Optimum calls

M_Devaney

I am utterly appalled with the service and attitude we have received from Optimum Calls after many years of being their customer. The service we received whilst they provided our lines and calls was fine, no problems at all. However, when we decided to move to another provider their tactics became very threatening and frankly, borderline illegal! I run a small internet business which has 6 telephone lines without which my business can not operate successfully. As per their terms and conditions we knew that we had to pay £390 per line for early cancellation of the contract. So, we went through the process of making the transfer to another supplier and prepared to pay the termination penalty. The transfer of the lines is scheduled for 20 June so they will be providing and charging us for line rental and calls until that date. We received an invoice on 3rd June (dated 30th May) for £780 to cover two of the lines. We contacted them to advise that we have 6 lines and we therefore owe more money than that. We today received a second invoice for £1560 for the other lines. On contacting them we were told that "if they do not receive payment for both invoices by tomorrow they will disconnect our lines". So, they will continue to charge us and are responsible for our lines until 20th June but they will "restrict the service" on the 6th June. I believe there are a few issues with there attitude.

Firstly, expecting anybody to receive and pay an invoice within 24 hours of receipt is not fair or acceptable trading, especially when it is obvious that we are fully prepared to pay the penalties we have incurred. Secondly, to cut off a service, or threaten to cut off a service, whilst still being paid to provide that service must surely be illegal. Thirdly, the advice I got from OFCOM was that according to their "General Conditions 13" they should not charge for a service which they are not supplying. Also they are charging for the termination "out of sequence" as it has not happened yet. However, OFCOM do not have any teeth to enforce any rules and we will need to contact CISAS. On contacting Optimum Calls again and receiving the same charming threats to terminate our lines I was told that the second invoice would not have to be paid tomorrow because they were, quote "being nice and letting you have some extra time" but it would still need to be paid early next week. Our new telephone system records all our phone calls so they are available to CICAS for review and analysis if they do proceed to restrict our service. Optimum Calls operates at the limits of the law and as shown above step over the lines of acceptable behaviour as set out by the communications regulator.

My advice, do not give your money to a company that turn into bullies when you decide to move your business!

Robisere

PollyMay239 wrote: »

I have my business telephone lines with Optimum Calls, but I too did not remember signing up for 5 years!

I called their customer services to enquire about broadband and I was told they offer 14.99/month for 10GB or 19.99/month for unlimited downloads. So, I called BT so see what their broadband deals were, as I have BT Broadband and BT vision at home, and I was passed from department to department and they finally answered my question 20 minutes later! Compared to the 30 seconds it took Optimum Calls to answer my call!
The next day, I received a call from Optimum Calls, asking me if I was aware that BT had applied to take my telephone lines! I never agreed to anything with BT as they wanted 24.99 a month for unlimited broadband so I called BT to cancel it and it took 50 minutes! I was trying to run a hair salon!

Then, a couple of days later, I received a letter from Optimum Calls detailing the transfer to BT with a 'Breach of Contract' invoice for 395+VAT per line as my contract does not end until 2013!
I called Optimum and spoke to someone in their contracts dept, who advised me that BT had still not cancelled my transfer (which meant a further 40 minutes on the phone to BT!). She did explain everything to me - from when I initially joined them to what happens if my circumstances change - so I now have peace of mind to stay with them.

For my records though, I did ask her to send me a copy of my 'verbal agreement', which I did agree to everything (incl 60 months) and it was all made clear - I just didn't remember it! I dug out my 'Welcome Pack' and everything was explained in writing, on T&Cs, I just didn't bother to read them in the 2 weeks i had!

So in future I will pay more attention to telephone sales calls and read T&CS! But I would advise anyone to contact them for a price match (that's one of their good T&CS!) and they will match or beat any other offer! I got unlimited Broadband, Line Rental, and Calls to UK landlines, 0845/0870, 4 UK mobile networks and the top 10 international landlines for 40 pounds/month and I am more than happy now!

I got a very similar deal from Plusnet. I have never paid more than £24 a month. Go figure.

heatherjbishop

Optimum Calls (now called BCS) are not the cheapest, BUT their customer service is brilliant. When I was with BT, it was torture to get our crackly line fixed (several times because their telegraph pole kept leaking water so we had to keep defending that it was THEIR fault not our equipment!). Whereas, Optimum Calls got it fixed extremely quickly, and checked with us to see if we were happy.