Help - Carrier preselect being hijacked

Granadalad

I have a BT landline but have calls routed by Primus Telecom. Just had an email from Primus saying this service will be discontinued from 11 Oct according to my instructions. However I haven't issued any such instructions or even spoken to rival providers.

Just spoke to Primus customer service who say they know I didn't ask them to cease the service, but suggest another provider must have inititated this action. They don't know who and can't take a request to continue/restore service until after 11 Oct by which time I won't know who is routing my calls (if anyone).

Now I'm simply stunned. Any advice?

DVardysShadow

Contact Ofcom and seek their advice on what to do. They are responsible for this telecoms mess, so let them have earache from the grief.

Heinz

They're pretty useless but Ofcom should help.

https://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/switched-without-permission

Granadalad

This gets worse! Just discovered in conversation with BT that my line rental was also going to be ceased on 11 Oct by unknown company. Happily BT were able to stop the whole process, so they win my custom. Reported the issue to OFCOM (thanks Heinz)

Mark_In_Hampshire

I'm not sure why people do all this running around when their line is "slammed" by another provider (taken without consent).

Surely your provider is contracted to you and your provider needs to sort it out, else be taken to court at your option for breach of contract.

I don't see the magic of the telephone system which means a provider can simply breach a contract (doesn't matter whether it's their 'fault' or not) and leave the customer to sort it out. It's like ordering from an online company to then be told that another carrier has thieved the parcel from the depot, and you need to chase it up and find out where it is.

Heinz

And your problem now is that you're unlikely to be able to get back onto the same Primus plan you had before.

In fact, I'm dreading this happening to be because I'm on Primus's Penny Mobile 2 CPS package and that's a real winner for me with its 20p for up to 20 minutes flat rate for calls or transfers to any UK mobile.

Granadalad

Agreed it's crazy, but (Mark_in_Hampshire) the fact is I have to do the running around or the fraudulent transfer will be completed. Neither BT nor Primus know who was taking the service as they are instructed by a 3rd party which in turn has been advised that these were my instructions (lies). I did receive an encouraging email response from OFCOM reassuring me I had acted appropriately. I'm afraid the experience of trying to talk to Primus customer service over a very quiet line listening to a foreign voice I struggled to understand is one I won't be repeating.

Mark_In_Hampshire

With regard to getting back onto the same package and/or getting the supplier to sort this out - I still can't quite see why a strongly worded letter sent by recorded delivery threatening court action for your losses won't do the trick. If the suppliers don't like that, they are the ones who should be complaining to the regulator, because they're the ones being "had over".

If the line migrates to someone else, then the customer has free calls for a while as the customer isn't obliged to pay the new supplier with whom they have no contract to supply, indeed the new supplier presumably has no information on who the customer is anyway.