What can I do about Currys mis-selling broadband to elderly vulnerable people??

James_Cater

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

 I mean, !!!!!!? That type of bully sale would be bad enough on a laptop - but a dashcam??

 So she ended up with a much worse deal on her monthly broadband, plus it was an FTTP package so she won't see another cheap broadband deal again ever, and she's now lost her landline. And will get a huge bill from the previous broadband provider as she wasn't even out of contract!

 I have contacted the broadband provider, having found this con out, and luckily it's within their cooling off period still, so they will terminate the contract. The first new contract I can get started is early-mid January, so that means she's also left with no broadband or landline over Christmas.

 To be honest, that type of forced sale on vulnerable people REALLY pisses me off, so I want to screw all of these rotters for as much as I possibly can in compensation for the poor service, loss of service, financial hardship, and anything else I can to stop them doing this to anyone else.

 I suspect I'd get better and faster results if the broadband provider was responsible (thanks to the threat of OFCOM), but other than the service not working, it's not really their fault this time.

 Currys don't even have an email address to complain to, which again irritates me, so I'm going to have to try and phone them to get a complaint started.

 What else can I do, how can I escalate things, and who can actually punish Currys for these dirty tactics?

unforeseen

If she is elderly and vulnerable then why didn't you or another responsible adult go with her? 

[Deleted User]

Is 70s elderly now ..... ? 🤨

sevenhills

James_Cater said:

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

The salesman wasn't to know that your mother had a good broadband deal already.

In some other countries, cognitive decline is recognised to start at around 50, but in the UK the rules only recognise people that are not impaired or those that are incapable.

Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) is the self-reported experience of worsening or more frequent confusion or memory loss. It is a form of cognitive impairment and one of the earliest noticeable symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/related_conditions/mild-cognitive-impairment

The_Unready

sevenhills said:

James_Cater said:

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

The salesman wasn't to know that your mother had a good broadband deal already.

But he could have at least asked her, or attempted to carry out some further due diligence if he wanted to sell a contract that much.

I obviously wasn't there, but if it happened more or less as the Op says it did then it appears that there wasn't enough fact-finding about the current contract by the rep before he was overcome by the smell and taste of his soon-to-be commission!

prowla

Don't shop at Currys.

photome

Just because she is 70 doesn’t make her vulnerable and the fact she went in to buy a dash cam suggests she isn’t.

Pollycat

The_Unready said:

sevenhills said:

James_Cater said:

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

The salesman wasn't to know that your mother had a good broadband deal already.

But he could have at least asked her, or attempted to carry out some further due diligence if he wanted to sell a contract that much.

I obviously wasn't there, but if it happened more or less as the Op says it did then it appears that there wasn't enough fact-finding about the current contract by the rep before he was overcome by the smell and taste of his soon-to-be commission!

Maybe he did ask her.

We only have a 2nd hand account of what exactly was asked, answered and said.

The_Unready

Pollycat said:

The_UnWhich is the point I made in my previous postready said:

sevenhills said:

James_Cater said:

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

The salesman wasn't to know that your mother had a good broadband deal already.

But he could have at least asked her, or attempted to carry out some further due diligence if he wanted to sell a contract that much.

I obviously wasn't there, but if it happened more or less as the Op says it did then it appears that there wasn't enough fact-finding about the current contract by the rep before he was overcome by the smell and taste of his soon-to-be commission!

Maybe he did ask her.

We only have a 2nd hand account of what exactly was asked, answered and said.

Which is exactly what I said in my previous post!

la531983

sevenhills said:

James_Cater said:

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

The salesman wasn't to know that your mother had a good broadband deal already.

And nor are sales staff on minimum wage meant to act as social workers.

Pollycat

The_Unready said:

Pollycat said:

The_UnWhich is the point I made in my previous postready said:

sevenhills said:

James_Cater said:

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

The salesman wasn't to know that your mother had a good broadband deal already.

But he could have at least asked her, or attempted to carry out some further due diligence if he wanted to sell a contract that much.

I obviously wasn't there, but if it happened more or less as the Op says it did then it appears that there wasn't enough fact-finding about the current contract by the rep before he was overcome by the smell and taste of his soon-to-be commission!

Maybe he did ask her.

We only have a 2nd hand account of what exactly was asked, answered and said.

Which is exactly what I said in my previous post!

Did you?
Where?

The_Unready said:

sevenhills said:

James_Cater said:

My Mum (in her 70s and not tech-savvy) bought a dashcam from Curry's.

 All good, but then the salesman got hold of her and slimed her into switching her broadband contract as well!

The salesman wasn't to know that your mother had a good broadband deal already.

But he could have at least asked her, or attempted to carry out some further due diligence if he wanted to sell a contract that much.

I obviously wasn't there, but if it happened more or less as the Op says it did then it appears that there wasn't enough fact-finding about the current contract by the rep before he was overcome by the smell and taste of his soon-to-be commission!