Setanta Sports - Writing a complaint help please

greentrader

davethemaster wrote: »

what you need to do is ring their customer service number (0871 200 33 22), if your account should have previously been terminated, they will cancel your account, stopping any futher payments from coming out. then all you need to do is write a letter and ask for your over payments back.
is there has been an error im sure they would refund this.
one of the customer service agents will give you the adress and your account number and everything else you need.

This doesn't happen..period! Read my post. I am chasing overpayment and have been for two years. I have sent Special Delivery letters to them and each time I get a reply (after constant reminders to them) from a different person each time. They have screwed up my account so badly that when I call and quote my viewing card number, Post Code (depends on the operator and what they ask for) I am sure I can here the voice inside the person's head saying "OMG do I not like this!"

You can keep banging on as much as you want about how good Setanta are and how well they deal with account problems but it seems to be that lots of people have evidence to the contrary.

I've been asking for refunds for 2 years now and I managed to get one of £15. I think that was a "let's hope he goes away" gesture because it does not come close to balancing the account!

I've written to Michael O'Rourke in the hope he will put a decent member of staff onto it and get it resolved. It wouldn't take much work but nobody wants to take the responsibility for it.

fallyhag

I missed a payment in Jan 09, fair enough.

I then received a bombardment of automated telephone calls from Setanta. Each time I picked up I got a message telling me to ring a number. I eventually got through and spoke to an operator. I wanted to pay there and then but they said they couldnt accept my card coz that was the one that was refused payment for. So am I expected to go out and get another credit card to appease Setanta? Well half way through the chat I was cut off so I decided to just communicate in writing for audit purposes.

Here is how the saga is looking (starting with me):

Dear Sir or Madam

Thank you for your letter dated 10/02/09 informing me about a failed subscription payment and difficulty in getting in contact with me. You also went on to say that because you couldn’t contact me you have now suspended my services. Oddly though, you failed to inform me how much I owed you in your letter.

Firstly, I wish to apologise for any missed payments and will make sure that all overdue subscription payments are settled in full. However, I feel I must almost express my disappointment at the way you have managed this. Your letter dated XXXXXX was the FIRST letter I have received from your company. Your other attempts have been in the form of bombarding my home telephone with numerous automated messages asking me to contact you. On the one time my wife did manage to get through she was informed that we couldn’t settle the account with the same card...and then was cut off.

My disappointment was further increased when I read that you were considering passing this onto a debt collection service, despite not having written to me before. This is not acceptable and I now wish to cancel my subscription with immediate effect. I will settle all outstanding payments on receipt of a letter informing me of the itemised account balance.

Please note that I will only communicate via letter from now on (for audit purposes) and all telephone calls from Setanta will not be answered.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Setanta Reply:

customerservices@setanta.com

Thank you for your e-mail.

I refer to the above and am in receipt of your e-mail dated 16/02/09

We are sorry to hear that you no longer wish to subscribe to Setanta Sports. We have valued your custom over the past number of months. We have the best premium live sport on TV including top flight and international football, the best boxing from both sides of the Atlantic and the UFC Exclusively Live and would love you to continue to enjoy this.

We are unable to process your cancellation request as there is currently an outstanding balance on your account. This is due to a failed payment on (XXXXXX) for £XX.XX

In order to clear this balance, we would appreciate if you could call our Customer Services team on 08712 00 33 22. We are open from 8am-9pm 7 days a week. Please be advised that failure to clear this outstanding debt may result in referral to an external debt collection agency.

If you would still like to cancel your account after the balance has been cleared, one of our cancellation agents will be happy to arrange this for you.

Yours sincerely


My reply:


Dear XXXXXX

Thank you for replying to my letter where I requested to end my subscription. Unfortunately though, you seemed to have had a problem reading my letter (attached) which very clearly stated;

"Please note that I will only communicate via letter from now on (for audit purposes) and all telephone calls from Setanta will not be answered".

With this in mind I would like you to acknowledge the following;

a. I wish to settle and cancel my account as soon as possible.

b. I want a letter/email from you telling me how much I owe and how I may pay (by cheque). I will not act until I hear from you in writing (letter or email).

I do not want a third threat of debt collection action because of your failure to communicate in writing. Any repeated threats of debt collection action will be treated very seriously by myself. Do not ask me to phone you again as I have no intention of giving you my card details. I am fully aware of the poor reputation Setanta has with regards to ending subscriptions but I have no intention of being one of those people. I have made every effort to try and give you this money but your insistence to only communicate by phone has prevented this.

I await the information I have requested. Thank you.

Regards


Setanta Reply:


Thank you for your e-mail.

From looking at your account i can confirm that there was a failed payment of £XX.XX for Jan 2009.

In order to clear this balance, we would appreciate if you could call our Customer Services team on 08712 00 33 22. We are open from 8am-9pm 7 days a week.

This is due to the Data Protection Act as we can only change customer details only if we are speaking to the customer.

Please be advised that failure to clear this outstanding debt may result in referral to an external debt collection agency.

Yours sincerely


My reply:


I now wish to make a FORMAL complaint to Setanta Sports with regards to the way you are handling my account. You are consistently ignoring the requests in my email and consistently threatening me with debt collecting action. After sending this email I will be submitting a formal written complaint against Setanta and copying this letter to the relevant authorities for their immediate attention. A copy will also be sent to BBC Watchdog since I know they have a keen interest in Setanta and the way you handle your subscriptions.

I will now write a cheque for the amount you specified and post it to Setanta as soon as possible. Who do I send the payment to?

