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caeler

I'm not sure if Primus representatives are still looking at this thread but I do hope so! I've just called for two reasons. (Only took 17 minutes to get through which is a new record!).

Reason 1 : My last bill charged me to call 'talking clock' which I did not do. The call handler says its been a common glitch recently and he's requesting a refund for me. (This is resolved assuming I receive a refund. Will I recieve a refund or credit?)

Reason 2: I wanted to change my package to 'Phone & Broadband' which includes double data 'upgrade40' 40gb data and evening and weekend calls for £1.20 a month. I asked several times that I would get the double data but I wasn't certain with the response I got. I also asked when I would have to pay in advance for line rental as I would like to continue that however it isn't due until December. I was just told I would be written to. will I? When? When will have I have to make payment immediately or in December when it is due?

Although your call handler was friendly and polite I did feel I was being managed off the line. Can you shed any light on my queries please?

NonGeographicalMan

I have a close relative with a second line with BT that they hardly use at the moment (except for as a burglar alarm line). I would like to switch this to the MSE version of Primus Saver at £6.99 per month to avoid the appalling BT rip off of over £15 per month and to benefit from the free evening and weekend calls starting at a very useful 6pm (Primus being the only company not to have moved to a customer cheating 7pm start time apart from Post Office Homephone who have also remained at 6pm).

However I am nervous about the many previous reports of some inaccurate billing for phone services by Primus even though the biggest area of dispute seems to be regarding over use charges on broadband (which Primus would surely be far better off capping at a crippled speed if the limit is actually reached rather than hitting customers with massive over use charges that they don't realise they will have to pay) and not telephone line service on its own.

Noting that this thread has gone quiet for over three and a half months does this mean that Primus/NewCall has finally started to get its act together in terms of the various major longstanding quality of customer service and accurate billing issues? Certainly I am very wary of moving my elderly relative's phone line to Primus/New Call until I see firm evidence that its previous very significant problems in this area are now all firmly in the past.

alixandrea

Ferrety wrote: »

Hello Primus,
My question is: why are you persisting in demanding money from me when you have not supplied my phone line since August 29th.
On August 29th Tesco took over my phone line supply. They say you allowed this, although you failed to send me any notification as I understand you are meant to, to avoid it being switched without my consent. No matter, as I did indeed request the switch and it went ahead smoothly.
But please stop demanding money for a line you no longer supply. You ignore my emails. You will not answer the phone. When you do answer, you tell me your system is down and you'll phone back, but you don't. You have ignored my requests for details of your complaint procedure.
Please stop harassing me, close my account properly and stop asking for money which is not yours.

Ferrety, this exact same thing happened to me just recently. I sent a letter recorded delivery to the address at the bottom of the the 'Final Demand' letter they sent to me. In it, I stated the situation, and the date the transfer happened. I also sent copies of the emails/previous correspondence I had sent to them.

I sent all this to them on 6th Jan and *fingers crossed* have not been harassed by them ever since. This might work for you too? The address I sent my letter to was:

New Call Telecom Ltd.
Credit Control Department
PO Box 549
Burnley
BB11 9FY

Best of luck! I hope they leave you alone soon. You have my utmost sympathy in this situation, they really are beyond the pale for awful customer service!

Alixandrea

HighamKneeDee

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I have a close relative with a second line with BT that they hardly use at the moment (except for as a burglar alarm line). I would like to switch this to the MSE version of Primus Saver at £6.99 per month to avoid the appalling BT rip off of over £15 per month and to benefit from the free evening and weekend calls starting at a very useful 6pm (Primus being the only company not to have moved to a customer cheating 7pm start time apart from Post Office Homephone who have also remained at 6pm).

However I am nervous about the many previous reports of some inaccurate billing for phone services by Primus even though the biggest area of dispute seems to be regarding over use charges on broadband (which Primus would surely be far better off capping at a crippled speed if the limit is actually reached rather than hitting customers with massive over use charges that they don't realise they will have to pay) and not telephone line service on its own.

