| Complainant: |
Ms L Tyack
|
| Town/City
of Residence: |
London |
I called Single Point in order to cancel my account with them,
and to ask them to send me my PAC (Port Authorisation Code), so
that I could keep my mobile number after I closed my account,
and had changed to another service provider. I was told that this
would all be done - no problem, but that there was a £29
"port charge" for letting me keep my number.
When I queried this charge, and asked whether or not there was
a clause in my contract which showed that these charges were applicable,
I was put in hold for a good 20 minutes. When I was finally taken
off hold, I was told that this was not actually a port charge,
but now and "admin charge" because I was moving my account
to the Orange network. When I asked if this charge only applied
to moving to the Orange network exclusively, and not any of the
other networks, I was told "yes, this charge only applies
when moving to the Orange network". Obviously, I then told
Single Point that I would move to another network, but not Orange,
to avoid paying this fee, and was told, that "actually, it
is payable if you move to any network, not just Orange".
I then asked to speak to a manager or supervisor to ask them to
explain why I was being charged for moving my account elsewhere.
I was met by a rather stroppy response, and told that Single
Point and Vodafone were well within their rights to administer
this charge to my account as they owned my number, and if I wanted
to keep it, then I would have to pay the £29. When asked
to explain how they were allowed to enforce this without my having
signed a contract which included these terms and conditions, and
why, if the terms and conditions had subsequently changed, I had
not been notified, I was told that I had just been notified of
the changes there and then, over the phone!! If I did not like
it, then I did not have to change service providers and I would
not be charged the £29!!
I find this outrageous. The money in itself is not an issue, but
the fact that this company feels that is has free reign to charge
me whatever they see fit because I am moving my account, is not
reasonable. Furthermore, they do not seem to be able to agree
within their own company as to what the charge is for. One minute,
is was a "port charge" because I wanted to keep my number,
and the next minute, it was an "admin charge" because
I was moving to Orange, and the next, and "admin charge"
because I was moving to another service provider, full stop!
If I had been pre-warned, or had signed a contract which included
these terms, I would still have been annoyed, but given that I
have neither been advised of these charges/changes, or signed
a contract which included them - I am livid.
I have since spoken to Oftel, who unbelievably, have confirmed
that Single Point ARE within their rights to administer these
charges to my account, because my account was opened before the
changes were made within the mobile phone industry, to enable
number porting to be faster/easier.
When I asked the woman at Oftel, how it was possible that they
could do this without advising me, she said that she did not know
as she was not a lawyer, and was not an expert in contract law!I
am still dumbfounded as to how I can be charged by this company
without any prior warning or knowledge, and even more so, by the
fact that the regulatory body (Oftel) who are supposed to protect
individuals from these "corporate scams", can sit back
and tell me that yes, they are entitled to charge me what they
please, when they see fit, but they don't know why!!!! This is
an outrage!
Link to other singlepoint stories: Link1;
Link2
Singlepoint4u in a previous response assure us that "Singlepoint
are committed to delivering the best in customer service."
We have sent an email to Singlepoint4u to notify them of this posting.
We invite other consumer views on the matter.
update on 15 July 2002
Right of reply email response received
from Ms Kirkham of singlepoint4u.[see right of reply column above
left] I have sent an email to Ms Tyack for her reaction.
=================================
I was contacted by a member of singlepoint's
staff one week in to my contract. They ask me to
pay an extra 3.99 per month loyalty bonus!! At the end of which
i would recieve the latest upgrade and have my line rental reduced
from 25 per month to 15 per month. At the 11th month in to my contract
i contacted singlepoint and they told me i had the chioce of three
phones which had all been on the market for at least two years.
They also said i would not have my line rental reduced. I was quite
upset over this and told them my 30 days notice is in the post.
Singlepoint did not recieve this letter due to a postal stike. Now
i am held responsible for this and have had to pay singlepoint 79.72
although i never used their phone again.
