Returned modem but still being charged by ISP

Blackcat3

jungle_jeff said:

Hello! On 9th August I ended my 18 month contract with Pop Telecom and I have signed up with Virgin Media. 

Pop Telecom told me I needed to return my router within 14 days, which I sent recorded delivery the same day.

On 16th August Pop Telecom sent me an invoice for £79.99 for an unreturned router stating that a direct debt to this amount would be taken from my account on 24th August.

I have contacted them and explained the router has been returned, in line with their online T&C and my contract but they say they still need to charge me until they have been able to confirm with their warehouse team that my router has been received because, in their words, "lots of people say they send it when they don't". The taking of this payment will happen until they have confirmed they have it.

Judging Pop Telecom by my existing experience, I am sceptical at best that if I pay this money I will ever see it again. There doesn't seem to be any incentive for them to identify my router from presumably dozens of returned ones and refund my £80 if they have already charged me for it.

I have had a couple of back and forth emails with their Customer Service team so far this week and highlighted that the approach they are taking is not in their terms and conditions, that there is no defined time period or process for them to locate my router in the warehouse and to refund me but they say they're taking the money anyway. I've explained this is going to cause me hardship as it's £80 I don't have but they don't seem bothered.

I've also said clearly in my emails that they are not authorised to take £80 by direct debit from my account and to correct the error with the invoice but they have so far refused to do so.

The Direct Debit guarantee would give me a refund for an "error" but not for a "dispute" which is what I fear the bank would term this as. Short of cancelling my direct debit to Pop Telecom before Saturday (which I am loathe to do as I fear there will be wider credit related repercussions) do I have any options here? It feels grossly unfair for Pop to move the goalposts and just arbitrarily charge this money.

I do have a copy of the receipt of me sending the modem recorded delivery from the Post Office (and a picture of me having packed the modem as I feared they might be a nightmare from previous experience) but can't provide the receipt until I get home from holiday on Saturday, which I fer will be too late as the money will have come out.

Any help appreciated as it's driving me potty on holiday!

Hello all,
Re Poptelecom. Right from the start I paid £8.99 for a router. No itemised invoice, only a receipt. Their 'Welcome Mail' not a 'pack' as had been referred to for contract details, t&c's only consisted of a username and a password....no other details. No go live date. I had to chase. 18 mths later no End of Contract Notification (Ofcom regs) inc., of former pricing versus new pricing tariffs. I discovered the increase by chance. I complained but wasn't taken seriously until I escalated as a formal complaint. I stated the onus was on them to provide proof of notification. I recvd an email with an attached pdf generic "Loyalty Letter" that didn't comply with Ofcom regs. No ref to former tariff or available end of contract tariffs. They didn't even state that it had been emailed to me and advised that due to their systems were unable to individually account for specific non delivery. They hadn't breached as far as they were concerned. Since then I've arranged to 'switch' but continue to receive demands for £79.99 first dated Nov 27th due for payment within 8 days of invoice!. My switch date is Dec 18th!! I complained and received an explanation of a fee they charge for 'non return' of their router. I explored my payment options and stopped my DD (suggested by the bank, surprised) to avoid the charge and notified them straight away. 3 times I requested their bank details as this was a payment option provided in their email explanation about the £79.99 but without bank details. I also requested via live chat and have a transcript, they were unable to provide the info stating the relevant team wasn't available. I didnt want to pay over the phone for my increased monthly service fee of £32.05, not wanting to be pressured into a charge for a premature, unfair £79.99. I had also avoided an extra £9.99 charge of a late DD payment. On checking their current t's and c's. There's a reference to a router replacement cost of £39.99. The last paragraph on their billing  invoices also states the cost of a new router is £40.They have emailed numerous alarming demands in red for inconsistent amounts of money. The £79.99 keeps on being sent to me hence I phoned them reluctantly wanting to ensure payment of the service fee  £32.05 due Dec 1. I paid over the phone when speaking with the cancellation team after turning down their reduced tariff of £23.99. too late. I've been upset and highly anxious, they have been aggressive and harrassing with their demands. I have all emails/transcripts and fully intend to take to CISAS. My preference for communication by email has provided a paper trail thankfully as does 2 chat transcripts. They do not provide packaging/postage for return of equipment either. I'm now glad I've cancelled the DD which in their email confirmed I was entitled to do so. However for them to not give their bank details after 3 requests stating that it was a payment option is highly obstructive. This doesn't cover their contract and t and c's inconsistencies along with what I see as a pattern of internal system failures that are not Ofcom Regs compliant. 

mwarby

qcaroo said:

Just leaving my 2p worth here: I managed my father's account with PopT as I had POA to do so. He was billed for 130+ calls to 123 which occurred at random hours, all for exactly 60/120/180 seconds. Despite the house being unoccupied for the last 5 years as he was in a care home.
I changed to BT and a week later my father passed away, in June. They sent him a final bill. Then another one for good measure saying he owed them £0.00 he had to pay immediately! 
Finally I've seen a request to return router within 'next 14 days' or else be charged for it. The irony being that it's sent from the Loyalty team at PopT.
I don't really understand how they're still in business with the way they treat their customers. 

Apparently back before digital voice was common, Openreach engineers (or sub contractors) would use 123 to test if a line was still active, or not(some lines still have a daily one when in an inactive state). This was to allow the inactive line to be used to fix a fault for an active customer.

iniltous

mwarby said:

qcaroo said:

Just leaving my 2p worth here: I managed my father's account with PopT as I had POA to do so. He was billed for 130+ calls to 123 which occurred at random hours, all for exactly 60/120/180 seconds. Despite the house being unoccupied for the last 5 years as he was in a care home.
I changed to BT and a week later my father passed away, in June. They sent him a final bill. Then another one for good measure saying he owed them £0.00 he had to pay immediately! 
Finally I've seen a request to return router within 'next 14 days' or else be charged for it. The irony being that it's sent from the Loyalty team at PopT.
I don't really understand how they're still in business with the way they treat their customers. 

Apparently back before digital voice was common, Openreach engineers (or sub contractors) would use 123 to test if a line was still active, or not(some lines still have a daily one when in an inactive state). This was to allow the inactive line to be used to fix a fault for an active customer.

Although calls 123 (the speaking clock ) was an unauthorised way of checking if a ‘line’ was spare and could be used for a repair or a new provision the chances of a engineer doing this is remote and the chances of it being done more that once on the same ‘line’ generating a charge on that customer’s bill is minuscule, there are non chargeable numbers available to engineers that can prove the same thing ( basically can I use this line ) …..in most cases where there were multiple calls to the same number, often at weird times (so not likely to be an engineer at 3am in the morning fir example) to 123 it was the customer or the customers equipment making the calls