Imagine overcharging on bills

Kashkai

My phone company, Imagine, has been charging me for phone and broadband since last November, despite the fact that they were aware that my phone line was knocked down during construction work. They have refused to contact Eircom to have it reconnected stating that it is my problem. Now Eircom insist that I route my request through my service provider (i.e. Imagine) so its catch 22.

To top it all, Imagine have been overcharging me for the phone and broadband as I "requested" the 3 MB broadband. Why I asked them, would I do this when I don't even have a working phone line?? They have no answer to this but keep on charging me anyway.

I feel I can legally refuse to continue paying for this non existant service but they insist I agreed to a 12 month contract last July. However, I don't have a phone or broadband service and they are overcharging me for the packages I agreed to in the first place.

Opinions please as I want to put a stop to the direct debit before the next bill is due.

Sizzler

Stop the DD post haste and flag your concerns to comreg (if you havent done so already.)

jor el

What exactly did you sign up to last year (i.e 1M, 2M or 3M broadband) and do currently pay the line rental to eircom or does it all go to Imagine? If you pay nothing to eircom then it's Imagine that needs to get the line repair done as you are not an eircom customer. It would seem that Imagine are lying to you on this part anyway.

As mentioned, stop the DD immediately and don't pay them anything more till they fix the problems. Also, ask them to refund you the overpaid/over-charged amounts too, and if they refuse take them to the small claims court.

Imagine are a shower of cowboys so it doesn't surprise me that they're trying to pull stunts like this.

Kashkai

I signed up to their 9.99 a month unlimited national phone calls and their 9.99 a month 1MB broadband package.

They have told me that I requested the 3MB broadband in January. Now since my phone line has been lying in my front garden since November, it would appear to be a little strange for me to request an upgrade to 3MB broadband in the interim, seeing as I don't have a phone or broadband service.

I pay the bill for line rental to Imagine who presumably pass it onto Eircom. I have checked with Eircom and they told me that I must pass any requests for line repair through Imagine. However, they refuse to do so. I think I'll stop the DD and switch to someone else. Anyone got any recommendations, BT, Eircom??????

SitesToGo

I have been with Cinergi for business calls for a couple of years and although the customer service was sometimes a bit rusty generally they were amazingly good value and relieved me of the need to deal with Eircom, whose customer service need not be mentioned!

On Friday we inexplicably lost our ability to make outgoing calls (and yes we were paid up to date as a direct debit customer) and when I called my Cinergi contact I heard on the grapevine that a takeover was in the offing by Imagine. I then received a bill from Imagine on Saturday by email, with no word of explanation. The Cinergi help line was down and not taking even basic messages from Friday at night to Tuesday morning, despite calls to both companies over the past 48 hours I am no nearer to resolving the issue and we still have no outgoing calls. My trusty Cinergi rep who has always pulled rabbits out of hats before says his calls are not being returned either. And now finally we have discovered this is a widespread problem. Not just us

Are we alone in our concern about potentially another Smart situation?

Cabaal

If your paying eircom line rental then its their job to fix your line, if your paying imagine then its their job...plain and simple

Get onto whichever one it is and stay on the phone till you get a engineer booked to resolve the issue.

as for the lack of broadband, well thats abit tricky, to be honest it depends who is in the wrong.....

If you pay line rental to eircom and they kept telling you to ring imagine to get your line fixed then in my book they were in the wrong and they would be at least partially responsible for charges you have incurred for your ADSL service for which you have been unable to use since they have not resolved your fault and they kept giving you incorrect info in relation to resolving the fault (calling imagine)

If its the other way around and you pay rental to imagine then I'd take the charges up with them

I should stop thinking like I'm in work...

chump

I was being overcharged by ntl and cancelled my DD instantly when saw the bill (before they attempted to take my money). Always protect your money first.

