Phoenix

With the confirmed departure of my difficult neighbour, I feel like I have a bit more breathing space. He hasn’t gone far and so I’m still on alert due to his parting abuse and threats against my home. Still the energy feels better and it has made me a little lighter.

I have had ongoing issues with my broadband since moving here three years ago. After the first year I switched providers. My current provider has better communication with their customers but it’s still promoting the same false claims. After having yet another engineer out eight days ago my fault was closed with the providers triumphant claim that that my connection was all fixed and I’m getting my guaranteed speed. Yep absolutely true for a maximum of eight hours. After that it was back to slow speeds and the connection dropping out regularly. Overnight it failed altogether. I got up this morning, reset the router again and steeled myself for the arduous task of contacting my provider.

I went through to sales first. My argument was that they are breaking their contract by these constant slow speeds and drop outs and I’m paying a small fortune every month for lack of service.

The sales guy was a complete know it all. Reminding me several times that he is the expert! He asked my to switch my mobile signal to 4g instead of 5g and as he patronisingly explained it may be a little technical for my tiny female brain, I informed that he didn’t need to explain as I had changed the setting whilst he was speaking and I don’t need his assistance. So after several speed tests I agreed to switch contracts and have a 4g router. He tried to act like he was doing me a favour by waving the early release fee from my current contract (It ends in October). He then informed me that the 4g routers are out of stock and I’ll have to have a 5g router but it’s a £100 for the equipment but he’s going to do me another favour and reduce the price to £30! I told him no and he got quite abrupt. He stated that I would recoup the £30 as the new contact is £6 a month cheaper! Just ignoring the fact that I haven’t received what my contract stated I would receive in the last two years. I was firm about my no deal. He then tried to bully me and said if I escalated the issue all deals would be off the table!

I was eventually put through to the escalation team’s manager. She had no knowledge of the hardware and couldn’t understand the companies complaints produce. The procedure that says if they don’t fulfil their end of the contract it is up them to find a resolution and that the customer doesn’t incur the financial responsibility for the resolution.

After wasting a full two hours on the phone being put through from department to department. I told the manager that I wanted it noted that we have come to a deadlock with my complaint and I will take it higher to the communications ombudsman.

In the past I would have rolled over and given in. Maybe it’s the fact that I turned 50 last month? Maybe it’s the Phoenix rising? I am not prepared to be walked over and lied to. I am standing up for my consumer rights. I may not win but I’ll give it a good try. Don’t be afraid to stand in your power!

Phoenix