[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]/aerial direct customer services / echo sign UPDATED

Prudent

Just a wee update on this to say that I emailed aerial this afternoon and have just received a call from someone called Mike who says he is head of customer services. He told me that the contract has been cancelled on their system and that he will phone me up on Monday morning regarding the issues I raised in my email (which are basically just those listed on here). He has also said on Monday he will send an email confirming the cancellation.

DUTR

Prudent wrote: »

Just a wee update on this to say that I emailed aerial this afternoon and have just received a call from someone called Mike who says he is head of customer services. He told me that the contract has been cancelled on their system and that he will phone me up on Monday morning regarding the issues I raised in my email (which are basically just those listed on here). He has also said on Monday he will send an email confirming the cancellation.

As long as you have learned something from this episode, then all is good.
I suspect Ariel do not want dissatisfied customers and the deal they could offer on the day was the best they could offer to you, doesn't mean there are not more suitable deals for you or that they are criminals.

Prudent

As I said before the deal was not the key issue. It was only £1 dearer than the 02 alternative. The issue is that led me to believe that the call was directly from 02 and that they knew I wasn't a business customer. What is bothering me is that the information was misleading and they deliberately processed it as a business account knowing it was not a business account. I am hoping that this is nearing resolution and that as well as cancelling my contract the company may review its practices. I do appreciate (and hope)this may well be an isolated error. As o2 have routinely phoned me when my contract is due for renewal and this company led me to believe they were 02 it is unsurprising that I accepted the call. I have never previously purchased anything over the phone as I much prefer face to face or online transactions. I will be phoning o2 back to confirm it is indeed them if I renew over the phone in the future though!

Prudent

I am just adding an update to say that I have received a further phone call from Aerial this morning and an email confirming that they have cancelled the contract and removed my details from their database.

I was happy with the cancellation. However Aerial were still evasive about where they got my details. I hope that they now monitor the accuracy of the information they are given.

I had a very helpful phone call from Echo sign who were clearly committed to monitoring complaints and following them through.

robbies_gal

but it is cirminal the op told them he wasnt a business customer and they still proceeded [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

DUTR

gabbyevs wrote: »

but it is cirminal the op told them he wasnt a business customer [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

What's so special about a business contract? In the case of a landline a residential customer can have a business line if they wish.
Not sure but don't business lines have priority to access to the network? And prompter repairs? Still the OP informs the issue is resolved now.

gjchester

Prudent wrote: »

I asked 02 how Aerial got my account details and was told they sometimes give business account details to aerial.

With the best will in the world O2 may be innocent.

The call would have been carefully scripted, you were probably told they were working on behalf of O2, not for O2, and they are as they are a reseller.

Mobile phone blocks were originally sold in chunks to the networks, so if O2 were originally sold the 071234 range that's 071234 000000 to 071234 999999, ie almost a million potential O2 customers, it's not hard for an auto dialler to start at 000000 and go up in steps of 1, sooner or later you'll get a o2 customer.

No company would want to alienate customers, and neither would any company call you to offer you a cheaper deal, this was likely just a phone seller trying it on.

Is it illegal, probably not, the call would have carefully been scripted to stay just on the right side of the law, did they lie to you, maybe, maybe it was the cheapest deal they offered.

It's another form of slamming, it's not nice, it's morally dubious, but it's probably legal just, and will continue whilst there is commission to be made on selling the contracts.

Fluffdriver

I have also had the same company (Aerial Direct) call me this morning offering me a 'Business' deal - unlimited texts, minutes, 1GB data, all for reduced price £21.83 (£5 discounted too) - me thinks 'ooh a good deal'.

They say they are part of O2, so I'm thinking this could be ok, but I'd better check it out before I sign anything or give any details out. Only passed on my email address thankfully.

The form came through to sign - 'O2 network' - check, 'O2 centre of excellence' - er...check, 'O2 accounts' - seems legit...check, before I sign anything I'll just give O2 a call to double check.
O2 - 'Aerial Direct...never heard of them, sorry' ALARM BELLS sound somewhere in the back of my head :eek:.

We both looked them up on Google and here we are on this thread.
O2 said sometimes companies like this can offer these business deals and they are unable to match them, much like companies such as Carphone Warehouse, but acting as if they are part of O2 is incorrect and false :mad:.
They have been made aware of the issue and were also able to offer me a better iPhone tariff than the one I'm on AND the one I'd just been offered by AD :j.

So it pays to double check things before you agree to anything and before you give out any financial information over the phone.
Thankfully this has turned out ok, but there are others who a duped by companies falsely pretending to be someone they aren't.

sys2srs

Do not use Aerial Direct they rip you off , if you want to upgrade log on to your O2 account and you will get a much better deal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nssamuel

@prudent. The exact same thing has just happened to me and i feel very annoyed that I caved in as normally I just hang up on these calls. waiting to here back off aeriel after they said they need to listen back on the call when i agreed to the contract. Im hoping they will just terminate as they did with you. Did they allow you to keep you current phone number?