Dear Telkom
Today I received a bill from Telkom for the amount of R1.00. As I had cancelled my telephone line in August, I was very surprised.
On examining the receipt for my previous bill, it appears that the teller made a mistake and entered an amount R1,00 short. I thus consent that I am in debt to your fine company for the total amount of R1,00.
In the 12 months my line was operational I paid your company a total of R4806,62. I am now broke.
It is my sincerest hope that we can arrange a monthly payment plan, so that I may be able to pay my debt in a manner which is affordable to me. I will pay Telkom 1 cent a month for 117 months, making a total of R1,17 over the next 10 years. The extra 17 cents includes interest for 1 year only, not compounded monthly. I think this is fair for two reasons.
Firstly, I feel that if the interest on this R1,00 owing were to be compounded monthly over the next 10 years, as is standard Telkom practice, then I may be entrapped into a cycle of debt and poverty forever. And as our esteemed President maintains, poverty causes Aids. I do not wish to get Aids over failure to pay my Telkom bill.
Secondly, I feel that a 10 year payment plan is appropriate, given the recent revelations in a Mail & Guardian article. The article stated that many South Africans were paying more for their telephone and Internet costs than they were paying on the bonds on their houses. As telecommunication costs are thus as expensive as houses, I see no reason why I should not be allowed to repay my Telkom debt in a similar manner to which people repay their bonds.
Telkom will be pleased to hear that this month’s payment of 1 cent as already been deposited. I ask that you continue to send me a bill so that I may be able to track my monthly payments to you.
With good faith,
Debbie Love
.
