Action line 80903 - telephone billing

  • Published
  • By Anonymous
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Complaint:

I don't understand, and no one can seem to answer, why government service civilians cannot have their home telephone bills directly deducted from our pay? Even if there is some legal issue, why can a drop box not be secured in the finance building for us to pay our bills?

Here is the long process it takes for us to pay one monthly bill: we receive an e-mail of the amount due, we have to print that e-mail, take the money to the ONE person who handles this process, he does something into the computer, we go to the check cashing window, then return to his desk, where he prints us a paid voucher for the bill. Now, several of us have wasted many hours and days trying to pay this bill.

If this one person is out (holiday, vacation etc...) no one else can help you, if you show up and the cash window is not open you cannot be assisted. There are times I have called over and been told that I can only come over in an hour period during my entire work day, and there are times I show up and he is just not available. This seems like a waste of time. All we want to do is pay our bill and the system is way too complicated and time consuming. This is a process definitely worth leaning!

Response:

Unlike the military pay system, government civilians cannot have their telephone service deducted directly from their paychecks. The military pay system has a mechanism, called 'partial pay,' that allows for our phone bills to come right out of our paycheck. The civilian pay system does not; the only choices are an allotment (wouldn't work since phone bill amounts fluctuate month to month) or a debt (also a bad idea, as it takes about 2 months to pay these off.)

However, your suggestion of a drop box is a fine one. We'll do it, and put it in the finance customer service lobby. All you need to do is print your bill and submit it with proper payment in the form of check/money order in a sealed/stapled envelope--no cash, please. The 39 CPTS will check the box daily and forward the deposits to the correct offices for payment processing. Please understand you will not receive a receipt.

You may also mail payments (check/money order) in a sealed envelope. The mailing address is: 39 CPTS Unit 7055 Box 155 APO AE 09824.

Thanks for the idea. It certainly will smooth the process.