Just a quick one. Could any advise where we stand if a telecoms company has been repeatedly overcharging us for time spent on the phone invoiced for 156 hours only been on the phone 26 hours we have proof as we have a call tracker. Checked previous 4 months bills and they are all incorrect. The telecoms provider is not bothered said we should have checked bills before. We have contacted the ombudsman and as we have more than 10 employees they can not do anything. We have been advised to take it to the same claims court. Just wondering what peoples views were.

Hi again Previous accountant had signed us up to a 3 year deal however we are looking to move to a different supplier. The agreement is worded, where he has signed, Customers Authorised Signature. However he isnt a signatory and as such the company director signed the DD mandate. Can we get out of the contract on the basis that he isnt a company signatory and therefore had no right to sign as such? Pretty thin I know but they are sharks, I mean, a 3 month notice period as well!!! Any advice welcomed. Thanks

Hi I have not been on here for a while, but could really do with some advice. I will not drag out the whole tale. I have recently been mis sold a telecoms lease. Thankfully I took my complaint to the Ombudsman and they have found in my favour. The problem is the Ombudsman can only award me £ 5000.00. and to get out of the 7 year lease it is going to cost more like £ 7 to 8000. The Ombudsman has given me 28 days to except there offer but have also stated I should be put back into the position I was in before the mis selling took place, but they cannot do this as it is over the £ 5000 limit. Should I except the Ombudsmans offer and pay the remaining money myself or should I use the information from the Ombudsman and take the offending company to court to clear the whole debt. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jean

Hi There, I have so much to say and this company has angered me so much that I am conscious of waffling too much, but I will make an effort to try and keep it as brief and simple as possible. So, the story starts as standard, I had 10 telephone lines no longer needed and wanted them shut down. Rang and asked company to do this and the person on phone says no problem, have cancelled all those for you, it will be 30 days notice blah blah. Lovely, job done. Until.... a few weeks later a bill comes for £99 termination fees for each line and a bill for remainder of contract of around £300, so they wanted close to £1300 from me. (Bear in mind I only paid about £25 a month for them so a whole years bill was only £300.) Obviously, I wasn't keen on paying 4 years worth of the service just to leave them, so I called back to remonstrate. They said since I was 1 month into a new yearly contract I had to pay remainder of contract and the termination fees. Asked if I could see out the year and just leave at the end and they said I could, but the termination fees would still stand. Anyway, I since discovered that this new 12 month contract was actually an automatic contract renewal they had activated which has been outlawed by Ofcom for small businesses and they shouldn't be doing any more. Pointed this out to them, and after a week or so a new bill comes with the remaining contract bill taken off and just the termination fees listed. (So approx 1k). I then went on to tackle them about these extortionate termination fees and how they could be legal and valid. After speaking to a few different employees of theirs I was told that all these terms and conditions would have been gone through verbally when the lines were set up and thus, I was legally bound by them all. So, I figured I was screwed. But I have since found out that the lines, (originally set up in 2007), were not even done with this company, but another smaller one that was subsequently bought out by these cowboys. And hence I never entered into any contract direct with them and no-one from me of my business were ever told about any terms and conditions. So, I again, pointed this out to them. They simply ignored me. I have sent and logged various complaints with them, email and registered letter, and none of them have been answered or dealt with for 6 months now. So finally, they send me the 1st legal warning letter and it is addressed to me personally and then trading as and my company name. E.G. we will make a legal action against you Joe Bloggs t/a Acme Ltd. I responded to them by registered post with a very strongly worded letter saying they could not threaten me personally with legal action and I would take counter action against them if I received any further such threats as I would deem them harassment. I explained that they were more than welcome to use me as a point of contact on letters, but all claims must be made against Acme Ltd as that was the account held with them and at no time had my personal name ever been attached to that account. This week I have received a County Court Claim for action against Joe Bloggs t/a Acme Ltd for the full debt. Finally, and this is my main question - HOW DO I RESPOND TO THIS PLEASE ON THE DEFENCE FORM? I have various complaints and angles, some mentioned on this page, and some not like the fact that Ofcom, I believe, has also made guidelines against these extortionate termination fees and that any company charging them has to provide evidence to prove the cost to them of cancelling the lines is proportionate to what they are charging. SO, on my defence form do I start listing all the reasons I contest this debt at this point, or should I simply just respond with the defence that Joe Bloggs has no account with the company and also does not trade as Acme Ltd and leave it at that. And then wait to see if they re-do the Court claim and then start my full defence then? Please, please, please if anyone can help with this I would much appreciate it as this company seems to think they can operate outside of the laws and I really want to get it right and make sure I win this against them - not just for the money, but for a moral victory as much as anything- as they are nothing but bullies. Sorry, not really that brief was I!

