Need Advice! 3G are evil!

[Arnie 2Tone]

Do any of you have any experience when it comes to dealing with thoroughly unreasonable mobile phone operators?

Here's the problem:

My missus had a contract with Hutchinson 3G for a mobile phone. After the minimum 18 months on the contract she decided to switch to Orange because it was a cheaper and included bargain broadband. A letter was sent in writing to 3G at the address provided in the contract stating that the contract should be closed, and the direct debit was cancelled just to be on the safe side. However, the letter was returned around a month later because the 3G had changed their address and for some reason hadn't arranged for mail to be forwarded. Then we get a letter from a collection agency, demanding the money for an unpaid month. After a bit of an argument with a 3G phone operator regarding the returned letter and how it was hardly our fault that they changed their address, it was agreed that the outstanding balance would be paid and the account closed for good. A letter was also sent to their new address, re-iterating the wish to close the account, just for good measure.

Now, around 6 months later, we have ANOTHER letter from a debt collection agency demanding nearly £300!!! Apparently the account still hasn't been closed! Unsurprisingly, 3G claim to have no record of the account being cancelled, despite the fact that their operator promised the account was going to be closed, we sent a letter, and that there's been no activity on the phone for some 8 months.

Any idea what we should do? Calling 3G is like banging your head against a brick wall. All they'll do is offer to set up a payment plan and arrange to close the account. But what's to stop them from doing the same thing again? And if we ask to close the account, does that count as an admission that we never tried to close the account in the first place and weaken our chances of not having to pay the £300?

Help!!

 

[rampant]

3g are a bunch of cnuts....

you have to do everything by recorded mail - this is the only way to get through the scumbags

 

[Jupitus]

Get directly in touch with their regulator, fella... Ofcom I think now...

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

Beginning to realise that. Their operators seem to be trained to patronise and annoy.

Ofcom advice is to make a formal complaint to 3G, which 3G will presumeably ignore because they believe they've got the right to screw us out of more money. I think ofcom might actually be a bunch of pussies. I'm just a bit worried that if we make a formal complaint that the DCA will add heaps of unreasonable charges to the alleged debt while 3G take their sweet time responding to the complaint.

 

[Jupitus]

Oh... another ploy... find out their MD's email address from website bullshit and marketing materials and email him directly... I once emailed the CEO of BT about my broadband cockup and he had his senior managers on it within 15 mins...

 

[Jupitus]

Hutchison 3G UK Limited - Google Finance

 

[Frizz]

Oh... another ploy... find out their MD's email address from website bullshit and marketing materials and email him directly... I once emailed the CEO of BT about my broadband cockup and he had his senior managers on it within 15 mins...

That's the best thing ever.

 

[Opt1]

Try to get hold of a supervisor, threaten with Offcom and anything else.

You shouldn't have to pay any money, as the cock up is on their part, so don't let them scare you into having to pay it.

I don't really understand how everything works, but can you speak to your bank etc., or something for advice?

Presumably you should have been sent bills for the charges each month, which would have included details of your usage? If you weren't sent any bills then presumably that's another cock up on their part, as you weren't alerted to the need to pay? :S

Phone operators are awful. Orange gave my girlfriend a whole lot of hassle as they cocked up her Magic Numbers twice and tried to charge her for many, many minutes of calls that should have been free. Their cock up, but they tried to charge her for it and for a long time they claimed there was no way they could refund her.

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

We never recieved any bills for the dates after we first tried to cancel the contract, so it seems like an administrative error on their part. We did change address so I guess it's possible bills might have gone to our previous flat, but they were given the new address so either way they're at fault.

Hutchison 3G UK Limited - Google Finance

Unsurprisingly, those numbers are no longer in service. I'm getting the impression they change their address and contact numbers as often as possible to avoid people who want to complain and to make life as hard as possible for people who want to cancel their contracts.

 

[Will]

Clicky.

 

[Jupitus]

Sorry mate, meant that as a starting point as it givs the boss's names.... I did do some googling though and couldn't find their email convention... perhaps calling their marketing dept. with a bluff and get a sample email address?

