Primus on the way down?

BenefitMaster

Hi All

I decided to get a phone line and Broadband on the Primus deal, as my previous line got disconnected whilst I was away from home.

The line I have used to have Be Broadband and PhoneCoop Line Rental, and I have ADSL2+ at 4.4Mbps.

Primus didn't connect me on time, haven't supplied the services I asked for, and say the line can't go better than 3.1Mbps and could never have been connected at 4.4Mbps ever and therefore I am lying. :eek:

The callcentre staff really can't be bothered to do anything and keep asking me to reboot me computer as it could be problems with Windows etc (the fact I don't use Windows seems to pass them by) - so much for "award winning" customer service. :mad:

It's got to the point where I've given them seven days notice before I take them to court for Specific Performance. This seems to be the result of the "New Call Telecom" take over.

Has anyone else had similar experiences or am I just the unlucky one, as ever?

Cheers

BM

Ypaymore

You must have missed these threads

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2760972

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3007272

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2569183

there are plenty more !!

gary009

Have been with Primus for a year now for its low-cost line rental as indicated by moneysavingexpert, but recent disconnection and problems unfortunately indicate you don't always get what you pay for ..... cheap call centre labour = lousy service back-up ..... I was disconnected without my consent or notification .... my tel number was removed and lost completely, losing all incoming calls for a month now .... and no service support to get things sorted.
I have just cancelled my line with them due to total dissatisfaction and frustration at their lack of ability to solve the problem.
Beware of this company. Their service is appalling.:mad:

theloft

gary009 wrote: »

Have been with Primus for a year now for its low-cost line rental as indicated by moneysavingexpert, but recent disconnection and problems unfortunately indicate you don't always get what you pay for ..... cheap call centre labour = lousy service back-up ..... I was disconnected without my consent or notification .... my tel number was removed and lost completely, losing all incoming calls for a month now .... and no service support to get things sorted.
I have just cancelled my line with them due to total dissatisfaction and frustration at their lack of ability to solve the problem.
Beware of this company. Their service is appalling.:mad:

Most of the original Primus users ditched them a couple of years back ! I think that the only use I would make of them is their Call Saver, but even then.............. I am with BT for landline and pay £5 a month for unlimited landline calls, and 0870 and 0845 calls are included. Pay my line rental up front and this makes it competitive.
With o2 for broadband and even theough they hiked the price earlier this year, would not change as they have been excellent.

billsavings

theloft wrote: »

Most of the original Primus users ditched them a couple of years back ! I think that the only use I would make of them is their Call Saver, but even then.............. I am with BT for landline and pay £5 a month for unlimited landline calls, and 0870 and 0845 calls are included. Pay my line rental up front and this makes it competitive.
With o2 for broadband and even theough they hiked the price earlier this year, would not change as they have been excellent.

So what so good about there Call Saver ?

Heinz

theloft probably meant Primus Saver Option 2 - which was the CPS service recommended by Martin a few years ago. For no monthly fee, it gave (still gives me) free evening and weekend calls of up to 90 minutes each to UK 01 and 02 numbers.

Being a true CPS service (before the dreaded WCLI came on the scene) it allowed (still allows me) the use of the 1280 prefix to 'hop back onto BT' for specific calls* and, with the line rental still with BT, meant that the likes of 18185 could still be used as well.

*My Orchid is still programmed to insert that prefix for my weekend 01/02/03 calls so that I make at least the necessary 2 calls per month via BT to qualify for free Caller Display.

steven_cardwell

theloft wrote: »

Most of the original Primus users ditched them a couple of years back ! I think that the only use I would make of them is their Call Saver, but even then.............. I am with BT for landline and pay £5 a month for unlimited landline calls, and 0870 and 0845 calls are included. Pay my line rental up front and this makes it competitive.
With o2 for broadband and even theough they hiked the price earlier this year, would not change as they have been excellent.

Posted this earlier in the broadband forum on the "original" Primus broadband thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/184392, but thought it was relevant to here as well.

I was part of this thread from 2 years ago, and considering the latter half of the thread is nothing but horror stories, i find it incredible that Money Saving Expert is still "helping" this mob get trade!

Obviously not everyone that uses or has used Primus has horror stories, but the one difference i find from the posts that refer to the likes of Talk Talk, is that people's problems just haven't been down to customer service when something goes wrong.

I have seen threads about Primus from this year, and it is all the same stuff as that is in this old thread, wrong billing, package not set up properly, changeover dates come and go, terrible customer service, Primus emails that make no sense, problems that go on month after month even after several phone calls and promise after promise that it would be fixed next bill, mysterious charges on bills.

I know when i was with them, they had a package price of £29.99 for calls, broadband and line rental, yet their billing was hard to understand, instead of just showing the package and price then any 0845 etc calls, it was like watching Bid TV and their over inflated start price, there was all these expensive pricing for each part separately then followed by discounts for each one, just a shame this total came to £36 each month, so this was followed by a call to get bill sorted, each month i was promised it would be fixed, this went on for 12 months, in the end i was told that sales hadn't put it thru' as a package, which i find an incredible excuse, as on their own website there was only 2 packages available, and none included buying the products on their own!

