BB supplier trying to charge me £1700 for a month's access!
richardk29
Posts: 3 Newbie
Hi all,
I've got a Chess broadband package (I know....don't) for my small business and my normal bill is £50 per month. Last month, I was astonished to find my bill was coming in at £1700, with seemingly no explanation why. Chess say our download/upload limit has been smashed for that month, but I don't see how. PCs aren't infected, we don't download films or anything, and haven't done anything out of the ordinary - it's baffling!
Initially I rang them a couple of weeks ago. They apologised, said they'd sort it out and suggested I moved to an unlimited tariff. Naively, I agreed, and even worse, I went on holiday and forgot to cancel the direct debit as a precaution.
I return from holiday this week to find that they've taken the funds. I ring up, get an extremely apologetic girl on the phone who rings me back later and lets me know it will be refunded before Friday.
I ring today (starting to smell a rat) as no refund has been received, and am told by the guy on the phone that he feels it should be refunded, but he's not sure if 'some jobsworth' manager is blocking it, as they say it's legitimately taken. He's talking very quickly, stating the call is recorded and asking me to confirm details etc. I begin to get a bit short, and he tells me he will have the refund done by midday (which he doesn't).
I don't trust the guy's words, so I ring the bank and explain the problem to them. They say they can carry out a direct debit reversal, as that's part of the guarantee (and they have - the funds are back). However, they then investigate the issue and if it turns out the company who took the funds are in the right, they can take them back again.
I never heard back from Chess, and to be honest each time I speak to them on the phone, I feel like I'm being hussled! They've been absolutely shocking so far. My concern is that the bank will investigate, Chess will be able to throw some numbers at them to say they've billed legitimately and fairly (even though an 'unlimited' BB package is only £20 more per month, not £1,650) and I won't be able to prove otherwise. I feel completely stuck and very anxious about the whole thing.
Any advice?
Thanks
I've got a Chess broadband package (I know....don't) for my small business and my normal bill is £50 per month. Last month, I was astonished to find my bill was coming in at £1700, with seemingly no explanation why. Chess say our download/upload limit has been smashed for that month, but I don't see how. PCs aren't infected, we don't download films or anything, and haven't done anything out of the ordinary - it's baffling!
Initially I rang them a couple of weeks ago. They apologised, said they'd sort it out and suggested I moved to an unlimited tariff. Naively, I agreed, and even worse, I went on holiday and forgot to cancel the direct debit as a precaution.
I return from holiday this week to find that they've taken the funds. I ring up, get an extremely apologetic girl on the phone who rings me back later and lets me know it will be refunded before Friday.
I ring today (starting to smell a rat) as no refund has been received, and am told by the guy on the phone that he feels it should be refunded, but he's not sure if 'some jobsworth' manager is blocking it, as they say it's legitimately taken. He's talking very quickly, stating the call is recorded and asking me to confirm details etc. I begin to get a bit short, and he tells me he will have the refund done by midday (which he doesn't).
I don't trust the guy's words, so I ring the bank and explain the problem to them. They say they can carry out a direct debit reversal, as that's part of the guarantee (and they have - the funds are back). However, they then investigate the issue and if it turns out the company who took the funds are in the right, they can take them back again.
I never heard back from Chess, and to be honest each time I speak to them on the phone, I feel like I'm being hussled! They've been absolutely shocking so far. My concern is that the bank will investigate, Chess will be able to throw some numbers at them to say they've billed legitimately and fairly (even though an 'unlimited' BB package is only £20 more per month, not £1,650) and I won't be able to prove otherwise. I feel completely stuck and very anxious about the whole thing.
Any advice?
Thanks
0
Comments
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richardk29 wrote: »Hi all,
I've got a Chess broadband package (I know....don't) for my small business and my normal bill is £50 per month. Last month, I was astonished to find my bill was coming in at £1700, with seemingly no explanation why. Chess say our download/upload limit has been smashed for that month, but I don't see how. PCs aren't infected, we don't download films or anything, and haven't done anything out of the ordinary - it's baffling!
Initially I rang them a couple of weeks ago. They apologised, said they'd sort it out and suggested I moved to an unlimited tariff. Naively, I agreed, and even worse, I went on holiday and forgot to cancel the direct debit as a precaution.
I return from holiday this week to find that they've taken the funds. I ring up, get an extremely apologetic girl on the phone who rings me back later and lets me know it will be refunded before Friday.
I ring today (starting to smell a rat) as no refund has been received, and am told by the guy on the phone that he feels it should be refunded, but he's not sure if 'some jobsworth' manager is blocking it, as they say it's legitimately taken. He's talking very quickly, stating the call is recorded and asking me to confirm details etc. I begin to get a bit short, and he tells me he will have the refund done by midday (which he doesn't).
I don't trust the guy's words, so I ring the bank and explain the problem to them. They say they can carry out a direct debit reversal, as that's part of the guarantee (and they have - the funds are back). However, they then investigate the issue and if it turns out the company who took the funds are in the right, they can take them back again.
I never heard back from Chess, and to be honest each time I speak to them on the phone, I feel like I'm being hussled! They've been absolutely shocking so far. My concern is that the bank will investigate, Chess will be able to throw some numbers at them to say they've billed legitimately and fairly (even though an 'unlimited' BB package is only £20 more per month, not £1,650) and I won't be able to prove otherwise. I feel completely stuck and very anxious about the whole thing.
Any advice?
Thanks
Have you contacted your bank ?, doesn't the direct debit guarantee scheme cover this ?, they effectively get the money back, with the priviso that if you have no right the 'refund' you will pay it back0 -
Cheers for replying. It's covered by the final two paragraphs.0
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richardk29 wrote: »Cheers for replying. It's covered by the final two paragraphs.
Oh, should have read the entire post , I see your dilemma , short of cleaning out your bank account, and opening a new one somewhere else , if your ISP says the charge is valid and asks for the funds again, your bank may be duty bound to comply, can you not ask your bank under no circumstances to to pay, then if Chess felt they were entitled to that sum of money they would have to use the courts to get it, and you could at least have your say.
You could ask your bank to cancel he direct debit, then cancel with Chess, but if you moved to an unlimited bandwidth plan, they may ask for early termination fees,
Do Chess have any social media presence ?, if they do, pester them on there to agree they made an error, and that they won't try to reclaim the sum, but short of moving bank it may be an anxious wait to see if they do anything0 -
Thanks for the reply.
So far the bank have credited the account with the sum, and now I'm basically waiting for Chess to get in contact with me and say "Oi!" At that point I'll explain why I had to do what I had to do, and that I'm not happy with the way I've been billed (and the way the whole saga has been dealt with). I've also now cancelled the direct debit, as per instruction from the bank.
I'm not an unreasonable man (I'd like to think!) If they'd sent a bill for £50 and then there was a £100 charge on the top for going over a limit (for reasons I'm still not entirely sure of) then fine, I'd probably have left it there and got on with identifying the data transfer issue (which could well be an issue this end), but trying to charge me £1700 is completely ridiculous! The fact they're dodging me doesn't look good on their part.
I'll give the social media thing a go too.0 -
Go to the CEO.0
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