Tiscali Play Hardball - My Reply
Having contacted CISAS I wrote Tiscali the following letter;
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write in response to a letter from Tiscali dated 17/03/2007. Firstly I would like to point out that Tiscali has my address wrong. The notice of suspension that I received today has my address as being on Christchurch Road and not Christchurch Street. I would also like to note that the last letter from Tiscali was addressed to B D Baker and so would have been left unopened had the envelope not carried the Tiscali logo.
Upon receipt of the notice of suspension I contacted the Payments and Collections team by phone, I was informed that the reason for the outstanding amount was due to missed payments in April and May. Obviously I had to disconnect to verify this, but found that although I had indeed missed the payments on those months, I did make a payment of 53.97 on the 30th of May 2006. Once again Tiscali has failed to give me a valid reason for the outstanding charges. I appreciate that the supervisor to whom I spoke probably reached this conclusion by glancing at my account conduct.
In reference to your previous letter I note that the stated reason for this outstanding charge of 14.86 has been calculated by breaking down my monthly charge into a daily charge, and then multiplying that figure (49.53333 pence) by the number of days service that I used. However by my calculations (please note that I have also rounded up to 50 pence) the figure 14.86 is still incorrect, as stated by Tiscali I used 5 days service between my payment at the beginning of September and my cease and reprovide request. This accounts for Two pounds Fifty of the charge, the cease and reprovide request email does state that it may take between 5 and 10 working days for the action to take place. BT have confirmed to me that the telephone line [my old number] was disconnected on the 15th September 2006, this then accounts for 4 further days which adds another two pounds onto the total.
Your previous letter states that Tiscali is taking into account all of October, as you are by now fully aware Tiscali was not providing a service to myself at any time in October. Tiscali had not even taken up the line at the exchange for my new number when I contacted them to find out why I had no Internet. For Tiscali to charge for this period would be grossly unfair and I feel would contravene the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Act.
Please note that the
Payments and Collections team have sent a request for a detailed
invoice to your Finance Department for me. I have now contacted CISAS
about this matter. I am informed that CISAS is Tiscali's ADR. In
order to enable this issue to be resolved please find enclosed,
without prejudice, a cheque for Fourteen Pounds Eighty Six pence. I
believe that CISAS will find in my favour, and I believe it would be
easier for all if Tiscali were to refrain from banking this cheque
before a decision is reached.
Furthermore please note that my twenty pound charge in order to cover my costs still stands, should CISAS find in my favour I would of course expect this amount to be paid.
I would also like to state that once CISAS has made a decision I would like to be stripped from Tiscali's records as soon as is possible, and expect never to hear from them again.
Thank you for your time, and
I hope this issue will be resolved soon.
Yours sincerely
Ben Tasker
Updates when I get them, I sent the letter and cheque recorded delivery, so I should know when Tiscali have received it.
Hopefully I will soon be free from Tiscali.
