E7even - service. (merged threads)

Ted_Hutchinson

sasparillo wrote:

Previously one was able to make a complaint direct to the Trading Standards Office in the area where the business premises of the company concerned was situated.

However the government has now set up an 0845 call centre, consumerdirect. All complaints have to be registered first with consumer direct.

I haven't found Trading Standards to be any use at all. Had a long chat with my local office to no effect and similar useless exchange with Consumerdirect. I think it's going to be a case of getting the law changed so BT Wholesale have a duty to clear lines where providers are behaving unreasonably.
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spammeplease

Way, way back in this thread I tried the Otelo route. I quickly got a MAC code which didn't work, so I e-mailed e7 and asked them to put a cease order on the line, which did. I am now on with PIPEX and it is soooo much faster. If I had known that before, I would have just gone to them in the first place. Still no progress on a refund, however. I guess their accounts dept has connectivity problems!

sasparillo

I know what you mean, Ted. But in the end, Trading Standards have more direct responsibility than OFCOM, the agenda of which many would say is to protect the industry and lessen any damage a rogue or incompetent ISP does to the reputation of the industry rather than for the benefit of consumer.

There's nothing to stop you going to Watchdog or the trade press of course which may well spur trading standards to action. But in order to make a complaint you have to contact the Trading Standards office in the area where the business premises of E7even operates which, in this case, is the Kent Trading Standards Office (assuming you have registered with Consumer Direct). They are responsible for the Maidstone patch.

I didn't actually get a denial from them that Trading Standards was responsible. Only the response that they couldn't *usually* pursue individual complaints as they didn't have the resources but *usually* pursued general campaigns.

I then pointed out the massive number of complaints put in against E7even so they would not be acting on behalf of individuals in any case but for a group of consumers in order to get E7even to act correctly.

I feel people are being diverted to OFCOM (Consumerdirect told me to go to OFCOM. They didn't tell me to go to Kent Trading Standards) and if enough people do go to Trading Standards, it may force them to act. Otherwise there's not much point in any of us paying for the employees in Trading Standards or the Department of Trade and Industry to have a job, is there? As I say, I think too many people are channelled off to OFCOM and don't think about going back to Trading Standards after registering with Consumerdirect (part of the Department of Trade and Industry). It doesn't make sense for the ConsumerDirect call centre to exist either if it isn't Trading Standards (Dept of Trade & Industry/Office of Fair Trading) which is responsible.



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bubbles2007

Incase you don't know about the other forum...

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=e7even

System

I am forced to write this post at a library, simply because I havd not had an internet connection since 23rd march (e7even)

Like hundreds, possibly thousands, I read with interest last year, posts regarding e7even and eventually elected to join them in June '05. Until last week, I found their service to be perfect for my neds and found that they responded with return calls on the odd occassion they were required.
On Mon. March 20th, they emailed me apologising for not introducing the increased speed I had agreed to in Nov'05 and gave me the option of a refund or allow them to proceed with the upgrade within days.I felt the latter was best.

On Thu 23rd, I could NOT get connected and despite many attempts each, it has remained that way and I remain without a connection.

Four telephone calls to each of their premium rate answer phone numbers has brought no response. Two emails sent on my behalf has brought a ticket and promise of a reply within 24 hrs, but this hasn't happened.

BT tell me that the line is OK. I am of the opinion that the speed HAS been increased but the line cannot support it. To that BT say "tell your provider".

I am of the opinion that to set up a new provider, I would need a mac address from e7even. Maybe someone would confirm this. If this is NOT the case, then I would gladly move elsewhere, if I do need it, then clearly I'm stuck.

Given that all embers of MSE come here to learn how to say money, on this occassion it seems all of us in turn that have subscribed to e7even.com now face a future without a connection to the internet, without our investment being returned,without means of contacting them and having to invest further money on their premium rate calls, in the hope they will respond.

Before my connection ceased, I seem to remember reading on MSE that someone was suggesting funds were being taken from their account by e7even, however I may have got that wrong. Whilst laying awake at night worrying about this and how it will end, if it does, I can't help thinking that e7even have every subscriber to their service'd bank details, so if they were to.......................this is quite worrying.

