Unicom Complaints

Also

I had a sales call from them today, they claimed to work a lot with Charities etc and on the phone the offer sounded very good.

However, I said that I had to have it in writing as we're a Council and it would go to competitive tender.
They stated that they could send us the paperwork to "get the ball rolling" and inform BT, and if we changed our mind within three weeks then we could cancel.
I stated clearly that:
a) I was not authorised to give that permission
b) That if they did take such action it would not be valid and would prejudice us against them.
c) That they could send us any information electronically and we would consider it.

Needless to say that I'm still awaiting their email.
It does highlight a particular tactic "To get the ball rolling."
Watch out for this...

Busterbobs

Hi
Was wondering how you got on with Unicom and if you managed to get it sorted without having to go down the insolvency route?

I read on another thread on this site that they claim to work with a lot of charities and hope that your charity was one of them?

Any update on the forum would be most welcome for others in the same boat.

Thanks

Johnny_Bear

Hi All,

I'd like to report that despite a few threats of termination fees of £150 the termination of our contract with Unicom is going relatively smoothly. We had one line cancelled and another one is moving to Talk Talk later this month. A kind lady phoned to confirm that no termination fees will be charged as our contract expired on the 7th of April. They even offered me a very competitive all inclusive deal for all calls including mobile and international for a fixed monthly charge. I refused as I do not use the phone that much but need the unlimited broadband and their broadband offers are not competitive. To be fair, they seem to be learning their lesson and changing their ways.

Thanks again to this forum and Pixarstem in particular for the valuable advice.

Mr_Trick

Johnny_Bear wrote:

I'd like to report that despite a few threats of termination fees of £150 the termination of our contract with Unicom is going relatively smoothly.

Either I was unlucky or you were lucky. My contract expired in February - in December I made a verbal agreement with Unicom for a one year contract for two out of the three lines left from a rolling contract. Unicom immediately turned this into a three year contract for all three lines. The Ombudsman (after 6 months) has supported Unicom and in the process made the ridiculous claim that paying for a line I neither wanted nor needed was "not to my detriment". Ofcom have a General Rule 9.6 which is supposed to prevent suppliers making up contracts in this way - I can say for sure that the Ombudsman works to an entirely different set of rules. As far as I can tell the only honest person I spoke to at Unicom was the one that admitted they make up contracts as they go along. A short phone call from Unicom cost me over £300 and wasted countless hours.

rjimmer

The service from Unicom was useless. The connection would not recognise numbers when pressed at the request of automated reply systems like DVLA. There were sounds of exchange relays working while dialing. The broadband speed was often less than half what it was before, even though I was within sight of the exchange. The same 'up to 8Mbps' connection over a mile out of town was about 4-5 times the speed after going back to BT. After changing back to BT, Unicom wanted more, for the remainder of the contract time than I had been paying them for their useless service. About 8 years later, they have suddenly decided that they want more than the amount, which I thought was reasonable, that I paid them at the time.

sukicats

I have been reading the posts with interest as I have a similar problem. We closed our small business recently, and have had a contract with unicom to supply our business line for approx 6 years. In May/June this year I was contacted by them to renew the contract for 1 year. I specifically asked the question regarding a termination fee if we decided to close and was advised there would be A £100 fee if i moved providers but no charge if we ceased trading. ( I have found some notes I made during the telephone call stating this) I confirmed the closure of the business in writing and I have since had a letter asking for £150 termination fee with regard to "my decision to transfer to another service provider". A phone call today resulted in them insisting on either a letter from an independent solicitor or an in house solicitor confirming our closure both costing @ £125- £150. Can anyone suggest where I go from here

drogan82

Hi

I recently took over the business and unicom was charging me a lot so i planned to go to xln. i had many customers and my business sales were over £4000/week. xln was supposed to complete the transfer on the 12th of September but it was void/stopped by unicom and the line seized from that date till now i have no business line.

I was not bound by there contract and i was paying way too much money monthly.
I called them many many times but every time I reached them they gave false promises now i hardly make £100/week. the last time i was in touch with them i was advised to try another company so that they take the line but today bt (openreach) told me that they cannot provide me my number as it is with my current supplier and it is blocked by them.

i have got a letter from xln confirming that the transfer was stopped.

now i am planning to sue them and am looking for advise or a law firm that deals.

macman

If you took over an existing business that had a contract with them, then why are you not bound by it? The contract would be in the name of the company, not in the name of the previous owner.
The short term fix is to get a new line provision with a new number.

Michael_Gray

I was contacted by Unicom regarding switching to them from Onebill. So we had a sales guy here for a morning going over our Onebill bills and he promised categorically he would save us money over what we were paying.

The first bill arrived - and we are now paying MUCH more than we ever had to pay Onebill! The rentals are higher, the call charges are higher, every way I look at it we are paying more.

Ive tried speaking to Unicom about this but apparently there is nothing I can do - I would be due to pay 30 percent of the total contract value (a three year contract) to get out of the contract!

What I cannot understand is that I had a sales guy here who went over the details of my old providers bills, and he promised he would save me money. The direct debit I signed has "61 percent off BT prices" for International calls etc etc - However the call charges are significantly more. Of course - the Direct Debit form is not the contract.

A 9 minute call to an Irish mobile is now £4.06
Previously a 21 minute call to same mobile was £3.96!

Have I been mis-sold a 3 year contract? Is there anything I can do?

JJ_Egan

See multiple Unicom complaints on this very forum .

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=47693681&postcount=2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3578981