Dodgy telecoms company (Atlas Business Services)

tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
QSC said:
I've been in dispute with Together Telecom for some time now after they decided to charge more than twice what they promised me for business lines and broadband.
I asked BT to take over the lines etc, and have just got a call from TT wanting over £7K in cancellation charges - can they really do that even though they were the ones that initially breached the (verbal) contract ?
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I don't know your exact circumstances but in our case it was just a dodgy businessman trying to bully his customers. We told him to go eff himself, he threatened courts, we advised it was the only way he'd see a penny and then he lost interest. He has no contract, even if he recorded the calls they will prove he over charged you. If you are sure he is in the wrong (and I'm sure he is!) then invite him to take things through the proper channels.

What I will say is to advise BT that you do not want to cancel the line change, they kept putting in erroneous transfer requests with us to make the line revert back to theirs even after we transferred away. Talktalk advised us this was called slamming, and totally legal despite being totally immoral. You can block a request, but only once, after that they just request another transfer. Luckily for us talktalk agreed to try and stop it happening again, no idea if it was them or that David Plum gave up but we got to walk away without paying that parasite a penny.

Of course, its easy to find out where he lives. You could fund a staff trip to Blackpool and pop by his house with a few of the lads to discuss things :strange:
 
Q

QSC

A few posts under my belt
My circumstances are that they promised me £69.99 per month for phone & broadband, which I thought was very good. They've been adding other charges on to the tune of an extra £85 a month, and when I requested a transfer to BT, TT called me today to say they would remove and refund the extra charges, but that if I left them, they would be charging me almost £8K in cancellation fees. I pointed out that they were in breach of the initial contract, and of course they say that they're not.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Contact the ombudsman, they are fairly toothless but still more use than OFCOM themselves from what I remember. We were told by them to request a copy of the phone call where everything was agreed, which of course Atlas (now TT) refused to do. If they can't provide evidence they can't go to court, so you win.

Of course in our case they didn't even send a router out, despite trying to charge for it at least twice!
 
Q

QSC

A few posts under my belt
Thanks for that, I've been in touch with CISAS already and got a form to fill in, so I'll do that - since I first posted here, TT have blocked the BT transfers.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
They'll keep doing that I'm afraid, seems to be their standard business model. If you can afford a solicitor it may be worth a simple stop or we take you to court letter? Or take them to court anyway, you will get your costs back when they don't show up.
 
Q

QSC

A few posts under my belt
Just got a call from BT who said there's nothing they can do - as long as TT say I'm under contract with them, then they'll keep on cancelling the orders...
this is just surreal.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
QSC said:
Just got a call from BT who said there's nothing they can do - as long as TT say I'm under contract with them, then they'll keep on cancelling the orders...
this is just surreal.
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Exactly what Talktalk told us, but something stopped them! Do they still use premium rate numbers so it costs you to complain too? A solicitors letter may be the only choice.
 
photography_bloke

photography_bloke

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
A solicitors letter may be the only choice.
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Not necessarily...

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photography_bloke

photography_bloke

Well-Known Forumite
Seriously though, can't believe this scumbag is still out there scamming people - how hard can it be to put laws in place to stop this kind of blatant fraud????
 
