Iol broadband billing blunder

substr

I just wanna know what you think of this situation and where I stand from a legal point of view. Last july I got IOL broadband and I sent them the direct debit details and correct account number. They activated the service and sent me out the modem and filters. I used my dads account for the billing but up to now he hasnt been billed anything for the service. He genuinely didnt notice there was no money being withdrawn every month because he has a lot of standing orders and direct debits on the account.

Now we receive a call from IOL today telling us they have rang us repeatedly and sent out 5 letters regarding the balance (which is €600). We have never received a single letter or phone call from them up to today. They said somebody rang them on 24th september last year questioning the invoice but me and my whole family were in spain the last 2 weeks of september. They have never left any voicemail messages, we honestly didnt receive any letters from them and they never sent me ANY emails.

When we rang them back today they threatened to pass the debt over to a debt collection agency if we don't pay. I don't think we should have to suffer forking out a lump sum of €600 because of an error on their behalf. I asked them why didnt they just disconnect the service if it wasnt being paid for and they said 'we give people a chance to pay, we send out letters and phonecalls (apparently)'

I really dunno what to do - we cant afford to pay over €600 now
Any advice or opinions appreciated
Thanks guys

Mutant_Fruit

Tell them you cant pay a lump sum. And if they can't/won't accept that, let them disconnect you.

If they cannot prove that they sent letters to you, or phonecalls (or even e-mails!), then they were never sent from a legal point of view. If there is no proof that you recieved them, you can easily claim they were never recieved.

Phone calls can be backdated by up to 1 year, so calls made last september should be trackable. It should be obvious whether they actually called you, and how long each call lasted (if in fact they called you). As for letters... remember that postal strike? E-mails should be traceable, but that all depends on your ISP, they might not store them at all.

If its an error on their part, then i suppose you should have 30 days to pay off the debt (the standard time) but you should get that checked with a lawyer. Of course, you should be able to twist some arms and get an extension on that considaring they did screw up.

dam0cles

iol or esat bt refuse to hire any admin/accounts person unless they display severe laziness, dyslexia, and most of all, absolute incompetance. there are very few of their customers that have not had a problem of some sort with billing or similar matters.

it's their mistake, so keep that in mind, and do what the above post says.

Sarn

Unfortunately the IOL/ESAT billing system is pretty incompetent (it took 8 months for them to set up my direct debit). To be fair they did send me demand notices about a month after each bill that was until I complained that it was their fault that money wasn't being debited. Receiving final demand notices is not pleasant.

Ok I know the T&C say they won't send out a bill. But what do they expect if people aren't given a reminder. It's very easy to let the bill date slip by when you never receive notice. You fill out the initial form giving instructions to set up a direct debit in good faith. Then they screw it up. I ended up paying by credit card for a while (that was after making the mistake of trying to pay in the post office (they didn't have the appropriate account on their system), trying to pay in BOI (without a bank giro) and finally managing to pay in AIB (where a hand written note was added to the top of my docket!)).

When I asked for my account statements I was told they would be posted out. They miraculously never arrived (one of their post boxes must contain a blackhole).

You should be able to arrange a way to pay back the bill over a period of time. After all it was their incompetence that got you in this situation in the first place.

Ancient1

To think that these guys actually have the balls to threaten anyone...:rolleyes:

I regularly have to ring them and tell them please please will you bill me already, i dont want to have to pay you for four months all at once.

Be ruthless - ring them every month and ask for 2 different "agents" to tell you when/what/how much you're due. Get their names and record the date and keep a log. Unfortunately i feel compelled to do that - i've been screwed too.

dahamsta

Unbelievable. Bill Murphy's really sorted out that billing department, ain't he? :rolleyes:

adam

dub45

Everytime I read a complaint like this about Esat I wonder how they manage to survive with an accounts department so manifestly incompetent.

Anyways if it was me here is what I would try:


Firstly confirm with your bank that the direct debit is 'live' on your dad's account.

Make sure that Esat have never presented a direct debit to the account and above all make sure that a direct debit has never been presented and returned unpaid for any reason then write to Esat along the following lines;

Point out first of all that you are appalled at their threat to forward your account to a debt collector and that if any such action is taken pending further clarification of this matter with a view to reaching an amicable solution to the payment of the outstanding amounts that you will be pursuing the matter with the Director of consumer affairs and Comreg ( I know they might not have any role to play in this but what the heck!). there is also an authority under the Central bank for dealing with consumer issues (not sure if it is relevant here but the direct debit part might drag them in you never know) You could also mention that you will be quite happy to inform the various newspapers consumer affairs depts of Esats bullying and threatening behaviour and bring it to the notice of the Joe Duffy show.

Ask them why they have never presented the direct debit which you have signed and given to them to the bank for payment. (and if they say the have not got it ask them why the connected you up if they had not received it)

Point out once again that you have never received any formal written communication from them and ask them for signed and dated copies of the letters that they claim to have sent you. Also ask them for the dates and times of the phone calls they claim to have made to your home. All these should be on their file. Ask them if they made the calls why they did not leave a voice mail message asking that you contact them.

Ask them about their claim of a call from 'you' on 24th. Their records should say who called and what the outcome of the call was. You might also ask them what invoice was being queried if the do not send out invoices.

You could also point out to them that you can prove that your family was not in the country on that particular date and this naturally makes you sceptical about their claims.

Tell them that you have no intention of not paying the bill but that you simply cannot afford 600 euros at the moment and are wiling to discuss paying off this amount over a reasonable period. (Once you offer to pay the bill it gives you the moral high ground I think:)

Again point out that their failure to present the direct debit has lead directly to this situation.

Register the letter so as to make sure they cannot say they did not get it. Write it as soon as possible or make contact with them as soon as you can anyways so that you demonstrate your bona fides and mabye also send a copy to Bill Murphy.

In the meantime if you get any more phone calls make sure to get the name of the person you are talking to and if any threats are made ask them on whose authority those threats are being made.

There are some voluntary bodies I think that deal with consumer matters like this who might be able to give you advice - I cant direct you to them but maybe some other people on here could.

If the direct debit is definitely live on the account a chat with someone in your own bank about the situation might also prove useful as surely giving a company a direct debit access to your account puts at least some of the onus on them to ensure that bill is paid or at least an attempt is maked to collect the money. Good luck with this but dont let them bully you which is what they seem to be doing at the moment.

By the way it might be no harm to try to agree a monthly amount with your dad that he would find ok to pay off the backlog before you start out on this.

Benny_Cake

Sorry if I'm hijacking this tread - I know its been a while since anyone posted here,but...

The same thing is after happening to me.In exactly the same position,signed up-didn't keep a close enough watch on my account,which I'll admit was my own foolishness.Yet I got a bill for €651 today.First I've heard from them since I signed up!What was the outcome substr?

SeaSide

Got a bill today too. But only for 78 as they had already taken out cash from Credit Card since June last year when i signed up.