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Every public transport utility I know in the USA
sells multiple-trip tickets of one sort or another.
That's paying in advance.  Many cut-rate hotel
deals charge you at the time you book - likewise.

So charging in advance for services is clearly not
illegal or fraudulent in the US and maybe Tina
needs better auditors!

                                        Guy



> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>
> Well, this is very interesting, because routinely mobile phone contracts
> are
> "pay in advance".  Some contracts require you to pay it out in full anyway
> if you quit within a given period - and not just the ones that "give" you
> a
> phone.  And even for the landlines here, it's always pay one month in
> advance, and it's certainly before the service has been rendered.  Maybe
> these types of contracts don't exist in the US?  And what about the
> service
> contracts we have on our instruments?  That's pay in advance.
>
> Bit off-track, perhaps, but I'm just having a similar wrangle here - I
> need
> the users to think ahead about their microscope time, and figure the only
> way to force the issue is to oblige them to budget properly and pay in
> advance.
>
> If only we could change human nature!!!
>
> cheers,
> Rosemary
>
> Dr Rosemary White               [log in to unmask]
> CSIRO Plant Industry            ph.     02-6246 5475
> GPO Box 1600                        fax.     02-6246 5334
> Canberra, ACT 2601
> Australia
>
>
>
>> From: Tina Carvalho <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: Confocal Microscopy List <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 09:31:23 -1000
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: core facility user charges
>>
>> Search the CONFOCAL archive at
>> http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=confocal
>>
>> We used to have a pre-pay system. Federal auditors came in and praised
>> our
>> record-keeping, noted all the adavantages mentioned below, said it was a
>> great idea, and then said it was completely illegal because paying for
>> services before they are rendered is fraud. Insinuated jail time if we
>> did
>> not agree. So we're back to hourly charges, monthly billings, tons of
>> paperwork, no way to help clients encumber funds for upcoming work, and
>> we're always behind on our pay-in-advance service contracts on our
>> electron microscopes. Be careful what you set up!
>>
>> Aloha,
>> Tina
>>
>>> Instead of "annual" charges I think of trying a Pre-Pay system: Groups
>>> buy large chunks of usage hours in advance at discounted rates, hours
>>> are
>>> then taken off their credit.
>>>   Advantages: reduced paper work with billing, clear hourly records for
>>> facility management and funding bodies, cheaper rates for users - and
>>> prepaid money in our account. And it's only one calculation system for
>>> all charges (hourly & prepaid), so easier to handle.
>>
>> ****************************************************************************
>> * Tina (Weatherby) Carvalho               * [log in to unmask]
>>   *
>> * Biological Electron Microscope Facility * (808) 956-6251
>>   *
>> * University of Hawaii at Manoa           *
>> http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/bemf*
>> ****************************************************************************
>>
>


-- 
Associate Professor Guy Cox
Electron Microscope Unit,
University of Sydney,
NSW 2006, Australia

Phone:+61 2 9351 3176    Fax:+61 2 9351 7682
http://www.guycox.net