MissLeonie.com

Since the 25th of July, I’ve been on the phone with my mobile phone provider. My mum, upon going through my credit card statement (at my request - they are sent to my Dutch address while I’m in England and I am paranoid) noticed I had been charged five times ten pounds worth of credit in one day, and asked me if that was correct. It wasn’t, of course. Every single one of those transactions had been declined when I tried to top up my phone credit online.

I first found out while I was at a conference in Sheffield. I called MobileWorld, talked to a nice lady who said to send a copy of my credit card statement. I explained that that would be difficult or at least a bit cumbersome, so would scans do? Yes, they would. Excellent. She would also send me confirmation of receipt of my email and keep me updated about the progress. I was well-impressed with their customer service.

Only, I never heard anything again. Except from my bank, of course, about that whole credit card fraud incident thing I talked about a little while ago. Coincidence?

I phoned them again when I found out that I’d been wrongly charged before, another twenty pounds worth. I requested confirmation again, and the man on the phone assured me that he was emailing the first lady and explicitly urging her to contact me. Only, I never heard anything again.

So I called again. No no, no to worry, they were on top of this, this guy could tell that the electronic payment department were working on it, and the policy was for these things to be sorted within 7 working days. I asked him in what universe 7 days equalled two and a half weeks. Well, he didn’t know and it was most unfortunate, but things were in motion now, so don’t worry. I told him I’d give them another seven working days to figure it out or I would have to consider filing a report at the police station due to credit card fraud. I also made sure to convey my total lack of amusement at the proceedings. I was polite, but clearly also pissed off.

Of course, it’s been seven days and I still hadn’t heard anything, so I decided to ring them again today. I should point out that the customer service number for this MOBILE PHONE provider costs money when calling from a mobile phone. Let me spell that out - it costs me money to try to get my money back from my mobile phone provider I’m calling from the very mobile phone they are providing to. Try being the operative word, because another seven working days had passed and I still didn’t have my seventy pounds back.

I ended up speaking to a wonderful lady again, who informed me that the first lady I’d spoken to was no longer with the company - I wonder why - and that scans of my credit card statements weren’t good enough so nothing had been happening and I’d been waiting in vain. Of course I asked her why it had taken them almost four weeks to work that one out, or why none of the three people I had spoken to until then had felt like mentioning it to me, and why no one had bothered to let me know. Well, she did apologise and it was terrible, but she was going to contact the financial department now and plead with them to accept it. PLEAD to accept the proof that I had been charged for something I had never received, something all four people I’d spoken to until then had immediately confirmed. After I listened to a few spins of Something in the Air by Thunderclap Newman (I had enough time to google the lyrics of the Sting or Police-like song I was listening to, and especially loved the “We have got to get it together, we have got to get it together now” part of the lyrics which suggested the employees at MobileWorld need to listen to their own on-hold jingle more often), she came back on the phone and told me they were sending the reverse money order out today, but it wouldn’t actually go out until Monday, and from then, it could take up to ten days because it was a foreign account. Right. OK. Could I get that in writing please, given that I had been structurally lied to for nigh on four weeks and my trust in this company and its promises was at an all time low? Oh, I see, writing or emailing isn’t really possible. However, I did finally receive a reference number and the number and name of the lady I was speaking to. Progress of sorts, I suppose.

I hung up and talked to my parents about what was happening, but was still fuming on the inside. What do you mean you can’t send confirmation on paper after lying through your teeth for weeks on end? I’d say you owe me that much. Rang back, requested to speak to a supervisor for the second time, but suddenly it was no trouble at all to write a letter, and I should be receiving it within three working days.

I swear to God, if it doesn’t, I won’t be calling MobileWorld again. I’ll be calling the police and the ombudsman. At least those are free.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.