Cancelling TMTI Gadget Helpline

stark_source

I've just cancelled mine, and the bank agree to do a DD indemnity so I got my first payment back. Rang TMTI who agreed to cancel and accepted the indemnity. I'm currentlyon e2save's twitter account bad mouthing them for their clearly misleading tactics and how it cost me nearly £15 in phonecalls to get everything sorted. I never asked for the IT service, I was never told by phone of it, and I didn't read anything about it. I would have cancelled it straight away otherwise, or declined to have the service in the first place. I'll continue to tweet about their bad behaviour till I get some response as I could find no email contact info on their site.

farmboy10

Purchased a phone via Mobiles.co.uk, they sold a mobile phone to me with a mandatory purchase of GadgetHelpline. You are not able to refuse, which in my mind is forced selling - PPI in the making?!? Mobiles.co.uk is owned by Car Phone warehouse (remember all the broadband complaints) and they should know better, I feel it is wrong.

To ensure you are not charged for the GadgetHelpline's pointless support you have to wait for an email with your new account number. This email goes to junk so you invariably miss it (a tactic one could say). If you do not cancel then you will be charged in an advance payment for 6 months. Once charged it is difficult to get your money back, the GadgetHelpine make it their main aim.

My advice to anyone who has already been charged is find an email which you 'could' have sent to the GadgetHelpline to cancel before the 30 trial was completed and insist you sent it. They probably will refuse but it will give you evidence enough to contact your bank and seek a refund through the direct debit indemnity scheme.

mobilejunkie

It seems any "miss-selling" is more than matched by the customers in some cases.

westrower

Hi, I rang them on their number and got answered quite quickly and the contract was cancelled without any hassle. Maybe I was lucky.:j

mobilejunkie

Nope. That's how it works.

B4rringt0n

Has anyone had any success getting a refund from these people?

The gadget helpline cancelled my service straight away but said they can only provide a refund if they get confirmation from dialaphone that a mistake was made on their part.

I then went back to dialaphone and sadly, but not surprisingly, they refused even though I told them I never used the service.

Part of me is angry that I allowed this to happen and that I should have been more vigilant but sometimes we just do things in a rush and don't realize until you see the direct debit go out.

To add to my frustration with myself I have found the order confirmation email and I can see the charge under extras for Gadget Helpline Support at £20.94 every six months. I don't know how I missed that.

When speaking to the dialaphone agent she explained that this service is compulsory at the point of sale and that you have to cancel it if you don't want it. I cannot recall if this was clearly stated or not but I am certain that if it was I would have made sure to opt out since I do not need such a service.

I got the feeling that she didn't think they were doing anything wrong at all. I tried to explain that I feel this is mis-selling a product, similar to what the banks did with PPI. She then said "you'll have to go to your bank to sort that out, we don't do PPI". That's when I realized she wasn't even listening. :mad:

mobilejunkie

She is right. It is made clear at the point of sale and most dealers add it. If you failed to be vigilant you can only ask politely - you have no right to demand any refund. It's not surprising that Dialaphone are not prepared to issue something saying it was a mistake - it clearly wasn't theirs, but yours.

PPI refunds may appear to have worked in a similar way; unless there's a major investigation and court case which changes this too you haven't got much chance - though I have read of people on here who did get a goodwill refund. If it was only one direct debit the gadget helpline may be sympathetic and treat it as an honest mistake (by you) in order to protect their own reputation and not build up sufficient body of consumer backlash to provoke any general problems with their practices. In my experience with them (and I've done this scores of times) they immediately cancel without any attempt to keep you so you may find a grovelling approach successful. Call them again and ask to speak with a manager - although a beligerant approach may not be best. They do send an email a few days after it's set up, which should have reached you; if you didn't receive it it may help your request for a refund (though it may have ended up in junk - something I always check anyway and so would have noticed).

If you're not successful and it was just one direct debit, at least you can console yourself with not being one of the people on here who seem to not notice direct debit payments going out for years (not just for this) and (usually through their own negligence) end up paying a lot more for things they didn't realise they had contracted to.

Guidotkp

I agree with earlier posters about this being similar to PPI mis-selling. It is included at point of sale without the choice to opt out. The onus is then on you to cancel it. I'd say there is a good argument that such a term causes a significant imbalance in the rights of the parties, to the detriment of the consumer and is therefore an unfair term pursuant to Regulation 5(1) of The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. The FSA regarded PPI as mis-sold for a number of reasons, such as you were pressured into taking it out; it was not made clear that it was optional; it was not suitable for you; you thought buying PPI was obligatory; it was added to a loan without your knowledge etc. If the FSA was regulating this arrangement I think they would take a similar view.

My son got caught out by this practice, so I cancelled both the contract and the DD. I asked TMTI to refund the charge: they refused (lovely girl called "Nadia"). I pointed out that their terms and conditions stated “Any cancellations made following the collection of the first Direct Debit will carry a minimum administration fee of £5.00” I was therefore willing, through gritted teeth, to lose the £5 but I wanted the balance returned. Nadia said the contract had not been cancelled as they had no reason to do so. It was clear that she and the rest of TMTI had no interest in dealing with my complaint. I contacted Mobiles.co.uk who refused (3 times) to refund the charge on the basis my son had agreed to the contract. I pointed out that the sales practice was highly questionable but that the terms of the purported contract were "one month free, subsequent months at £3.99 per month". Therefore, as I'd cancelled after the first free month they had no basis for charging for additional months. I also mentioned the possibility of seeking redress through the small claims court.

Within 2 hours, Mobiles confirmed TMTI would refund the charge less a £5 fee and Mobiles.co.uk refunded the balance.

OFCOM don’t deal with individual complaints, but they do allow you to tell them about your experiences so they can monitor trends in the industry. I have referred this selling practice to them.