Telecoms credit reclaiming. Guide discussion

[MSE Jenny]

This is the discussion thread for the following guide:

Telecoms credit reclaiming

Please add any comments below.

[markyk]

Hi

This is a great campaign. However, I already know that Tiscali owe me £17ish because they sent me a final statement and asked us to call to claim it.

6 months and several calls to India and then to a higher complaints number in Hertfordshire (thank you to saynoto0870 for that) and still nothing from them.

The Indian call centre simply repeat their mantra that it has missed this months billing cycle and will appear very soon (a bit odd as there are no account details for them to pay them inot aymore) ( no cheque sent either!

I spoke to a Richard Lawrence who deals with complaints at a higher level, he stated that the call centre will just repeat what they are told to say and cannot escalate complaints. He promised to get the money back to us. That was 3 months ago and still nothing!! Oh and he now does not answer his phone or voicemail!!

And they wonder why they are on Watchdog!!

[markyk]

Oh and Richard Lawrence no longer seems to answer his phone or his voicemail!!!

[Sarahp5698]

I have just contacted Sky, I had 2 accounts with them 1 closed 2006 the other closed 2008, I am not owed any money back.
Also contacted 3 as I've had 4 contracts with them over the last few years and I'm not owed anything from them either. Worth trying though.

[uk69gb]

I was with Onetel - which was bought by TalkTalk. I had £7+ credit at the end of the contract. I called TalkTalk when I realised the credit had not been transferred to my new TalkTalk account. They said that although they are now the same company they are unable to transfer any balance (but I am sure they would have transferred a debit balance - lol ) .... I have called them a number of times over the last 2 years. Eventually they told me I must give them my credit card number to receive the credit ..... but my old account was in my mother's name and she does not have/use a credit card !!! .... gggrrrrrrr

[udchishti]

Hi ,

Would anyone know if this includes Pay as you Go credit. I'm with O2 and have about £60 worth of credit on my account. Can/Should that be refunded ?

Thanks

[sheppie2305]

Did as instructed and to my amazement found I have a £144 refund due to me from Talktalk. Well impressed. Thank you Martin

[Digdug]

My flatmate had massive problems with Tiscali - he switched internet to Virgin, rang to cancel Tiscali but they still kept sending him bills month after month. Every time he would ring them and say he'd cancelled, and try to re-cancel, but it seems they deliberately kept ignoring him and the bills kept coming. Trouble is, he's Lithuanian and didn't really know his rights, so he paid the bills because he was scared they would take him to court. This was before I knew him. When I found out I was outraged. I wrote a letter of complaint to Tiscali in his name, explaining that he had repeatedly cancelled, only paid cos he was scared and asked for the money back. We even sent copies of the Virgin contract and bills to prove he had switched service. They wrote back saying they had no record of the cancellations he'd claimed to have made so wouldn't refnd any money. Unfortunately he hadn't had the nouse to take any names or put anything in writing at the time of his many attempted cancellations. So we'd given up home of ever getting the money back, but I wonder if with this recent pressure from the regulator we could take it further? I realise this thread is about reclaiming unrefunded credit so not really the same issue, but thought I'd ask in case anyone has any opinions or suggestions.

[reelcrazy]

I rang O2 as I left a few months ago and was told at that time I was not owed any money.

Anyway, today they admitted I was £18 in credit and it would be repaid in to my bank within 10 days.

Result!

[Salamanderfire]

Fantastic............ yes, I called SKY and low and behold I did have credit on my account they had neglected to let me know about £6.42 ! It is going to take three weeks until it shows up on my account.......... but hey ho better that than not at all..........BIG thank you

[skk0208]

Originally Posted by Digdug

My flatmate had massive problems with Tiscali - he switched internet to Virgin, rang to cancel Tiscali but they still kept sending him bills month after month. Every time he would ring them and say he'd cancelled, and try to re-cancel, but it seems they deliberately kept ignoring him and the bills kept coming. Trouble is, he's Lithuanian and didn't really know his rights, so he paid the bills because he was scared they would take him to court. This was before I knew him. When I found out I was outraged. I wrote a letter of complaint to Tiscali in his name, explaining that he had repeatedly cancelled, only paid cos he was scared and asked for the money back. We even sent copies of the Virgin contract and bills to prove he had switched service. They wrote back saying they had no record of the cancellations he'd claimed to have made so wouldn't refnd any money. Unfortunately he hadn't had the nouse to take any names or put anything in writing at the time of his many attempted cancellations. So we'd given up home of ever getting the money back, but I wonder if with this recent pressure from the regulator we could take it further? I realise this thread is about reclaiming unrefunded credit so not really the same issue, but thought I'd ask in case anyone has any opinions or suggestions.

