For those who don’t know, 3 is the brand name of a mobile phone network here in Australia and other countries. I was with 3 for one and a half years. They were very cheap, though never spectacularly good. I only moved to Optus because 3 didn’t offer the iPhone (and they kept trying to tell me a Nokia N95 8GB was just as good).

Anyway, I paid out my contract early in order to move, and thought that was the end of 3.

Until they sent me a bill the next month for $1.61. At first I couldn’t figure it out – but then I realised that I pay my bills with 3 via direct debit of my credit card, and they charge a surcharge on the debit amount that you pay the following month.

So I owed $1.61 from the previous bill. So they took that out of my debit card too. Of course I wondered if the obvious would happen.

And yep – I got a bill today. For 1 cent. The surcharge on the $1.61 that was the surcharge on my final actual bill.

So I guess that will come off my debit card too. Will they send me another one next month for the surcharge on my 1 cent direct debit?