The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has apologised after debt collectors chased a bushfire pilot for managed isolation (MIQ) fees he had already paid.
Matt Nixon returned from fighting Australian bushfires as a helicopter pilot in March 2021, spending two weeks in MIQ at the Holiday Inn at Auckland Airport.
Matt Nixon saving a turtle during the 2019-20 Australian bushfires.
But debt collectors Milton Graham chased the Wairarapa man for the $3100 fee recently as July 19, a month after MBIE received proof of payment from Nixon.
Nixon, who is currently in Papua New Guinea flying, said being chased was terrible and he didn’t need the headache.
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He said he had told MBIE and provided proof he had paid, but had still received texts and emails from Milton Graham in July.
“In their cacophony of errors it’s gone through their clusterf…ery and they’ve sent me to the debt collectors,” the pilot said.
He said going through MIQ was a necessity at the time and his long tours were compounded by having to spend two weeks in a hotel.
Supplied/Supplied
Matt Nixon was chased by debt collectors for his MIQ stay even after he had provided proof of payment to MBIE.
“We would like to sincerely apologise again for the inconvenience this miscommunication between our teams has cause you and for the time it took to resolve,” Andre Boland, manager of credit control at MBIE, said.
MBIE only issued the invoice to Nixon on March 11, 2022, a year after his MIQ stay. Payment was due on June 9, but an invoice was paid by Nixon’s employer on March 25, an invoice shows.
MBIE said that the reference number provided by the company was incorrect, which is what slowed them down, and they received payment in June.
The invoice mix-up was not, however, what caused them to fail to update the debt collectors.
Supplied/Supplied
Nixon is currently in Papua New Guinea flying helicopters.
“Mr Nixon did email proof of payment to MIQ on 27 June 2022, unfortunately Mr Nixon’s account was not updated to show that he had paid,” an MIQ spokesperson said.
MIQ said it has now reconciled the payment and informed Milton Graham.
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“We have apologised to him for the inconvenience this has caused and the time it took to resolve,” said the spokesperson.
“MIQ are processing a large volume of invoices and payments and we’re committed to resolving issues as soon as possible, unfortunately in this case that didn’t happen as soon it should have.”
MIlton Graham did not respond to questions given to them by deadline.
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