I was contacted in January 2009 by an unprompted tele sales call from Something Communications Ltd. During the call different services were offered which included internet and phone (VOiP) at the time I was actually looking to change my ISP and phone provider and this call came at the ideal moment.
I decided to change my provider to Something as it was an excellent deal and would have saved me around £80 pcm in real terms.
They promised to have installation completed by 28th February which was ideal as I was travelling to the USA and would return to my new service.
28th February came and went! I repeatedly contacted them and in the most part was unable to get through; the phone rang on one occasion for over and hour.
Several calls went unanswered and eventually I contacted a customer service manager who told me that there was a problem with the VOiP provider and as soon as it was resolved they would be in contact. March and April went by and I decided to terminate the agreement as they had not provided me with any service and had failed to meet their own stated deadlines.
I contacted them again and was told it was a problem with BT who where refusing to pass over my details and I would have to contact them myself. I was not a BT customer but contacted them anyway they had no knowledge of what Something were referring to but asked me if I wanted to come back! (I wish I had!!).
I again spoke with Something and was sent two electronic authorisation forms for transfer of services
I got through in early May, they were very apologetic and gave me three months free service and we agreed an installation schedule. The first date was 8th June and accordingly I took a day off work to be home for the engineer, he never arrived! I contacted Something and was informed that this date was for work at the exchange and not at home and I must have made a mistake! Somewhat bemused I confirmed the installation date convinced I had indeed made a mistake.
28th June was the installation date, I confirmed this several times with the customer service advisor entered it into my work diary and was that certain I then made arrangements to terminate my existing ISP and phone contracts fro that date.
I again took a day off work and by mid morning was concerned by the apparent lack of activity I again contacted Something. They informed me I was not on that day’s installation list. At this point I became quite angry and informed the customer service advisor politely that I would be charging my consultancy day rate of £650 to Something if my phone was not installed that day.
Half an hour later I received a telephone call from quite an aggressive woman who asked me what my problem was, I was on the installation schedule for that day and an engineer would contact me shortly. She was very rude and abrupt.
The engineer duly got in touch and made arrangements to install the equipment later that day. When he was in my home he stated that I was not on his installation schedule and he had been diverted from another job. However everything worked and my connection speed had increased so I was basically happy.
Everything was fine for about a week until my internet connection speed dropped to practically non existent. I again contacted Something, which was a mammoth task as it took at least ten calls, they were free so I wasn’t concerned. They couldn’t understand what the problem was so arranged for the Engineer to call. In the meantime I unplugged all their equipment for twenty minutes and the powered it up and reconnected to the internet Hey Presto problem resolved. The engineer contacted me and explained that should I experience any further problems I should contact him direct.
Things remained OK until the beginning of September from 3rd – 8th I had no outgoing call facility just a message telling me I had insufficient credit to make a call even though all my calls where free!. It took several attempts to contact something before I got through and I was informed it was a server upgrade that they were having problems with and my service would be available shortly, half an hour after the call my phone was back to normal.
That was until 29th September when once again I lost my outgoing phone service. I sent a long email to the technical contact from their website and received no response. I phoned and phoned and phoned and eventually got through to be told that it was a server upgrade and I would have my phone service back within the hour, this never happened. I contacted them the next day to be told it would be by 4 pm. This also never happened. I have been unable to get through by phone ever since as my mobile phone connection times out. I have sent two further detailed emails to which I have received an automated answer to the first and a curt reply from the second informing me that somehow or other 60 copies had been received.
In the detailed emails I asked for a written explanation of why the service failure had been for so long and when I could expect them to reinstate it. I also stated that I would take the necessary steps to terminate our contract due to service failure by them unless it was reinstated within 7 days, as I am still without phone this has not happened.
I believe that I have been more than reasonable and patient in my dealings with Something and the continued failure by them to provide the service they are contracted for. My question is this, is there a simple way I can legally terminate the contract between us?
I decided to change my provider to Something as it was an excellent deal and would have saved me around £80 pcm in real terms.
They promised to have installation completed by 28th February which was ideal as I was travelling to the USA and would return to my new service.
28th February came and went! I repeatedly contacted them and in the most part was unable to get through; the phone rang on one occasion for over and hour.
Several calls went unanswered and eventually I contacted a customer service manager who told me that there was a problem with the VOiP provider and as soon as it was resolved they would be in contact. March and April went by and I decided to terminate the agreement as they had not provided me with any service and had failed to meet their own stated deadlines.
I contacted them again and was told it was a problem with BT who where refusing to pass over my details and I would have to contact them myself. I was not a BT customer but contacted them anyway they had no knowledge of what Something were referring to but asked me if I wanted to come back! (I wish I had!!).
I again spoke with Something and was sent two electronic authorisation forms for transfer of services
I got through in early May, they were very apologetic and gave me three months free service and we agreed an installation schedule. The first date was 8th June and accordingly I took a day off work to be home for the engineer, he never arrived! I contacted Something and was informed that this date was for work at the exchange and not at home and I must have made a mistake! Somewhat bemused I confirmed the installation date convinced I had indeed made a mistake.
28th June was the installation date, I confirmed this several times with the customer service advisor entered it into my work diary and was that certain I then made arrangements to terminate my existing ISP and phone contracts fro that date.
I again took a day off work and by mid morning was concerned by the apparent lack of activity I again contacted Something. They informed me I was not on that day’s installation list. At this point I became quite angry and informed the customer service advisor politely that I would be charging my consultancy day rate of £650 to Something if my phone was not installed that day.
Half an hour later I received a telephone call from quite an aggressive woman who asked me what my problem was, I was on the installation schedule for that day and an engineer would contact me shortly. She was very rude and abrupt.
The engineer duly got in touch and made arrangements to install the equipment later that day. When he was in my home he stated that I was not on his installation schedule and he had been diverted from another job. However everything worked and my connection speed had increased so I was basically happy.
Everything was fine for about a week until my internet connection speed dropped to practically non existent. I again contacted Something, which was a mammoth task as it took at least ten calls, they were free so I wasn’t concerned. They couldn’t understand what the problem was so arranged for the Engineer to call. In the meantime I unplugged all their equipment for twenty minutes and the powered it up and reconnected to the internet Hey Presto problem resolved. The engineer contacted me and explained that should I experience any further problems I should contact him direct.
Things remained OK until the beginning of September from 3rd – 8th I had no outgoing call facility just a message telling me I had insufficient credit to make a call even though all my calls where free!. It took several attempts to contact something before I got through and I was informed it was a server upgrade that they were having problems with and my service would be available shortly, half an hour after the call my phone was back to normal.
That was until 29th September when once again I lost my outgoing phone service. I sent a long email to the technical contact from their website and received no response. I phoned and phoned and phoned and eventually got through to be told that it was a server upgrade and I would have my phone service back within the hour, this never happened. I contacted them the next day to be told it would be by 4 pm. This also never happened. I have been unable to get through by phone ever since as my mobile phone connection times out. I have sent two further detailed emails to which I have received an automated answer to the first and a curt reply from the second informing me that somehow or other 60 copies had been received.
In the detailed emails I asked for a written explanation of why the service failure had been for so long and when I could expect them to reinstate it. I also stated that I would take the necessary steps to terminate our contract due to service failure by them unless it was reinstated within 7 days, as I am still without phone this has not happened.
I believe that I have been more than reasonable and patient in my dealings with Something and the continued failure by them to provide the service they are contracted for. My question is this, is there a simple way I can legally terminate the contract between us?
