Please help - list of common failures

[dave]

Hi all,

We all know that all companies cock up - some more than most.

I am trying to collate the most common cockups.

Please add to this sticky, preferably in a one line statement, the cockups that you have experienced over the years.

e.g.

DVLA ignored SORN declaration and I was fined.
Company XXX refused to refund me when good were faulty from outset.

etc....

All will become apparent soon....

Thank you.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

After market warranty company's reliance on the all encompassing 'wear and tear' exclusion clause built, as standard, within their policy documents and which they can always rely on to refuse a fully valid claim.

What part of a car is not subject to wear and tear when being driven?

More to the point, what part of a car is therefore covered at all?

[GlasweJen]

Orange telling me over the phone I have a 12 month contract but 9 months later telling me it's an 18 month contract and they never called me when the phone was first bought, that anyone could have got my details!

[1rnold]

Hi
Orange sim card went faulty, took them 6 weeks to agree to issue me a replacement sim card as they said it was my phone. I even went and brought a new cheap PAYG phone from Argos but Orange simcard still not worked. I asked for refund to cover loss of usage as my contract was due to end but no respond, so I refused to pay the last 2 months bill in lieu of them costing me loss of airtime. Sent 6 letters to Orange customer services but still no reply. If you ring them from a non-orange handset you get cut off or they pass you all around many different depts resulting in you getting additional bill as you can be on the phone for over 1 hour ! Also noticed that although my contact ended, they added a 'new charge' for Orange Care at £6 per month which is something I did not want anyway nor asked them for.
Still refusing to pay and battling this out. Got a debt agency letter threatening me if I do not pay this Orange bill. What sort of Customer services are they when they don't reply to customers?
Reeta

[pinkmoomin]

Virgin Media cut off services for non-payment before I receive the bill. Twice.

[foxycox]

Littlewoods sent a faulty brand new washing machine, refused to refund it, made me accept a repair, twice, which neither worked. Then put my account with debt collectors. Any phone conversations have resulted in rudeness from their operators, and refusals to put me on to their managers. I am now going to take them to court!

	Debt collection library Follow this link to our debt collection library. This library contains templates and advice for dealing with debt collectors who act oppressively or unfairly. This library is work in progress and will be built up over the next few weeks. 17.03.09

[foxycox]

Direct Line Insurance gave me a hire car from Enterprise. On last day of hire I got a flat, my husband changed the wheel over just before we drove the car 4 miles to return it. Signed off car, explaining about flat tyre, which they said was no problem and they refunded me with a £50 deposit. The following day Direct Line telephoned to tell me that following my accident? I owed Enterprise £300 excess for the damages to the tyre and the spare wheel!! Already being charged £400+ per month from banks for excessive charges and in process of losing everything, so it feels like everyone is in for the kill now! See prior post. By the way, there was no damage caused by us, the spare wheel was already in bad shape and my husband told me to be very careful driving it.

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[suzieblooz]

BANK OF SCOTLAND - asked them to close 2 current accounts,(after I won back my charges ) 1 had £26 balance, other zero. Branch said it would be done by head office and they would send me a cheque. 3 weeks later got a letter saying they had shut no.1 account and transferred the balance to no 2 account. Phoned and queried it, they knew nothing about me being sent a cheque and as no.2 account now had an active balance it would take a couple more weeks to shut and only THEN would I get a cheque.
As with all banks, the right hand has never met the left hand.

[JimmyTheOne]

Card Issuers failing to tell you everything about Chip & Signature Cards.

Clearly not in th spirit of the Banking Code. If they've a product or service they're supposed to tell you all about it and how it works.


It's up to YOU the individual to decide if you decide to Sign or PIN.

	The Banking Code Follow this link to read the Banking Code in full. Ofen ignored by its subscribers, half-heartedly monitored and poorly enforced

[Trish76]

Neighbours son just passed test left car in gear and drove straight in to our stationary car.Non fault accident to us reported it to insurance etc. Our car gets picked up by Midland recovery and gets taken to Holdcroft Body repair shop.3 days later get a call from Helphire who were appointed by our broker, asking where our car was :o . Holdcroft didnt know and Midland recovery said it had been delivered by them to Holdcroft the day it was picked up.Found this out after going to their office in person and saw the delivery note.So then took a trip to Holdcroft and our car was not on their system ....!Took it upon myself to walk through their entire ground and guess what our car was there the entire time!! What a bunch of so & so's!!

