TalkTalk charged me for non restitution of Freeview Box after contract expired

[Cris66]

In October 2015 I entered a contract with TalkTalk which expired in January 2016.

 

As part of this contract I was sent a Freeview Box EVEN if I stated that I did not want it because I had no TV set.

 

When the contract expired I was on a rolling contract until on 11/02/2016, when I decided to join Virgin Media.

 

Before leaving TalkTalk I repeatedly contacted the staff by phone, chat and online

to make sure my contract was indeed expired

and to be advised on what to do with the Freeview Box.

 

I was always told the contract was expired and I did not need to return the box.

Excerpt of the transcript from chats and online replies from TalkTalk advisors are at the bottom of this post.

 

However:

On the 11/ 02/2016 I was charged £75 for the non restitution of the Freeview Box

and immediately credited £ 75 back with a fee waiver.

 

On the 29/03/2016 I was charged again £ 75 for the non-restitution of the same box.

 

On the 19/04/2016

a Customer Service Manager told me that my contract terminated on February 2015

but not the 'TV portion' of it, following a phone call I made to them on 19/02/2015,

(of which I have absolutely no recollection), in which 'I terminated the TV contract early'.

However, she looked at the transcripts of the various advisors and agreed that I had been erroneously informed,

and requested a refund of £75.

 

On the 19/04/2016 the Online community executive told me:

'Your account is in credit for £75.

A refund has been requested to send it back to your bank. Should be with you in 3-5 days. '

 

On 25/ 04/2016 a Customer Service Manager called me to inform me that the refund was cancelled

as the Financial Team refused the claim as I cancelled my contract early.

 

I rejected their argument on the basis that the staff repeatedly gave me the wrong advice,

which led to the non restitution of the box and the Customer Service manager

told me that she would escalate it again to the Financial Team

 

I also would like to listen to the phone call in which I allegedly terminated a portion of my contract 12 days early!!

 

I have no trust whatsoever in their procedure and I would like to escalate this further.

Any advice is very appreciated

Cris

 

Here are some of excerpt of the replies I was given by TalkTalk staff: 18/01/2016 Chat operator - Shadil

Shadil:

Thanks for your patience, your contract ended on the 24/01/2015. Are you looking to renew your contract with us?

CRistina: are you sure it ended on 24/1 2015? CRistina: 24 February 2015? end

CRistina: 24 January 2015, a year ago?

Shadil:

Your contract ended on the 24/01/2015 and at the moment, you are on a rolling contract month to month contract with us.

19/01/2016 Chat operator - Barbara

19/02/2016 Chat operator - Ordella

Barbara:

Yes if you contract is over the You View Box is yours.



Ordella:

Yes, I do see on the system your contract expired on the 24/01/2015 and you where on a rolling contract until the 11/02/2016

Ordella:

You will be able to keep the you view box because you have reached the end of your contract with TalkTalk.

 

07/03/2016 02:32PM Online community executive:

'Basically the letters are being generated because your TV service shows as starting on the 23.02.2015 and ending 11.02.2016. i.e 12 days short of the full 12 months, but in all reality your contract ended in January.

Its a system glitch causing the letter to be generated and also a bill will be produced showing the £75 fee, But this will be cleared at the same time, you will see this on the bill produced on the 11 March.

The box is yours and does not need to returned. '

'I agree your contract ended in January, however the box was sent regardless of if you connect it or not , it still forms part of the contract, Our system has put a different date on the start for the TV portion of your contract, our system shows it was connected at least once to your router on the 19 Feb 2015.

Again the box is yours and does not need to be returned. '

 

Cris