magnet entertainment direct debit

gagomes

I subscribed to magnet entertainment, given the development where I'm currently living has established a partnership with magnet and has fibre channel and all that, which would allow me to save about 130€ off from eircom lien installation and having to use some funky adsl. The subscription of the service was all done over the phone which was being recorded and etc, I've been asked for bank account details for direct debit, chose the products (speed, number of channels, number of calls) and etc. Everything was fine, I got internet setup in November last year and... to my dismay, I just got a letter titled "Reminder overdue amount"... because someone at magnet forgot to setup the direct debit, none of the billing support operators were able to explain me the reason why and whenever I'd ask, they'd all answer pretty much like "No, unfortunately I don't have any details why the direct debit isn't working, but if you give me your details, we can setup right now the direct debit". I insisted that I wanted to know the why, as firstly I didn't have any fault on the process and secondly I wasn't counting on having pay now 180€ out of a sudden blue just because someone didn't do his job correctly. Since I'm not native irish, my arguments weren't very strong. The third operator added, at some point, something like "What we can do is split this amount" which I said I wasn't interested and that I'd pay the whole amount, but was still curious to know the WHY it has failed. One other operator (not sure if the first or the second) told me he would drop a note on the respective department and that they would call back. 3 days after and no calls from magnet, which starts to become rather normal, as the about 10 times I was going to travel and wanted to watch x-factor thru their "iptv" software, they never got back to me to give my username&password details, but they'd always say "Someone from that department will call you today to provide you with those details"

In my home-country, if this was brought into court, we would certainly not be obliged to pay for this, since it was their fault for not having debited it. To be honest, I've not checked my bank account balances for "magnet entertainment bills"... but.. I'm still wondering if there's anything legally that I could do to avoid having to pay for the 180€ and not having loss of internet.

Thanks

IsThatSo?

I doubt it, you have been receiving a service that you have not paid for, you have to pay for it.

OK, I do understand your point and, yes, it is very frustrating, but ultimately its your responsibility to pay for something you have received and agreed to pay for.

If you keep arguing the point you might get a discount, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

jor el

gagomes wrote: »

The third operator added, at some point, something like "What we can do is split this amount" which I said I wasn't interested and that I'd pay the whole amount, but was still curious to know the WHY it has failed. One other operator (not sure if the first or the second) told me he would drop a note on the respective department and that they would call back.

Someone fuked up, simple as that. Mistakes happen, and they're not going to be able to tell you how the direct debit wasn't set up, as people don't usually keep records of not doing something.

You've used the service, so you must pay for it. If the amount is too big for a single payment, then they should, and have, offered to split it up. That's as good as it's going to get.

gagomes

You're right, but it's still frustrating... I've used the service and I've had the money available in my account all the months w/o exception, if they didn't debited it, that's their fault and they should be held responsible and assume the consequences of their lousy staff. That's my point of view. However, I will pay for it, but if I had a chance to dispute this and not have to pay for it, I would for sure.

jackbauer

direct debits are a nightmare. avoid like the plague.