enjoyable.</p> <p><strong>1. Avoid the Crowds, Spend Less</strong></p> <p><span>If you’re planning a trip to a popular area, schedule your holiday for less popular times of the year. You’ll find the traffic, crowds and queues markedly reduced, and save a lot of money with the off-season rates.</span></p> <p><strong>2. Watch Out For “Resort Fees”</strong></p> <p><span>Resort rates vary – some prices will include meals and activities, while for others these are additional. When you’re shopping around for your hotel, make a list of all the things you want to do, and get an all-inclusive price for easy comparison.</span></p> <p><strong>3. Don’t Get Overcharged For Drinks</strong></p> <p><span>Don’t fall for the waiter’s “helpful” suggestions to order cocktails by the jug or try a special bottle of wine – you could be landed with a bigger bill than you expect. When asking for water, make it clear that you’re looking for tap water, which should be free (check it’s OK to drink), rather than bottled water, which can attract premium prices.</span></p> <p><strong>4. To Tip Or Not To Tip?</strong></p> <p><span>Certain countries do not traditionally tip. For example, in Australia you will not be expected to leave anything whereas in America you may be chased down the street if a tip is not left, the pursuer demanding to know why their service was not satisfactory. In Spain it is not a custom to tip, however, staff may expect something from tourists. Don’t get caught out. Check before you travel and make sure you’re not leaving too much, or too little.</span></p> <p>Do you know of any others? Let us know in the comments!</p> <p class="p1"><em>This article first appeared in <a href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/travel/tips/4-Common-Resort-Extras-and-How-to-Avoid-Them">Reader’s Digest.</a> For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=articles&amp;utm_campaign=RDSUB&amp;keycode=WRA87V">here’s our best subscription offer.</a></em></p> <p><img style="width: 100px !important; height: 100px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7820640/1.png" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f30947086c8e47b89cb076eb5bb9b3e2" /></p>

Travel Trouble

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Sydney lawyer overcharged elderly woman $137,543

<p>Sydney lawyer Victor Berger has been struck off the roll of solicitors, after it was revealed that he overcharged a frail, elderly client $137,545 for “non-legal” work.</p> <p>Months before the woman passed way, Mr Berger sent her family a whopping $176,800 bill, with most of the charges coming from personal phone calls to the woman to check on her health, her relationships with her children and housework.</p> <p>This case is among more than 70 complaints against Mr Berger, which saw the Civil and Administrative Tribunal order his removal from the roll of local lawyers last week.</p> <p>The tribunal found him guilty of a wide range of misconducts, including overcharging, misappropriating funds and failing to properly disclose costs.</p> <p>"The clients who were found to be victims of the practitioner's misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct were not Rabbis; they were not members of parliament, judges, senior counsel or prominent members of the community," the tribunal's judgment said.</p> <p>"Some of them were old; some were frail; some had cognitive decline; and some lacked the support of family and friends.</p> <p>"The tribunal has concluded that the professional misconduct and the unsatisfactory professional conduct were aspects of the practitioner's behaviour that he concealed from most of the people he mixed with in the community and in his charitable, professional and religious activities."</p> <p>Have you ever had an issue with a solicitor? Or do you know someone who has? Let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you. </p>

Money & Banking

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Orthopaedic surgeons overcharging patients by thousands

<p>Medibank report has found some orthopaedic surgeons are overcharging patients by thousands of dollars, stressing the importance of shopping around for the best price.</p> <p>The report highlighted the shocking disparity in surgeon fees across Australia when out-of-pocket fees, complication rates and expertise are taken into account.</p> <p>The study found the average cost of a hip replacement varied by more than $20,000, while the average costs for knee replacements ranged from $17,797 to $30,285 and knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair ranged from $5076 to $13,950.</p> <p>Medibank chief medical officer Dr Linda Swan said this report was a sign patients and their referring GPs really should do their research before settling on surgeon.</p> <p>"There is a lot more to selecting a doctor than taking the first person that is recommended to you," Dr Swan said.</p> <p>"(Cost) should be part of the referral process. They should be asking questions like 'What is the expertise of this doctor?', 'How many procedures have they done?', 'What costs will I incur?', 'What hospitals will this doctor be able to walk right into?' "</p> <p>Dr Swan also argued the report should be seen as a prompt for health authorities to start investigating the disparities in price, and the forces driving this.</p> <p>"When we see large amounts of variation, then somewhere along the line something may not be working well... whether it's waste, or not having the appropriate standards of even errors in the health system.</p> <p>"It really should cause people to stop and ask questions."</p> <p>Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) president John Batten added, “"This is about looking at the quality of care in the system and how we can use these reports as an educative process: where there are surgeons that are outliers, how can they improve their practice in line with their peers?</p> <p>"We are committed to continuous improvement in clinical practice in Australia."</p> <p>What are your thoughts? Do you think we’re being taken to the cleaners by surgeons?</p>

News

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Butchers and greengrocers overcharging customers

<p>Butchers and greengrocers have been singled out amongst the worst performing retailers when it comes to <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/money-banking/2017/02/food-prices-set-to-rise-for-aussie-shoppers/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>accurate product weights and pricing</strong></span></a>, according to the National Measurement Institute’s (NMI) 2015-16 compliance report.</p> <p>While the NMI is prevented by law from naming and shaming specific businesses, the report found 42 per cent of the 642 meat retail business and 50 per cent of the 332 fruit and vegetable retailers audited were non-compliant with industry standards.</p> <p>Businesses that were described as ‘non-compliant’ used weighing instruments incorrectly, and therefore passed the incorrect price for the <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/money-banking/2017/03/shoppers-overwhelmed-by-overabundance-of-choice/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>goods on to customers</strong></span></a>.</p> <p>Martin Clark, chief executive of NSW Chamber of Fruit and Vegetable Industries, defended the businesses in a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Fairfax Media</strong></em></span></a> interview, “We're seeing a rise in pre-packaged products, like apples, because they're convenient.</p> <p>“What's happening is the fruit and vegetables are correctly labelled when they're packed, but because they lose moisture over time, there's shrinkage, and that's causing the variation.”</p> <p>The NMI issued a total of 2938 non-compliance notices last year.</p> <p>Consumer advocate Christopher Zinn told <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Fairfax Media</strong></em></span></a> consumers should expect better, explaining, “In Moses' days they managed to get the scales right, it shouldn't be impossible in this day and age when there are so many digital measuring devices.</p> <p>“It's also important that we maintain a system where there's a clear weight or volume measure on the front of pack so that consumers can look at that and know what the size is.”</p> <p>What do you think? Should we expect better from our butchers and greengrocers? Or is the NMI being unduly harsh in their treatment of these businesses?</p>

Money & Banking

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