In the article on overcharging of telecom broadband customers, Telecom retail chief executive Alan Gourdie is quoted as saying:
This fault has emerged over the last 6-7 months since November and it has probably affected seven per cent of our total base.
Further down the same article the herald identify themselves as the ones surfacing the issue with Telecom just a week ago:
The problem came to light a week ago when the Herald was contacted by two Telecom broadband customers with detailed data logs showing over counting of their usage by between 30 and 60 per cent.
The interesting point here being Telecom were either ignorant of the fault in their own billing process, or was aware and chose to do nothing about it until the herald point it out, or has taken 6 months to correct a problem that affects a key part of their business, billing. Either way it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.