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Problems with Primus....

Hi please help.
Sorry in advance for the long rambling post.
I recently moved house and as a consequence everything went haywire ( I am the most disorganised person I know!), and we were without landline/internet for two weeks, during this period the direct debit to Primus failed.
Last Fiday I found that I was unable to make/recive calls and assumed I had a fault (the dd & missed payment were due & collected on Monday). I phoned Primus three times and was told a different thing each time, but I was told after my second call that my phone service had been suspended but I could call emergency & 0800 numbers.
In the early hours of Sunday morning my five year old son was so ill I decided to call an ambulance for him...... no phone service!
(I also have no mobile signal so doubly stuffed)
I took him myself and he is ok now. When I called Primus on Monday to query the loss of emergency service cover, I was told "you should have paid your bill, it's company policy!"
The direct debit was collected on Monday and I still have no phone service!
My query is simple, can a phone provider suspend access to emergency calls?
I can understand the no outgoing calls bit, but we couldn't even receive incoming calls!
Hope someone can help.
LBM:FEB 2008
MEMBER ABC 2010

Comments

  • Heinz
    Heinz Posts: 11,191 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    They can disconnect your entire telephone service for non-payment.
    Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.
  • rugbymum
    rugbymum Posts: 984 Forumite
    Heinz wrote: »
    They can disconnect your entire telephone service for non-payment.
    Thanks for your response.
    I'm still very cross about the fact that I couldn't call the emergency services and I'm struggling with the fact that a phone company can do that, given that emergency calls are free! Even a mobile with no sim can make those calls!
    I'm also cross about the fact that despite having a dd set up, which was collected ON TIME, I'm still without a phone service!
    Do have internet though :D!
    LBM:FEB 2008
    MEMBER ABC 2010
  • System
    System Posts: 178,186 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    The phone will not work in the UK without an active simcard to 999.

    It's at the companies discretion regarding non-payment. You would only really have a case if you had paid or a dispute of some sort.
    rugbymum wrote: »
    Thanks for your response.
    I'm still very cross about the fact that I couldn't call the emergency services and I'm struggling with the fact that a phone company can do that, given that emergency calls are free! Even a mobile with no sim can make those calls!
    I'm also cross about the fact that despite having a dd set up, which was collected ON TIME, I'm still without a phone service!
    Do have internet though :D!
  • rugbymum
    rugbymum Posts: 984 Forumite
    Oh Lord!
    It turns out that there is a fault on the line & I wouldn't have been able to make any calls regardless of the situation. I originally called on Friday to report a fault......... was told that another phone company had requested a transfer.
    Second time my service had been suspended for non-payment but that I could receive calls & make emergency & 0800 numbers.
    Third time I called I was told I could not make or receive ANY calls.
    Today (having got through after only 2 minutes on hold) I was told there is a fault at the exchange, that I CAN receive calls AND MAKE EMERGENCY & 0800 CALLS EVEN IF MY PHONE SERVICE IS SUSPENDED, WHICH IT WASN'T!!!!!!
    It will now take however long it takes BT to sort it. If I had been able to report this fault on Friday it may well have saved an awful lot of stress (it wouldn't have stopped the weekend emergency though).
    LESSON???? FIND A COMPANY WITH THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE RATING REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH IT COSTS............ I guess this will mean someone with a UK call centre!
    LBM:FEB 2008
    MEMBER ABC 2010
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