We ourselves fell afoul of London Electricity's unique selling schemes. One day about 6 months ago we got a letter from them saying the usual "congratulations for signing up with us" routine.
Problem was, we hadn't.
A brief word of explanation is needed, I suspect. In the UK there are several electricity suppliers, some of whom started out as gas suppliers, and some even supply telephone lines as well. You get to choose which one you go with, although as far as I can tell all that changes is the name at the top of the bill, and the amount at the bottom (which changes minutely). It's absurd, and I don't understand it, but it's the free market and better than the old state monopoly, apparently.
So we start a long round of letters and phone calls. First problem is the very name the letters are addresed to, a Mr. S. Tostevin. Tostevin is my wife's maiden name, there's never been a Mr. S. They keep refusing to believe this. We eventually get a copy of the signing-up form and it's an obvious forgery. Problem is they then demand copies of her signature on official documents as proof - no way are we going to give them what they ask, all that will happen is the next (non-)caller will know what name and signature to put on the form.
So we copy the next letter to the MD of London Electricity, full of mentions of Ofgem and BBC TV's consumer protection programme Watchdog. A few days later we get another snotty, stalling letter from the customer services rep we've been dealing with - AND a roll-over-and-play-dead, rub-my-tummy-please letter from the MD, full of apologies and containing a cheque. We'd been bought off. Yes!
And we're not the only ones we know about, and obviously some people did actually go as far as contacting Watchdog! I just have this feeling, given the size of the fine LE are facing, we shoulda held out for more money. . . 8)
So, there. Americans will no doubt have their eyes glazed over by now, stunned by the existence of a thread that contains no mention of Iraq or Democrats or God. . . actually, there, they just got mentioned. Happy now?
Anyone else have any tales of consumer woe to share?
posted
Are your industries taking lessons from us....
We should charge???
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
i was buying a bag of chips from a vending machine at the Lincoln Flanagan campus and it got stuck on the little springy thingy its sposed to roll out of. i was infuriated so i went to the cafeteria and they said i could take any bag of chips i wanted from there. finally i win against their out-rrrrrageous vending tactics!
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
My phone was disconnected for about two weeks due to AT&T switching my long distance plan, and in the process somehow erasing me from the system.
Leaving out the aggressive mess of having them turn my number back on, they also deemed it worthy to go ahead and charge me full price that month.
At the time, I believed the only sensible thing to do was blow up a few of their switching stations in retaliation, but I restrained myself.
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
How bout this. They privatised the Melbourne railways about 3 years back. The only problem was, the private contractor who did the ticketing mucked up, so people basically got away with riding the trains free for about a year. Or so they say...
Registered: Mar 1999
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EdipisReks
Ex-Member
posted
i started a new bank account a month ago. over the course of one day, i paid $2500 in tutition money. my bank, seeing an "unusually" large transaction, froze my account. some checks i wrote then bounced. i was fined $200. took me three days to get my fines erased (damn bastards had the balls to say it wasn't their fault), and a while to get all those places to trust my checks again. i knew that credit card companies sometimes did this kind of stuff if there were unusually large transactions, but i've never heard of a bank doing it.
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
I, on the other hand, have never heard of a bank that considers $2500 transactions "unusually large".
Registered: Nov 1999
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quote:Originally posted by E. Cartman: I, on the other hand, have never heard of a bank that considers $2500 transactions "unusually large".
It depends how it was payed. It also might depend on the type of account. If a 17 year old kid with a normal 17 year old kids type of bank account suddenly had 3 grand go missing from the account, the bank might leap to the not unreasonable assumption that someone has stolen his cards or cheque book or something, and they might freeze it while they cheque up on him.
I suppse it also depends on how it was payed. Most accouts that students have only allow you to take out �200 from cash machines a day. Cheque guarantee cards, VISA and Mastercards normally have similar limits. But then again, pretty much everyone has a student/undergraduate account, and since everyone pays their tuition fees at the same time banks expect a grand to go out of them during September, January and April.
So if you're a business, then yeah, $2500 isn't "unusually large". If you're a teenager/early 20s person who never takes more than 20 quid out a day, then the bank might be forgiven for baulking at a two and a half grand withdrawl.
And to go back to Lee's point, we use British Gas for out electricity, and Manweb for our gas. It's crazy madness.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Oh, certainly. Simultaneous mantrains crisscrossing in all manner of directions. Liam gave me quite the introduction.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
This thread is too funny. I'm not sure what to do about it.
Just look out for this man:
[ October 14, 2002, 23:11: Message edited by: O Captain Mike Captain ]
Registered: Sep 2001
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