Curry's/PC World support agreements

[ConcernedUserGB]

Hi all,

 

I want to post a general warning to check your Curry's/PC World PC Performance/Whatever Happens TWICE.

 

Here is my story.

 

After being alerted to CAG users finding that these agreements do not cover what they think they do and that some users have had payments taken out long after they thought they cancelled agreements, I decided to check mine. Yeah, it couldn't happen to me right!?

 

Firstly, I called to see if laptop batteries were covered by Anything Happens (see further down the forum for the thread regarding this). They aren't. I then decided to cancel an agreement I had for a laptop whose battery had died and for another old laptop I was trading in (see even further down for a thread about my experience with this trade-in experience!).

 

Taking note of the experience of other CAG users I then decided to go through all the old agreements I had paperwork for and ensure they were all cancelled except the one for my most recent laptop. I did this over the phone. I then asked if the (very helpful) customer support agent could then check that I definitely had only one agreement active (for my most recently purchased laptop). He did so, and told me he would send out paperwork to confirm cancellation of the two agreements that I had cancelled during that call.

 

Instead, I got a single letter in the mail to thank me for starting a *new* agreement (on a laptop I no longer own). Say what!!!?

 

I rang up today to find out what had happened. I was told (by a different, but still very helpful customer support agent) that no new agreement had been started, but that I had been sent the wrong paperwork!

 

But then came the real shocker. I was then told that I had an outstanding agreement (active since 2009!!) for another laptop that I gave away nearly two years ago! Say what!!!?

 

Not believing this could have happened to me, I checked my bank account. And lo and behold, there were indeed three lots of payments coming out every month, all with reference numbers which do not correspond with *any* of the support agreement numbers or the direct debit reference numbers I have on the paperwork I have meticulously retained! Say what!!!?

 

I called back and after a very long call (with a very helpful customer support agent) I managed to match up the direct debits coming out of my account with actual agreements -- something I could not do myself as the numbers are not present on the paperwork. In fact, one of these active agreements I do not even have paperwork for! Edit: I have subsequently found this paperwork.

 

In other words, not only was it impossible for me to cross reference the payments with the agreements without making a call to Dixon's, but I have been paying for an agreement since 2009 for a laptop I have long since given away!

 

Now, I have a distinct recollection of trying to cancel an old agreement in-store when I purchased a new laptop some years back. They told me it was not possible to cancel in-store and that this must be done by phone (why Dixon's, why!!?). This I have a memory of doing subsequently, within a few days by phone.

 

After a very long discussion on the phone I have managed to determine roughly the order of events. I originally purchased a laptop from Curry's and it failed within 28 days. I was refunded for that laptop and within one day of the return, I purchased a new laptop from a different PC World store. The support agreement on the original returned laptop is apparently cancelled automatically as a matter of course, due to the return, as one would expect. But Dixon's has no record of me ever having cancelled the agreement on the replacement laptop which I purchased (despite my recollection of making a call to cancel an agreement at some later point).

 

I have absolutely no way of proving that I did cancel the new agreement.

 

Edit: removed some incorrect information here.

 

There is no way for me to investigate this any further. At this point I have to give up and assume I made a mistake and that my recollection is false, or that my recollection is only of cancelling the agreement which was to be cancelled automatically anyway due to refund. I cannot prove that I cancelled the new agreement much later when I bought a subsequent new laptop, gave away my old laptop thus no longer requiring the agreement.

 

Note that £9.99 a month for 3.3 years is nearly £400, probably £200 of which is surplus to requirement.

 

So, I urge all CAG users with support agreements to check your bank statements, and if you aren't sure, call and confirm that all the agreements are cancelled that you think are cancelled. Then call again on another occasion and check again. Ask to check all active agreements AND all old agreements for all addresses you have lived at. It's impossible for me to conceive how the support representative, being so thorough and deliberate and apparently intelligent about it at my request, was unable to tell me that I had this old agreement still active.

 

The only thing I can think of is that a more recent laptop which I have purchased, for which I have an agreement, but for which no direct debits have been taken out yet was *assumed* to be the old active agreement.

 

I have been instructed to call again in a week to check that everything is as it should be, because it wasn't even possible for them to actually cancel the old agreement today since the next payment is "in transit" (and thus a refund of that amount also has to be processed). They have actioned it as cancelled, but because "mistakes can happen", they've asked me to call back to confirm that it has actually been cancelled in a week or so.

 

I'm literally stunned that this has happened, especially after doing due diligence to ensure that it had not happened! Fortunately they will at least refund the most recent payment (presumably the one still "in transit") that has occurred after I rang up to ensure all old unused agreements were cancelled.

