It has been over two and a half years since I treated you to one of my letters of complaint. So sit back and enjoy.
Cable & Wireless Communications
PO Box 50
Wythenshawe
Manchester
M22 0BA
26 May 2000
Dear Madam or Sir
I am writing to complain about the dreadful service that I have had from Cable and Wireless in the last week.
I am moving house as of today and wrote to you some weeks ago asking for my phone line to be disconnected today.
On Monday afternoon, the service was severed completely with no incoming or outgoing calls. A succession of telephone calls from a neighbour's house on the Monday evening and Tuesday morning resulted in the service being restored at about noon on the Tuesday so that, once again, incoming and outgoing calls were possible.
Some time on Wednesday, the service ceased to allow incoming calls. Outgoing calls remained possible. Despite a number of assurances from C&W personnel that your engineers were fully briefed and that a full service would be resumed, nothing has happened and I remain unable to receive incoming calls.
The matter is, of course, academic now as, from this evening, I shall have no further use for the service. However, at a time when I was negotiating with solicitors, removal firms and prospective buyers, its full availability was vital to me.
At present, I have little confidence in C&W's abilities to provide me with an efficient service. I would like to know how you intend to restore my confidence.
Yours truly
David Guy
Cable and Wireless Communications
PO Box 4200
Worthing
West Sussex
BN14 8SE
2 July 2000
Dear Madam or Sir
Many thanks for you account settlement dated 14 June which has now reached me. I note that it refers to a balance from a previous bill of £51.56. I have not yet seen this bill and would like the chance to look at a copy before I settle the matter. I would be grateful if you could forward one to me.
I have also had no reply to my letter of 26 May 2000, a copy of which I enclose.
Please note the temporary address given above. I can be contacted here whilst I am looking for a new house.
Yours truly
David Guy
Cable and Wireless Communications
PO Box 4200
Worthing
West Sussex
BN14 8SE
5 July 2000
Dear Madam or Sir
I have today received from ACTIS Credit Management Services a letter demanding payment for an unpaid bill.
I have explained to them in a letter, copied here to you, that I am unable to help them as I am waiting for responses to my previous letters to you, copies of which I enclose.
I am more than unhappy that you should have involved a credit management service with such alacrity. Had you been as swift and efficient with regards to my previous communications, we might have had this matter settled by now.
Once again, please note the temporary address given above. I can be contacted here whilst I am looking for a new house.
Yours truly
David Guy
Cable and Wireless Communications
PO Box 4200
Worthing
West Sussex
BN14 8SE
26 July 2000
Dear Madam or Sir
I have recently received a reminder bill from you requesting payment of £51.37.
As this bill was sent to the above address, you must have received my previous letters of 26 May, 2 & 5 July requesting clarification of a number of points. Once I have received a response from you on these matters, I shall be only too glad to make the agreed payment.
If you are unable to respond to my previous letters, I should be grateful if you would put me in contact with your Complaints Department so that I can deal directly with them
Your communication states that
Your account is now seriously overdue. Unless you pay immediately, we will disconnect you.
May I remind you that this is not possible.
Yours truly
David Guy
Jonathon Sharples
Customer Care Co-ordinator
Customer Care Team
Cable & Wireless Communications
Concord Business Park
Threapwood Road
Wythenshawe
MANCHESTER
M22 0EY
3 August 2000
Dear Jonathon Sharples
Thank you for your letter dated 26 July.
I note that you acknowledge that "there has been some confusion with regards to the disconnection of your services". I also note that you offer apologies.
However, you are unable "to establish exactly when the services were disconnected".
My records are more exact than yours on this.
I wrote at the beginning of May 2000 to all of the service providers for my previous house in Walthamstow informing them that I would be leaving the property on Friday 26 May and that I wished to make arrangements to terminate all contracts on that date. In every single case apart from Cable and Wireless, the procedures went smoothly with meters read, bills sent out, payments made and refunds allocated.
My letter (see below) of 26 May details the problems I had during my final week in Walthamstow. Your communication is the first response I have had to that letter.
At the end of June, I received a settlement bill which included an amount for £51.56 for which I had seen no bill. I asked for an itemised copy on 2 July (see copy of letter below). I am still waiting for a response to this request.
On 5 July I received a letter from ACTIS Credit Management Services demanding payment for an unpaid bill. I responded immediately (see copy of letter below) with copies of my previous letters. I have had no response to that letter. I do not know if I am still being pursued as a bad debtor.
On 24 July, I received a further demand for the outstanding payment of the bill. It was directed to my current address which leads me to believe that my previous communications have been received. However, they have not been responded to. My letter of 26 July (see copy below) points this out.
I want two simple things. I want a copy of a bill I have not seen. I want some form of recompense for the problems I faced during the disconnection of services in May.
I shall shortly be moving into a new property. In my letter of 26 May, I said that "At present, I have little confidence in C&W's abilities to provide me with an efficient service". The events of the ensuing weeks have simply compounded that impression. I could not, in all honesty, think of approaching C&W to provide me with any telephone services in the future. Nor could I think of providing any recommendation to family, friends or colleagues.
I would still like to know how you intend to restore my confidence.
Yours truly
David Guy
Jonathan Sharples
Customer Care Co-ordinator
Customer Care Team
Cable & Wireless Communications
Concord Business Park
Threapwood Road
Wythenshawe
MANCHESTER
M22 0EY
11 August 2000
Dear Jonathan Sharples
Over a week ago I sent a letter to you as an attachment to an e-mail. I did this because I had hoped to speed up the process of getting information from Cable & Wireless Communications.
So far, I have received no response. I am therefore reverting to the postal system and am copying all previous communications with this letter.
For the record, to date, I have still received
Yours truly
David Guy