Where to complain about UPC?

damnyanks

Greetings,

UPC decided to start randomly deducting money from my account claiming this that and the other. I've lodged a complaint with the small claims court. Is there any form of watchdog that deals with them ? They have a pretty bad reputation and I'd like to get the ball moving (Or add to it) so that they fix their ways.

Thanks

P.s this is nothing to do with cancellation fee's. They just started taking 100 euro from my account randomly (Now up to 300) and refuse to give it back as its not on the system!

Nody

Cancel the direct debit (and get the cancellation in writing from the bank), send in copies of your bank statement showing the deduction to the head office along with a formal letter informing them of the SCC you've started against them.

There is no practical recourse for you outside of court in Ireland; there are suppose to be but in practice they are about as useful as a wet paper towel to stop a wildfire.

eightyfish

Hi. I've had huge problems with UPC in the past (including them ignoring two registered letters giving two months notice of my wish to close my account). They have the worst customer service I've ever been subjected to, truly horrible. I would never trust them with a DD.

You might try contacting comreg.

smelltheglove

I have just come out the other side of an almost 6 month fued with upc. They are a disgraceful company with no ethics at all, they just do as they please when they plase and seem to ignore everything you have to say.

Firstly contact comreg asap, I left it too late and comreg said there was nothing they could do as I was no longer a customer of upc. They also said they do not regulate customer service and I would be wasting my time trying to make a complaint about the customer service, unfortunately there is no offical body to control this.

I would get on to the bank although beware often the bank will say to you that they can cancel it on their side but upc can still try for the money. Sounds like bs to me but thats what IU got when I first tried to cancel a dd.

I had a similar problem once upon a time though where a bank took my mortgage out 2 months in a row for a house that had been sold and settled hence overcharging me by about 2500 euros. It was just before christmas and had delayed my christmas shopping as I was stone broke without this money, borrowing left right and centre and I was begging for it from them. Eventually I got someone in management who promised me I would receive a cheque on the Firday, the final business day before Christmas. On the Friday morning when I had not received it I called this manager, thankfully somehow I got his direct line.

I set up the record function on my phone, as the company had a statment before connection that they would record calls I felt I was entitled to do so as the call was being recorded anyway. I asked the manager where my cheque was, after many arguments he eventually admitted the cheque had not been sent out and would not be sent out until they return from their holiday as he did not have the time to look after it, re-itterating that he did guarantee that it I would receive it ont eh Firday under pressure from myself and very arrogantly and that it was basically tough luck. Obviously I went off on one and he hung up. I spent about 30 minutes repeatedly calling again until he eventually answered and I went straight into similar to the following (years after I cant remember exact words) - according to your statment when I connect to your phones all phone calls are recorded so I have actually recorded this conversation and the previous conversation. I am sure your superior would be grateful to hear that you not only allow stealing of my money but refuse to reutrn said money in time for Christmas knowing that my family will go without a Christmas because of this. You also see fit to hang up on me when this issue is causing so much problems to me.

So the manager says that is against the law you cannot just record me, I returned with, if neither party where aware of a recording yes but since you are recording all conversations my copy is just a back up really. He then agreed to return the money, I said I wanted it the following morning at the latest or I would contact his superiors.

I received the cheque by courier the following morning.

Hopefully it wont go so far for you to have your money returned but this was a very effective method.

penexpers

smelltheglove wrote: »

So the manager says that is against the law you cannot just record me, I returned with, if neither party where aware of a recording yes but since you are recording all conversations my copy is just a back up really.

It is against the law to record a phone call without knowledge (you might otherwise call it phone tapping). The bank inform you that calls may be recorded. You have no rights to record the call unless you inform the other party first (regardless as if you claim that your copy is just a back up). I would never do this and then try to use it as leverage - terrible idea.

smelltheglove

penexpers wrote: »

It is against the law to record a phone call without knowledge (you might otherwise call it phone tapping). The bank inform you that calls may be recorded. You have no rights to record the call unless you inform the other party first (regardless as if you claim that your copy is just a back up). I would never do this and then try to use it as leverage - terrible idea.

Ah well, I got my money back the following day so it worked for me!

RangeR

smelltheglove wrote: »

Ah well, I got my money back the following day so it worked for me!

I would not have accepted a cheque so close to Christmas. I would have demanded that they pay it back the same way they took it. They are THE bank, FFS. Why should I wait for a cheque to clear?

smelltheglove

RangeR wrote: »

I would not have accepted a cheque so close to Christmas. I would have demanded that they pay it back the same way they took it. They are THE bank, FFS. Why should I wait for a cheque to clear?

I didnt trust them that way since it had been promised before and never happened. I got it cashed anyway through a family business person.

Sizzler

OP - Simple. If everything you say is true, go to your bank and tell them the direct debits are unauthorised and they will raise an indemnity claim and you will get your money back fairly quick, ie 2-3 working days.

Sounds to me like someone else has gotten hold of your bank details and are using them to pay for their UPC account

veryangryman

Incidentally, how do you terminate contract with them?

Im with them a year and have had 1 or 2 dealings that I was not too happy with. In any case Sky are (slightly) cheaper for the same basic package.

Do i need to call, or does it need to be in writing.

BTW, that recording their call idea is fricking excellent mate - enjoy my thanks . Definitely gonna have that in my inventory if i ever get in such a situation.

smelltheglove

Thanks angryman.

It needs to be in writing, I am enjoying sky now and I have BT broadband which hasnt let me down yet.

eightyfish

veryangryman wrote: »

Incidentally, how do you terminate contract with them?

