Refund of €144,460 for Errors in Invoices. The Rigor of the Analysis
Telefónica assumes the return of €144,460 for errors detected by Lean Focus in the regularization of already closed 2-year landline telephone bills of one of our clients.
With expenses of €450,000 and €465,000 in 2 consecutive years on calls from landlines and equipment and services related to voice telephony and ADSL, our client from the pharmaceutical sector asked us the possibility of re-analyzing all the invoices for that period.
Despite the fact that the billing for those years was regularized, reviewed and accepted, it was decided to review all bills again, separating voice and ADSL services from data (macrolans, symmetrical and links) and mobile telephony that They are in another contract.
Analyzing one by one the more than 16 million voice calls from landlines and the 12,000 contracted services related to voice and ADSL lines, although there are small discrepancies, no error is found that motivates the reopening of the file.
As there are part of the services under a concerted billing scheme, the reconciliations are analyzed again. Payments made when regularizing national and international calls are verified, as well as quotas for voice equipment and associated services, and it is certified that, except for minor discrepancies, invoices and subsequent payments are in accordance with the agreement.
However, it is when analyzing the reconciliations of ADSL services and associated fees, and after several days of separating and grouping the more than 3,000 contracted services and products one by one, that different collection criteria are observed given the grouping random from different services. By having a very atomized set of offices, users and casuistry, and given that own services and third parties are being contracted, they are grouped together creating consumption patterns that adjust to reality. It is then, and after analyzing and trying to understand the criteria for grouping services and possible application of rates by the operator, that possibly misapplied discounts and services that could be duplicated in your billing are observed.
After various checks and meetings with the client, the claim is presented to the operator, with the client’s agreement, and it is denied weeks later.
Once the three parties meet, after a marathon meeting of almost three hours, the operator is presented with an exhaustive detail of the errors, showing the reasons that have caused the discrepancies in billing.
After eight months of claiming, Telefónica de España recognizes the final return of €72,967 and €71,493 in compensation for errors in reconciling invoices from previous years.
Although €148,559 was being claimed, €4,099 more than calculated by the operator, it was decided to accept the refund.