Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
You would be justified in thinking that if someone is billing you for a service they have not provided they would be committing some sort of criminal offence. You would hope that if caught the people doing this would spend some time in jail.
This is what we like to think is one of the benefits of democracy and the rule of law.
So, you might be rather surprised to hear that this is a business practice that is considered acceptable when it is a big business who then repays the money when they are found out for cheating and stealing money under false pretences.
These companies, TalkTalk and Tiscali pressured their customers into paying even though they were not entitled to charge them. Customers complained about aggressive demands for payment of bills for services they had not been provided with.
A TalkTalk spokesman told the BBC, “We are pleased that Ofcom has recognised the significant steps we have taken to fix the billing issues,”
Never mind the self congratulation. Why isn’t somebody facing legal charges?
Using the excuse of software problems is no excuse at all. Producing software that commits illegal acts that charge people money for something they either do not want or do not get is, or should be, just as illegal as a mugger demanding money from you in the street.
Ofcom began an investigation back in July 2010 following complaints from customers. The two companies were told to pay compensation to affected customers by December or face the prospects of a financial penalty.
Fines have been ruled out by the regulator, for now, but it has said it would continue to monitor the situation. So the message is once again that big business can do whatever it wants and get away with it when it is found out.
What do you suppose would have happened to you if you sent out letters demanding payment for something you had not provided? Jail time would be a likely result.
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
We all know we live in a country where the consumer is supposed to have power and often that is true. We have more and more organic food in our supermarkets because that is where consumers have been spending their money. Yet in many cases your choices are limited and your choices are restricted to a few companies who behave as though they can do whatever they like without caring what consumers want.
The mobile phone industry has developed very fast in the 15 years or so that it has existed but the standard way they operate resricts customers ability to choose. When you take out a new contract you are tied into that service contract subject to the Terms & Conditions.
T-mobile have incensed a lot of their customers by announcing that they are to double and in some cases treble the cost of calls to numbers starting 08 such as the 0845 and 0870 numbers that companies often use these days. These numbers are excluded from the free minutes you are allowed each month and T-Mobile are spinning a story that suggests that Ofcom has brought in guidelines that require this. What OFCOM seem to have been saying was that these numbers should be brought into line with standard charges for national numbers.
As consumers we are used to being ripped off at every opportunity by companies. What we don’t expect is a company that rips us off and then claims it is down to the regulator telling them they are required to do so.
This is just another example of why all these different premium numbers should be banned. There is no good reason for their existance and time and time again we see examples of consumers being fleeced by companies who use them.
There is a website that is very helpful if you want to avoid using 0870 numbers. The website lists alternative ‘normal’ phone numbers for many companies which enables you to call the companies using your free phone minutes or callplan and avoid the excessive charges levied on these calls. The webiste is here…STOP 0870
For T-Mobile customers this might be a good time to look at other mobile phone service providers but remember you may be trapped by the T&C’s of your contract until the period ends.
