Great 'How to make an effective complaint' Hunt

Tozer

thebigbosh wrote: »

I have a telephone company over here called Telefonica who are absolute dicks with their customers. Earlier this year when I signed up for their service, they set out charging me the wrong fee for 3 months (put me on the wrong package) and after months of complaining and no action by them I eventually went to the regulatory agency (like OfCom) and within 5 days they had changed my package to the one I originally wanted and refunded me the difference on the intial 3 months.

Just this week I've noticed that for the past 2 months my direct debits haven't gone through because they raised the price without informing me. Complained to the company, I guarantee nothing is going to happen though. Wait 10 days, contact regulatory authority.

So - my advice, find the regulatory board such as OfCom, Oftel, whatever, and give them a ring.

Now if only I could find something like that for Panama & Copa airlines :-( (never fly with that airline by the way!!)

Telefonica = O2.

NAG_2

PSH999 wrote: »

Does anyone know who the CEO of Phones 4U is? I am in an on-going dispute over a faulty mobile phone.

The phone, which developed multiple faults within 6 weeks of purchase, has already been for repair once and has come back with the same faults.

Despite demanding a refund/replacement under the Sale of Goods Act they are saying that the phone has to go away for repair at least three times before they will consider a refund. Each time it goes away it take upto 3 weeks and I am left without a phone during this time.

It cost £120 so not cheap and I am now at the stage where I will not accept their standard responses anymore.

Thanks,

Its Tim Whiting, CEO, Phones 4U. No email address that i can find on the internet - no surprise there, none of them do if they have any sense.

However, i did just have a look on www.complaintcommunity.com and they do seem to have phones 4 u as a listed complaint organisation
- means they have got the contact details for phones 4 u.

The site lets you post your complaint and then submits it to the company behind the scenes - then (the good bit) the company can manage your complaint with you online using the system. Its a new site but its pretty cool! It also seems a professional site, not the usual ranting site.

I have used it already and it seemed to be pretty good (I am part of a groupcomplaint with the NIA exhibition centre - pretty cool, you can join with others with the same complaint).

If i find any more info on the email address, i will let you know.

Tiggers

Does anyone else become frustrated with call centres that are not in UK. I have made complaints to a mobile phone company by letter and have still received a callback from a centre that is obviously not based in the UK. It is so frustrating - I have now gone direct to Chief Exec, so will see what happens now.:mad:

Sent to Chief Exec and still receive a callback from INDIA

joshtbh

Tiggers, in a word - YES!!!!

NAG_2

omen666 wrote: »

Never had an issue when I send off a e-mail to the CEO or MD.

Always had a immediate response from them or their PA and resolved that day to a more than satisfactory standard.
This includes:
O2
Tescos
Ocado and
Sky
I use this site and it is pure gold. Has the majority of e-mail addresses for most used companies and is updated regularly

http://www.connectotel.com/marcus/ceoemail.html

I agree, i tried it aswell - it has got quite dated though, eg with the bank mergers etc recently.

bexy87

What's the best way to complain about bank charges? I'm a student and I am usually very good at not going over my overdraft, but my loan is late and I went over it and couldn't get back in it, so kept getting charged every time a direct debit went out. I couldn't get back into it because they kept charging me, so it was just a vicious cycle.

I rang the bank to explain and they said they couldn't extend my overdraft til I was back in it, so I had to wait until I had some money (refund for nhs glasses and some football tickets I won I sold to my mum- desperate times lol)

Then I was back in my overdraft so I rang to extend it, they said they can't extend it at this time because I'd gone over my overdraft and they could review this in a few months if I manage to stay in my overdraft. But they were perfectly happy to take about 300 pound off me in charges.

I asked about how to complain about the charges and the lady on the phone gave me an address to write to but told me it would take a while to get a decision because of the court case.

I'm back in my overdraft now and expecting my loan within a week after some pushing of the lea and slc...is there any way to get money back quicker off the bank? Is writing to a CEO effective in banking cases?

Bexy

hollydays

Before you contact anyone ,know the relevant section of the law (by ringing consumer direct).

I find pleasant phone contact works quickest for me.

Several posters on here get confused between "not fit for purpose" "faulty" and " not as described "-this is where Consumer direct comes in. If you get your facts wrong to start with, they will treat you with contempt.

Always ask the persons name and designation,and staff or staff id number , and dept.,if they can give it, and note the time and date.I find them a LOT less unhelpful if you can pin down exactly who they are(then they know they will be held accountable for what they have told you).

If they state something you know is wrong, say "so you are saying that....",and get them to repeat it.

When they have done,say "so, could you explain why that is?" .
Then "but under the Sale of Goods Act....", (for example)
Keep clearly repeating your facts and quizzing them why,when they start going round in circles,this is the time to ask for the supervisor or Manager.

If they later dispute what they said to you,and listen to the call,it will be clear you have not misunderstood.

However when dealing with telecommunications companies,forget all this,they are mostly impossible.

We recently got a quote from sky for a package,and we felt the price quoted was too low.We got them to repeat the price and t &cs three times on the phone.When they later tried to tell us that they were going to charge us more we suggest they listen to the call.We later got the price MUCH reduced (by about£150 in all i think because of the misseling).so it pays to repeat and get the persons name.
I later emailed to thank them for the way they handled the issue.

Aphra

I find this works wonders:
(1) Put WITHOUT PREJUDICE at the top. It shows you know something about the law.
(2) State the amount of compensation you require (be reasonable).
(3) Ask them, if they are not willing to pay the amount stated, to send you A LETTER OF REFUSAL within 21 days.
(4) Be polite, and thank them "for your attention to this matter".

Tozer

Aphra wrote: »

I find this works wonders:
(1) Put WITHOUT PREJUDICE at the top. It shows you know something about the law.
(2) State the amount of compensation you require (be reasonable).
(3) Ask them, if they are not willing to pay the amount stated, to send you A LETTER OF REFUSAL within 21 days.
(4) Be polite, and thank them "for your attention to this matter".

Putting 'without prejudice' doesn't make a huge deal of difference.

I can't see how a "letter of refusal" adds anything either.

irrelevant

Quick tip I've not seen mentioned yet: if you phone up, be polite but firm.

Don't lose your temper, and certainly don't swear, as you'll end up shouting at a brick wall, or at least a dead phone line! Write down notes about what you want to say, and what answers you want, as it's easy to let a conversation be drawn away from your specific query. When they answer, ask for their full name and a direct phone number or extension number, and write them on your notes (along with date and time!)

If you find you have trouble with a company promising action, then doing nothing, record the phone calls if you can, but certainly don't be afraid of telling them you're recording even if you're not. They are less likely to try and fob you off if they think their words will come back to bite them.

Finally, if you know the outcome you want, try and work WITH the person you are talking to to acheive it, rather than against them.

It might grate when you've had sh*t service to be nice to the people, but the person you're talking to is unlikely to have had anything to do with what went wrong, and is likely sick and tired of being shouted at all day. To get someone calling who (apparently) apreciates their efforts to resolve the matter will make them try just that little harder.