I recently changed mobile phone networks, from T-Mobile to Vodafone. Nothing to do with T-Mobile’s service or anything – just that Martin was moving to Vodafone (as part of getting a company phone from his new employers), and it’s cheaper for us both to be on the same network.
Now, Martin’s move was easy. He simply stopped using the old phone, cancelled one contract and signed another. But I wanted to port my number, because it’s fairly memorable, and I don’t want to have to tell everyone that it’s changed.
So I got a “Final Statement” from T-Mobile a little while ago, and the amount on it was automatically debited from my bank account. All well and good.
But today I get a letter from T-Mobile, with a “Revised final statement”. Apparently they charged me £12.80, but the last bill was £11.41. The front page contains the following text (all text formatting original and not my fault):
Revised final statement cr £1.39
Calls
| Call charges | £0.00 |
| Subtotal | £0.00 |
| Credit amount | cr £1.39 <- from last bill |
| cr £1.39 to your next bill |
This is your revised final bill. If you do not pay by Direct Debit, please pay any outstanding amount as soon as possible.
So, since I pay by direct debit, if I owe money, they’ll take it from my account. But if I am owed money, they’ll carry it foward to my next bill. Except that was my final bill. Ah, bureaurocracy!
Gentle readers, I want your input. Do I:
- Ring them up and request that it be deposited in my account, or
- Leave it, or
- Something else (you suggest what)
If this is on the up and up, neither option profits anyone.
If I ring them, I have to do it on their “local rate number” and thread my way through their hold queue. Assuming I can get to a real person, I’ll be out the time and phone bill money. Meanwhile, they’ll be paying the person on the other end of the phone, plus bank transfer charges. What do you want to bet that exceeds £1.39?
If I leave it, they get £1.39 of my money, plus any interest it may earn over time, as a free gift. If it’s a snafu, then they’ll quickly spend more than £1.39 keeping me on the books and printing and posting monthly statements saying I have this credit.
On the other hand, maybe it’s more sinister. £1.39 may not look like much, but if they’re doing this systematically, and if they then don’t send any more bills out to customers they do it to, it could add up. Is this the trailing thread of a massive fraud?
Email me or leave me comments…tell me what I should do! I’ll report any results on this blog as they happen.
WRITE A LETTER you twit! 😉
You should be able to send it to the billing department, however, if you can find an Office of the President on-line, try that as well.
Tell them you are “shocked, appalled and dismayed” (etc, etc). Put a CC line on your letter and CC it to your local better business bureau, or member of parliament. If you have an option at the post to request a signature when the letter is delivered, do that. In the letter be sure to include the (approximate) amount of the postal fee of the letter AND tell them that you will be charging them interest at the same rate they apply interest on unpaid phone bills (there should be a rate on your invoice).
Then tell them exactly what you want them to do: write a cheque for the outstanding balance, or credit your account. (Probably going with the cheque is safer.)
Too bad you couldn’t port the credit along with your number, nu?
Letters cost money (ie stamp, paper, envelopes) however T-Mobile have a way of sending e-mails on specific topics (including billing etc) from their web-site. Virtually free.
Sorry to be so prosaic 🙂
I would definitely write them a message – either by post (no need to cc the better business bureau just yet) or from their website. Money is money… These small liberties piss me off:
e.g. once NatWest kept running interest on a 50p credit card balance although I had insisted on paying all balances at every statement. I called them and had them cancel it out of principle…
Let us know how it goes 🙂
Letter. It’s the best way (you’ve probably already done this though). I’m a champion complainer and my latest IKEA complaint is about to be sent off (verbose version at http://weblog.brunton.org.uk/reviews/archives/2004/11/ikea.html).
You can make a start by finding some company details at the Companies House website http://www.companieshouse.org.uk/ to find some basic information.
A web search can often find the Company Secretary, which is the person you want to send a copy to. This persons address can also be found in the library under Company records and you can get hold of it free of charge. You are also entitled to get the Directors home addresses from this register, also totally legal, a letter to them will be most helpful.
It depends how much you want to complain over it, I definitely would get one letter out though.