As previously blogged, I upgraded my phones with Orange a few weeks ago.
I got an excellent deal – phones I wasn’t actually entitled to 3 months before the end of my contract. So good was the deal, in fact, that when Mrs Sane’s phone eventually came into stock they tried to get out of sending it to me.
Anyway, when the direct debit came out, I found that they had put a £25+VAT upgrade fee on my account by mistake. Mistakes happen so I phoned them and told them and they said they’d refund the charge back into my account. Then they said they weren’t, it was down to their upgrade department. Nobody phoned me back so I phoned them today …
“You put an upgrade fee on my account by mistake and I want it refunded”
“It’s been credited to your account and will come off your next bill”
“Ok, but I want it refunded so I can use it to buy Christmas presents”
“It can’t be refunded, it’s been credited to your account”
“Well my next bill isn’t due to be created for another couple of weeks so just take the credit off and refund it instead”
“It can’t be refunded, it’s been credited to your account”
“Well it’s my money, you took money out of my bank that you weren’t entitled to and I want it back”
“I’ll speak to my supervisor”
… tum de dum …
“Sorry sir, it can’t be refunded”
“There’s nothing technically stopping you refunding it though”
“Technically there isn’t no”
“So it’s not that you can’t refund it, you don’t want to refund it?”
“Well … yeah”
“In that case, the Direct Debit Guarantee says I’m entitled to a full and immediate refund if you make a mistake so either give me back what you owe me or I’ll phone my bank and take it all back and then you will have to wait until next month for your money”
“I can’t refund it”
“No problem, I’ll phone my bank then”
So I phoned NatWest, told them what had happened and that I wanted my money back. They filled out the paperwork while I was on the phone and said the money should be in my account tomorrow.
The moral of the story is: don’t get into a pissing contest with someone like me.
Edit:
The money is back in my account.
Technorati Tags: Orange, Deirect Debit, Pissing Contest
Cool, well done!
Tell us tomorrow if it worked?
Well done Wonko keep up the good work
I’ve just done something similar with my ex-ISP Demon. They agreed they had wrongly charged me and that they would make a refund.
They didn’t.
So I called again. They agreed to make a refund.
They didn’t.
So I switched ISP and told my bank to refund the Direct Debit. Trouble is, it’s a combined payment, and they can’t do partial refunds. So they’re now £24.99 down for a month’s worth of Broadband and with my having cancelled their Direct Debit at the same time they are going to have to ask ME for their money back. They can have it, but let’s just say I won’t be busting a gut to get it to them as soon as possible.