Pop Telecom Horror Story

prolifebrother

So this is a complete horror story. I chose Pop Telecom as they were the cheapest at the time according to MoneySuperMarket and it was for my brother who has mild special needs and doesn't need fast broadband (it is probably the slowest out there). Because of the price I imagine it attracts vulnerable people (like my brother, or the elderly, or those who are struggling to make ends meet) as such it's even more disgusting how they treat their customers and take advantage of them.

Problems started with the first invoice where 'Router Assurance' was added instantly without my knowledge as it was not included in the cost comparisons on MoneySuperMarket. This put a few pounds on the monthly bill.  I sent a query and it was removed but that meant I then couldn't complain of any router problems, which of course there was... (funnily enough that has never happened when I've used routers from other companies)

I organised to switch providers as soon as my contract ended but was shocked when two weeks before I left them that £79.99 was taken out of my account for 'unreturned equipment' (!!!) with no message about what equipment they were referring to, or how to return it, or why they were taking the money when I still needed the 'equipment' for 2 more weeks!!

When my contract actually ended I waited a day (I had assumed that I would receive some automated message about leaving or returning the 'equipment') but nothing came so I messaged them. The response I received 2 days later was that I had to return the router at my own expense (£5.50 + packaging + hassle) and it had to be with them within 2 weeks of the contract ending otherwise I would get nothing. By this point almost a week had gone waiting for replies with a weekend in between and then there was a bank holiday coming up... how many people have they scammed out of their money by customers not getting it back to them in time (as no information is sent unless chased up).

Whilst dealing with this (and just five days after my contract finished) I got a threatening email from them (finally... communication!) followed by a threatening text that if I didn't pay a different outstanding invoice then the debt collectors would be coming. The invoice they were now chasing was for the month of September yet I had already left them in the middle of August and ALL my payments go by direct debit on the first of the month which was to be a few day later. As a result I had to call and explain that I was no longer a customer. The fairly clueless Customer Service guy living in the Philippines, or wherever he was, agreed. I asked him to cancel that invoice, however, lo and behold a few days later that money (over £30) came out of my account anyway by direct debit!! So now they had well over £100 of my money which was never theirs to take in the first place.

For this new payment I waited for an automatic refund as I assumed that their system would pick up that they shouldn't have charged me (and that they must do this to every customer who leaves them). I also assumed that they would automatically refund for the router that I had returned previously. A month later I called them to find out what was happening and another clueless customer service guy looked into my record and agreed that I should be refunded (!!!). I explained that I was waiting for the router refund, the September refund, and for the almost half of August that I wasn't with them. To work out what fraction of August I wasn't with them (and therefore what my refund would be for that invoice) the guy literally got out his calculator (no word of a lie). I even helped him with the calculation being a maths tutor - unbelievable.

Five days after this I got a call back from him saying that they can process the router and September refunds but not that fraction of August because apparently I had needed to give them 30 days notice before leaving (!!!!!) which evidently he didn't know before. This beggars belief as no internet company has ever asked me to give 30 days notice before. And if this is normal then why do all the providers automatically select transfer dates of about 2 or 3 weeks from when you order to change provider; furthermore why was this information not given to me in some kind of 'final invoice' or leaving note? Another scam. Even with this scam in place I was still entitled to two days of August back according to their rules but rather than wait a week to be told I was an hour out or something I gave up that invoice as I just wanted the rest of my money back by this stage, (obviously they didn't do the honourable thing and work out what I was actually owed by them).

So I waited for this final agreed refund of two invoices and I waited and I waited expecting it any day... two weeks later I called them again to find out what was going on and am told that they refund within 28 days. When I explained that I had been waiting for my refunds for 2 months I was told that the 28 days started from when I called them to chase up. In other words if I had not called them then they had NO PLANS TO EVER REFUND ME!!! They pretty much stole my money as a leaving present to themselves.

29 days later (!), towards the end of October, and after checking my bank account every day for two and a half months of stress, my money finally came back into my account. They had held onto it for as long as they possibly could according to their own rules. I'm sure that the interest they gained from the money they stole from me for 2.5 months multiplied by the hundreds/thousands of customers that leave them must be pretty high.

I can afford for someone to take well over £100 of my money for a period of months but many cannot. I honestly think that this company should be investigated by some government agency (or the police - as I'm sure they are committing criminal activity in their practises). They have caused a massive amount of stress and are effectively stealing money which isn't theirs. I had to fight to get it back but I would suggest that many people who are attracted to them for price with no need for fast speeds are vulnerable and would not have the means to get their money back.