Noting that this thread has gone quiet for over three and a half months does this mean that Primus/NewCall has finally started to get its act together in terms of the various major longstanding quality of customer service and accurate billing issues? Certainly I am very wary of moving my elderly relative's phone line to Primus/New Call until I see firm evidence that its previous very significant problems in this area are now all firmly in the past.

In my view they are still possibly the worst customer services I have ever had the pleasure of trying to get in contact with.
Once in touch, I've always found them okay .

NonGeographicalMan

HighamKneeDee wrote: »

Once in touch, I've always found them okay .

What about the endless silly mistakes they seem to make with billing or other matters that cause their customer service department to be overwhelmed with calls or email in the first place?

Are they still making just as many of these as in the past or is there any sign that they have finally begun to learn their lesson and managed to start to do things right?

I'm really looking to hear from phone line only customers since it seems self evident that their broadband service seems to leave an awful lot to be desired.

Ypaymore

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

(Primus being the only company not to have moved to a customer cheating 7pm start time apart from Post Office Homephone who have also remained at 6pm).

You must get up to scratch.:D

Tesco Homephone still start Evening Rates at 6pm.
http://www.tescobroadband.com/help-and-support/articles/view/2111?cat=1174

As do the http://www.thephone.coop/home/phone-only/#/call_tariffs

NonGeographicalMan

Ypaymore wrote: »

Tesco Homephone still start Evening Rates at 6pm.
http://www.tescobroadband.com/help-and-support/articles/view/2111?cat=1174

As do the http://www.thephone.coop/home/phone-only/#/call_tariffs

But Tesco charges a whopping £14.90 per month line rental but this includes evening and weekend calls. Phone Co-Op charges charges £12.50 per month and then £3.95 on top of that for evening and weekend calls (making them £1.55 per month more expensive than Tesco for evening and weekends alone, although they do only charge another very reasonable £1 to upgrade this to Anytime calls whereas Tesco charges a further £4.50 for Anytime calls)

Either way these charges are well over double what Primus charges for line rental and evening and weekend calls in the first year. Obviously Primus's rates are not sustainable in the long run but even year 2 customers would seem to only be paying them £9.95 per month with evening and weekend calls thrown in, still making Primus considerably cheaper than Tesco's £14.95 per month.

The only question therefore about Primus is not whether they offer the cheapest prices but whether or not they make your life a total customer service hell fighting to get the low prices you were originally promised when you signed up through MSE or various other alternative introducers to this low cost package over the first 12 months.

My impression of Primus is that their general business philosophy is the same as that of Ryanair. Namely get the customer to buy the initial apparently cheap product to get them through the door and then hit them with 101 unfair and iniquitous hidden charges.:eek::mad:

jstallan

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I'm really looking to hear from phone line only customers since it seems self evident that their broadband service seems to leave an awful lot to be desired.

I've been a Primus customer for a year now. We have line rental with evening and weekend calls for £8.99 (I think). During the first couple of months bills I discovered that Primus had added 'Caller ID' to my bill. A phone call to customer services (free number I seem to recall) got this removed and has been the case ever since.

Despite having an Orchid dialler I always seem to make chargeable calls through Primus so my bill fluctuates between £9-£11 per month. I'm not that bother as I still know I'm quids in overall and if it means is sustains the cheap Primus service for longer then that's fine by me.

Email reminders that my bill is available works fine with me.

Regards,
John

Heinz

Having an Orchid dialler connected doesn't, per se, mean you get least cost call routing - it depends on the Orchid's program.

As Primus appear to bar 18185 on their LLU lines, it's likely that, even if the Orchid has the Heinz program installed and it tries to make calls via 18185, Primus are stripping out the prefix and routing the call themselves - hence call costs.

jstallan

Heinz,

I'm not on LLU. The problem is down to the Orchid losing the date/time due to power failure and me forgetting to reset it.

Most of my 18185 calls go through the correct channel.

John