[wheresmyhairgone]

Ordering a pink nintendo ds + 2 games for my daughters birthday on argos website after being told all was in stock and then after paying with debit card told that the pink console was not in stock and they have refunded the money for the console. took me many phone calls to explain why the games were no good without the console.

	Record your calls Follow this link to read the review of the Truecall telephone recorder and call manager. This is the Rolls Royce of call recorders. It's a bit pricey but if you buy it with our special offer you will get it at cost: about 20% discount. How much do we make on the deal? - Nothing at all. You can also buy cheaper devices from Maplins. Truecall is the best - but the important thing is to record your calls.

[MrRee]

CURRYS stating that a Bright Green Flashing Pixel on a £800 Plasma TV which is 23 weeks old is a 'Purity Error' 'Within Manufacturing Limits' and therefore they will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to assist!!

£800 on a TV which 23 weeks later has a fault which ruins my viewing pleasure and all they can say is 'Tough Luck!'

Shocking way to treat a Customer!

[dave]

These are excellent - keep 'em coming.

It will all become apparent soon, I promise (had a bit of a delay due to personal issues).

[CROYLAND]

I have had an Audi car from brand new. Bought from dealer. Had serviced by dealer to keep 3 year warrenty valid but the warrenty also had a 60,000 mile limit.
At at 2 years and 3 months old, but unfortunately at 62,000 miles, car failed to start. Was told it was the starter motor which was then a chargeable repair. I argued that to me, the mileage on the car had nothing to do with the amount of times the car was started but lost the argument and paid over £300.
That was in Jan 06
Feb 07, car failed to start again. Told by garage it was the starter motor that had failed but it was covered under 'a 2 year warrenty' so was replaced free of charge.
Nov 07, car failed to start again. Told by same garage (still audi dealer) that starter motor would be replaced 'this time' as it was within 2 years of my original paid for repair. Although I have asked them to detect any underlying fault that could be causing a starter motor to fail so often, I cannot be sure they have done this. But they have told me the replacement that has been done today is not guaranteed in itself, the labour??? is guaranteed for a year, but the guarantee on the starter motor runs out in Jan 08 - 2nd anniversary of me paying for the repair!

[Zamzara]

Quinn Direct car insurance: ignored 2 letters giving notice that I would not be renewing the policy with them and took a new payment anyway. They then failed to refund me after promising to do so. Had to get the money back through the bank.

	Car Insurance

[ozzywizard]

Virgin Media cut off services for non-payment before I receive the bill. Twice.

Must be common, exact thing happened to me. they said their system ran into a "glitch" and bills were not sent out, but I was still dissconnected from service. I had it reinstated after speaking to a few managers though, lol.

[dar£n]

O2 destroyed my mobile phone that was returned in error instead of returning it to me. [should have gone to 3G]

their excuse, security measures..Ha.

I took em to court and won..

[dar£n]

A friend of mine took a 19" lcd tv back to the local Miller Brothers complaining about a dead pixel.
tv was one week old.

Turd in the shop argued it, but eventually took it into the back shortly returning showing a 1" scratch clearly visible in the centre of the screen.

Arguing for about an hour they told her to shut up and leave the store..

she did......OMG!!!!!

[signa]

Ordered bathroom cabinets from Wickes - cost £800. Next day a repeat order arrived. Despite my saying I had already received mine the driver insisted on leaving them. Rang next day to say I now had 2 lots - they said they would collect them. They never did. That was 3 years ago. My daughter now has a matching bathroom!

[signa]

I once received a voucher thru the post from Phones 4 u for £360. As I had never used that company for anything I was puzzled. I rang to see what it was about. The advisor said he had no idea and suggested I hang on to them and say nothing. No-one ever asked me to return it.