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Had an insight into why my upstairs neighbours argue so much

The State government has offered a cost-of-living grant to all households.
An electricity credit. To claim the credit, one has to register on the Government Financial Services site.
The lady upstairs was having difficulty with this task, so I offered to help.
This is where I saw what the male half of this couple is up against.
Without being derogatory, the lady is totally disorganised, will not listen to advice and will forge ahead even if that is not the correct way.
The main problems were, registering with valid email addresses and phone numbers.
She had previously attempted to register and had put in incorrect details. Once that happens on government sites it is nigh on impossible to correct, or put it this way, it takes a very long time, going the long way around to come to a successful outcome.
Once I had navigated inputting the correct information, thus a successful registration, the next step was to provide identity documents.
Proof of residency, current lease agreement, copy of bank statement and receipt for electricity paid on the 30th September 2025.
Before I agreed to help her, I asked her if she had the electricity receipt required. She assured me she had.
So, she goes into her phone trying to find it.
For over 10 minutes she is looking, I am watching her scroll, scroll, scroll.
Finally, I ask her if I can have a look. She hands me her phone and I start scrolling. Noticing there are currently 383 emails on her phone. Scrolling through, I notice many of them start out; Rent Arrears.
Seems as though the rent is never paid on time. I did ask her if she was in charge of "running the household" without referencing the Arrears notices.
"Yes, I do, Joe is hopeless at that sort of stuff". Joe is sitting across the way watching Jimmy Kimmel castigate President Trump.
Looking for the electricity receipt I ask her if she actually keeps the receipts, "No, I usually delete them".
This is after telling me she had the receipt.
So I say, "You will need to ring the Rental Agent and ask her to send it to you"
"Oh, she does not like me, we do not get on"

I suppose that is because the bills are not paid on time and the estate agent constantly has to chase up monies owed.
383 emails. Why would someone keep that many?
I look over at Joe, he shakes his head, I go on my way.
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ninalanyon · 70-79, TVIP
Every time I hear or read about people interacting with government websites and ID in other countries, especially English speaking ones, I feel so glad I live in Norway where so much of what you have described is fully automatic and where we have a functioning system for identifying oneself online.

I think it's weird to pay for rent or electricity in response to a bill in the email. Here such bills are sent direct to my bank and I can decide to either let the bank pay them automatically (with a limit that I can set to prevent the creditor asking for too much) or review each one and pay with a single click.

Don't such things exist in Australia?
Gusman · 61-69, M
@ninalanyon As far as I know, there is no such system in Australia. All utility bills go to the household. It is up to the household to pay the bill to the provider, on time.
ninalanyon · 70-79, TVIP
@Gusman No direct debits? Good grief. My bank just notifies me, saying something like: "So and So Electric A/S has sent a bill for xxx kr, it will be paid automatically on zzz in accordance with your AutoGiro agreement". If I haven't set up such an agreement with that creditor it will remind me that I have to take action myself then I can open the bank's app or website and click a button to pay it. Of course not every invoice goes directly to the bank but every recurring bill does.
Gusman · 61-69, M
@ninalanyon A direct debit can be arranged with the utility company and the householder.
Not sure how many people do that. Living in a block of flats as I do, the bill goes to the estate agent who then forwards it to me.
I pay the bill via a third-party company set up by the agent.
ninalanyon · 70-79, TVIP
@Gusman Good grief, sounds like it's pretty much guaranteed to end up with bills not paid on time.
Gusman · 61-69, M
@ninalanyon It does leave it up to the consumer to make sure the bill is paid by some kind of input by the consumer. Lax on the input, bill paying will be late. Incurring the wrath of the estate agent and the utility company. 🙂