Charged by your old ISP?

[britesprite]

Please see this thread.

 

I'm looking for people who have switched ISPs and then continued to get billed by their original ISP.

 

Don't care why, so long as the original ISP sent you a bill after you had started to get service from the new one and that bill covered a period after the service was changed over. Don't care which ISPs either (for now anyway).

 

All I'm after is when this happened and what your resolution was (paid, ignored them, caved in to the bailiffs, got taken to court etc). If you paid money I may know a way to get it back ... but don't under any circumstances send me any personal info. I don't want to know ... nothing personal ;)

 

Either reply to this thread or PM me.

 

 

Cheers!

[TaxedAndConfused]

Arrgh, I posted in another thread - so here goes (copied and edited)

 

I moved from Tosscali to BT and they continued to bill me for 3 months.

 

So I said can I have my payments back.

 

They said yes, of course.

 

Then I said can I have my premium rate call charges back for phoning your support line ?

 

They said no. I could use their email service.

 

Then I pointed out it required a Tosscali account to be active and mine wasn't.

 

They said yes to the refund.

 

The funniest part was the letter from Tosscali demanding a signature as proof of ID before they would deal with my complaint and sort out a refund.

 

Funny first of all because I have never signed anything I have written to them (I ordered and paid online), so they have not one clue what my signature may look like.

 

Secondly there is nothing in the Data Protection Act saying they need a signature - they were happy to send bills here for example.

 

And thirdly - and this was the killer - it arrived the day after my refund cheque.

 

Tosscali are mince, avoid avoid.

[SweetRevenge]

Britesprite, I am one of these poor souls - please see my reply to your other thread.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh:mad:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/broadband-other-internet-issues/128926-tiscali-others-charging-service.html

[britesprite]

Taxed & Confused / SweetRevenge,

 

Thanks for your replies here and in the other thread. FYI I got it in writing from TalkTalk that the fault lies with BT Openreach, but as a consumer we have no direct contract with them (grrr...).

 

I suggest you continue to put pressure on the ISP you have moved *to*, asking how come they (or people acting on their behalf .. ie. BT Openreach) did not cancel your broadband service with the ISP you left. You won't get any useful reply but you need to play their silly little game. It goes something like this:

 

1) phone up and complain bitterly .. they will do nothing and fob you off

2) find their Terms of Service and write to the Complaints/Customer Service Manager (address should be in the ToS somewhere). Likely as not they'll simply ignore you. Make sure the letter is sent Signed For delivery.

3) wait 60 days. You then have the right to escalate the issue to an ombudsman/regulator.

4) write to the ombudsman/regulator (again Signed For). Do some more waiting ... but they WILL get back to you.

5) do as they say. Usually someone will now sit up and pay attention to you.

 

These are only guidelines based upon my own experience. Sadly there is no size fits all answer as there are different organisations and the ISPs get to shoose which one they're a member of. For TalkTalk, they're a member of OTELO; you have to wait 60 days after writing to TT but before writing to OTLEO; OTELO will then tell you that because its more than 2 weeks since you were last in contact with TT you must get in contact with them again; you do that and they suddenly start being nice to you.

 

Different timelines etc will apply to different organisations, but the same general principle applies: keep your cool, play their silly little game and once a regulator/ombudsman is involved they'll generally pay attention. The rules are all in the ToS somewhere, which is usually available online.

 

 

Above all remember this: BT Openreach do the day-to-day admin for the line coming into your property, but you have no contractual relationship with them; they're acting as agents for your ISP. So if they cock up, your ISP has to carry the can; they cannot fob you off onto BT. As it is physically impossible to have 2 broadband providers over 1 phone line it makes sense to put pressure on your current ISP as they are the one who is currently providing you with a service.

 

Many ISPs will tell you that they do not cover for BT's cock ups. Fine, just follow the complaints procedure as above as see what the regulator/ombudsman has to say about it. Chances are the ISP will recant.

 

 

Sorry to ramble so. I'm no expert and if anyone wishes to correct me please feel free. In the meantime, hope this helps.

[TaxedAndConfused]

As I understand the process from here :

 

MAC Process | Ofcom

 

its up to the ISPs to sort out telling each other that a customer has moved. I was told by Tosscali that their own systems cocked up and the migration team didn't tell the billing team, but only after I got it in writing that BT had told them.

 

Basically they couldn't deny being told so admitted their own service was mince.