May I ask you to also clarify the statement you wrote in your last email so I may refer to it in my formal complaint? The statement was:

"This is due to the Data Protection Act as we can only change customer details only if we are speaking to the customer". What does this mean and why does it mean you MUST only communicate by telephone? I highly suspect that this statement has no foundation but I would like to read your reply before making judgement.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Setanta Reply:

Thank you for your e-mail,

I refer to the above and am in receipt of your e-mail dated 21/02/2009

We are sorry to hear that you no longer wish to subscribe to Setanta Sports. We have the best premium live sport on TV including top flight and international football, the best boxing from both sides of the Atlantic and the UFC Exclusively Live and would love you to continue to enjoy this.

We are unable to process your cancellation request as there is currently an outstanding balance on your account. This is due to a failed payment on the XXXXXX

In order to clear this balance, we would appreciate if you could call our Customer Services team on 08712 00 33 22. We are open from 8am-9pm 7 days a week. Please be advised that failure to clear this outstanding debt may result in referral to an external debt collection agency.

If you would still like to cancel your account after the balance has been cleared, one of our cancellation agents will be happy to arrange this for you.

Your are also able to clear this outstanding balance through sending ourselves a cheque or postal order to;

Setanta Sports
Po Box 182
The Quays
Newry
Co.Down
BT35 6BZ

Also with regards to your query on the comment on one of you previous emails from one of my colleagues "This is due to the Data Protection Act as we can only change customer details only if we are speaking to the customer", this is due to Data Protection Regulations as we are unable to amend any account details via e-mail therefore speaking to the account holder via telephone is nessessary.

If you require further assistance please contact our Customer Services on 08712 00 33 22 one of my colleagues will be happy to help. We are open 7 days a week from 8am to 9pm.

Yours sincerely

I will keep you all posted....

caroleg_2

I signed up with Setanta in November 2006.
In June of this year I called to cancel my subscription, which I pay for on an annual basis. I was told that it was too soon for me to inform them of my wish to cancel, so could I call back in September.
I called again on 8th of September and was told that I had to put it in writing, which I then did. They received the letter of cancellation on the 18th of September. However they debited my bank account in the sum of £180 on the 10th of October. The direct debit was only due to be taken out on the 26th of November as stated in the contract. As I was not in the Uk at the time I was not in a position to cancel the direct debit with the bank.
After many calls and unanswered emails requesting a refund, I was informed yesterday, that because I failed to give 60 days notice I was not entitled to a refund.
The contract that I signed in 2006 only asks for 30 days notice.
I have taken the advice posted on this forum, and I have written to the BBC Watchdog team. I hope everybody else with problems will take the time to do the same.:mad:

DAVEM_2

To contact Setanta try 01915013601, you may not get what you want but at least you get to talk to someone and no music! I'd been trying since last November, Good Luck.

piggeh

caroleg wrote: »

I signed up with Setanta in November 2006.
In June of this year I called to cancel my subscription, which I pay for on an annual basis. I was told that it was too soon for me to inform them of my wish to cancel, so could I call back in September.
I called again on 8th of September and was told that I had to put it in writing, which I then did. They received the letter of cancellation on the 18th of September. However they debited my bank account in the sum of £180 on the 10th of October. The direct debit was only due to be taken out on the 26th of November as stated in the contract. As I was not in the Uk at the time I was not in a position to cancel the direct debit with the bank.
After many calls and unanswered emails requesting a refund, I was informed yesterday, that because I failed to give 60 days notice I was not entitled to a refund.
The contract that I signed in 2006 only asks for 30 days notice.
I have taken the advice posted on this forum, and I have written to the BBC Watchdog team. I hope everybody else with problems will take the time to do the same.:mad:

You should also look into the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme about getting your money back.

reph4444

Just thought it was worth adding my name to the long list of people having problems with cancelling Setanta subscription

I took up an offer for FREE Setanta for 2 months from the Mirror in December and promptly sent them an email within the 1st week of having the service asking for my subscription to be cancelled at the end of January.

Actually cost me £1 as I had to register, but for 2 months Setanta I thought that was still pretty good

A number of emails were transferred and I assumed all was well, untill I noticed a deduction from my bank account of £10.99 from Setanta at the end of January.

I promptly sent numerous emails to confirm cancellation and get my refund and eventually after 2 weeks and confirmation that I'd complained to the Mirror Group I received an email telling me to send a letter proving my ELIGIBILITY for a refund!!

Having spent a siginificant amount of time pulling emails together and my bank statement with the unauthorised withdrawal I sent this to Setanta.

I received a call today confirming it will take a further 2 weeks for the department to deal with my claim.

I assumed that they would try to take further funds due to them delaying the process. So, as a result I have cancelled my Direct Debit to prevent any further monies being taken from my account.

I've heard of many many more people having the same problem, but it looks like no one is doing anything to sort out the overall issue.

In the meantime, I guess many others will have the same problems and Setanta will continue to take unauthorised money from people who are following the process they have dictated to cancel subscriptions/payment.

I for one will not be using them again

DAVEM_2

Not so much a cancellation as more of a transfer from a Sky viewing card to a Freeview top up card. I contacted them by telephone, quite an acheivment, in October and advised them of my change in circumstances to which they were agreeable. The freeview package was a £14.99 setting up fee, taken 4/11/08 and first 3 months free then a monthly fee of £10.99. The first £10.99 was taken 31/12/08?. Setanta have continued to take the Skyview card fee of £12.99 as well as the £10.99. I wrote 22/1/09 requesting they clarify my contact etc,. Received a telephone call 23/2/09 regarding my letter one month after posting. They were only concerned about my cancellation of the Skyview card, and and not aware of my transfer to Freeview. I was given the 087 numbers to ring when I questioned my payments. I rang 01915013601, obtained from this site and was immediately connected, after a little musical interlude I was told that my Skyview access was disconnected, and they had no record of my Skyview contract. I was then advised to write regarding any refund. I could put it all down to experience,cancel all payments but I am not sure how I stand?