Cabaal

Prosperous Dave wrote:

I pay the bill for line rental to Imagine who presumably pass it onto Eircom. I have checked with Eircom and they told me that I must pass any requests for line repair through Imagine. However, they refuse to do so. I think I'll stop the DD and switch to someone else. Anyone got any recommendations, BT, Eircom??????

Ah just read this, don't just cancel your Direct Debit,
Get onto their head office if needs be and explain that your paying your line rental to them so they MUST raise a fault with Eircom to get your issue resolved.

imagine.ie gives
imag!ne Group, Communications House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Tel: 01 437 5000 Fax: 01 437 5070

Ring them and keep ringing them, you'll get it fixed if you go about it right

DanGerMus

Well firstly who the hell dug up your phone line. That part was their fault and they should have taken care of it. As for who'd be responsible for the actual lines it's eircoms engineers plain and simple. They get all the line rental in the end and thats what it's for. You should try to be more assertive with either company because as far as i'd be concerned they share the responsibility of providing you a service. And i'm shocked that they upped your package and then refused to lower it. If you didn't order it they should drop it back once you request it. They would have to provide proof that you ordered it and that would mean either a recorded phone contract (like BT do) or a written contract signed by you. Even if you did order it you'd imagine it would be in there best interest to keep a customer happy so they dont just leave al together and just drop it back.

Kashkai

After fruitless e-mails and phone calls to Imagine over the past 6 months, I eventually lost the rag yesterday and demanded to speak to a supervisor. I explained the situation and told her I was typing a complaint to Comreg as we spoke. I informed her that as I:

didn't have a phone/broadband service for the past 6 months;

didn't request an upgrade to their 3MB broadband package;

was overcharged consistently for their non provision of service;

I was now well within my rights to walk away from the 12 month contract I had with them and to sue them in the small claims court in the process.

Perhaps it was the one unique customer friendly individual in Imagine or the none too subtle threats worked, but Imagine promised they would sort out the problems asap. Imagine (pun intended) my shock when an Eircom engineer appeared at my house just 2 hours later and reconnected my phone line. Now why the hell did it take 6 months, countless e-mails and phone calls for this to happen. I hate having to resort to losing my temper and using petty threats to get anything done.

I thought deregulating the telecomms industry was supposed to improve things.

Cabaal

Dave I hope their refunding you line rental for DSL and your telephone service considering it was their job to inform Eircom you had a line fault and they failed to do this

Kashkai

Yeah I mentioned this in my rant to them yesterday and they siad they'd get their billing department to look into it. Won't hold my breath though. Anyway its great to have a phone and broadband service again.

Slice

Contact your bank and get them to request an indemnity against all direct debit payments made to Imagine, advise your bank that Imagine have broken the terms of the direct debit scheme. They will reluctantly (they may even insist it's not possible) credit your account the value of payments taken if you press the issue hard enough.

Check out this link to the Irish Payment Services Organisation for where you stand with direct debits:
http://www.ipso.ie/frames/documents/PayersGuide.pdf

Contact Imagine and ask to get a record of the contract in which you agreed to the 3MB broadband - they will not be able to produce this if you didn't sign up to it - the onus is then on them to deal with how they incorrectly charged you.

The damage to the phone line should be raised with the company you pay your line rental to and also with the person who caused the damage.

Slice

What that above link doesn't mention is that the originator; Imagine should ensure that disputed amounts are not debited from your account - this is where you have grounds to ask for an indemnity

The following link is clearer on what Imagine's responsibilities are with regards direct debits and how your bank is obliged to credit your account amounts debited - it's on the first page under "Originator" under the heading "Trust and the direct debit scheme"
http://www.ipso.ie/frames/documents/OriginatorsDay-to-Dayfinal_001.pdf

Cabaal

Dave, keep us posted on if they refund you or not.
glad your got your phone and broadband back

Kashkai

Yeah, now wife can talk to her sisters all day long again while I'm free to blast people away online in Call of Duty........ now if I can picture the enemy work for Imagine, I'll win hands down as no mercy will be shown:D