Debenhams and BT success stories!

chrispyphillips

Its not every day I have two different companies I'm happy with, but since I'm on here more often than not, moaning about the rubbish service I receive, I thought I'd actually inform people of some success I've had!

Debenhams

In recent weeks I've purchased clothes from Debenhams, which, lets face it, arent a cheap store to buy clothes from. I got 2 pairs of their jeans for £30 (£20 each or 2 for £30), and a shirt for £25. On one pair of the jeans, one of the buttons on the fly broke off, so I took them back to the store. They didnt have any other to replace them with, but refunded me £20, even though they really only cost £15 due to the offer. Then, the shirt I bought ran in the wash, 2 months after buying it. I took it back, and the same shirt was reduced 20% to £20. Not only did they replace the shirt, no fuss, but they also gave me £5 gift voucher for the difference. I was more than happy with this and am very impressed with the fantastic service I received at Debenhams

BT

This one is quite lengthy, so apologies, but I feel the story is worth telling, as it serves as a warning to others. When I moved into my new property in November, 2006, I signed up with BT for a landline, on a £9.99 p/month, 3 month contract. I then got my calls with Primus (saver 2) free evening and weekends! After 3 months elapsed, BT started billing me 3 monthly bills, which werent always the same amount, although I wasnt being charged for calls. During this time, the cost rose to £10.50 p/month for line rental. I did complain, but couldnt get any sense out of the customer service department I spoke with, based in India!

Then, last November, I received a call from a BT tele-marketer asking me to 'go back to BT'. He offered me free evening and weekend calls, which I already had, as well as free caller ID, and the promise of less spam phone calls (from people like himself no doubt) I thought "Well, what have I got to lose" and took him up on the deal. Then, 5 days later, and five days into my seven day 'cooling off' period, I received my letter confirming all this. The 'code' to get the caller ID working, didnt work by the way! After the weekend, I then read the mail again (I can rarely be bothered to read mail thoroughly if theres sport on or I'm busy doing other things) and on the reverse, in quite small writing, was the crux of the deal. I had unknowingly entered into an 18 month contract with BT, where after 12 months, the deal no longer becomes 'free' and you have to pay for the service!! Well, as you can imagine I was :mad: , so rang the customer service centre. Again, I got through to India! The woman I spoke with informed me that I couldnt cancel the deal as it had been 9 days, even though I told her that I had only just received the paperwork, and felt that i'd been severly missold the deal. She wouldnt budge, so i asked her kindly for a quick resolution to the problem, or I would contact Ofcom about the practise used to sell me this deal. She disappeared to speak with her manager and returned to say the deal had been cancelled. I asked for notification, and some guy rang me the next morning and left a message on my answerphone to say it had been cancelled. I also rang my current provider Primus the same night to verify with them what had happened their end. The chap there told me that there had been a cancellation order placed on the line, but it had been revoked by BT, so as far as he was aware, i'd be staying with them. All was fine!!

I then read my (quarterly) bill last week, and found that I was paying for calls! I checked this, and have been paying for evening calls since January! They werent a lot, after I worked it out, I think I'd paid £7.54 for calls which I would have normally got for free, but due to this entire episode starting December, I've been disconnected from Primus and put back with BT. I sent an email of complaint to BT detailing this story, and received a phone call from a representative (based in the UK) and an email the day after. I missed the call, but replied to the email the day after, with the cost and run down of what I worked out I'd spent (£7.54) As soon as I sent the mail, I had a phone call straight away. The guy I spoke to was really nice and understanding, and offered me £20 to compensate for the problems I had with BT since this started in December. I was obviously very pleased with this, and when mentioned the calls to India, and the fact that since I am 'British' Telecom customer, and wanted to speak with someone in this country, he told me that many people had commented like this, and that some centres had been shut down in India, and moved to Newcastle (I assume the workers stayed where they were) and that they shouldnt have dealt with my queries, as they only should resolve technical issues. I was happy with the outcome, and read the email he had sent me to clarify.

I found out that he has credited my account with £25, and has moved my billing back to monthly (after the last month of my 3 month period) so I am more than happy with that! I was very tempted to leave BT, but due to this I am now staying with them as a customer, for the time being. I will be keeping an eagle eye on my account now just to make sure! And its worth mentioning that I'll be back with Primus as of July 3rd when they (again) take over my line!

So, just to say, be aware of any calls from BT (or anyone really) offering freebies, and ask if theres a contract involved. The guy didnt say there wasnt, but surely thats false selling, as he didnt inform me there was either, and should of. I'm really happy with the outcome of the query I made to BT and advise people that if they have any worries with the company, send them an email and see if they can help you out!!

Right then, its only Pipex on my hit list now!!! :mad: :rolleyes: