CISAS Announces it's Decision
As any who have been following this dispute carefully will know, quite a lot hinges on the decision made by CISAS.Should CISAS find in Tiscali's favour then although I could take Tiscali to court the evidence would weigh agaisnt me. If CISAS were to find in my favour I then have to decide if they found well enough in my favour.
Well the letter arrived this morning, to find out what they decided you will have to read for yourself, all i will say is that the decision is bad for one of us.
Claimant: Mr B.D Tasker
Respondents:Tiscali UK Ltd.
The Dispute
The Claimant's complaint is he received an email from the Respondents on 11 September 2006 which confirmed receipt of his Cease and Reprovide request, gave a time for termination and confirmed he would not be charged. The Respondents then took money from the Claimant's account which they were not authorised to do.
In the Application the Claimant seeks an apology, an explanation and compensation of £130.00.
The Respondents make no admission as to liability for the amount claimed.
Reasons for Decision
The reasons upon which this Decision is based are set out and annexed to the Decision and form part of the Decision.
Decision
I NOW having considered the submissions of the parties and the documents provided to me HEREBY DECIDE AND DIRECT that:
The Respondents shall pay the Claimant £130.00 in compensation.
Dated 30 April 2007
at CISAS
So as you can see CISAS have agreed with me, the reasons for the Decision are attached and make for interesting reading;
These reasons are given with and form part of this Decision.
Generally
In order to succeed in a claim against the Respondents the Claimant must prove on a balance of probabilities that the Respondents have broken some term express or implied of the contract which existed between them, or failed in the duty of care which they owed to the Claimant, and that as a result of this breach the Claimant has suffered loss. If no such breach or loss is proved the Respondents will not be liable to pay compensation however disappointed or upset the Claimant is.
The Contract
Mr Tasker has set out his claim fully on the, 'Application to Use the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme', dated 24 March 2007, together with supporting documents and a Reply dated 17 April 2007. Tiscali UK Ltd deal with the allegations in their Defence dated 11 April 2007.
Mr Tasker entered into an agreement with Tiscali UK Ltd for telecommunications services.
The Complaint
The complaint of Mr Tasker is that he received an email from Tiscali UK Ltd on 11 September 2006 which confirmed receipt of his Cease and Reprovide request, gave a time for termination and confirmed that he would not be charged. Tiscali UK Ltd then took sums which it was not authorised to do from his account.
Defence
Tiscali UK Ltd state in their Defence that:
The account was first registered on 8 September 2005 (sic) and activated on 23 September 2005 (sic).
On 12 October 2006 Mr Tasker called chasing the Cease and Reprovide. Mr Tasker was advised of the date of cancellation and of 10-15 days for line clearance. On 15 November 2006 Mr Tasker again called to advise he had placed an order for Cease and Reprovide however he was informed that Tiscali UK Ltd had no record of this.
On 22 November 2006 an indemnity claim was received from HSBC for £35.98 as Mr Tasker had cancelled his direct debit.
Mr Tasker was advised on 5 December 2006 that as no order for Cease and Reprovide had been received the cancellation date was 31 October 2006 and no refund was due.
Tiscali UK Ltd give details of further contacts, investigation, outstanding balances and credits applied. On 21 March 2007 Tiscali UK Ltd wrote off an outstanding balance of £14.86 due to problems Mr Tasker had with his Cease and Reprovide. On 29 March 2007 Mr Tasker was in credit of £14.86. Tiscali UK Ltd have refunded any monies that have been taken incorrectly.
Reply
Mr Tasker states in his Reply;
As Tiscali UK Ltd had never taken up the new line there was no necessity for a 10-15 day wait.
A possible explanation for the reference to a letter of 21 January 2007.
Mr Tasker gives details of the bank transactions and indicates that he strongly believes Tiscali Uk Ltd are trying to charge him for a time when he was not a customer.
He provides details of how he has arrived at the figure of his compensation.
He did not receive the detailed bill requested on 20 March 2007.
Tiscali UK Ltd threatened to use debt collection agencies.
Findings
It is clear from the correspondence sent by Tiscali UK Ltd to Mr Tasker that they accepted there was a Cease and Reprovide request on 11 September 2006 prior to an activation. Tiscali UK Ltd initially did not act on this and denied its existence even though Mr Tasker reminded them on 12 October 2006. I find that the manner in which Tiscali UK Ltd then dealt with the matter was confusing and fell below a reasonable standard with various outstanding balances being quoted, namely £14.86 (17 March 2007) and £6.69 (12 February 2007), notice of suspension being sent, debt collection agency action being threatened and finally the company writting of the balance with a belated apology on 29 March 2007 some 6 months after Tiscali UK Ltd mislaid the original Cease and Reprovide request of Mr Tasker. I find this sequence of events and correspondence caused considerable inconvenience to Mr Tasker, it was a breach of contract and a failure of duty of care.
Redress
In the Application Mr Tasker seeks an apology, an explanation and compensation of £130.00. Tiscali UK Ltd make no admission as to liability for the amount claimed. As noted above I find that there was both a breach of contract and a failure of duty of care for which compensation is appropriate.
I do not accept Mr Tasker's charge for writing letters as this was not an agreed or accepted charge; the dispute was over a residential service of which the writing of letters and the making of telephone calls would be a normal part. However, I fully accept that Mr Tasker suffered inconvenience. I find his overall claim of £130.00 is reasonable in the circumstances and I award £130.00.
I accept that Tiscali UK Ltd have made an apology and make no further direction in this respect.
Having regard to all circumstances I do not consider that requiring the company to provide a further explanation would serve any useful purpose.
Although the Adjudicator feels that my charges for writing letters were not correct in the circumstances (that's a lesson learned) the reasons for the decision do not look too good on Tiscali at all. I have chosen to accept the decision for three main reason
Much as I have enjoyed standing up against Tiscali, when they start threatening Debt Collectors it does remind you that right or wrong, you are just one individual.
Not that I want to discourage anyone from standing up for themselves, it's important that people do so that the corporate world realises that we are not here for their amusement.
Hopefully within a few weeks my cheque will appear, Over the next few days I will be making sure that all the recent correspondence is online.
I'm finally free of Tiscali!!!!!!!
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