Sponsored Links

So I had to leave the postoffice broadband early.............

I'm reading through this as I type so if I make mistakes or whatever I apologise. I'm wondering what I should do? Let's see where it's inaccurate as I can see it.

For a start. They claim my Home Broadband service went live on Wednesday 9th of September 2009. It didn't as it was due to go all live on Thursday 10th September 2009. The Homephone service from them went live on Thursday 10th September 2009 but my Broadband didn't go live with them to 17th September and the only excuse they gave me was a "System Error" as it says on the letter. I was basically told to like it or lump it (although they claim to have given me a £17.83 discount for the delay)

None of the letter makes reference to the problems I had with my router that they supplied between my go live date on the 17th to the 29th of september when I eventually made the call and reported that I was having problems with my service. They said that they we're supposed to have ordered a new router for me on the 29th of September but that wasn't adknowledged to the 9th of October. They adknowledge that this was a shortfall in Customer Service but no apology for all the time I was left waiting as to speak. This is where it gets fun. ;) They say I didn't make any calls after I recieved my replacement router to report any problems. I made at least 2 or 3 further calls as I remember making a call on a Monday (19th I think) to explain that my connection was continuously connecting and disconnecting on me. I called at 5 and got told that technical support was too busy (I remember doing this at about 5 in the afternoon) I waited to at least 8 at night before I got my calll back to be advised that the 2nd replacement router they had supplied had been flashed with the wrong username/password hence my constant disconnections and if I put my own username/password in then everything would be fine. I remember calling back 2 days later on thw Wednesday to tell them that despote my router had the correct username and password? I was still getting my constant disconnections and this time it was suggested that it would be a "Line Fault" When I know deep down it wasn't. I thought to myself then, well why phone them back if all your going to be given is different excuses each time you call them? That's when I thought to myself I would be aswell going spending 180 quid out of my own pocket for a decent router which will probably work better and the faults did cease right there and then (Coincidence) ;) I called them back on the 12th of Janurary this year as I had to reset things and I needed my username and password given to me again. I remember specifically asking if I coulld be kept on the line to make sure that everything was set up correct and my connection was working. I remember a silence for a while as I was typing my uusename and password in and letting the router store it into memory to make sure it was working before I said OK i'm working thank you very much. I got hung up on without anything getting said to me as I specifically remember getting a beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep on the other end of the phone i.e. hung up on. It was that point that I emailed right away asking for a MAC as I was fed up with their constant poor phone support. (You would have thought it would have improved within 3 months but obviously I knew then nothing would ever change and I wanted out right there and then) I emailed right away the same day asking for my MAC as I simply refused to phone them again. 6 emails and 1 week later and I eventually got my MAC to go to Sky Broadband. Their offer to resolve this is my Original £17.83 credit on my account as I originally got, um a further £20 credit and a letter of apology for all of this. I am on 2 mionds whether to accept or send a reply to OTELO showing the other points where they have missed out on (They insist that my termination charge still applies too)
 
I promised to update often. There is still no update since I submitted the review request. I've got a few emails back saying things keep getting delayed. Sooner I find out more about this fiasco the better as i've got lots of other things that I need to get sorted out. Could do with getting this dealt with once and for all.
 
Another freaking delay! :( Only been waiting 4 months now.

COMPLAINT ABOUT POST OFFICE LTD T/A HOMEPHONE
As I explained in my previous letter, the Ombudsman has received a large volume of cases,
resulting in a delay in issuing a Final Decision. Unfortunately, the Ombudsman has not yet had
the opportunity to look at your case.
I am sorry for the delay and I would like to thank you for your continued patience during this
process.
Yours sincerely
David Cole
Investigation Officer
 
Hi Nut,

What date did you officially start down the ADR rout and was it after 8 weeks of trying to get the problem resolved with your ISP. It might make for an interesting news item if the ADR process has become so bogged down in cases that it is unable to be effective, although they've always been quite busy.
 
I sent the request for the review on the 25th of May (Same day I sent another letter) I would class that as...........near enough 15 weeks?
 
AS pretty much expected.......The post office more or less got away with treating me so shabbily as a customer.

