How to contact CONNECT TELECOM UK ?

divoch

Connect Telecom UK recently failed to collect £1.86 from my bank by DD. After some investigation my bank, Alliance&Leicester, admitted that the DD "dropped off their system" because this DD (for call1866) was unused for more than 12 month - untill I started using it again for SMS messages.
I wrote to the customer services e-mail [EMAIL="service@call18866.co.uk"]service@call18866.co.uk[/EMAIL] to advise them that they have to set up a new mandate again but had no reply. I have now decided to pay by BACS but, unless they set the DD mandate for my customer reference the DD will again not be recognised by the bank. Is there some other way to contact them and sort it out?

divoch

Heinz

They're the same company as 1899 and 18185 (and others) so I'd suggest you can quickly recover the situation by making a BACS payment just as I had to do a while back - see HERE.

BritBrat

18185 have an option to "Your payment details / Change payment details (Direct Debit)"

I would guess they are all the same, so could you just not fill in the online form?

divoch

The problem is that the DD bank details, which I originally supplied, are still there under Payment details. I have even changed the name of the account from "my name" to "mine and my wife's name", which is slightly more accurate, in the hope that the Connect Telecom UK system will pick it as a "new" DD setup request and will setup a new mandate. So far that did not do the trick.

divoch

Heinz

After a while, you'll get a failed payment e-mail like this:

Dear 18866 customer,

We are sorry to inform your bank has declined payment. This could be due to several reasons but unfortunately our creditcard acquirer is not in a position to inform us of the reasons why a card payment has been declined. However to ensure you can continue making discount calls we would like to request alternative payment of your invoice.

There are two ways to settle your outstanding amount of £ 1.86 **

1. Change your payment details
To have the outstanding amount collected from a different credit/debit card please go to customer login. Once logged in please click the link 'Your personal details' and follow the instructions to change your payment details. Please note that if you change your payment details we will automatically try to collect from your new credit/debitcard; therefore there is no need to transfer the funds once you have changed your card details.
If you enter new credit/debitcard details please ensure your card is valid (see the valid from date on your card) as we will immediately try to re-collect. If your card is not valid yet please wait until it's valid before entering your new details.

If several previous attempts to collect the outstanding balance have been unsuccessful and you receive the message that we will not accept new payment details you can only settle the outstanding amount via online banking.

2. Online banking
Please go to customer login to view instructions how to pay by bank transfer. Please ensure to mention your customer number 123456789

Unfortunately we do not accept cheque payments or postal orders.
It may take up to 7 working days before your payment is received and processed.

You can view your itemised invoices online on www.call18866.co.uk. Once logged in click on “Your online itemised invoice” or “Invoices / Itemised calls” at the bottom of the page where you will find all your invoices listed. By clicking on “Invoice” or “Itemised calls” you can see an itemised list of all the calls you have made.

Kind regards,
18866 Credit Control
www.call18866.co.uk

** The outstanding amount of £ 1.86 relates to invoice no. 123456789/x plus any previous invoices that may have remained unpaid minus any bank transfers you may have arranged in the past.

This is an automatically generated email, replies should be sent to Customer Services) when making a payment. We match payments by customer number therefore if you do not mention your customer number as a description your payment may not be automatically added to your 18866 account.

If you ignore that, you'll suddenly find your access barred (takes 6 to 8 weeks).

Pay the £1.86 by BACS now to save yourself the hassle later. In the highly unlikely event of 18866 making another DD call for the same amount, you can always use the DD Guarantee to get the £1.86 back.

BritBrat

I would pay the £1.86 by BACS then sort it out after.

Better than risking a failed DD or late payment charge or both.

divoch

I have now instructed the bank to pay £1.86 by BACS and told Connect telecom UK in an e-mail. However,as they do not respond to my e-mails, I still do not know how to make them to "reactivate" the DD with the same banking details. They will have do that, i.e. set a new mandate for the same details. If they do not do that the same will happen again in future on the next bill.
divoch

Hazzanet

divoch wrote: »

I still do not know how to make them to "reactivate" the DD with the same banking details.

Log into your account, select change payment details and enter the same details as that were in there in the first place. This will make the computer re-send the mandate to your bank, and hey presto, all's well again

HTH

divoch

I have changed the name of the account but that did not appear to do the trick. Next time I shall delete all the details and re-enter them all again. Hopefully you are right and it will do the trick.
I think I shall leave it for a few days for my BACKS payment to get through first.
Thanks
divoch

Hazzanet

Takes about 5 days for the mandate to appear on your account, and around 10-15 days for payments to be collected following set-up. Be patient it will work, but you have to give it a fair chance first

divoch

OK, will do, thanks
divoch