Redten Internet offer FREE computer woth £500 if you sign up for 3 years @ £19.99 pm!

firstclassidiot

Its at the top of my post, [EMAIL="huttonj@parliament.uk"]mailto:huttonj@parliament.uk[/EMAIL] FCI

kennydeeee

could be a possibity that clodes insurance wort pay out because of some tecnicality dont think its all clean cut but it o anycomes out in the wash my advice to anyone is not to hand over any more money to clode enjoy your free broadband for a while until they take you to court and when you get cut off you can then get a different isp 15 gig caped free broadband theres nothing to complain about there

nedmundo

firstclassidiot wrote: »

Its at the top of my post, [EMAIL="huttonj@parliament.uk"]mailto:huttonj@parliament.uk[/EMAIL] FCI

Oh yeah! I need my eyes testing!!!

firstclassidiot

I have just sent an email to the RT Hon John Hutton
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
United Kingdom Parliament

I emailed him with some evidence of our experience at the consumer protection available to customers in this country.

I also copy emailed my own constituency MP Gordon Brown and my MSP Helen Eadie for good measure.

Text below

Dear John,
REVISING CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS. THE EXPERIENCE OF 10,000 CUSTOMERS. SPEECH 8.5.2008
I and many others have direct experience of completing a medium purchase and have recently felt the full inability of the various consumer and business regulators to be of any real assistance.
I purchased 3 years supply of unlimited broadband services from Redten Communications ltd ( owned by the Jessa family in Luton ) in November 2006 at a cost of 19.99 per month.
This had to be paid by direct debit to a partner finance company, Clode Retail Finance in Cardiff, who established a loan to pay Redten Communications Ltd upfront for the 3 years. ( The total cost for the 3 years was £769.64 )
This meant they were jointly liable for the provision of the service.

On the 10.3.2008, Redten slammed their customers, including me, without notice from BT to NJP services for a lesser, capped service which was contrary to the agreement for which they were paid.

Redten have breached the sale of goods and services acts; the consumer credit acts: the communications act; the OFCOM regulations: and Clode Retail Finance has breached the consumer credit acts and the sale of goods and services acts.
A total of 14 recorded delivery letters were sent by me to these 2 companies. A total of 20 telephone calls were made to these 2 companies to no avail.
All of those letters were received but not one was answered.
Consumer direct have confirmed that these 2 companies have breached the above laws and I am entitled to redress and assistance.
Redten Communications Ltd have even breached Company House regulations but there is no where to complain to as Company House do not have a complaint section.
I have had to spend over £20.00 finding out information on these companies which should be available on the Company House public register online so that one can see what these companies are up to.

I have contacted and complained to

Consumerdirect: They could not do anything to enforce the above acts but confirmed the breaches and took a note of the complaint.
OFT: They could not do anything on behalf of an individual and did not take notes of individual complaints, they advised to contact consumer direct.
OFCOM: They could not do anything on behalf of an individual, but would take a note of the complaint which was slamming and failing to provide a mac code to enable me to go to another provider. OFCOM said if they received a lot of complaints they might investigate. Following pressure from redten customers, they tried to contact Redten by telephone and eventually at their accommodation address but could not.
Financial Services Ombudsman: They could not do anything as the purchase was an unregulated activity and in any case was commenced before May 2007.
FSA: They can do nothing as the purchase is an unregulated area and both companies do not belong to any ADR group or arrangement.
Local Trading Standards in Luton : They did not bother to answer emails.
Citizen’s Advice: They could not help as they did not have sufficient expertise. Advised to contact a solicitor.

My only recourse:--submit a small claim to Sheriff Court for the outstanding payments for a service which is no longer being supplied to me but which I am still paying Clode Retail Finance for as £419.94 outstanding. At the same time I am now paying BT £24.99 a month for a replacement service for the 21 months that are no longer being supplied by Redten Communications Ltd.

