Chess Ltd and True Telecom

[blueda]

Thanks ericsbrother and dx,

 

I am a sole trader with a business name and i am still trading,

 

Could i be in a position to offer a settlement to Chess when they deliver the early termination fee ?.

 

When Chess i hear from Chess i will ask what type of account i have.

[ericsbrother]

see what they bill you for and challenge the details.

 

As already said,

line rental goes to BT and you are paying that via talktalk so should be knocked off the bill.

 

There may be extras that canot be provided, it is about "performance" ie could they deliver thier side of the bargain?

[blueda]

Thanks ericsbrother, I have checked emails and still no word from Chess since the invoice for November which i will pay.

[ericsbrother]

I wasnt saying you shopuld pay it unchallenged,

just expect to pay what you owe and that wont include line rental because you are paying for that via talktalk and the line belongs to BT, not Chess.

 

I also said you should look at their charges and make sure you are only paying for services received or applicable.

 

You dont have to pay them to feed the unicorns

[blueda]

I will contact Chess regarding the extra services on the account that i dont have and did not request, over months it adds up, thanks ericsbrother.

 

As i posted before in the November invoice in my email,

Chess have charges for Care level,

Fraud monitor,

Line assurance,

Voicemail,

 

I never agreed for any of these services and found out in the recent email.

 

I will call Chess when they are back at work next week.

[ericsbrother]

so,

did you sign up for these (awkward to show you didnt if you accepted a package)

but the main thing is you can knock off the BT line rental from their bill as a matter of course

because you are paying that via talktalk so no need to pay it twice.

 

My starting point on the other extras is to not pay that part of the bill and let them prove you specifically agreed to them.

 

As the agreement will have been with True they wont be able to access the recording of the contract call anyway

so only have the say so of a now defunct company at the time of transfer against your word you didnt agree.

 

I cant see them wanting to take that to court even if you agreed a package

[blueda]

I agreed by phone for the basic Landline and broadband package without extras as i wanted the cheapest deal possible to cut overheads with True Telecom.

[ericsbrother]

then do your sums and offer to pay that amount when they next contact you. so work out what they are charging you over the contract period for line rental and the extras, remove them from the bill and offer to pay the balance. It wont be much compared to the loaded bill they have already sent..

[blueda]

Thanks ericsbrother,

Chess have indicated that they will be billing me well over £400 for early termination fee,

 

By what you have said i can calculate the cost of the remaining contract time line rental and deduct it from the bill

and also the cost of past and future care level, fraud monitor, Line assurance, voicemail,

which maybe goes back to the start of contract with True Telecom.

[dx100uk]

a cancellation fee should be well less than any outstanding balance if it is one.

it should not be the full outstanding terms of the contract + any fictional fees.

[blueda]

Thanks dx

 

I have found in my exercise book that i used to write in when called by True telecom and their caller name,

 

i was encouraged to leave BT for them as follows

BT line rental £18.99 True telecom £9.03

Broadband £25 £17.99

Call package £20 £9.99

Total £63.99 Total£37.01

 

A saving of £27.00 per month for moving from BT to True telecom which is the reason that i moved,

yet a short time after i moved i was being charged much the same as BT were

and Chess were doing the same when they took over from True Telecom.

 

The November bill from Chess which they have sent me by email due to me cancelling direct debit is for £58.22 and details are

Broadband £17.90

Care level £2.00

Fraud monitor £1.99

Line rental £13.54

Line assurance £1.99

Voicemail £2.75

 

I agreed to the terms on previous post only and when i received the email that was the first i saw these other charges, The rest shows some phone calls each amounting to pennys.

 

It looks like Chess and or True Telecom have some questions to answer.

All comments welcome folks.

[ericsbrother]

No, you work out what you AGRRED and pay them what they are due under that agreement when they ask.

 

Also when they do ask

you demand copies of previous bills as you believe they are incorrect and wont be paying until you have seen them (unless you have them somewhere else).

 

Chess took over the account so they owe you any monies that true have diddled out of you,

that is part of their risk when taking on someone elses accounts this way

[blueda]

Thanks ericsbrother,

it turns out that the amount that i agreed to pay True Telecom is £36.95 per month,

I do not have any copies of bills other than the latest one online,

 

All other payments were collected by direct debit monthly preceded by an email of the amount to be collected without a cost breakdown other than call charges which are never high due to us using mobiles.