I am in the process of taking Post Office Telecoms to the small claims court ( I want to charge them for the time I spent on the phone to them and writing them e-mails to establish that it was their fault, making my complaint, and the time my wife spent ringing round people, who we knew had rung us and had left us messages expecting us to reply. I am told that under their contract as a consumer phone firm I can't recover business losses, but I should be able to be paid for time that I spent doing work that they should have done. I reckon £20/hr is reasonable for e-mails and phone calls (it's actually less than my wage rate.) But what are the rules about this? We have a mediation appointment tomorrow, (by phone) so I'd like to know where I stand. Many thanks for any comments. They have offered us less than £7. iN TOTAL!

I have a phone line and calls from this Carrier Pre-Select (but thankfully no broadband). It was first class for 4+ years under original Primus Telecoms but in Nov 2010 was taken over by NewCall Telecoms and has gone severely downhill. (aside) This was the company that was touted by the Daily Heil in 2011 for bringing its call centre back from Mumbai to Burnley because they could employ people there more cheaply, on minimum pay rates, than the Indian staff. As far as I am concerned no 'contract' exists as it was a continuation of a service I first subscribed to in 2006 with Primus. However, within the past week I have been unable to make any outgoing calls. Dialling out brings the standard BT response " sorry, your call has not been accepted" This is actually being increasingly widely reported across UK in other consumer forums. Added to that, all their service and business lines are NEVER answered. (Dial-in is cut off after 1hour 30 mins waiting) Many have tried, no success yet reported. Their 'on-line chat' permanently reports the office is closed. Their web pages are still up, but you can't get a 'human' response to anything. All emails are only given an auto-response. (now I know what you are thinking, 'cos I'm thinking it too) So now the legal bit: I have instructed my credit card provider to suspend all further recurring transactions as it was being paid by CC continuous payment authority. My thought is that should NewCall reinstate and make good their service I will resort to payment upon billing (or e-billing) Ought I to officially inform them, given that they now appear to be completely incommunicado, of my actions in suspending their auto payment method, to avoid future repercussions? (prepare for more posters on this company)

I have disputed a debt, because I don't owe the money. It's apparently a mobile bill. I have another debt with this DCA which I am paying...slowly, but I think they've messed up and assigned something else to my name. This is the response I have gotten: Alternatively, if you feel that you require further details for this debt we advise that a copy bill can be requested for this account from our client Lowell Group. Unfortunately a consumer credit agreement is not available for this balance as it relates to a telecoms account and therefore it is not covered by the Consumer Credit Act. Can anyone please tell me why they don't have to provide CCA? And what I should do next? Thanks!

Orange give pretty much the worst average broadband speeds in the UK but please sign even if you're with another provider because this is an industry-wide con and we need to pressure all telecoms companies so that consumers are fully aware of EXACTLY what they are paying for. Enough of this 'up to xx mb' rubbish! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/947/594/325/

Hi please blog this via the internet i have been mis sold a website by bt this month and before 2 years ago bt bt customer street all based on a cheecky sales guy called [EDIT] a developer called [EDIT] also said it can be done both people and bt customer street and ufindus and bt websites both mis sold websites i fell for it i guess ufindus and bt directories is a motto for we will find people ufind us no they will find u who are vuneralble and we will miss sell you products.. I did wake up in the end i kept all emails and voice recordings i want to publish utube video but giving bt a chance but they have called my bluff i am hoping for a national newspaper to call bts bluff. can cag or the website customers or moderators give us some online or offline advice. we have emails to prove bt miss selling but after talking to a bt man called [EDIT] a guy called in by ceo [EDIT] of bt directories. [EDIT] offered me a free website which i didnt need as the one i needed was a database website for i saw you saw me a missed connections a new twist in the dating market concept The emails prove miss selling the voice recordings prove the cheecky pressured sales calls over a 6 week period. i am looking for a good will payment of anything but they wont discuss it now i have taken all steps but now its the internet and the media. My sole aim is not the money its to protect others. please email me suggest ideas of getting this in the public domain or how to tackle bt even ian lingston is aware of my complaint the bit i dont get they have seen the evidence but brushing it as a standard wh cares complaint. The website was misold as they promised the database they cant do databases they knew i wanted a dating site also it was admitted by [EDIT] we dont do databases no one now seems to care. i would love to know if bt.com miss sells any other products ? it did make me smile when i saw a media release that bt and offcom are stopping telephone companies missselling products. Andrew see our blog