Landline Telephone & Broadband - Hull

colchester75

Hi,

I was hoping someone can help me. I am a professional, single person working hard through my first year of being bankrupt to get my life back on track.

One of my first cost saving cuts before going bankrupt was to get rid of my landline and broadband connection as it was costing too much and having a dongle connection was much cheaper (although poor connection)

Now, having sorted myself a bit through hard work, I am in a position where I would like to get my broadband back. I spend a lot of time working from home and as such need a reliable connection and the dongle, while good is slow and does disconnect sometimes.

Unfortunatelty (and that is not against the place), I live in Hull. The only broadband provider is Kingston Communications and that is it - no choice. I rang them on Saturday, gave them my details and was open and honest with them, telling them I was bankrupt but that I was prepared to secure their risk by paying a deposit - I did not indicate how much I was prepared to pay.

They said my case would have to be "investigated" - I am obviously a naughty boy who needs to be fully assessed (blah blah)

Anyway, the friendly lady I spoke to on Saturday - due respect to her, she was very friendly when trying to sell me something, rang me back this morning. Now I think she had had a personality transplant since Saturday - no longer friendly and happy, she was abrupt and rude. She told me that as I was bankrupt I could not have a landline with Kingston Communications and that was that.

I asked her if I could supply a contact as someone who would act as a guarantor for me, suggesting that my parents would do that for me and cover any risk - she said that this was not possible as I am the person who's name the tenancy agreement for the house that the service is going to be provided and they don't accept guarantors.

I asked her if I could apply in my parents name (ie - have the contract in my Mum's name, my Mum pays the bill and I pay my Mum back) She said that this was not possible as my Mum was not registered to live at that property - even though I said we could add a note to say that I am living there.

I asked her if I could apply in my landlords name so that he pays the bill and adds it to my monthly rent - again NO, as I am registered as living there.

I asked her if I could pay 6 months in advance up front before they secured the line - this "should" take me up to when I get discharged - she said no - they wouldn't do this and I would have to wait until I had been discharged and then they would re-assess (still no guarantee though).

Even once I am discharged they demand to see all the copies of the paperwork, because obviously being bankrupt automatically makes me a liar. Anyway, the fact that I will be discharged is in the public domain and they should be able to see this anyway without me having to prove myself to anyone?

Has anyone else had similar problems and managed to resolve them? My main issue is that I am being treated as a second class citizen based on the assumption that because I am bankrupt I must be stupid, unable to pay bills and a liar. Also, I have not had this issue with ANY other company, I got my mobile phone contract with no issues - paid a bigger deposit, but I expected that, I have home insurance, car insurance, water, gas & electric - all I want is a phone line which I am happy to pay for up front before they even connect me!

Is there anyone out there who can help me and advise if I have any way of complaining about this awful, narrow minded company who owns monopoly over the telephony provision in Hull and if I have any grounds for appeal to their somewhat dated decision processes? :mad:

Yours hopefully

colchester75

skylight

Write to the CEO instead.

Outline everything and see what response you get. You have been more than fair in offering guarantors and paying up front. Its a shame they are not more flexible.

In the meantime, can you get a broadband dongle and use the mobile BB rather than landline based?

custardy

off topic(and i had to google it to double check!) but how does it come about that Hull doesnt have BT or any other phone/ISP options?

curly04

I do think this is unfair if you have offered to pay up front

I think you have a pen pusher who doesn't know what to do as its not on the list of things they can do!

spadoosh

Custardy, Something to do with y they have white telephone boxes. Kingston communications i think is the only true monopoly in the country!

custardy

spadoosh wrote: »

Custardy, Something to do with y they have white telephone boxes. Kingston communications i think is the only true monopoly in the country!

thats what i wondered though,why has this been allowed to continue?
why didnt BT put their infrastructure in years ago?

edit: good old wiki

Kingston upon Hull

A crown-less Kingston Communications K6 in Hull

Kingston upon Hull was the only area of the UK not under the Post Office monopoly, with telephones being under the control of the Corporation of Hull (city council). In Hull and the surrounding area this meant that the telephone boxes were painted cream and had the crown omitted. The Hull telephone system was subsequently privatised and is now operated by Kingston Communications. Kingston Communications (KC) have removed many of the famous cream K6 boxes circa 2007. An outraged public complained that they were losing part of their heritage, thanks due to media involvement. KC have retained approx 125 K6's that remain in use today. KC used the media frenzy to its advantage and allocated limited numbers (approx. 1000) to be sold to the general public, and many were sold off before they had even been removed from service.

colchester75

KC own the monopoly and despite constant lobbying from local councils and MP's they still have monopoly and provide an horrific service (yet still I want service from them - should have known better!)

Skylight - thank you for that advice - I will see if I can find who the CEO is and address a letter to him.

I do think reading previous posts along a similar vain that it is ridiculously backward thinking of companies in this day and age and in this economic climate that they don't understand the position of bankrupts.

Anyway - I will keep you updated in this forum of the outcome with my quest to find a helpful person in this company!

custardy

colchester75 wrote: »

KC own the monopoly and despite constant lobbying from local councils and MP's they still have monopoly and provide an horrific service (yet still I want service from them - should have known better!)

Skylight - thank you for that advice - I will see if I can find who the CEO is and address a letter to him.

I do think reading previous posts along a similar vain that it is ridiculously backward thinking of companies in this day and age and in this economic climate that they don't understand the position of bankrupts.

Anyway - I will keep you updated in this forum of the outcome with my quest to find a helpful person in this company!

I have no idea who you could contact on this but surely you have grounds for appealing their monopoly?
Given they have a monopoly then its no surprise they can tell people they deem a 'risk' that they wont offer service
Im guessing it wouldnt be so clear cut if they had an open market on telecoms services

i see they are covered by OFCOM http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/universal_service
maybe worth asking them?

marisa

Hey,

I work for phone line provision for openreach (bt group) we provide all the copper lines elsewhere but Hull.

From my experience I would say speak to ofcom, as you have no other way of getting a phone line, and need it, and the broadband over it for your work , there has to be a way to provide you with this service, they cannot just outright refuse you, when you have made several offers of ways they can secure their money.

Kingston are the monopoly in that area and have to be heavily regulated by ofcom not to take advantage of that position.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/contactus/

Give these guys a ring and read around their website, hope you find something that can help.

colchester75

Thanks for that Marissa - will have a look now and keep you all updated on my mission!

System

At the moment, by refusing to supply, KC are in breach of the USO.