Landline Telephone & Broadband - Hull

colchester75

!!!!!! - what is the USO?

Marissa - I can't complain to Ofcom yet, have to formally complain to KC first which seems a bit daft as I feel I know what the response is going to be, but I have not had a formal closure letter yet from KC

bat-out-of-hell

colchester75 wrote: »

!!!!!! - what is the USO?

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/uso/uso_statement/

I assume?

System

Correct

Ofcom wrote:

People depend on access to telecommunications services. It is an important duty of the regulator to ensure that basic telecommunications services remain within everyone’s reach, regardless of circumstance. Sections 66 and 67 of the Communications Act 2003 require Ofcom to ensure that consumers are able to benefit from basic narrowband telecommunications at an affordable price, defined as Universal Service Obligations (USO).

The Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003

colchester75

Thanks guys - have used it in my e-mail to their customer service department - will let you know what happens!!

Hi,

I am writing to complain about the service I have been given by your company over this week.

I am a professional person in full time employment earning a steady wage. Regrettably, due to a number of reasons which I do not feel I need to go into in this e-mail, I found myself forced to declare myself bankrupt in September 2009. I have not yet been discharged from this bankruptcy.

Early in 2009, I was living just outside the KC coverage area and I had a landline with BT. I was aware at that time of my worsening financial situation and took steps to remedy the situation – one of these steps being disconnecting my landline telephone and broadband connection, thus saving me in the region of £50 per month in outgoings which I could re-direct.

Now that my bankruptcy has been finalised, I find myself in a situation where I am more comfortable. I do not have stupid outgoings which cripple me and my finances are under control. As I work for a living, some of which is work I do at home, I depend on an internet connection to do this work. For well over a year now, I have coped with a dongle connection which is much slower than standard broadband as I am sure you are aware. As I am more financially stable now, I am looking to improve my working conditions by having broadband connection back – nothing flash, just a mid tier connection giving me enough download facility to be able to complete my work on an ongoing basis.

I contacted your company by e-mail on Saturday and was contacted by a very friendly advisor on Monday morning chasing on my enquiry for connection. I advised her on the call that I was bankrupt at which point she advised that my application would have to be passed for "investigation". Fair enough, I accept that further risk analysis needs to be done for your company, I accept that and am happy, although I do feel as a company you need to consider how this positions you in terms of people's perspective of you. There must be quicker ways to make a decision on a person - you don't need to check my credit files to know any more as I had already given you all the details!

Anyway, I agreed to wait the 48 hours it takes to investigate me and received a call from the same lady I spoke to on Monday. However, although the same lady, her attitude could not have been any different. She called to say that Kingston Communications were unable to provide me with landline or broadband as I was bankrupt.

I am offering a number of solutions to this which I offered to her:

1) Have my parents down as guarantors to ensure your risk is covered
2) Have the bill in my parents name - apparently not possible as the house I rent is not in their name
3) Pay you a deposit - this was discussed on Monday as possibly being an option, but 48 hours later was no longer an option. Not even a discussion about how much the deposit was going to be - I am happy to pay 6 months in advance (which by the way would take me past my automatic discharge date.

Despite these options being discussed and offered up, the answer to each was a resounding no. There was no offer to look into any of the options for me or see if there was anything that could be done to assist me. She stated "Until you ar discharged, we are unable to provide you with a service"

According to the Universal Service Obligation (which I did not know until today) you are required to:
1.1 Universal Service ensures that basic fixed line services are available at an affordable price to all citizen and customers across the UK.

For your information, 134,142 people in the UK went bankrupt in 2009 - while these are not all in Hull, I am confident (going by my bankruptcy number and the people I spoke to at the time) that there are a lot of your potential customers in a similar situation to myself. Bankruptcy is a mistake - I didn't do it on purpose and 95% of people you speak to in similar circumstances are in the same position as myself. By now being bankrupt, we have much greater control over our finances. Indeed, during the period before discharge, I am in regular contact with the company dealing with my creditors and have regular reviews of my outgoings and incomings to ensure I am managing my cash flow in a professional manner and am not going to go down the same route as last time.

Point to note, is that since being made bankrupt, I have been able to rent a property through a forward thinking property management company - they understand that people go bankrupt and offered the opportunity to pay a bigger deposit to cover their risk. I understand the concern with the risk, I don't understand you just refusing me a service which should be readily available to all.

Your company's assumption that a bankrupt can not have a service with you is morally wrong and you need to catch up with the times. By classing all people within one segment of society as the same and not making a judgement based on individually cases is bordering on something else which I am not going to start accusing of, but I am sure you understand where the insinuation is going.

I would appreciate a considered response to this letter - I would appreciate that you dealt with me as an individual and not as part of a wider group - I would just appreciate a fair chance to get my life back on track and to complete my emplyment to the best of my ability so that I can earn money to pay my bills!

I look forward to your reply.

Kind Regards

Falze

Reads good mate. Good luck.

colchester75

Thanks Falze - will let you know what happens!

colchester75

So - update for you all - almost 48 hours passed now since initial e-mail of complaint went in to Kingston Communication - NO RESPONSE!

What now?!?!?

curly04

Go to the local press!

indebtinsussex

dont they have a certain amount of time to respond beforehand?

I would email it to the md and speak to trading standards (I think), I'm not too sure who deals with unfair complaints like this, is there an ombondsman for telephone at all?

curly04

Ring them ask for the complaints department / manager

Tell them you are going to speak to the trading standards and the press - this has worked everytime I've tried it, or people have said that to us where I work