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

I found the email address for the CEO and a phone number for the executive office, so that should be a good start. It's such a royal pain in the arse that I should even have to bother though. Surely even the most cretinous of cretins should have the common sense to realise that nobody would stump up cash to a collection agency for a phone that obviously isn't being used and STILL wouldn't cancel the contract. The other pain in the arse is that I'll now have to go out and trash 3G advertising hoardings out of bitter principal and it's bloody cold outdoors...

Still, mobile phone provider incompetence runs both ways. When the missus signed up for her new phone, there was a £120 cashback offer, and she recieved two duplicate cheques on the same day. Both were paid in and cleared without a peep from the company

 

[Jupitus]

I found the email address for the CEO and a phone number for the executive office, so that should be a good start. It's such a royal pain in the arse that I should even have to bother though. Surely even the most cretinous of cretins should have the common sense to realise that nobody would stump up cash to a collection agency for a phone that obviously isn't being used and STILL wouldn't cancel the contract. The other pain in the arse is that I'll now have to go out and trash 3G advertising hoardings out of bitter principal and it's bloody cold outdoors...

Still, mobile phone provider incompetence runs both ways. When the missus signed up for her new phone, there was a £120 cashback offer, and she recieved two duplicate cheques on the same day. Both were paid in and cleared without a peep from the company

Good work... drop him a note saying 'I'm sorry to have to come to you directly, but I thought you should know about some of the problems I have been having.... etc etc...'

Let us know what goes down

 

[Tilda]

Found this with a quick google:

CEO e-mail addresses - CEO email address - chief executive officer - managing director

 

[DaGaffer]

Oh... another ploy... find out their MD's email address from website bullshit and marketing materials and email him directly... I once emailed the CEO of BT about my broadband cockup and he had his senior managers on it within 15 mins...

My Ex does this all the time, she's done it with Vodafone, Tiscali and Sony so far, works like a charm. I think she's gets off on complaining now.

 

[Tom]

I was with Three for a year, they were awful. Indian call centres who didn't understand a word you said and vice versa, a phone that lasted 12 hours a day, and continual dropped lines. They finally sent me a bill for £0.01 which as you may imagine I ignored.

What is the name of the debt collection agency? Remember they can threaten you with whatever they like, but baliffs cannot act without a court order. If anybody turns up don't let them in, no matter what they say, unless they have that court order.

 

[Billargh]

Don't really have anything to contribute really, but 3G are a bunch of wankers .

 

[Trem]

If the amount the debt collectors are trying to recover is disputed there is not a lot they can do, like Tom says it has to go through the courts and be found in their favour for them to recover the bill.

Send the debt collectors a letter telling them that you dispute the amount and you are more than willing to go to court, they use court as a scare tactic and actually court is quite a nice place to spend the day, I enjoy it anyways.

 

[Furr]

Photocopy and record every correspondence you send to a mobile phone company.

In this case I would send a letter of complaint to the 3G people and to Ofcom, get 3G to send you the bills that they are charging you for these should show that you haven't used their service since you reasonably believed you had cancelled.

Usually with phone companies you have to bitch and moan, 3G are an awful terrible company.

 

[Arnie 2Tone]

It looks like the situation has been successfully resolved! A mercifully brief phone call to the executive office seems to have done the trick. They tried to claim they couldn't help at first and were curious as to how we got hold of their number, but after a bit of sweet-talking they agreed that they were at fault (without saying it in so many words) and have promised to wipe the outstanding balance on the account and contact the collection agency to call off the dogs. Will definately be chasing it up with the DCA to be on the safe side though! Don't want bailiffs showing up at our flat and trying to take away our precious things.

Thanks to everyone for their advice! It definately seems to be worthwhile going over the heads of the simpletons in customer service and finding someone higher up to hassle

 

[MYstIC G]

Whenever a debt collection agency do anything like this, always write to them and state that a dispute exists between you and the service provider. I learned this the hard way when Orange put me on the wrong service plan and did fuck all about it other than send me £300.00 bills, after paying the first one I refused when the second arrived and did the above. Debt collection agency wouldn't come near it with a bargepole once they knew there was a dispute as they know it means they won't get anywhere.