Fonehouse

Kaos_2

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Basically what happened is that I received a call on my mobile from a relatively local number. When I answered, a lady introduced herself as ringing from T-mobile regarding my contract renewal date. The local-ish number made me suspicious so I asked several times and in several different ways who she was and where she was calling from. She convinced me that she was ringing from T-mobile and I let her investigate some options regarding my renewal as it was something I was planning to do myself anyway. By the end of the phone call, still slightly suspicious, I told her that I wouldn't be making any decisions straight away as my renewal wasn't due for a month so she said that was fine and I could always ring back closer to the date.
Well, to be honest, I was out at the time and completely forgot about the call by the time I got home, and didn't think about it again.
Next thing I know, a month later, the same lady rang back. Again I listened carefully and queried a couple of times whether she was from T-mobile, and again, she assured me she was and even read out all my account details including my password!
I told her that I had decided I didn't want an upgrade or to change my contract, but that I was happy to sign up for another 12 months to continue receiving my loyalty discount on my current contract. (This is something I have done for the last 4 years direct with T-mobile).

All done, I stopped worrying.
That was about 2 weeks ago... today I recieved a letter from FONEHOUSE thanking me for signing up to T-mobile via them for another 12 months!

Furious, I rang T-mobile to find out what on earth was going on... I finally got through to a person from lost and stolen phones after about 20 minutes of menu surfing... I explained that I had had a letter from Fonehouse and that I wanted to know who they were and they asked me if there was a telephone number on the letter. I read it out to them and they put me on hold.
A couple of minutes later, someone different said "hello, how may I help you?". Suspicious again, I asked who I was speaking to and was told T-mobile but they didn't want to say which department. I finally asked if they were from Fonehouse and they admitted they were... T-mobile had transferred me to them! After telling them I was trying to speak to T-mobile Customer Services, (without letting on why) they kindly told me how to avoid the T-Mobile menu system and get through to T-mobile Customer Services.

I rang T-Mobile again and thankfully got through to their Customer Services who were at least slightly more helpful and were able to confirm that Fonehouse were an independent retailer and certainly should not be telling customers that they were calling from T-mobile.
They assured me that I had got the same deal as I would have done direct and my contract was solely with them, in fact, for all intents and purposes, T-Mobile's computers said I had renewed direct. The CS agent had in fact caught out a similar company the day before who rang from a shop to upgrade a customer. She had asked to speak to the customer to verify the security details and the person ringing from the shop had put on a fake voice and pretended to be the customer. She said there was a possibility that Fonehouse had done the same with my contract although it seems there are several ways they can achieve the same result. T-mobile basically wiped their hands of any responsibility and didn't seem to care less! I thought they would be horrified that a company were pretending to be them but all they could suggest was that I rang Fonehouse to complain!

Basically, the long and short of it is that what has happened will have no impact on me in an official sense... I still have the exact same deal with T-mobile that I wanted, but T-mobile had to pay commision to Fonehouse, which was unneccessary, [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

The only impact on me is that I am furious and upset [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]
:mad:

jimbms

If all this is correct then I am supprised T-mobile fraud team has not been in touch as this would be clearly illegal.

Kaos_2

jimbms wrote: »

If all this is correct then I am supprised T-mobile fraud team has not been in touch as this would be clearly illegal.

The lady I spoke to on the phone at T-mobile, despite being friendly and pleasant, pretty much implied it was so common it was pointless them chasing it so I doubt she followed it up in any way, I think she just answered my questions and left it at that. However, when I asked whether there was anyone else at T-mobile that I should be speaking to about it she said I could EMAIL customer relations so that they could investigate if I wanted.

I will email them at some point today I guess... I just wanted to put my energy into warning others that even the most savvy of us can fall for a super-simple con!

fiveyearplan

Kaos the same thing happened to me. Fonehouse phoned me to upgrade and said they were T-Mobile's in-house upgrade dept. etc. Anyway I went along with it and renewed my contract as is was £10 I was renewing for £10 cheaper per month. Long and short of it is I fond out Fonehouse wasn't part of T-Moblie (and their customer service dept is only open Mon to Fri 9:00-5:00). I got on to T-Mobile and starting spouting the Data Protection Act etc., I had to do the same with Fonehouse and it was agreed I could get out of the contract and go back to my old service that I was paying with T-Mobile (remember I am now paying the full price which is £10 more per month than Fonehouse offered me). I said I was happy to pay the extra as long as I could stay on month to month (ie not in a contract which I had already fulfilled a few months earlier). I said when I had the time etc I would consider signing up to another contract but didn't really need a new phone and I really didn't want to be tied in (at that time I was considering moving abroad so didn't want to tie in to any agreement).

My phone bill arrived from T-Mobile and it was £5.00 more than I was expecting to pay so I phoned and asked why and they're adamant that I signed up to a contract back in April when all this Fonehouse mess started! I spent hours on the phone to them at that time (3 days after my first encounter with Fonehouse) and thought everything was sorted out.

I am now waiting for a phone call back from T-Mobile customer services but I can't see this being sorted out to a satisfactory conclusion.

Sorry for ranting! I am FUMING!!!

Liv1977

They called me up today stating that as I had renewed my T-Mobile contract with them last year (I was unaware of this at the time exactly the same as Kaos) would I be interested in another offer blah blah.

I had actually upgraded a few weeks ago when T-Mobile called me up directly and gave me a great offer. I'm surprised that this was not passed onto Fonehouse. As they knew all my account details last year, including my passcode, I would have expected my details to be updated. I've since stored the 0115 number as 'ignore'

Liv

paddyrg

I had several companies try it on, telling me they're from T-Mo "Hello sir, I am calling you from T-MOBILE (pause) (rushed, quiet, aside) upgradesdepatmentfromxxx". They they usually ask me what my handset is... and refuse to shift off their high pressure sales scripts.

So I figure, they must be fishing for info asking for my handset, so they can't know... so I use that fact as a test for when the *real* T-Mo call up - they know all my account balances, last bills, etc., and I will only deal directly with them.

Wintermute

A friend of mine who works for one of the major networks got a call from a similar company, while at work and as soon as he told them he worked for the network in question they promptly hung up :rotfl:

Any legit caller wont object to you calling them back through the official telesales/upgrades number, while they would lose the sale they'd get in a lot of trouble if they objected.