Seeking for an organisation that could help me

bris

Ganapata wrote: »

Ok, but this is very strange, I would have thought that there would be a kind of "ombudsman" helping customers. They have much more power than an individual customer that is often taken for granted.

Anyway, thanks

With a civil matter such as this then the court system is the ultimate ombudsman. You probably know this, but if you don't we have a cheap and relatively quick small claims court you can use, you can even do it online https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome
You would need to write a letter befor action giving them xxx amount of time to sort the problem before proceeding, this would sometimes be enough to get the talking.
Goodluck

Ganapata

gb12345 wrote: »

The company is ignoring you, so it is unlikely that things are going to be resolved amicably.

Not necessarily. My experience has shown that when an individual customer gets ignored, a letter from an association bears more weight. However some are really stubborn and only Courts are the only answer, that is of course when they want to comply willingly with the decision !!!

Ganapata

bris wrote: »

With a civil matter such as this then the court system is the ultimate ombudsman. You probably know this, but if you don't we have a cheap and relatively quick small claims court you can use, you can even do it online https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome
You would need to write a letter befor action giving them xxx amount of time to sort the problem before proceeding, this would sometimes be enough to get the talking.
Goodluck

Yes I am familiar with the procedure, although I do it most of the time for friends to whom I recommand to seize UK courts rather than the French Ones!!!

Ganapata

gb12345 wrote: »

Of course you do also have the ability to name and shame the company concerned. A factual post on popular forums such as this one might make them wake up and realise that they risk their name being dragged through the mud, because they won't meet their obligations.

I doubt very much that they really care especially for a huge company. My experience has shown that small companies are more concerned about their image, probably due to the concern about the perennity of their business than major company who do not give a .... let's say a thing similar to what they are selling!!!

gb12345

Ganapata wrote: »

Not necessarily. My experience has shown that when an individual customer gets ignored, a letter from an association bears more weight. However some are really stubborn and only Courts are the only answer, that is of course when they want to comply willingly with the decision !!!

But there is no "association" and they are ignoring you as an individual, so as I said - it is very unlikely this will be resolved amicably.

You might get lucky, the "Letter before Action" might be the kick up the backside that they need, but you need to be prepared to go all the way.

gb12345

Ganapata wrote: »

I doubt very much that they really care especially for a huge company. My experience has shown that small companies are more concerned about their image, probably due to the concern about the perennity of their business than major company who do not give a .... let's say a thing similar to what they are selling!!!

I would disagree - there are a number of large companies who have official representatives registered on this site, who post to offer help when customers complain - they wouldn't do this if they weren't worried about their image.

Also, I have worked for a number of multi-national blue-chip companies and you would be surprised at the number of staff that they employ to monitor mentions of the company's name/trademarks on the web.

Major corporations are well aware of the power of social networking and the power it gives consumers. The companies that are more likely to ignore things like this are the dodgy ones who are out to make a quick buck and then relaunch themselves under a different name and start again.

neilmcl

Ganapata wrote: »

I do not know if you are sarcastic when you talk about the Wonderful English common law system, but if you had our crappy French system, you would definetely think the English one is Wonderful.

So much faster too

I wasn't being.

neilmcl

Ganapata wrote: »

I would have thought that there would be a kind of "ombudsman" helping customers. They have much more power than an individual customer that is often taken for granted.

Not when you have the law on your side. Like I alluded to the English legal system makes it fairly simple for individuals to take companies to court for breaches of contract, consumer rights etc. We don't need the likes of ombudsman in this type of scenario.

neilmcl

Ganapata wrote: »

Not necessarily. My experience has shown that when an individual customer gets ignored, a letter from an association bears more weight. However some are really stubborn and only Courts are the only answer, that is of course when they want to comply willingly with the decision !!!

Here, usually an LBA (Letter Before Action) to remind them of their legal obligation is all it'll take.

mo786uk

In the UK a consumer would go to the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline for advice.

Trading Standards can ask companies to put things right on behalf of consumers but they are unlikely to help a non resident unless they are already dealing with a lot of complaints about that businesses and its no extra work.

If you are in France you can try going to this place: http://www.cec-zev.eu/index.php?id=1727

They will then contact this palce in the UK http://www.ukecc.net/ who may contact the business for you.