It's simple really;

You need to call them four to five months in advance and tell them you'll be cancelling (or moving house). They'll promise to call you back with info about why you shouldn't close your account (or how they can transfer your account to a new address). You then need to call them two months in advance after not hearing from them, and you'll be told you need to write in with a registered letter to close your account. Now you need to send two (just encase) registered letters to their customer service and billing department, and pay your "final" bill in full up to the date you gave them (three times so far) for account close.

Then, a month after you think your account is closed (and you're now living in a different house), you need to read a text from them saying that if you don't pay your bill, they will close your account. You need to call (probably six or seven times after being promised a call back each time) in response to this, and be told that they received no letters.

You then need to write three letters to customer services, accounts and the CEO providing registered proof of posting for the previous two letters in each and explaining all of this. After these letters, you will receive a call from someone (for the first time) who will tell you that your account is closed and that they (somehow) owe you €80.45 (yippee!!! - they don't). She will say that it will be in the post in two days.

A month later, you will receive a cheque for €22.50.

Hope this helps.

whoami1

I sucessfully closed my account with upc over a year ago, after I had already got Sky installed. I rang "Customer Service" :rolleyes: and explained that I wanted to close my account. I was asked why and gave my reasons. I also followed this up with a registered letter to them.

This whole process may have been slightly easier to deal with than some people because we had never started a DD with them in the first place.

If it's any use, the letter I sent to them was:

<My Address>
Date.

UPC Ireland,
PO Box 661,
Limerick.


Re; Account no. XXXXXXXX cancellation.

Dear UPC,

Following my telephone conversation with a member of your Retention Team, I wish to confirm my cancellation of my account, no. XXXXXXXX. I understand that this letter starts the 30-day notice period and remind you that my account is fully paid up to <whatever date>. This was paid on <whatever date> and your reference number is XXXXXX. I consider this payment to be full and final settlement of my account.

I would appreciate an acknowledgement of receipt of this letter by return of post to the above address or by e-mail to XXX@XXX.XXX

Yours sincerely,
<My name>

Needless to say, I got no direct acknowledgement of receipt of the letter, but I did eventually receive a cheque for the €8 or so by which I had overpaid the account.

veryangryman

whoami1 wrote: »

I sucessfully closed my account with upc over a year ago, after I had already got Sky installed. I rang "Customer Service" :rolleyes: and explained that I wanted to close my account. I was asked why and gave my reasons. I also followed this up with a registered letter to them.

This whole process may have been slightly easier to deal with than some people because we had never started a DD with them in the first place.

If it's any use, the letter I sent to them was:

<My Address>
Date.

UPC Ireland,
PO Box 661,
Limerick.


Re; Account no. XXXXXXXX cancellation.

Dear UPC,

Following my telephone conversation with a member of your Retention Team, I wish to confirm my cancellation of my account, no. XXXXXXXX. I understand that this letter starts the 30-day notice period and remind you that my account is fully paid up to <whatever date>. This was paid on <whatever date> and your reference number is XXXXXX. I consider this payment to be full and final settlement of my account.

I would appreciate an acknowledgement of receipt of this letter by return of post to the above address or by e-mail to XXX@XXX.XXX

Yours sincerely,
<My name>

Needless to say, I got no direct acknowledgement of receipt of the letter, but I did eventually receive a cheque for the €8 or so by which I had overpaid the account.

In fairness, they seem to have sorted me out alot quicker than i expected. See below. Hopefully the last bill will reflect this.



Ref:

Dear <ME>

Thank you for your recent email.

This has been brought to the attention of our Customer Loyalty Team who will take care of your request for the cancellation of your services. Please be advised that under Chorus/ntl Terms and Conditions 30 days notice is required for termination requests.

Your final invoice will be issued on the next billing date following the cancellation of your services. Where applicable, our team will be in touch to make arrangements for collection of equipment.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on our freephone number 1908 or email us on customer.support@upc.ie

Kind regards,
Pushkar

Chorus ntl Customer Support Team

---

<ME> Wrote

---

Hi,

I wish to give notice to close the account for <ME>

I am doing this given the fact that Sky currently offer a cheaper package (€20.50 VS €27 for Basic package) coupled with your general slow replies to my requests. I hope you prove me wrong with this one.

I might return in future if your rates get more competitive.

Can you please contact me to acknowledge this request?

Rgds


**********************************************************************

UPC Communications Ireland Limited

(Trading as Chorus and NTL)

Registered Number in Ireland: 435668

Registered Address:

East Point Business Park,

Building P2, Clontarf,

Dublin 3, Ireland




The contents of this email and any attachments are sent for the attention of the addressee(s) only and are or may be confidential, proprietary and/or privileged material. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete it from your system. If you are not the addressee, any review, retransmission, disclosure, copying or other use of this email and any attachments is prohibited. Statements and opinions expressed in this email may not represent those of the company and any representations or commitments in this email are subject to contract.

**********************************************************************

veryangryman

Now, onto Sky and all that...

How long do they typically take to send out an installation guy? I want to time this as much as possible so that i dont have zero (or both) boxes at the same time

smelltheglove

veryangryman wrote: »

Now, onto Sky and all that...

How long do they typically take to send out an installation guy? I want to time this as much as possible so that i dont have zero (or both) boxes at the same time

It took less than 2 weeks for us to have our sky installed, the installation guy was lovely, we got sky plus downstairs and the normal box upstairs for the kids.

Oh dont forget the introduce a firent thing they have, ahem!:o

eightyfish

smelltheglove wrote: »

It took less than 2 weeks for us to have our sky installed, the installation guy was lovely, we got sky plus downstairs and the normal box upstairs for the kids.

Same here. Sky very efficient.

However don't believe the installation guy if he tells you that you can plug a laptop into the USB on the Sky+ box and copy video off. It's rubbish.