I have been amazed and have certainly had my eyes open as to the use and effectiveness of government regulators.
There appears to be not one government body charged with enforcing consumer rights where these are blatantly broken. All of these organisations pride themselves in the production of information regarding the circumstances under which companies ignore or break consumers rights and protections but not one is charged with doing much about it other than giving advice that they cannot help as that is not their remit.
I find that staggering considering the amount of ordinary taxpayers’ money going to these various NDPB’s and Quangos.
Having read now the whole of the BERR site and information, it is clear that there is an imbalance of rights enforcement in this field.
I have also investigated the ease with which companies can set themselves up in this country and the legal system that allows them to protect themselves at their customers’ expense, having read Channelmoneys advice on how to do that for the princely sum of £100. This allows the companies to buy and sell themselves through administration with no loss to themselves but no comeback for their customers. Almost 100% of company administration and/or liquidation results in customers receiving no redress or compensation or pay backs.

I trust that you and your team will pay very close attention to this aspect of consumer protection because at the moment, I and the other 10,000 customers in this situation do not feel protected by our government.

nedmundo

Top notch email! I find it absolutely incredible that licensed and registered companies can openly flout statutory law and the so called regulating bodies can or won't do sweet FA about it. Maybe some good may come of this debacle!

rattana

Agreed ;top notch:T
Lets hope some good comes out of it..and that some powerful people take action.
I think Gordon 'might' have other things on his mind..but you never know?
Certainly enlightened about the ease of setting up a company and then doing a bunk(with very little recourse)
It always suprised me that the 'streetwise' ;but none too bright,could emerge under a different name doing business? I always thought that they would run out of names to use:p ;but even so..only getting a minimal penalty is an absolute joke!!
Customers are always going to get 'shafted' by the 'out for a quick buck' gang.
Better regulation with severe penalties for the 'obvious' crooks is a must.

hamish72_2

rattana wrote: »

Agreed ;top notch:T
Lets hope some good comes out of it..and that some powerful people take action.
I think Gordon 'might' have other things on his mind..but you never know?
Certainly enlightened about the ease of setting up a company and then doing a bunk(with very little recourse)
It always suprised me that the 'streetwise' ;but none too bright,could emerge under a different name doing business? I always thought that they would run out of names to use:p ;but even so..only getting a minimal penalty is an absolute joke!!
Customers are always going to get 'shafted' by the 'out for a quick buck' gang.
Better regulation with severe penalties for the 'obvious' crooks is a must.

This is all part of the so called entraprenurial society we have to day whereby every thing is ok if in the name of a quick profit and even better if we can avoid paying tax on the ill gotten gains.

cageyr

firstclassidiot wrote: »

[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]The Government is planning fundamental changes to UK consumer law, to benefit consumers, reduce burdens for business and help enforcers. [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]The proposals were set out today ( 8.5.2008 ) in a major speech on consumer protection by UK Business Secretary John Hutton. [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]John Hutton now wants business and consumer groups to come forward with evidence that could inform the root and branch review of consumer law.[/FONT]

Excellent submission (made me feel quite illiterate!). Can I also suggest all members of the Consumers Association copy them too as they will no doubt be a major input to the review.

DirectDebacle

Have a look here too. It is the draft legistlation for the The Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations, 2008. It becomes effective as law on 22nd May, 2008. I was speaking to Trading Standards about npower and overcharging and they mentioned these regs. They described it as 'the most important piece of consumer legistlation for forty years'. It is all good news for the consumer apparently. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/dra...110811574_en_2

Also Energywatch, Ofgem and the Energy Ombudsman (Ombudsman usually set up and financed by the member companies so no conflict there (sarcastic))are in the same 'toothless tiger mould'. As I chanced on this thread thought I would mention that if any here are having npower supply your gas before Nov 1st 2007 then have a good look at your bills and add up the number of high units you have been charged over the past year. Should be no more than 4572 for a twelve month period. Millions have ben overcharged and most are unaware of it. The thread starts here. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=822299&highlight=npower

kennydeeee

echooooooooooooooooooooooo echoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo is there anybody here shouts the postman through the letterbox at redtens office