Curry's PCWorld First Utility

Minky_Jones

I have a resolution case for an 87 year old friend of mine who went into Currys PCWorld to buy a £220 television and ended up being sold not just the TV but a new broadband and phone package that he neither wanted or needed. Bearing in mind my friend is 87, hard of hearing and is awaiting a cataract operation, and having within the last 2 months taken out an 18 month contract with TalkTalk he never went into the store to enter a new contract for his phone line and broadband. So his £220 TV has now cost over £630 in view of the early exit fees for both TalkTalk and first utility. I have spoken to talk talk over the past week and they have agreed to refund the £307 back into his new account after I paid it for him. First Utility have been notified of our complaint and are due to reply within the next 4 days as they are seeking £112 for again early exit fees as my friend wanted the TalkTalk tv package that didn't come with first utility.
My issues are I would class my friend as not particularly vulnerable but not as savvy as most of us when it comes to the Internet, contracts and NoReply email addresses. He was informed that if he handed over his details to the shop assistant at Currys PCWorld there was no obligation to buy. He did receive emails from both Currys and First Utility the same day informing him of what he had purchased but thought nothing of it and eventually replied to a first utility email informing him he did not want to proceed with the purchase within the mandated 10 days cooling off period. I know you are all going to say did he check the email address of first utility - the answer is no and of course it was a donotreply@first utility.com email address. I also read the email that he received and replied to and in addition to the small donotreply@first utility.com address I found right at the bottom of the email a tiny warning not to reply to this email. But surely the salesperson at curriys should have asked what contract my friend was already on, how long he had outstanding and indicating that his current contract Cancelation would most certainly carry hefty exit fees. I am not sure if the salesperson received commission for selling something that wasn't suitable to my 87 year old army veteran but I do think First Utility and Currys/Pc World should review their sales pitch when dealing with not just our older generation but the public in general. I have been impressed with TalkTalk and my friends new contract with them begins shortly.

Minky_Jones

Very impressed with the resolution centre. I have had a reply from First Utility which has found in favour of our complaint. We are now waiting to hear from them with respect to payment of any early exit fees. Talk talk has already refunded the exit fees they imposed, his broadband and line are now working, including an upgraded router, without any requirement to go through the resolution centre. Well done talk talk and the resolution centre.