Customer services called me a liar, when due to their billing errors, i was due a £15 refund on one bill, their supervisor told me i wasn't getting any more money back, even though the only money i was getting back was down to them overcharging every month, and not getting their finger out to sort it!

Worse company i have ever had to deal with, can't even get the simplest of things right, god knows what they would be like with an actual problem for example a line fault.

stevot

I ordered a landline + broadband nearly 3 weeks ago and still haven't got a phone call or an email regarding installation. I was told I would get a phonecall from an engineer within 3 days, nothing!

Been on hold for 30 minutes now, if they don't have it installed by the end of the week I'll tell them to cancel the order and go for sky instead, at least they give you an installation date on order!

Useless.

stevot

After an hour on hold, the women on the phone said they had no record of my order, despite two confirmation emails from them. Told them to cancel the order and hung up, woeful service!

bendipa

steven_cardwell wrote: »

Posted this earlier in the broadband forum on the "original" Primus broadband thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/184392, but thought it was relevant to here as well.

I was part of this thread from 2 years ago, and considering the latter half of the thread is nothing but horror stories, i find it incredible that Money Saving Expert is still "helping" this mob get trade!

Obviously not everyone that uses or has used Primus has horror stories, but the one difference i find from the posts that refer to the likes of Talk Talk, is that people's problems just haven't been down to customer service when something goes wrong.

I have seen threads about Primus from this year, and it is all the same stuff as that is in this old thread, wrong billing, package not set up properly, changeover dates come and go, terrible customer service, Primus emails that make no sense, problems that go on month after month even after several phone calls and promise after promise that it would be fixed next bill, mysterious charges on bills.

I know when i was with them, they had a package price of £29.99 for calls, broadband and line rental, yet their billing was hard to understand, instead of just showing the package and price then any 0845 etc calls, it was like watching Bid TV and their over inflated start price, there was all these expensive pricing for each part separately then followed by discounts for each one, just a shame this total came to £36 each month, so this was followed by a call to get bill sorted, each month i was promised it would be fixed, this went on for 12 months, in the end i was told that sales hadn't put it thru' as a package, which i find an incredible excuse, as on their own website there was only 2 packages available, and none included buying the products on their own!

Customer services called me a liar, when due to their billing errors, i was due a £15 refund on one bill, their supervisor told me i wasn't getting any more money back, even though the only money i was getting back was down to them overcharging every month, and not getting their finger out to sort it!

Worse company i have ever had to deal with, can't even get the simplest of things right, god knows what they would be like with an actual problem for example a line fault.

You mean you actually managed to speak to them to call you a liar??? I have never managed to get through to their customer service yet. For the umpteenth time I tried to phone them last week. I Had the receiver off the hook for over an hour, made my dinner, ate it, and after that still they hadn't answered my call. The pan pipes were still playing down the line. :mad: I've written to them, but they don't respond. I've emailed them. Same problem. Their customer service is simply non-existent.

I've now finally reported them to Ofcom who are looking into this.

steven_cardwell

bendipa wrote: »

You mean you actually managed to speak to them to call you a liar??? I have never managed to get through to their customer service yet. For the umpteenth time I tried to phone them last week. I Had the receiver off the hook for over an hour, made my dinner, ate it, and after that still they hadn't answered my call. The pan pipes were still playing down the line. :mad: I've written to them, but they don't respond. I've emailed them. Same problem. Their customer service is simply non-existent.

I've now finally reported them to Ofcom who are looking into this.

This was when the call centre was still in Glasgow.

When i wanted to send a letter of complaint, they gave me an address in Glasgow, that surprise surprise i waited for a reply but got nothing, even though it was sent recorded and i know it was signed for!

Funny enough, when i phoned Otelo for advice, they gave me legal department address in London, funny that their own, at the time UK based, call centre never thought or wanted to give out.

The level of service did go down well before they moved out to India, the fact that they couldn't set up a package correctly in first place, and then after 12 months couldn't fix the problem of being overcharged every month, even after call after call, with promise after promise, tells the story.

When i did eventually get rid of them, i had my Mac before the moved out of Glasgow, yet trying to get sense out the India lot after they kept charging me, long after moving suppliers, it was like hitting a brick wall, i had changed broadband in Oct, and phone in Nov, yet it was the beginning of the following year before i managed to speak to someone (yet another Indian) that had half a brain, and connected with what i was saying and that these charges shouldn't be happening.

What was even more incredible, was the fact that i had sent 2 official letters of complaint, and had a reply from Primus legal department telling me i could leave without any financial implications, i had my Mac without any problems, and there was also yet another "legal/official" letter of complaint sent to them, also including having Otelo involved.

The Indian call centre was a joke, didn't get the simplest of questions, one included a 20 minute call where i was asking "if i have left your service why am i still being charged", she seemed to think i was talking about their complicated discounts that they used to show on their billing, took me 4 months, before i finally got shot of them, between their billing being so far behind, and not stopping the billing once i had moved to O2 and BT, even though as requested i had sent them the start dates for the new suppliers information they asked for!

Even if their whole service was a £1 a year i would never touch this lot again!

If you have a look at this thread, you will see what kind of problems there was, even before moving out to India, most of my moans are in there too, really surprised with what many forum users opinion of Primus was then, that MSE still recommend them. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/184392