Stephen Munro ... 11 January 2004
---------------------------------------
If you have any complaints with Singlepoint
and you cannot get it resolved then contact vodafone's head office.
They own the company now. Singlepoint has had a long history of
complaints and vodafone knew that. Even the staff at vodafone, before
the take over, were very critical of the company.
The more genuine complaints received the more likely that singlepoints
name will go and the database of customers will merge into vodafones.
That way you will get a better trained staff dealing with your queries.
If any of you come across the phones for life scheme then I advise
that you do not accept it, if you want the best deal on upgrade
then cancel your contract or ask to be put through to the Account
Management Department (AMD). You will not only get a better upgrade
you would not have had the cost of paying 3.99 a month. If you do
cancel then their Outbound Sales Team will contact you - they offer
deals better then the AMD do.
Insurance: You way up the cost per month, the excess, then ask Policy
Administration Services a list of payouts in relation to "unauthorised
usage". This last point is a big selling point for the insurance.
But you need to ring up Singlepoint to get your phone barred for
that claim to be valid. (See Terms and Conditions) This means that
the unauthorised usage is virtually pointless - as singlepoint would
be liable for "unauthorised usage" if you asked to get
your phone barred but they failed to do it and if it is barred then
no one can use it anyway. John Dill ... 24 January 2004
-----------------------------------------
I have found single point to have
a terrible admin side, I tried to upgrade my phone
twice but on both occassions it was not done. I eventually managed
to get my PAC by ringing them up. My problem now is contacting someone
at o2 so that I can buy a SIM card with my own number on. Unfortunately
I am unable to get through to their e-mail site... any suggestion?
Catherine Williamson .. 9 April 2003
----------------------------------------
I feel really sorry for you love,
you should have gone to the link!! i work there i do you know zxxxxxxxxxx
Adam Baggins ... 7 August 2003
---------------------------------------
On Tuesday 2nd Sept. I phoned singlepoint
to cancel one of my contracts with them (I have three). Asked
why I was cancelling one of them, I replied that I had a good offer
elsewhere with a new phone with more text. for my son. I was told
that singlepoint could better that so I said ok then I will stay
with you, so they said they would upgrade the one account, and on
the othere send a new phone. They would be delivered on Friday 5th.Sept.
I stayed in all day and no phones.
Friday and Saturday I spent hours on the phone asking where they
were and got absolutely nothing from no-one, I was passed from one
to another with the saying hold on for one moment while I put you
through, that one moment was up to and more than fifteen mins. eventually
I had to reorderthe phones, and have been promised a deliverydate
of 9th.Sept. we shall see I would have liked the person in management
to have at least phoned me and apologised, forthis error on their
part. I don't know now if I will stay with them or not.
Teresa Sterland .. 8 September 2003
------------------------------------------
I have been with Single Point now for about
three and a half years and over that time have had
various problems with them. The most recent, and also the decision
maker for me to change networks is related to my upgrade.
December of last year (2002), I upgraded my contract and opted for
a "photo phone". I was informed that because "SP"
were not yet set up for MMS billing I would receive 3 months free
text messaging. The concept was great but because they were not
set up internally, I couldnt get my phone connected to send messages
and therefore couldnt actually send any MMS. Towards the end of
March (2003), "SP" cancelled my original contract and
automatically created a new contract to include MMS.
I am now "supposed" to be due for my upgrade but "SP"
insist that they cancelled my contract due to bad debt and that
my account is only due for renewal in another six months. The problem
that I have is not only the fact that I now have to wait another
six months to upgrade, but that their records state that I have
bad debt with them. When I pushed to speak to a manager, Craig,
he assured me that there was no bad debt and my account is fully
up to date but, "its on the system and theres nothing I can
do".
Even if I wanted to cancel my contract and move to another network,
I cant as Im still within my "new" twelve month contract.
If this is the way they look after a customer they have had for
three years, I would highly recommend that new clients stay well
clear of Single Point. Phil Drew ... 17 November 2003
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