Chess Telecom

scottishsodapop

Hi looking for advice took over lease of shop didnt know who phone line was with
few days later chess telecom ring up sorry afraid you cant leave cost you £99 mmm i dont have contract with you think i can says me
guy proceeds to tell me all these great deals how good they are etc

then he says ohh i cant take you as a customer as unpaid bill from previous tenent i then ask you wont cut of line will you ? no he replies we need other person to pay then we can take you

today line gets cut of we cant take card payments not good when only been trading 2 weeks

phone chess they are sorry line cut off because off unpaid bill
told we can reinstate if you pay £145 and we will sign you up as new customer
any one know were we stand
i have emailed saying send copy of bill we will pay it as a full and final payment on account and we will move line
any one with input that be great

egrescrimp

I assume the contract wasn't in your name? if not, ignore them and just get a new line installed. If you don't want to pay a new line install call the ISP of your choice and try haggle for a free install.

I got a free line install from Plusnet although they advertise £49.99 for a new line, I had to commit to an 18 month contract though.

scottishsodapop

No money not due by us but its a shop and we need line for card transactions

And they turned off with out warning

egrescrimp

scottishsodapop wrote: »

No money not due by us but its a shop and we need line for card transactions

And they turned off with out warning

Don't pay for someone else's debt, simply order a new line with another provider. Probably take 5 working days though.

scottishsodapop

Lol yeah makes us look dumb not being able to take card payments though
find it hard to believe they wouldnt even turn on if we went to them

egrescrimp

scottishsodapop wrote: »

Lol yeah makes us look dumb not being able to take card payments though
find it hard to believe they wouldnt even turn on if we went to them

Use it to your advantage, tell customers it's due to the poor customer service of this company (even put it on a flyer in your shop window). Stick two fingers up at them for being unreasonable!

forgotmyname

You using a phone line not registered to you and your not paying the bill either?

You need to be careful here because if they check and find you have been using the line they maybe able to pass some of the debt onto you.

Your using a line that nobody is paying for.. Or have i got that wrong?

scottishsodapop

We requested bt take line over when we got keys as didnt know who
owned line chess called at weekend saying they were not allowing
bt to take line due to unpaid bill I did ask line wont be cut off until resolved
they agreed I also offered today to stay with them and take over line from
when we took possesion but this was refused unless bill paid

macman

Why would you want to take a service with these cowboys? Even if you did, they can't reconnect you any faster than any other provider. As advised, the sooner you order a new line from a new provider, the quicker you will be reconnected.
BT are about the most expensive choice around.

money_saving_matt

scottishsodapop wrote: »

We requested bt take line over when we got keys as didnt know who
owned line chess called at weekend saying they were not allowing
bt to take line due to unpaid bill I did ask line wont be cut off until resolved
they agreed I also offered today to stay with them and take over line from
when we took possesion but this was refused unless bill paid

Chess are not allowed to cancel a transfer order to enforce the payment of a debt - Ofcom's guidelines are quite clear in this respect. A communication provider cannot hold a customer's line to ransom until a debt is paid - they have to allow the line to be transferred away. You certainly have suitable grounds to contact Ofcom and raise a complaint.

scottishsodapop

Update i spoke to ofcom chess are with in there rights to with hold the number on the line is the way they put it
i can go to bt they take over line and give me new number its just the time scales involved 14 days is a major pain with out a card machine but ill need to bite bullet and wait 2 weeks
you never know bt may surprise me and be quicker lol