Beware *** Telecom Brokers

Tippex

Not sure if this is the right forum.

Anyway here it goes.

My wife got a call from esatBT credit control yesterday wanting to speak to me. She rang me in work to give me the details. We were very confused as we have never signed up for any EsatBT service.
So I got through to their customer care line and explained that we had our calls routed through another company. Esat said that they took over the calls back in february.
I told them they couldnt have as I never signed up for this. Obviously they thought I was lying. So I asked them to fax the forms they had including the direct debit mandate.
As it turns out the broker who signed us up to the company we thought we were with rang us after xmas to ask if we would be interested in EsatBT Itold him to send me the details and the forms.
I called Esat again to dig a bit deeper and asked them why the payment was rejected and we went through the form (which I had not seen yet). Basically my bank account details were wrong(only for this we would nt have been aware) Esat realised something was seriously up and have realised that the broker filled out the form putting (wrong address, wrong occupation, wrong lenth of time at address, wrong bank details, and to top it all not my signature).

So it seems that the broker has kept a copy of some of my details when I signed up with the original company.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Darren.

spongebob

hmmmmm

Depends 'who' you signed a contract with, the broker may simply have been a sales agent who got commission for the sale. I have recently heard of a big campaign in the greater midlands and north east of this kind. On the other hand you may have a contract with the broker so ESAT should not be ringing you at all ....strictly speaking.

As soon as the broker got the commission from Company A they then attempted to get further Commission from ESAT and sent fraudulent information to ESAT to get that commission. Thats how ESAT got these wrong details, the broker sent them in to make money out of you.

You are probably still better of that you would be with Eircom but the broker WILL try this again with another carrier who will then ring you about a bill you never knew you had. I would name the broker in here TBH so the rest of us can avoid them like the plague.

Meanwhile you must send a letter , registered post, to the broker which states that they may not submit any of your details to any other carrier or to pretend they have any more right to 'represent' you in any way. Tell them you will take them to the small claims for the time and effort you put into sorting this and do take them.

Meanwhile go 'direct' with ESAT so the broker can't shift you again. Tell ESAT they can go jump for the money otherwise as you have no contract with them and never did.

M

machalla

Aren't there libel laws in this wonderous country of ours?

You would want to be careful of naming anyone as even if you are entirely correct someone can drag you into a courtroom at much cost in time and expense and will hope you just don't want the hassle of it.

spongebob

Tippex.

In view of that advice please stick to naming the organisation that fraudulently signed a DD in your name and sent it into ESAT without your permission .

or else PM it to yours truly who will arrange its widespread dissemination

M

machalla

Definitely, let the telecoms companies themselves take care of nasty pieces of work like the broker mentioned.

Its a small country, word of mouth gets around...

Not to mention that you may have a legal case of your own to take against this muppet. Probably no harm to get some legal advice on this. If they continue in operation with your financial details would you feel comfortable they wouldn't do something similar with them again? Another reason for not naming names until you get some advice on this.

Are telecoms brokers actually regulated by any official body?

By the way I am not a legal eagle so please take any of the above as speculation on my part.

spongebob

Originally posted by machalla
Are telecoms brokers actually regulated by any official body?

Comreg are responsible because Credit is extended to a consumer.

info@comreg.ie is the address. They will try to wriggle if the broker is not licenced but Comreg are legally responsible for this stuff where telecommunications product and the extension of credit are involved . The ODCA is out of the loop on this one. As there are DD's involved you can call in the financila service and banking regulator because the broker forged details on a DD form and sent it on to ESAT.

Comreg are also legally responsible for enforcing the law on spam and are equally unwilling to act unless put under pressure. Tell them you will hold them fully liable for the broker and they will get their fingers out.

M

machalla

You probably saw that story on the linux.ie mailing list about catching that spammer in the act the other day.


Anti-spam Irish style!

Somehow I don't see Comreg waltzing into a net cafe and leaping on people to stop them sending spam.

Too many suits..

shoegirl

When I signed up for Euphony I got a letter from eircom telling me I had transferred my calls to another provider.

Perhaps if eircom's letters specified the provider it would avoid situations like this.

DMT

Battling fraud is a job for the Gardaí tbh, not ComReg....