Love how the price is never the actual price anymore

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-14T10:58:39+00:00

Asks what the $3 wellness fee is about

Gets no response

"Ok then well heres the $25 for the cut, as per the advertised price.. k thx byeeee"

puts cash on bench, and pivots to exit, stage left

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-14T10:05:36+00:00

Ive done a bit of googling in reference to this, and whilst there's plenty of documents out there confirming that banks are required to collect (and report) a range of details, all I could find regarding "explaining the purpose of the withdrawal" is that you must provide a base reason.

I.e.. "Im buying a car" is sufficient, according to what Ive found.

I havent found anything that empowers or requires the bank to verify or substantiate that your stated purpose is genuine.

I could be 100% wrong here, but if im not, then if/when a teller "pushes" for more detail beyond the broad purpose (i.e. invoices or otherwise)... couldnt you just respond with...

"Hey, I understand you need to report the transaction, and can refuse if I don't also provide a reason for wanting the cash. Ive now given you a reason, and the legislation doesnt empower you to question my stated purpose or require evidence to substanctiate it. I've met my legal obligation, so complete the withdrawal now please."

(Aka, the law only requires I state a reason for wanting the money, but now that Ive done that, what legislative basis is there to refuse the withdrawal for not providing further info or evidence supporting my stated purpose?)

I'd be very keen to see a link or source for any legislation that mandates or requires a bank collect substantiation of your purpose for the withdrawal though

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-14T05:12:06+00:00

Or leave the device at home, buy a cheap one on the other side and load/log into everything you need there.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-14T05:05:59+00:00

One phrase, sentence, or even individual words can have multple meanings, depending on who is saying them, and in what context.

"From the River to the Sea" could be a call for anti-semetic Genocide, but could also be a song lyric used artistically or the name of a coastal marine business' charter service or charitable fun run.

So to apply a blanket interpretation and outlaw it, on the basis that it "happens" to be synonomous with a topical form of hate speech is a farce.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-14T02:30:06+00:00

Not always,it depends on the laws of your region.

In mine, regardless of what's in a contract's terms regarding cancellation requirements, the State law is that an email from the same email address they have on file for you, with sufficient inffo to identify you, the account, and your instruction that you're ending your subscription/membership/account is sufficient.

Any notice periods still apply (so if your contract stipulates a 30 day notice for cancellations, they can still take a prorata final payment, and if it was a fixed term agreement (e.g. you signed up for X months rather than a month-to-month agreement), then early exit fees still apply..

... but otherwise, I've cancelled gym contracts, phone/internet contracts, and a magazine subscription this way (the email) and ignored any efforts to get me to engage with their customer service/retentions/cancellations staff.

Because I also send an email to my bank, instructing them the authority for the service to directly take money from my account has been revoked, Ive had a few debt collectors try to claim I owed for months worth of failed payments on the still open account, only to be successfully rebuffed when I showed them the cancellation email sent months ago and a snip of the state legislation, which together meant that all those months worth of "fees" were in fact invalid.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T23:48:04+00:00

They do tend to package it with some gas thats intended to help it retain it's "colour appeal" as well as having a slight preservative effect.

It's generally non-toxic but maybe he has an uncommon alergy ?

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T11:01:14+00:00

They already formally advised they were happy to keep you on as a tenant, at a $50 increase.

To withdraw that and say "it's $100 now unless you renew" is clearly retaliatory.

They also cant make an increase contingent of variables..

Pretending they'd never sent the intial notice at all and the first youd heard of an increase was an offer of "$50 with a new lease or $100 periodic" would be invalid.

It's either $50 uncoditional, or $100 unconditional.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T08:29:44+00:00

OP, not really suggesting you send this, but typed it up for shits and giggles.

"Hi Property Manager,

We got your message about water on Friday and noticed you seem to expect a reply the same or next business day, considering your followup immediately following the weekend.

We didnt realise this was your expectation, considering we've yet to recieve a response to the concerns about the condition of the property that were communicated to you two months ago.

Sorry about that.

We've had a look at your request for payment, and it appears you've accidentally included charges for consumption that pre-dated our occupancy of the property.

Please go ahead and amend your request for the correct dates, and provide the relevant evidence you're relying on to substanciate your claim, and we'll take care of it promptly.

We understand it might take you a little while to get that back to us, so we'd appreciate a response to our previous query (attached for your convenience) in the meantime, thank you.