I would like to think that Martin, who is currently enoying much success with his MSE site, enjoying considerable tv and radio exposure, enjoying good book sales might just take a look at the number of hits this thread has, also on the ADSL site, and the ISPreview site and consider if there is anything he can do on our behalf. We all came here looking to save money and now find ourselves in quite different circumstances. I am a pensioner, I can ill afford to loose my investment, I can ill afford to pay £1 for 20 mins at the library to access information, I can also ill afford to create a situation where my angina kicks in.

Sadly I find myself thinking "if only I hadn't read MSE", ....."if only I hadn't believed in MSE"...."if only I hadn't joined e7even". I do apologise for taking up space and time, but I've a feeling I may be echoing what many other people are saying. On pension day with a few more £1's in my pocket, I will return to see if or what has happened and if anyone has been able to throw a lifeline. Would that I could, I would read all the hundreds of posts that have gone before, but time is running out. islandman

elvis_bloggs

My neighbour is now with Wanadoo after leaving E7, she did have a MAC but as yet has had no refund, it has now been a month.

It's a pity we can't get Martin on the case of E7's hopelessness, after all a good way to save money is not to get involved with E7even, I'm thinking of all the extra expense you have gone to Islandman and others too. I can't wait till my time is up with E7 and then I shall get another ISP, it's a bit like serving a sentence of some kind.

bubbles2007

while martin does *very* well financially with commission made from affiliate schemes on the site that people click and three/four figure appearance fees each time he is on tv and radio, you can't really blame the site or anyone for the failure of a service to not deliver. it is purely the service to blame. a recommendation is given in good faith, to try to help others experience the good that being dished out - and it is ultimately you that decides to take up a recommendation.

with regards to getting your money back and successfully communication with the company I suggest you go through this thread to see the options discussed including credit card chargebacks, county court action and alternative communication methods.

System

Time has allowed a quick return and I thank elvis for the comment which I agree with.

It was not my intention to "blame the site" if that is how it came across, then that's unfortnate, I'm literally watching the clock in an alien enviroment. I don't want my money back, sorry if that's how it came across, I simply would LIKE someone, hopefully martin, to sit back and think to himself, how unfortunate so many people are finding themselves in this mess and unable to do anything, all because they took notice of information on MSE

Edinburghlass_2

In fact Martin himself never recommended e7even in his broadband article and at no time did he have an affiliate link to e7even. Any affiliate link in all of Martin's articles are marked as such and there is always a non-affiliate link for readers to link through to a website.

These affiliate links enable Martin to keep MSE ad-free, run the forums and donate large amounts of money to charity.

At the top of every page in the forum you will find this...

This is an open forum, posts aren't endorsed by Moneysavingexpert.com, pls exercise caution when acting on any info.

This means that all posts by MSE users are our own experiences and/or opinions, including my own unless I use the words "Martin has asked me".

Obviously the situation with e7even is very frustrating for all concerned and I will bring the attention of The Forum Team to the last few posts on this thread.

paul_h

islandman wrote:

I simply would LIKE someone, hopefully martin, to sit back and think to himself, how unfortunate so many people are finding themselves in this mess and unable to do anything, all because they took notice of information on MSE

As EdinburghLass says, posts that are made on this type of open forum are purely the opinion of the poster, and the information is made available to you to make your own decisions based upon these opinions. The following is at the top of every forum web page:

WARNING: This is an open forum, posts aren't endorsed by Moneysavingexpert.com, pls exercise caution when acting on any info.

I think it's tad unfair to in some way associate Martin or MSE with the problems e7even have inflicted upon some users, the responsibility for all of these problems lies solely at the feet of e7even.

I'm pretty sure there was never any 'official line' recommending e7even, the postings recommending them have been made in the Referrer's board, where you have to understand that people posting these offers have a vested interest. However, judging by my early experiences with e7even, all positive, I don't think that any of the referrers could have forseen this scale of this fiasco.

It's very unfortunate that e7even have got themselves into this mess, and I do hope that they sort things out eventually. I myself have had a relatively problem free service from e7even throughout these 'network upgrades' and I really cannot fault it at the moment - so the problems are certainly not universal.

However, customer support from e7even is currently very poor - I recently emailed them a general enquiry and it took nearly two weeks to reply - they do seem to be processing queries and support tickets, but it is taking a ridiculously long time. Added to that, it seems that everytime you contact them, it is added to your open support ticket - which then goes to the back of the queue.

I suspect they are simply overwhelmed by the problems they have.