Victory over a corporation
Pyrrhic, maybe.
It has taken over a year, but finally The Carphone Warehouse / O2 have admitted they have been in the wrong and agreed to refund the money they owe fotoLibra, to make an apology and a very small ‘goodwill’ payment for the misery and distress they have caused me. We haven’t received it yet.
I cancelled a contract with CPW/O2 in November last year. The following month they removed £41 from our account by Direct Debit.
Not only did they ignore my requests to return this money, but they carried on sending us larger and larger bills and increasingly nasty letters, including repeated telephone calls from spectacularly obnoxious men threatening to send bailiffs round.
Meanwhile I wrote letter after letter to them, stating my case and asking for our money back. They were ignored. I wrote twice to Charles Dunstone, the Managing Director, who didn’t even bother to acknowledge my letters. Instead I received more calls from aggressive debt collectors.
I wrote letter after letter. I kept copies. The copies together weigh over half a kilo. CPW/O2 simply ignored me and carried on with their threats.
Finally I wrote to Otelo, the office of the Telephone Ombudsman. I sent them 47 documents supporting my case. They sent me back a boilerplate letter saying I should contact the complaints department of CPW/O2.
I cracked. I do not know how I kept myself under control when I telephoned them to point out I had been doing that for 10 months. The man I spoke to got the message.
At last something was happening. I got a letter from Otelo on October 1st saying I would get a provisional conclusion in 6 to 8 weeks. I heard nothing, so I called them 8 weeks later; yesterday, December 1st.
“Didn’t you get our letter? We sent it on November 7th.” No, I didn’t. A copy arrived today, and there was the provisional conclusion. A win for fotoLibra and me.
Still CPW/O2 attempted to pin some of the blame on me. They said I’d asked for a PAC — why should I, when I had just requested one from Orange to move to O2? They blamed the Data Protection Act for not being able to talk to fotoLibra about Gwyn Headley and vice versa — so they didn’t bother to try.
This pointlessly drawn-out affair has caused heartache, rage, the fury of impotence, and (big tough macho guy though I am) I have to confess I shed tears of frustration, rage and misery. They were such callous, deaf bastards. They treated me with such contempt and disdain. I can now understand why some people are driven to pass among their shipmates with a cleaver.
Finally, after a year, they have to refund our money, and make me a footling little ‘goodwill’ payment. I haven’t the time or inclination to fight it any further. I’m accepting it.
That’s how they win in the end. They flick the lightswitch and simply leave it burning. They never have to worry about the bill.
December 3rd, 2008 at 13:37
If this type of thing happens do what I do. As a ‘member of the media’ ask to speak to the press office and ask them to put their side of the of argument as you want to publish it. Say you are going to publish in a consumer title and highlight the problems and, as you want to provide a balanced argument, you want their response to the issue. I had to do this with CPW and O2 and surprise, surprise the matter was resolved.
Just a suggestion!