Avoid Primus/Newcall

ALAN_BARNES

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH flossy_splodge,just do not bother with these merchants !I have now decided to go back to BT who will reconnect me for £40 instead of the £59 which Primus wanted.They eventually did respond to my emails after I had repeatedly requested Homephonechoices.co.uk to try and get them to.They still tried to avoid this by telephoning me and denying that I had sent them any emails at all !
All that I did was to reply to the emails which I got from them when I first applied to them !!!
They claim that it was all my fault anyway,and in a twisted kind of way,they are right...I should not have even bothered with them in the first place.
I have told them that I will be billing them for all of my mobile telephone bills from the first of September until I will be connected with BT at the beginning of October.Needless to say I have had no response from them since.

lonestarfan

Thnx to everyone 4 alerting me to the problems with this company. I was so close to signing up! I think MSE should remove them from the article that made me look at them in the first place. Its so cheap that u cant help but get drawn in. Then i saw all the different posts and tried primus phone lines today- the wait was forever, the number system was wrong eg said press 1 for sales which i did then it said welcome to customer service but cs option was 2! It kept saying recommend a friend for £50 - don't they mean your enemy lol ! decided in the end to stay with virgin & negotiated a good deal. Have added this company to the list to avoid which includes orange, & talk talk, etc sorry it doesn't help the op but has saved me a lot of exasperation. My 2nd choice was going to be plusnet & feedback seems to be positive about them. So decided to stay with Virgin so no connection costs and chose the £120 up front 1 yr line rental and £7.60 pm for cable internet (large) & eve/wkend calls. Total £17.60 pm.

jhp

lonestarfan wrote: »

so chose £120 up front 1 yr line rental and £7.60 pm for cable internet (large) & eve/wkend calls.

Dont forget you can avail yourself of cheaper peak,ngn,mobile calls etc by using 18185 via there 0808 Freephone Number.:D

http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php

ALAN_BARNES

I had a phone call from a manager [name not known] at Primus yesterday evening,who apologised for the way that Primus had behaved with my application to change from Talk-Talk.He pointed out that because Primus is a small operator in the scheme of things ,they are unable to get change-overs from other suppliers like T-Talk etc as they have different lines.
I suggested that in this case it might be a reasonable idea to put this sort of info "up-Front" so that Plebs like me would know what they were letting themselves in for.
He did not offer any defence of what the various personnel in Primus had said or done,and told me that he would be speaking with them about this matter in order that it did not occur again.
I have received an email this morning from one of these people ,who just confirmed that the order was now cancelled and that he was "Sorry for the inconvenience "

I like the word inconvenience as used in this context...I wonder what he would think if his telephone had been cut off in this manner for 2 months ,and he had to pay all of the additional costs ?!!?

Needless to say,there was no acknowledgement of my previous email,where I said that I would be billing them for my mobile costs at least.
There is an old saying [or was it Shakespeare] which says...Oh what tangled webs we weave when we practice to deceive.
My advice to anyone in this respect is...never ever agree verbally with any one without witnesses,and better still,always insist on written agreements/contracts before you proceed.This may sound old fashioned to many of the "younger" generation these days,as the way the communications "INDUSTRY" has {nearly} everyone conned,we will be entering into a cyber reality...but that is not only an oxymoron but another issue .

lonestarfan

jhp wrote: »

Dont forget you can avail yourself of cheaper peak,ngn,mobile calls etc by using 18185 via there 0808 Freephone Number.:D

http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php

Must read up on this as I didn't really know about it - thanks a lot.

Firemunchkin

lonestarfan wrote: »

Thnx to everyone 4 alerting me to the problems with this company. I was so close to signing up! I think MSE should remove them from the article that made me look at them in the first place. Its so cheap that u cant help but get drawn in. Then i saw all the different posts and tried primus phone lines today- the wait was forever, the number system was wrong eg said press 1 for sales which i did then it said welcome to customer service but cs option was 2! It kept saying recommend a friend for £50 - don't they mean your enemy lol ! decided in the end to stay with virgin & negotiated a good deal. Have added this company to the list to avoid which includes orange, & talk talk, etc sorry it doesn't help the op but has saved me a lot of exasperation. My 2nd choice was going to be plusnet & feedback seems to be positive about them. So decided to stay with Virgin so no connection costs and chose the £120 up front 1 yr line rental and £7.60 pm for cable internet (large) & eve/wkend calls. Total £17.60 pm.

I'm in the exact same boat - saw the super cheap price offered for Primus through Homephonechoices after getting my BT bill this month (£17 a month line rental, although we do get a £3 a month discount somehow). I was attracted so started looking into it, called up BT and asked if there was a cheaper line rental we could go on - there isn't unless we do the super saver rental where we pay upfront but can't afford that bulk cost right now. Called Sky and asked if they could do better - they can't but did offer us half price line rental for 6 months (a saving of around £40 overall) which at the moment seems like the best deal available for us.

We do have our broadband with Plusnet and have done for years. We do end up paying slightly more having our phone line, broadband and TV all with separate companies but Plusnet really are brilliant. We've never had a problem with them - except once when they had a fault at their end and they provided lots of info for customers and an apology when (swiftly) fixed. We've had to phone them twice and they've been an absolute pleasure both times. When our modem broke they sent us a new one within 24 hours, no quibble, no fuss and only £7.99 charge. What we pay per month with them for our broadband we are happy to for the peace of mind we get. Sadly, they can't better the Sky offer on the line rental.

I was considering Primus but I really have rethought that one now. There isn't a connection fee if you already have a BT line but if the line ceases for any reason then there is a connection charge. Plus, you need to look carefully at the liability you carry as a customer if there is a fault. With BT most engineer call outs are free of charge - but not so with Primus. I had a complicated chat with their sales department today but the woman I spoke to didn't seem to understand where the boundaries lay. I left the conversation not feeling terribly reassured - the last thing I want is to incur £100s of charges for the sake of a £6 saving a month!

:eek:

ellieo

oh god
i signed up to the cheap line rental deal had one email that just gave me a number and since then nothing which was about 2 weeks ago
ive emailed them once heard nothing back

ALAN_BARNES

Yes ,unfortunately this sounds very familiar.I think the clue lies in the word Telecommunications ,with the emphasis on "communications".Just don't do what I did,and terminate your current contract as you will be faced with a re-connection fee,and worse,waiting several weeks before you get your phone back at all !!
The problem lies much deeper than it first may appear,in that there is a fundamental issue which has silently grown over recent years whereby the direct communication between people [face-to-face] has been substituted by so called systems and procedures which exist purely to vindicate the internal company/organisation involved and gather information about private individuals in order to protect their own interests etc.This was never the case before such systems came along. Unfortunately the "younger" generations have been brought up surrounded by such "stuff" and do not know any better.Of course such technology is great in principle,and in itself has great benefits for everyone.However,as proven time and time again,in the wrong hands ,it is a complete waste of time and money..usually for those on the receiving end.

ellieo

just sent another email not holding my breath on getting a reply though
as its been 2 or 3 weeks to late to cancel thats if im switching to them at all ? as i saw martins tip on here and did it all online
wish i hadnt now ...

ellieo

well just rang them
seems i dont exist as they havent recieved anything from me and the number i recieved doesnt exist
will wait now and see