J

jonnykwango

Newbie
I signed up with TT last year they promised to pay off my existing contract with bt of cause they didn't they over charged me for the router which I had to wait 3 months for they added extras on to my bills, missing invoices when I rang them they would keep me waiting or put the phone down when I complained, I emailed them they never replied. so I decided to go back to BT within 3 days I got a call from a bloke called lee at TT he told me I would have to pay £1900 to leave them or they would seize the line and cut me off I told him it was against the law to cut me off but they did anyway, as it was my business this was a disaster I had no choice but to pay them to get away. I ended up paying £600 I am now back with bt but am still not rid of them they sent me an invoice for £429. I emailed them to ask iff this was the invoice for the fee I had paid them no reply then 2 weeks later they must have found an old direct debit mandate and took the money out of my account fortunately the bank clawed it back for me. last week I got an email from reseller uk another company linked to TT and d plum demanding £1300 or they will start bankruptcy proceedings. I have reported them to trading standards I suggest as many people as possible do the same this company needs shutting down mr d plum is a crook,
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
jonnykwango said:
I signed up with TT last year they promised to pay off my existing contract with bt of cause they didn't they over charged me for the router which I had to wait 3 months for they added extras on to my bills, missing invoices when I rang them they would keep me waiting or put the phone down when I complained, I emailed them they never replied. so I decided to go back to BT within 3 days I got a call from a bloke called lee at TT he told me I would have to pay £1900 to leave them or they would seize the line and cut me off I told him it was against the law to cut me off but they did anyway, as it was my business this was a disaster I had no choice but to pay them to get away. I ended up paying £600 I am now back with bt but am still not rid of them they sent me an invoice for £429. I emailed them to ask iff this was the invoice for the fee I had paid them no reply then 2 weeks later they must have found an old direct debit mandate and took the money out of my account fortunately the bank clawed it back for me. last week I got an email from reseller uk another company linked to TT and d plum demanding £1300 or they will start bankruptcy proceedings. I have reported them to trading standards I suggest as many people as possible do the same this company needs shutting down mr d plum is a crook,
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Sorry to see another person going through this :(

I will say though, they won't start bankruptcy proceedings. They will avoid courts at all costs, they are preying on peoples fear but they cannot legally do anything as they are breaking all their own contracts by overcharging etc. What I'd suggest is, if you have the money, to start legal proceedings against them for loss of income due to the seized telephone line, and also for sustained theft by method of false invoicing. I'm not a lawyer, you need someone that does this for a living, but I fail to see how you don't have a case. The evidence in this forum alone is huge, maybe a few of you with current issues with Mr Plum could get together and share costs? Can you go after him personally rather than one of his sham companies I wonder? Aren't civil proceedings against the individual?
 
Q

QSC

A few posts under my belt
Unreal - I cancelled the direct debit after they agreed to 'refund' the extra charges, which obviously they will never do.
They phoned me for my credit card number to pay the bill for the correct amount of £89.95, and actually charged £199.95 - an overcharge of £110 more than the invoiced amount !

Half an hour on the phone to the bank reveals they've over charged on the next two bills as well.

BT won't do anything unless TT agree that they have breached their own contract - well, they're not going to do that, are they ?

CISAS less than useless - total waste of time.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
QSC said:
Unreal - I cancelled the direct debit after they agreed to 'refund' the extra charges, which obviously they will never do.
They phoned me for my credit card number to pay the bill for the correct amount of £89.95, and actually charged £199.95 - an overcharge of £110 more than the invoiced amount !

Half an hour on the phone to the bank reveals they've over charged on the next two bills as well.

BT won't do anything unless TT agree that they have breached their own contract - well, they're not going to do that, are they ?

CISAS less than useless - total waste of time.
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Credit card number? You should be protected, call the card company and inform them of the fraud. You have the invoice proving the correct amount, be very easy to prove. If you can afford it use the small claims court to recoup any losses so far, the chances of him turning up to defend himself are virtually zero because they know they will lose.
 
Floss

Floss

Well-Known Forumite
Fortunately I've never had anything to do with these people, but have kept an eye on this thead. I find it astonishing that this company are still getting away with people's money. You would think if there were enough people complaint and taking them to court they would have been shut down by now I wonder why this isn't the case.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
I don't think anyone has actually followed through with court action yet, certainly in our case we walked away without paying a penny because they realised we wouldn't give up and they know they can't win a court case. As long as you fight them you'll win, but they can make things difficult for you in the meantime. If you can afford it I'd go straight to a solicitor rather than let them mess you about, get evidence of them wrongdoing and refusing to rectify (one incorrect bill that they refuse to alter) then point a solicitor to this thread for more evidence.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Not that I'd wish this on anyone, but, err, hang on no I did wish this on him. Absolute parasite, couldn't give a toss. Wonder if the 'other diner' had merely tracked him down?
 
wildwood

wildwood

Well-Known Forumite
shoes said:
"Mr Plum runs telecoms firm Atlas Business Services and lives in a £500,000 beachside house."
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Ok - I know we have all decided he's a scum bag an' all.... but it always makes me laugh these stories........ I mean what's his "half million beach house" got to do with him being beaten up........

....or...........................
 
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