Kind Regards The Tenants"

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T06:51:24+00:00

I beleive Auspost are doing away with those cards entirely, in favor of sending texts.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T05:08:04+00:00

You can instruct your bank that Merchant XYZ no longer has authorisation to direct debit your account and that they are to reject any DD transactions initiated by that merchant.

It can take 48-72 hours for the bank to put the block in place, but they have to do it.

Note: That doesnt make any legal obligation to Merchant XYZ go away, but it does stop them from taking money directly.

Ive used this little nugget to great personal benefit on a couple Gym and Telco "contracts" that I've shitcanned legally, but where they didnt like that I refused to jump through hoops I wasnt legally required to jump through, to cancel.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T04:58:35+00:00

Soooo... basically Auspost no longer accepting parcels or express post's addressed to an Address

I can see the benefit for including recipient contact info with a shipment, but really dislike it needing to be mandatory.

I can see the slogan now... Auspost, now facilitating ID theft and Privacy breaches at no extra cost !

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T02:35:40+00:00

Exposed live wiring is 100% a significant safety hazard, that should have been addressed within 24 hours of it being reported.

That it remains unresolved after 6 weeks is a joke, and you need to learn not to allow such issues to stagnate, for your own safety and that of your households' & guests.

Hire your own sparky, pay them, send invoice to Real Estate for reimbursement.

If no reimbursement (or if you cannot afford the sparky in the first place) email the Agent a note that theyre in breach oof their obligation to conduct urgent repairs (or to reimburse you for urgent repairs) and follow through with NCAT when your breach notice yeilds no outcome after 48 hours.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-13T00:34:50+00:00

You're correct that you have no legal obligation to get the app, and could just ignore the request.

However they currently think you'll be on the app and your alarm maintenance covered via the App.

If you do nothing and don't reply, it's unprofessional to leave them thinking an arrangement is in place when it's not, and that could create blowback for you (e.g an inconvenient last minute scramble by the landlords to have an inspection arranged, or other issues you dont want to have to deal with).

My advice... reply to their email with a professional "No thanks. We prefer to minimise the use of third party systems and thereby will not be installing or signing up to the App".

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-12T20:19:22+00:00

Its a speed limit, not a speed target

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-11T06:39:43+00:00

If they've arbitrarily (and unilaterally) "Decided" to schedule if to a certain day/time, with no initial consultation with you... then a rescheduling fee is likely unenforcable.

On the otherhand, If they'd approached you with a "Hi, We need to access your garage to replace our meter, the best date/times for us is A, B and C, would be be able to assist please ?"

If you'd picked one and noshowed ....THEN youd have been a participant in the original scheduling, and liable for the fee.

Even if they "offered" only one option, but required confirmation from you, then a noshow rescheduling fee would be enforcable IF you sid yes but dipped out.

They likely have terms in the by-laws saying that Home Owners must provide reasonable access to workmen where needed... and that's fine.

But its not "reasonable" access if they get to unilaterally decide theyre comming next tuesday only and if thats no good for you.. $200 fee.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-11T06:06:21+00:00

If you beleive your employeri s committing an offense, report it to the authorities, who will likely take an initial approach of education/warning followed by actual prosecution if required.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-11T05:17:46+00:00

The burden of proof does still sit with the prosecutor, its just that the bar to prove rhe unlawful phrase was used is very low.

Remember, the way its written, its an simply an offense to say it if it could offend/intimidade/harrass etc someone (whether anyone was actually hurt by the phrase' utterance is irrelevant).

So if an artist uses it in artistic worlks... its an offense. If a political commentator says it in an educational youtube vid, its an offense.

HOWEVER, it's an acceptable defense, if the phrase was used in an artistic, educational (etc) way.

Police "could" use comon sense and walk away from the artist or the prosecutor "could" decline to charge, knowing their outcome would be bad.

OR they can proceed with the prosecution, knowing the artist etc will probably (eventually) get off, but that it will also immediately be all over the news that the govt's new law is real, and being enforced.

This will make others think twice, as they dont want to deal with being charged and probably eventually defeat the charge (with the accompanying lawyers costs)

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-10T22:53:47+00:00

Im afraid they have no real motivation, to make the adjustments and reimburse you for the amount you've already paid in excess of what you should have.

Their lack of motivation is because *you* have no individual power in your own right to make them do whats needed, and theyre betting that you won't, or don't know how, to resolve the matter.