Hi with problems such as this I recommend getting written correspondance for everything but obviously it is too late for earlier letters. Explain the situation in writing and get a written rejection. Once this has happened I recommend going to Otelo;

Google them and they should come up

This the UK communications ombudsman and can take on your complaint.

Good luck and let me know if its successful.

[nitelite]

I joined sky last year but then cancelled within the cooling off period. Money had been taken from my account, I did query this but it wasn't refunded and over time I simply forgot to chase it....till now. Thanks to Martin's alert, I now have £30.70 coming back to me in the next 48 hours
Thankyou Martin

[BargainBinMan]

I had two 3 to go accounts from Three mobile. I was told that the credit couldn't be refunded when I closed the accounts ages ago.

I wasn't happy about it and always held on to my statements.

I received Martin's newsletter telling us to ask about unclaimed credit and it inspired me to phone up and again asked for a refund. This time I was instantly refunded. I am getting £13

Don't know whats changed but Thanks go to Martin and his team!!!!

[Editor_1]

I moved house in July and had to change phone numbers (even though we were only moving next door - apparently you can only keep your number if you are a BT customer?!). This meant I had to close one TalkTalk account and open a new TalkTalk account. I had assumed that the credit from the old account would be transferred to the new one. It wasn't! I have also been checking my bank statements to see if the credit had been paid. I had no idea you had to phone up to get the credit back. So after yesterday's MSE email I phone and got just over £14 back immediately. So thank you.

PLEASE NOTE THOUGH THE PHONE NUMBER FOR TALKTALK CUSTOMERS IS 0870 4441820. THE NUMBER ON THE MSE WEBSITE GIVEN FOR TALKTALK IS INCORRECT. THAT NUMBER IS FOR OLD TISCALI CUSTOMERS WHO ARE NOW PART OF TALKTALK. THEY CANNOT HELP THOSE WHO ARE ORIGINAL TALKTALK CUSTOMERS.

[Nicholas-bloody-Parsons]

Virgin media are sending me £6 via cheque..............call took two minutes.

[MSE Jenny]

Originally Posted by Editor_1

PLEASE NOTE THOUGH THE PHONE NUMBER FOR TALKTALK CUSTOMERS IS 0870 4441820. THE NUMBER ON THE MSE WEBSITE GIVEN FOR TALKTALK IS INCORRECT. THAT NUMBER IS FOR OLD TISCALI CUSTOMERS WHO ARE NOW PART OF TALKTALK. THEY CANNOT HELP THOSE WHO ARE ORIGINAL TALKTALK CUSTOMERS.

Thanks Editor, we've updated the guide with that number.

[lesley1955]

As a previous Talktalk customer who is 100% sure I had credit left on my account I rang them but was told by an automated voice machine that my phone number is not recognised - so I emailed them and was told I need to tell them my 10 digit account number, as I no longer have this paperwork I don't know what to do next, any advice would be appreciated, thanks Lesley

[tee pee]

Cannot believe this, just made my husband phone Sky -we left in 2007. and after a very long call ( which will prb costs £3 on the phone bill) they said sorry we owe you a £40 credit.!!!!!! Today has yet again reinorced why I love this site so very very much
Tee

[leslieroy]

Originally Posted by uk69gb

I was with Onetel - which was bought by TalkTalk. I had £7+ credit at the end of the contract. I called TalkTalk when I realised the credit had not been transferred to my new TalkTalk account. They said that although they are now the same company they are unable to transfer any balance (but I am sure they would have transferred a debit balance - lol ) .... I have called them a number of times over the last 2 years. Eventually they told me I must give them my credit card number to receive the credit ..... but my old account was in my mother's name and she does not have/use a credit card !!! .... gggrrrrrrr

I also was with Onetel and now with Talk Talk and am having the same trouble. It seems Talk Talk just don't want to know. They won't even tell me if I have any credit! Can anyone out there help?

[Georgian Gent]

Originally Posted by udchishti

Hi ,

Would anyone know if this includes Pay as you Go credit. I'm with O2 and have about £60 worth of credit on my account. Can/Should that be refunded ?

Thanks

They say that it cannot be refunded. I put £20 credit on my phone in 2007 and then stopped using the sim. I rang them to try and reclaim this credit and was told that after six months records are wiped and therefore there was no record of that transaction. I tried arguing with them, about how I felt they should have kept the data for 6 years. In all, I was on the landline phone for forty minutes about this. I am very disappointed.