Hi Guys,

On February 22nd I placed an order with Origin Broadband and paid £27.99 up front as they had a really competitive deal....However that night i decided to read reviews (my bad for doing it in that order, usually i read reviews first!)...Anyway i discovered so many many bad reviews about the company that it made BT look as though it was the king of Customer Service. So naturally i decided to cancel the following morning when the lines opened.

So i called up (February 23rd) and after waiting 43 minutes in the queue, i was able to cancel my order and would told my refund would be back in my account within 10-14 days....On March 14th nothing appeared in my account from Origin, I called again, but this time i just hung up after 26 minutes in the queue as i had things to do. I emailed in and no reply to this day. Since then i have looked around, Facebook, Forums and Review sites and there are a lot of people saying they have been waiting 2+ months for their refund.

I did try to submit a complaint to Ombudsman, but they wont touch it because it hasnt been ongoing for 8 weeks. To me it is clear that Origin are not going to issue the refund, based on what i have seen from other people. I thought about small claims, but after fees it would cost slight more just to take them to Small Claims, what can i actually do here? Whilst it is only £27.99, im not the type of person that can let a company get away with something like this....it urks me!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

I'm afraid that I have no idea what else you could do.

Now you see what a load of rubbish the communications ombudsman is – even worse than the financial ombudsman service. It is clear here that the very core of your complaint is the fact that they're not returning the money quickly. One might even imagine that they realise that ombudsman complaints can't be started for eight weeks and so they take that eight weeks to keep your money and get a bit of interest on it before handing it back – without interest, of course.

I'm afraid that you're either going to have to bite the bullet and hope that they do actually make the refund within a couple of months or else you won't have to consider a small claim – which of course won't really get you your money back any faster.

The risk of course is that they're not processing your cancellation at all in which case you would have waited your two months and then you will be back in the same situation wondering what action to take. You may find that the ombudsman still won't help you because you haven't written a formal letter of complaint and then given it eight weeks. Also because Origin Broadband may not respond at all to your complaint, then you might find it difficult to get the ombudsman to start dealing with your problem because they will say that you haven't had a final response letter from origin broadband. Even then, if you get the ombudsman involved, that could take another six months – or maybe much more.

I suppose that you've done your cancellation on the phone without recording the call and not getting any reference numbers or anything else to prove that you actually have made the cancellation. That doesn't help either.

I think whatever happens, you should start laying down a paper trail and that means that you should write to Origin Broadband and confirm your telephone conversation of date XXX (do you even remember the date?) And that you confirm that you have cancelled your order and that you are disappointed that they are still making you wait for the refund of your money.

This letter won't change a great deal – but later on if there is any dispute or if either the County Court or the ombudsman wants evidence, then at least you have put something together.

If you've got the money then I would simply go ahead and sue them. The court fee is probably about £30 – although if there is a hearing fee then that will be substantially more but the chances are that the money will simply be repaid and you will get your court fee. However, beware that a hearing fee is more than £250. Of course, your chances of winning are about 100%. However, the case will still be continuing six months down the line and you still won't have your money.

This I'm afraid that you've probably learned the hard way to do your research before you start promising your money to people. Also, record your calls. If you have the time and go see citizens advice and get a complaint lodged with Trading Standards. It won't do you any good of course. Frankly there's not a lot of help around at the moment – especially in low value consumer problems like this.

Please keep us informed as to what you do and what happens

I'm afraid that I have no idea what else you could do.

 

Now you see what a load of rubbish the communications ombudsman is – even worse than the financial ombudsman service. It is clear here that the very core of your complaint is the fact that they're not returning the money quickly. One might even imagine that they realise that ombudsman complaints can't be started for eight weeks and so they take that eight weeks to keep your money and get a bit of interest on it before handing it back – without interest, of course.

 

I'm afraid that you're either going to have to bite the bullet and hope that they do actually make the refund within a couple of months or else you won't have to consider a small claim – which of course won't really get you your money back any faster.

 

The risk of course is that they're not processing your cancellation at all in which case you would have waited your two months and then you will be back in the same situation wondering what action to take. You may find that the ombudsman still won't help you because you haven't written a formal letter of complaint and then given it eight weeks. Also because Origin Broadband may not respond at all to your complaint, then you might find it difficult to get the ombudsman to start dealing with your problem because they will say that you haven't had a final response letter from origin broadband. Even then, if you get the ombudsman involved, that could take another six months – or maybe much more.

 

I suppose that you've done your cancellation on the phone without recording the call and not getting any reference numbers or anything else to prove that you actually have made the cancellation. That doesn't help either.

 

I think whatever happens, you should start laying down a paper trail and that means that you should write to Origin Broadband and confirm your telephone conversation of date XXX (do you even remember the date?) And that you confirm that you have cancelled your order and that you are disappointed that they are still making you wait for the refund of your money.

 

This letter won't change a great deal – but later on if there is any dispute or if either the County Court or the ombudsman wants evidence, then at least you have put something together.

 

If you've got the money then I would simply go ahead and sue them. The court fee is probably about £30 – although if there is a hearing fee then that will be substantially more but the chances are that the money will simply be repaid and you will get your court fee. However, beware that a hearing fee is more than £250. Of course, your chances of winning are about 100%. However, the case will still be continuing six months down the line and you still won't have your money.

 

This I'm afraid that you've probably learned the hard way to do your research before you start promising your money to people. Also, record your calls. If you have the time and go see citizens advice and get a complaint lodged with Trading Standards. It won't do you any good of course. Frankly there's not a lot of help around at the moment – especially in low value consumer problems like this.

 

Please keep us informed as to what you do and what happens

Thanks again BankFodder, once again your input is truly insightful! I completely agree with you on the Ombudsman front, and find that their system is flawed to some degree. Whilst i have had some great success with the Ombudsman services in the past (against BT...4 times and Vodafone most recently) I believe in this case its a bit confusing. I thought under the Consumer Act 2015 that refunds for digital orders (or orders made online) had to be returned to the customer within 14 days of the agreed cancellation?

One of the reasons i started emailing was so that i could have a paper trail (or digital trail) which the ombudsman services have accepted from me in the past. Luckily i do have a record of the time and dates i called origin, however no recording. On my old android phone i had an app called ACR, which automatically recorded every single one of my calls, which was extremely useful, however i have not seen an app like it for the iPhone which i now have...any suggestions?

To cover all bases, i was going to write a formal complaint/request for my refund today and send it 1st class recorded tomorrow and see what happens.

I will follow up with any significant updates.

I'm afraid that I have no idea what else you could do.

If the deposit was paid on credit/debit card, would it be possible to raise a dispute with the card provider ?

If the deposit was paid on credit/debit card, would it be possible to raise a dispute with the card provider ?

Had it been paid with my CC could have probably raised a dispute, but because it was paid by debit card, wont be able to challenge it.