top up tv

pet-d

Has Anyone Been Caught Out By Top Up Tv

I Bought My Daughter A Digital Tv Recorder With Free Top Up Tv And Free Setanta Sport For The 08-09 Football Season.to Register You Have To Pay £20 Via A Credit Card ,she Had No Card So I Paid On My Card, Explaining That It Was For My Daughter And That I Did Not Live At Her Address . No Problem Was The Reply The £20 Is Only For Registration. That Was In November Since Then I Have Been Stopped £29,99 In December And £14,99 In January Top Up Tv Refused Point Blank To Give Me An Explination Because I did Not Live At The Address That The Recorder Was Registered.....has Anyone Else Had This Problem And How Is The Best Way To Resolve It???
Yours Hopefully
Petd

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL]

omen666

You will need to get your daughter to call up as the registered user, alternatively you could get the wife to do it purporting to be your daughter, not saying that is the ethical way.

so2006

They can refuse you, as they dont know weather your really her dad! They dont live with you.

just tell your daughter to get a pre-paid debit card.

Chutzpah

I've had the same issue as the original poster.

My brother got a box (which he wanted to watch Setanta Sports) and went to pay his £20 connection fee, however they are currently insisting that you use a credit card to make this payment. He doesn't have one so asked me if I could pay it. No problem. I nipped around his house, he gave me a twenty pound note and dialled. Answered the usual questions, then handed the phone to me to pay.

I was asked the usual questions about whether it was my card, if I understand £20 was going to be deducted etc. etc. etc.

That was in November. My latest credit card statement came in the post today and I noticed that Top Up TV had deducted £9.99 from my account on the 6th Febuary. I checked my other statements and in December they took £14.98 and another £9.99 in January.

(If you're wondering why I didn't notice before, I pay my balance off in full every month and pretty much know how much I've spent on my card, so I glance at the total on the statement and estimate whether it is correct... a tenner won't make much of a difference to my mental arithmetic)

I checked whether my brother had ordered any extra packages (and for some reason they were debiting my card) but they weren't, so I picked up the phone this evening.

Interestingly enough as I made the initial payment and could answer security questions about my brother they added me as a registered contact on the account there and then.....

Anyway, the excuse I was given was that along with his Setanta Sports season ticket he was given a month free trial of Top Up TV Anytime. If he didn't want it he would have to call within 30 days to cancel.

I refuted that and said I was stood next to him and don't recall him mentioning that, and when I gave my card details I was not told about any ongoing debit from my account.

(Incidentally, under what authorisation can they debit my account like this? They have not set up a standing order or a direct debit)

I was told that we would have been told (of course) etc. etc. etc. However, after asking about recording calls I was told that they would still have this call on file so they can hear for themselves how this was never mentioned.

I have to call back tomorrow, speak to cancellations to give them 30 days notice for Top Up TV Anytime and then write to them with copies of my bank statements to ask for my £40 back. Not a chance. If they don't agree to pass me my money back tomorrow I will raise the issue with both my credit card provider and let Watchdog know of how they are still chancing it.

Chutzpah

Just to update, today they suddenly refused to discuss it with me as it wasn't my account... changed their tune slightly there. I reminded them several times that the money was coming from MY account but they said that the Data Protection Act prevented them from stopping the payments as the account with them wasn't in my name.

Like hell!!

I firmly stated that they had to stop taking money from my account, they had my brother's contact details so could chase him for future payments if that's what they really wanted. Eventually they backed down and cancelled the payments from my account but said that my brother would have to call them himself to initiate any investigation into the matter. Normally you have to write in or e-mail to cancel a package but they said that in this instance they would allow a phone call to suffice.

It was also reiterated several times that both my brother and I would have been told that Top Up TV Anytime would start charging to my card in 30 days time. I had to state once again that at no point was I told.

My brother called them later and they agreed to immediately refund one of the months charges and will listen back to the registration call to determine what was said. I look forward to receiving the rest of my owed money back and (you never know) an apology....

Peter999_2

I'm not having a go at any of you, but I considered buying one of these boxes myself for the free setanta.

The reason I didn't was because I read on the box about getting the month free with TopUpTV and that I'd have to cancel it within 30 days and I don't like these sort of deals as in my experience you always struggle to cancel it.

They should have told you over the phone as well, but it definitely was detailed on the box I looked at.

Chutzpah

Peter,

It's obviously something we'll disagree on - if they don't mention anything about a trial on the phone or in any literature they post to you why should you assume that your card will suddenly start being billed in a months time?

Chutzpah

I got my brother to call them back today and they are refunding the full £40.

No apology though.....

jimbobster

I have had a very similar bad experience with Top Up TV, almost identical to Chutzpah's in fact, except in my case they are refusing to return my money, even although I specifically stated that I didn't want the Top Up TV channels when I initially called them to pay my connection fee.
Giving them my debit card details was the worse mistake ever. They took a number of sneaky debit payments out of my account for many months before I realized. It was a nightmare getting them to stop taking the money, lots of phone calls, letters and hassle. My bank told me they were powerless to stop Top Up TV from taking payments from my account, even although I had given no permission to Top Up TV to do this. Top Up TV are now refusing to give me a refund, they are actually lying now, making up all sorts of stuff, claiming that I received a welcome letter and a statement of accounts letter, all utter nonsense, I received nothing from them. Except hassle.
Anyway, it's not about the money for me now. How dare Top Up TV have the bare faced cheek and audacity to sneakily steal money from people's bank accounts, people who are completely unaware that they are doing this. I even made the mistake of trying to sort it out with them amicably. I needn't have bothered - they didn't want to know.
Anyway, undeterred, and heightened by reading and speaking with others who are expressing similar bad experiences from Top Up TV, I have started a blog, listing and evidencing every aspect of my awful experience with Top Up TV. It really is quite incredible to read some of the utter gash they come up with to put you off trying to get your money back. And many people are now posting their stories, all expressing the same thing - Top Up TV is Terrible.

I invite you to share my experience of Top Up TV's dreadful customer service at-

http://topuptvisterrible.blogspot.com/

Top Up TV are truly terrible, and I hope these posts encourage others to share their experiences. Good luck people X