It’s 7.30 in the evening and it has been one helluva day.
The saga of the Broadband continues and there is no sign of our refund. In trying to cancel the direct debit, apparently cancellation of a mandate cannot be done ‘in branch’ at the bank and we have to ring the company. Sod that and hanging on for hours.
Once home, we accessed their website instead and had to log into our account. This is now closed, but luckily access available through archive. Could I cancel the direct debit? No.
Their website, like their service is DIRE, so I sent an email via ‘contact us’ which had multiple drop down menus, but nothing I could use. I sent a message in the end to cancel the direct debit with immediate effect. Usual auto reply ‘high volume and delays in response’. Right. Read that as no-one will bother to read it.
Hubby got on the internet and bank website. Seems we need The App or online banking. We are set up for telephone banking and once I got past the recorded messages and not able to use The App or inline banking, (five minutes of blurb) I was put on hold to speak to a representative. Five more minutes of advertising and I hung up.
So, we resorted to a letter to yet another address, quoting dates, references and confirmation of cancellation, asking them to ensure the direct debit was cancelled then got it off in the post by recorded delivery.
I despair.
Banking was never like this and now everyone assumes customers have all the mod cons, Apps and god knows what else so that bank staff have very little to actually do. No wonder they are closing so many High Street banks and pushing everyone to internet banking, which is just another means of watching you and your money.
Going to go through my comments now. Sorry I’m so late. Take care everyone.
pensitivity101 
Di, I’m so sad to hear this tale of woe continues. We have smart phones but only have one auto pay set up and that is for the phone! Your issue with getting the bank to stop the auto pay is the very reason i refuse to signup for that. I’d rather buy a postage stamp and write out a check! At least it gives the feeling of having control over what and when the money goes out!
That;s why we don’t want internet banking…. it’s not secure enough. Looks like we won’t have a choice in a few years as all of them are pushing it..
What an absolute nightmare this is discusting. I hope it gets sorted very soon.💜
It’s been going on for a couple of months and we still haven’t received a reply to our emails or letters. We’ve just kicked them into touch as we want done with it.
Can you complain to an onbudsman which company is it?
We’ve thought about it but for the hassle and amount owed involved, it’s not worth it. Hubby has found a survey site and we’re going to start there.
That’s what they want you to do, give up. Numerous people have told me swearing* and yelling into the phone will bring a human, as will threats to go to the media. Failing that social media is your friend. Facebook pages are great, start with theirs, then their competitors. Complain loud and strong. It does work.
Exactly, which is why they have made contacting them so difficult and expensive. At least the BT customer services are free. These weren’t and we got stung almost £13 trying to speak to someone.