Transcript of letter posted today and emailed to Chief Exec:
Dear Sir,
Re: Account number xxxxxxx
I am writing to complain about the recent poor service I have received from you and to cancel my service from 2nd September when I move house.
I tried on numerous occasions yesterday to call to have the service transferred to a new address, only to be told on each occasion that there would be a wait of “about 15 minutes”. I do not find this acceptable when I am having to cancel or transfer numerous services due to a home move.
I noticed from your website that you do not publish a single email address so I eventually used your chat service. After a few minutes wait I informed one of your agents that I was unhappy with the service and was going to cancel unless someone could call me. She said that I would receive a call from someone called Kieran “in 5 minutes”. I waited 20 minutes and nothing happened.
I started a second chat and found I was number 6 in the queue; this had now taken longer than if I’d stayed on the phone. Eventually I was connected to another agent and I went through the whole explanation again. Your second operative repeated that Kieran would call in 5 minutes. This time he did.
However Kieran could only put me in another phone queue telling me “it wasn’t a long queue”. I then waited another 10 minutes to no avail and gave up. On both occasions the chat service was cut off at your end while I was still typing a response.
I was shocked to discover that your average response time when I called was over twenty minutes. I have not experienced this length of wait anywhere before.
This is the worse customer service I have experienced in a long time. As I said I am having to contact a number of utilities and public services and none of them have been as difficult as you. I did not intend renewing my contract but would have paid the £65 quoted on your website to transfer the service while I looked for another provider, even though I consider this extortionate when I’ve been a customer since 2013.. The reason for non-renewal is the poor value for money now, when compared with other providers,and a previous bad experience with customer services. I’m afraid after this experience I wouldn’t trust your ability to transfer on time anyway. (By the way did you know you publish a 2-3 week lead time for service transfers on one part of your website and 7 days elsewhere?)
You have left me with no choice but to cancel. I have already cancelled my direct debit. My charges are paid up to 30th August with the exception of call charges. I would suggest, as a gesture of goodwill, you waive any outstanding payments as at 2/9/15. Please do not attempt to reinstate the direct debit.
Should you wish to respond to this letter by post, please use the above address which will be on redirect.
Yours faithfully
Derek Graham
