Freeola....some Trial

MickKnipfler

I signed up for Freeola's 3 month trial.

They called me a couple of days ago to say there was a problem with my credit card.

I said that it was probably because they had issued a new card and I needed to change the expiry date.

The guy on the phone said it probably was but he couldn't do anything and asked me to call 0871.....

I asked him to ask the correct person to call me as I didn't call 087 numbers. He said he couldn't do that and if I didn't call, they would disconnect me.

I said I would take the number and look on naynoto0870 for an alternative as he had told me there wasn't one, but I wouldn't be calling an 087 number.

There was nothing on saynoto0870 so I logged onto their website and sent a message to them asking if there was an issue regarding payment or not and could they call me....

Guess what....now no service.


Do I kick up a fuss or just ask for a MAC code and go to a proper ISP? First E7even, then fast4, now this!

mhendo

Why bother kicking up a fuss??? You signed up to an ISP that clearly only uses 0871 numbers in order for customers to contact them. You can't complain to an ISP because you don't want to pay a little bit to call them; quite a few ISPs offer cheap services, and their support /admin lines are subsidised through revenue sharing numbers. It might be a different matter if they had decided to introduce 0871 numbers after you signed-up.

If you don't like it, move on to another ISP.

anterminator

i'm on freeola 3months trial and they've been quite good - stable and no disconnects. the speeds are a bit lower than advertised but that could be because i live a few km from the exchange. but after 3 months will move away - 25quid a bit too much!

mhendo

anterminator wrote:

i'm on freeola 3months trial and they've been quite good - stable and no disconnects. the speeds are a bit lower than advertised but that could be because i live a few km from the exchange. but after 3 months will move away - 25quid a bit too much!

As you're happy with the service, why not try one of Entanet's other resellers? UKFSN, like Freeola, is a reseller of Entanet. You can get 8Mbps with them, with 30GB peak, 300GB off-peak for £19.99pm.

MickKnipfler

mhendo wrote:

Why bother kicking up a fuss??? You signed up to an ISP that clearly only uses 0871 numbers in order for customers to contact them. You can't complain to an ISP because you don't want to pay a little bit to call them; quite a few ISPs offer cheap services, and their support /admin lines are subsidised through revenue sharing numbers. It might be a different matter if they had decided to introduce 0871 numbers after you signed-up.

If you don't like it, move on to another ISP.

OK if I need help but I don't...they called me to say they couldn't take payment but were unable to deal with the matter on that call. Why phone me and then tell ne that I need to call an 0871 number to sort out their admin problem. There's nothing wrong with my CC...

MickKnipfler

mhendo wrote:

As you're happy with the service, why not try one of Entanet's other resellers? UKFSN, like Freeola, is a reseller of Entanet. You can get 8Mbps with them, with 30GB peak, 300GB off-peak for £19.99pm.

I really don't need that bandwidth and my line won't support it anyway

mhendo

MickKnipfler wrote:

OK if I need help but I don't...they called me to say they couldn't take payment but were unable to deal with the matter on that call. Why phone me and then tell ne that I need to call an 0871 number to sort out their admin problem. There's nothing wrong with my CC...

You still need to contact their billing staff to update your credit card details (as you say, the expiry date has changed). I expect the guy calling is someone with basic skills that is tasked with phoning customers reminding them to update their payment details, or risk having their service suspended for non-payment.

MickKnipfler wrote:

I really don't need that bandwidth and my line won't support it anyway

My comment wasn't directed to you - it was in reply to anterminator.

MickKnipfler

But they took a payment on 23rd October??

MickKnipfler

OK, they still haven't resolved the issue.....

They have called me twice but the person who called couldn't update my payment details on their system. I have now asked for a MAC and asked them to terminate my contract.

Any suggestions where the best deal is now? I don't want anything fancy, 1MB is ample. I do tend to prefer unlimited as I don't know what my usage is....

MickKnipfler

OK, from what I understand, the situation is as follows:

They last took payment on 27 Oct to provide service until 27 Nov

My Credit card expired on 31 October so they took the opportunity to disconnect me (even though I had paid) on 3 November.

The only way to get service restored is to call an 0870 number and spend about 5 mins on the phone

They tell me that there isn't an alternative number and I can't resolve the issue online or by email

When I kicked up a fuss on Monday and asked for a MAC, they told me that they would get their accounts dept to call me the next day which they failed to do



Is this reasonable? Can they force me to call an 0870 number to restore service for which they have already taken payment?

They are telling me that this is all within their terms and conditions

MickKnipfler

OK...In the end I called them....I gave them my new cc details and they said that I'd be re-connected in 20 mins....that was almost 24 hrs ago!.....still nothing