Shell broadband bad experience

BexD77

A warning to others of my experience switching to Shell broadband. The router was not delivered by Royal Mail as we were away. I couldn't collect it for many days due COVID restricted opening hours. They said they had returned it by the time I attempted to get redelivery. I contacted Shell who were already billing me for internet. They took 18 days to respond (and were very unhelpful). In the meantime I was also billed by my old provider even though Shell claim they 'take care of that' in their offer. I contacted them again, further delayed reply (and implications that I was being dishonest) plus refusal to address the double-billing issue, said I needed to sort that out myself. Terrible, TERRIBLE customer service. I have cancelled my DD and account. AVOID THEM! 

JJ_Egan

Be aware that cancelling a DD on a valid account may well lead to debt collectors an credit record trashed .

hardly Shells fault that RM could not deliver .

BexD77

Thank you for the warning but it's not the original delivery issue that's the main problem it's their very poor response plus failure to cancel my other internet provider! 

robber2

I'd be very careful, that's still not sufficient grounds for failing to comply with the contract you have with Shell.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

BexD77 said:

A warning to others of my experience switching to Shell broadband. The router was not delivered by Royal Mail as we were away. I couldn't collect it for many days due COVID restricted opening hours. They said they had returned it by the time I attempted to get redelivery. I contacted Shell who were already billing me for internet. They took 18 days to respond (and were very unhelpful). In the meantime I was also billed by my old provider even though Shell claim they 'take care of that' in their offer. I contacted them again, further delayed reply (and implications that I was being dishonest) plus refusal to address the double-billing issue, said I needed to sort that out myself. Terrible, TERRIBLE customer service. I have cancelled my DD and account. AVOID THEM! 

BexD77 said:

Thank you for the warning but it's not the original delivery issue that's the main problem it's their very poor response plus failure to cancel my other internet provider! 

So you arranged a transfer when you knew you were away from home. Normally, as happened when I’ve switched, the line is taken over during the day of the switch. So what are you not telling us?

As for cancelling the DD, this does not cancel your contract.

mohammed1111

BexD77 said:

A warning to others of my experience switching to Shell broadband. The router was not delivered by Royal Mail as we were away. I couldn't collect it for many days due COVID restricted opening hours. They said they had returned it by the time I attempted to get redelivery. I contacted Shell who were already billing me for internet. They took 18 days to respond (and were very unhelpful). In the meantime I was also billed by my old provider even though Shell claim they 'take care of that' in their offer. I contacted them again, further delayed reply (and implications that I was being dishonest) plus refusal to address the double-billing issue, said I needed to sort that out myself. Terrible, TERRIBLE customer service. I have cancelled my DD and account. AVOID THEM! 

The broadband is as rubbish at their customer service

Hagar_uk

mohammed1111 said:

BexD77 said:

A warning to others of my experience switching to Shell broadband. The router was not delivered by Royal Mail as we were away. I couldn't collect it for many days due COVID restricted opening hours. They said they had returned it by the time I attempted to get redelivery. I contacted Shell who were already billing me for internet. They took 18 days to respond (and were very unhelpful). In the meantime I was also billed by my old provider even though Shell claim they 'take care of that' in their offer. I contacted them again, further delayed reply (and implications that I was being dishonest) plus refusal to address the double-billing issue, said I needed to sort that out myself. Terrible, TERRIBLE customer service. I have cancelled my DD and account. AVOID THEM! 

The broadband is as rubbish at their customer service

Most broadband comes through the same open reach system as all the other vendors. So it makes little odds. I fould my move to Shell painless and the one query about getting fixed IP was answered and sorted quickly. They also supplied a half decent router. 

JJ_Egan

Many complaints about Shell but how many have actually complained to MSE .

BB may come down the same system but indifferent routers and poor customer service are often where an ISP cuts costs .

GraceCourt

Without getting into the details of individual cases, it should be noted (in respect of the various mentions of contractual rights and responsibilities) that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides certain protections to consumers in such circumstances.

The relevant protection here is that provided by Section 49(1): "Every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill."  Therefore, where a consumer reasonably believes that the other party to the contract is already in breach of the contract because that other party is not performing the service with reasonable care and skill, he or she might decide that cancelling the Direct Debit is appropriate.  It is not uncommon for a broadband provider to take certain steps (such as eventually ceasing service provision) subsequently if the customer does not maintain contact, but if the consumer has carefully documented their attempts to resolve the original problem via customer services, generally the provider's escalation procedures will provide a more satisfactory resolution (and more quickly) than otherwise, if payments have ceased.

But I ought to say here that, from my own experiences, that Shell Broadband is one of the worst broadband providers, and that any cost savings are simply not worth the appalling customer service provision:  I gave up with them a good number of months after the death of my mother-in-law when, after considerable correspondence from me, they wrote to her saying that they were going to cease her broadband service for non-payment... somehow it didn't seem worth the effort any more trying to convince them that no, she couldn't contact them herself...