YOUR COMPLAINT ABOUT POST OFFICE LTD T/A HOMEPHONE
On 27 May you made representations about the Provisional Conclusion reached following your
complaint about Post Office HomePhone. I am sorry not to have let you have my decision
sooner.
You have outlined two areas of the Report where you feel a mistake has been made. These
were contained within the section entitled ‘Post Office HomePhone’s Investigation of Complaint’.
This section of the Provisional conclusion is simply a reiteration of the information provided by
Post Office HomePhone. Similarly the first section entitled ‘Nature of Original Complaint’ is a
reiteration of the information provided by you. The third section of the Provisional Conclusion
entitled ‘Review’ is where the Investigation Officer considers the information provided by both
parties in order to make their recommendations.
The problems you experienced with your broadband, including the fact you felt you had to
purchase a new router, have been fully investigated within the Provisional Conclusion. I accept
your frustrations but Post Office HomePhone is entitled to charge an early termination fee. The
contract was terminated within the minimum term of 12 month and the Terms and Conditions
entitle Post Office HomePhone to charge early termination fees.
The Investigation Officer accepted that there had been shortfalls in customer service and a
goodwill gesture was recommended. I accept that the £20 proposed is less than you would
have hoped for and that you have stated you will only accept the early termination fee to be
removed. However, as previously stated, the early termination fee is appropriate and I believe
the goodwill of £20 in addition to the previous goodwill gesture of one months broadband line
rental to be in keeping with the issues raised.
After carefully considering all available evidence my Final Decision requires Post Office
HomePhone to take the action proposed in the Provisional Conclusion. This is because the
further representations submitted do not warrant any change to the Provisional Conclusion. For
the avoidance of doubt, my Final Decision requires Post Office Ltd t/a HomePhone to:
· maintain the previous goodwill gesture of one months’ Broadband Extra line rental;
· send an apology for the difficulties outlined within the complaint and any inconvenience
these may have caused; and
· make a further goodwill credit to the account of £20 in recognition of customer service
issues.
I shall write to Post Office Ltd t/a HomePhone to inform it of my Final Decision.
Please indicate on Acceptance Form 2, within two months of the date of this letter, whether or
not you accept my Final Decision. If you decide to accept my Final Decision I will inform Post
Office HomePhone of your acceptance. If you do not accept my Final Decision, or fail to
respond, you will still be free to follow other routes to try to sort out the problems in a way that
suits you better, but you will lose the right to the solution I have set out.
Yours sincerely
Ombudsman
Encs: FORM 2

(Copied that from the PDF) Should I just accept? I dunno what way I could turn now.
 
Sponsored Links
If anybody is still interested? I may need advice as it seems OTELO have totally screwed me over with this and not set out things as they said in the final review :(
 
If Otelo fails to help then your next best bet is the small claims court.
 
That sounds daunting! :P I'll clarify a little. From reading my initial review and my final review letters? The wording on the final review (after I launched my appeal) was for the P.O to give me a further £20 credit and write a letter of apology to me (That I got) but when I read the apology letter? I noticed that I only had a £20 credit applied. It did look from the wording of the letters that I should have had a further £20 credit applied other than the initial £20 they offered me and I only been given a £20 credit (And just for the record OTELO denied offering me another £20 credit when it appears to say it in writing)
 
If the quote posted is accurate, it does say £20 credit and a further £20 goodwill.

"maintain the previous goodwill gesture of one months’ Broadband Extra line rental;
· send an apology for the difficulties outlined within the complaint and any inconvenience
these may have caused; and
· make a further goodwill credit to the account of £20 in recognition of customer service
issues."
 
If the quote posted is accurate, it does say £20 credit and a further £20 goodwill.

"maintain the previous goodwill gesture of one months’ Broadband Extra line rental;
· send an apology for the difficulties outlined within the complaint and any inconvenience
these may have caused; and
· make a further goodwill credit to the account of £20 in recognition of customer service
issues."

That is exactly what it said and they are in total denial that they offered me that and as I said I got the post office apology and it was only offering me £20 credit and not what I was expecting or been told. Whose lying to me here :p
 
Sponsored Links
Since you are no longer with them, thye cant give you the free month.

And I am guessing they are not willing to pony up the cash.

I suggest you forget it, and just count to 4 in binary (using your extended hand) every time you pass the post office.

----1

---1-

---11

--1--
 
You know your right. I not got the stomach or willpower to fight them now. (I switched back to BT too last week for my line rental) I made a very big mistake with all of this and they more or less got away with it. Sucks but hey what can you do.
 
considering my experiences the best advise l can give is finding an ISP thats on a one month contract so that you can leave them should problems occur, equally given my current ISP the service l have id happily sign up for a contract as they have proved that they are worth my money. tho speaking from a more practical note of my wallet it suits me better with one month contracts at least l can leave should problems happen (tho l dont plan to).
 
Lot of things I do have to consider next time I change ISP (I am comfortable just now with Sky though) Yeah OK speeds not fast but can#t help living so far away from the exchange. The P.O. When the service eventually was up and running for me? It was great. No problems with that side of it. Their customer services though are absolutely awful to say the least. If they had done things right with me then I would not have been in the position I was forced to be in. Customer services themself will be a Major factor in my next choice of ISP (If I do move which I don't plan to anytime soon)
 
Sponsored Links
I will lock this thread now as requested by NUT who started the thread.
 
The topic is in a general section and other PO customers might, in the future, want to engage with it. I have unlocked it unless there's a better reason for locking?
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Vodafone UK ISP Logo
Vodafone £24.00 - 26.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
NOW UK ISP Logo
NOW £24.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £25.99
145Mbps
Gift: £50 Reward Card
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £17.00
200Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Youfibre UK ISP Logo
Youfibre £23.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (6027)
  2. BT (3639)
  3. Politics (2721)
  4. Business (2440)
  5. Openreach (2405)
  6. Building Digital UK (2330)
  7. Mobile Broadband (2146)
  8. FTTC (2083)
  9. Statistics (1901)
  10. 4G (1816)
  11. Virgin Media (1764)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1582)
  13. Fibre Optic (1467)
  14. Wireless Internet (1462)
  15. 5G (1407)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules