howdy all, first post and hopefully i'll give a lot more to the place than i take out of it.
my issue arises due to the end of my contract with a certain phone and internet provider: before the end of my contract (and well within the notice periods as specified by my contract) i ntified them that a) i would be porting i.e not availing of their service anymore and b) i wanted the money returned to me in the format of a cheque rather than a credit. this was in March, contract ended on 2nd may
on 21st may i received a letter saying that my deposit was being returned and, somewhat bizarrely asking me to go on direct debit for my non existent account. So a couple of days later after no sign of a cheque i rang to ask where it was and was told that it had been issued on 21st and that i should have it soon as it had to come from donegal.
the next day, i received a bill from them charging me €100 disconnection fee which had been credited against my deposit and they were direct debiting my account (i know, they still had an active mandate apparently) 50. I rang again, asked to speak to a supervisor as i wanted to escalate, and the girl said that she would put me on a in a minute but needed to get a gist of the complaint from me. i explained the above and after being on hold for 15 mins she came back and said the previous guy should have told me that it was a credit and not a cheque her manager had listened to my previous call and that now i would be refunded the 100 plus 20 as an apology and i'd have the cheque in a couple of days. happy days or so i thought.
by the 18th of june, still no sign of my cheque so i rang again, asked for an escalation call. I explained what had transpired in the last 2 calls and the lady said she would talk to credit control and see what they could do.again after another 15 mins on hold, i was told that she would call me back tomorrow with a resolution.
19th june i was left a vooicemail saying that the cheque would issue in a maximum of 10 working days. as she didnt leave a direct number to call back i waited my ten days.
on 4th july, and still no sign of a cheque, i did a bit of googling and found out (on this site) that this company has a particular complaints procedure. so i followed that procedure and called the non advertised number. once again i found myself explaining the whole rigmarole and asking for an escalation which again was danced around. the girl said that she would have a resolution for me by COB the next day. on the monday following, as i hadnt received a callback, i rang back and luckily got the girl i spoke to and asked why she hadnt called back or escalated the matter. she said that she was a manager and accordingly it had been escalated. she said that just that monring she had received an email saying they would have a cheque that day. i asked for it to be couriered to me in the circumstances which was refused but was told i'd have it the next day.
on the thursday, having not received a cheque i rang again and spoke to another girl and there didnt appear to be any logging of the complaint on the system but that she thought the cheque had issued and she would ring credit control. i queried why she had to ring credit when the other operators had checked their system to see if a cheque had issued and i asked her point blank if there was a cheque issued on the monday and she rpelied no. I asked for and was finally given my complaint reference number together with the head of department.
I then wrote a leter to the head of department sent by email and post. the next day i received an email notification sayking my complaint had been closed. I rang again and explained in the absence of my money being returned plus rectification for the lies and being deprived if my money that the complaint would remain open until this had been resolved. I resent the complaint letter. their own policies allow 2 days in which to acknowledge complaints and to have a timeframe for resolution set out, as yet ive received not so much as a callback or an acknowledgement.
as the money remains outstanding and they are in breach of consumer legislation, is the small claims court the best place for this complaint, and can o claim for damages due to the constant lying and frustration of me by the company if i lodge a claim and also, should i log complaints with comreg and NCA ?
thanks in advance and massive apologies for the length of my waffle
forgot to say that i've logged a data protection request in respect of logs of my calls and any Digital Audio Recordings of the phone calls
my issue arises due to the end of my contract with a certain phone and internet provider: before the end of my contract (and well within the notice periods as specified by my contract) i ntified them that a) i would be porting i.e not availing of their service anymore and b) i wanted the money returned to me in the format of a cheque rather than a credit. this was in March, contract ended on 2nd may
on 21st may i received a letter saying that my deposit was being returned and, somewhat bizarrely asking me to go on direct debit for my non existent account. So a couple of days later after no sign of a cheque i rang to ask where it was and was told that it had been issued on 21st and that i should have it soon as it had to come from donegal.
the next day, i received a bill from them charging me €100 disconnection fee which had been credited against my deposit and they were direct debiting my account (i know, they still had an active mandate apparently) 50. I rang again, asked to speak to a supervisor as i wanted to escalate, and the girl said that she would put me on a in a minute but needed to get a gist of the complaint from me. i explained the above and after being on hold for 15 mins she came back and said the previous guy should have told me that it was a credit and not a cheque her manager had listened to my previous call and that now i would be refunded the 100 plus 20 as an apology and i'd have the cheque in a couple of days. happy days or so i thought.
by the 18th of june, still no sign of my cheque so i rang again, asked for an escalation call. I explained what had transpired in the last 2 calls and the lady said she would talk to credit control and see what they could do.again after another 15 mins on hold, i was told that she would call me back tomorrow with a resolution.
19th june i was left a vooicemail saying that the cheque would issue in a maximum of 10 working days. as she didnt leave a direct number to call back i waited my ten days.
on 4th july, and still no sign of a cheque, i did a bit of googling and found out (on this site) that this company has a particular complaints procedure. so i followed that procedure and called the non advertised number. once again i found myself explaining the whole rigmarole and asking for an escalation which again was danced around. the girl said that she would have a resolution for me by COB the next day. on the monday following, as i hadnt received a callback, i rang back and luckily got the girl i spoke to and asked why she hadnt called back or escalated the matter. she said that she was a manager and accordingly it had been escalated. she said that just that monring she had received an email saying they would have a cheque that day. i asked for it to be couriered to me in the circumstances which was refused but was told i'd have it the next day.
on the thursday, having not received a cheque i rang again and spoke to another girl and there didnt appear to be any logging of the complaint on the system but that she thought the cheque had issued and she would ring credit control. i queried why she had to ring credit when the other operators had checked their system to see if a cheque had issued and i asked her point blank if there was a cheque issued on the monday and she rpelied no. I asked for and was finally given my complaint reference number together with the head of department.
I then wrote a leter to the head of department sent by email and post. the next day i received an email notification sayking my complaint had been closed. I rang again and explained in the absence of my money being returned plus rectification for the lies and being deprived if my money that the complaint would remain open until this had been resolved. I resent the complaint letter. their own policies allow 2 days in which to acknowledge complaints and to have a timeframe for resolution set out, as yet ive received not so much as a callback or an acknowledgement.
as the money remains outstanding and they are in breach of consumer legislation, is the small claims court the best place for this complaint, and can o claim for damages due to the constant lying and frustration of me by the company if i lodge a claim and also, should i log complaints with comreg and NCA ?
thanks in advance and massive apologies for the length of my waffle
forgot to say that i've logged a data protection request in respect of logs of my calls and any Digital Audio Recordings of the phone calls