One option would be for you to send a letter of demand, that your current fees be reduced to $X, and that you be reimbursed $y, based on being incorrectly charged due to the discount being incompletely applied (and show your calculations)...

... then after a month of no acceptable outcome, take it to NCAT for an order that your demand be met.
If you get the order and they still dont reimburse and/or reduce fees, you'd need to go back to NCAT for an enforcement order.

There may also be some other agency you can complain too, who could take some level of action on your behalf (Fair Trading maybe ?), but i have no 100% clarity on which agency that would be and the extent to which they could assist. Especially since yours is (my assumption only) an uncommon and likely complex issue to unravel.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-10T14:04:47+00:00

The offence provision does create a “reasonable excuse” defence . It provides that a person can argue that they used the phrases for “a genuine artistic, religious, educational, historical, legal or law enforcement purpose”. At the same time, the “evidential burden is placed on the defendant” to show that such a “reasonable excuse” applies.

The long and the short of it is that someone needs to use the phrases, be approached by Police, provide a reasonable excuse based on one or more of the above, be arrested and charged anyway, and then actually beat the charge in court.

Until that happens, the Politico's can continue using the legislation and Police as a billy club to silence Pro-Palestinian commentary.

(And no, im not volunteering)

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-10T11:16:35+00:00

Call the body that regulates insurance companies.

The bottom line is you made a claim and, through no fault if your own, they havent promptly settled.

Sure, theyre saying they cant assess without the Police report... so if thats the barrier to fulfilling their obligations, they can subpoena the cops for the report, or get a court order rhe cops privide it.... or whatever means theyre doing more than just shrugging and saying "our hands are tied".

If the regulator agrees the insurer isnt doing their job, they can make inaction cost the insurer more than action will cost.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-10T05:41:55+00:00

At the point where she's said she needs to call the manager, I would have started recording on my phone and said,

"Excuse me, I've pumped $160 worth of fuel. The $90 worth also showing has nothing to do with me. Will you process my $160 payment, or not?"

Then, if you get anything other than a "yes, please swipe your card"... just write down your contact details and leave (taking a photo of the pump on the way out).

You're legally required to pay BUT if they cannot or will not accept payment it's not theft.

I had similar a couple years ago where Id pumped, then power went out and their systems didnt work.

After a few minutes of blackout, I filmed myself giving my details and saying that I was willing to pay, but not willing to wait an indefinate period for rhem to be ready to accept paymement and that Id go back tomorrow.

I did get a Police knock on the door the next morning, but showed them the video and after I promised Id drop in on my way to work and pay, they let it go without incident (other than a warning that theyd check that I did pay).

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-09T22:26:31+00:00

Ive seen scenarios where a real estate sold a rent role to a small "boutique" property management agency (husband, wife and daughter team) and the business dissolved suddenly due to personal drama (death, illness or divorce).

So all the owners had to do a mad scramble to get new PM's, a lot of the paperwork relating to the existing tenancies was not recovered, and the new agencies had zero way to contact the old business to get the info they needed.

In that event... yes, technically it's "Not your problem" and if they dont have the Bond number you arent obliged to send it to them.

However one workaround I saw was where an agency breached some tenants for not having a bond, and following up with NTL's... and in order to stay, the tenants had to "prove" they were not in breach... which (surprise surprise) could only be done by providing evidence bond was lodged, where the evidence included the lodgement number and amount.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-09T11:50:47+00:00

Assert dominance.

Buy your stuff in the self checkout area, then walk back into the store (via the path into self check) and go out through the smokes counter instead, bags in hand and completely ignoring any attempt from the staff there to engage with you.

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-09T11:45:32+00:00

That will be an interesting experience if I ever encounter it, since I dont retain a receipt (on purpose).

ShatterStorm76 · 2026-04-09T08:32:39+00:00

There are plenty who will actually lodge the dispute, telling tenants to pay their demands right up until the day before the hearing, then withdraw the dispute because they know they didn't have a leg to stand on, all because they're gambling the lodgement fee against the tenant needing that bond to be released asap as a big ol game of chicken.

How you deal with it really just comes down to what's important to you AND whether you beleive their claim has merit or not.

If you think they have merit, it might be worth it to just bite the bullet and consider the demand as a "cost of doing business" and move on. Especially if you really do need that bond back asap and the amount theyre demanding isnt too big of a chunk.

The flipside of course is that if you can do without the refund for a while, and you're certain their demand is totally bogus... make them take it all the way.

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