 

Fair enough, if I made a mistake then I can't complain about that. But it is annoying that there isn't enough information on record for me to be able to determine if I did. And sure, I should have been checking my statements to check that the right number of payments were coming out each month, not just that I "recognised" all the beneficiaries of the payments. But surely I should be able to match the reference numbers on the actual payments with some information on the paperwork for the agreements themselves. And surely if I call up with the specific intention of cancelling all old agreements and to check that no other old agreements are active, I should be able to do this and have confidence that it is done.

 

I have to accept that the reason I don't have paperwork for the old active agreement is a mistake on my part. Edit: it was -- I found the paperwork. {Removed incorrect guess here}

 

Keep all your old paperwork. Write all dates and details on them. Check your bank statements and if there is still any doubt, check with Dixon's TWICE.

 

I pose the following questions to Dixon's (I know someone from Dixon's monitors this forum):

 

* Why aren't laptop batteries covered? They are cheap enough to just include in a Whatever Happens agreement. They are not "replaced regularly", as they are not disposable, but rechargeable. At the very least, fault due to manufacture defect in batteries SHOULD be covered. It was NOT in my case.

 

* Why is it possible to take out agreements in-store, but not cancel them in-store? Why? Is this even legal in the UK? I thought EU consumer legislation of which the UK is a signatory barred selling contracts which it was not possible to cancel in the same manner in which they were purchased. Please, correct me if I am wrong on this. I'm a bit rusty.

 

* Why don't the reference numbers on my bank statement for the direct debits correspond to numbers on the actual agreements that I am given in store when I purchase a support agreement?

 

* Suggestion: why aren't users emailed or snail mailed once a year to confirm details of all agreements currently active? OK, people move and change their email address without telling you. So, you can't cover everything. But at least you can cover one class of mistakes!

 

* Why was paperwork thanking me for taking out a new agreement sent in lieu of two pieces of paperwork confirming I had cancelled two agreements? This surely shouldn't even be possible!

 

* Why was a polite, intelligent, diligent, patient and deliberate customer support representative unable to see that I had an old active agreement when I specifically asked whether there were any old active agreements and after I had gone through all old active and inactive agreements to check this explicitly with him on the phone? What is wrong with the system you have him using? Note, I have not changed my name or address since this agreement was taken out. It should have been immediately visible.

 

* Why aren't details of *all* past calls kept and records made accessible by your customer service representatives? I was able to determine (to within a month or so) when cancellations that have actually taken effect occurred (apparently even these may not actually take effect until some weeks after I request them due to various circumstances, e.g. the laptop I returned on 30/7/09 didn't have a cancellation showing for its support agreement until 10/9/09, with presumably a subsequent refund for the intervening period). However, I was not able to check whether I made a call some time around 13/2/10 and what it was about, nor whether I made one around 30/7/09 and what it was about. Were such a record retained and available, I could determine when the call I have a recollection of was made, and settle the matter. Edit: ok, for privacy reasons I agree there has to be a limit on how long personal information is retained by Dixon's.

 

Now, I don't know how to get a copy of all telephone calls made from my phones, past and present, to see if I can locate this information myself. Unfortunately, the latest Apple update wiped my entire contact list, most of my texts and past phone calls from my IPhone due to my new laptop not being "authorised" for use with my ITunes account. But, I will see what I can do...

Edited October 1, 2012 by ConcernedUserGB
Updated with corrected information.

[ConcernedUserGB]

Unfortunately my carrier only retains records of calls back to Oct 2010. Probably this is a good thing. And on thinking about it, I wouldn't want Dixon's retaining information about me for longer anyway.

 

And when I attempted to restore my IPhone to get back details of all my old calls, it said, "all media and data on the phone will be wiped". That's exactly what it did when I "backed it up"!!

 

Stymied.

[ConcernedUserGB]

Further investigation reveals the following:

 

I have found receipts for repair of the "replacement" laptop I refer to above (the one I have been making payments on for years without realising).

 

So it seems that this "replacement" laptop apparently also failed and I sent it in for repair. Whilst waiting for the repair I purchased a new laptop. When the one being repaired came back, I gave it away to a friend, as I had a third older laptop that I could use as a backup and really didn't need three. (Ah yes, I recall this bit now. I had a *double* laptop failure. The one sent for repair had a complete, irrecoverable hard drive failure. My backup laptop failed due to a MS Vista problem. Reformat/reload followed by installing Vista security updates took well over 24 hours, making it a particularly memorable and unpleasant experience.)

 

It is at this point that I thought I cancelled the old agreement (I wasn't going to pay for a support arrangement for a laptop I no longer owned). But I can't prove I did this.

 

Lesson learned!!

Edited October 1, 2012 by ConcernedUserGB
Added funny anecdote