 

When chess ask i will do as you advise and demand all bill details going back to start of contract.

[ericsbrother]

£36.95 a month?

God, they saw you coming.

 

Still, that is what you agreed so what do you get for your money?

Was that including mobiles and if so then Chess cant bill you a penny more.

 

That could be enough for it to be considered the contract was broken at that point but not a certainty as it may be not serious enough to repudiate the entire contract.

[blueda]

Yes it does look like they saw me coming,

yet i remember being led to believe i was getting a better deal than £36.95 before agreeing to the deal and

 

i was dissapointed when i was first billed,

so they included hidden charges at the start and added more on some time later.

 

The deal was for landline and Broadband only, No mobile phones.

[blueda]

I received an email bill from Chess yesterday titled Your latest Chess bill is ready with refund on broadband package, care level, line analogue, voicemail.

 

The early termination fee is £472.

 

The original invoice appears to be £443 with the total due £439.

 

It is rather baffling looking to me.

[dx100uk]

post it up?

[blueda]

I dont know how to post up from my laptop, and until someone assists me here is the content of first attachment.

Chess True

Thank you for choosing Chess.

Your total bill this month is £439.56

Net subject to VAT 25% VAT £27.60

Net subject to 0% VAT £472.68

VAT @ 20% £5.52

Please ensure payment is made by 31 January to avoid late payment charges or restrictions of services.

Administration £472.68 - £27.60 VAT - £5.52 Total £439.56

Refund of Broadband package unlimited 36 months 7/12/17 to 31/12/17 refund offer £17.9900 Total - £14.5081

Refund of care level -£20000 -£1.6129

Refund of Line analogue -£13.5400 -£10.9194

Refund of voicemail -£2.7500 -£2.2178

Early termination fee £472.6800

Total £443.4218

docs1.pdf

[blueda]

Has anyone got any advice from the uploaded bill on p 68 ?

[ericsbrother]

so, where are your figures to counter this?

I would be calculating a bill for all of the added extras,

the line rental that goes to BT etc as already said ad anauseam and then respond saying you will pay the corrected amount.

 

AS the max they can charge is a year for notice period (check your contract) the amount claimed is in excess of this for starters so even more to argue about.

 

You have now had over a month to do your figures and you offer nothing for us to comment on and then when they send what is a fairly simple to understand bill (£472 admin fee less what they say they will refund for service not provided)

 

we cant properly comment because we dont know what clauses there were in the original contract that cover ending the contract early or what notice period is required.

[blueda]

Thanks again Ericsbrother,

 

I dont have much in writing from True Telecom,

 

most was set up verbally by phone,

 

and i have no terms and conditions from Chess,

 

I will get in touch with Chess regarding the not agreed extras which i never used such as the caller display which i never had and try and collect a paper trail,

 

I agree with you that the information has been a bit vague and i will try and get more information.

[blueda]

True Telecom Fixed Line Services Terms & Conditions

 

Cancellation

 

If you wish to end your contract with us,

You may do so by giving us at least 10 working days written notice before the end of any contract period, or the agreement end date.

 

Also from True Telecom

 

The monthly charge for select services is £2.75 per month per service.

 

I did not select any extra services.

 

I have not yet found the confirmation of agreement letter.

 

If i do not, would it be a good idea to request copy from Chess ?.

[ericsbrother]

it wont matter because if you agreed it verbally that is good enough.

 

However, assume you didnt and make them prove you did.

 

What we need to know is how long was the original contract period because they are chargng you for more than a year's worth and that cant appy on an annual renewal as the most they can claim is the balance of the year.

[blueda]

Hi ericsbrother,

The agreement was for a three year contract,

I have made a thorough search today and have not found a letter of confirmation,

 

I have two letters and two information booklets from True Telecom,

 

One letter is dated 2/26 2016 and is addressed to my company saying to check the information and the line rental will transfer in approximately 10 working days etc,

 

i will get it posted up here. This works out that the contract would end around 8 March 2019.

 

There is no mention of the contract duration on the information that i have to hand.

[ericsbrother]

then they are entitled to demand the sort of sum they are asking for.

 

You still need to work out all of the add ons you didnt agree to and deduct that from any offer to pay.

 

I would also be deducting the line rental charges as they dont own the copper,

BT does and you are still paying for this so they have cant add it to the bill as that is "betterment"